When we lived in California, my wife and I used to joke about how boring the weather was.  “84 degrees and crystal blue sky AGAIN!?”  It was enough to drive us nuts.  Or so we thought.

Having been back on the east coast now for more than six years, we’ve since come to realize that we had it pretty good out there.  The winters of 2010 and 2011 alone were enough to make anyone long for continuously warm and sunny weather.

This winter so far has thankfully been a mild one.  But it’s still winter.  Colder temperatures, gray skies, short days and long dark nights.  And a question I am asked continuously is just what I do during the winter months.

Just to set the record straight, no matter how mild the winter is I typically hold off on doing any landscape construction during January and February.  Fair weather can turn nasty in an unexpected heartbeat.  The last thing anyone wants, contractor or client, is to have a project underway only to come to an unexpected standstill once that snowstorm hits.  And even if the weather doesn’t turn, shorter working hours mean longer project durations, meaning added inconvenience to the client.  Working conditions can be compromised eliminating the necessary passion for a successful project.  The ground can be frozen or heaved.  Or excessively muddy.  Necessary hose outlets are often turned off from inside.  Material supplies may be limited.  There’s just too many risk factors that can add up.  Plus a little R&R is always good for the mind, body and soul.

And yes, the lack of significant income during these months can be a nuisance, to put it mildly.  That part certainly requires a bit of budgeting and planning on the contractor’s part.

Over the course of the year, I keep a running list, or running pile, or more accurately a running pile of lists of things that I just don’t have time to address when things are kicking.  Updating web listings, updating contacts, filing, budgeting, website revisions, marketing plans, advertising copy and layout, bookkeeping, and office clean-up to name just a few.  Winter is my time to knock these things out.

This year one of the big things to do on my list is clean up my garage.  I’m not necessarily talking about the fleet of bicycles and the canoe, although I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t part of the intended clean-up.  But as a small business owner, my garage has become my shop.  And that shop tends to collect all the things that are leftover from each and every project.  So as of now, my garage looks like my truck dumped a year’s worth of supplies all over.  20 leftover pavers from that job, 15 fence pickets from this job, a continuously morphing pallet of leftover flagstones of every shape and size imaginable, lumber, lumber, and more lumber, mortar bags, concrete bags, adhesive and glues, concrete form tubes, screws and nails, hardware of every conceivable type -- just to name a few of the things cluttering the garage right now.  And even though I make a strong effort to keep my tools organized, it’s somewhat inevitable that things can get put back hastily during the rush of the season.  All of that needs to get cleaned up and organized.  And that’s only going to happen during the winter.

And there’s also the trade shows and classes.  In our industry most of our shows correspond with the slow time of year.  January and February are the time to get up to speed on new products, new trends, revised pricing, and new suppliers.  It’s never too late to learn a couple of new skills that we can roll into our services, so I usually take at least a few seminars and classes to continuously build up the skillset.

Networking.  Over the course of my travels throughout the year I always meet a wide range of interesting people.  And we always say how nice it would be to be able to get together and get to know one another better.  And then we have to get back to our crazy schedules.  January and February provide the time for us to finally have coffee or do lunch.  These meetings can help the business grow.

Once upon a time I heard a rumor that I have a family.  While these rumors often cannot be verified outside of a summer vacation or a few long weekends over the course of the year, the winter is time for me to spend with the family.  I spend a longer time with them in the morning before school, play family games in the evening, watch movies together, go to museums, and in general just get to know them better.  Turns out they’re pretty cool people!

Household projects.  My wife could probably shed light on this one better than me, but she keeps a running list, or running pile, or more accurately running piles of lists of all the household chores she wants me to get to.  There’s hanging the punching bag the kids got for Christmas in the basement, fixing the treadmill, fixing the dining room light fixture, installing a programmable thermostat, and, well I’ll need to go downstairs and check the list.  I regret to say (and inform my wife particularly) that very few of these projects have yet to happen.  Rest assured though, she’ll stay on me about them.

And remember that little money issue I mentioned earlier.  Well even though I may take off from most income-producing activities during the winter, I’ve discovered that mortgage companies do not.  Nor do utility companies, auto loan companies, etc.  So I do have to make a little bit of money.  So I also undertake a few handyman-type projects for various clients.  Interior trim installation, hanging drywall, and building a bookshelf are a few of the projects I’ve been keeping myself busy with this year.

