Have a safe and happy New Year!

 

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

Light up your Holidays

Have you made it downtown this holiday season yet?  If not, I hope you get an opportunity to over winter break.  Preferred is so honored to help the city with not only the lights on the actual river walk but at many of the parks and offices around the city too.    San Antonio is a beautiful and fun city and the holiday lights only make it better!  Happy Holidays!

 

Give the gift of green

Are you not sure what to get someone this holiday season?  You can't go wrong giving a live plant.

 

Here are the three of the popular options and tips on how to care for them:

 

Christmas Cactus comes in a variety of colors.  It is easy to care for but be sure to let the soil dry out before watering it.  This can remain a house plant until spring and then it can be placed in a container starting in May.

Rosemary "Christmas" tree - This tree can actually be replanted once the holidays are over.  Be sure to remove the wrapping and allow the water to drain to avoid rotting.  Again, be careful not to overwater.

Poinsettia - Keep them away from places that experience wide varience in  temperatures.  Place them by a window but make sure it isn't touching a cold window.  Water when the soil is dry to the touch and water until it starts to drain through.

Exclusive Preferred offer on Poinsettias

Free Rain Sensor

Our customers can receive a free rain sensor for their irrigation systems!  Preferred Landscape and Lighting is waiving our installation fees and SAWS is providing a free wireless rain sensor.  To apply for the program, go to  http://www.saws.org/Conservation/Outdoor/RainSensors/.  Once you receive the coupon, give us a call at 210-657-7737 and we will get you on our schedule.  The program continues through March 1, 2014.

Why is SAWS and Preferred offering this great opportunity?

All in-ground irrigation systems – both residential and commercial – are required by city ordinance to have a functioning rain sensor. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that many are nonfunctioning or missing despite the legal requirement.

A functioning rain sensor can save a lot of water, benefiting both the customer and the community. In fact, a rain sensor can save between 20 to 30 percent of your annual water use.

That's why for a limited time, SAWS is offering a WaterSaver Rain Sensor Coupon good for a free wireless rain sensor and $60 toward the cost of installation through a participating licensed irrigator. This program gives those with older systems (installed prior to Jan. 1, 2012) an opportunity to bring their system into compliance and to verify water savings when a high-quality rain sensor is provided

Wow - we were so excited to get this customer feedback!

"This is an overdue note to say thank you for the services provided by Preferred Landscape and Lighting. Last year, when I approached you for landscape services for my home, I had planned on improving the look of landscape in the front and back yard, updating the lighting and irrigation, and most significantly, adding an outdoor pergola and fireplace area. I was intent on having this finished in time for our annual Halloween party. Not only was it finished on time, but you even helped me hang my outdoor lights and decorations right before the party! And the revision of the front porch and addition and artistic placement of large pots, suggested in the landscape design, was something I had not envisioned, but it turned out beautifully.

In the past year, the outdoor fireplace and pergola area has become an important extension of our home life. I have enjoyed a glass of wine with my friends on many a pleasant evening, and my son has loved having the area as a place for he and his friends to hang out by the fireplace and chat.

This year, terrible weather hit San Antonio on the day before Halloween, with heavy rains and storms. My regular maintenance service on Halloween day was canceled early in the morning because of the heavy rains. Fortunately for our annual party, the weather actually cleared by about 10 AM and we had the best weather ever for that evening. But I was in a bit of a panic, with all the preparations that had to be completed for the party. The weather the night before had blown tree debris all over the back porch and pergola areas, and when Rachel called to tell me services were canceled and that the crews had been told they could leave, I told her about the party plans. She immediately offered to help….the major concern was just blowing off all the debris and cleaning up, so she came over herself to take care of that, allowing me to concentrate on the rest of the preparations for the party.

Most recently, the water feature and lighting installed in the atrium outside the master bath has completely transformed the whole bathroom…so much more pleasant for the large window to look out on that than the unkempt area that was there before!

I sincerely appreciate the prompt and considerate service provided by you personally, and by all the folks at Preferred Landscape and Lighting. My initial decision to work with Preferred was on the basis of great reviews from a good friend of mine, and I can add my positive experiences to his. Thanks for all you’ve done for me over the past several years! Best, Susan"

Before and After

Here are some Before and After pictures of a recent project.  A church was looking to fix up a courtyard area and we are really pleased at how it turned out. We love the mix of the hardscape to make it functional and the softscape to soften the look and bring some green to the area!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go...

