VNLA Newsletter Jan/Feb/Mar 2013

VIRGINIA PLANT INTRODUCTION PROGRAM www.beautifulgardens.org

DISTINCTIVE PLANTS FOR YOUR LANDSCAPE 2 0 1 3 S E L E C T I O N S

Hakonochloa macra ‘All Gold’ Sedum nokoense Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Little Honey’

Juniperus horizontalis ‘Mother Lode’ Ilex crenata ‘Drops of Gold’ Spirea thunbergii ‘Ogon’

Hypericum calycinum ‘Brigadoon’ Liriope muscari ‘Pee Dee Ingot’ Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’

Bright, Bold and Beautiful Inject a Dose of Sunshine into Your Garden

VNLA Newsletter January/February/March 2013 3

2013 VNLA Officers & Directors OFFICERS President MATT SAWYER - Research Bennett’s Creek Nursery ‘07 5635 Shoulders Hill Rd Suffolk, VA 23435-1807 757-483-1425 [email protected] Vice President MATT SHRECKHISE Communications ‘08 Shreckhise Nurseries PO Box 428 Grottoes, VA 24441-0428 540-249-5761 [email protected] Secretary/ Treasurer SONYA L. WESTERVELT Public Relations ‘10 Saunders Brothers Inc 2717 Tye Brook Highway Piney River, VA 22964 (434) 277-5455 [email protected] Past President STEVE GRIGG - Education Grigg Design Inc ‘09 8193 Euclid Ct #A Manassas Park, VA 20111-4810 703-368-7539 [email protected] Ex-Officio Past President MARK MASLOW Resource Development Southern Landscape Group PO Box 397 Evington VA 24550-0397 434-821-6004 [email protected] Executive Director JEFFREY B. MILLER Horticulture Management Associates LLC 383 Coal Hollow Road Christiansburg, VA 24073-6721 1-800-476-0055 Fax: 540-382-2716 [email protected]

1 YR DIRECTORS CHERYL LAJOIE Certification ‘09 Lancaster Farms 5800 Knotts Neck Rd Suffolk VA 23435-1353 757-484-4421 Fax: 7575-686-8637 [email protected] CHRISTOPHER BROWN ‘13 Lancaster Farms 5800 Knotts Neck Rd Suffolk VA 23435-1353 757-484-4421 [email protected] VIRGINIA ROCKWELL Legislation ‘12 Gentle Gardener Green Design PO Box 418 Gordonsville, VA 22942-0418 540-832-7031 (cell) 434-531-0467 [email protected] Educational Advisors DR. ROGER HARRIS VA Tech Horticulture Dept. Head Saunders Hall (0327) Blacksburg, VA 24061-0001 540-231-5451 [email protected] DR. JIM OWEN HARAREC 1444 Diamond Springs Rd Virginia Beach, VA 23455 (757) 363-3804 [email protected] Beautiful Gardens® Plant Introduction Program LISA LIPSEY Program Coordinator VA Tech Dept. of Horticulture (0327) Blacksburg, VA 24061 540-231- 6961 [email protected]

2 YR DIRECTORS TOM THOMPSON, Environmental Affairs ‘10 Natural Art Landscaping 3540 S Belmont Rd Richmond VA 23234-2912 (804) 674-5703 [email protected] DOUG HENSEL Beautiful Gardens ‘08 Great Big Greenhouse & Nrsy 2051 Huguenot Rd Richmond, VA 23235-4305 804-320-1317 [email protected] CRAIG ATTKISSON ‘13 Green Side Up Landscaping PO Box 2026 Glen Allen, VA 23058-2026 804-514-4610 [email protected] MANTS’ DIRECTORS JOHN LANCASTER‘02 Bennett’s Creek Nursery 3613 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23435-1807 757-483-1425 [email protected] TOM SAUNDERS ’96 Saunders’ Brothers Inc. 2508 Tye Brook Hwy Piney River, VA 22964-2301 804-277-5455 [email protected] DANNY SHRECKHISE Shreckhise Nurseries ‘12 PO Box 428 Grottoes, VA 24441-0428 540-249-5761 [email protected]

REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS Central Virginia Nursery & Landscape Assoc Jim Hassold 804-377-1977 [email protected] Eastern Shore Nurserymen’s Association Stuart Burnley 757-442-3548 [email protected] Hampton Roads Nursery & Landscape Assoc Cheryl Lajoie (757) 484-4421 [email protected] Northern Virginia Nursery & Landscape Assoc Amanda Caldwell [email protected] Piedmont Landscape Assoc Jessica Primm 434-882-0520 [email protected] Shenandoah Valley Nursery & Greenhouse Assoc Matt Shreckhise 540-249-5761 [email protected] Directors at Large Mike Hildebrand ‘12 James River Nurseries 13244 Ashland Rd Ashland VA 23005-7504 804-798-2020 mchildebrand@ jamesrivernurseries.com Dawn Lerch ‘12 Associate 1701 Ducatus Dr Midlothian VA 23113-4067 804-690-1374 (cell) [email protected] Bill Gouldin ‘12 Strange’s Florist/Garden Ctrs 3313 Mechanicsville Pike Richmond VA 23223 804-321-2200x331 [email protected]

VNLA Newsletter 3January / February / March 2013VIRGINIA PLANT INTRODUCTION PROGRAM www.beautifulgardens.org

DISTINCTIVE PLANTS FOR YOUR LANDSCAPE 2 0 1 3 S E L E C T I O N S

Hakonochloa macra ‘All Gold’ Sedum nokoense Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Little Honey’

Juniperus horizontalis ‘Mother Lode’ Ilex crenata ‘Drops of Gold’ Spirea thunbergii ‘Ogon’

Hypericum calycinum ‘Brigadoon’ Liriope muscari ‘Pee Dee Ingot’ Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’

Bright, Bold and Beautiful Inject a Dose of Sunshine into Your Garden

4 January/February/March 2013 VNLA Newsletter

Ad - Beautiful Gardens ‘Plants of Distinction 2013” ................ 2 Ad - Bennett’s Creek Nursery ..................................... 23 Ad - Bremo Trees ........................................................ 68 Ad - BuyNCPlants.com ............................................... 45 Ad - Carolina Bark Products ....................................... 48 Ad - Colonial Farm Credit .......................................... 68 Ad - CW Reeson Nursery ............................................ 5 Ad - Eastern Shore Nursery of Virginia ...................... 17 Ad - Fair View Nursery .............................................. 48 Ad - Goodson & Associates ........................................ 33 Ad - Gossett’s Landscape Nursery .............................. 34 Ad - Guthrie Nursery .................................................. 39 Ad - Hanover Farms .................................................... 9 Ad - Hardwood Mulch ................................................ 56 Ad - Hawksridge Farms .............................................. 63 Ad - John Stanley ........................................................ 50 Ad - Johnston County Nursery Marketing Assoc ........ 54 Ad - Lancaster Farms .................................................. 26 Ad - Lilley Farms and Nursery ................................... 25 Ad - Mid-Atlantic Solutions ....................................... 29 Ad - OHP: Marengo .................................................... 40 Ad - Pender Nurseries ................................................. 67 Ad - Plantworks Nursery ............................................. 31 Ad - Shreckhise Nurseries ........................................... 42 Ad - SiteLight Id ......................................................... 19 Ad - Southern Nursery Association ............................ 37 Ad - TD Watkins Horticultural Sales ........................... 5 Ad - Turtle Creek Nursery .......................................... 13 Ad - Waynesboro Nurseries ........................................ 11 Ad - Willow Springs Tree Farm ................................. 22 Ad - Winfall Nurseries ................................................ 22 Editorial - Another Silent Spring ............................... 9 Events - Shenandoah Valley Plant Symposium .......... 62 Events - Virginia Tech Hahn Garden Gala ................. 61 Events - Upcoming ..................................................... 66 Legislative - Lighthouse National Issues .................... 22 Letter - APLD Sponsorship ......................................... 8 Letter - Thank You for Scholarship ............................ 8 Letter - Thank you for Support of HRI ....................... 7 Letter - Virginia Agribusiness Council ..................... 8 Member Profile - Bennett’s Creek Nursery ............... 21 News - 2012 Census of Agriculture ............................ 61 News - Advances in OFA/ANLA Consolidation ........ 16 News - ANLA, OFA Push For Immigration Reform . 20 News - Bob Dolibois Retires After 21 Years ............. 18 News - Card Brand Surcharge Notification ............... 18 News - Impatiens Downy Mildew Alert ..................... 18 News - MANTS Thanks to Sponsors .......................... 64 News - New Specialty License Plate Supporting Community Trees Available for Pre-order .... 52 News - Virginia Tech's tree app tops at Google Play . 19 News - VNLA Pro of the Year Award 2012 ............... 13

News - VNLA Environmental Stewardship Award ... 13 Obituary - Andy Hankins ........................................... 12 Obituary - Nick Covatta ............................................. 11 Research - Increasing Successful Propagation of Sedum with Plant Growth Regulators ................. 43 Research - Landscape and House Appearance Impacts on the Price of Single-Family Houses ....... 38 Research - Report on Boxwood Blight Research ...... 36 Research - Root Pruning and Planting Depth ............. 46 Research - Weed Control Research Update ................ 46 Tips - How to Contact Congress ................................ 6 Tips - More Than A Wall: SmartSlope ....................... 50 Tips - The Economics of Sustainable Landscapes ...... 27 Tips - The Greener Consumer ................................... 49 VNLA - Ad Schedule/Rates ....................................... 65 VNLA - Beautiful Gardens Spring 2013 ................... 10 VNLA - Board Meeting Minutes ............................... 53 VNLA - Certification FAQ ......................................... 60 VNLA - Certification Quiz #63 .................................. 35 VNLA - IPPS Student Sponsorship ............................ 48 VNLA - Minutes Membership Meeting ..................... 57 VNLA - Photo Contest Rules ..................................... 15 VNLA - Website Login ............................................. 7 VNLA - Photo Contest ............................................... 15

Support VNLA Member Growers!

Online at www.vnla.org

For a print copy, contact the VNLA Office at 1-800-476-0055

[email protected]

Table of Contents

4 January / February / March 2013 VNLA Newsletter

T. D. Watkins Horticultural SalesRepresenting Red Oak, Shreckhise, Bremo Tree, Crookhorn, Willow Springs, Rockcreek andProctor Brothers Nurseries.

[email protected] Chalkwell Drive, Midlothian, Virginia 23113Cell 804-929-1982 Fax (call first) 804-378-0813


VNLA Mission, Vision and Objectives for 2013

Mission Statement: To Enhance and promote Vir-ginia’s nursery and landscape industry.

Vision: to become the leader and resource for the Virginia nursery and landscape industry.

Objectives Educated, Available Skilled Labor Force - Goal: VNLA will continue to promote programs that will education, train and provide an available skilled la-bor force.

Effective Communication and Advocacy GOAL: VNLA will effectively communication among staff, board, members, partners and the community.

Maximizing and Allocation Resources - GOAL: VNLA will secure increased funding from diverse sources and secure the necessary staff, board and committee members to run a dynamic organization.

Membership and Outreach - GOAL: Expand and communicate the value of membership.

Stewardship - GOAL: VNLA will promote adoption of Best Management Practices.

Strategic Marketing - GOAL: VNLA will promote itself as the leader and resource of the green industry.

What are members problems? How are we going to help them become

more successful?

Ad – CW Reeson Nursery

Same as previous

Classified Ads

Greenhouse Business For Sale Well established business in Southwest Virginia - Dublin.

On 2 acres, 15,000 sq ft

7 greenhouses, sales building, propane heaters, fans, 15 KW generator.

Includes updated ranch style home, 3 BD, 3 baths, public water/sewer.

Call 540-674-6960 or for details and photos www.vagreenhouse.blogspot.com

If you don’t see your ad here, neither does anyone else!

Call 800-476-0055 or email [email protected]

for advertising information, today!












more successful?


Same as previous

Classified Ads




















more successful?


Same as previous

Classified Ads









VNLA Newsletter 5January / February / March 2013

VNLA Newsletter July/August 2006 5

Classified Ads VNLA Mission, Vision and Objectives for 2006

Mission: To Enhance and promote Virginia’s nursery and landscape industry.

Vision: The vision is to become the leader and resource for Virginia's nursery and

landscape industry.

Objectives

1. To expand the market for Virginia green industry products and services.

2. To have a positive influence on the legislature and other regulatory agencies impacting the industry in Virginia and the nation.

3. To provide quality professional development and certification programs for association members.

4. To be the catalyst for stimulating, and advancing the education, research, and technology needs of the industry.

5. To provide a responsive information management system for association members that is a viable clearing house for educational, legislative, mar-keting, research, and other important information concerning the industry.

6. To remain the leading horticulture organization within the agriculture community of Virginia.

7. To maintain an association organizational structure that will be fully responsive to its mission.


Same as previous

Ad – Sundance Safaris

Ad Safaris2_ad 2.pdf

Ad – HighPeakFarm.pdf

Ad - ChapmanLumber.tif

VIBURNUM ROOTED CUTTINGS FOR SALE $0.85 each

For Current Availability Email: [email protected] Phone: 434/263-4793 Website: www.highpeakfarm.com

HIGH PEAK FARMHIGH PEAK FARMHIGH PEAK FARMSHIPMAN VIRGINIASHIPMAN VIRGINIASHIPMAN VIRGINIA

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MEXICODUCKS, DOVES, TURKEYSDESERT MULEYS-COUESDEER-DESERT BIGHORN

CANADABEAR, COUGAR, ELK

COLORADOBUFFALO

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:DAVID “DEE” LAIRD

[email protected] • www.sangresundance.netPO Box 1895 • Montrose, CO 81402 • 970-240-0743

VNLA Newsletter January/February 2006 5

Classified Ads VNLA Mission, Vision and Objectives for 2006

Same as previous


Same as previous Same as previous

VIBURNUM ROOTED CUTTINGS FOR SALE $0.85 each

For Current Availability Email: [email protected] Phone: 434/263-4793 Website: www.highpeakfarm.com

HIGH PEAK FARMHIGH PEAK FARMHIGH PEAK FARMSHIPMAN VIRGINIASHIPMAN VIRGINIASHIPMAN VIRGINIA



OFFERING QUALITYGUIDED HUNTS

MEXICODUCKS, DOVES, TURKEYSDESERT MULEYS-COUESDEER-DESERT BIGHORN

CANADABEAR, COUGAR, ELK

COLORADOBUFFALO

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:DAVID “DEE” LAIRD

[email protected] • www.sangresundance.netPO Box 1895 • Montrose, CO 81402 • 970-240-0743

6 April/May/June 2012 VNLA Newsletter

Presidents Message The spring came very early this year and so far everyone appears to be busy. After the last few years this is very positive news. We have seen this before, and I think we are all old-er and wiser then when we had a false recovery. “Cautiously optimistic” is the phase that I have been using and hearing lately. The growers that I have talked to have been ship-ping a lot of material this spring. Plus, the de-sign/build people have also been reporting in-creases in sales activity. After the last 2 hard and long winters, this non winter was a welcome relief. It has let all of us get a very early start, or we never stopped.

We have also all become much more efficient and are all doing more with less. This seems to be the mantra of all business people, whether they are large or small. I love talking to small business people, no matter what busi-ness they may be in. It is like being in an exclusive fraternity of people who still take risks, who become excited when talking about what they do and understanding that it is the spirit and the mettle of the small business per-son that drives the economy.

These people “get it”. These are the people who do not feel “entitled”, but recognize that working smart and hard is still the key to success.

We still have challenges ahead of us. We need to have access to a depend-able and skilled work force. We need

to know what regulations we will be working with. We need to participate in the formulation of these regula-tions / laws or we will be told what to do. Your VNLA Board has been par-ticipating in the “process” and we are working to make a difference.

Please mark VNLA Field Day on your calendar. Sonya Wester-velt and Virginia Rockwell have been putting in an incredible amount of time planning this years’ event. This year the Field Day is at Battlefield Farms in Orange County Virginia. Also keep in mind the Horticulture Garden Gala on Saturday June 9th. The VNLA is a sponsor again this year. Details to follow on both events.

Hoping we all have a great year.

Regards, Steve Grigg, VNLA President 2012

How to Contact Congress

To contact your congressman and senator, go the www.vnla.org and click in the legislation tab/button, and then click on the “Legislative Update” or go directly to: http://capwiz.com/anla/va/home/

Here, you can find your congressman and senators’ contact info and can email them directly from

this link. There are also summaries of current issues and sample letters. “The squeaky wheel gets the oil!”

Vol. 82, No.2; April/May/June 2012 Editor: Jeff Miller

Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association, Inc.

383 Coal Hollow Road; Christiansburg, VA 24073-6721 Internet E-mail Address: [email protected]

www.vnla.org (Association Info) www.VirginiaGardening.com (Consumer Info)

Telephone: 540-382-0943 or 1-800-476-0055 Fax: 540-382-2716 Disclaimer: Published for your information, this newsletter is not an

endorsement for individual products or editorial comments.


Presidents Message The VNLA is off to a running start this year. The board is actively look-ing into partnerships with industry groups in the state to be able to have a unified voice in the legislature as well as have effective communication across all niches of the nursery and landscape industry. We want to be heard loud and clear and carry enough clout when policy makers are considering legislation that affects our industry. The Virginia Agribusi-ness Council and our legislative chair, Virginia Rockwell, are doing a great job keeping the board informed of what is happening in Richmond.

