LAND DESIGNS UNLIMITED LLC

A Patient Craftsman Creating Exceptional Landscapes

Author: John Holden

Qualifying Potential Customers

In any business, you’re never going to get every job. That’s a simple fact.

Never get discouraged if you don’t get every job, or even half the jobs you look at. That’s a simple truth.

Every year I talk to a lot of people about landscape work. Over time I’ve come to recognize the signs of a serious client.

First, serious clients make it easy to get in touch with them because they want to talk to you. Serious clients don’t hide information or ‘forget’ to fill out fields on your contact form. They aren’t being devious in any way.

Second, serious clients have a specific project. When they talk about a project they know what they want and when they want it done. If you visit someone and they’re ‘thinking about a project’ or ‘considering options’ they’re doing just that. It’s up to you to decide how to proceed.

Third, serious clients have a realistic budget, even if they don’t reveal it. You can sense they want the pain of an outdated landscape to end, they want the yard to look nice for the graduation party, they want to relax on weekends. They’ve hired other contractors and have a general idea of what skilled labor costs.

Landscape work is skilled labor. I can show you plenty of landscapes installed by unskilled labor if you don’t believe me.

Finally, and I’ve only figured this out recently, serious clients have time to talk. If you’re meeting with a couple and the husband isn’t available don’t ignore it. If the husband is home but pulls weeds or fiddles with something else that shows his lack of interest. There are exceptions, especially with society’s hectic pace, but use your judgment if a spouse is trying too hard not to be available.

I find husbands who don’t smile, even just a little, to be quite revealing. But you can make your own decision about that.

Just as potential clients are interviewing you to see if you’re right for the job, you’re interviewing potential clients to see if they’re right to work for.

Go get ’em.

March 19, 2020
Don’t Let Others Determine Your Worth

A recent email reminded me of a lesson I wish I learned sooner.

A prospective client wanted my expertise pruning a hedge in a town 45 minutes away. I calculated travel and gave a rough estimate to see if we were in the same ballpark. They said the job was worth a quarter of my quote.

I don’t want to offend clients, or future clients, here. If I’ve worked for you or visited to discuss a job, please know I’m not referring to you.

Unfortunately, there are some people you’re never going to please. You’re never going to have a low enough price, quick enough availability, etc. It’s good to recognize these situations early and use your time talking to clients who value your expertise and time.

Don’t be afraid to politely say no.

Don’t let others determine your worth.

Just because someone is only willing to pay a quarter of your quote doesn’t mean you’re worth a quarter of your quote. It’s them, not you. There will always be people who want you to lower your price and give away the farm.

Of course, if you don’t get any jobs that’s a sign too. I suggest reading a book on sales discussing closing ratio and what it means to your business.

Keep your head high and your shoulders back when looking at jobs. You’re the expert and deserve your quote!

March 16, 2020
Early-March Garden Inspiration

I woke early today, I don’t know why, perhaps because of Daylight Savings. Seeing the sunrise inspired me to wander the garden with the Pentax.

The only other flower in bloom this week is Dorothy Wycoff Andromeda (Pieris japonica ‘Dorothy Wycoff’). It’s early-March with little else going on and Dorothy is covered with red buds. Andromeda is a reliable broadleaf evergreen growing 4 to 6 feet tall, the perfect size for the back of a foundation planting. Andromeda prefers partial shade, full sun can leave her foliage yellow and susceptible to lace bugs.

Gladiator Alliums (Allium ‘Gladiator’) are starting to emerge. I bought these on a whim and LOVE how easy they are to grow. Alliums, in general, are easy and deserve to be on the ‘Hard to Kill’ list.

There are several groupings of poppies around the yard. For such a fragile flower they are a ‘Die-Hard’ plant.

I have a funny story about poppies.

When my wife and I moved into the house twenty years ago there was a red oriental poppy by the front door. The previous owners were going for a period garden to match the age of the house.

My wife loved that red poppy. I didn’t realize how much until it was too late.

One day, I asked one of the crew to weed the gardens and, unfortunately, he didn’t know the poppy was a plant, not a weed. That poppy was my wife’s favorite plant in the yard. I’ve tried to replace it at least three times. I can never find a deep enough red.

My wife shows gratitude for the replacements but I can tell they’re not right in her eye. I’ll keep trying.