It is that time of year again and our Holiday Decor division has been super busy decorating for the holidays for our customers!  Here is a customer comment we received this season.

"I want to thank you so much for all your help and also your team of installers and Ricky (very polite & knowledgeable) for fixing the timer. The weather was awful cold and wet but your team persisted until it was done. The tree is so beautiful and neighbors close and far have come to express how beautiful you all have made our tree. The children and grandchildren were surprised and thrilled. One of the granddaughters is having her graduation picture done here!! In fact request to use our tree for Christmas pictures by family & friends have been made. We are very happy with these Holiday Lights.  Bless You, Shirley & Charlie"

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the long weekend!

Testimonial Tuesday!

Here is some recent customer feedback on a recent lighting job we did:

"What an incredible lighting job your men did lighting our Mediterranean Palms and Trees!  It has given us many hours of pleasure - now and in the future."  

Irrigation Advice from SAWS

SAWS sends out a great newsletter with really useful tips on how to conserve water and care for your San Antonio Landscape.  The following is a link to an article they sent out last week that had some great information about changing your irrigation settings on your controller.

 http://www.saws.org/conservation/newsletter/enews/issue.cfm?id=299

 In case you can't follow the link, the following is an excerpt:

 "At this time of year we encourage you to just turn off your irrigation system and run it manually on the few occasions when watering is recommended.

Consider your landscape's watering needs:

•          Plants are preparing for dormancy. This means they don't take in as much water and the rate at which moisture evaporates from the soil is significantly less than it was just one month ago.

•          Roots continue to grow at a snail's pace during dormancy. Apply mulch to conserve existing soil moisture and help protect plant roots from freezing temperatures.

•          The cooler, wetter weather is usually sufficient for our soon-to-be-dormant lawns. Any additional irrigation – especially during certain times of the day – only encourages the growth of fungi."

If you have any questions or need any help, please feel free to give us a call and we would be happy to help.

Reminder from SAWS

The following is an email SAWS sent out this morning and we wanted to pass it along.  If you need help resetting your irrigation controller, please let us know!

"SAWS Conservation are seeing a lot of commercial properties that obviously have not changed the controllers back to CST.  A word to the wise should be sufficient……"

Testimonial Tuesday

The following is an email we received from another happy customer! 

 

"Just a quick note to tell you how pleased we are with your landscaping crew. They arrived on schedule yesterday, did an enormous amount of work, and did a splendid job cleaning up their portion of the work site at the end of the day...the guy sweeping my driveway was awesome! All of them were respectful and friendly toward me and my two children."

Before and After - Hardscape Project

One of my favorite things to post on the blog is before and after pictures from our recent projects.  The following shots show some recent paver and flagstone work.  We think the project turned out beautiful - what do you think?

How to Protect your Garden From Frost

Now that November has rolled in, it is important to know that the first freeze is predicted around November 28th in San Antonio.  That leaves only a few weeks to get your plants cold weather protected!

What can you do to protect your garden from frost?
1.  Mulch, Mulch, Mulch - mulching all landscape plantings and the garden is a standard cold-protection technique.  It helps insulate the root systems of all your plants.  It also traps soil warmth built up during the growing season and preserves any soil moisture.

2.  Move container grown plants into the garage or even indoors to protect them.

3.  When a heavy freeze is predicted, cover any freeze-sensitive plants at dusk after the soil and plants have absorbed the sun's heat; covering the plants traps the radiating heat. 

4.  Don't use plastic coverings or sheets to cover your plants!  Better choices include large cardboard boxes, thick wool blankets or bubblewrap.  Make sure the covering goes all the way to the ground to trap the heat.

5.  Uncover plants when the temperature rises above freezing to let the plant processes resume normal function - don't keep them covered all winter - they will suffocate!

Thank you to our Veterans

We are proud to have 5 veterans part of our Preferred Family:

Alan Burroughs

Mike Anderson

John Whisner

Janet Worley

Yvonne Uhl

A big thank you to them and all other veterans for their service.  Thank you for protecting the country that we love. 

New $100 Rebate from SAWS

San Antonio Water System is offering a new coupon that inspires customers to replace parts of their traditional lawns with a new patio.