To keep our regional associations in the loop, the board has budgeted for the Executive Director to attend a meeting at each of the regional asso-ciations this year to communicate what is happening in Virginia and listen to any concerns or suggestions. To further show our support of the regional associations the board budg-eted funds again this year for educa-tional programs. Encourage your re-gional association to request funding and let us help you put on a program.

We are continuing to improve the Virginia Certified Horticulturist pro-gram with online CEU management and future upgrades to include an online study course. We want the cer-tification training to be easily obtain-

able to all parts of the state. If you need more CEUs, did you know you can complete quizzes from the news-letter from up to 3 years ago and get credit this year?

I am excited to be involved in all that the VNLA has going on. Be sure to contact me or any other board mem-ber if you have any questions or thoughts.

Make 2013 great!

By Matt Sawyer, President VNLA 2013

Save the Date! VNLA Field Day & Summer Tour

at Brent & Becky’s Bulbs Gloucester, VA

August 8-9, 2013



Here, you can find your congressman and senators’ con-tact info and can email them directly

from this link. There are also summaries of current issues and sample letters. “The squeaky wheel gets the oil!”




[email protected]

Vol. 83, No.1; January/February/March 2013 Editor: Jeff Miller












Make 2013 great!




August 8-9, 2013








[email protected]







6 January / February / March 2013 VNLA Newsletter6 January/February/March 2012 VNLA Newsletter

VNLA President’s Message

As we get ready to take on a new year, I look forward to working with the members of the VNLA and members of the VNLA Board. We have added additional experi-ence to the Board to compliment the impres-sive talent we already have serving. Like most of us have done recently in business, the VNLA Board has taken a hard look at who we are and how we do it. We met in Lynch-burg for 2 days to establish a Strate-gic Plan. We discussed how to have the most impact on all areas that af-fect our Industry. This is a tall order. It is not a job for just one person. It is a job that will take the talents and commitment of many people. It also will not happen overnight. Plus, 90% of success is showing up, so we will have to participate to achieve the re-sults we hope to have and stay the course.

We plan on focusing on 3 main areas: Industry Advocacy; Publi-cations and Communications and Research and Education. We will also prioritize issues in each area.

One constant theme though that I have felt, is to make sure we are doing what is best for the Industry. This is a moving target and will vary over time. All people will not agree on what is best. However, as long as we as an Industry and Trade Association are viewed as the professional and experts by the public,

all of us will be doing our jobs.

I wish you all a healthy and pros-perous year.

Steve Grigg,

VNLA President 2012



Here, you can find your congressman and senators’ contact info and can email

them directly from this link. There are also summaries of current issues and sample letters. “The squeaky wheel gets the oil!”













Make 2013 great!




August 8-9, 2013








[email protected]








VNLA Website Login

Update Your Contact Info Pay Your Dues

ReCertification now on line. See Your CEU’s

Read Previous Newsletters The VNLA website has had a complete overhaul with a new design, re-organized info tabs and updated information.

You can now log in and set up your user name and password. Access and update your contact information See the CEU’s that are recorded for you Virginia Certified Horticulturist Use the online store to order Certification supplies Renew your membership Additional capabilities will be added on an ongoing basis

How to Log in

Go to www.vnla.org/

Click on “login” top right Click on “Activate” in the left column Enter your email address. If you have an email address in the database, it will email your login info and let you setup a user name and password.

Return to the main screen and login with your user name and password.

Go to “My VNLA” and you can see your contact information, sales history, CEU’s etc.

If you do not have an email in the database, contact the VNLA Office for your Member Account Number at [email protected] or 1-800-476-0055

you can activate a new account and enter your information.

Letter - Thank you for Support of HRI

As we near Thanksgiving, on behalf of the HRI Board of Trustees we thank you for your support of HRI. With your help, we have exceeded our $500.000 fundraising goal for 2012. To recap, your donations for 2012 total $500. Your donations were designated as fol-lows: $500 to the HRI General Fund as a part of our membership campaign.

This year HRI celebrates 50 years of ensuring business success through prac-tical horticultural research, as well as providing educational tools that enable you to succeed. HRI is the proud spon-sor of a business educational video se-ries, Owners Only by Jay Goltz. The 8-part video series examines what the leader of an organization can do to ad-vance employee participation and high-lights the key topics that all businesses must address in order to grow and adapt to the changes in the market place. Visit www.anla.org/knowledgecenter for complete details.

VNLA Newsletter October/November/December 2012 7

VNLA Website Login

Update Your Contact Info

Pay Your Dues See Your CEU’s Read Previous

Newsletters The VNLA website has had a complete overhaul with a new design, re-organized info tabs and updated information.

You can now log in and set up your user name and password. Access and update your contact information See the CEU’s that are recorded for you Virginia Certified Horticulturist Use the online store to order Certification supplies Renew your membership Additional capabilities will be added on an ongoing basis

How to Log in Go to www.vnla.org/

Click on “Activate” in the left column Enter your email address. If you have an email address in the database, it will email your login info and let you setup a user name and password.

Return to the main screen and login with your user name and password.

Go to “My VNLA” and you can see your contact information, sales history, CEU’s etc.

If you do not have an email in the database, contact the VNLA Office for your Member Account Number at [email protected] or 1-800-476-0055

you can activate a new account and enter your information.

Thank You - Agriculture in the Classroom

On behalf of the Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom Board of Directors, staff and all the teachers and students who have benefitted from Agriculture in the Classroom lessons and classroom re-sources this year, thank you!

The Agriculture in the Classroom An-nual Report is available on the AITC website. I hope you will take a few minutes to read about the record setting teacher workshops, new curriculum and updated website that your support helped to provide to Virginia teachers and students.

Also, thank you for providing AITC with your e-mail address so we can communicate with you easily and cost efficiently. If you would like a printed copy of the Annual Report, please let me know.

[Editor’s Note: The VNLA contribut-ed $1,500 this year to this program.]

Karen L. Davis, Executive Director, [email protected]



We are able to preserve our country and the green industry through quali-ty plants and business practices that sustain the important relationship be-tween the research and business communities. For 2012, HRI granted $282,500 to fund nine research pro-jects and four student scholarships, all made possible by donors like you. Visit the HRI website for a complete listing.

Please be advised that your charitable contributions are tax deductible. HRI gave no goods or services in return for the donations. For your records, HRI's federal tax identification num-ber is 52-1052547. Please retain this letter for your tax purposes.

Thank you for being a part of our 50th year. We hope to continue to provide services important to you.

[The VNLA made a $500 donation for 2012.]

Teresa Jodon, Executive Director HRI, Research Affiliate of the American Nursery & Landscape Association, Washington, DC 202-695-2474 •

www.HRIResearch.org

Letter - Virginia Agribusiness Council

Thank you for support of our Annual Membership Meeting On behalf of the Virginia Agribusi-ness Council, thank you again for your support of our Annual Member-ship meeting and luncheon. Your support of the Council and our activi-ties is, as always, very much appreci-ated. This year's Annual Meeting was especially important as our members gathered to celebrate the successful passage of the Eminent Domain Con-stitutional Amendment, amongst oth-er notable successes over the past year.

Our Chairman, Eric Holter of Augus-ta Cooperative Farm Bureau, and I focused on the Council's continued efforts to provide the highest value

for our members. Thanks in large part to the outstanding support of mem-bers like you; the Council has contin-ued to excel in representing our in-dustry's interest with the legislature. We highlighted our many accom-plishments made through the team-work of our staff, Board of Directors, members, legislative coalitions, and legislators and Executive Branch. In a year of transition, the Council has strived to maintain our outstanding legislative efforts while expanding our communications and membership focus as well.

Back by popular demand, local polit-ical commentator Dr. Robert Hols-worth examined the recent Presiden-tial and Senate elections. Virginia's status as a purple state continued as the new reality of population shifts in urban areas led the President and Senator-elect Kaine to victory despite rural Virginia largely voting for other the candidates. Dr. Holsworth en-couraged our industry to continue to actively advocate for ourselves through organizations like the Coun-cil as the Commonwealth and nation face many difficult decisions in the next several years, and the population becomes less rural and actively in-volved in agribusiness.

Thank you to both you and Virginia Rockwell for participating in our State Policy Development meeting and attending the luncheon. Your sponsorship of the Annual Meeting supports our efforts to promote and defend the business interests of our members.

Katie K. Frazier President, VIRGINIA AGRIBUSINESS COUNCIL, Richmond,

(804) 643-3555 [email protected] ; www.va-agribusiness.org

We Represent Virginia Agribusiness with a Unified Voice

Letter - APLD

Sponsor-ship

I want to again thank you and VNLA for sponsoring and having a infor-mation table at the APLD Business Seminar. There was much positive feedback on seminar content, speak-ers, and array of landscape prod-ucts/businesses. Virginia had time to make some important announce-ments, and explain the benefits of VNLA membership

We look forward to meeting you at a future VNLA or APLD venue, and may you have a successful 2013. Best Regards, Steve D’mato, Vice Presi-

dent, APLD DC-MD-VA Chapter

[The VNLA contributed $600 to help sponsor this event.]

Letter - Thank You for Scholarship

I would like to thank you for choos-ing me as one of the recipients for Virginia Nursery and Landscape As-sociation's scholarships. That you would select me is incredibly hum-bling. and I am very grateful.

With the scholarship money you have awarded me I plan to continue in fo-cusing on my landscape contracting major next semester. I'm looking forward to the beginning of another semester in a couple months - albeit I am a bit apprehensive at the thought of herbaceous landscape plants. I took Latin the beginning of high school and quickly dropped it for Spanish: returning to it for horticulture nomen-clature has not been my favorite as-signment. However. the semester will include the second half of the land-scape design course I am currently taking. A class which has been my favorite hands down this semester.

1 will be taking a heavier course load next semester: however, it is my hope



that I will be able to become more involved with the incoming freshmen and graduates of Virginia Tech. The Virginia Tech Student Alumni Asso-ciation is accepting applications this upcoming January and I will he ap-plying. I would not do this if I had not received your generous gift this semester. Although I will continue to work part time through the school year and into the summer, I will now be able to donate some of my time to the incoming students of 2013 and the graduates of past classes. It is my secret goal to cultivate the love of horticulture in any undecided majors as they come in to the university.

Once again thank you for your gift of financial support. I truly appreciate everything it has and will enable me to do.

Sincerely. Karrin Larson

Editorial - Another Silent Spring

Last year marked the 50th anniver-sary of the publishing of what is ar-guably the most important book of the environmental movement - Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson. Whether you have read this book or not you are affected by it, both privately and professionally, every day. From the chemicals available to the extermina-tor who keeps ants out of your home, to the propellant that shoots all man-ner of things from aerosol cans, to the chemicals used to treat the building materials in your home - you are im-pacted by Silent Spring. Professional-ly, every chemical that you spray in the greenhouse, field or in someone's yard, every time you log your chemi-cal usage, every e-mail the VNLA sends you alerting you to the actions of the EPA - it's all because of Silent Spring. Silent Spring was not the first ecology book ever written, but it was

the first ecology book written in words easy enough for the average person to understand. And because of that, the public - our customers - de-manded changes in the way the envi-ronment was/is treated.

Reading Silent Spring brought back memories from when I was a kid that made my skin crawl. My family has been vacationing on the Outer Banks since before the Oregon Inlet bridge was built (I'm older than the bridge but I'm still not old enough to re-member the ferry that was there be-fore it). If any of you have ever been to the Outer Banks, you will under-stand when I say that the mosquitoes down there can be a tad aggressive. When I was a kid, in the evenings, the county used to send jeeps and trucks driving all around the island from village to village spraying a white cloud of poison in an effort to cut down on the numbers of the little blood sucking devils. Well, since it was vacation time, we kids couldn't

Ad - Hanover Farms

VNLA Newsletter July/August 2006 7

LettersThank you for supporting our 7th An-nual Legislative Golf Tournament on June 12 at Mattaponi Springs Golf Club. We had a terrific response with 112 players including a number of elected and appointed state officials, 18-hole sponsors, three food and bev-erage sponsors and numerous spon-sors of gifts and prizes. This is a sub-stantial increase from past years thanks to your efforts.

This event is not only a very enjoy-able way to promote agribusiness to all participants, but it also contributes to the Council’s ability to represent our industry’s interest throughout the year with the General Assembly, Governor’s office state agencies, congressional delegation and the gen-eral public. Our significant accom-plishments are attributable to the sup-port you provide. Thank you.

We look forward to your joining us

again nest year for out 8th Annual Legislative gold Tournament. Sincerely, Virginia Agribusiness Council

Editor’s Note: The VNLA was a team sponsor, prize and give away contributor

and a hole sponsor.

Arbor Day Thanks Many thanks for the wonderful Swamp White Oak that was donated to Lorton Library for Arbor Day this year. It’s doing well and sprouting new growth even as I write.

An article about the ceremony was featured on the library website www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/branches/lo/oaktreeplanting.htm. It was a lovely day and I know our neighbors will enjoy the tree for many years.

Sincerely, Lorton County Library

Editor’s Note: Vice-Presiden,, Lou Kobus, provided the tree

on behalf of VNLA.

VNLA –Summer Board Meeting Minutes

Friday, June 23, 2006; 9:00 am to 12:30 pm

Virginia Room, Hampton Inn, Front Royal, VA

9:00 a.m. Call to Order – Richard Johnson, President called the meeting to order with the following people present: Lizzy Pine, Lesley Pine, Jeff Miller, Bonnie Appleton, Duane Shumaker, Butch Gaddy, and Billy Crigler.

Guest Introductions – Bill Dutcher, President of the CVNLA, was intro-duced and welcomed to the meeting.

Secretary’s Report, Butch Gaddy reported that the minutes had been printed in the VNLA Newsletter and emailed to the Board. A motion was made to accept the minutes, seconded and passed.

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be expected to stop what we were doing just to avoid a cloud of poison, and besides, if that cloud was truly dangerous, the government wouldn't spray it right? So we happily contin-ued playing in those clouds of DDT, not knowing the possible conse-quences of that play.

And then there was the five gallon bucket of Chlordane that we kept in the shed. We used it for every creep-ing and crawling insect, spider and mite that we might encounter in the yard or house. Chlordane was used in agriculture to kill insects in the corn and citrus crops, but it was available at just about every hardware store for homeowner use. Until 1988 when it was finally banned, it was also used extensively for the treatment of ter-mites, which is where landscapers are still coming into contact with it today. In the soil, chlordane almost has a half-life - it can stay in the soil for decades, and if you work on old properties like I do in Richmond, then chances are you've come in contact with Chlordane contaminated soil, especially if you are renovating the foundation beds of an old house. I can't say for certain what did it - could have been mold, or a chemical or simply dust, but I have been sick-ened more than once by the soils around old houses.

If you have a mortgage then you know that exterminators are still treating the soil around your house for termites, and in swampy areas of the South localities are still spraying for mosquitoes, both with the chemi-cals of the day which have been test-ed just as thoroughly as DDT or Chlordane. I know - that's not fair, but it's accurate. In their day, both DDT and Chlordane were considered the safest, most effective chemicals available, just like the chemicals we use every day. It took time to discov-er that they were environment chang-ing poisons. The chemicals that re-placed DDT and Chlordane have since been discontinued and newer ones have been introduced; kind of

makes you wonder about what is in use now, doesn't it?

Genetically engineered crops are said to be killing bees and butterflies, RoundUp is building up in our soils even though Monsanto said it would-n't, and Imprelis can kill healthy trees as well as the turf weeds - its intend-ed target. All of these things were tested before they were approved and all were used extensively before any problem was noticed. I don't mean to be bashing the horticultur-al/agricultural chemical industry, nor do I intend to point a finger at anyone who uses these chemicals. I under-stand that pesticides and herbicides are here to stay and that neither nurseries nor farms could exist with-out them. I trust that if you are read-ing this newsletter and are a member of the VNLA, you take every precau-tion required and then some when applying chemicals. In fact, I was very hesitant to even try to write this article (that's why you're reading this now and not last year) - I'm not a chemist, or a chemical engineer; I don't know how these chemicals work. I don't even have a pesticide applicators license - and no, I do not apply chemicals for, nor give advice on the use of chemicals, to my cus-tomers. It's just easier to pay one of my colleagues to do it for me if my customers really need something sprayed, which most of the time they don't. In fact, most of my customers hire me because I DON'T spray chemicals. It has taken a while but some people are coming to the reali-zation that bugs are not all bad, and that a few chewed leaves (in THEIR garden, anyway) are not the end of the world. In fact, some people are actually asking us to put in plants - native plants, of course - just to at-tract the right insects into their gar-dens (thanks, Dr. Doug Tallamy).

Unfortunately, for every native gar-den you see out there in suburbia, you see five with the perfectly manicured lawn, the same old shrubs that every-one else has and a sign in the yard left

by the company that sprayed the whole property for mosquitoes - I won't use the franchise name, but you all know of whom I speak. Forty years have passed but still kids are playing in the pesticide cloud! I'm sure the pesticide they use is just as safe as everybody thought DDT was, and just as selective in what it kills. I guess those homeowners have never read Silent Spring either.

Just a little food for thought. Tom Thompson, VNLA Environmental

Affairs Director

VNLA - Beautiful Gardens Spring 2013

Spring 2013 finds everyone anxiously waiting for the VT Spirit daylily inven-tory to bloom and provide plants for the many garden centers and customers looking forward to their arrival. Gro Virginia, in Danville, has 25,000 plants that were propagated last year at the Institute for Applied Learning and Re-search in Danville, VA. The Dan River Plant Propagation Company is the commercial facility at IALR that pre-pares the plants for subsequent sale. Gro Virginia has placed their inventory of VT Spirit in heated greenhouses to encourage some blooming this first year. They will keep us all informed as plants become available for sale.

