Orange Shoals, Canton, Georgia - A Greenbelt Community

Landscaping Committee
The Landscape Committee helps advise the Board of Directors on landscaping decisions, plans and issues for the common greenspace areas of the neighborhood. They also help us to manage our contract for our landscaping maintenance, which is currently with Valley Crest.

Committee Members
Jay Reisinger, Landscape Architect - Chairperson
Mark Milwood, Turf Management Specialist
Chris Parker, Soil Scientist
Tony Acevedo
Kale Hicks

Currently Underway
We've begun implementing the master landscape plan, by starting with redoing the first island at the entranceway. We're completed the first island and are moving on to the second island and planting trees along the fence at the entrance. We are addressing the entrance fence, and will be adding beds and plantings around the fence area. Our new street signs were also installed in November. We are very excited to share them with the community.

Enjoy the different varieties of plants that are both fragrant and blooming and changing colors in spring, summer and fall--- The HOA has also hired a new landscape maintenance company, Russell Landscaping. Together with Russell, the Landscape Committee is excited to continue improvements to our common areas.

Encore Azaleas
Encore Azaleas® are the only patented brand of azaleas to bloom in spring, summer and fall. Each of the 23 Encore varieties begins their performance with the spring flowering season. Once this “first act” of blooming concludes, new shoots begin to grow and set buds. The Encore Azalea's "second act" opens when these buds begin blooming into full flower mid-summer. This unique bloom season continues through the fall, the curtain dropping with the onset of cold weather. But, the show goes on. As an "encore," these exceptional azaleas flower again with traditional spring azaleas and the process starts over.

Oakleaf Hydrangeas
In summer, oakleaf hydrangea flowers in clusters, and the white flowers fade to a pinkish-brown in fall; their floral display is extremely long lasting. But the plant's distinguishing characteristic is its oak leaf-shaped foliage. The leathery leaves are large and turn purple, orangey-bronze or red in the fall. With their brilliant fall foliage and long blooming period, oakleaf hydrangeas are attractive enough to function as specimen plants. As understory shrubs in the wild, they are also appropriate in woodland gardens. While the shape of their leaves is their distinguishing feature, the outstanding feature of oakleaf hydrangea bushes may well be their long "blooming" period. I put "blooming" in quotes because it is not actually petals that are anchoring the floral display, but rather sepals. Sepals are sterile; since they can't be pollinated, they can't go to seed. Exempt from the reproduction process, they're free to just "hang out" -- and provide your yard with color throughout the summer. The true flowers on oakleaf hydrangeas are those tiny ones you see behind the sepals.

Sweet Shrub
This easy to grow shrub has many names and all of them say something about the beautiful scent of the flowers: sweetshrub, strawberry shrub, or even pineapple shrub. That’s because of the deliciously scented flowers which smell like a blend of strawberry jam and apple juice. Flowers are 3-5 cm across, with numerous strap-shaped petals. Their colour varies with soil conditions and amount of everyday sunlight: it is rich burgundy to deep purple or even crimson red. They come out in June (rarely in end May) and continue blooming in a few phases until early August. Oval to oblong leaves are bright green, partly glossy, changing to yellow in the autumn. Flowers can be followed by unique seed capsules of green and purple colour in August/September. Leaves, bark, and also roots are aromatic, too.

Mt. Airy Fothergilla
This is a vigorous deciduous shrub is noted for its profuse spring flowering, excellent summer foliage, excellent fall color and consistently upright habit. Terminal, bottlebrush-like spikes (1-3” long) of tiny, fragrant, apetulous, white flowers bloom in spring (April-May) after the foliage emerges. Flower color comes from the dense clusters of showy stamens (white filaments and yellowish anthers). Flowers have a honey-scented frangance. Leathery, ovate to obovate leaves (2-4” long) are dark green above and bluish gray beneath. Foliage turns excellent shades of yellow, orange and red-purple in fall.

New Street Signage - Is Finally Here!

After many months of assessment our current signage, and researching and discussing, reviewing and approving new signage, our replacement street signage for all of Orange Shoals has been installed. We hope you are enjoying our new signage. We ask that you PLEASE respect our new signage and do not post anything to our new signage. We have also installed 2, "posting posts" on Orange Shoals Drive, that can be used to post flyers and signs. Please do not post signs larger that 11 x 17, and only post for a maximum of 2 weeks. Only postings for yard sales, lost pets, Happy 40th Birthday, etc are allowed. No business advertising fliers are allowed, and will be removed if posted.

Here's an article from the Sept./Oct. 2008 Orange Peel that talks about the new signage and the material they are made of:

Durability/longevity was at the forefront of our list of requirements for new signage, as well as cost and budget. We were introduced to a company that custom designs and builds outdoor pieces, incuding street signage from a revolutionary material called AZEK®. New Orange Shoals Street Signs

ABOUT AZEK®
AZEK® is the perfect replacement to wood trim. AZEK® manufactures cellular pvc trim. AZEK® products offer manufactured uniformity with no voids, consistent thickness, square edges, premium lengths, and are impervious to moisture and insects.

One of the uses for AZEK® is to replicate historical wood pieces and trim. It has the natural look and feel of wood and can be shaped, routed, and mitered. Cut, rout or mill AZEK® trim products to fit your unique design needs using traditional woodworking tools. AZEK® can be nailed, glued, stapled or screwed and is easily bent or shaped into curved applications. Without a grain, AZEK® can be fastened close to the edge without splitting and since the entire length of each piece is usable there’s less wasted material. AZEK® is the #1 brand of trim in the United States and the first brand of trim to receive a building code report from the International Code Council’s Evaluation Service.

DURABILITY. AZEK® trim products will not split, cup, rot, warp or twist. In fact, since AZEK® can be used in direct contact with the ground or masonry it is the perfect choice for moisture-prone applications like garage door jambs and hot tub surrounds. While AZEK® can be painted or stained for a custom color; painting is never required for protection. AZEK® trim products have a 25-year warranty. AZEK® Deck performs as great as it looks.

Unlike wood or composite decking materials, AZEK® Deck, a cellular pvc product, does NOT contain wood fillers. Our proprietary Procell Technology allows our boards to resist stains and scratches, yet be workable like wood.

Future Plans
Jay Reisinger, fellow resident, Landscape Architect, and Landscape Committee Chairperson is currently working on designing a master landscaping plan for our entire neighborhood. This plan will be a guide for improvements to all greenspace common areas of Orange Shoals.

Thank you,
OS Landscaping Committee