By Doug Grove, on November 3rd, 2011
In an earlier blog post ( “Walls, Step Systems, and More) I told you about a local landscaping project we installed. Here’s some photos of the finished project. What a difference this job made to their front yard! The design was done by Spencer Jones.
 View from the street Part of the challenge was to make the retaining walls to look like they had been there for years. The clients had seen some
 Stone bench stone that they liked when they were on a trip to Arkansas, and they had it shipped to Northfield to use for the project. It has a unique brown color with a nice aged look (see photo at right). Constructing the walls was the most time-consuming phase of the project, because no two stones were alike.
 Wallstone, complete with lichen!  Bluestone patio We also constructed a bluestone patio was constructed out of 1-2″ thick bluestone pieces that came in various square and rectangular sizes (called an ashlar pattern). They are quarried out of New York and Pennsylvania. is the highest point of the front yard, with a great view of St. Olaf college and the St Olaf practice fields.
The stone for the walls was imported from Missouri. The owners had been there on vacation and liked the stone because of it’s aged look. (Complete with lichen!)
A nice accent that our that we added was a stone bench. We had some stone left over, so what better way to use it that to make something useful!
By Doug Grove, on October 27th, 2011
 First stages of the walkway leading from the steps to the patio Many of our clients have walkout basements. The majority of them will also have an overhead deck or sunporch above them. The space under the deck is more often than not a dark, empty, wasted space that no one uses, or is an unsightly storage area where anything from basketballs to snowmobiles are stored. Some will have concrete surfaces, probably built by the contractor when they built the house. One of the more common solutions is to build some sort of a screen, which can be some tall shrubs, lattice work. or fencing. This can work if done right, but usually it looks like you are just trying to hide that unsightly mess that has been getting bigger and bigger over the last few years.
 Jon making sure his paver cut will be "on the money" So how do you make it attractive and usable at the same time? We were contacted by a client to solve that issue. They had recently added a sun room to their main floor and wanted to make the walkout space under it usable. They also wanted to add an area for a gas grill. We constructed a paver patio under the sun room, and laid the pavers in a basket weave pattern. We extended the patio to include an area out from under the porch for grilling, but changed the paver pattern in that area to running bond. This did a nice job of visually separating the grilling and seating areas while at the same time leaving them physically connected. The result was an area that was functional with a great look, along with a great view.
 View of the wildlife area, after the paver patio and BBQ areas become finished
By Doug Grove, on October 5th, 2011
Perennials for old fashioned gardens
 Davidii phlox In Northfield, we do a lot of landscaping around older homes. I remember when I was younger, my Mom and Dad would take me to Grandma’s house. I’ll never forget how much I enjoyed looking at all the all the flowers in her garden. (A sign of things to come?). Grandma Smith would use a lot of them for flower arranging. Grandpa was a pastor, and she would make arrangements for the church alter every Sunday.
 Ostrich fern Other than a few shrubs around the front porch, I can’t recall seeing many houses “formally” landscaped back then. But almost everyone had a flower or vegetable garden of some sort. Anyway, I like to incorporate some of the more old-fashioned varieties of perennials in my landscape plans. With the tremendous rise in popularity of perennials, a lot of new varieties are finding their way to the market, which makes the truly old fashioned perennials harder to find. I think too many of the older homes are over-landscaped, like they tried too hard too make it look “contemporary”. To my way of thinking, it takes away from the uniqueness of the older home by covering up some of its best features.
 Lily of the Valley Of course there are the old standbys of peonies, hollyhocks, and lily-of-the-valley, but take a look at the list below. Hopefully, you will find a few that would suite your Grandma’s fancy.
 Monarda, Raspberry Wine Beebalm (Monarda), Aster Bellflower (Campanula), Bleeding-heart (Dicentra), Blue Bells (Mertensia), Daylily (Hemerocallis), Delphinium, Forget-me-nots (Myosotis,) Hollyhock (Althaea), Foloves (Digitalis), Gas Plant (Dictamnus), Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema), Lily-of-the-Valley (Convallaria), Lupines, (Lupinus), Monkshood (Aconitum), Pansies (Viola), Phlox (creeping and standard garden variety), Ostrich fern, Sedum (Both groundcover and var. ‘Autumn Joy’), Peony (Paeonia), Primrose (Primula), Tiger Lily (Lilium).
By Doug Grove, on September 28th, 2011
Every year I get several calls from my customers asking something like this, “What’s that slimy stuff growing in my bark mulch? It looks like a dog threw up in my shrub bed!”