Visits to Virginia garden centers partic-ipating in the Beautiful Gardens ‘plants of distinction’ program will begin in February. Each Garden center is pro-vided with a poster of the plants of dis-tinction for 2013, Beautiful Gardens banners are made available, plastic 6”x8” cards are supplied for identifying the plants on the benches and in the display gardens. Lisa Lipsey and Linda Pinkham and I will be making presenta-tions this winter and spring at garden club meetings, garden center work-shops and open houses. Lisa has pre-pared a power point program that de-tails the Beautiful Gardens and the plants of distinction. Ads have been prepared for the Virginia Gardener magazine and the Garden Clubs of Vir-



ginia Journal newsletter. Each garden center is asked to link their website to Beautiful Gardens and include infor-mation on their own site. Media releas-es will be written for newspapers and garden editors throughout the state of Virginia.

We ask each of you growers to con-sider participating in the plants of distinction program of Beautiful Gardens. Listings of the Virginia growers having plants of distinction for each year are provided to the garden centers. This can help expand your con-tact base to sell additional plants from your inventory. Plants of distinction for 2014 and 2015 are listed on the Beauti-ful Gardens website at www.beautifulgardens.org

As a final note, we are always looking for suggestions for new plant intro-ductions and plants of distinction. Your good ideas can help make the Beautiful Gardens program a ‘growing’ success!

By Rick Baker

Obituary - Nick Covatta Nicholas J. Covatta, Jr., owner of an Eastern Shore nursery and a Norfolk-based equipment company, as well as a dedicated and generous supporter of Eastern Shore education and artistic enterprises, died early Sunday, Novem-ber 25, 2012, at his home on Folly Creek, just outside of Accomac, VA. He was 66 years old and had been bat-tling cancer for the past year.

Mr. Covatta, a native of Troy, NY, and a graduate of the Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology (SB 1968) and Har-vard University (MBA 1972), moved to the Eastern Shore in 1980 after pur-chasing Eastern Shore Nursery of Vir-ginia, a wholesale nursery near Keller, \'A. He also cofounded the Atlantis Group in Norfolk, VA, which consists of four Mid-Atlantic operating subsidi-aries, including CFE Equipment Corpo-ration.

Before moving to the Shore, Mr. Co-vatta spent more than a decade working

in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and the Middle East as an adviser, strategic consultant, and corpo-rate executive. He served as a senior consultant with Boston Consulting Group, a vice president of Gulf Oil Corporation, a staff executive of Gen-eral Electric, and an executive vice president of AI International Corpora-tion.

Given his background in business, his newly founded Virginia companies thrived. Asked once what the secret was to building a business, he said: "First, never borrow more money than you can afford to lose. And when you start a business, start it where you have location and distribution factors that constitute a 'moat' that possible compet-itors will find difficult to challenge."

When he came to the Shore, Mr. Covat-ta brought with him not just his busi-ness expertise, but a deep personal ap-preciation and love for higher educa-tion and the arts and above all a devo-tion to his wife and business partner, Robin Rinaca. Together they raised two

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daughters, Anna and Danielle, and set-tled into their new home they had pur-chased and meticulously restored one of the Eastern Shore's grandest old homes, Bowman's Folly (c. 1815), on Folly Creek.

Mr. Covatta's involvement in his daughters' activities led him to play a minor role in a local production of "The Nutcracker," a gig he enjoyed so much that he became a frequent performer on the stage at the North Street Playhouse in Onancock, VA. Over time, he played many leading roles, perhaps the most notable being that of Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman" - a role that, for sure, he did not play in his own no-nonsense business life.

Once, after being praised for his por-trayal of Willy Loman, Mr. Covatta said: "You know', I worked really hard at getting that role right, or what I thought was right. And, you know', I got it right, if I do say so."

Mr. Covatta was appointed to the board of the Virginia Commission for the Arts by Gov. Tim Kaine in 2006 and he later was elected as chairman of the Commission. He served on the boards of Virginians for the Arts, the North Street Playhouse, Riverside Shore Me-morial Hospital and Eastern Shore Community College Foundation. Mr. Covatta was also active m the follow-ing organizations: the MIT Educational Council, the McGovern Center for Brain Research at MIT, the Parents Committees for both St. Paul's School in Concord, NH and Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA. He also was a mem-ber of Grace United Methodist Church in Parksley, \'A, and served as its treas-urer for ten years.

In the last year of his life, Mr. Covatta was steadfastly positive, saying often that he had had "a good life" and no reason to complain. He had a lifelong passion for the New York Yankees and he loved to travel with his family. One might speculate that his greatest regret would he that he was only able to col-lect two Social Security checks.

Mr. Covatta was born Nicholas Joseph Covatta, Jr., on September 4, 1946, in Troy, NY, the son of Nicholas J. Covat-

ta, Sr. and Lillian Graziade Covatta. Besides his wife, Robin Rinaca, he is survived by two daughters, Anna Scott Covatta of New' York, NY, and Dan-ielle Elizabeth Covatta of Arlington, VA, and three sisters, Mary Beth Di-toro (Michael) of Chester, NH, Marilyn Christian (Joseph) of Troy, NY, and Sister Annette Covatta of Lake Oswego, OR.

A memorial service for family and friends celebrating Mr. Covatta's life was held at his home, Bowman's Folly, at 1p.m. on Thursday, November 29, 2012.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Eastern Shore Community College (ESCC) Foundation for Project Hori-zons, 29300 Lankford Highway, Melfa, VA, 23410, to Grace United Methodist Church, Parksley, VA 23421 or to the charity of your choice.

Memory tributes may be shared with the family at www.williamsfuneralhomes.com Arrangements by the Williams- Parksley

Funeral Home.

Obituary - Andy Hankins 58, retired VSU Extension

specialist, was `a mentor to all of us in agriculture'

A memorial service to celebrate the life of the late Anthony "Andy" Hankins was held from 3 to 5 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Gateway Dining Center of Virginia State University.

Mr. Hankins, 58, a retired Extension specialist at VSU, passed away Nov. 15. Born July 26, 1954, he made his home in Providence Forge, and for-merly, in Roanoke.

Mr. Hankins was described as on VSU's ag net as "a mentor to all of us in sustainable and alternative agricul-ture" who "will be sorely missed. Andy was the inspiration for several generations of farmers and without his love and support sustainable and organic farming in Virginia would not be what it is today."

Owners of Broadfork Farm in Ches-

terfield, Va., called him "a great lead-er in the world of Virginia's organic agriculture," adding, "Andy Hankins has arguably done more for sustaina-ble agriculture in the past 30-plus years than anyone else. He was a stalwart of the Virginia Association for Biological Farming and Virginia Cooperative Extension. He did a job for many years that no one else has seemed willing to do. Gratitude for his amazing (and often lonely) work, combined with his laid-back attitude and incredible laugh, has long been overflowing. The future of organic agriculture in Virginia really feels a bit uncertain without him."

Mr. Hankins received his bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Berea Col-lege in Kentucky and a master’s de-gree in animal science at Virginia Tech. He served as Extension agent in Wayne County, West Virginia, and in King and Queen County, and Mad-ison County in Virginia. He was an Extension specialist in alternative agriculture at VSU from 1987-2012. He provided leadership in developing and implementing educational pro-grams in production and marketing of nontraditional crops and livestock products and in developing and im-plementing educational programs in sustainable agriculture.

Mr. Hankins is survived by his moth-er, Audrey Hamner; siblings, Wendy Huffman, John, Joe and Jim; wife Diane; and beloved son Joseph.

The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, friends might consider mak-ing a contribution to the "Andy Hankins Internship Program Fund" which is being established for agri-culture students at Virginia State University. For information on the fund, contact Dr. Jewel E. Hairston, Dean, School of Agriculture, Box 9081, Virginia State University, Pe-tersburg, VA 23831; telephone (804) 524-5961.

Mid-Atlantic Grower



News - VNLA Professional of the Year

Award 2012 Dr. Holly Scoggins

Steve Grigg, VNLA President, presents

Dr. Holly Scoggins with the VNLA Professional of the Year Award

This years’ Professional of the Year award goes to someone who not only makes an impact on today’s Industry professional, but is helping to shape the Industry and Industry Professional of

tomorrow.

Their work has provided a showcase for the Industry and provided a living classroom. Their work has made the general public plus others in the aca-demic world aware of the importance and economic impact of the green in-dustry.

This person’s work has already been recognized by others for “Exceptional leadership in education to our industry” by receiving the Perennial Plant Asso-ciation’s Academic award for 2008.

During her tenure as Director of the Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech, the gardens have expanded to include the Water Gardens, Meadow Garden and the Peggy Lee Hahn Pavil-ion.

She holds degrees from the University of Georgia and NC State.

This year’s Professional of the Year Award goes to Dr. Holly Scoggins!

By Steve Grigg

News - VNLA Environmen-tal Stewardship Award 2012

Saunders Brothers, Inc.

(Left) Tom Thompson presents Tom Saunders with the VNLA Environmental Steward

of the Year Award.

They were chosen based on their water conservation efforts utilizing technolo-gy that was developed in row crop pro-duction.

Saunders Brothers started doing Evapo-transpiration (ET) based irrigation dur-

ing the summer of 2011. [Continued on page 16]

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VNLA Photo Contest A winner and prize for each bi-monthly VNLA newsletter

– 6 total per year. One Grand Prize winner chosen at the end of the year.

Details at: www.vnla.org/AboutVNLA/photography_contest.htm













May/June 2007 VNLA Newsletter 12

VNLA – Photo Contest

Insert previous photo winner from Mar/Apr issue, page 13 “Iris si-

birica”

Photo folder: IrisDSCF8271_edited-1.jpg







A winner and prize for each Quarterly VNLA Newsletter-4 total per year.

One Grand Prize winner chosen at the end of the year.

VNLA Photo Contest

Go ahead... shoot!a Plant



December 2012 - John Wessel December 2011 - Michele Fletcher

August 2011 - Jennifer Seay

October 2011 - Dwayne Jones

June 2011 - Kelly Connoley-Phillips

September 2012 - Lisa Lipsey


VNLA - Photo Contest Rules

1. The contest is open to any pho-tographer (amateur and professional) except members of Board of Direc-tors of VNLA and their families. En-tries are limited to VNLA members and their staff.

2. Each photographer may enter up to three (3) digital images per Newsletter deadline (see #6). E-mail images to [email protected]. Include your name, phone number and occu-pation. . One winning entry per photographer per year. You may re-enter non-winning entries.

3. Please e-mail images separately. Feel free to elaborate on any story surrounding the photograph. Photos should be 300 dpi high resolution.

4. All photographs submitted must have been taken within the past five years.

5. All photographs must be related to the Green Industry. The subject can be located in a nursery, back yard, or in a landscape--just so it is obviously related to the green indus-try profession.

6. Deadline for submission is 5:00 p.m. on the Newsletter Copy Dead-line, which is the 15th of January, March, May, July, September and November. All submissions become the property of the VNLA.

7. Model Release forms are required with each photograph which contains a clearly identifiable person. Release forms are available from the VNLA office, on request, and are also avail-able for download from the VNLA website at Model release in MS Word format or Adobe PDF format.

Judging done by the VNLA Communication Committee.

All decisions are final.

Winner of the January/February/March 2013 Photo Contest

Photo Winner: Katie Klages Four Seasons Nursery, Chesapeake, VA

Think Spring & Wisteria! Katie was also the winner in the last February issue,

but we didn’t have her name listed correctly under the photo.

Win $50, submit your photos!

Good Luck and Happy Photographing! VNLA Newsletter 15January / February / March 2013


[Environmental Award/Saunders continued from page 13]

The goal of ET-based irrigation is to determine the amount of water lost from a containerized plant during one day and to replace exactly that amount through irrigation. Base numbers for irrigation were deter-mined through testing that was coor-dinated by two University of Flori-da’s researchers, Tom Yeager and Jeff Million. A summer intern from Virginia Tech collected ET data from a range of plants to establish base figures for irrigation. Using these fig-ures as a guideline, irrigation in 2012 was monitored using Leachate Frac-tion (LF) testing. Leachate Fraction is the ratio of the excess water lost out the bottom of a container during an irrigation cycle to the total irrigation applied. Electrical Conductivity (EC) values were also tested to make sure fertility levels were in the desired range. Keeping leachate fractions at a low level meant keeping nutrients in the media and not leaching them out. LF goals were established for plants during the growing season and moni-tored on a regular basis. Formulas allowed irrigation times to be adjust-ed to meet desired LF goals. Through testing in 2011, Saunders Brothers Inc determined that equal or better quality plants could be grown using less water and less fertilizer. It was determined that fertility levels could be dropped on some crops from 30-40%. In 2012 when local rainfall lev-els were 25% below average, overall water use dropped by over 50% when compared to the previous 5 year average.

Starting in the fall of 2012, SBI in-stalled their first wireless irrigation controllers on a third of the nursery. Designed by Fralo Control Systems, irrigation run times are entered on PC’s and wirelessly transmitted to irrigation control panels. Sensors monitor pump pressure and flow to maximize the efficiency of the irriga-tion system. Through the new system crops can be grouped based on their

individual needs to water at any time of the night or day. Part of the wire-less system in 2013 will be controlled by a computer program that automat-ically adjusts irrigation amounts de-pendent upon crop stage, container size, plant spacing and daily weather data from a weather station on-site. Continued trialing of plants using lower rates of fertilizer will take place. By the fall of 2013 the compa-ny intends to irrigate all of its woody plants using the wireless system while continuing to monitor the LF of the crops. LF testing will expand in 2013 to include herbaceous crops as well.

Presented by Tom Thompson, VNLA Environmental Affairs Director

News - Advances in OFA/ANLA Consoli-

dation First Joint Education Program

This week, OFA - The Association of Horticulture Professionals and the American Nursery & Landscape As-sociation (ANLA) will launch their first joint event as they co-host Next Level, an educational conference de-signed to help participants develop their business acumen and personal leadership skills. Next Level was held January 31-February 2 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The conference represents one of the sig-nificant achievements of the proposed consolidation between the two groups.

“Beginning last summer, a volunteer advisory group made up of members from both organizations worked with our collective staff to develop this built-from-scratch Next Level confer-

ence. This event is the beginning of great things to come for our organiza-tions and our profession,” said Mi-chael Geary, CAE. Effective January 1, 2013, Geary assumed the responsibilities as Executive Vice President of ANLA, and now serves as the chief staff executive of both organizations, with offices in Colum-bus, Ohio and Washington, D.C. Af-ter serving as ANLA’s Executive Vice President for 21 years, Bob Dolibois retired on December 31, 2012.

Following one year of working to-gether in a joint venture structure, the boards of directors for both organiza-tions resolved at the end of last year to continue supporting the develop-ment of a comprehensive horticultural trade association, including the planned governance structure. The plan is to launch the new association by January 1, 2014, pending approval by members. The new organization will represent the whole of the orna-mental plant industry, including breeders, greenhouse and nursery growers, garden center retailers, dis-tributors, interior and exterior land-scape professionals, florists, students, educators, researchers, manufactur-ers, and all of those who are part of the industry supply chain.

“Some people wonder why we are doing this. It’s because our members want this to happen,” said Bob Terry, ANLA’s president and owner of Fisher Farms in Gaston, Oregon. A membership and organizational study performed at the end of 2011 indicat-ed members of both associations want the organizations to work closer to unify the industry. “Members clearly expressed their preference for their association to be all encompassing -one that touches and links all pieces of the horticulture industry. From breeders to the independent retailers, we believe this can be best accom-plished by combining our groups into one organization,” explained Terry.

“The combined 215 years of leader-



ship, service, knowledge, and history of these two organizations will result in a more robust experience for our members and ensure the vitality of the horticulture industry,” said Mike McCabe, OFA’s president and co-owner of McCabe’s Greenhouse & Floral in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

Before the consolidation is finalized the two organizations will be working to secure the formal support of their respective memberships, merge oper-ations, complete corporate and legal requirements, determine a dues struc-ture, and confirm a new name, among other activities. In the meantime, both groups will continue to offer their respective member services and in-dustry-wide programs. As progress continues, updates will be shared with members and made public at OneVoiceOneIndustry.com.

“It’s a very exciting time for the hor-ticulture industry,” said Geary. “The future success of the industry, which includes the entire supply chain, will require different thinking and grander strategies from all of us,” he added.

Questions or comments about the consolidation efforts may be directed to [email protected]

For more information about Next Level visit www.yournextlevel.org.ForinformationonthemergerOFA

andANLAgotowww.onevoiceoneindustry.com/

ANLA, a Washington, DC-based trade association, represents green industry business professionals seeking market leadership through advocacy with our nation’s government, a community of industry innovators and experts, and

unique, profitability-focused program-ming, products and services. Through the Lighthouse Program, a partnership with green industry state and regional associ-

ations, ANLA represents more than 22,000 businesses before Congress and

to the White House.

OFA - The Association of Horticulture Professionals is the leading horticulture

educational association in the United States. It is a non-profit, all-industry, educational organization and its core

purpose/mission is “to support and ad-vance professional horticulture.” Indus-try segments served include garden cen-ters, greenhouses, nurseries, retail and

wholesale florists, and interior plants-capers. OFA is especially known for its outstanding publications and its annual OFA Short Course, U.S. horticulture’s

premier convention and marketplace. The next Short Course will take place on July

13-16, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio USA.

