Livin' the Dream

That's what I always say when people ask "How are you?". Sometimes I mean it, sometimes I don't, but I figure ya gotta fake it til you make it!
I haven't been blogging the past few days because we are feverishly trying to get ready for the Home and Garden Show. Everyone is going crazy, but it's starting to shape up. We will have two booths this year - one in the corral and one in the main hall.
I will be speaking on the garden stage 6 times over the weekend so go to the Home and Garden Show website and check out the times, and come down and see me. I have also been asked to do some TV spots on Global, CityTV and CBC. I am so thankful to be asked, and the exposure for Spruce will be fabulous.
It's times like these, when everything is chaotic, that you realize what a great group of people we have working here. Pat and Kathie, along with our designer, Tim, have been working long and hard to get things in shape. Geoff, the store manager, should be losing his mind, but he just continues to get it done! Brenda and Sara are behind the scenes getting the admin side of things under control so that we can run the store remotely from the show. Meanwhile, Bev and Michelle, along with some of part-time guys, will hold the fort down back at the store.
This is the kick-off to our season - its hard to believe, but here we go again, into another year of good times at Spruce!
See ya at the Show!!!

Landscape Trees

I was just listening to "Let's Talk Gardening" on QR77 radio in Calgary. One of the first questions was about what type of trees to plant. It made me think about what type of trees I use in my designs. Thought I would share a few tips:
FOCAL POINT TREES:

• Amur Maple - great red fall color 15' tall and wide
• Showy Mountain Ash - dark green leaves that turn red in fall, nice clumps of berries 20' tall x 15' wide
• Snowbird Hawthorn - great for small yards - 20' tall and 15' wide
• Ornamental Crabapple - many varieties bloom pink in Spring - varying sizes

TREES FOR PRIVACY:

• Swedish Columnar Aspen - columnar tree that grows quite quickly - 20-30' tall x 5' wide
• Dakota Pinnacle Birch - columnar tree, white bark, yellow fall color - 25' tall x 7' wide - a little slower browing, but nice upright tree

FLOWERING TREES:

• Princess Kay Plum - fragrant white blossoms in Spring - 15' tall x 8' wide
• Mayday - early white, fragrant blossoms - 30' tall and wide
• Ivory Silk Lilac - creamy flower clusters - 20' tall and wide

TREES FOR DAMP AREAS:

• Laurel Leaf Willow - shiny, dark leaves, fast growing - 30' tall and wide
• Birch - wonderful white bark, yellow leaves in fall - 40' tall x 25' wide

EVERGREENS:

• Fat Albert Colorado Spruce - very dense, upright evergreen - large area needed
• 'Fastigiata' Colorado Spruce - same as above, but much narrower - good for smaller areas

TREES WITH NICE BARK AND/OR WINTER INTEREST:

• Birch - white bark
• Amur Cherry - cinnamon color bark
• Golden Willow - wonderful yellow stems

These are a few good suggestions for Calgary gardens, just make sure you have room for it to grow!

And the Orders Keep Coming In...

What a busy time at Spruce! The Home and Garden Show starts on Wednesday, and so much of our new stock is being priced and boxed to go down to the Round Up Centre. It was exciting to see Kathie and Pat unpack everything yesterday. I was like a kid on Christmas morning watching the boxes open, then ooohing and aaahing! Should be a good show... and then its March!
I am stressing slightly about the presentation I am giving at the Home and Garden Show - I just finished it a few nights ago, and am still struggling with making it all flow verbally. I would imagine there will be a few late nights over the next couple of days. I was also asked to do a segment on CityTV on Friday morning at 9:20, so it you are near a TV, have a look!
I also heard this week that the Calgary gardening magazine, Bloom is back in business - so congratulations to them! I will be writing an article for their Spring edition coming out in April.
Lots on the go, and its very exciting! Just gotta find the energy to put it all together after hibernating for four months!

Where Does the Time Go?

Do you find as you get older you say that phrase more and more often? I swore I would never say it, but I find myself using it and really meaning it. I remember when my Dad was really sick and in hospital. He used to say "Where did the summer go?" - it was February, but, hey, now I know what he meant - time flies. I guess that's a long winded excuse for missing my blog yesterday - the day got away from me and suddenly it was time to go to bed!
Went into Spruce yesterday. Pat and Brenda (I will introduce you to them later as they wouldn't let me take their pictures yesterday!) were all tanned up from being on winter vacations. Gardening industry people seem to be more tanned in the winter than the summer - except from the bicep to the wrist, which tans quite nicely during the summer while sporting the "Team Spruce" t-shirts. Anyways, good for them for getting away before the season is upon us.
We are all busy getting ready for the Home and Garden Show starting next Wednesday. We will have two booths down there - one to showcase the garden centre and one for our landscaping division. Everyone was asking what time they will be working the show - I said, basically your shift starts on Wednesday at noon and you get to have a nice glass of wine when you get home Sunday night around 9pm - I said this in my mind, with a little smirk on my face!!
I am doing a talk on landscape design throughout the weekend and am just putting the finishing touches on my presentation. Thought I would share one element of it today, and that is some of the 2009 design trends. So here they are:

