#TeachingTuesday: Dianthus, AKA Pinks or Sweet Williams

Almost everyone has come in contact with dianthus at some point in their lives. The carnations in floral arrangements are a type of dianthus, it’s a popular fall annual flower, and there are also perennial types as well. Dianthus is ancient flower, known to humans for thousands of years, but most of the ones planted today are new hybrids. In addition to the scientific name of Dianthus, these flowers are also known as sweet williams or pinks. It is believed that the color “pink,” actually came from the flower, like the color “rose” refers to the color of the rose flower. Pinks, the flowers, were named for the zigzagged edges of their petals. If you have a family member who sews, you may be familiar with the special scissors called “pinking shears,” which are used to “pink” the edges of fabric to help prevent raveling.

Pinking shears cut a zigzag along the edge of a seam.
Dianthus flowers, or “pinks,” have zigzag edges on their petals.

Maintenance Tips

Sweet williams have a fairly short blooming period, so frequent deadheading is necessary if you want to keep them in bloom. They should be planted in well-drained soils, otherwise they will be susceptible to crown rot and rust. Snails and slugs can pose a problem, so some type of deterrent such as diatomaceous earth may be necessary.

ID Tips

While there are many different species of dianthus, the most common ones for fall annual planting are China pinks, Dianthus chinensis, or a hybrid between China pinks and another variety. Some of the key features to notice in Dianthus species are:

Lance-shaped leaves (similar to a blade of grass or bamboo leaf) that wrap around the main stem.
Leaves may have a bluish or silvery cast, due to a waxy layer. This is more pronounced in other Dianthus species.
The flowers have 5 fan-shaped petals, and tend to be quite flat. The edges of the petals have a “pinked” appearance, ranging from a slight zigzag to deeply fringed petals resembling eyelashes (check out Dianthus superbus).
Flowers range in color from white, pale pink, and lavendar, to brilliant and intense shades of hot pink, red, and fuchsia.

#FeatureFriday: Celebrating the Season, our Employees, and our Industry Partners!

Since today is the last work day before the Christmas holiday, I wanted to share with everyone how much we appreciate all of our employees and our industry partners! Last Friday, December 14th, we held our “Annual Fun Day” event where our employees enjoy a day of games, awards, and delicious food.

The day started at 7am with biscuits, coffee, and orange juice. Because it rained all day, all the events had to take place inside our shop (which ruled out some of the favorites–the pine straw relay race and the blower obstacle course). Nevertheless, we had some fun indoor alternatives already planned!

: Miss Linda, who handles our payroll and accounts receivable (in addition to a myriad of other tasks!), kept time and sounded the air horn when it was time for groups to rotate to the next station.

The roughly 100 employees from different locations in NC split into six groups and rotated through six game stations, where each station’s winner received a cash prize.

: The ladies of the office (me and Linda)

The management staff manned the game stations and kept track of the winners.

: Ryan Kimbro, Maintenance Division Manager

A new event we held for the first time this year was a trailer tire change challenge (that’s a tongue twister)! It was a big hit, with each employee competing for the fastest time. The high score of the day was achieved by Jeff Solomon, with a time of 27.6 seconds (featured in the highlight video at the end of this post).

: Everyone got a chance to show off their tire changing skills and compete for the fastest time.

Other games didn’t have so much of a practical focus, but were just for fun.

: Ping pong ball toss. The smaller the cup, the more points!

Our plant ID challenge featured plants that we covered in training throughout the year (with a couple of oddballs thrown in!). The high score of the day was achieved by Sam Letaw, with a perfect score. One round was won by Beau Walker, one of our mechanics, which goes to show how much you can learn if you just pay attention to what’s around you!

Blake and Suzy lead the Plant ID Challenge

Employees try to identify the plants they have learned throughout the year

Tyler gets up close to ID this distylium!

Carlos has been with us less than 2 months, but did a solid job!

A new favorite, the quarter toss game was invented last year, when we also got some rain on Fun Day. Each person tosses a quarter, and the closest one to the line without going over wins.

