Iowa’s First

Good morning –

After a beautiful weekend in Minnesota – 75 degrees, sunny and a nice breeze – I’ll bring you back to earth today with another Emerald Ash Borer infestation reported. This one is Iowa’s first and actually doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

EAB was first reported in 2009 in Minnesota with a large infestation near Victory, WI near the Minnesota and Iowa borders. An infestation has recently been discovered in Houston County Minnesota just across the state line from the Victory site so it is very expected that an Iowa infestation would be found.

EAB Trap (photo from city of Roseville)

You’ll see purple traps throughout Iowa and Minnesota this summer looking for more sites where EAB has invaded to attempt to limit the spread of this nasty bug.

Click here to see all the information we have posted about Emerald Ash Borer.

Have a great day!

Brad

Slow Trees

Good morning –

How have you been? I hope all is great! It has been a busy busy busy spring. Got an early start and everything is rolling!

Each year there are some plant materials that don’t react really well to some event – known or unknown – during the winter. The past few years spirea and evergreens were hard-hit. This seems to be the year of the maple.

We have quite a few maple trees throughout our sites that are very slow to get moving this spring. They are leafing out and I’m confident they will be ok, but property managers need to be sure to not be too quick to write them off. Be sure to also pay special attention to them throughout the growing season to watch for long-term problems that may be evident.

Have a great day!

Brad

PLANET Day of Service 2010 Recap

Good morning!

The Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) introduced a great program in 2009 celebrating Earth Day called PLANET Day of Service. Volunteerism and service to our community is an important part of why Quercus is successful and a huge part of our philosophy.

This year PLANET Day of Service completed over 200 projects with 3,000 volunteers throughout the US. Three of those projects were in Minnesota with Landscape Renovations completing a project at Central Park in Woodbury, we planted shrubs, trimmed trees and cleaned beds at the Scott County Historical Museum and Wild Ways to Garden cleaned up the shoreline of Lake John in Annandale, MN.

Our project went great this year. Our employees volunteered their time and we made a big difference in the gardens around the Stans House at the Scott County Historical Museum. Here is a video with some photos from our day. You can also see more photos on our Flickr page.

I hope everyone had a great Earth Day and keep it in mind every day of the year. I will soon be posting about what Quercus does on an ongoing basis for a better world.

Have a wonderful day!

Brad

Emerald Ash Borer Confirmed in Minneapolis

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has confirmed an infestation in the Prospect Park East River Road neighborhood of Minneapolis within Tower Hill Park.

We knew Emerald Ash Borer would have spread from the St Paul site and this is within miles of the first-located infestation.

I’ll post more tomorrow. Here is the MDA release.

Have a great night!

Brad

Fresh Podcast – How to Save Money on Your Landscape Budget: Reduce Turf Area

Subscribe to “The Property Manager’s One Minute Landscape Tip” in iTunes (Link opens in iTunes)

UPDATED: Early October Snow Breaks Record (Unofficially)

3" of perfect snowman-making snow!

UPDATE: Snow officially breaks record for the earliest, largest snow with 2.5″. I had 3.75″ on my deck even with melting.

Good morning! We’ve got nearly 3″ of snow in Shakopee at 9:00 am today. This unofficially breaks the record of 2.5″ for the biggest, early (before Oct 15) snow in the Twin Cities. Nothing is sticking on the roads so no plowing but it is beautiful if you don’t think about all the corn and beans sitting idle in the fields. At least we didn’t get what North Platte, Nebraska got over the weekend. Ouch.

Have a great day!

Brad

A Happy October Snow

Good afternoon!

What an exciting day! It is actually beautiful out today. The sun is out, the wind is soft and Fall is definitely in the air. However, I have a foreboding feeling that we are actually going to get some snow tomorrow.

Winter Weather Terms for Minnesota from the National Weather Service at http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mpx/?n=wwadef .

The State Climatology Office’s information says yesterday was the first time Minnesota has seen measurable snow in October since 2002 when .6″ fell on Oct 20-21. The crazier statistic is that it has only snowed in the first half of the month 8 times in sixty years with all but three of those being less than .5″.

The National Weather Service has updated their Winter Weather Advisory to include the Twin Cities region. Since this is our first advisory of the season I put together the winter terms (left) our clients need to know as a refresher going into the winter season (I just got kind of used to fall).

Check out more information on winter weather at in our Knowledge Base.

Best of luck traveling tomorrow!

Brad

Frost/Freeze Tonight

And it begins…

Snowy Bridge at Memorial Park in Shakopee, MN

National Weather Service is calling for freezing weather across much of Minnesota tonight with lows in the low 30s in the Twin Cities. However, they have added the nice little fact of accumulation up to 1″ in spots for Friday night/Saturday! I can’t imagine it will stay on any hard surfaces but we are at that time of year when crazier things have happened.

With all the rain we have gotten, plants should be in decent shape but be sure to water your evergreens well before the ground freezes solid. Evergreens (pines, spruce, yews, rhododendrons, etc.) use water all winter long and need a good supply of groundwater going to come out still green and not all brown and crispy.

Don’t forget to brave the cold for Shakopee Chamber along with Shakopee Park and Rec’s annual Pumpkins in the Park on Saturday at Memorial Park starting at 4:00 pm. Hope to see you there!

Have a great night!

Brad