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News - Bob Dolibois Retires After 21 Years

Robert Dolibois, retires after 21 years of service from ANLA with ANLA President

Bob Terry.

Michael Geary, CAE Assumes Leadership

On December 31, after 21 years of ser-vice to ANLA, executive vice president Bob Dolibois will retire. On January 1, 2013, Michael Geary, CAE, will be-come the new executive vice president. Bringing 21 years of experience in as-sociation management, including the past two as the CEO of OFA, Michael will helm both organizations. He will split his time between OFA’s office in Columbus, OH and ANLA’s offices in Washington, DC preparing for a sched-uled formation of a new joint organiza-tion on January 1, 2014. ANLA’s gov-ernment relations and research team will remain in Washington, DC.

HRI hosted a successful member and donor reception at MANTS in January. Robert Dolibois was recognized for his 21 years of service at ANLA. Dona-tions were made in honor of the Doli-bois Family throughout 2012 and at the reception. HRI extends its sincere ap-preciation to all those that have con-tributed to the HRI Book Fund and the Susan & Robert Dolibois Key Award Fund.

Bob, and his wife Susie, were recog-nized for their contributions to our as-sociation and this industry during the HRI reception, January 10th, at MANTS in Baltimore. Bob may con-tinue to be reached, through the first months of 2013 at [email protected].

Provided by the ANLA

News - Card Brand Surcharge Notification

In November 2012, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York preliminarily approved a proposed settlement agreement In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Lit-igation. As part of this settlement, Visa® and MasterCard® rules pro-hibiting merchants from surcharging in the U.S. for credit card transactions changed beginning January 27, 2013.

Surcharge requirements issued by Visa and MasterCard include:

Merchants must limit surcharging to credit cards only (no surcharg-ing debit and prepaid cards) and limit the amount of the surcharge to the applicable merchant dis-count rate for the credit card transaction surcharged.

Merchants must disclose the ac-tual dollar amount of the sur-charge on every receipt and dis-close at the point of store entry and at the point of sale the fact that the merchant assesses a sur-charge.

Cap on the level of the surcharge. The level of the fee that a mer-chant may charge a cardholder is capped in relation to the mer-chant's cost for Visa and Master-Card credit acceptance.

Merchants that choose to surcharge credit card transactions must provide 30 days advance written notice to Visa Inc., MasterCard Worldwide, and their acquirer prior to surcharg-ing, and must identify whether the merchant intends to impose surcharg-es at the brand or product level.

At this time, we are reviewing these new rules regarding surcharges and how to best serve you. We will con-tinue to update you in the upcoming months.

For a summary of the rules changes,

visit the following sites:

http://www.visa.com/merchantsurcharging

http://www.mastercard.us/merchants/support/surcharge-rules.html

For an overview of the rule changes which are set forth in full in the Set-tlement Agreement, please visit: www.paymentcardsettlement.com

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News - Impatiens Downy Mildew Alert

We wanted to alert you that we have seen our first case of impatiens downy mildew in a greenhouse in Virginia this year. The grower had taken cuttings from a plant purchased from out-of-state. The cuttings declined very rapid-ly in the greenhouse. Remind growers to inspect liners and plugs carefully upon receipt and to segregate newly purchased plants from existing Impati-ens walleriana crops. Plants may be asymptomatic for the disease until a favorable environment (cool tempera-tures and high humidity) is present and prior fungicide treatments may sup-press sporulation of the downy mildew pathogen. All Impatiens walleriana cultivars and interspecific hybrids with I. walleriana as a parent are susceptible to the disease. If possible, growers should avoid growing I. walleriana in greenhouses where the disease has been recently diagnosed. Plant debris from infested greenhouses should be placed in sealable plastic bags and removed from the site.

A 2012 alert is posted at the following url: www.ppws.vt.edu/~clinic/alerts/06-26-12_impatiens_downy_mildew_alert.pdf . Further information on this disease, including preventative fungicide rec-ommendations, can be found at the fol-lowing link www.emeraldashborerdamage.jpg.com Ball Horticultural: http://www.ballhort.com/pdf/ImpatiensDownyMildewGrowerGuidelines.pdf .



News - Virginia Tech's tree app tops

at Google Play BLACKSBURG,

Va., Dec. 20, 2012 - Researchers in the College of Natural Resources and En-

vironment http://cnre.vt.edu/

have developed a new application for Android smartphones that enables users to identify the woody plants around them. The app, titled Virginia Tech Tree Identification is available as a free download on Google Play.

https://play.google.com/ Distinguished Professor John Seiler http://frec.vt.edu/Faculty/JohnSeiler.html and Laboratory Specialist John Pe-terson of the Department of Forest Re-sources and Environmental Conserva-tion worked with forest landowner and programmer Bob Potts to develop the app.

Potts, a self-described amateur natu-ralist and frequent visitor to Seiler and Peterson's Dendrology at the Vir-ginia Tech website http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/main.htm approached the two about the possibility of developing the app for use in the field by combining the website's tree fact sheets and inter-view key with the smartphone's port-ability and GPS capabilities.

"We want to get the app into the hands of as many people as possible, which is why it was important for us to make it available to the public at no cost," Seiler said.

Video Link: https://vimeo.com/53160483

The app includes fact sheets for 969 woody plants with descriptions,

range maps, and over 6,400 images of leaves, bark, flowers, fruit, twigs, and

form.

Using the phone's GPS receiver, net-work signal, or a user-entered loca-tion to narrow down the list of spe-cies native to an area, the application then becomes "Woody Plants of Where You Are Standing." For ex-ample, it can become "Woody Plants of Southwestern Oregon" or "Woody Plants of Great Smoky Mountains National Park."

The app is not limited by the location of the user's smartphone; it can dis-play data for virtually any address, GPS coordinates, or location descrip-tion in North America entered by the user.

With the app's interview key, users can further narrow the list of possible species by answering a series of sim-ple tree attribute questions like where the tree is growing, how the leaves are shaped, or what the flowers or fruits look like. If users have some knowledge of the species they are trying to identify, they can narrow the species list by typing in a keyword.

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Users can also email tree-related questions and photos directly to "Dr. Dendro; http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/doctor/doctor.cfm Seiler's online alter ego.

Potts programmed the app; Peterson created digitized range maps for each species, worked on the interview key, and manipulated the database; and Seiler provided most of the photo-graphs and lent his eye for design, product testing, and end-user market research. Professional application developer Andrew Meeks, who grad-uated from Virginia Tech in 2004 with a degree in wildlife science, helped solve some technical issues.

The app became the most download-ed tree identification app available from Google Play just three months after its release. At press time, it had over 13,000 downloads and was rated 4.5 out of five stars. An iPhone ver-sion is currently in development.

In addition to the Android app, Seiler and Peterson recently re-leased the third edition of their DVD-based software program Woody Plants in North America http://www.kendallhunt.com/store-product.aspx?id=62507 The program, which expands on the tree fact sheets and includes side-by-side species comparisons, a quiz function, and thousands more photos, serves as a comprehensive tutorial for species identification. This popular resource, developed and refined over the course of 15 years, is used by students and practitioners alike.

"I'm proud of what we have built," Peterson remarked. "I have felt thank-ful and fortunate from the beginning. John Seiler and I are a good tree iden-tification software team."

The College of Natural Resources and Environment http://www.cnre.vt.edu/ at Virginia Tech, which consistently ranks among the top three programs of its kind in the nation, advances the sci-

ence of sustainability. Programs pre-pare the future generation of leaders to address the complex natural re-sources issues facing the planet. World-class faculty lead transforma-tional research that complements the student learning experience and im-pacts citizens and communities across the globe on sustainability issues, especially as they pertain to water, climate, fisheries, wildlife, forestry, sustainable biomaterials, ecosystems, and geography. Virginia Tech, the most comprehensive university in Virginia, is dedicated to quality, in-novation, and results to the com-monwealth, the nation, and the world.

Lynn Davis, [email protected]

News - ANLA, OFA Push For Meaningful Immigration Reform

Upwards of 250 leaders in the faith, law enforcement, business, and ag-ricultural communities joined in Washington to call on Congress to repair America's broken immigra-tion system. ANLA and OFA raised funds, coordinated nursery and greenhouse speakers and attendees, and joined in lobbying visits to Sen-ate and House offices. The events were organized around the 30th anni-versary of the National Immigration Forum, which convenes diverse inter-ests that value the role and contribu-tions of immigration and immigrants in American society.

Tuesday began with a press confer-ence that drew media ranging from the New York Times to the Washing-ton Post to the Wall Street Journal. Sheldon Brown, a dairy farmer from upstate New York, spoke to agricul-ture's unique needs that must be ad-dressed in immigration reform. An afternoon strategy session showcased "Bibles, Badges, and Business" in a series of regional summits that made the faith, law enforcement, and busi-ness case for legislative action. Bert Lemkes, an owner of Van Wingerden

International, Mills River, NC, of-fered greenhouse and nursery per-spectives as part of a "southeast" pan-el. Lemkes made a passionate and focused case for federal solutions to America's immigration dilemmas.

Wednesday featured visits to Capitol Hill and an evening celebration of the Forum's anniversary. Again, ANLA and OFA provided funding and partici-pation. In addition to Lemkes, the green industry was represented by Peter Orum and Craig Keller, Midwest Groundcovers, IL; Dominick Mondi, executive director of the New Jersey Nursery and Landscape Association; Michael Geary, chief staff executive of OFA; and, ANLA vice president for government relations, Craig Regel-brugge. These attendees also covered House and Senate office visits for the states of California, Illinois, New Jer-sey, and North Carolina.

For OFA and ANLA, the Forum's events were strategic. Congress is ex-pected to take up immigration reform early in 2013. While no outcome is guaranteed, part of the leadership task for the associations is to ensure that the specific needs of greenhouse and nurse-ry growers and landscapers are ad-dressed in any reforms considered by Congress. Fixes to America's broken immigration system must include future worker programs that actually function, as well as solutions for current, experi-enced immigrant workers in the indus-try. Stronger enforcement will be part of the package, so the reforms have to work.

"For OFA and ANLA, last week was a critical opportunity to offer a unified industry voice," said OFA's Michael Geary. Craig Regelbrugge added, "The table is being set now for the next chance at federal legislative immigra-tion reform, and through hard work and commitment, we've got a seat."

Craig J. Regelbrugge, Co-Chair, Agri-culture Coalition for Immigration Re-form, VP for Government Relations

American Nursery & Landscape Associa-tion Washington, , 202/434/8685



Member Profile - Bennett’s Creek Nursery

Bennett's Creek Nursery is a wholesale container grower and landscape supply distributor. Our operation includes five locations that consist of a 375 acre growing facility and four full-service landscape distri-bution centers. Our locations range from Williamsburg, VA to near the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We grow a broad range of annuals, per-ennials, shrubs, and trees ranging from 6" to 25-gallon containers. We were proud to be named "Nursery Grower of the Year" by Nursery Management magazine in 2011.

We promote our products for garden centers through our Blooming & Beautiful™ brand by offering color picture tags, POP materials, and a consumer website that features our products and those who sell them. One of the unique things we have done is to market plants to garden center buyers on a display van. We modified a Sprinter van to have shelving and lights to display our plants to buyers on a regular basis. We want to keep our customers in the loop on what is blooming and beauti-ful right then.

Williamsburg Distribution Center

Our landscape distribution centers supply landscape contractors with plants, bulk materials, hardscapes, tools, and accessories. We try to be a one-stop-shop to be convenient to the contractor. Delivery service is offered on flatbeds with forklift service, dump trucks, and enclosed trailers. The majority of plants that we sell come from our growing facility. The rest of the material comes from around the country to give us the broad selection that contractors de-mand.

Isle of Wight Farm

We have been in business nearly 40 years and contribute much of our success to being involved with in-dustry groups such as VNLA. We have about 20 Virginia Certified Hor-ticulturists on staff and we are always encouraging more to become certi-fied. We have also had several em-ployees as a part of the VNLA board of directors over the years. In addi-tion to VNLA we are in involved with the Hampton Roads Nursery & Landscape Association, American Nursery & Landscape Association, International Plant Propagators Socie-ty, American Camellia Society, and multiple trade shows.

Involvement in these groups has given us the ability to stay on top of what is going on in the industry. We get a feel for the pulse of the nursery economy, understand im-portant legislative issues, find out about new technology, and form last-ing friendships. We have also learned a lot from research and get to know the who's who to talk to when we have problems.

Research has been a huge benefit of being part of these organizations. Not only do we benefit from the re-sults, we have had the opportunity to be the trial site for many research projects. We are currently part of Virginia Tech research including a water-borne pathogen study with Dr. Chuan Hong, soil moisture sensor network trials with Dr. Jim Owen, and insect control research with Dr. Pete Schultz.

We continue into the future by con-stantly looking at how we operate and what we can do better. Tech-nology has been important as we are regularly upgrading hardware and software and are moving more and more towards mobile computing in the field. We have an in-house IT administrator that keeps us going and develops new capabilities for our computer system. We are already do-ing order entry and monitoring key crops on iPhones. Technology is al-lowing our employees to accomplish more and allowing us to keep staffing at a minimum.

Matt Sawyer is Vice President of Operations at Bennett’s Creek. He and his wife Lauren live in Suf-folk, Virginia. Matt

graduated from Nansemond Suffolk Academy (high School) in Suffolk and Averett University in 2002 in Danville, Virginia where he was hon-ored as a Trustee’s Scholar.



Organizations that he has been ac-tive in are the ANLA Landscape Dis-tribution Board from 2008 to present; Bennett’s Creek Sertoma member from 2012 to present and the VNLA Board from 2007 to present where he is now president of the VNLA.

Matt says that his best habit is or-ganization but his worst habit is pro-crastination. His favorite plant is the Colorado blue spruce but dislikes Liriope and other overused plants.

He also feels that employees need to be listened to the ask questions and help them to solve their own issues.

Matt feels that they have been in business for so long because they are always changing. Whether they are adding new locations, new products, updating technology or updating pro-cesses, there is always change hap-pening.

Their biggest challenge that he feels they are facing is dealing with the economy. He feels that the biggest

upcoming trend is technology such as apps for plant identification.

Matt’s hobbies are aviation, photog-raphy, snowboarding, and scuba div-ing. The best idea that he ever stole was a mobile display vehicle. The best advice that he ever received was to read regularly. His most significant mentor has been his father. “He has given me opportunities and guidance to grow in his business”.

Edited by Sandy Miller

Legislative- Lighthouse National Issues

Following the November elec-tions, all eyes shifted to the var-ious federal agencies that are busy developing the rules, regula-tions, and guid-

ance to implement Obamacare. While

many business owners were hoping for repeal under a Romney admin-istration, election results have dashed those hopes. However, even with a new administration, it would have been extraordinarily difficult to over-come the 60 votes that would have been needed to get almost anything through the U.S. Senate and, thus, provided virtually no path for the re-peal of Obamacare. But perhaps there is still a possibility for at least a little refinement. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, green industry business owners are wondering what to do and how to prepare as the law takes ef-fect. For certain, our industry faces special challenges. Much of our workforce is seasonal. Frankly, much of our workforce is believed to be unauthorized. Immigration reform is a necessary ingredient to successful health care reform, but let's save that conversation for another day.

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News - Shorts Garden supply dealers post record June gains

The latest report from the National Re-tail Federation shows building material and garden supply dealers posted steady growth last month, up 8.4% un-adjusted from the previous June. How-ever, seasonally adjusted comparisons from the previous month show a 1% decline. This is in line with the overall retail sales for June, which show strong year-over-year increases but flat month-to-month gains. Sales rose 6.7% over last year, but increased only 0.2% seasonally adjusted over May. “After months of speculation, consumers are beginning to pull back,” said NRF chief economist Roasalind Wells. “Retailers can expect the second half of the year to show moderate gains due to the slowdown in the housing market and other economic factors.”

Targetnow second most-shopped retailer

Target is now second only to Wal-mart, according to Retail Forward’s recent ShopperScape report. One-quarter of all U.S. primary household shoppers visit a Target, Target Greatland or Su-perTarget store monthly. The report also found the retailer racks up repeat visitors. Two-thirds of Target’s past 6-month customer base returns to its stores on a regular basis. Children’s apparel, decorative home fashions, small housewares and appliances and toys generate the most interest among shoppers. Target and Wal-Mart typi-cally share customers, the report shows.

Weekly Dirt, Carol Miller, [email protected]

New England summerretail sales slide

After a strong April, garden center sales across new England hit a decline due to a stretch of rainy weekend, said Bob Heffernan, Conn. Nursery & land-scape Association Executive Secretary.

Soggy gardening conditions were

problematic enough for the Boston Globe to run an article on the situation in June. Sale were particularly bad north of

Connecticut, he said. Many garden cen-ters still have their yards filled with spring inventories. Area landscapers report more stable, steady business.

New tax deductioncould apply to growers

A new tax deduction could apply to nursery crops, ANLA has announced. The deduction, part of the American Jobs Creation Act, applies to gross re-ceipts of any sale, exchange or other disposition of qualifying production property grown or extracted in the US. The deduction was phased in at 3% and will increase to 9% by 2009. One re-striction is that the deduction cannot exceed 50% of wages paid by the tax-payer that year. The deduction is also available to individuals via their ad-justed gross income. ANLA helped secure the new tax deduction for nurs-ery growers in cooperation with the Small business Legislative Council in 2004.

