An Introduction

My stand on flora initially developed as a hobby, followed by at least 42 years of growing Morgantown. That’s right, just Morgantown, not even Fairmont, so this website works best for Morgantown, West Virginia. Our soil, weather, and conditions — like humidity and temperature — are unique to us. If a lawn or garden technique works somewhere else, super, but I don’t think you will have the same success here.

I have been blessed by the person I think is the world’s most beautiful and supportive wife. If you’re interested in asking, she will tell you I am very opinionated. Diane will also be happy to tell you I love to teach, and she’s the happiest when I teach someone other than her!

So, with these pages, I’m going to give you the answers you need to have a successful garden in our hometown. They come from my many years in your lawns and gardens and working with some of the best mentors Morgantown had to offer.

The Five Secrets to Unbelievable Success in Your Garden

• Have realistic expectations about your Eden.
• Plant plants native to Morgantown, with sun-lovers in the sun and shade-lovers in the shade.
• Remember, when they grow up, they will get to full size and fill their location with it. Yes, grass plants too.
• Mow high.
• Mulch all clippings and leaves back into your garden.

If you did this initially and are mowing properly, then you really don’t need to read this or to hire a professional. Congratulations!

If not, read on...

The Finish Line

To start this journey, we need to see the finish line, which for me is the three signs of a great lawn:

1. It is a beautiful green color when it should be.
2. It is carpet level with an excellent density.
3. It is 95% native grasses.

That’s remarkably simple, right?

Well, it’s only simple if we pick the right plants, properly plant them to our soil, and do the bare minimum required for the newly installed plants.

Think about that and what the consequences are for our landscapes. Your most important question when selecting a new plant is: Will it grow happily where you want to put it? Do this, and life for both of us will be simple.

Not everyone is going to be a lawn expert, which is why I still have a job. My goal is not to convince you that my definition is correct. I have had many excellent clients over the years who thought differently. Our relationship doesn’t have to have conflict from either direction. In other words, I can accept you and you can accept me because the reality is, we will not change each other. It can be hard to exist in that relationship, so sometimes this leads to me firing you or you firing me, but always respectfully. The clients who have remained with me for years with our dissimilarities have been really special people.

Why Do We Fail If It’s So Easy?

Our nature is to chase shiny objects. We read about flora from all over the world that our local stores sell for a profit. We don’t read about what’s best for us. If you read a label on a plant, you’re lucky if it's on the right plant. Even if it is, it could be flat-out wrong for Morgantown’s soil.

Wrong plant labels have always been a frustration to me. I sold chemicals for 28 years at Benson’s Hardware, and I was taught to only do what a label says. Product labels are like a bible because they are real, accurate, and will protect you. Plant tags are the antithesis because they can be misleading and inaccurate, and they are on the wrong pot 10% of the time.

The following is an example of my personal frustration with misconception of labels 50 years later.

Morgantown had a great man for our county agent who would recommend products he knew worked under certain circumstances, and then people would come in to ask me, the lowly hardware clerk, for them.

The worst was Malathion. People would come in and say, “I need Malathion to kill fleas in my house.” I went so far as searching every label on every brand of Malathion. I even went to my lab pro, David Quinn at West Virginia University. However, no one said it was safe for killing fleas in the house. In an outdoor a kennel, yes. Inside, no.

I was not popular at all when I refused to sell the product, but that’s okay since I wasn’t too popular with my Dad either.

Where I Come In

1. It is very difficult to accept that grass is a simple plant and is not green when it's best for us. We teach reasonable expectations by helping you understand what you are seeing. Sometimes we get ourselves out on an irrational ledge, but we can help talk you off that ledge.
2. A great lawn makes you want to take your shoes off and feel it with your feet. That only happens when we treat it like the plant it is by cutting it how it wants, when it wants and returning clippings to the soil for system viability.
3. Your lawn has dozens of grass species. Those native to our soil aren’t always as attractive as the ones we plant, but they have to be accepted because the medicines that help the exotic ones grow have consequences.
4. We help you understand that we do use weed medicines that are safe and practical. Our goal is to provide you with a dense turf that limits the need for medicines.

How I Got My Wisdom

“Wisdom Unencumbered by Facts” is my attempt to share my journey. Understand that my wisdom developed through lots of study and few words are mine. Most come from my most excellent mentors, whom I drug all over Morgantown as I learned.

And I learned the hard way, through one failure at a time. My mentors would be happy to tell you I was an eager sponge with insatiable curiosity. Some things really do not change. For me, though, it's the results that matter, not getting sidelined with facts.