Great Expectations

One of the most common lamentations by homeowners is the inability to communicate with the individuals who maintain their landscapes. While language itself may be a problem – many local maintenance personnel speak Spanish exclusively – it usually goes deeper than that. In most cases, there is more than just a difference of language. There seems to be a real blockade to communication, and the homeowners’ dissatisfaction usually bottoms out when they return in the fall, after having been away all summer.

Since we are approaching that time of the year when the northern exodus begins, it would seem to address some of the more basic expectations homeowners might have for their landscapes. You know, something simple like expecting to have living plants when you return.

Of those chronic complaints, perhaps the most universal is pruning. Most often, the complaint is not about a lack of pruning but too much. And, in reality, it is not just too much as it is also a matter of timing.

Read the entire article in the March 2005 issue