Science takes a shot at dormant weed seeds

Weed control can be tricky, especially considering weed seeds can lie dormant for years waiting for favorable condi-tions. USDA scientists are looking at developing fungi and bacteria that will target these banks of thousands of mil-lion of dormant seeds. The concept is to bolster the activity of beneficial mi-crobes that already exist in the soil. This concept could be considered “pre-pre-emergence control,” as traditional pre-emergence herbicides kill weed seeds just at the stage of germination when tiny seedlings are emerging from seeds.

Weekly Nursery E-Mail, Todd Davis, [email protected]

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For those intent on planning now, frustration rules. Until we know the price of insurance products inside and outside the exchanges and how many employees are eligible for premium assistance, planning is stymied. Still, pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fall into place. The IRS, for instance, recently issued employer guidance on determining full time employees un-der the law. And, the Small Business Legislative Council, in which ANLA is a prominent leader, has created a "health care calculator". Reviewed and used together, this guidance plus the calculator allow business owners to do about as much prior planning as they can, until the insurance pricing and premium assistance picture clari-fies.

Health Care Calculator, http://www.sblc.org/healthcare.htm

Boxwood Blight: A Year in Review

Just as there is no shortage of chal-lenges or unknowns as we enter 2013 - think fiscal cliff, healthcare, new regulations - we began 2012 with a list of concerns, as well. One of those concerns was the recent discovery of a new and potentially devastating Boxwood (Buxus) disease, Boxwood Blight (Cylindrocladium pseudona-viculatum). The pathogen can cause significant leaf drop and stem lesions creating bare and brown patches in a plant prized for its consistent and densely packed foliage. Boxwood Blight was initially confirmed in the U.S. in the fall of 2011. Eventually its presence was confirmed from ten states and three Canadian provinces. Boxwood Blight has been known from Europe since the early 1990s and has been a significant phytosani-tation challenge for growers there.

In response to the obvious concerns among those in the industry, begin-ning in February 2012, ANLA coor-dinated a working group composed of a geographically diverse representa-

tion of Boxwood growers. The Box-wood Blight Working Group (BBWG) embarked on a process to address the immediate, near, and long-term needs of the industry to deal with this new industry challenge.

With the need to quickly identify strategies to manage the disease risk the BBWG completed a process of developing and publishing the, "Nursery Industry Voluntary Best Management Practices For Cylindro-cladium pseudonaviculatum (Box-wood Blight)" in just two months. These recommended practices were put together in coordination with the USDA-APHIS and the National Plant Board (NPB) and endorsed by the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) and NPB.

In mid-March ANLA launched the website www.boxwoodblight.org to share pertinent information about Boxwood Blight with the horticulture community. The site is the best re-source for information about this dis-ease, acting as a "one stop shop", and includes video, webinar, and diagnos-tic content. In addition, it is regularly updated with articles and links bring-ing the community up to speed on the most recent developments regarding Boxwood Blight.

In an effort to tackle the potential long-term concerns of having to cope with this pathogen in production op-erations and landscapes, the working group identified a research agenda that was focused on the development of field deployable tools and applica-ble information. The agenda included needs for rapid diagnostic tools, fun-gicide and sanitation trials, epidemi-ology, and boxwood blight resistant cultivar breeding.

In collaboration with its research af-filiate, the Horticultural Research In-stitute (HRI), ANLA helped to coor-dinate a group of state, academic, and federal researchers to apply for fund-ing in support of the BBWG research agenda. In late May 2012 the USDA-APHIS announced that the Boxwood

Blight Research Group, representing scientists from North Carolina State University, Virginia Tech, Connecti-cut Agricultural Experiment Station, IR-4, and USDA-ARS were awarded $550,000 through section 10201 (Pest and Disease Management) of the Farm Bill to pursue that work. In ad-dition, funds through the USDA-ARS Floriculture & Nursery Research Ini-tiative were allocated to support Boxwood Blight work.

The researchers have already been making available some of their early results regarding fungicide trials and cultivar tolerances. We know that significant strides are being made in the development of an inexpensive and species-specific diagnostic tool for rapid confirmation for the pres-ence/absence of the disease, as well as, methods for eradicating the path-ogen from previously infested pro-duction fields. In addition, two new Farm Bill proposals were submitted to the USDA in mid-December to continue and even expand the work of the Boxwood Blight Research Group.

While there are not quick or easy so-lutions to dealing with a pathogen like Boxwood Blight, an industry re-sponse had to move swiftly. Could this challenge have been met in a dif-ferent manner? Absolutely − but the significant progress made over this last year would not have been possi-ble without ANLA leadership on this issue and the willingness of industry, researchers, and regulators to work together on a common goal.



ANLA Recommends a New Approach For Dealing With CWR

In early December, ANLA, OFA and SAF submitted comments to the USDA-APHIS regarding potential changes to the regulatory status of Chrysanthemum White Rust (CWR). The disease is not endemic to North America and is currently treated, by the USDA, as a regulated quarantine pest. However, numerous localized outbreaks have occurred in the U.S. in recent years and eradica-tion measures have been costly to growers and state and federal regula-tors, as well as disruptive to the mar-ket. For these reasons the USDA is considering four options:

1. Continue to treat CWR as a quar-antine pest that must be eradicat-ed when discovered, despite the impacts to the market and finan-cial costs.

2. Deregulate the disease within the U.S. borders but prevent CWR

entry into the U.S. market by regulating cuttings producers in the U.S. and abroad.

3. Allow individual states to deter-mine if they would like to enforce regulatory and quarantine proto-cols and regularly document that the disease is not established in their state. USDA-APHIS would only prevent the importation of CWR for those states.

4. Completely deregulate the CWR. No regulated measures would be in place to prevent new introduc-tions of the disease from offshore imports or prevent its spread within the U.S.

ANLA, OFA, and SAF agreed that the current approach is not an effi-cient way to deal with this disease and places undue burden and cost on growers whose plants become infect-ed due to no fault of their own. How-ever, the options suggested by the USDA do not meet the needs of the

industry or go far enough to protect the valuable Chrysanthemum market in the U.S. For these reasons our comments provided to the USDA detail an approach that largely em-braces option 2 but also utilizes some other tools in the USDA-APHIS ar-senal. The suggested approach would first confirm that countries consider-ing importation would not be a path-way of other potentially damaging pests or diseases. In addition, cuttings producers and cut flower providers both in the U.S. and outside would have to be part of a regulated pro-gram, keeping their material free of CWR. However, the disease would be deregulated for finishing growers and for plants in the landscape, freeing this part of the market from the most burdensome and costly aspects of dealing with this pathogen. This ap-proach would focus efforts on the part of the production process where controlling the disease is most effi-cient and most likely to succeed.

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Changes to Pre-Notification Requirements for Phytophthora

ramorum USDA-APHIS announced that effec-tive December 10th, operations that ship high-risk plant material for Phy-tophthora ramorum (P. ram.) - de-fined as Camellia, Kalmia, Pieris, Rhododendron (including Azalea), or Viburnum - to non-regulated states must continue to provide pre-notification to the receiving state of-ficials if located in:

The following California counties (under P. ram. quarantine): Alameda, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Lake, Mar-in, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma counties.

- Curry County, Oregon (under P. ram. quarantine).

- in regulated areas that have had a positive detection of P. ram. on

their operation within the last three years.

However, by focusing attention on quarantine areas and operations with recent P. ram. discoveries, growers in regulated areas of California, Oregon, and Washington are relieved of the burden of pre-notification if:

- The disease has never been con-firmed from their operation.

OR

- The operation has been shown to be free of P. ram. for a minimum of three years.

The USDA-APHIS decided on this approach after careful evaluation of the scientific information and recog-nition that P. ram. has not been found in the environment in regulated areas. In addition, the agency determined that this new policy would allow state and federal regulators to more effi-ciently dedicate resources to areas of perceived higher risk (i.e., quarantine

areas). The agency has updated their P. ram. website (http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/pram/ ) with in-formation regarding the changes and a new state regulator contact list. These articles are provided by the VNLA

and ANLA as a Lighthouse Program partner benefit , Craig Regelbrugge

[email protected]

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Quiz Article - The Case for Sustainable

Landscapes VNLA - Certification

Quiz Article #63

If you are a Virginia Certified Horti-culturist, read this article and answer

the quiz questions on page 35, fax/mail the Quiz Answer postcard

and get 1 CEU towards your recerti-fication requirements.

The central message of the Sustaina-ble Sites Initiative is that any land-scape - whether the site of a large subdivision, a shopping mall, a park, an office building, or even one home - holds the potential both to improve and to regenerate the natural benefits and services provided by ecosystems in their undeveloped state. These benefits - such as the supply and reg-ulation of clean air and water, the provision of food and renewable re-sources, and the decomposition of

waste, to name only a small handful - are essential to the health and well-being of humans and all other life on the planet.

Because these ecosystem services occur largely in the background governments and businesses until quite recently have not included them in conventional cost account-ing. Although this situation is begin-ning to change, most people often underestimate or simply ignore these benefits and services when making land-use decisions - only to realize later how expensive and sometimes impossible it is to replicate them once they are lost.

Yet efforts to build landscapes that preserve and restore healthy ecosys-tems face a significant challenge - namely, persuading decision-makers that the cost of changing conventional methods of landscape design, devel-opment, and maintenance is money well spent. Persuasion must begin, then, with an accurate accounting of what the benefits of ecosystems are worth to the economies of our cities and towns, to developers, and to indi-viduals. One effort to calculate a global number placed an average price tag of $33 trillion a year on the-se fundamental ecosystem services - nearly twice the value of the global gross national product of $18 trillion (both figures in 1997 dollars).'

An accurate accounting must take into consideration how the adoption of sustainable practices can not only be cost effective for both public and private entities but also can often lev-erage additional costs and multiple benefits. This chapter offers a review of how certain conventional, accepted land practices affect the interrelated operations of functioning ecosystems and at what economic cost, followed by a description of the benefits of adopting sustainable practices, and some examples of the economic sav-

ings realized by a number of commu-nities that have adopted them.

Benefits of Sustainable Practices The elements in a functioning ecosys-tem are so highly interconnected that unsustainable approaches to land de-velopment and management practices can have a devastating ripple effect throughout the system. The following examples of sustainable approaches demonstrate how thoughtful design, construction, operations, and mainte-nance can enhance and restore eco-system services that would otherwise be lost.

Treating Water as a Resource Freshwater resources are under duress all over the world, and the United States is no exception. California and the arid Southwest have often dealt with water scarcity, and their chal-lenges have only been exacerbated in recent years. Even the southeastern part of the country, which historically could rely on plentiful rain, has been experiencing drought conditions.

Meanwhile, demand for water in the United States has tripled in the last 30 years, even though population has only grown 50 percent. Globally, demand for water is doubling every 20 years. As water rates rise, the im-balance between supply and demand has become so striking that invest-ment bank Goldman Sachs has dubbed water "the petroleum for the next century."'

Yet the following two practices, both traditionally accepted among land design, development, and manage-ment professionals, not only contrib-ute to the imbalance but also ignore the looming crisis.

Wasteful irrigation: Irrigation of unsustainable landscapes accounts for more than a third of residential water use - more than 7 billion gallons of potable water per day nationwide.

Tips - The Economics of Sustainable Landscapes



With the compaction of soil a com-mon condition in developed areas (see Valuing Soils, below), the infil-tration rates of water are significantly reduced, causing much of the water used to irrigate lawns to end up as runoff or evaporation instead of filter-ing down to recharge the water table.

A sustainable approach to landscape design would minimize or eliminate the use of potable water or the draw-ing off of natural surface water or groundwater for landscape irrigation once plants are established.

Undervaluing rain: In most cities and towns around the country, rainfall is treated as waste, to be funneled di-rectly from roof gutters to sewers. In older cities this stormwater flows into combined sewer/stormwater systems that flow to water treatment plants, thus raising the cost of purifying drinking water. In heavy storms, the-se combined sewer systems can over-flow, dumping raw sewage into fresh water.

Rather than getting rid of stormwater runoff as quickly as possible, a sus-tainable approach to stormwater man-agement would find ways to capture it on site and use it for irrigation, or-namental water features, drinking water, and groundwater recharge.

Valuing Soils The undervaluation of soils is one of the most significant failings of the conventional development approach. For example, a frequent consequence of standard construction practices is compaction of the soil, which seri-ously damages soil structure by shrinking the spaces between soil par-ticles available for air and water. If not restored, compacted soil can start a spiral of degradation.

Damage to vegetation: Compacted soil particles restrict a plant's root growth and its access to nutrients. If soil compaction continues, vegetation eventually dies and soils become vul-nerable to erosion.

Reduced infiltration: Compacted soils are less able to absorb water, which reduces the recharge of groundwater and aquifers.

Excess runoff: Reduced infiltration leads to increases in the volume of runoff and the probability of flood-ing. On developed sites where there is widespread use of impervious materi-al such as concrete and asphalt, even more runoff is likely.

Water pollution: Without a sustain-able approach to managing water on site, excess runoff damages soils and vegetation in one area, and also cre-ates further hazards downstream - exponentially so during heavy rains or storm events.

Water leaving developed sites can contain a host of pollutants, depend-ing on the type of development. The-se pollutants may range from exces-sive nutrients, oil, grease, and heavy metals to contaminants such as E. coil, hepatitis A, and persistent bio-accumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals. Stormwater runoff is one of the lead-ing sources of pollution for all water body types in the United States, with impacts that escalate with increased development and urbanization.`

Although most pollutants and con-taminants come from farming and agriculture runoff, or from combined sewage overflows, many pollutants leach into soil and water from materi-als and products used as part of con-ventional landscape development and management. Taken together such pollutant loads can be devastating to natural systems. Throughout the Mis-sissippi River watershed, for example increased surface runoff and nutrient delivery have created levels of dis-solved oxygen that have caused fish and shrimp catches in parts of the Gulf of Mexico to drop to zero.'

Around the country, polluted and contaminated stormwater runoff ac-counts for 70 percent of water pollu-tion in urban areas and is the leading cause of poor water quality and the

degradation of aquatic habitat.' Ac-cording to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Wadable Streams Assessment (WSA) in 2006, 42 percent of U.S. stream miles are in poor condition compared to the best available reference sites in their eco-logical regions. The WSA found that the most widespread stressors across the country are nitrogen, phosphorus, excess sedimentation, and riparian disturbance (i.e., evidence of human disturbance in or alongside streams).

Oftentimes this pollution in water bodies stems from breaches in com-bined sewer overflow systems, when stormwater runoff overwhelms sani-tary sewers and raw sewage is re-leased. In New York State in 2006, such instances caused a ti total of 1,280 combined beach closure or ad-visory days for all state beaches.'

In a sustainable approach to construc-tion, a soil management plan com-municated to contractors prior to con-struction would limit disturbance of healthy soil, assist soil restoration efforts, and define the location and boundaries of all vegetation and soil protection zones.

Preserving Vegetative Cover Removing existing vegetation disturbs soils and has other consequences as well. Without vegetation, a site loses its natural capacity for stormwater man-agement, filtration, and groundwater recharge. Reduced vegetative cover also affects soil health, because vegeta-tion maintains soil structure, contrib-utes to soil organic matter, and prevents erosion.

Excess sedimentation: Removing veg-etation increases the likelihood of ero-sion, which contributes to increased sediment runoff. Sedimentation is a major cause of polluted rivers and streams in the United States, second only to pathogens. Sediment runoff rates from construction sites can be up to 20 times greater than agricultural sediment loss rates and 1,000 to 2,000 times greater than those of forested lands."



Increased greenhouse gases: Because so much organic carbon is stored in soils, significant amounts of carbon dioxide can be emitted when soils are disturbed. Disturbed soils also release substantial amounts of methane and nitrous oxide, both gases that trap heat even more effectively than car-bon dioxide. Although all of these greenhouse gases are emitted as part of natural nutrient cycling, the natural balance is upset by increased soil ero-sion and by activities such as tillage and fertilizer application, all of which increase the natural emission rates.

By adopting a plan with defined veg-etation protection zones, a sustainable approach to site design and construc-tion would preserve or restore appro-priate plant biomass on the site as well as preserve native plant commu-nities and mature trees.

Conserving Material Resources Materials are natural resources that have been extracted, processed, and/or manufactured for human use. One way of evaluating a product's sustainability is to look at the energy and resource consumption involved,

from the extraction of raw materials, through processing and manufactur-ing, to the product's use and disposal. However, conventional attitudes to-ward materials in society as a whole have not been focused on conserving either resources or energy. The land development and management indus-tries are no exception.

Yard waste: Yard and landscape trimmings are a significant contribu-tor to landfills, for example. In 2007, approximately 33 million tons of yard waste entered the municipal waste stream, representing 13 percent of total municipal waste in the United States."

Construction waste: An estimated 170 million tons of building-related construction and demolition wood waste are generated each year in the United States." Recoverable wood from construction and demolition could be reused in new applications, thereby reducing the need for virgin timber.

A sustainable approach to materials use in landscapes begins with an as-sessment of the existing site-both built and no-built features and a de-sign that seeks to incorporate and re-

use as much of the existing site materials as practicable. Com-posting vegetation trimmings on site, for example, would provide an excellent source of soil nourishment. Similarly, recoverable wood from con-struction and demolition could be reused to become feedstock for engineered woods such as particle board and plywood, thereby reducing the need for virgin timber.

