10-01-04 | News

Landscape Contractors Struggle
to Answer the Call in Florida

 

First it was Charley, then three weeks later, Frances–now Ivan is on the way. It’s been a very busy hurricane season. Frances alone is responsible for insured losses estimated between $2 billion and $10 billion. Landscape contractors in Florida are working overtime to meet the booming demand for their services to restore some order to the ravage landscape.

LCN wants to hear from Florida landscape contractors about your work during this challenging time. Please send your letters to edit@landscapearchitect.com, or mail them to 14771 Plaza Dr., Suite M, Tustin, CA 92780, care of LCN editorial.

Erosion Control Survey Results

Respondents to LCN’s annual survey answered a plethora of landscape contracting questions, including questions on erosion control. Thirty-seven percent of the respondents noted that they had worked on erosion control projects within the last year. Despite this number, only three percent of the respondents attended last year’s International Erosion Control Association convention. In addition, none of the respondents are members of the IECA.

The survey respondents are an experienced group, with 90 percent of the respondents reporting being in the landscape contracting industry for at least eight years. Only three percent of the survey respondents reported employing erosion control consultants. A majority of the respondents, 60 percent, reported earning $400,000 or less annually, with an additional 27 percent reporting annual business revenue of up to $1 million. Slightly more than half of the survey respondents, 53 percent, reported employing between one and five workers, while 47 percent reported employing between six and 10 workers.

When given a list of landscape contracting topics, 17 percent of the respondents noted that they would like to see information on erosion control issues in LCN, which is the theme of this month?EUR??,,????'?????<

Book Review Maples:

By Rosemary Barrett, a nursery owner and author of Magnolias and Hostas
Photos by Derek Hughes; Publisher: Firefly Books, 2004

“I love maples above all other trees, and would therefore like more to be grown,” states author Rosemary Barrett in the Preface to Maples. She considers planting a tree a “very significant task, not because it is difficult…but because it will flourish after the gardener has gone to the great arboretum in the sky, and may survive for dozens, if not hundreds, of years.”

Most maples are deciduous and have palmate leaves (shaped like a hand) with between five and nine “fingers” (lobes)–sometimes 11. The author’s love for trees is evident, particularly the Japanese maples, prized for their beauty and variety of color. Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ displays dark purple leaves; A.p. ‘Orido-nishiki’ is pink and cream; A.p. ‘Beni-komachi’ is scarlet; A.p. ‘Shin-deshojo’ is bright pink, just to name a few.

But it’s not just the leaves. Maples have “attractive seeds and a graceful habit of growth, whether it be upright or weeping,” the author notes. Maple flowers have two wings (called keys or samaras), each with a seed in the center. Even the bark is striking in many maples. “Snakebark” describes maple bark that is striped, sometimes green and white, or purple with white striations.

In short, maples provide “hundreds of super cultivars in myriad sizes, shapes and colors.”

The book includes a great hardiness zone map, color coded for easy apprehension of the international recognized 11 zones.

In Chapter 1 the author explains the cultivation of maples (very adaptable to most soils, but do best in slightly acidic soil). Pest and disease, pruning and propagation are also included. Chapter 2 showcases Acer palmatum, beautifully illustrated with colorful photography of the various varieties. Chapter 3 presents other Japanese maples; Chapter 4 focuses on North American maples; Chapter 5 goes international, discussing maple varieties neither from North American nor Japan; Chapter 6 offers “Landscaping with Maples,” with advice on group plantings and the combinations of cultivars to select. Chapter 7 presents very useful information on companion planting (trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs).

The Epilogue presents an interesting exercise. The author selects the 20 maples she would select for a garden of restricted space.