We also had a new frisbee game since we have official Myatt Landscaping frisbees now! The goal is to knock the water bottles off the cones. Our highlight video shows one shot that hit two water bottles!

: Scott tosses a frisbee in between rounds.

: Jermaine scored!

: These are the winners of all the games!

: Cordarus was one of the finalists for the cornhole championship! Scott Thompson, in the Myatt hoodie behind Cordarus, was the other finalist and won 3-0.

We also had raffles and a peanut butter cup guessing game, then continued with our annual awards ceremony.

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Scott and Todd presented a number of awards and cash prizes. See all of the winners and Scott’s closing remarks below.

: Cleanest Installation Truck Award: Mauricio’s crew

: Cleanest Maintenance Truck Award: Justin’s crew

: Perfect Attendance Award (left to right): Alberto Aguilar, Emiliano Rodriguez-Ryes, Solomon Hernandez, Antonio Alvarez, Jorge Gutierrez, Gilberto Gonzalez, Justin Niver

: Employee of the Year – Satellite Location: Ausencio Padilla, Chapel Hill

: Most Improved Installation Employee: Antonio Dominguez

: Most Improved Maintenance Employee: Justin Niver

: Installation Employee of the Year: Hector Lugo

: Maintenance Employee of the Year: Neal Baker

: Manager of the Year: Herbie Champion

: Years of Service Awards (left to right): Alberto Aguilar (5 years), Ausencio Padilla (5 years), Mauricio Acevedo (5 years), Marco Acevedo (5 years), John Davis (10 years), Antonio Jaime (15 years), Felipe Morales (15 years), Herbie Champion (15 years), Anna Myatt (20 years), Ryan Kimbro (20 years).

After Scott’s closing remarks, the buffet line was opened up. We had seafood fried by Scott’s long-time friend and mentor, Bryant Montague, and it was delicious. Then some of our vendors and partner organizations started coming by to share in our day of appreciation and enjoy a meal with us. Everyone had a wonderful time!

Great music was provided by our employee, Drew Mathews, and his wife, Leah.

What a wonderful crowd of people!

Thank you to everyone who made 2018 such a great successful year, and we’ll see you all next year!

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Watch our highlight reel below!:

#TeachingTuesday: Muhly Grass

Because of the short weeks we had due to rain and the Thanksgiving holiday, today we had our first new plant for plant identification training in 3 weeks! Last week, the crews reviewed the plants they learned in November: Carex ‘Evergold’, Chinese pistache, and tea olive.

20181204_091816 — The Myatt Landscaping office is ready for the holidays!

Pink muhly grass, or Muhlenbergia capillaris, is one of my top favorite plants. Best grouped in masses, this ornamental native grass blooms in fall creating the effect of fluffy, pink clouds. These grasses can add ethereal beauty to the home garden perennial border, or a stunning display of fall color in public parks and along highways in mass plantings. In late fall, the pink flowers develop into gray-purple seeds, which are eaten by birds and small mammals. The seedheads then fade to a light buff color, and retain their attractiveness until spring, adding texture and movement to the winter landscape. They thrive in full sun, and are tolerant of heat, humidity, drought, poor soil, and are also highly tolerant of salt and deer! These grasses do well in every part of NC as long as they are not planted in shady or wet areas.

muhlenbergia_capillaris_02_ATTRIBUTE — *Muhlenbergia capillaris* (Photo credit: Mark Turner)

Although the most widely accepted common name is pink muhly grass, more recently it is being referred to as simply “muhly grass,” because of a white-flowered variant developed in the early 2000’s, Muhlenbergia capillaris ‘White Cloud.’ White Cloud muhly grass is a bit more upright than the species.

20181204_092015 — Muhlenbergia ‘White Cloud’ in the plant holding area at our office.