Careful materials selection can also reduce the energy used in both the production and the transport of the materials, thereby decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and the impact on global climate. For example, fly ash (a by-product of coal combustion) could be a substi-tute for energy-intensive port-

land cement in the production of con-crete. Each ton of fly ash used to re-place portland cement reduces green-house gas emissions by approximate-ly one ton - equivalent to the emis-sions released by driving about 2,500 miles in an average car. Selecting locally produced materials, results in less transport, also reducing green-house gas emissions.

Ideally, sustainable products would be designed so that reuse and recycling could take place at each stage along the way, resulting in zero waste ending up in landfills. In this kind of "cradle-to-cradle" recycling, new, identical prod-ucts (such as glass bottles from collect-ed glass bottles) or different products (such as aluminum car parts from recy-cled aluminum cans) could be pro-duced.

Valuing the Human Relationship with Nature

Healthy ecosystems are the source of the many intangible - but no less real and measurable - benefits that humans derive from a relationship with nature. These benefits are especially important to the more than 80 percent of Ameri-cans who live in cities and towns.

FIG. 2-2. RUNOFF CURVE NUMBERS FOR DIFFERENT SITE TYPES. The runoff curve number is a product of empirical data from many sites across the country. It takes into account the amount of rainfall that is inter-cepted by vegetation, stored in surface depressions, and infiltrated. Any rainfall not retained on site becomes runoff. All sites in the illustration above are assumed to have similar slopes and similar soils. However, as de-velopment increases—from woods to row crop agriculture to residential and urban landscapes—so does soil compaction. Compaction and increasing amounts of impervious area result in less water retained on site and more of it running off, thus raising a site’s curve number. A higher curve number, in turn, corresponds to a greater predicted runoff volume



For one thing, access to nature en-courages physical activity, which can result in weight loss and overall im-provements in health. With an esti-mated 32 percent of American chil-dren overweight - and with physical inactivity a contributing factor to this high proportion16 - modifications to the built environment that are likely to encourage more walking and bik-ing among children are to be encour-aged. In a sustainable approach to community design, such as modifica-tions would include efforts to reduce risks associated with automobile traf-fic, such as bicycle networks and walking paths that link schools parks, and residential neighborhoods.

Encouraging physical activity is not just for children. According to the U.S. Surgeon General's office, mod-erate physical activity, even taken in 10-minute increments, reduces the risk for adults of coronary heart dis-ease, stroke, colon and breast cancer, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure

and hypertension, non-insulin de-pendent diabetes, obesity, and fall-related injuries. One study suggests that when inactive adults increase their participation in regular moderate physical activity, annual mean medi-cal costs are reduced by $865 per per-son.

Access to nature has significant re-wards in addition to physiological health. Research by social scientists and psychologists shows, for exam-ple, that for both adults and children, encounters with everyday nature - a green view from an office window, a lunchtime stroll through a nearby park, well-tended landscapes around schools - restore the ability to con-centrate, calm feelings of anxiety, and reduce aggression. Views of natural settings reduce the number of sick days taken by office workers and de-crease hospital patient recovery time. Furthermore, according to several studies in the United States and else-where, trees and green space general-

ly increase property values, starting from around 4 percent to as much as 10 percent.

Accounting For Direct and Indirect Benefits

Given the environmental cost of un-sustainable land practices, a more sustainable approach is certainly de-sirable - but at what price? Those who make spending decisions - whether for governments, businesses, or individual households - are accus-tomed to looking at the trade-offs needed among economic, environ-mental, and social needs and con-straints.

Often, however, these trade-offs are evaluated based on incomplete infor-mation. That is, the full direct and indirect economic value of the goods and services produced by a healthy environment - and the economic con-sequences of an impaired ecosystem - are not fully understood and not taken into account.

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The economic value of benefits for which markets currently exist is rela-tively easy to quantify, as is the case with the commercial harvest of fish or timber, for example. However, even these relatively straightforward market prices do not usually include such external effects as the artificial price elevation for timber and agricul-tural products that results from gov-ernment subsidies or the cost of cleaning up resulting pollution, no matter who pays for it.

Measuring the economic significance of benefits for which markets do not exist is even more challenging. What is the economic value of an aesthetic or cultural or educational experience of nature, for example? Or the value of an endangered species? However, in recent decades economists have developed and tested techniques that can approximate the economic values of some of these benefits, with meth-ods and results subjected to peer re-view in academic journals and presentations at scholarly confer-ences."

Energy savings: Many ecosystem services have values that take the form of cost savings, which a number of studies have begun to quantify. The local climate regulation provided by shade trees, for example, results in an avoided cost for summertime elec-tricity usage for the residence or commercial building cooled by that shade. Trees also block wind, poten-tially reducing demand for heating during the winter months.

When development results in an overall reduction in tree canopy cov-er, buildings are more exposed to both direct sunlight and wind. This exposure increases the demand for air-conditioning in the summer and for heating in winter. Studies con-ducted by American Forests found that tree canopy reduces residential home cooling costs, saving an aver-age of between $1 1 per household per year in Portland, Oregon, and $28 per household per year in Atlanta,

Georgia.2` Multiplied across the re-gion, this household benefit can add up: in the Atlanta region, savings in home cooling costs could amount to $2.8 million per year with adequate tree canopy.

Water treatment savings: Similarly, when an urban forest prevents thou-sands of gallons of stormwater runoff from flowing into a municipal sewer system, that municipality saves mon-ey in water treatment. A study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agen-cy, for instance, found that a 2,500-acre wetland in Georgia saves $1 mil-lion in water pollution abatement costs each year.'' In New York City, urban trees intercept almost 890 mil-lion gallons of rainwater each year, preventing that much runoff from entering storm sewers and saving the city an estimated $35 million annual-ly in stormwater management costs alone.

Air cleansing: Trees also provide an air-cleansing benefit. In the Chicago area, urban trees filter an estimated 6,000 tons of air pollutants each year, providing air cleansing valued at $9.2 million.

Habitat and species preservation: Along with habitat loss, exotic inva-sive species are a major cause of loss of biodiversity and species. Increas-ing the use of native plants in land-scape design reduces the risk from invasive species and helps bolster the wild native plant populations. This practice can also save considerable money: in the United States, exotic invasive species have been responsi-ble for $38 billion annual damage.29 Efforts to control just one escaped aggressive invasive - purple loose-strife (Lythrum salicaria) - cost $45 million annually nationwide.'

Taking the Long View On a broader scale, New York City took a long-term ecosystem view of protecting its drinking water supply. Starting in 1992, the city began ac-quiring thousands of acres of water-

shed lands and working with commu-nities in the watershed on the need for environmentally sensitive develop-ment.

The city's planned investment - ap-proximately $1.5 billion over the course of ten years - saved it any-where from $4 billion to $6 billion in construction costs and an estimated $300 million in annual operations costs for a new water filtration plant that it no longer had to build. The new treatment plant would have dou-bled or tripled rate payers' bills; by contrast, the provisions of the water-shed protection plan increased the average residential customer's water bill by only $7 per year.

Responding To the Carbon Economy

As the serious consequences of global climate change have become more apparent, the benefits associated with reducing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other green-house gases have led markets to place an economic value on sequestered carbon. The Sustainable Sites Initia-tive urges sites to be carbon neutral, by eliminating net carbon emissions throughout the life of the site - that is, from design through construction, operations, and maintenance, includ-ing embodied energy in materials and equipment operations. This goal may be achieved through decreased ener-gy, and the provision of carbon sinks to effectively offset the site’s carbon balance. When these options are una-vailable or insufficient, another ave-nue is purchasing carbon credits from a legally binding trading system that provides independent third-party veri-fication. The Initiative views buying carbon credits as an alternative after exhausting conservation, carbon se-questration, and renewable energy options.

Nature’s methods of reducing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmos-phere also have other benefits. In the Chicago area alone, urban trees se-quester roughly 155,000 tons of car-



bon a year. And by providing energy savings in residential heating and cooling, the same trees help reduce carbon emissions from power plants by about 12,600 tons annually. In the continental United States, carbon se-questration alone provided by urban trees is estimated to be about 25 mil-lion tons per year, which is equivalent to carbon emitted by almost 18 mil-lion cars annually.

The Bottom Line Direct comparisons of the cost of us-ing sustainable land practices instead of traditional land practices are just beginning to be made. The case of two gardens in Santa Monica, Cali-fornia - is one project that attempts to track costs for both a sustainable site and a control site that uses traditional practices. Although initial installation costs of the sustainable native garden were higher than the traditional gar-den, the native garden requires 77 percent less water, produces 66 per-cent less green waste, and costs 68

percent less for maintenance than the traditional garden.

Encouragingly, in recent years a number of state and local govern-ments as well as private-sector devel-opers have begun to move toward increased use of low-impact devel-opment (LID) to protect and restore water quality. LID approaches and practices are designed to reduce run-off by means of infiltration, evapo-transpiration, and reuse of rainwater. Among the practices that achieve this goal are bio swales, green streets, rain gardens, and pervious pavers; such practices are usually linked together into a cohesive system.

By managing water and water pollu-tants on or close to the site where they are generated, LID techniques prevent or reduce the impact of de-velopment on groundwater, lakes, rivers, streams, and coastal waters. Moreover, according to a study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agen-cy (EPA), "in the vast majority of

cases," implementing thoughtfully selected LID practices saves money - for developers, property owners, and communities alike."

The EPA study summarized 17 case studies of projects that included LID practices. With a few exceptions, to-tal capital cost savings for the pro-jects in the study ranged from 15 to 80 percent when LID methods were used.'

Beyond cost reductions and savings, these communities also experienced a number of associated amenities and economic benefits, including aesthet-ic amenities, improved quality of life, improved habitat, and enhanced property values. Although the EPA study did not attempt to monetize these additional benefits or consider them in its calculations of each pro-ject's costs, it found the additional economic benefits to be "real and significant."

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From a 2008 forum on sustainable development co-sponsored by the American Society of Landscape Ar-chitects and the Urban Land Institute

1. Preserving forested or natural areas can save up to $10 per square foot or $435,000 per acre over conventional landscape solu-tions.

2. Balancing cut and fill on site can save up to $100 per cubic yard in haul costs.

3. Using rain gardens and bio reten-tion areas can save up to $4,800 per residential lot over conven-tional engineered solutions (Sherwood Gap Creek, 2000).

4. Creating narrow streets (24 feet wide) versus wide streets (32 feet wide) can save up to $30 per lin-ear foot in street costs.

5. The use of on-lot bio retention areas can save up to $4,000 per residential lot over standard

stormwater management pond costs (Somerset, MD, 2005).

6. On-lot bio retention can save up to 75 percent of stormwater fees per residential lot (Kensington Estates, WA, 2001).

7. Shade trees on the south side of buildings can save up to $47 per tree per year in energy costs (Pe-per, 2007).

8. Green roofs can retain more than 75 percent of rainfall annually, reducing downstream stormwater management costs (AS LA Green Roof, 2007)

Recycling construction waste can save tens of thousands of dollars in haul costs, dump fees, and material costs (Stapleton, 2006).

Studies such as this one offer on-going evidence of the satisfying re-turn on investment to developers, communities, and individuals from adopting sustainable practices of land

development and management. With the publication of The

Sustainable Sites Initiative: Guide-lines and Performance Benchmarks 2009, the Initiative looks forward to increasing participation in the move-ment toward building sustainable sites across the country.

The Case for Sustainable Landscapes

Complete the Quiz on page 35 and get 1 CEU for your Virginia Certi-

fied Horticulturist re-certification!

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VNLA - Certification Quiz #63

If you are a Virginia Certified Hor-ticulturist, answer the following

questions from the previous article, mark your answers on the card in-sert to the left and mail or fax back to the VNLA office towards your

recertification CEU’s for your Vir-ginia Certified Horticulturist.

The Sustainable Sites

Economics of Sustainable Landscapes

Prepared by: Nanette R. Whitt

1. The central message of the Sus-

tainable Sites Initiative is that any landscape hold the potential both to improve and to regenerate the natural benefits and services in their undeveloped state.

a. True b. False 2. In the United States, water

demand in the past 30 years has:

a. Doubled b. Tripled c. Quadrupled d. None of the above 3. In most U.S. cities and towns,

rainfall is treated as waste and funneled into sewer/storm wa-ter systems

a. True b. False

4. Soil compaction a. Reduces water infiltration rates b. Causes evaporation of water c. Causes water run off d. All of the above 5. A site with the least amount of

water runoff is: a. Row Crop Agriculture b. Woods c. Meadow d. All of the above 6. The leading source of pollution

for all water body types in this county is:

a. Farming and agriculture runoff

b. Storm water runoff c. Sewage overflows d. All of the above 7. Compacted soil particles increase

a plant’s root growth and its ac-cess to nutrients.

a. True b. False 8. In urban areas, polluted storm

water runoff accounts for a. 40% of water pollution. b. 50% of water pollution. c. 70% of water pollution. 9. Water leaving developed sites

can contain: a. E. Coli b. Heavy metals c. Hepatitis A

d. All of the above

10. Without vegetation, a site loses its natural capacity for storm water management.

a. True b. False

11. The annual amount of yard

waste and landscape trimmings in U.S. landfills is approxi-mately

a. 13 % b. 33% c. 53% d. 73%

12. Benefits to having access to

nature is: a. Increased physical

activity b. Increased concentration

c. Reduced aggression d. All of the above

13. To protect and restore water quality, many state, local gov-ernment and private sector de-velopers have begun using:

a. Long Initiative Development practices

b. Less Initiative Development practices

c. Low Impact Development practices

d. Low Initial Development practices

14. The cost of LID practices is

greater than conventional de-velopment practices.

a. True b. False

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Be Certified!


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Research - Report on Boxwood Blight

Research Conducted In 2012

for the VNLA

Figure 1. Our new shaded container pad

built in April 2012 solely for boxwood blight research.

These trials were conducted at our new shaded container pad built in April 2012 solely for boxwood blight re-search at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Station in Mills River, NC (Figure 1). Studies were conducted by members of my lab: technician Lan-dis Lacey and M.S. grad student Mi-randa Ganci in collaboration with my mentor Dr. D. Michael Benson, under strict sanitary protocol so that the dis-ease stays contained at our facility, which is located on over 200 remote acres, far away from commercial box-wood production. Weather conditions during the summer up until mid-September were conducive for box-wood blight infection and progression. Pasted below are the summaries of the two trials we conducted during the summer and early fall of 2012 using funding supplied by the VNLA, the WVNLA, and the NCNLA.

Susceptibility of Commercial Boxwood Varieties to Cylindro-cladium buxicola The fungus that causes boxwood blight was first discovered in the United Kingdom in the mid-1990’s causing a severe blight disease on boxwood (Buxus species). It is now widespread throughout most of Eu-rope in commercial nurseries, land-

scapes and native stands of boxwood. Plants develop spots on the leaves and stems, and leaves drop off, start-ing at the bottom of the plant. Plants usually do not completely die, but their appearance is ruined. In October and November 2011, this fungus was found for the first time in North America and has been found in Con-necticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia, as well as British Co-lumbia, Ontario and Quebec, Canada. Most likely there are other locations where this disease exists but have not yet been documented.

The disease can impact the appear-ance and aesthetics of boxwood be-cause the foliage typically becomes blighted. Young plants can be killed by the pathogen. Symptoms of box blight include: dark- or light-brown, circular leaf spots often with darker margins; dark stem cankers (streaks); straw- to bronze-colored, blighted foliage; and leaf drop. Leaf spots may grow together to eventually cover the entire leaf.

Under high humidity, white fuzzy masses (visible to the naked-eye) con-sisting of large numbers of spores may be observed on infected stems and leaves, especially on the undersides. Sometimes only the lower stems be-come infected, leaving the tops green; in those cases, the plant may appear top-heavy. However, often the entire plant becomes affected. Blighting and defoliation can occur suddenly with complete leaf loss under warm (64 to 80°F) and humid conditions. Growing plants under shade favors disease de-velopment. While the full host-range of this fungus is not yet fully defined, there appears to be levels of tolerance to this fungus in some commercial boxwood varieties. Other members of the boxwood plant family Buxaceae including Pachysandra species are also susceptible. Therefore the following study was conducted to determine the susceptibility of commercially availa-ble boxwood varieties.

Methods Susceptibility to box blight (Cylin-drocladium buxicola = Cylindro-cladium pseudonaviculatum) was evaluated for twenty three varieties of boxwood (Buxus spp.) at the Moun-tain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River, NC during summer 2012. Disease as-sessments were performed based on a modified Horsfall-Barratt scale in-cluding percent leaf area diseased and percent stem streaking.

Results The graph shown below indicates a wide range in susceptibility of Buxus spp. to the boxwood blight pathogen; however B. sempervirens types were more susceptible in general (a 2011 publication reported ‘Justin Brouwers’ to actually fall within the B. sempervirens cluster). The varie-ties listed as tolerant had minimal lesion development caused by C. bux-icola. This is possibly due to plant genetics, as well as physical features of the plant, such as more open and upright leaf canopies. Buxus semper-virens ‘Suffruticosa’ (English box-wood) and Buxus sempervirens ‘American’ (common or American boxwood) were especially suscepti-ble. It is important to note that some boxwood varieties are limited in their optimal plant hardiness zones; make sure to look up specific growing re-quirements for each variety before recommending them in your area. Ad -Guthrie Nursery

Evaluation of fungicides for the prevention of boxwood blight,

2012. This trial evaluated the efficacy of several commercially available fungi-cides for preventive activity against boxwood blight caused by Cylindro-cladium buxicola. Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design consisting of four repli-cations of six 1-gal English boxwood plants per treatment on a container pad at the Mountain Horticultural



Crops Research Station in Mills Riv-er, NC. Treatments were applied as foliar sprays until runoff with a CO2-pressurized backpack sprayer equipped with a handheld boom and a single, hollow-cone nozzle (TXVS-26) delivering 50-60 psi. Treatments were applied on 13 Sep, 28 Sep, and 13 Oct.

