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Allison Beatty of the Chicago Tribune said “Nothing takes the chill out of a Chicago spring quite like an outdoor fireplace or fire-pit.” Since spring averages 50 or so degrees in the Chicago area, unlike “normal” springs everywhere else, a roaring fire helps ease the chill and creates a warm outdoor environment in your backyard. The fireplace doesn’t have to stick out awkwardly either because there are many customizable types and shapes to match the patio, pool or other setting. Robert Milani of Chalet said in Beatty’s article, “The biggest trend we’re seeing is people reinvesting in their house and creating outdoor rooms and enjoying family, whether it’s with an outdoor kitchen, fireplace or other gathering places.” In the summer of economic downturn, people scrap the fancy vacations for a more affordable “stay-cation” and they might consider the value of a home. The addition of a fireplace or an outdoor kitchen can be a relatively low-cost addition with a high turnaround value if you were to sell the home someday.

There is a cost, however, and a commitment in installing a fireplace or a fire-pit as well as differences to consider. A fireplace typically covers a larger space than a pit and most are made of stone or brick assembled on-site. Outdoor fireplaces can range from $3,500-$25,000  while fire-pits are easier to install, smaller and cost between $1,500 and $3,000 for a built-in model. When choosing between a fireplace or a fire-pit, consider the size of the area you’d like to designate and don’t forget seating area. Beatty recommends considering “your overall landscaping goals as you debate wehther to buy one and how much space to use.

Each structure can be fueled by wood or outfitted with gas logs. Milani suggests checking with your local building department to make sure the type of area you want is within code, “some towns, for example, do not allow wood-burning fireplaces outdoors or have guidelines regarding how close the fireplace can be to the house.” You can of course, opt for supplemental heat fire-pits and chimineas or portable units, which are smaller in size and less expensive.

The article referenced in this post was by Allison Beatty and appeared on Chicagotribune.com, Apr. 17, 2009 and also in the Chicago Tribune newspaper (Chicago Homes, Section 6, Page 7). Other articles about fireplaces and fire-pits involving Chalet include the Apr. 1009 issue of North Shore Magazine (Pages 8, 66-71, 74-75) and NorthShoreMag.com.

Chalet made an appearance in the June 2009 issue of Midwest Living and on their website, MidwestLiving.com as a “destination garden center.” Listed among some fellow garden centers in Illinois, Chalet is mentioned as having the title “best dressed garden center” because of its innovative displays. In the magazine, it’s listed as a family-owned business that sells unusual giant cultivars bred by boutique regional growers (including this year’s hot perennial, the ‘Solar Flare’), plus plenty of outdoor-living accessories such as fire pits and designer pots. The article also brings attention to Chalet’s free plant health center, where horticulturalists diagnose customers’ ailing specimens.

Read more about Chalet and other “desination garden centers” on Midwest Living’s website.

Tony Fulmer of Chalet appeared on WGN Midday News Monday, Apr. 27, 2009, to show some perennials great for a springtime garden and also to promote the Garden Faire event before Mother’s Day. He answers the questions, “What kind of perennials can you plant now?” and “What are the earliest perennials to bloom in the garden?”

Some of the plants he brought in include: Hellebores, Bergenia, Bleeding Heart, Mertensia, Epimedium. He said the Hellebores bloom in the shade for four to six weeks, have a wide range of colors and no negative effect if it snows while blooming. He said the Bergenia grow great with the Hellebores in the shade. Bergenia have striking, deep pink flowers that bloom above glossy green foliage. The old-fashioned, but beautiful choice will always be the Bleeding Heart, though. They bloom for several weeks in the shade and go dormant in the summer heat.

See the video on the WGN Midday News section.

Chalet also appeared on ABC7 Morning News, Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009, featuring several segments and live remotes.

See the video of Chalet on ABC7 Morning News.

Robert Milani, of Chalet’s landscaping division, has installed thousands of gardens in North Chicago for over a decade, but has only recently produced his first labyrinth. Deborah Donovan, of the Daily Herald, covers the completion of the Park Ridge home garden labyrinth on Apr. 18, 2009. The proud owners, Martha and Tom Durham seized the opportunity to build one next door to their home when they were able to purchase the land next door, “I’ve always wanted a labyrinth but I wasn’t sure how it would fit in this space,” said Martha, a deacon at St. Mary Episcopal Chuch in Park Ridge, referring to the new lot roughly 48 feed wide by 173 feet deep. They said they consulted Milani because Chalet installed their existing patio and garden beds 10 years ago. Within a couple days, Milani and his team provided several patterns to choose from.

