Goodbye winter, hello spring

While it may still be early with few, if any, signs of spring’s arrival, it is not too soon to think about spring. Unless you have been inundated with regular snowfalls to keep your crews busy, or you are located in the Sun Belt where you can generate revenue 12 months a year, it can’t come soon enough. 

It is quite true that it costs far less and requires less effort to retain current customers than to seek new ones. Take the time now to develop your relationship with your customers – get to know them better, and offer advice and suggestions. Easter is a significant ‘mental trigger’ for customers that spring has arrived and it is therefore time for cleanups, sowing seeds, mowing, and planning for summer.

With cultivating your existing customer base in mind, there are many things that you can add to your menu of services, residential or commercial, to demonstrate your professional dedication to a job well-done and to get a start on the season:

• Soil and water testing.
• Diagnose plant problems caused by insects, diseases, or physiological damage.
• If deer are munching on plants, install protective fencing and netting.
• Spray an anti-desiccant on broadleaf and needled evergreens to reduce the possibility of moisture loss and prevent winter burn.
• Apply dormant oil sprays.
• Monitor and record erosion control and areas of poor drainage; offer solutions.
• Clean out birdhouses to get them ready for spring nesting.
• Repair broken or weak arbors, fences and trellis.
• Clean and repair drip irrigation lines.

In addition to landscape chores, it is possible to do early season plantings in beds and borders with plants that do well in areas with a mild winter climate. Mild winter climate plants share a few general traits: they will bloom under the lesser amount of sunlight from the shorter days of winter. Many flowering plants need longer days to bloom and will not bloom in the winter even if the temperature is warm enough. They also handle temperature fluctuations well and will bounce back from a quick dip or two near freezing temperatures. Damp soil conditions often exist at this time and these plants handle that well, also.

If planting in the ground isn’t possible that early in your location, offer spring containers rather than bed plantings. Containers are portable and can be moved indoors or under cover if the weather turns ugly. They also need little water and no fertilizer – because the temperatures remain on the cool to cold side, the plants won’t grow much, if at all.

To keep it simple, check with your greenhouse grower to see if they do a crop of early spring color bowls or containers. These can easily be dropped in your customer’s existing pots and planters. Just remove the container and fill the pots or planters with potting soil when you are ready to install your regular summer plantings. 

If you do not have access to ready-to-go bowls or containers, there are plenty of flowers to choose from when assembling cool weather containers or planting beds and borders. Nemesia, Diascia, and Snapdragons all belong to the same family of cold tolerant plants and come in a rainbow of colors. Osteospermum come in shades of purple, yellow/orange, and white, while Argyranthemum (Marguerite Daisy) come in yellow, white and shades of pink. Dianthus (Carnation) come in many forms, from compact bedding types to tall varieties that are good for cutting.

While there is still time available before the busy season begins, take advantage of classes and seminars that can help grow your company – business classes, digital photography workshops for your marketing projects and portfolios, crew trainings and education. And be sure to check your equipment and tools – fix, sharpen or replace them as necessary.

It’s never too early to “think spring.”
 

The author is a certified landscape professional, master certified nurseryman and landscape account manager for Four Star Greenhouse/Proven Winners in Carleton, Mich.