• Bamboo - screens around a patio, dried bamboo as vertical accents in pots, and furniture. It will be the material of choice this year - perhaps inspired by the Beijing Olympics?
• Square is the new round - containers this year will be square. I'm going to plant one substantial shrub or grass in each of mine - maybe even keep it simple with some bamboo sticks - at least I won't have to water!
• Simple water features will be seen in many yards to give you that wonderful sound of running water. Lots of great fountains at the store right now!
• Outdoor living - people will be opting to Spruce Up (shameless plug) their backyards to create a calming oasis rather than spending money on a lavish vacation. Dining rooms, kitchens and living rooms - extending your living space to the outdoors
• Sheds to live in - think home office, or private reading room - lots of windows, glass doors. The shed isn't just for storing that beautiful white resin table anymore!
• Colors of the year are leaning towards mellow yellow and seafoam blue. If you go to Restoration Hardware you will see the blue I am talking about - I believe they call it Silver Sage. Goes very nicely with taupes and chocolate browns. Great for cushions and accents for your patio set
• Vegetable and herb gardens - this year, more than ever, people will be growing food. You will see lots of container vegetable gardens on patios (make sure the pots have drainage). You may even consider trying an espaliered fruit tree against a wall or fence

I will leave you with a segment I would love to get some feedback on. It's called "There are only two kinds of people in this world..." Become a blogger (its super easy), and give me your version. Here is mine:

"There are only two kinds of people in this world...People who loved the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" and people that didn't" There is no Switzerland...

Happy Family Day!

Instead of sleeping in this morning, my daughter Grace and I headed to Bearspaw to see our trainer. The quote of the day at his facility was "Sometimes doing your best is not enough, you must do what is required". That kinda sets the tone, doesn't it!!! It was another great session with James - such a positive influence in all of our lives.
Ended up having a great laugh at dinner last night talking about my blog from yesterday asking people to think about uses for a blanket. A few of the responses were:

• cape
• ghost
• smothering someone
• curtains

Good times...

Today I'm busy doing up some quotes for Spruce Landscaping clients for 2009. It's amazing how much knowledge you lose when you don't use it every day! I was sitting there thinking "how much is it again for paving stones?" and "what's that calculation to figure out how many cubic yards of mulch you need?" It's been a long winter.... Finally figured it out, but what was once automatic, was somehow buried in the deep corners of my mind! This year, we also get to introduce the Home Renovation Tax Credit to clients. If you spend between $1000 and $10,000, you receive a 15% tax credit to a max of $1350. Spruce will be matching that in a program we are just putting together. So, if you need a deck, patio, driveway, sod, retaining wall, etc, 2009 will be a great time to take advantage of the credit and get it done.

Well, enjoy the day with your family, or whoever you may be spending it with. I am trying to convince Mike to make me an omelette cause he's sooooo good at it!

What Can YOU do with a Blanket?

Just listening to the QR77 radio show with Barry Erskine and Wade Hartwell. It airs Sunday mornings from 9-11am, and Meryl and I guest host when Wade is out travelling the world! It is a great phone in show for gardeners and people who want to landscape their yards. Meryl is on with Barry this morning talking about favorite shrubs.
Some of my favorite shrubs are:

• Black Lace Elderberry - great purple leaves (looks like Japanese Maple leaves). Nice focal point shrub that gets to be 3-4' tall and wide
• Mockorange - when in bloom, this is a must-have shrub with its fragrant flowers in later spring. It is nice to grow by a deck or patio so the scent can be enjoyed
• Hydrangea - partial shade to sun shrub with big flowerheads. Two varieties that work well in Calgary are 'PeeGee' and 'Annabelle'. This is a nice addition for late summer blooms and the flowerheads remain throughout the winter
• Burning Bush 'Turkestan' - a smaller shrub you don't see in every garden, but does well in shadier spots. It has narrow green leaves and small pink flowers during the summer. It has fabulous red fall color

I went to the zoo yesterday and taught a fabulous course on Construction Techniques to the Master Gardeners there. Meryl and I had lots of fun with the students - great group! I then wandered over to see the new Koalas. If I'm being honest, it was a little depressing because the two koalas didn't seem to be all that happy. Couldn't even get a picture of them since they were huddled in the back of their cages. Maybe they are still adjusting to their new environment. Anyways, it was a little disappointing...