The new area obtained by the Durhams, tripled the size of their gardens and contained several trees and shrubs, which were saved. The new, 24-foot diameter labyrinth, called Chelsea, is based on a template from the Labyrinth Company in Riverside, Connecticut. According to the company, its design captures the experience of 13th century Gothic cathedral patterns. Milani and his team excavated the site, leveled and graded. The giant pattern was printed onto a permeable fabric, which was then laid out over the prepared space. They laid out hand-cut, custom clay bricks and backfilled with soil and sod for the pathways. The entire process took Milani about two weeks. Milani said, “The labyrinth adds a unique dimension to the outdoor rooms we’ve created for the Durhams. It fits their lifestyle, provides a quiet place for retreat or personal introspection, and can be used for family entertaining as well as for church retreats and functions.”

Martha said, “When it feels like the world seems to be falling apart, the labyrinth forces you to slow down, breathe and concentrate on the beauty that surrounds you.”

Read this article and see pictures of Milani building the labyrinth on the Daily Herald website.

Appearing in the Saturday, Mar. 21, 2009 edition of SeattleTimes.com’s Home & Garden Section, Nina A. Koziol of Chicago Tribune offered “8 tips to spice up your landscape,” including advice from Chalet and other Illinois landscaping experts. In the sixth tip, Tony Fulmer of Chalet, said to “plunk a pot.” He said an annual application of organic compost from your own back yard can make a dramatic difference in the borders of your yard, “Top-dressing with compost, whether it be around shrubs, perennials or annuals, encourages microbial activity in the soil and that’s good.” He recommended saving those one-gallon plant pots, too, suggesting that after washing them out, to place them over newly emerging perennials. “You can dump the compost throughout the bed so it’s one or two inches deep. Pull up the pots and you have perfect circles around each plant. It’s an effective time saver and you won’t have the comopst resting on a plant’s tender stems,” Fulmer said.

Advice from others included trying new plants, add and tend to plants gradually through the spring and summer for changing colors, cover young plants to keep unwanted bugs out and hide weeds once you’ve pulled them for instant compost. Learn more about these tips and see the rest of the list on the SeattleTimes.com website.

On Mar. 8, 2009, Beth Botts of the Chicago Tribune posed this question to Chalet’s Laura Justice , “How do you select the right pot for gardening?”

Container gardening is a growing trend as more people in urban areas fill their patios, balconies and roofs with flowers and plants, but more thought often goes towards what goes into the pot, rather than the pot itself. Justice, the herbaceous plant manager with the landscape division of Chalet, provided some tips for pot shopping.

Bigger is better. Small pots don’t hold enough soil and dry quickly, so watering becomes a chore. Justice advises never bothering with a container that holds less than three gallons. A larger container also enables better display.

The right material. “Nothing is forever,” Justice said, “Even concrete will crack eventually.” The most fragile materials are terra cotta and glazed ceramics, which are pots best kept indoors during harsh weather. For outdoor use, go for metal and concrete containers — though take caution not to go metal on expensive surfaces like stone patios or wooden decks because they could rust and stain. For a large, year-round container, go with plastic or fiberglass. Both can look good and are flexible, but over time even they could fade or crack.

Drainage is essential. Unless making a water garden, make sure there’s a hole in the bottom of the pot. Drill one if needed. Justice suggests elevating any pot on “feet,” purchased at garden centers (or use three bottle cap-sized objects). Wire baskets with moss or coir liners drain quickly, but dry out easily. The best suggestion for hanging plants is to put the plants in plastic pots with holes and hide the pot inside the moss liner.

Style matters. Choose a plant that blends into the look and feel of your house, yard or apartment. Don’t clash, it doesn’t look good! Avoid cheap, unattractive containers that detract from the plants.

Perspective and scale. When selecting a window box or hanging planter, think about how it looks from all angles. Ask yourself, “Does it make an impact from a distance?” Containers should complement the scale of a doorway or facade.

Read the entire article for more advice, here.

Tony Fulmer of Chalet Landscaping, Nursery and Garden Center made a visit to WGN Midday News on Mar. 30, 2009 for a short, live segment on “things you can do in the garden right now!”

It was raining and cold that day, but Fulmer said there are several things people can do to get a jump on spring gardening. The first thing to do is to plant some spring color: pansies, violas, primrose, ranunculus, stocks which are frost hardy and ready to enjoy. Cold hearty vegetables also thrive in early spring weather such as lettuce and swiss chard.

In April, put out the salad bar: cabbage, peas, spinach, lettuce, carrots, beats, chard and radishes. Keep in mind to look at the dates on the packages.

If you’re looking to weed, consider a corn gluten meal based product. It’s organic and it works not by inhibiting weeds from germinating, but by stopping the formation of roots. When applied, weeds will germinate and topple over since it has no foundation. This product has a soil expectancy of five to six weeks, so a second application will secure season-long control.

See the video for more advice from Tony Fulmer of Chalet at WGNtv.com.