The WaterSaver Patioscape Coupon provides SAWS residential water customers another way to reduce landscape water use while making their outdoor living space more beautiful — and more functional. Qualified applicants will receive either a $100 coupon if they don't have irrigation in their landscape or $200 if they do have an irrigation system.

The coupon is good only for the purchase of the feature item that will comprise the main surface of the patioscape: flagstones, pavers or stepping stones. Base and fill materials also are required to construct a functional patio but are not covered by the coupon.

• Patioscapes must be constructed in a way that makes them pervious to water, allowing rain to reach the ground underneath.
• No concrete, mortar, asphalt or other impervious construction is allowed.
• Patioscapes must be at least 10 feet wide and cannot be used to create a pathway.
• Projects must be completed by March 1, 2014.
• If you have an irrigation system, you must schedule a free irrigation checkup with a SAWS conservation consultant by calling 210-704-SAVE (7283) before any coupon(s) can be issued.

The Patioscape Coupon program runs Nov. 1-Dec. 31. For more information or to apply, visit saws.org/patio.

Remember to set your clocks back before bed on Saturday!

Daylight savings time ends this Sunday so remember to set your clocks back an hour.

We also recommend checking the timer on your lighting system as it is getting darker earlier now and many systems are set for our long summer days.  If you need help setting your timer, please let us know and we can help you.

It is also a good time to check your irrigation system.  If you have an established landscape, you can scale your watering down significantly.

Happy Halloween

Hope you have your candy ready because "Trick or Treat!" is the phrase you will hear tonight! Hope you are able to get into the spirit and enjoy this fun kids holiday. 

If you are lucky enough to have little ones to take around, have fun and be safe.

Kuddos to our Commercial Maintenance crews!

Our maintenance crews have been busy!  The following is a comment we received from the managers at Privilege Creek Estates in Boerne.

"I wanted to tell you that your crew did a great job, it looks 100% better out here.  Please thank them.  I will have them back in the spring.

Shanda 
Privilege Creek Estates

Fall Fest was fun but we still need your donations!

Thank you for joining us last night for fall fest!  We had a great time and hope you did too.  We will post some pictures of the event next week.

Thank you to the folks who made donations to the San Antonio Food Bank - we were able to raise $700.  However, if you didn't get a chance to make a donation last night, you can still do it online.  The link to their website is below.

https://safoodbank.org/index.php?option=com_jdonation&view=donation

You can donate online!

Woo-Hoo - we are excited for tonight.  Our fall fest benefits the San Antonio Food Bank.  If you want to donate online, here is the link.  We will see you tonight!
https://safoodbank.org/index.php?option=com_jdonation&view=donation

Bring the kids to Fall Fest tomorrow!

Join us tomorrow for our fall fest! We will have kids activities including a costume parade, painting pumpkins and even a glow in the dark putting green. Come join us!

Fall Fest this Thursday!

We are busy getting ready for our annual fall fest this Thursday.  The forecast for the weather is perfect - sunny and warm - perfect for an evening out! 

Work in Progress

This beautiful fireplace and patio project is just about complete as you can see from the pictures.  We included a picture from the very beginning of the project, one in the middle of the project and the last two are taken as the project is in its finishing stages.  We will update with the finished project pictures when we complete it.

Our Tree Care Crew is the best in the business!

Preferred is proud to employ some of the best tree care professionals in Texas.  With over 30 combined years of experience our team knows how to get the job done with great customer satisfaction.

Preferred would like to recognize Julio Tejada and his crew Diego Tejada, Ernest Velasquez.  They continue to get rave reviews from our customers like this one

“By way of follow up to the tree service on Saturday…. What a wonderful surprise to have so many professionals on my property taking good care of the trees that I love so much.

Your crew was amazing. When they were finished the foreman came to my door and shared with me that they were finished and invited me to come out and do an inspection. It was everything that I had wanted and more.  Thank you for the professionalism and the great care that you took with my property. I will continue to promote you and your company with our 580 Keller Williams agents with our City View office.”

Backyard Retreat

We loved how this backyard renovation transformed the space into a retreat.  It is perfect for entertaining with several different seating areas to enjoy the soothing water feature.  The large, lush planters complete the look.

As the cool temperatures move in, wouldn't it be great to have an outdoor fireplace?

