SPRING EDITION / APRIL 2008

Tons of new growth means spring has arrived in Southwest Florida.

We are very busy pruning and fertilizing to help jump start that new growth. After a mild winter we can look forward to some awesome color and an abundance of flush on your flowering plants and shrubs.

We continue to stay busy in this economy, working on residential as well as commercial work. Our track/condo work has come to a virtual stop but we have picked up commercial work. We are focusing now on more design/build commercial projects as well as taking care of our residential clients and builders.

Our commercial work has taken our installation team as far south as Miami and as far North as Knoxville, Tennessee. We are very fortunate to have team members who are willing to travel while we all work through this declining economy.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the spring will bring some much needed rain. In an effort to become water-wise we are working on a new and exciting product that we believe is taking the water conservation responsibility to the next level. We have installed six cistern systems. This system allows us to collect rain water for irrigation through a roof gutter collection system and distribute the water into our automatic irrigation systems.

We are also involved in Lee County with a water experiment using water in-ground water sensors. When we complete this study we hope to find better ways of moisture detection as well as better watering techniques.

We will keep you informed as the information is calculated from these tests plots.

Happy Spring,

Stephen and Michelle Hazeltine

In the Design Division, we are constantly looking at efficiency within our work production to provide design services that will give you cutting edge design at the most competitive market price. Similar to many other fields, we turn to technology to be able to streamline our production and replace antiquated methods.
In the design process, we use Autocad to produce the detailed plans and graphics that are necessary to build a thorough project. Autocad is a standard in the landscape architectural industry due to the seemingly limitless drafting features as well as customizable programs that can be built to interface with the program. Our design division has been working with a cad consultant for several years now to develop our takeoff program. Several years ago, when our work was drafted by hand, many hours would be spent drawing circles to count plants, adding up square footage of brick to be laid and estimating irrigation pipe sizes. The take-off program we have developed is an estimating tool so that all of these tedious items can be done by the click of a button. What we have changed is our method of drawing and how we input information into the computer. Our takeoff program quantifies plant material, mulch, soil, brick, irrigation, drainage, lighting and many other items commonly used in our proposals.
So if you ever wondered how we know how many plants should be in a designated area, the computer figures it for us based on square footage. As a result, our takeoff program allows our sales staff to concentrate on our client service and design work by leaving the counting to the computer.

At 13111 Gasparilla Road in Placida, Florida you will find a private golf course community known as Coral Creek Club. We have recently completed the landscape design and installation for their new clubhouse. We installed the following palms: Foxtail, Coconut, Royal, Christmas, Pygmy Date and Silver Bismarkia. We also installed canopy trees including Sea Grape, Shady Lady Black Olive, Ligustrum and Cassia. Accent plantings were Crinum Lily, Dwarf Bird of Paradise, Gardenia, “Auntie Lou” Hawaiian Ti plants, Cardboard Plant and Red Jatropha. Shrubs and groundcover included Asiatic Jasmine, Indian Hawthorn, Ixora “Nora Grant”, Hibiscus, Xanadu, Macho Fern, Dwarf Bougainvillea and Dwarf Oleander.
HNI also installed the irrigation, lighting and drainage for this project. Pavers and concrete areas include all of the exterior pathways and main entry to the Coral Creek Club Clubhouse. The clay brick border is a hand made brick from the Old Carolina Brick Company and the concrete is an exposed aggregate called “Tabby Concrete”.
AND ON……

Spring has sprung at Hazeltine Nurseries ! Come and see the many blooming plants we have on display. Day Lilies, Indian Hawthorne, Star Jasmine and Bougainvillea. Now is the time to plant citrus. We have a wonderful selection available. Blood Orange, Valencia and Navel oranges as well as Clementine Tangerine and Honeybell Tangelo. If a lemon or lime tree is on your wish list we have Meyer Lemon and both Persian and Key Lime trees.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
811 South Palm Avenue
Sarasota, FL 34236
941-366-5731

Rainforest Masks 2008

Date: March 7 - April 27, 2008
Time: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location: Museum of Botany and the Arts
Contact: Marilynn Shelley
Phone: (941) 366.5731, ext. 2


Garden Music Series
SUNDAYS ONLY

Date: March 16 - May 11, 2008
Time: 1:00 am - 3:00 am
Location: Under the Banyans
Contact: Dan Johnson
Phone: (941) 366-5731
Email: djohnson@selby.org

Everglades Orchid Conservation

Date: April 8, 2008
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Location: Cooley Theater
Contact: Donna Krabill
Phone: 941.366.5731 Extension 237
Email: dkrabill@selby.org

28th Annual Juried Photographic Exhibition

Date: May 2 - June 2, 2008
Time: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location: Museum of Botany and the Arts
Phone: 941.366.5731, Extension 239
Email: mshelley@selby.org

University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Ave
Tampa, Fl 33620
813-974-2011
Spring Plant Festival
Date: April 12 – 13, 2008
Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm
Location: USF Botanical Gardens
Fee: $4.00 – Children under 12 and USFBG members free
Contact: Laurie Walker
Phone: 813-974-2329