Maintenance Tips

Both pink and white muhly grass are very low maintenance. They typically do not need to be cut back the first year after they are planted, but may need to be cut back or thinned in early spring after they are well established. This will help ensure that they have enough air circulation, which will protect against disease.

c8e43b2751b8f23c926559a3a009d23e — Muhly grass in winter (Photo credit: JC Raulston Arboretum)

ID Tips

The leaves are dark green, thin, and wiry, and grow in a neat, rounded clump. There aren’t many other grasses that look similar. There are many species of Muhlenbergia, but M. capillaris is the most commonly available one.
The blooms are unmistakable–panicles (clusters) of pink to deep rose hair-like filaments.

Muhlenbergia_capillaris800a

Ryan Kimbro: Celebrating 20 Years

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MEET Ryan Kimbro, Maintenance Division Manager, celebrating 20 years at Myatt Landscaping. Yes, you read that correctly, Ryan has been working here for twenty years! Every part of his interview reflects his incredible dedication to his work—building the maintenance division from nothing into a highly successful business representing 50% of the company. Read on to get to know the man behind it all.

“I’m pretty proud of staying at one place for 20 years, you know, not a lot of people do that anymore. [People say] it’s always greener on the other side, but I like it here. I enjoy coming to work every day.” ~Ryan Kimbro

…

How long have you been working here? 20 years. A big chunk of my life!

How did you start working for Myatt Landscaping? All through college I worked on different golf courses— Devil’s Ridge, Lochmere, and a couple of other ones. When I got out of [NC] State, I went to work for a friend of mine who had a landscape business. Long story short, Scott hired another friend of mine called Mark, and then they brought me in [to Myatt Landscaping]. Mark was one of these guys that was always on to the next thing, so after about 6 weeks of working, he left to do something different and moved to Wilmington. So that just left me. When I started working at Myatt, it was just four or five Hispanic laborers, and Todd and Anna [Scott’s brother and wife]. Scott and Todd had historically done a lot of spec homes, where you install a basic landscape package, and they had never done maintenance. They used to not want to do maintenance, but people kept on asking them to do it, so they brought me and Mark in to start, and then I took over when Mark left. I was the first everything really, first foreman, first manager, first spray tech… It’s grown slowly over the years, and now we’re a lot bigger than we were when we started.

What was your progression through the company? I was the first foreman, and I rode in the first maintenance truck with three laborers. We got our first package of about six shopping centers, and then we did a few houses for one of the owners of the [spec home construction] company, and so on and so forth. We grew the business and eventually we had two trucks. Then they pulled me out of the truck and made me a manager. When we were small, we did all the flowers ourselves, all the pruning, all the pine straw, aerification. It’s just grown in scale. It hasn’t changed so much, but the scale has for sure.

What made you stay at Myatt for 20 years? (Laughing) People would ask me, “Why don’t you start your own business?” Well, I kind of already have. Scott doesn’t micromanage me, it’s always “answer to the clients,” and I’ve grown [to where] I’m just vested in it. And they treat me like family—we’ve become more friends than coworkers over the years. Scott was at my wedding, and when you have a kid or that kind of thing, Todd would come by the hospital. And I’m pretty proud of staying at one place for 20 years, you know, not a lot of people do that anymore. [People say] it’s always greener on the other side, but I like it here. I enjoy coming to work every day.

As you look back on your career, what do you consider your greatest success? Growing the maintenance side of this business, and the relationships made through that process. We started with ten accounts, and now we have over two-hundred large, full-service accounts. We still have one of the original commercial accounts, and ten of the original residential accounts.

Is there any one thing you would like to take the time to learn more about? Excel spreadsheets! We use them for bigger proposals. The billing is done off of our spreadsheets, and [the clients] always want to add more items, so I have to go back to Chris and say, “I need to add another line item here.” That’s the one thing I have to ask for help with! I don’t need to ask for any other thing.

What do you enjoy most about your job? I still like being outside. I like the satisfaction of taking on projects that don’t look as good, and turning them around in a year’s time. Briar Chapel was really the first big one. It was in pretty tough shape when we got it and we’ve done a lot out there as far as what it looked like and how small it was and how big it is now. I enjoy turning residential properties around—when [clients are] willing to pay our premium and a year from then say, “You know, it’s really worth it. We really got what we paid for.” Currently, the fun challenges are these other [new] markets, the Wilmington market and the Summerville market. I would like to grow those books of business, and I still want to see us grow here as well.