We were so excited to finish this outdoor fireplace just in time for fall.  We also did a flagstone patio to define the sitting area around the fireplace.  We also did a moss rock retaining wall.

Congrats to Scott Wiatrek

We were honored that DR Horton choose Preferred Landsacpe and Lighting as one of their invaluable contractors this year.  Scott Wiatrek was at their event this week and was excited Preferred has had so many great opportunities to work with DR Horton.  Great job Scott!

Preferred Landscape and Lighting offers A+ Service

Preferred has been a member of the Better Business Bureau since 2009 and we are proud of our A+ rating.  Preferred Landscape and Lighting strives to give our clients the best service for their project, big or small. 

 http://www.bbb.org/central-texas/Business-Reviews/landscape-contractors/preferred-landscape-lighting-in-boerne-tx-90066905

Looking for inspiration?

This Saturday, Oct. 5, nine unique, water-savvy landscapes will be showcased from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the annual WaterSaver Landscape Tour. It's self-guided and best of all — free!
Every year the tour focuses on urban and suburban landscapes designed for low maintenance and low water use. Some of the features they share include: drip irrigation, native plants, colorful drought-tough perennials and little-to-no lawn space. Most importantly, each landscape offers simple ideas that can be incorporated into any South Texas yard.
Some of the more interesting features this year include:

• Neighbors working together to create sweeping landscapes that benefit both yards.
• Plant combinations that flow seamlessly from sunny areas to shady areas.
• Mash-ups of whimsical art and drought-tolerant plants.

At each stop, the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas will serve as tour guides.
The landscapes were selected through a nomination process in late summer. The tour is sponsored by San Antonio Water System, San Antonio River Authority and the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas.

For more information, check out the website http://www.watersaverlandscapetour.org/2013tour.html

Beautiful Planters

Here  are some pictures of a recent project we did.  We love the way the planters turned out!

Recognition Wednesday: Diana Esqueda

Diana Esqueda has done an outstanding job of working with the H2B workers and getting them "in-processed", this is a crazy, time consuming task that requires attention to detail. She has gone above and beyond the call of duty to be in early and stay late to work with these employees and help get our crews ready for the Holiday season. While completing these extra tasks she has managed to stay on point with most of her day to day duties and still get payroll processed seamlessly. Way to go Diana.

Short, Simple and to the point!

Here is a comment from a recently completed residential job.  We will put up some after pictures later this week.

"Everything came out as planned.............you meet my expectations.......it looks great!" ~Ken C.

Save the Date!

Congrats to Nieves who is celebrating his 5 year anniversary with Preferred!

Nieves is a Commercial Landscape Estimating, Sales and Design Representative for Preferred Landscape and Lighting, a boutique firm based in San Antonio, Texas. He focuses on growing Preferred’s commercial landscape presence. Nieves’ client list consists of some of the largest General Contracting firms in San Antonio. Although his skill is in landscape design, his interests are in expanding urban green spaces for the San Antonio Community to enjoy, water conservation, and sustainable development. 

Nieves grew up in the Austin, Texas area, received his BA in International Relations from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, and is currently an MBA in Sustainable Systems candidate at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Seattle, Washington. Nieves is a 2010 graduate of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber’s Alexander Briseño Leadership Development Program, and currently in Class 38 of Leadership San Antonio.

Compliments for Preferred Tree Care services

We just had our annual tree trimming service completed by your crew and we want to take this opportunity to extend a sincere compliment on the work that they have done.  In spite of occasional rain showers throughout the day, your crew continued with their work (in the rain).  They were very thorough with their work and did not hesitate to make requested adjustments to trimming on certain trees.  Their attention to detail provided a welcome feeling of confidence in the work that they were doing.

As always it is a pleasure to work with you and your crew with our annual tree trimming service.

Thanks for a job well done.

Ken Chorn

Fall Planting brings Spring Beauty

In San Antonio, the fall months September through December are the best months to plant bulbs for spring blooms.  Fall bulb varieties include tulips, daffodils, crocus and hyacinths.  The reward for all your hard work this fall is in the spring when your landscape is bursting with colorful blooms.