Inoculum was prepared by flooding Petri-dishes of 10 day cultures of the pathogen growing on PDA. Plants were spray inoculated with 5,000 spores per ml until run off one day post treatment on 14 Sep, and again on 30 Sep, two days after the second fungicide treatment with 8,000 spores per ml until run-off. Disease assess-ments were conducted on 1, 16 and 26 Oct. Percent leaf area diseased was recorded using the standard Horsfall-Barratt scale. Disease pres-

sure was not high enough to evaluate percent leaf drop or percent stem streaking. AUDPC for percent leaf area diseased across the entire timeframe of the trial was calculated. Air temperatures during the trial was suboptimal for high rates of infection with average daily high and low tem-peratures of 77.7 and 55.4°F for Sept; and 66.3 and 43.5°F for Oct.

Phytotoxic symptoms were not ob-served for any of the treatments. Alt-hough disease pressure was low, with the exception of three products, all other products were effective at pre-venting leaf infection by C. buxicola when applied one to two days before inoculation. The most effective prod-ucts contained the active ingredient chlorothalonil (Daconil Weatherstik, Spectro, Disarm C and Concert II) or the active ingredient fludioxonil

(Medallion and Palladium) as either premixes or solo. Plants sprayed with Terraguard, Trinity, or Banner MAXX had statistically less leaf area diseased due to boxwood blight in comparison to the non-treated control plants, although these would be con-sidered less effective products since they reduced, but did not prevent in-fection.

Investigating the survivability of C. buxicola microsclerotia in commercial boxwood fields Since its first detection in fall 2011, boxwood blight has been identified in multiple boxwood fields in Western North Carolina. Since NC is the larg-est field producer of boxwood in the U.S., our goal is to implement effec-tive disease eradication strategies to

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B. microphylla var. japonica 'Green…B. sinica var. insularis 'Nana'

B. harlandiiB. microphylla 'Golden Dream'B. microphylla 'Winter Gem'B. sempervirens 'Dee Runk'B. sempervirens 'Fastigiata'

Buxus 'Green Gem'B. microphylla 'John Baldwin'

Buxus X 'Green Mountain'B. microphylla 'Jim Stauffer'

B. microphylla 'Grace Hendrick Phillips'B. microphylla 'Green Pillow'

Buxus X 'Conroe' (Gordo)Buxus X 'Green Mound'

B. microphylla var. japonica 'Morris…B. microphylla var. japonica 'Morris…

B. sempervirens 'Jensen'B. sempervirens 'Marginata'

Buxus X 'Glencoe' (Chicagoland Green)B. sempervirens 'American'

B. sempervirens 'Elegantissima'B. sinica var. insularis 'Justin Brouwers'B. sempervirens 'Suffruticosa' (positive…

Highly Susceptible

Moderately Susceptible

Susceptible

Moderately Tolerant

Tolerant



stop the spread of the pathogen and eliminate the disease from our indus-try. Therefore we are interested in

identifying ways the fungus overwin-ters in naturally-infested sites. One evolutionary adaptation that enables other Cylindrocladium species to sur-vive long periods of time in plant ma-terial and soil is the formation of spe-cialized structures called microsclero-tia; some Cylindrocladium species have been reported to survive as long as 15 years in soil.

ate the effectiveness of potential dis-ease mitigation strategies (fumiga-tion, flaming, solarization) in box blight infested fields.

Pictures above (not able to reproduce in Newsletter, contact [email protected] for photos) show the development and production of microsclerotia in

Petri dishes colonized by C. buxicolo.

IMPACT STATEMENT The NCSU website go.ncsu.edu/boxwood_blight_links that provides fact sheets covering these studies has already received over 1300 hits as of January 22, 2013 (see picture below). This new information on man-aging boxwood blight has the potential to save growers hundreds of thousands of dollars by helping to prevent and manage boxwood blight, and to equip the US and NC boxwood industries with better strategies on cultivar selec-tion and preventive fungicide applica-tions.

By Kelly Ivors, Associate Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist, North Carolina State University

Research - Landscape and House Appearance Impacts on the Price of Single-Family Houses

Abstract This research examined the impacts of improvement in landscape quality and exterior house features on resi-dential property values.

These two combined factors are re-ferred to as `curb appeal' - i.e., the visual appearance of a property as viewed from the front of a house. It is well understood regarding residential property that curb appeal affects house value, but a quantitative of the size/magnitude of the effect is not available. This study developed a quantitative indicator of curb appeal.

Studies currently being conducted by NCSU graduate student Miranda Ganci are focusing on the viability of C. buxico-la microsclerotia in both the organic and soil fractions of samples collected from naturally infested boxwood fields. We

are currently trying to optimize this sieving technique as a first step in order to evalu



Included hedonic house pricing mod-el, and determined its independent effect on values. Results confirmed that curb appeal has an impact on house value, with landscape and house appearance approximately equal in impact. With improved curb appeal, price can increase up to 17%.

Significance to the Nursery Industry

Past research on the impact of land-scape quality on residential property value has reported an estimated 10 to 12% increase in property value as quality of landscaping improved from average to excellent. A criticism of this research is that it focused on landscape quality while ignoring ex-terior features of a house that certain-ly affect value. For a residential prop-erty, the combination of landscape quality and house appearance (includ-ing quality and maintenance of front house features) is referred to as curb appeal. Accurate information is need-ed on the impact of improved curb

appeal on residential property value. In this regard, this research (a) devel-oped an independent variable to quantify the appearance/quality of exterior curbside house features (e.g., paint condition and color coordina-tion; type of windows and shutters; type of front door; etc.); and (b) in-cluded this variable, along with a landscape quality variable, in a re-specified hedonic house price model. Results from the model indicate that curb appeal has a positive impact on house value, with landscape and house appearance approximately equal in impact. With improved curb appeal, house price can increase up to 17%. This study is important for the landscape and nursery industries be-cause it connects landscape quality to the term curb appeal - a popular and widely recognized term associated with residential property value - and shows the relative importance of landscape quality (as compared to exterior house appearance) in deter-

mining property value.

Introduction A residential property is comprised of many characteristics that affect its value. The characteristics include house structural characteristics (e.g., square footage, number and size of garages, presence of a fireplace); en-vironmental factors (e.g., a `good view,' proximity to desirable public facilities, proximity to a landfill); neighborhood characteristics (e.g., crime level, local traffic, and quality of public education) and location fac-tors (e.g., distance to the central b district) . Previous real estate research developed various estimates of the impacts of these factors on house value.

Two additional factors that impact residential r value are landscape qual-ity and house appearance (b: exterior house features). In this research, these two factors in combination are re-ferred to as `curb appeal' - i.e., the

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appearance (or `look') of a property as viewed from the curb in front of a house. Curb appeal is assessed by a potential buyer when he/she drives by a property or arrives for viewing. As curb appeal diminishes, a residential property will be slower to sell and have decreased value.

What contributes to curb appeal of a house is debatable. Numerous popu-lar books and self-help pamphlets are available and TV programs offer ad-vice on how to improve curb appeal. A review of literature revealed no academic studies on curb appeal, per se; however, the topic has been ad-dressed in bits and pieces in real es-tate research. A study by Portnov Od-ish, and Fleishman (examined the impact of external house changes on house prices in Haifa, Israel. The formulated a variable called MAJOR CHANGES to estimate the total cost of selected house modifications s room and roof modifications, addition of permanent s areas, and addition of balconies. The study reported the MAJOR CHANGES variable had a significant positive effect on house price. A review of 125 previous house price studies by Sirmans, Mac-pherson, and Zietz revealed a limited amount of curb appeal features in hedonic house price models. For ex-ample, independent variables were in for the type of house exterior (brick, stucco, wood, siding etc.), type of roof (composition, wood shingle, metal, tile etc.) and whether the house had `new paint.' The r included other exterior house features - e.g., the pr, of a deck, swimming pool, storage shed, and separate space, but these are not considered curb appeal features because they are not visible from the front of a house

In addition to external house features, landscaping is an important aspect of curb appeal because it provides aes-thetically pleasing environment sur-rounding a house and many buyers realize the functionality of trees and s

Tree cover provides shade in summer and shelter in to reduce heating and cooling costs. Trees and plants c buffer from noise and traffic, and shrubs and flowers provide food and shelter for birds and insects, which is an important environmental factor for some homeowners. A number of studies examined the impact of im-proved landscaping on the value of a residential property. Studies have found that tree cover adds 2 -9% to the value of existing houses and a single tree can add as much as 2% (1, 2, 7, 13, 22). Newly built houses on tree-planted lots have a 7% higher price than those on bare lots. Lawn area and type of grass affect property value, with increased lawn area (up to a limit) having a positive impact on price. Specific landscape characteris-tics, such as hedges or walls and landscaped curbs, each add 4% to property value; however, an above-average density of vegetation has a negative impact on price . When overall landscaping (including trees, plants, grasses and other landscape features) improves from average quality to excellent quality, house price increases by 10 -12%. An esti-mated 30% of the price increase is due to added tree cover. Perceptions of homeowners on the value of land-scaping generally agree with the em-pirical research results - for example, one study reported that homeowners believe that improved landscaping can increase property value 5 -11% for landscapes with sophisticated de-signs that incorporate a variety of different plant types and sizes and include flowers and colored hard-scapes.

Exterior house features and landscap-ing are viewed simultaneously by a prospective home buyer and both components of a residential property contribute to curb appeal and moti-vate buyer interest. In the attempts to identify the separate and combined effects of the many factors that affect house values, it is known that the ex-

clusion of one component from a sta-tistical model may bias the estimated coefficients of the included variables. General hedonic house price studies such as those reviewed by Sirmans, Macpherson, and Zietz included only limited information on detailed front house and landscape features that im-pact curb appeal. By comparison, the landscape quality studies by Henry and by Stigarll and Elam included detailed landscape features, but only limited exterior house features were included in their models; consequent-ly, their reported impacts of improved landscaping on house price may be overstated if the landscape quality variable captured the impact of the missing exterior house features varia-ble. In the model used in this re-search, variables for both landscape quality and exterior front house fea-tures were included to create a curb appeal variable to capture the total impact of curb appeal on house value. The model used allowed estimation of the individual impacts of improved house features and improved land-scaping on house price.

The approach used in this study to measure the impact of curb appeal on house price involved a two-step pro-cess. In the first step, an instrument was constructed and used to score curb appeal for a sample of houses. The curb appeal measure was de-signed to reflect the impression of a prospective buyer toward a residential property at first viewing. The evalua-tion of curb appeal was necessarily impacted by some degree of subjec-tivity that entered into the scoring process. The evaluation instrument was reviewed by architects and de-sign professionals to validate the in-strument. In the second step, a hedon-ic house price model was specified to include the standard variables for house structural characteristics and location and neighborhood factors, plus a curb appeal variable was added to capture the effect of curb appeal on house price. The research hypothesis



of this study was that curb appeal af-fects residential property value.

An outline of the rest of the paper follows. The evaluation instrument used to score curb appeal based on landscape quality and exterior house features is explained, followed by the hedonic house price model specifica-tion that relates house sale price to house characteristics and the curb appeal components (of landscape quality and exterior house appear-ance). The estimation results for the model are then presented, and esti-mates are provided of the impact of improved curb appeal on property value and the relative importance of improved landscape quality and house appearance on house price.

Studies that focused on only land-scape (and not house features) report-ed that when landscaping was im-proved from Low to High rating, house price increased by 10 -12%. The present study's estimated 10.2% increase in house price for a similar

improvement in landscaping is within the range reported in these other stud-ies. The fact that the results from the-se studies are so close indicates the robustness of the estimated impact of landscaping to alternative equation and variable specifications. Moreo-ver, it provides support for previous studies on landscape quality that used only a landscape quality variable in their house pricing models.

In summary, this research evaluated the impact of improved curb appeal on residential property values. Curb appeal was conceptualized as having two components - (1) house curb ap-peal based on the exterior house fea-tures as seen from the curb in front of the house; and (2) landscape curb appeal based on the quality of land-scaping surrounding the house. Re-sults confirmed that both components are important in determining property value, with each about equally im-portant. With improved curb appeal, residential property value can im-

prove up to 17%. Within a neighbor-hood, curb appeal is second only to house size in affecting house value. While these results, in a statistical sense, apply only to the neighborhood studied, it is logical that the conclu-sions apply generally to houses in middle-class neighborhoods in the United States. One implication of the research findings of this study is that attention to curb appeal is important for real estate professionals and homeowners. It may be worth their time and attention to seek input from professional design-builders and landscape architects to improve curb appeal, as well as attention to mainte-nance. Emmett Elam and Andrea Stigarll - HRI

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Research - Increasing Successful Propagation

of Sedum spp. with Plant Growth Regulators

Sedum spp . are increasing in popu-larity and production especially for use in green roof projects. Research with the branching compounds sug-gests that the increase in basal or lat-eral branching or offset production would increase the number of propa-gules for responsive crops. For ex-ample, Configure (BA, benzylade-nine; Fine Americas, Inc.) increased the number of offsets of two cultivars of Sempervivum in NC State Univer-sity trials (Carey et al. 2008). The larger of these offsets rooted as well as those from control plants. Howev-er, there were a large number of smaller offsets which did not root as well as the larger offsets. Augeo (dikegulac sodium, OHP, Inc.) signif-icantly increased lateral branching on upright Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (Grossman et. al, unpublished). Pre-liminary research results at Riverbend Nursery, Riner, which were shared with the authors, found that Fascina-tion [GA (gibberellin) + BA, Valent, Inc.] increased the number of lateral branches of several mat-forming Se-dum spp. and that although these cut-tings elongated sufficiently to in-crease the ease of harvest, they did not root as well as those from un-treated plants. Our own work has found that while both Configure and Augeo increase branching, Configure causes a reduction in root growth of liners of some crops while Augeo has not reduced root growth in any of the dozen of crops tested (Grossman et al., 2011).

So the study proposed and funded by VNA was to evaluate methods of im-proving the propagation of several Sedum spp. by determining their re-sponse to the various branching com-pounds with an emphasis on their

effects on propagule (cutting) produc-tion and subsequent rooting of the cuttings. We examined combinations of products that may increase effi-ciency of cutting production or har-vest (i.e., gibberellin products) of the-se cuttings. Finally to investigate the reduction in rooting observed by Riverbend Nursery, we examined incorporation of IBA rooting hor-mones to propagules via several ap-plication methods to determine if IBA applications would improve rooting of the cuttings.

Direct economic impacts for Virginia growers include the ability to produce a larger number of high quality prop-agules that will root at least as quick-ly as untreated plants and develop sufficient root mass for use or sale.

Methods: Initial studies utilized several mat-forming cultivars of Sedum. Prelimi-nary results from Riverbend Nursery identified effective rates of Fresco (BA+GA, Fine Americas, Inc.).

Virginia Tech and N C State Univer-sity research has identified Configure and Augeo rates effective in increas-ing branching. For this proposal, ini-tial work evaluated the effects of the-se three products on the number of propagules on individual stock plants, the efficiency of harvesting these cut-tings/offsets, and their subsequent rooting under greenhouse mist condi-tions.

Sedum album ‘Red Ice’, Sedum ‘Faro Island’ and Sedum stefco rooted liners (72s) were donated by Riverbend Nursery. The liners were potted into 3.5 inch square pots filled with Fafard 3B medium in late-June (‘Red Ice’ and ‘Faro Island’) or early August (S. stefco). Care was taken to ensure that pot fill and planting depth were uni-form. Treatments were applied as foliar sprays at label recommended volume about 10 days after potting. Treatments included: untreated con-trol, 400 ppm Augeo, 20 ppm Con-

figure, 20 ppm Fresco, or a combina-tion of 18 ppm Configure + 2 ppm Fresco.

Cuttings were harvested according to the growth rate of the crop. ‘Red Ice’ cuttings were harvested at 2 weeks after treatment (WAT); ‘Faro Island’ was harvested at 3 WAT and S.stefco at 4.5 WAT. Propagules were har-vested by using scissors to cut all ma-terial extending a uniform distance, about 1.5 inches above the rim of the pot (see photo).

Data collection included the height and width of the stock plant. The number of potential cuttings was de-termined by counting the tips prior to harvesting the cuttings. The fresh weight of the cutting material (total propagule weight) cut from each stock plant was taken. Ten uniform cuttings were selected and weighed for the liner rooting study. Then, the ten uniform cuttings were stuck in 72 size trays and placed under mist.

Cuttings were not treated with a root-ing hormone or treated by immersing the entire cutting in a 1000 ppm IBA (Hortus IBA Water Soluble Salts 20% IBA, Hortus USA Corp.) solu-tion for 10 seconds or by foliar spray application of 1000 ppm IBA applied the evening of the day of sticking (af-ter mist was off for the night). Cut-tings were stuck in 72-cell size flats filled with Fafard 3B and placed un-der mist. Liners were harvested 3 to 4 weeks later as noted for each crop in the results. Liner root and shoot growth were rated for quality as de-fined below. Shoot dry weight of six



selected liners from each treatment was measured after oven drying for 48-72 hours, or until completely dry.

