Beware of Landscape Fraud

11/28/2013 1:10:25 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	Fraud begins with false advertising, for example, WIS-TV airing advertisements by landscapers claiming that they are green (Figure 1); however, they are merely misrepresenting the color green as being environmentally correct. In fact, the entire landscape industry considers themselves environmentally correct, merely by planting vegetation, and the more vegetation they plant, the more environmentally correct they think they are, which is an overkill approach. However, the overkill approach of landscaping leads to high-maintenance, which is not environmentally correct at all. So high-maintenance companies that are cutting grass every week, even during the winter, and regularly pruning shrubs, and weed whacking the Earth with unskilled laborers, are actually ruining the world, in order to make extra money. Small gas engines produce more pollution than automobiles, and are about twice as common (http://www.egr.msu.edu/erl/emiss/emiss.htm). It is time to stop letting landscapers pollute so much, and California is leading the way. Landscape fraud begins with design. Trees and shrubs are positioned without enough space, and typically mass-planted (Figure 2). Massed vegetation is a high maintenance eyesore of a society in decline, and accounts for 99% of American landscapes. Trees are planted as close as 6 feet apart (Figure 3), and shrubs are lined up like army men @ 3 feet apart (Figure 4). Trees are planted under utility lines, and eventually pruned by specialty companies (Figure 5). Shrubs are pruned into hedges, or butched on all sides, into circles, squares, or other contrived shapes. Long-term sustainability with unpruned vegetation is is far more important than the short-term instantaneous gratification of pruned vegetation. Annual flowers are also over-planted with little to no space between them (Figures 6-8). Normal spacing for annuals is 12 inches or more, perennials 3 feet or more, shrubs 6-25 feet, and trees 25-100 feet (Live Oaks grow to 100 feet wide). Although landscapes are a part of Mother Earth, they are different from Nature. In Nature, vegetation matures over numerous generations of time, and there is a fierce competition, known as survival of the fittest; for every mature tree, there are hundreds of trees that did not survive, or were less fit. Landscapes, on the other hand, are more static in time, and there should not be a struggle to survive, due to limited resources. Landscape plants need to be fully provided for, without limitations on resources, such as space, water, light, and food; otherwise is unethical. Designs too often incorporate nuisance plants. A nuisance plant is one that does not behave itself in the environment, and requires regular maintenance (Figure 9). Technically, lawn grass is a nuisance plant, because of high maintenance. Greening the Earth means minimizing lawns or eliminating them altogether. Other landscape nuisance plants include: Wisteria, Fig Vine, Ligustrum, Russian Olive, Asiatic Jasmine, and English Ivy. In the springtime, Wisteria is beautiful and fragrant, but it is South Carolina’s #1 nuisance plant in terms of environmental damage, so legislation is necessary to prohibit the continued sale of this oriental plant from hell. Biodiversity is greener than biomass. Herbs are far more diverse than trees or shrubs. Rather than biasing for woody plants, it is greener to be biased for both annual and perennial herbs, integrated with a few, non-massed woody plants. A mix of re-seeding perennials and annuals, like tropical milkweed, rose campion, and petunia provide the yard with green weeds. A green plant is any plant, native or exotic, that thrives in the landscape without becoming a nuisance. Great native plants of the southeast US include Sweetbay Magnolia and Sweetshrub (Calycanthus). Some great exotic plants include Fig Tree and Pomegranate (Mediterranean), Loquat Tree and Banana Shrub (East Asia), Aloe and Plumbago (South Africa), Cuphea and Tropical Milkweed (South America), Spike and Eucalyptus (Australia). Being green means conserving water, so drip irrigation is the best way to water plants. Sprinkler heads waste water, but are more common than drip, because they have a higher profit margin. Drip systems are even available for lawns. Trees, shrubs, and herbs are best watered by drip lines, so upgrading your irrigation to drip is a great way to become green. Drip lines can also be connected onto faucets, and controlled by battery operated automatic timers. Watering a tree by sprinkler heads is tantamount to not watering it at all. People live in fear of weeds, so they have contractors install weed cloth, spray herbicides, and use weed whackers, none of which are green solutions to weeds; this is part of the hands-off approach to weed control. Weed cloth is a simpleton approach to a complex biological system, killing beneficial micro-organisms and promoting molds. Post-emergent herbicides pollute our environment. Weed-whacking is a lazy man’s favorite small gas engine, and only makes a mess. However, the hand is the greenest tool for landscaping; weeds are best pulled by hand, or in a few cases, dug up with a shovel. Edges between beds and lawns are also best maintained by hand, instead of a weed-whacker or edger. Edgers are for hard edges between lawns and hard-scapes, like driveways and sidewalks. Creating homemade compost should be a part of every landscape. Being green means utilizing your natural resources of brown leaves and green grass clippings, instead of merely treating them as waste. Carbon (brown leaves) and nitrogen (green grass clippings) in a ratio of 4:1, with Sun, water, and aeration produces “black gold”. Compost can be used in containers mixed with potting soil (thereby reducing potting soil costs), or in the landscape as an amending mulch, replacing non-amending artificial mulches such as wood chips. The bid system in landscaping is clearly suspect. Signing contracts for $20,000. or more is foolhardy. People seeking bids are playing directly into a contractor’s deception. Bids include too many materials, artistically displayed as a design on paper. Once a contract is signed, the work is performed with shortcuts and shoddy workmanship by unskilled laborers. Steps like cultivation of the soil are skipped altogether and hidden by too much mulch. In one yard, extra-large containers were filled hallway with bricks, in order to conserve on potting soil and then planted with trees. Instantaneous gratification is overly presumptuous, and landscapes are better when they evolve gradually over time. With the state of the American economy, municipalities are going bankrupt, or cutting back on services. Over-planted vegetation is no longer being pruned in many areas. However, many local governments actually have laws sanctioning over-planted vegetation (Figure 10). It is clearly time for governments to stop wasting money on over-planted landscapes and subsequent high maintenance. The proposal by Mayor Bloomberg to plant 1 million trees in NYC is not green at all if those trees do not have enough space to grow to maturity, which is invariably the situation. Meet singles at DateHookup.dating, we're 100% free! Join now!
