July 3rd a few of the crew and I were hanging out after a long days work. It started raining, so we decided to wait it out in our potting shed… 3 hours later after we watched the building flood and listened to hail hit the metal roof, the rain lightened up a little. Courtni (always thinking about the plants) went out to check on the nursery. She came back with a few tears in her eyes to tell us our beautiful Willow had fallen in the storm. 12ish years ago we had planted a little sapling on the perimeter of our lot.  Just these last few years that baby had turned into a stunning beauty. Pictures never could do her justice, but we often were inspired to try and capture the gorgeous view she provided, despite the lack of photographic translation.  It was a bit of a heartbreak to see her laying on her side, on top of a LOT of other plants. I stared at the mess for a minute, thinking of how I would possibly be able to get this beautiful fallen giant off of the the other babies quickly enough to save what we could.  It was too late (almost dark) to do anything that night. Taking in my blank stare, Justin (the positive problem solver) said, “I’ll get an extra chainsaw & come take care of this in the morning”.  I was hesitant to ask for, or accept help. After all, the morning was a holiday, the staff has been working hard all season and were all looking forward to a much deserved leisurely morning off, followed by our annual company pool party that afternoon. Missy, who has so selfishly given up repeated days off also offered a chainsaw and a helping hand.  The four of us started thinking about how long this project would take-not sure if we’d even be done in time for the party… They suggested I put up the ‘bat signal’ aka ‘dragonfly in the sky’ and see who else could help.  Again, I hesitated to ask for such a big favor, I ask so much of my staff already.  Justin insisted it would be sooooo much fun, like having two parties in the same day. I sent out the text and was very pleasantly surprised to get responses from nearly the entire team! We started at 8am. With 5 chainsaws and 18 helping hands we had that baby cut up, cleaned up and loaded up in under 2 hours! A few perennials had been smushed, but will easily recover. Had I waited another day, (to avoid asking people to work on their, one of few, holidays off) we would have lost quite a bit.

In summary: It was sad to see our graceful willow meet an early end, but the joy that filled my heart, knowing I had so many on my staff that cared about our plants and our company as much as I do, far exceeded the loss of the tree. Thank you Missy, Lynn, John, Rachel, Justin,Courtni, Alexis, and Joni for making my heart smile&making the Dee-sign Dream come true. Teamwork really does make the dream work!