Atlas Twp. – A reputation for reliable nursery specimens is what keeps Carl Leach in business.
Leach, who hails from five generations of farmers began landscaping in 1981 before opening a nursery in 1985. The nursery business is so busy it’s become his main focus.
‘Now it’s so big we can’t do landscaping,? he said. ‘We can’t leave here.?
Most of the bare-root stock Leach gets from around the country is planted in top-quality dirt in 15-gallon pots.
Trees are all staked and kept healthy with a drip irrigation system.
Leach sells to the public as well as contractors, he says.
With years of landscaping experience, Leach can steer do-it-yourselfers to the best speciment for a particular location.
Before shopping for trees and shrubs, Leach recommends customers know the following:
? Soil type. Will the specimen be planted in clay or sand?
? Drainage. Is the site a low area or high area?
? Sunlight. Does the site get lots of direct sun, or is it shady?
? Location. Is the site on the north, south, east, or west side of the house?
Japanese maples, for instance, won’t fare as well on a home’s west side as other varieties, says Leach.
Whether you’re looking to enhance your home’s aesthetics, invite birds, grow fruit, or put up a windscreen, Leach offers hundreds of specimens.
Look for flowering trees and shrubs like crab apple, serviceberry, mock orange, and viburnum; weeping varieties like the snow fountain weeping cherry, evergreen trees and shrubs like white spruce, Colorado blue spruce, white pine, yews; and exotic specimens like bonsai, the pom pom topiary, or the twisted trunk of the ‘Harry’s walking stick? tree.
Other varieties include red twig dogwood, birch, burning bush, flowering almond, holly, barberry, spirea, weigela, peach, plum, pear, apple, and about 30 kinds of lilacs, including the tree-form lilac.
You’ll also find landscape plants like hostas and daylilies, along with vase-shaped trees like the Kwanzan cherry’which branches up and out’perfect for spots where low-spreading branches are undesirable, like near a sidewalk.
Leach advises customers to pace themselves when taking on a landscaping project for a new home.
‘I try to talk them into doing it in stages because it’s pretty overwhelming to do all at once,? said Leach, who recommends placing a tree at each of four corners, and a handsome specimen near a home’s entry, ‘something that will bring the eye to the front door.?
Later, the landscape can be filled in with flowering shrubs or evergreens.
Customers come from as far away as Port Huron, although nearby residents relish the convenience of having plants loaded into their vehicles, reasonable prices, gleaning planting instructions based on knowledge of the local climate and soil, and a quick drive home.
Although Leach offers a one-year guarantee, the success of his nursery specimens brings customers back.
‘They plant something, and it always lives,? says Leach. ‘We grow it ourselves and you know it’s really reliable. A lot of people don’t want to dig a hole twice.?
Leach Landscaping & Nursery is located on a 176-acre farms that’s been in the family since 1876.
The nursery is located at 5147 Irish Road between Bristol and Perry roads in Atlas Township.
Leach Landscaping & Nursery is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The nursery is also open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays, and will be closed Sundays after July 4.
Call (810) 695-6400.