News & Notes
Hewson Landscape, Inc.
June 2015
  
                            
In This Issue
   
    
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Time is certainly flying by this season. The tablets that the crew started using out in the field are starting to come together and work efficiently. It is definitely a learning curve-hardware issues, software issues, but we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel! That's a good thing. I'm traveling next month to Arkansas for the National LICA summer conference. Have a great summer and we'll talk again in July.
All the best,
Shelly Hewson
President, Hewson Landscape Inc.

Welcome Aboard!

Introducing Gloria Beckham as our new Office Administrator and Safety Coordinator. She has whipped the office into shape, and is consistently improving office processes. Efficiency is her middle name. Welcome Gloria!
New Survey Finds Americans Still Love the Backyard Lifestyle

Even in the age of the smartphone and T.V. binge watching, the love affair with the American yard is not over. According to an online survey commissioned by the National Association of Landscape Professionals and conducted by Harris Poll in May 2015, Americans think it is important to have a yard and keep it looking well-maintained. The study was conducted among 2,034 U.S. adults (ages 18+), and found that three quarters of Americans (75%) feel that it is important to spend time outside in their yards.

Keeping lawns maintained
Along with maintaining their own yard, many (71%) Americans think that it is important for their neighbors to have well-maintained yards and almost all of those surveyed (91%) want to live in an area where they can see or walk to nice landscaping.

Roughly 83% of Americans think having a yard is important and 90% of those with a yard think it is important that it is also well-maintained. Those who live in the South (85%) or Midwest (87%) are more likely than those who live in the Northeast (79%) to feel that is important.

The majority also agree (84%) that the quality of a home's landscaping would affect their decision about whether or not to buy a home, and while women are more likely than men to say having their yard well-maintained is very important (50% vs. 45%), men are more likely than women to claim that they possess the knowledge and skill necessary to keep their lawn and plants healthy and looking good (75% vs. 67%, respectively).

Homeowners want help with their landscaping
A large majority of Americans (67%) agree that professional landscape help would allow them to have a nicer yard. Nine in 10 prefer to live in a home surrounded by trees, grass and other living plants and almost half (47%) wish they could hire a landscape professional to help them. 

 
  Tired Of Mowing Your Lawn?
Try Foodscaping It Instead



When the economy began its steep decline in 2008, almost everything related to housing hit the skids, including the lawn and garden industry. But one sector escaped the pinch: food gardening.
In fact, food gardening sales nationwide have spiked 20 percent since then, and they've stayed there. While many households started growing food to be more budget-conscious, some are deciding vegetables and fruits can be beautiful, too.
In the extreme, edible landscaping or foodscaping can even mean replacing grass with something edible. For Jeremy Lekich of Nashville Foodscapes, the world is already his salad bar.
"It's called lambsquarter," he says, chomping into what laymen would consider a garden-variety weed. "Most people know it. It grows everywhere in disturbed soils, and it's actually the wild ancestor of quinoa."
Lekich and his foodscaping company specialize in unconventional projects, like planting an entire yard in buckwheat, a nutrient-packed grain that's experienced a renaissance. People make hearty, nutty-tasting pancakes and noodles with the flour.
That's what Nashville yoga instructor James Alvarez wanted. His mother, however, is not a fan of her son's knee-high lawn.
Edible landscaping isn't for everyone. But close to a third of American households now do some kind of food gardening, even if they're not willing to sacrifice their entire lawn. And some folks are turning to professionals to plant their food.
Nursing homes and hotels have been asking their landscapers to mix in more edible greens. One of the nation's largest landscaping companies, reports an uptick in request for herbs and vegetables.
For single-family homes, practical planting usually increases during a recession. It's significant, though, that the millions who've gotten into food gardening don't appear to be getting out. That's what historically happens when the economy begins to come back.  It's gotten trendy to grow your own food.  
The Vanilla Bean Orchid

You know that vanilla is delicious, but did you also know that it's rare and expensive? Here are some fun facts:

  1. Vanilla is the only fruit-bearing member of the orchid family.
  2. The flower that produces the vanilla bean lasts only one day. The beans are hand-picked and then cured, wrapped and dried in a process that takes 4 to 6 months.
  3. After saffron, vanilla is the most expensive spice in the world.
  4. In Europe, vanilla was once used in the production of certain medicines such as nerve stimulants and as an aphrodisiac.
  5. Pure vanilla extract contains 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans per gallon during extraction, according to FDA specifications.
  6. Nearly 30% of Americans choose vanilla as their number one ice cream flavor. Chocolate ranks second, with less than 10% of the vote.
Only the melipona bee, found in Central America, can pollinate vanilla. In other parts of the world, humans duplicate the process using

QUOTE OF THE MONTH
 
Life itself is your teacher,
and you are in a state of constant learning.
Bruce Lee     
 
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Hewson Landscape Inc | [email protected] | http://www.hewson-landscape.com
601 North Avenue
Plainfield, NJ 07060
Office 908-222-3616
Fax 908-222-3617