 With the rains and heat that we have had this past summer came some pretty strange, slimy looking stuff appearing in the shredded bark mulch in a lot of planting beds. Don’t worry…it’s not an invasion of the War of the Worlds, and a dog hasn’t thrown up in your flower bed. It’s something called slime mold (AKA dog vomit fungus), and usually appears in mid to late summer, or any time there are extended periods of heat and high humidity. The mold normally starts as a yellowish slime, morphs into a tan “powder puff” (poke it with a stick and you will see the reproductive spores puff out. Just don’t do it to more than one unless you want to spread the spores), and finally to a dark brown dried blob.
They’re only dangerous if you hate looking at really gross things. They are harmless to plants, and will eventually disappear on their own. If you want to speed this process, rake the mulch to promote drying them out. Unless you’re having company. Then, grab your shovel, scoop it up, and use it for a great practical joke.
By Doug Grove, on September 21st, 2011
In Minnesota flagstone (or limestone) can be used to make beautiful, naturalistic retaining walls. The only thing is, the wall can break apart if the limestone is not the right kind for building walls. Different quarries have different grades of  limestone, and they can vary greatly greatly in quality. This limestone wall was built by a previous homeowner out of a “local” limestone from a quarry nearby. He probably got the stone for the right price (free)! After a few years, it began to crumble and fall apart and it had lost its structural integrity and was starting to collapse. The reason is that it is a soft limestone, which absorbs moisture. Because of that, the freezing (expansion) and thawing (contraction) action of the ice crystals in the limestone due to our our Minnesota winters caused it to break apart, crumble, and eventually start to collapse.The best material for flagstone walls is found in Wisconsin. Because of shipping costs and the extra labor it takes it to make a good limestone wall, the cost of replacing a wall of this size can be a stretch on the budget.
After we explored different alternatives, the client decided on a  block wall with a weathered look, and colored to match the brick on the house. Because of the location, we had to bring in a backhoe to remove the old wall and excavate for the new wall and step system. Because the wall was located next to a well head, the excavator had to be extra careful not to hit the main water line going in to the house.
I added a few curves in the wall to soften the look, and added a planter at the top of the steps.The steps were also made out of the same material.
There is more to building this wall than just stacking the blocks. We had to install an anchoring system behind each wall to prevent the wall from getting pushed out by water pressure (officially called hydrostatic pressure), along with gravel and tile for drainage.
We added steps along the house, along with some planters. A small landing gives an opportunity to change the direction of the steps to lead up to the back yard, and also gives it a more restful look.
Written and posted by Doug Grove, Grove Landscaping, Northfield, MN
By Doug Grove, on September 14th, 2011
 Harelson apple Last fall’s apple crop was the best ever on our apple trees. We had more than we could ever use, even after giving away several bushels to our friends and our church. I have two Harrelson reds and a Honeycrisp apple tree at my home, which is a 3 acre hobby farm. I’ve had them for about 10-12 years and we’ve had some good yields and bad yields. Unfortunately, for the first few years, the bad years far outnumbered the good ones. The Honeycrisp in particular seem to be susceptible to all sorts of damage. I’ve had to learn the hard way how to get best crop that I can from them, and I’m still not sure I got it right, but the yields are improving!
I’m not an apple expert, but this is what I did to get a nice crop of apples:
- Apple maggots have always been my biggest problem. For the first time ever, I trapped Apple Maggot flies to monitor the population and keep the numbers down. I put up sticky traps to trap the apple maggots and also to monitor their occurence on a weekly basis. Each trap is a 4-5” red plastic hollow ball that you put a sticky glue on and hang on the apple tree. I put 3 traps in each tree. Evidently the flies think it is an apple, and they try to lay their eggs on it and get stuck. In this way I could check their weekly activity and relative population to help me determine how often I should spray them. In addition to monitoring the flies, the traps did help to keep the of maggot fly population down a bit.
- I waited until the first week of July to start spraying, (when the maggot flies begin to hatch). A number of different sprays work, as long as the directions are followed for timing and amounts to use. Make sure the spray is registered for fruit trees, and are effective against several types of pests. Make sure you DO NOT spray the trees when they are flowering! It will reduce the bee population which is so vital to pollinating the flowers. (You’ve probably heard about the decline in bee population anyway). A combination spray of insecticide and fungicide also improve your crop, although all I used was insecticide.