Planting bulbs is one of the few jobs where a little bit of work provides such an impressive result. It is fast, easy and almost foolproof.  Here are a few tips:

1.  Plant the pointy side up

2.  Plant big bulbs 8" deep and small bulbs 5" deep
3.  Plant them in clusters - not just one bulb alone or them in a single line. 

The SAWS WaterSaver Landcape Coupon program is back just in time for fall!

After a scorcher of a summer, fall is the perfect time to replace your lackluster, high-maintenance grass with something more vibrant (and less needy).

And just in time, the WaterSaver Landscape Coupon program returns with new fall offerings. The two package options — full sun or full shade — will be available Sept. 15-Nov. 30 to SAWS residential water customers.

To get the $100 coupon, you must replace 200 square feet of grass with a drought-tolerant garden bed made up of 15 low-water plants from a specific package. More ambitious gardeners may apply for two coupons to remove 400 square feet.

Some new and exciting aspects of the fall edition include:

• New plant choices including lavender, shrimp plant, Texas persimmon and tough-yet-beautiful Earth-Kind roses!
• A full shade package will be offered, appropriate for homes where very little sunlight makes it through the tree canopy.
• The mulch purchase is no longer required at the nursery where you buy your plants. However, you still must apply 1 cubic yard (about 14 standard bags) of mulch — organic or crushed granite/rock — to the new bed. You can even make your own using leaves, wood chips or rocks as long as it is 2 inches deep.

Don't forget that if you have an in-ground irrigation system, you will have to cap the spray heads in the bed before planting. By doing this, you may also qualify for our newly streamlined Residential Irrigation Design rebate.

In addition to the 15 drought-tolerant plants, each package will include a garden bed plan and a plant care guide.
 For more information, http://www.saws.org/Conservation/Outdoor/Coupon/

Congratulations to Darryl!

We would like to congratulate Darryl Cook on his recent promotion to Vice President and General Manager of Preferred Landscape and Lighting LLC; part of the Millard Group of companies. Darryl has worked for Preferred for over 16 years and was an owner in the company prior to merging with the Millard Group.  Darryl was the first employee for Preferred, and has done almost every job at the company.  At 26 years old he left the wine business to mow lawns on the weekends and work his way into ownership of the fledgling company.  Now he heads up the 8mm plus a year sales and operations for Preferred Texas.  Most recently Darryl managed the significant growth of the Landscape Lighting and Residential Sales/Design Team. 

“I’m so proud to work with a group of people that are considered the best in the industry.  This group has propelled Preferred through one of the worst recessions in this Nation’s history and has come out the other side stronger and more able than ever.  Our amazing people are the reason we have such great customers and will continue to be the reason for our future success.”

Darryl is very involved in the community and currently serves on the board of the North Chamber Leadership Lab Alumni.  Preferred encourages all of their employees to engage in the community though various business, social, and nonprofit organizational memberships.

Testimonial from Highlands Ranch

The following is a quick email we received from one of our commercial maintenance customers, Highlands Ranch Properties.

Thanks again - it really looks 100% better! 

Overall though, everything is looking great! Thanks!

Carolyn  Bentzinger

Highland Village

Community Involvement

Preferred Landscape and Lighting’s company culture has always been to give back to our community.  We do this by hosting annual fundraisers like the ones like our upcoming Fall Fest which is supporting the San Antonio Food Bank.  We also accomplish our goal with community outreach by bringing out our custom BBQ smoker out to other community events and providing and cooking the food.  The following is a letter from a recent event we were apart of with the Boerne Library Foundation.

David,

Thank you so much for supporting the Live at the Library program with the use of your smoker.  We are grateful for your time and your commitment to the community.   For the last eight months, we have been raising funds for this program towards a matching grant with the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation.  Your involvement was one of the reasons that we were able to reach our goal! 

We can't thank you enough for coming out to help us kick off this season.  I hope that we will be able to have you come out and cook for us again.   We had several people tell us how wonderful it was to see Preferred Landscape and Lighting out for another concert. 

Thank you!

Kind Regards,

Ariel Brooks-Stevens

Executive Director

451 N Main Bldg. 100 - Boerne, TX 78006

cell: 210-421-6132

www.boernelibraryfoundation.org

Save the Date

Preferred Landscape and Lighting will be holding our annual Fall Festival on October 24th.  We hope you can join us!  Mark it on your calendar - more details to follow as we get closer to the date!