The Lurie Garden and Chalet Landscaping appeared together in an article on the website of Perennial & Nursery News, Apr. 2009. The five acre Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millennium Park was the inspiration for Chalet’s Top Ten Winning entry in the 2008 Perennials Marketing Contest sponsored by Plant Publicity Holland and the Perennial Plant Association.

Freya Wellin, perennial manager of Chalet Nursery, who achieved an outstanding display, said “I wanted to use an inspirational garden to show how to think differently about designing with sustainable perennials… As something to emulate, Lurie Garden, a public green space in downtown Chicago, fit the bill. The garden mixes natives with cultivated perennials to create a lovely meadow-like feel, while still being a controlled planting.”

To reach the display, Chalet customers had to walk through a metal archway surrounded by a variety of arborvitaes - similar to the experience at The Lurie Garden, which echoes Chicago’s classical architecture. Freya explains, “The body of the display was made up of one and three gallon potted perennials put in wedge shape display beds. each bed had two or more types of grass interspersed with three or more flowering perennials. The taller grasses were placed on the side of the display with the shorter ones in the middle which created vistas similar to those at The Lurie Garden.”

Both The Lurie Garden and Chalet also appeared together in the March/April 2009 issue of Chicagoland Gardening.

Roy Diblik, one of the leading plants-men in the United States, was featured on page 30 of the magazine, where they give a brief biography including the fact that more than 18,000 of his plants are in The Lurie Garden, where he worked closely with the gardens’ Dutch designer Piet Oudolf. Now an advocate for sustainable public landscapes, Diblik has also designed gardens for The Shedd Aquarium, the Art Institute of Chicago, College of DuPage, Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, the Village of Fontana (in Wisconsin) and the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva.

Several of Chalet’s spring events appeared on page 77 in the magazine, including Favorite Spring-Flowering Shrubs, Vegetables 101, Plant of the Week Introductions, New and Under-used Perennials, Planting Perennial Communities (Apr. 9 or 10), Using Containers in the Landscape (Apr. 16 or 17), and Spring Lawn Care (Apr. 23 or 24).

Congratulations to Chalet for receiving the Judges 2009 Award presented by the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association (ILCA). The award recognizes the “best of the best” in Illinois. With a score of 96 out of 100, judges described Chalet’s work as having “flawless attention to detail.”

Chalet also received four gold Excellence in Landscape Awards from the ILCA. The honors recognize the company’s design/construction and maintenance of two residential properties, one in Lake Forest, Ill., and the other in Wilmette, Ill.

In Lake Forest, a formal, structured and manicured landscape reflects the beauty, elegance and permanence of a period Italianesque villa. Beyond the front entryway, garden visitors are greeted by a three-tiered, limestone fountain surrounded by a large semicircular pergola with hand-carved limestone columns and a sunken garden.

Between this and the residence, a parterre contains more than 1,000 Green Velvet boxwood and two matching limestone water features, both fountains with one also doubling as a Jacuzzi. Highlights include an adjacent folly purchased by the owner at auction in Florence, Italy.

In Wilmette, a stately English Tudor is complemented by a formal, manicured and symmetrical garden. Dense yew and Green Velvet boxwood hedges line the front foundation and are meticulously trimmed while ‘Tina’ crab-apples flank the front entry, left natural to contrast with the structured landscape. As visitors travel down a bluestone service walk from the brick driveway to the rear yard pool area, a diverse and colorful array of Daphne, rhododendron, viburnum and astilbe catch the eye.

A mixed border softens the edges of the nearby pool deck while groupings of Norway spruce and dark green arborvitae provide privacy. An adjacent secret garden provides an intimate getaway. Other features include a functional and practical serpentine stone seat wall and hidden vegetable garden.

“Chalet’s landscape professionals put emphasis on teamwork and these prestigious awards recognize each person’s commitment to service and quality,” said Kevin Marko, landscape division manager. “We are honored to be recognized by the industry and our peers.”

For information on the ILCA Awards, please visit www.ILCA.net.

Chalet’s Tony Fulmer was featured on the WGN Midday News (Feb. 16, 2009) answering the question, “When to re-pot houseplants.” Many people either wait too long to re-pot, causing the roots to crowd and break the pot; or they re-pot too often. Fulmer said the general guideline is that the soil mass should be at least 50% roots, half and half, in the pot. Re-pot gradually, around one-inch increase at time, never more than two inches. Also, consider the type of plant and what kind of pot it would thrive best in. For example, a terra-cotta or clay pot would be best for a cactus or succulent, whereas tropical plants might do better in a plastic container so the soil mass is kept evenly moist. Fulmer also recommends never using pots that don’t have drainage holes – as you’d never know if you’re over-watering until it’s too late.

See the video of Chalet’s Tony Fulmer on Re-potting House Plants on WGN.