1/21/2014 6:22:31 AM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	3 Palmetto Palms cluster-f**ked @ 6 feet apart. Normal planting distance is 15-25 feet apart. This site should of had only 1 palm tree, but the ruthless contractor wanted more money
1/24/2014 3:15:19 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	Unskilled wetbacks do not qualify as landscapers
1/25/2014 4:03:08 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	Even if an over-planted landscape lasts for 5 or 10 years, it is definitely not sustainable
3/16/2014 11:53:37 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
steveg1989 Liberty Lake, WA 28, joined Dec. 2013	Just seen this thread, if anyone in northern Virginia needs any landscaping please let me know i own a landscaping company also licensed and insured . Will come out for free estimate and will beat other prices on a written contract.
3/17/2014 8:23:21 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	Beware of contracts, which are disguises for business fraud
3/18/2014 3:47:29 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	Quote from steveg1989: Just seen this thread, if anyone in northern Virginia needs any landscaping please let me know i own a landscaping company also licensed and insured . Will come out for free estimate and will beat other prices on a written contract. You couldn't design your way out of a brown paper bag. Mass-planting too many shrubs too closely together is totally bogus. A lowball bid just means that you will rush the work, make a mess, & then cover it with too much mulch. Get a job at a fast food joint
3/29/2014 5:26:16 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
ladydi1948 Storden, MN 69, joined Jan. 2014	Have to agree with you Frank, lots of over landscaping going on. I am a landscape designer and take pride in educating my clients on placement and quantity of plants that will fi t in an area. For the denser clients I included growing guidelines and how big the plants will be when full frown so they don't question why there are only three of something instead of seven (as an example). When they complained, I tried to talk them into putting pots of annuals or whatever, in the spaces. They can be removed when the shrubs or whatever it is finally fill in. Another mistake that I see made is planting too close to the building. Retired now, and miss the creativity of it all
4/6/2014 10:18:52 AM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	Thanks Di, I knew there were a few progressives out there! America has become so over-planted, that Americans have become brainwashed into thinking its legitimate. Even churches & municipalities commonly over-plant. Everyone thinks that too many pruned shrubs is normal. People are still signing contracts for $10-20,000 landscapes to be installed instantaneously in just a few days by a gang of unskilled laborers. Just another of an endless example of rampant business fraud in America
6/4/2014 4:15:28 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
don_johnson99 Janesville, WI 56, joined Nov. 2013	frank underwood is a douchbag.
6/4/2014 4:52:29 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	No telling who that troll was. Landscapers get butt-hurt by me exposing their fraud
6/14/2014 12:53:22 AM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
steveg1989 Liberty Lake, WA 28, joined Dec. 2013	Kid, take that mess else where no need for name calling. You aint sh*t. I own the company and i dont do any work thats why people work for me. This is also why i didnt say the name of the company. Talk your mess idc
6/18/2014 3:27:57 AM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	Quote from steveg1989: Kid, take that mess else where no need for name calling. You aint sh*t. I own the company and i dont do any work thats why people work for me. This is also why i didnt say the name of the company. Talk your mess idc said the midget with a cigarette crammed up his ass
9/10/2014 6:12:36 AM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	Quote from steveg1989: Kid, take that mess else where no need for name calling. You aint sh*t. I own the company and i dont do any work thats why people work for me. This is also why i didnt say the name of the company. Talk your mess idc Looks like his grass cutting went out of business, so now he's flipping burgers
9/10/2014 12:10:41 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
luckylouie42 Cedar Grove, WV 74, joined Mar. 2008	it is landscaping, not brain surgery, it don't take a doctors degree to landscape a property.
9/10/2014 2:27:47 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	Quote from luckylouie42: it is landscaping, not brain surgery, it don't take a doctors degree to landscape a property. Let me hold a cigarette b*tch You don't need a high school diploma to mass shrubs @ 3 feet on center, or trees @ 6 feet on center
10/16/2014 6:26:58 PM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
frank_underwood Columbia, SC 61, joined Jun. 2013	If you're paying a contractor to blow your lawn with a small gas engine, you're dumber than he is
11/5/2014 5:13:34 AM	Beware of Landscape Fraud
parie3 Florence, SC 57, joined Jun. 2014	It's also disrespectful to start those things at 7 o'clock in the morning.

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