What do you feel you have bragging rights to? The growth of the maintenance division. It’s not all mine, it’s “ours” as far as the maintenance team. Because all my managers have been there, like Robby, who was the second foreman after me, so I’ve built it with other key people.

Looking at all the people in history, what person would you say you respect the most and why? My father. He’s just always been there for me.

Hobbies outside of work: I like to spend time with my family, and go hunting and fishing. I usually go fishing with my wife’s side of the family in Wilmington, and I usually hunt down at Shady Grove (a large nursery in SC with a longstanding work relationship and friendship with Myatt Landscaping.—ed.). We go to see Widespread Panic a lot, which is kind of a hippy college band. We have a group of friends that gets together and travels to see them. Now that we have kids, it’s once or twice a year, but it used to be more.

Favorite food: Anything cooked on my Big Green Egg. I like to grill, and I do most of the cooking at my house. Just because it’s a hobby—my wife can cook too!

Something most people don’t know about you: I’m a great dancer!

Is there any advice you would give to a person who is starting out in your chosen career? Have a good attitude, be dependable, and be willing to learn!

#TeachingTuesday: Tea Olive

Today for #TeachingTuesday, we will cover two species of tea olive: Osmanthus fragrans and Osmanthus x fortunei. Tea olive is also known as false holly, or simply ‘osmanthus.’ Personally, tea olive is one of my all-time favorite shrubs. I have fond memories of walking across the NC State campus in late October and smelling that sweet, sweet fragrance, then looking around trying to find the large shrub it was coming from (sometimes more than 50 feet away!). Plant these evergreen shrubs near windows, porches, and outdoor living areas to enjoy the enchanting scent through the fall. The shrubs/small trees are long-lived and virtually free of pests and diseases.

Osmanthus fragrans – Fragrant Tea Olive

The fragrant tea olive is, unsurprisingly, the most fragrant Osmanthus species. However, it is also the least cold hardy, and is only marginally successful in zone 8 (it prefers zones 9-11). For reference, Raleigh-Durham is zone 7b/8a, Wilmington is zone 8a, and Charleston, SC is zone 8b/9a. We see it more on coastal properties, but it can also be grown as a container plant, or in sheltered locations with winter protection.

There is also an orange-flowered form, Osmanthus fragrans f. aurantiacus, which is slightly more cold-tolerant than the species.

1200px-Osmanthus_fragrans_(orange_flowers)

Osmanthus x fortunei – Fortune’s Tea Olive

Fortune’s osmanthus, or Fortune’s tea olive, is the most common species used in our area. It is a hybrid between Osmanthus fragrans and Osmanthus heterophyllus (false holly). Like its parent, it has small, white, highly fragrant flowers, and blooms in October-November, but is much more cold-hardy, surviving throughout zone 7. It has been around in the western horticultural trade since 1856, when it was introduced to Britain from Japan.

Fortune’s tea olive can be grown as a shrub, a small- to medium-sized tree, or even a hedge. Its spiny leaves make it very resistant to deer damage, and it is also drought tolerant, and somewhat tolerant to shade and salt.

3280043402_70ed0c2c33_b — A large screen of *Osmanthus* x *fortunei*

ID Tips

Although at first glance many tea olive species may look similar to hollies, there is an easy trick to tell the difference: tea olive leaves are always in opposite pairs, while holly leaves alternate along the stem.
Fragrant tea olive leaves are slightly larger and longer than Fortune’s tea olive leaves, and will have either entire margins (meaning smooth edges) or dentate margins (meaning finely toothed edges). The tip of the leaf is not spiny.
Fortune’s tea olive leaves are smaller and more oval-shaped, and will have a spiny tip at the point of each leaf. There are three kinds of leaves on Fortune’s tea olive: the juvenile leaves (leaves near the base of the plant), which will have 10-12 triangular, spiny teeth on each side (the younger, the spinier). The mature leaves, which are found on the upper branches of the shrub/tree, will have smooth edges, but will still have the spiny point at the tip. In the middle, there will be leaves that have a few spines near the tip of the leaf, but smooth edges near the base.

