SPRING 2003 ONLINE NEWSLETTER

New Items

Welcome to our new Online Newsletter. Our main goal at Royal Greens is to satisfy our customers. This year we have instituted several minor changes with this goal in mind.

As you can see, we now have a web site. Its full of lawn care information, and as time permits we'll be adding to it with more information and tips on how to improve your lawn and landscape.

One of the nice things about this medium is that you can contact us ANYTIME! Just click on the button to the right (CONTACT US) and fill in the form that pops up. We check responses several times a day and we'll get back to you the same day or the next business day.

Not to worry- we still answer our phones and the answering machine still works too! We just want to make it as easy as possible for you to get in touch with us when you want to contact us.

You may notice that your lawn is now being serviced by technicians in bright blue shirts. It's the same technicians and the same company - we thought that the "royal" blue shirts would be distinctive. Our black trucks have not changed.

New Service

We are working with a local landscape designer and are now offering landscape design and installation. Please call us if you are interested in this service. We would be happy to give you more details about this wonderful opportunity to improve your landscape.

Your Lawn

It has been a long winter but one that should be beneficial to your lawn. The high amount of precipitation that we received has nearly wiped out the drought. The snow provided a nice insulation from the extreme cold and wind that can be damaging to the roots of your grass.

Due to the extended snow cover, we are starting our spring applications a bit later than usual. Because it has remained so cold, this should not affect your early spring application. We plan to keep on schedule.

Controlling crabgrass before it emerges is the most critical issue at this time of year. We are continuing to use a pre-emergent crabgrass control with our fertilizer (unless otherwise specified in your program.)

If you edge your sidewalks, driveway, etc, you should continue to do so all season. Once you have broken the barrier, crabgrass and other weeds will germinate in the cracks. Continued edging will keep the weeds in check.

Rabbits nibbling on your plants? Bury soda bottles around your beds up to their necks. The wind blowing across the top of the bottles will scare the rabbits away.

Your Ornamentals

Early spring is a great time to prune your ornamental trees and shrubs. Flowering shrubs should not be pruned until after they have flowered. They set their buds last year so you definitely do not want to remove them. This also gives them almost an entire year to develop new bud - bearing branches.

Many of your ornamentals may have been "pruned" by Mother Nature this past winter. Remove the damaged branch as close to the ground as possible or where it joins a healthy stem. Remove weaker, crossed, and tall branches in the same manner. Remove low stems that are becoming spindly from lack of sunlight.

Early spring is also the time to divide your perennials. Annuals should not be planted until after the danger of frost has passed, usually late April or early May.

You can begin planting new ornamentals once the ground has thawed enough to work it. The earlier you plant, the more time it gives your plants to establish before the heat of summer.