I bought a few tree peonies at Cricket Hill Garden in Thomaston, CT years ago. If you’re a fan of tree peonies you should visit Cricket Hill Garden when the peonies are in bloom.

The peonies have lingered since I planted them, yet it’s no fault of Cricket Hill Garden. They grow extremely slowly and only have a few flowers every year. Last year I culled two of them. This peony is surviving but only gives 3-4 flowers for a week each spring. The flowers are absolutely GORGEOUS so the plant keeps its place in the garden.

Last spring I was ‘Gung Ho’ about my square foot garden but as the season progressed enthusiasm waned. I cleaned out the weeds and vegetable plants last fall. I guess I missed the red onions. If onions can grow in the fridge why not the garden in the middle of winter?

Onions are biennials. The first year they get established the second year they flower and set seed. I should have a nice crop of onion flowers soon!

That’s it for this post. I’ve got to go move the clocks forward.

March 8, 2020
Early-March Blooms

Last week, I wrote about the blooms on Arnold’s Promis Witch Hazel. It’s looking better than last week with flowers continuing to emerge.

This week I’ve got a few more things in bloom. Nothing is knocking it out of the park but need I remind you it’s early-March with temperatures going down to the twenties, and sometimes teens, at night.

My Lenten Rose has a few small flowers. I don’t remember the cultivar so we’ll call it Helleboris sp.

You have to look through the foliage to see the flowers. I had to kneel down to get this picture. There’s one flower in the middle with two other stalks flanking it.

I have a couple of clumps in the shade that aren’t as far along. They’re significantly larger clumps and put on quite the show every year. Every bit of purple you see is going to be a flower stalk. Green are the leaves emerging.

My Japanese cornel dogwood, Cornus Officinalis, is going to be in full bloom in a week or two. Even though the flowers aren’t fully open the tree has as much, if not more, color than my Witch Hazel.

The last flower in bloom is Crocus. About 8 years ago Crocus clumps started showing up in my side yard. Every year I find a few more. You have to be within a few feet to find the clumps but they give me something to look at as I wander the yard on warm days.

As I write I’m reminded of one more early blooming plant I’d like to add to the garden. Snowdrops, or Galanthus nivalis, have small drooping white flowers this time of the year. They only grow a few inches tall and form spreading colonies in humusy soils.

What are your favorite late-Winter blooming plants? Do you have anything in bloom?

March 6, 2020
Arnold’s Promise Witch Hazel – Harbinger of Spring

It’s late-February and my Arnold’s Promise Witch Hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold’s Promise’) has been in bloom for two weeks.

Here’s the view from the kitchen on a dreary, rainy, day. There could be six inches of snow on the ground and the tree would be in bloom.

Arnold’s Promise Witch Hazel Blooms as early as mid-February here in USDA Hardiness Zone 6a.

The flowers are not overpowering but do survive when temperatures can get down to the single digits. Hence, they beat out anything else around.

If you don’t have an Arnold’s Promise Witch Hazel I recommend planting one next year.

Below is a video I filmed years ago about early flowering shrubs. I start the video standing in front of the same witch hazel.

February 27, 2020
Garden Toad

Spotted a toad in the rain yesterday. It looks quite content. 🙂

September 27, 2019
Some Mistakes Have to Be Made

A few weeks ago I changed the spark plugs in my wife’s car. If you’re a mechanic or done the job before, it’s simple.

I’ve never done the job before.

I read the service manual which makes car maintenance similar to building with Legos. Remove shroud D (See diagram) then disconnect coil pack and remove spark plug.

Who could mess that up?

I finished the job and started the car expecting to pat myself on the back for a job well done. Unfortunately, the car ran poorly, for something was horribly wrong. The check engine light was also on.

We were leaving for vacation the next morning.

This is one of those moments where age, a.k.a. life experience, came to my rescue. I knew I had done something wrong but I also knew there was no way it could be a major thing.

I went back under the hood to find my mistake.

In my excitement, I forgot to plug one of the coils back in. The four-cylinder car was running on three. I plugged the coil in and soon after the check engine light was off.

It wasn’t a big deal.

Somewhere in my life I was taught, or taught myself, that mistakes are a bad thing. They’re not. Mistakes are how we learn.