Do you have more tips for identifying tea olives? Leave a comment!

20181113_110026 — All *Osmanthus* species have leaves in opposite pairs.

20181113_110512 — Note the spines disappearing toward the base.

20181113_105829 — Individual flowers are very small, but very fragrant!

#FeatureFriday: West Johnson High School Field Trip

Yesterday, we hosted thirteen horticulture students, a teacher, and an assistant teacher from West Johnson High School in Benson on a field trip to learn about the landscaping industry. This was our first time hosting such an event, but we were excited to share our facilities, our experiences, and our knowledge with young people, and encourage them to consider careers in the industry in the future. Everyone had a blast, and we hope they left with a better understanding of the diverse roles and partnerships that are essential in leading a landscape company to success.

The tour started off with short talks from Scott Myatt, company founder and president; Ryan Kimbro, Maintenance Division Manager; and Herbie Champion, Install Division Manager. They shared the history of the company as well their own professional development through the years, and talked about some interesting facets of their jobs (while the students enjoyed coffee and doughnuts from Krispy Kreme!).

Scott Myatt talks about the importance of standing behind your work.

Next, Blake Bennett led a tour of our facilities, introducing all of our support staff and explaining many of our organizational processes. Many other staff joined the tour and answered questions from the students.

20181108_095225 — Zach Daigle explains how plant deliveries are organized.

20181108_094811 — Blake Bennett talks about why sorting our landscape and construction waste is important.

20181108_095909 — Blake shows the students our on-site fueling area.

20181108_100804 — Herbie Champion talks about our different types of trucks and how we customize them.

After the tour, we had some activities with a competitive edge planned–a plant ID quiz and a paver challenge where student teams had to fill a grid with a certain pattern correctly, the fastest team earning t-shirts with our logo. The students also designed their own planters with fall flowers to take home.

The students participated in a plant ID quiz (with no multiple choice!).

After the quiz, Caitlin Clineff shared some ID tips and tricks for each plant.

20181108_102705 — Each student designed their own planter to take home, with guidance from Myatt Staff.

20181108_103725 — We love sparking creativity with hands-on learning.

20181108_103734 — Everyone enjoyed getting their hands dirty!

20181108_104658 — Herbie demonstrates the use of a laser level prior to starting the paver challenge.

The two teams set up for the paver challenge.

20181108_105450 — Every person engaged in teamwork and problem-solving.

20181108_105500 — Matching the pattern was harder than it looked!

20181108_111912 — Just a few errors to correct… 😉

20181108_111924 — Pausing for a team discussion.

Both teams did a great job, and exercised their teamwork, problem-solving, decision-making, and spacial reasoning skills.

20181108_113311 — The students were treated to gigantic sandwiches and salads from Bagels Plus, the local deli.

20181108_120058 — Winners of the plant ID and paver challenges were given their choice of Myatt t-shirt, and everyone received a Myatt Landscaping frisbee!

We had such a great time interacting with this fantastic group of young people, and we hope that they were inspired to learn more about the myriad of unique opportunities the landscape and horticulture industries have to offer. This class was a real pleasure to host–they asked great questions and engaged fully in all of the activities. We look forward to hosting students from West Johnson and other schools in the future!

If you would like to arrange a tour of Myatt Landscaping Concepts for your class, 4-H club, FFA chapter, Boy/Girl Scout troop, etc., please contact Caitlin@myattlandscaping.com.

#TeachingTuesday: Chinese Pistache

This week, the Chinese pistache trees at our office burst into flaming glory, showcasing their brilliant fall color palettes of yellows, oranges, red, and even pinks and deep maroons. We couldn’t ignore it, so it’s our plant of the week!