And before I know it, spring is rapidly approaching and its time to get busy with client meetings, estimate preparation and inevitably the kickoff of the season.

So that “winter off” theory that on the surface sounds so enviable isn’t all that.  Do I wish I was lounging on the beaches of St Maarten or soaking up the sun in Key West?  Absolutely!  But don’t we all this time of year.  I may however still try to squeeze in cashing in on those massage gift certificates I got for Christmas.  Wish me luck.

Just to be clear, I’m not really a tradeshow guy.  Every time I hear the word “tradeshow” all I can think of are traveling salesmen, hotel bars, hollow schmoozing, and bad food.  I’m glad I don’t have to go to many of them.

But I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t any value in them.  It’s a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues, earn some continuing education cred, learn about new products and technologies, and discover new vendors.  So I usually try to hit up one or two each off-season.

Every tradeshow is a bit different.  The Mid Atlantic Hardscaping Trade Show (or MAHTS – we like to sound like we’re too important or busy to say the whole name) is light on the vendors but heavy on the classroom seminars.  On the other end of the spectrum is the Mid Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (you guessed it – MANTS), which I attended last week at the Baltimore Convention Center.

While MANTS offered no classroom seminars, the sheer magnitude of the numbers of vendors was amazing – nearly 3000!  The above picture does no justice to the incredible expanse of the show floor.  It just kept going and going and going.  Impressive it was.

And for this week’s blog post, I’d like to offer a number of random musings regarding the show.

First, the name is somewhat of a misnomer.  Let’s start with Mid-Atlantic.  While its true there were a number of vendors from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, there were also vendors from as far away as Florida, Texas, a surprising number from Tennessee, and Oregon.  Last time I checked there was nothing “Mid” nor “Atlantic” about Oregon.

And the term “Nursery”?  One would think that the show was limited to growers or distributors of plant material.  And yes, there were a large number of horticulture-based vendors present.  But there were also vendors who specialize in stone, equipment, tools, yard ornaments, ceramics, irrigation, soils, fertilizers, landscape lighting, pond supplies – you get the drift, it wasn’t just limited to nursery stock.

I also learned that the name Baltimore must be derived from the gaelic term for “you’re supposed to know where you’re going.”  Sure I got to the convention center no problem, but once I arrived there was very little signage as to where to park.  I had to drive around the surrounding blocks at least five or six times before finally finding a lot about a half-mile from the convention center.  A little signage would have been nice.  Especially since my morning coffee was REALLY catching up with me by this point.

Another thing to know about these tradeshows is that the vendors like to have plenty of give-aways to attract visitors to their booths at the show.  By far the most popular giveaway is pens.  I collected about 50-some odd pens last week alone, I stopped picking them up after a while because I was quite confident our junk drawer at home would be adequately stocked for the next year or two.

The best give-away last week?  By far the wooden pocket knives distributed by the ColorBlends Nursery.  I would’ve actually paid a few bucks for that one.  Other giveaways included those re-useable “enviro” bags that seem to be all the rage these days, hats, rubber bracelets, coasters, and keychains.  The strangest give-away? – the plastic combs distributed by some nursery from outside of Lancaster.  Combs?  I’m not even sure what to say about that one.

Vendors also like to hand out edibles, mostly hard candies and mints.  Apparently they must be concerned about our breath (Between the combs and the breathmints, maybe they're trying to tell us landscaper-types something about our personal hygiene).  The mini Snickers distributed by some vendors were a nice touch too.  But I owe a special thanks to Hopewell Nursery in Bridgeton, NJ.  I’ve never bought anything from you, but your prosciutto/olive/cheese/artichoke spread saved me from having to spend 10 bucks on a bad lunch from the food court.  Congrats, you win best of show, at least in my book.

The display booths the vendors occupy range from simple fold-up displays designed to travel easily with the traveling sales reps to elaborate sets that rival Broadway show sets.  The most impressive display items last week included the 35’ Red Maple tree (among a wide assortment of other plants) as the center piece of the Moon Nurseries display, and the Dakota Industries tree transplanter spade.  If you’ve never seen one of these they’re amazing – basically a huge four-pronged shovel designed to dig and transplant mature established trees with rootballs as big as 12’ in diameter and 11,000 pounds.  How the vendors got these large items set up as part of their displays must have been fun to watch.

