EFTA00598321.pdf

7Greenscape Design SERVING THE PALM BEACHES SINCE 1985 February 5, 2015 Mr. Epstein, PALM TREES/HARDWOOD TREES I have been reviewing and training one of your employees, Dubsten. (spelling?) He is a great employee and a true asset to your island estate. I worked and trained with him for three days and he has picked up on the proper way to trim palm trees and how to prune the hardwood trees that are currently on your island. Unfortunately, with such a large property and with so many trees and palms, I don't think Dubsten alone can keep up with the proper pruning and trimming techniques. In my opinion, I think the best and quickest solution will be to bring down five of my employees, including a supervisor to start with corrective tree and palm pruning. Over the years, the palms and trees have been trimmed improperly due to lack of knowledge. I feel that my employees would be able to complete the work faster and in a more professional manner, which would free up your employees to start working on correcting other smaller landscape issues. (Grass, irrigation etc.) Once we have corrected the issues, I can put together a pruning schedule, which would be twice a year. At that time we can make the decision to have my employees do it or have Dubsten start maintaining the trees and palms. I think if Dubsten can work with my employees he would have a better understanding and the proper techniques for the future. He would also be able to train your other employees and hopefully they will eventually be able to handle the tree and palm trimming on their own. I would be able to send my employees down once a month for a week's time. I think after four to five trips we would be able to complete the corrective trimming of all palms and hardwoods. After completion of the trimming, the landscape overall will look and perform much better. SOD (around main pool area) The sod around the main pool area is not being maintained properly at this time. Currently, it is being trimmed with a weed eater. The current zoysia sod there should be maintained with a real mower and not a weed eater. It should also be verticut once a year (usually around May or June) and then sanded. The zoysia lawn should also be water jetted or spiked and sanded (usually done in march) and in doing so, you will have a much tighter and greener lawn, which will look like a pulling green. The other option would be installing an artificial zoysia lawn, which would always be green, you would never need water or fertilizer and it would be minimal maintenance. Your employees would have to sand it every three to four months. If you choose to go with the artificial turf I can send my employees down to install it. If you would like, I can send you samples of the current choices of artificial turf. There are various types that you can choose from. The options go from very tight, like a putting green, all the way up EFTA00598321 to two-inch blades. VINES ON WALLS The current vines on the walls are very small and the weeds are choking them out quicker then they can climb up the walls. I spoke to Chris and he told me that you like to have the vines covering the rock walls. If you choose to do so, you will have to spray all weeds on the walls first then bring in large vines (eight to twelve foot) vines to start. It is preferred to bring in larger vines that are already established so that they can cover the walls faster before the weeds can return. We can contract grow large Allamanda vines for you. Or there is another type of vine called a Sea Plum vine, which does great with saltwater and high winds. I spoke to Chris about a product called Vapor Lock. It is a product that you can spray on your current landscape that will help with the salt burn. It would absolutely help with your blooming bushes from getting burned. It is not a cure all, but will it will dramatically help with the salt and windburn. UNDERPLANTINGS Overall, the under plantings are doing pretty well. There are some areas around the main house that need to be filled in with quality and salt tolerant plants. El aware of your current deer issue, but at the same time you would like fragrant plants which deer love. My suggestion would be to put in large Yellow Oleander with a minimum height of 12 feet. In doing so, the deer cannot reach the flowers and or the leaf structure and damage the plant. The Oleander has a small to medium yellow flower and has a fantastic fragrance to them. You can also install large Gardenia trees, eight feet or larger. In doing so, the deer will not be able to reach the flowers and or leaves on these either. The Gardenia do need mostly sun but the Oleander will do well in semi shade. After that, we can install some Heliconas and different types of Ginger for a more tropical feel. We would plant these under and around these trees in the protected areas and in the more windy areas. We could install other types of palms and trees that will hold up to the wind (like the sugar cane palms that you currently have on your main drive way) Also, low Chinese fan palms (3-4 foot) would do great in that area and you could under plant them with Green Island Ficus. I showed Chris a plant called a Garcinia plant that are great with wind and are very salt tolerant, which can grow into nice trees. If you or your office has any trouble locating these trees and or plants please give me a call or send me an email and I can ship them down for you. In closing, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to train your employees and to be able to assist you with your current and future landscape. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call me at anytime. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you in the future to help better your landscape and tree pruning needs. EFTA00598322  Sincerely, Justin Dwyer Greenscape Design Cell: 561-312-4577 Email: Examples of improper trimming EFTA00598323