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Chinese pistache, or, scientifically, Pistacia chinensis, is a tough, medium-sized tree that fares equally well as a landscape specimen or urban street tree. It is drought tolerant and has no serious pests or diseases. Renowned plantsman Michael Dirr describes the tree as gawky when young in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, but it matures into a beautiful specimen tree, rivaling the sugar maple as one of the prettiest trees for fall color in the south.

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Fun Facts

Pistacia chinensis is a cousin to the pistachio tree (Pistacia vera), which produces the pistachio nut.
Chinese pistache trees have separate male and female flowers, and the flowers are on separate trees. This type of flowering is called dioecious, and some other common examples of dioecious trees include hollies and ginkgos.
The stems of Chinese pistache have a strong odor when bruised or crushed.

ID Tips

20181106_071717 — Notice the 5 pairs of opposite leaflets and no terminal leaflet.

The leaves of Chinese pistache are compound, which means a single leaf is made up of multiple small “leaflets.” The leaflets are arranged opposite of one another, and are almost always in 5 or 6 pairs. Unlike many nut trees, such as walnut, pecan, and hickory, there is no terminal leaflet.
The buds are large, oval-shaped, and dark brown or blackish in color. There are multiple clustered buds at the branch tips (terminal buds).
The buds are arranged alternately along the stem.

20181106_071758 — Notice the alternating buds along the stem (the buds are not in pairs).

20181106_081029 — Fruit only develops on female trees, and can range in color from blue to red. The fruit is eaten by birds.

#TeachingTuesday: Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’

Today our plant of the week is the Evergold sedge, Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold.’ We use this plant extensively in our fall & winter planter designs because the striking foliage holds up well in the cold weather. It is also used in perennial shade gardens, where grasses typically can’t grow because there isn’t enough light. Sedges are more tolerant of low light and wet soil conditions than grasses are, and can add nice texture and, in the case of Evergold and other variegated sedges, a pop of brightness. They are also deer resistant, which is good news for shade gardeners–combine sedges with heuchera (our plant of the week from last Tuesday) and you will have a good start to a deer resistant garden.

Maintenance Tips

In our area, zone 7b/8a, Evergold sedge is typically evergreen, but may be affected by prolonged periods of cold, dry, windy weather, which may cause it to develop brown tips. Make sure to keep plants watered in the winter to help prevent this. Because Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ is somewhat slow-growing, it typically should not be cut back in the winter, especially if being used in a winter container garden. If there is severe browning due to cold weather, wait until springtime and cut back the foliage just as the new growth is starting to emerge.

ID Tips

At first glance, the leaves of Evergold sedge and variegated liriope (Liriope muscari ‘Variegata’) may look similar, both with creamy stripes along the length of the leaves, a clumping habit, and a similar height of about 12″. Liriope is a fast grower, and should be cut back in the late winter/early spring, so make sure you learn these tips so you can tell the difference and cut back only the correct plants!

The leaves of Evergold sedge are creased along the center, causing a ‘V’ shape when cut in cross-section. Liriope leaves are flat and strap-like.
Evergold sedge has a single cream-colored stripe running down the center of each leaf, while Liriope muscari ‘Variegata’ leaves have a green center with cream colored margins along the edges.
Evergold sedge leaves taper gradually to a very long, thin, wiry point which sometimes curls, while liriope leaves have blunt, rounded tips.
If you can remember what the flowers looked like back in the summer, sedges have small, brown, tufty seedheads, similar to what you would see on an ornamental grass, while liriope has clusters of tiny, purple flowers that are quite attractive.
Liriope may develop stalks of black berries that persist into the fall and winter, which you would never see on a sedge. But, these may not still be present when it’s time to cut back liriope foliage in the spring, so don’t rely on this tip by itself!

There are many other variegated sedges, grasses, and other grassy plants like liriope. The more you see and learn, the easier it will be to tell them apart!

carex leaf tips — Long, thin, wiry tips of Evergold sedge

liriope leaf tips — Blunt, rounded tips of variegated liriope