The Benson Letter - August 2020

August 2020 in your lawn and garden has been so wonderful, let's invest a newsletter to prove that point. We’ll start with realizing our gardens are over-performing this year. Lawns look like August, which is never good, but we have had adequate rain to keep the soil alive.

The temperatures have dropped from those damaging above-88 days too. Things can change, but at this writing the week’s forecast doesn’t show a day over 85. This has been a great August for our landscapes.

The Benson Letter - July 2020

It's July, and in Morgantown we are enjoying an exceptionally hot and dry summer. This is fortunate for us if we like fun in the sun. Our lawns and landscapes are not quite as fortunate, however. They are showing the signs of stress.  

Watering your lawn can do more harm than good, so if you want to water or are watering, please read those sections below. Your shrubs and trees do need help, so follow last month’s instructions, as that all still applies. Lastly the bagworms are doing their part to add frustration to us all this summer, and there are lots of videos already posted for you to see here, here, here, and here.

That covers the top topics this month. If you’re in a hurry, see you next month. It you're interested in hearing more, please read on.

The Benson Letter - June 2020

It's June, and while that is just 30 days from my last writing, our weather went from frost and monsoons to the 90s and a 3-week drought. Morgantown continues to be blessed by sudden weather changes, making us who work at the weather’s whim understand how little control we really have.

Speaking of little control, I thank Ann Logan for bringing to my attention an outbreak of woolly adelgid on hemlocks in the area near Mundy’s Place. I also believe the azaleas and Japanese maples have survived the late frost despite last month’s conversation.

Water any plants planted in the last 3 years deeply and regularly through the year. Most of us do it wrong, so if you want to know how to water in Morgantown, read on. Otherwise I’ll see you next month.

The Benson Letter - May 2020

Wow! This month had lots of life lessons. Did I curse us in last month’s newsletter mentioning my excitement awaiting the Azalea bloom? Yes, but your azaleas and Japanese maples will survive, not as beautiful, but survive. If your lawn has mud tracks following being mowed, or an off-color yellow to pink color, there is not much you can do. Weather always dictates our job, and the wonderful daily rainfall is the cause for both. You can mow within an hour of one of our applications and not affect the results. Lastly, I want to thank Sara Morgan for bringing our new invasive weed buddy to my attention, lessor celandine, also known as fig buttercup.

That covers this month’s conclusions, so see you next month. Or if I aroused your curiosity, read on.

The Benson Letter - April 2020

Hello!

In this crazy world, thank you for spending a minute with me today. We are in the middle of the most beautiful spring I can ever remember. Perhaps God thought we would have time this year to notice? My experience indicates that if you have fleas or ticks there is not much reason to put chemicals in your lawn thinking it will help. Lastly, if you learn anything here this month, please let it be "never roll your lawn."

That’s my short-winded April lesson, so you now know the facts. Interested to learn more? Read on. Otherwise, thank you for reading.

The Benson Letter - March 2020

Spring greetings to you!

Spring is really here, and this newsletter can be considered a no-virus zone. Fortunately, flora, our patient, is not affected by what we are going through, and we are so thankful for that. The March newsletter is going to celebrate spring and the joy flora offers when we take time to participate. Flora enjoys its brief, or sometimes quite long, life without question, giving 100% daily, dancing in the sunlight and shimmering in the rain. Perhaps emulating that would make us better today, and that could be the March newsletter’s gift.

The Benson Letter - February 2020

Happy February Morgantown!

February is short but has been simply amazing! I saw my first dandelion on the second day in the Suncrest Towne Centre turf area in front of Buffalo Wild Wings. I saw other anomalies too, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about them but watch and learn. This is the best time of year to prune your very special plants because they’re still sleeping. Examples would be Japanese maples, magnolias, dogwoods, or plants planted for sentimental reasons. It's also a great time to get a head start on getting rid of weeds or moles in your landscape beds.

The Benson Letter - January 2020

Happy January!

A quick overview of the January newsletter for those that just want the facts. While the weather is odd, your flora will survive, but your Japanese maples may suffer some damage. Lime is a soil builder we use this time of year, and it doesn’t need watering in. Our website training center is being created this winter, and I would love to hear any suggestions for subjects. Lastly, salt, when applied to our roads, impacts your plants, but there’s not much you can do. If satisfied, I’ll see you next month but if not, read on.

The Benson Letter - December 2019

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to my old and many new readers!

This is a newsletter written to discuss the lawns, landscapes, and flora of Morgantown, West Virginia. Period. None of us knows what the weather will be, so our job is to take it and then react in a way that makes sure things turn out their best. Said another way, we do not know what will confront our flora, but our goal remains to react to the best of our abilities.