The coolest new product I saw?  That would have to be the natural bluestone pavers from Diaz Stone and Pallet.  These are basically your typical paver stone used in a dryset application, but made from real natural bluestone as opposed to the typical high density concrete.  All cut to exact specifications in 6x6 and 6x9 sizes, 2” thick.  And the price was surprisingly competitive compared to typical paver stone products.  I would love a chance to lay a patio or walkway using these pavers, if you’re interested just let me know.

And the most unnecessary display at the show?  That would be the Jimmy Buffett cover band as part of the Belgard Paver display, or “Belgard-ita-ville”, as they dubbed themselves.  Somebody in their marketing department thought they were being really clever with that one.  It would’ve been nice if they had actually transported me to Key West and fed me with an endless source of boat drinks, but they didn’t, and the band was just annoying.  And that’s coming from me, who typically enjoys any opportunity to hear some live music.

So that was my day at MANTS.  $15 for admission, $23 for parking, $21 for tolls, and 198 miles driven (including the multiple laps around the block looking for parking).  Now it’s time to start prepping for the ’12 season.

In our house we’re really big Phillies fans.  We follow them all year long, watch nearly every game all season, deck ourselves out in Phillies hats, shirts, jackets, backpacks, towels and apparel, and try to get to at least a few games a year.  Heck, some of my younger son’s first words were “Chay Ut-eey”, which apparently is 18-mo-old speak for Phillies All-Star second baseman Chase Utley.

We’re such big Phillies fans in fact, that my now four-year-old son refers to any baseball game regardless of who is playing as “The Phillies”.  I have to point out that no, these teams aren’t all the Phils.  Those navy pinstripes belong to some other team from New York, those red hats with the little bird on the bat are from St Louis, and the “LA” on those blue hats stands for Los Angeles, not Larry Andersen.

It’s very cute and endearing in a little kid sort of way.  But when adults use the wrong words and terminology, not only is it not so cute, it can lead to all sorts of confusion.  It’s important that we know what we’re talking about.

So I want to spend a minute or two this week clearing the record on some basic terms, specifically “flagstone”.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve gotten calls from new prospects asking me to install a new “slate patio”.  With a few specific exceptions, a “slate” patio is not what they’re looking for.

What clients typically mean to say is “flagstone” patio.  And that’s where the confusion begins.  Not to mention the fact that the misuse of the term “slate” is a nails-on-the-blackboard major pet peeve of mine.  So without further build-up, here’s a brief run-down on terminology.

“Flagstone” is the umbrella term for any flat stone that can be set in a flatwork or horizontal application.  Nearly any patio or walkway using a natural stone material consists of flagstone.  There are endless amounts of different types of flagstone, including slate.  But for a variety of reasons which I won’t go into on this post, I generally wouldn’t recommend slate.

Here in Southeastern PA, or nearly anywhere else on the east coast, the majority of flagstones we use are PA graystone or bluestone.  This is a very dense, durable, sedimentary sandstone that comes mostly from the Scranton area of PA, parts of upstate New York and Connecticut.  For most of my flagstone projects this is the default flagstone that I use due to its durability and affordability.  Three out of four times when the customer says “slate”, this is what they mean.

But flagstone is not limited to just PA graystone.  I could go on and on with various types of stone, but there is limestone, quartzite, mica schist, granite, and yes slate.  And much, much more.  And selections vary depending on what part of the country you come from.  But no matter what geologic type of stone it is, no matter what the size and/or shape of the stones are, if it’s flat, and you’re building a patio or walkway, then it’s flagstone.

Just like “Baseball” is the general term and the “Phillies” are a specific baseball team, “Flagstone” is a general term and “Slate” is specific type of flagstone.

So there you have it.  When you call to inquire about my services and that new patio or walkway you’ve been thinking about, be sure to ask for a “flagstone” material, not slate.  I’ll be happy to go in to much more detail on the various types of flagstone when we meet, let you know what type of stone would best complement your existing house and landscaping features, and what the costs are for various types of stone.  And who knows, maybe “slate” is what you’re looking for, but lets at least keep our options open.

And if its summer, and I don’t answer the phone, it’s probably because I’m busy watching the Phils with the kids.  Now if we can just get some offense going consistently this year…