Association Tips: Be Your Own Nursery

When a mature shrub or tree dies, one of two things often happen……1) It’s replaced by a shrub or tree of similar type and size, which is usually expensive, or 2) it’s replaced by a new seedling that looks totally out of place, but was cheap. There is sometimes a third alternative, that it doesn’t get replaced at all, but I’ll assume that you are trying to keep the association looking good. All too often the replacement shrub or tree won’t match up with those around it and will look out of place. This is especially true with shrubs that are next to front porches, where you usually find a set on either side of the porch or steps. Over time, you end up with a hodgepodge of shrubs that look like they were just thrown in. Here’s an idea that has worked for other associations…..start your own nursery!

Find an area of the association that is in need of improvement or maybe a border area. Make sure it’s sunlit. Dig it up and turn it into a nursery. Plant shrubs similar to those that are already around the units, but use seedlings to save money. Plant a few every year for 4 or 5 years. In that way, you will get shrubs of varying sizes and be able to replace a dead shrub with one of similar size, so that it matches those around it. I would be willing to bet that you could find a retiree or two who wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on the nursery. People seem to like working with living things and you would be surprised at how many miss working in gardens as they used to before they moved into a condominium.(Note: If you don’t know what to plant, talk to the people at the Michigan State Extension Service. Your county may have a branch. They can give you some ideas on how to identify the shrubs you have and what types grow best in your soil.)

Take it a step further and turn the nursery into a walking garden. Put a park bench in the middle, create a winding path through the shrubs and plant some perennial and annual flowers to give it some pizzazz. A few tulips, roses, and daffodils and you have an English garden……a nice place for people to meet and talk during the summer months.

Here’s another idea that can accomplish a few things. Consider holding a “Spring Planting Day”. One association on Grosse Ile used to do this annually. One Saturday in late May, everyone would invited to meet in the morning to help plant the “annuals”. About 60-70% of the owners would turn out. They’d work during the morning, planting the flowers around the common areas and there would always be one major project that one group would work on each year, i.e. creating a flower bed, planting new trees, rebuilding the large planter or whatever needed to be done. At noon they would knock off for a community barbecue and then the pool would be officially opened for the summer. Everyone who came was given a ½ flat or so, of the annuals, to take with them and plant around their unit.

This last item was important. By giving away the flowers the association made sure that the place looked great and they pre-empted the owners from planting whatever they felt like. In other words, the association took a positive step toward controlling the appearance of the association, as opposed to a negative step of telling people to remove something they might have planted independently. The place always looked beautiful and it didn’t take much of the owners’ time.

Spring and summer are the best times to get to know the people in your community. Try and find ways of creating opportunities for them to meet and socialize. If you can combine that with ways of improving the appearance of the association, it sounds like a good idea. You’ll never know until you try.