- I stored the apples in our downstairs refrigerator. The inside of any refrigerator is very low in humidity, so I d
 Honeycrisp Apple
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By Doug Grove, on September 7th, 2011
 Champion Buckeye Mary Jo and I were in Wheaton IL. a while back to see our daughter Mary Beth, who just graduated from Wheaton college. We stayed at a Hyatt Hotel in Oakbrook on the campus of McDonald’s corporate headquarters. (Also home of Hamburger University, where new McDonald’s managers and owners get trained. No joke). We had just checked out and I happened to notice this tree. I didn’t think much about it, until I saw this sign in front of it. (See picture)
 That's me at 6'2"+ under the tree! It is 150 years old, 73’ high, has a 176′” trunk circumference (That’s a 56” diameter)! Normal Buckeyes are 30-50’ tall.
The hotel was required to be built a safe distance away to protect the tree’s root system. The tree is fertilized and watered regularly, and cared for by arborists.
Championship status is given only to native and naturalized trees in the United States. Winners are determined by a point system based on the trunk’s circumference and the height and the crown spread of the tree.
By Doug Grove, on August 31st, 2011
The following has nothing at all to do with plants, bugs, or landscaping, but it’s great advice for us all. I have this hanging up in my office; its author is unknown.
The most destructive habit: Worry
The greatest joy: Giving
The greatest loss: Loss of self respect
The most satisfying work: Helping others
The ugliest personality trait: Selfishness
The most endangered species: Dedicated leaders
Our greatest natural resource: Our youth
The greatest “shot in the arm”: Encouragement
The greatest problem to overcome: Fear
The most effective sleeping pill: Peace of mind
The most crippling failures disease: Excuses
The most powerful force in life: Love
The most dangerous pariah: Gossip
The worst thing to be without: Hope
The deadliest weapon: The tongue
The two most power-filled words: I can
The greatest asset: Faith
The most worthless emotion: Self Pity
The most beautiful attire: Your smile
The most prized possession: Integrity
The most powerful channel of communication: Prayer
By Doug Grove, on August 24th, 2011
 Last Summer we finished a challenging project designed by Spencer Jones, which we have been taking you through the last two blogs. The finished product expanded the “hidden” front entry. By the time we were done, there were a very interesting combination of elements involved in the project. Among these were: a limestone seat wall, bluestone walkway, Arizona flagstone ( which was incorporated in to an exposed aggregate walkway, see photo at right), fieldstone accent boulders, a new driveway, an irrigation system for the new lawn, and of course landscaping with perennials , shrubs, and trees.
I’m really proud of the crew for the quality job they did. It took a lot of patience, not to mention the skill and craftsmanship that goes in to a project of this nature. Jason Larson did a great of running the project. Jon Larsen showed his knack for detail, especially in integrating the flagstone seat wall with the landscape boulder(see photo at left).
Matt Grove and Jordan Dokken were irreplaceable in the work that they did, showing their crew experience by taking over the support work that allowed John and Jason to stay focused on the bluestone patio and the seat wall.
By Doug Grove, on August 17th, 2011
A while back we started on an interesting project on the south end of Northfield, designed by local landscape architect Spencer Jones. The clients had converted their existing garage into a workshop and had a new garage added on onto the front of the old one to take it’s place Because of the addition, the entry has been visually “pushed back” and is actually hidden from view when you pull in to the driveway. (see photo at right) 
To solve the problem, the “hidden” entry needed to be expanded to have the eye drawn to it . Spencer decided to include a bluestone walkway and patio, and a limestone seat wall integrated with large field stone.
In the photo at left, you can see crew foreman Jason Larson installing the bluestone, with the limestone seat wall and boulder combination in the background.
The landscaping involved renovating the entire yard, including the removal of four large trees and removing 8″ of clay and having it replaced with a blend of sand, soil and peat so it would support the plantings and lawn. The entire driveway was removed and redesigned.
The project includes an interesting mix of fieldstone boulders, colored concrete, and a unique blend of exposed aggregate with large pieces of limestone embedded in it.
The embedded limestone (See photo at left) is is going to be very interesting, and combined with the bluestone work and limestone seat wall, will be (in my opinion) strong features of this project.
I really enjoy projects like this. It (especially the wall and the patio) requires a great deal of skill and attention to detail to turn out right. These projects always present a challenge, and usually involve a lot of problem solving as the work progresses.
Next week: Look for something very unique we did in this project and and may never get an opportunity to do again!
Written and posted by Doug Grove, Grove Landscaping, Northfield, MN
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Contact us:
6615 320th St.
Northfield, Minnesota 55057
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