Today I am going to read more from a book a good friend gave to me - 'TheOutliers' by Malcolm Gladwell. I spend most of my time reading garden magazines, but once in a while I pick up a non-fiction book as I continue on my search for the meaning of life. One of the interesting excerpts in this book is about something called a divergence test. In a nut shell, it talks about measuring intelligence in ways other than knowing the exact answer to a question. For example, one of the questions asks you to list all of the uses for a blanket. Academic thinkers would have completely different answers from creative thinkers. I encourage you to give it a try with a friend and laugh at the different answers you get! ENJOY!

Rocky

Rocky has been with us at the garden centre from day 1. I remember fondly the first few months the only place he would "take care of business" was in Meryl's office. Meryl would snap every time he saw Rocky in there - Meryl loves him now, but it took a while for him to get over that. In the height of the season, Rocky delights the customers with his daily "kill". We have all seen Rocky prance proudly in to the store with gopher heads, weasels, and live snakes in his mouth - he's a bit cocky, really, but everyone loves him. Most days he can be seen by customers curled up in a box on the counter at till #2, so go in and say Hi!

I went into the store yesterday and it looks amazing! Things are definitely shaping up for the season. The seed displays reminded me that I will be starting seeds for the first time in my life in the next couple of weeks. I got so excited when I saw these new grow kits at Spruce, that I had to buy one, and now it seems I'm actually supposed to grow stuff in there, and then I'm supposed to transplant it into another pot, and then harden it off and transplant it into the garden. It seems like a lot more work than I'm usually willing to do, but I'm going to give it a try - will keep you posted.

I'm off to the zoo today. Meryl and I are giving a talk to the Master Gardening Program Students on Construction Techniques. In between classes, I'm hoping to run over and see the new Koala Bears. I will take a picture and post it here tomorrow if I make it over there. I'm sure they aren't enjoying this weather any more than we are...

Be Comfortable with Uncomfortable

That's what my trainer, James, always says. But he also says things like "If you can't, you must" and "Pain is just weakness leaving the body". At my last visit, I excitedly told him that I had added yoga to my workout regimen, and he thought that was a great way to spend one of my "off" days from working out. So that's what I'm dealing with!

I have been so excited about my blog - so many ideas running around my head. I received my first comment back last night - it was from my son who goes to UBC in Vancouver. He created a profile and became a blogger in just a few seconds last night. He posted a nice little plug for his sod-laying company, stating that "laying sod is his passion" - I'm very proud! For those who don't know, my son, Mike, he was a first generation Spruce kid. He and his friends were actually the ones who called the garden centre "Spruce" (dropping the "IT UP" part - it was probably easier when text messaging!) and it has affectionately been called that ever since. Aaah, I look back on those first days at Spruce with a smile on my face. Mike's company is now contracted by Spruce to do all their retail sod laying in the summer. I'm so glad he is still a part of the Spruce world! We still have kids come back to the store for a visit and say "Spruce was the best summer job ever!"

I'm going in to the store today to see what is happening. I generally work from home these days, so haven't been in since last Sunday. I will take some pictures and start introducing you to the people that make Spruce not just a job, but a culture. I know we had our merchandiser/designer in this week - Tim is amazing - so I'm excited to see what he has done to the store. We should also have received a lot of the stuff we bought on a recent buying trip to Toronto. Hard to believe we are stocking up for the new season already.

I will leave you with a pic that sums up the culture at Spruce. It is one of our fearless leader Meryl Coombs and Chris and Curtis DeBruyn. Good times...

February 11th, 2009 - first day of the rest of my life!

Welcome to my very first blog. Had some time today to play around with setting this up, and I am excited to start sharing some of my gardening and design knowledge and also keep you aprise of the goings on at Spruce It Up Garden Centre. For those of you who haven't been out to see us yet, we have 21 beautiful acres of land on Macleod Trail South at 210th Avenue and we have everything you need to beautify your yards!

Okay, enough of the shameless plugs...

Over the next several months, I am going to introduce you to some of the most amazing people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. We are an unorthodox group that seems to find the energy to kill ourselves for 8 months a year so that we can relax for 4. The gardening industry is one that most sane people don't understand - "why are you working for the 127th day in a row?" is a question my family asks me every year. I think its because we share the pain and joy with people we have grown to love and care for. So, stay tuned as I give you the Spruce It Up version of "Days of our Lives"...