Mistakes are OK.

There’s no shame in mistakes and trust me you’re not the first one to have made that mistake, no matter what it is.

Have you made any mistakes this week?

The Right Attitude With Mistakes

Years ago I went for a walk and ended up watching a little league game. The boys were in 5th or 6th grade.

While they played the most amazing thing took place.

When one of the boys struck out or dropped a ball his teammates would clap and say something like, “You’ll get them next time.” Not one boy said a negative thing.

Would being hard on the kid who dropped the ball have helped? How do you feel if someone says, “No big deal,” when you make a mistake?

If you make a mistake cut yourself some slack. You learned a valuable lesson and you’ll get them next time!

September 2, 2019
Saying Goodbye

Yesterday was a melancholy day at Land Designs Unlimited LLC. A client of 5 years is moving and yesterday was my last visit.

There’s a chance the new owners will want my services, I hope they do. Unfortunately, experience has taught me it rarely works that way.

This landscape is special for a couple of reasons. First, the owners are very nice and it’s a pleasure working for nice people. Second, I planted this landscape after the ‘correction’ of 2008 when the economy, and landscaping industry, was shaken to its core.

When I first looked at the landscape I knew it was going to take a lot of work. The masonry investment was going to be equal to, if not more than, planting.

The landscape would never look right with a bandaid. A stone wall and new sidewalk had to be installed.

They were meeting another well-established company that worked with any budget, even if the job required a larger investment. Did I mention this was after the ‘correction’ of 2008?

I suppose the other company was more client-focused for I politely insisted the landscape be done my way. There was no way I was installing a landscape without a retaining wall to hold back the grade.

I explained my design concept and assumed I’d never hear back. I reassured myself that I was polite, I spoke from the heart and I wasn’t going to be responsible for a shoddy landscape.

The project came together superbly with a few hitches. The wire from their lamp post twisted around my tiller, a first, and I used more soil than anticipated which happens often. Also, the redbud planted on the left corner of the house didn’t pull through a bitter winter.

After installation, I visited four to six times a year to maintain the landscape, not too much, but enough to make a difference.

Every spring there would be an edging, weeding and light pruning with fresh mulch every two to three years. I returned in June or July to hand prune and keep up with weeds over the summer.

Some visits took only an hour; just enough time to pull the weeds, prune stray branches and re-edge the gardens with a weedwhacker.

The shrubs in this foundation planting have NEVER been touched by hedge clippers. I’ve only used my Felcos to prune. I hope you can see how natural the shrubs look.

Being a landscape contractor is an endless cycle of finding new clients and losing old to promotions, retirement or being a poor fit.

I look forward to showing you the landscape I’ve been working on the last few weeks where I find a balance between color and low maintenance.

It’s time to say goodbye to great clients and a beautiful landscape. I’ll miss you both.

September 1, 2019
Attract Monarch Butterflies and Caterpillars

A couple of months ago I planted a few Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) on a whim. For this reason, within hours, possibly minutes, butterflies started gathering on the plants.

Consequently, this morning, as I topped off the bird baths I found two Monarch Butterfly Caterpillars.

Here’s the secret to attracting butterflies.

Choose plants butterflies like you’ll get butterflies. It’s that simple

Generally speaking, every time I’ve walked out the door and looked at the Swamp Milkweed there have been butterflies flitting around. It makes the yard an even more peaceful place to be.

Below is the grouping of Swamp Milkweed. It’s a spindly plant that grows 3-4 feet tall with small pink clusters of flowers. For this reason, it’s best for the back of the border or, obviously, wetland plantings.

A closeup of Swamp Milkweed flowers past their prime with some seedpods developing.

Here’s the picture from the top of the post. That’s a big, healthy Monarch Caterpillar.

Over the summer I planted a couple of Mandevilla Tropical Breeze ‘Velvet Red’ on a client’s property; moreover, the Mandevilla has bright red trumpet-shaped flowers which hummingbirds love. As a result, within minutes of planting a hummingbird was drinking nectar from the flowers.

Choose plants hummingbirds like you’ll get hummingbirds. It’s that simple.

I’d love to hear about any plants or methods, you’ve used to attract Monarch Butterflies, Monarch Caterpillars or other wildlife.

August 18, 2019