Goal one, then, of this newsletter is to explain the weather’s relationship to the health and welfare of our flora. Goal two is to teach our simple methods of enhancing nature’s systems. Growing grass is a pretty simple thing; if it wasn’t, we couldn’t do it. Many try to make this rocket science, but we illustrate how absurd that is. Goal three is to talk about our town, our area flora, and our clients. Please ask questions, because if it's on your mind it will also be on others’.

The Benson Letter - November 2019

Hello,

We happily can report today that the drought, as far as our landscapes are concerned, is over and our properties are on their way back to their norms. Ground temperatures have already dropped, however, so the return to green has been very slow, particularly in lawns with lots of established trees. As we predicted, full recovery will not happen until spring.

This is a great time of year to think again about mowing height. As we have said before, mowing height is as important as hiring us to do your fertilization. This is so important that I am tempted to repeat that sentence again, but instead, let's talk about the exceptions.

The Benson Letter - October 2019

Good Morning, Morgantown!

Those of you who know me know I say this with enthusiasm regularly. Why? It always makes me think of Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam. Saying this always makes me think of him, and that makes me smile. Smiling is always good.

If you take ten minutes with my newsletter, I think you will learn something. Gift me with ten minutes in your landscape in person, and I know I will learn something. Your lawn looks pretty sad right now, so I would love the chance to meet and share.

The Benson Letter - September 2019

Hello Morgantown!

Let’s start with some positivity. Despite the high temperatures and lack of rain we continue to have at this writing, your lawn will be just fine. Yes, it will be brown, probably until late fall or even spring, and yes, it may be weedy, but it will be just fine. Most of our lawns are dormant due to the heat, and although it isn’t attractive, it isn’t normally fatal.

I ran the 7-day forecast before writing to you. It looks like we will be back in the 90s soon, and there is no rain in sight. Hopefully, temperatures will drop and rain will return without flooding so the lawns will green up for a beautiful fall. At this time, though, it’s in God’s hands, so we all just get to sit back and watch the weather unfold.

The Benson Letter - August 2019

Thank you!

Why thank you? This summer has been a hot season, and our grasses haven’t accepted that well. There’s also been enough rain to keep things from being dormant, so what have we gotten? Some growth and lots of weeds.

An extra inch of grass provides shade that helps to keep things alive and viable. Accordingly, we have stretched out our mowing schedule to allow for that protection, leaving things not looking always their best.

The Benson Letter - July 2019

Hello Morgantown!!

A lot has happened since last we talked. I could write a book here, but the challenge is to keep this newsletter brief and informative. If any issue here interests you and you wish to learn more, please call me directly.

To start, the weather has continued to get hotter and hotter, plus we have had copious amounts of rain. Yes, you’re correct, that means weedy lawns and major bed weeds. This weather also leads to slower turf growth and general browning, which will probably continue.

The Benson Letter - June 2019

Hello Morgantown!

This is your June newsletter, and at this writing we are experencing a magnificant weather season. Last month I was warning about red thread. Then, just as soon as that humidity started, it stopped, and the red thread went away. I think we only boosted five lawns before it was evident that it had self-healed.

Our June weather has been cool, lower humidity, and, while rainy, not insanely rainy. This is about as close as we get to perfect weather here in Morgantown.

The Benson Letter - May 2019

Hello,

It's May, and with the warm tempertures come lots of interesting problems.

First, though, let's address one of the most important things we have to manage to have a beautiful lawn. That’s cutting height.

The Benson Letter - April 2019

I appreciate you welcoming me into your home to talk about your lawncare needs with this newsletter. It's April 15th, and it's raining in Morgantown. For a change, it's rain that is needed and will help the continuation of our beautiful spring.

I mentioned last month the progression of blooms, and that continues with forsythia and quince, leading into a beautiful magnolia bloom. Normally the magnolia bloom is trashed by a late frost, but not this year. It won’t be long until we see the azaleas that were so beautiful yesterday in Georgia at the Masters.

The Benson Letter - March 2019

Thank you!

I appreciate you welcoming me into your home to talk about your lawncare needs with this newsletter. How about the weather here the first 18 days of March? The ground is starting to dry out finally, and the temperatures are just about normal which isn’t normal at all for us in Morgantown.

The Benson Letter - February 2019

Thank you!

I appreciate you welcoming me into your home to talk about your lawncare needs with this newsletter.

Isn’t Mother Nature wonderful? Drought totally destroys our business, so I vowed years ago never to complain about rain. Therefore, my comment is simply to mention the obvious, which is that it's rained more in the last 6 months than I can remember. If it would have been a cold winter, just imagine the snow.

The Benson Letter - January 2019

Thank you!

I appreciate you welcoming me into your home to talk about your lawncare needs with our new and improved Benson’s Lawn Systems newsletter.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, we provided this service the old way: printing, stuffing an envelope, and mailing with a postage stamp. I wrote the letters and Marge Goldstein did everything else. She did an amazing job, but unfortunately Marge retired and she was not replaceable. Hence the 10-year absence.