Results Sedum ‘Red Ice’ stock plants showed no growth response to the PGRs with respect to plant height, plant width or number of tip cuttings (see photo).

Fresh weight of all cutting material was greatest in Augeo or Configure treated plants as compared to Fresco treated plants. However differences were not statistically different from untreated plants. Sedum ‘Red Ice’ liners treated with IBA had increased shoot dry weight, a higher root rating, and a higher shoot breeding than the untreated cuttings. As for PGR treat-ments, Augeo tended to improve shoot and root growth of liners. Con-figure tended to reduce shoot dry weight but tended to improve root ratings compared to control plants. Fresco had little impact on shoot dry weights were shoot ratings but tended to increase roots ratings.

An interesting observation included the fact that cuttings not treated with IBA had fewer aerial roots then those treated with IBA. PGR treatments also affected aerial roots; Augeo re-duced the percent of liners with aerial roots when the cuttings were not treated with IBA; 17% vs. 61% of untreated control cuttings.

Sedum ‘Faro Island’ stock plants showed no growth response to the PGRs with respect to plant height, plant width, number of tip cuttings or

fresh weight of all cutting material. Treatment of cuttings with IBA in-creased shoot dry weight and the per-cent of plants with aerial roots. For cuttings not treated with IBA none of the PGR treatments affected shoot dry weight compared to control plants. However for cuttings dipped in IBA, those from plants treated with Augeo or Configure + Fresco resulted in liners with higher shoot dry weights than those from the untreated control plants. Only cuttings from Configure treated plants had reduced root ratings as liners, but ratings were still excellent 4.7 on a 5¬point scale.

Sedum stefco stock plants treated with Configure, Fresco or the combination of Configure and Fresco were taller and tended to have a higher fresh weight of cutting material removed from the pot. Cuttings were not re-sponsive to IBA treatments. However cuttings from the Fresco treated plants had greater shoot dry weight as finished liners. Cuttings from untreat-ed plants or plants treated with Augeo had a higher percentage of aerial roots.

Discussion Period from application to harvest. The Sedum plants grow slower than our normal perennials, so it may take more time to see the differences be-tween treated and non-treated plants. So we may want to evaluate the re-sults of the PGR applications at sev-eral different time intervals using longer evaluation periods than in this study. The presence of many very short laterals branches on the cuttings collected in our study suggests that the treatment effects would be greater if the crop had been allowed to grow-er for a longer period of time prior to harvest (see photo).

Reapplication. With a longer crop time, we would suggest trialing mul-tiple applications over time. If field grown, the crop time would likely be longer, allowing sufficient time for any possible discoloration associated with Augeo to dissipate. Reapplica-tion of a moderate rate may help to develop the desired branching habit.

Module Fill-In. A parameter not measured during our study but one of value is module fill-in. There were observable differences in flat fill dur-ing the rooting of the cuttings during the study Perhaps applications just prior to taking cuttings, long before taking cuttings, or perhaps even after the cuttings are sewn on the green roof modules will affect the devel-opment and fill-in of the green roof module. If so, perhaps application of the PGRs could be investigated by measuring ‘fill-in’ of modules after different treatments. By getting mod-ules ready to ship sooner, growers can potentially make more turns with the same space, or perhaps reduce the pounds of cuttings utilized if they can fill in the modules more quickly us-ing a PGR application.



We are meeting with Riverbend Nursery this month to share our re-sults and provide them with a sug-gested protocol for additional onsite testing but we believe that it will re-quire additional research in order to develop in a full protocol for improv-ing the cutting production of Sedum roof modules using PGRs.

Literature Cited Carey, D., B. Whipker, I. McCall and W. Buhler. 2008. Benzyladenine foli-ar sprays increase offsets on Semper-vivum and Echeveria. Proc. SNA 53:518-520 .

Grossman, M., J. Freeborn, H. Scog-gins and J. Latimer. 2011. Branching agents improve quality of herbaceous perennial liners without detrimental effects on rooting. VNLA Newsletter 81(5):28, 30, 31, 32, 34.

Investigators: Dr. Joyce Latimer, Dr. Holly Scoggins and John Freeborn Dept. of Horticulture, Virginia Tech, Blacks-burg, VA 24061-0328; [email protected];

540-231-7906

Research - Root Pruning and Planting Depth

Impact Root Morphology in Containers'

Abstract Increasingly, producers and consum-ers are realizing that roots play a ma-jor role in nursery tree quality. To remain competitive, producers need to find economically viable methods of increasing quality standards. Two studies were designed to test methods of improving root systems in a con-tainer root ball. In the first, three dif-ferent root pruning methods and two planting depths were imposed as 3.7 liter (1 gal) container-grown Royal poinciana [Delonix regia (Bojer) Raf.] and trumpet-tree [Tabebuia het-erophylla (DC.) Britton] were shifted to 25 liter (6.6 gal) containers. Root pruning and planting depth had no

impact on trunk caliper or tree height. Vertical root ball slicing or shaving off the periphery of the root ball in-creased the number of straight roots inside root balls and reduced the presence of deflected roots, but shav-ing had a greater effect and was asso-ciated with consistently high-quality root systems. Trees planted with the top-most root 10 cm (4 in) below the 25 liter (6.6 gal) container substrate surface had more deflected roots and fewer straight roots than trees planted with roots close to the surface. In the second study, teasing or shaving live oak (Quercus virginiana Mill ‘SNDL”) in 3.7 liter (1 gal) container root balls resulted in identical root systems in 57 liter (15 gal) containers one year later, and both treatments resulted in higher quality root sys-tems than trees not root pruned.

Significance to the Nursery Industry

The architecture of the root system in nursery root balls impacts establish-ment and subsequent anchorage in the landscape. Number of straight roots in the root ball has been associated with improved anchorage; whereas roots deflecting downward or around the trunk appear to reduce stability. Root pruning when shifting to a large container size by shaving off the pe-riphery of the root ball, deep vertical slicing into the root ball sides, or teasing and pulling on small-diameter roots at the root ball periphery re-duced attributes associated with weak root systems. Related studies also show that this improves anchorage when planting into the landscape. The complete report is available from the HRI Journal of Environmental Horticul-

ture, Vo. 30, #4, December 2012

Edward F. Gilman2 and Michael Orfanedes', University of Florida, IFAS, Environmental Horticulture Department,

100 Mehrhof Hall, PD Box 110675, Gainesville, FL 32611

Research - Weed Control Research Update

Through support from the Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association and the Virginia Nurserymen's Horti-cultural Research Foundation, I have been continuing my research on con-trol of liverwort, spurge, phyllanthus, nutsedge, and other troublesome weeds in nursery production. One focus has been on evaluating chemi-cals for selective control of liverwort, a troublesome weed in n propagation or in the production of perennials. Another focus has been evaluating new options for broadleaf weed con-trol in container and field production.

Liverwort Control Update Pre-emergence

liverwort control study;

I have been evaluating pre-emergence herbicides for liverwort control. In my pre-emergence trial, the most ef-fective chemical was FreeHand (di-methenamid + pendimethalin), fol-lowed by BroadStar (flumioxazin), Rout (oxyfluorfen + oryzalin), and Ronstar 2G (oxadiazon). BroadStar and Rout are used predominantly on woody nursery crops since they can cause unacceptable injury in herba-ceous species. Ronstar also has great-er utility in woody ornamentals so FreeHand would be the one most use-ful in perennial production conducted outdoors. One of the ingredients in FreeHand, dimethenamid, is sold by itself under the trade name Tower. Tower also is an effective treatment for liverwort. No pre-emergence herbicides are registered, however, for use in pots in enclosed structures, such as greenhouses or overwintering houses. So we do have selective op-tions for preventing liverwort infesta-tions in containers maintained out-doors, but do not have approved op-tions in greenhouse production.

Post-emergence liverwort control study



I continued my post-emergence liver-wort experiments in 2012, evaluating the impact of irrigation immediately after treatment on iceplant tolerance and liverwort control. Irrigating imme-diately after application reduced ice-plant injury, as no treatment resulted in greater than 15% crop damage at 5 days after treatment (DAT), but gener-ally at the cost of reduced liverwort control. At 5 days after the first appli-cation, unacceptable injury (20% or greater) injury was only seen with the following treatments that were not irri-gated immediately after treatment: Avenger (d-limonene) at 28% volume to volume (high rate), Bryophyter (ore-gano oil) at 1% (high rate), Racer (am-monium nonoate) 6% (high rate), and Scythe 3 and 6%. Iceplant quickly out-grew the injury, though, with all dam-age ratings less than 20% at 25 DAT and no injury seen at later rating dates. Acceptable liverwort control (80% or greater) at 25 DAT was seen with Avenger low rate no immediate irriga-tion, Avenger high rate with or without irrigation, Bryophyter high rate no irri-gation, Scythe low and high rate no irrigation, WeedPharm low rate (25%) no irrigation, and WeedPharm high rate (50%) with or without irrigation.

For iceplant, the overall best combi-nation of liverwort control and lim-ited crop injury was seen with Bryo-phyter high rate no immediate irriga-tion, Tower high rate no immediate irrigation, and WeedPharm acetic acid low rate no immediate irrigation. Iceplant outgrew the effects from all treatments, though, so no long term injury was seen from any treatment. These chemicals are contact herbi-cides, explaining the rather quick re-covery from injury for iceplant, as well as the need for repeat applica-tions to completely control liverwort.

This year I have been evaluating a formulation of monarda oil. It has provided equivalent control to orega-no oil, causing a relatively rapid con-tact action. As with the other contact products, thorough coverage is essen-tial for control, and follow-up treat-

ments are needed for any regrowth. Monarda oil may be in greater supply than oregano oil, justifying the need for additional research on this oil. I also evaluated baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). It also caused signifi-cant injury to liverwort. Additional research on baking soda is warranted.

We have identified treatments that provide acceptable liverwort control, although repeat applications are gen-erally needed for longer term control. We need additional data on the toler-ance of nursery species to overtop applications of the most promising candidates, including oregano oil, monarda oil, Avenger, Racer, and Tower. Since these products can in-jure nursery crops, one needs to iden-tify rates that provide acceptable con-trol without unacceptable crop dam-age. Attaining this balancing act may be easier in some nursery crops than in others, and the best chemical choice may differ among nursery species due to differences in crop tol-erance to these chemicals.

New herbicide evaluation I have been evaluating indaziflam, a potential new herbicide for nursery production and landscape mainte-nance. Indaziflam is a pre-emergence herbicide with some post-emergence activity. A benefit of indaziflam is the very low use rates. I have been testing rates between 0.033 and 0.09 pounds active ingredient per acre. It also has long residual, controlling weeds for 5 months or more depending on rate and weather conditions in field pro-duction.

I have been evaluating both granular and sprayable formulations of indazi-flam. The granular formulation’s best fit will be in container production and landscape maintenance, while the sprayable formulation’s best fit will be in field production of trees and shrubs. In general, tolerance to this herbicide is best in woody nursery crops. Indaziflam causes significant injury to certain herbaceous species,

especially bedding plants, so its cur-rent use is limited to woody nursery plants. I have caused severe injury, for example, in begonia and pansy with this chemical.

A sprayable formulation of this herb-icide is registered for use in field nursery production under the trade name Marengo by OHP. Marengo contains 0.6 pounds indaziflam per gallon and carries a caution label. The use rates for Marengo are 7.5 to 15.5 fluid ounces per acre, which trans-lates to 0.036 to 0.075 pounds indazi-flam per acre. Due to the post action, it needs to be applied as a directed spray, preferably to dormant trees and shrubs. A number of woody trees and shrubs are on the Marengo label, in-cluding certain azalea, boxwood, gar-denia, holly, juniper, loropetalum, maple, and rose cultivars. Do not ap-ply to newly-rooted cuttings as india-ziflam is a root-inhibitor. Test in small areas first to determine weed control effectiveness and crop toler-ance under your conditions.

Due its low water solubility and high unit effectiveness, I think it has been a challenge for Bayer to develop a suitable granular formulation. One of the strong suits of indaziflam is long-term control of annual grasses, such as crabgrass and annual bluegrass. Indaziflam overall works best when applied pre-emergence but it does have significant action when applied to small weed seedlings. This post-emergence activity will help in weed control but may explain why bedding plants have not tolerated this herbi-cide. Indaziflam has a different mode of action, inhibition of cellulose bio-synthesis, than our other pre-emergence crabgrass herbicides, such as Barricade, Surflan, and Pendulum. So indaziflam will be a useful tool in programs to reduce the potential for herbicide resistance.

Besides controlling annual grasses, indaziflam applied pre-emergence has controlled doveweed and provided



acceptable control of broadleaf weeds, including tasselflower, longstalked phyllanthus, chamberbit-ter, common groundsel, bittercress, spotted spurge, and eclipta in my con-tainer trials. One weed where indazi-flam stands out is for control of longstalked phyllanthus, a difficult to control weed.

In my field trials, indaziflam at an intermediate rate gave effective pre-emergence control of the summer annuals: prickly sida, velvetleaf, common ragweed, jimsonweed, common lambsquarters, redroot pig-weed, southern crabgrass, and yellow foxtail. Indaziflam did not control morning glory or yellow nutsedge. We will need to look at combinations with other herbicides to control these weeds. Indaziflam provides excellent winter weed control. In my trials, in-daziflam provided effective pre-emergence control of Italian (annual) ryegrass, annual bluegrass, henbit, purple deadnettle, hairy bittercress, buttercup, swinecress, vetch, speed-

well, and Carolina geranium. Jeffrey Derr, Weed Scientist, Virginia

Tech, Jeffrey Derr is a Professor of Weed Science with Virginia Tech and is located at the Hampton Roads Ag. Res. and Ext.

Center in Virginia Beach.

VNLA - IPPS Student Sponsorship

Special thanks to the Virginia Nursery & Landscape

Association Sponsorship for student attendance of the International Plant Propaga-

tor’s Society conference.

Observing substrate processing

My name is Tyler Hoskins and I am a graduate student at Virginia Tech pursuing a Master’s of Science de-gree in Horticulture. Currently I re-side in Blacksburg where I am en-rolled as a full‐time student. Simulta-neously, I participate in ongoing re-search in the tidewater region of Vir-ginia where Dr. Jim Owen and I are utilizing moisture‐monitoring tech-nology to gain a better understanding of the relationship between cultural practices and recycled water quality in nursery container production.

Recently, the Virginia Nursery and

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Landscape Association awarded me full sponsorship to attend the Interna-tional Plant Propagator’s Society, Southern Region Conference. This year’s conference was held at Auburn University and involved an assort-ment of educational seminars and interactive nursery and garden tours. Growers and academics gave semi-nars on topics that ranged from prop-agation techniques, to how to best use social media as a marketing strategy.

Each presentation contained valuable information and industry examples that helped spark ideas on how to en-hance my research and future career. For example, I listened to a student from Auburn University who is con-ducting research on the integration of aquaculture into horticultural sys-tems. His research demonstrated suc-cessful cucumber production using nutrient‐rich water from an aquacul-ture system. This out‐of‐the‐box idea was impressive and represents a via-ble method that could help some growers reduce fertilizer consump-tion.

Small Hammer Mill

Another invaluable experience was touring local nurseries. We visited cutting‐edge nurseries such as Young’s Plant Farm, which is using innovative techniques to make their operation more sustainable by incor-porating whole pine trees into their growing mix. The trees are harvested and processed on the farm’s own land, ensuring a continual supply of this resource and reducing their need for peat. In addition to tours and sem-inars, hands down, the most valuable part of this experience was the people

I met. The conference organizers and attendees are a talented, enthusiastic, and friendly group of people that are eager to share their knowledge and glean what they can from others. Whether chatting casually on a bus tour or listening to a lecture, I en-joyed tapping into the wealth of knowledge held by this group. My experiences at this conference defi-nitely enriched my education and will benefit my future career. I am truly grateful to the VNLA for sponsoring this experience!

Thank you, Tyler Hoskins, Graduate Student, Virginia Tech HRAREC,

[email protected]

Tips - The Greener Consumer

Consumer profiles are constantly changing. A few years ago we fo-cused on customer profiles based on age. The focus was on Gen Y, Gen X, Jones Generation, Baby Boomers and Greying Tigers These demographic groups are still important, but we also need to consider how we market to new and emerging consumer seg-ments who we are told may be over-weight, mobile, multicultural, value shoppers and/or Eco-friendly.

One of the fastest growing segments is the Eco-Friendly segment. These consumers are still looking for value, but are prepared to put sustainability above price.

One of the big issues urban commu-nities will challenge over the coming months and years is Biodiversity with legislation coming in around the world to stop agricultural land and natural areas being used for urban development. This will change the way cities look and make consumers more aware, for example Paris in France plans to double the amount of green roof space by 2020

The Green Consumer Not all consumers are interested in

sustainability and saving the planet, but it continues to be a growing seg-ment of the community and a sector we all need to be aware of.

Over recent years we have seen major growth in farmers markets and ethical retailing and I see that continuing over the next few years.

Having said that over the last few years we have seen growth inorganic food retailing, whilst the sales of or-ganic food has stagnated and I believe this has occurred for a number of rea-sons.

One is that the consumer is more price conscious and organic food is perceived as expensive, Organic ad-vocates have continued to buy, but, many consumers cannot justify the extra cost. Secondly, in my experi-ence consumers are confused by the term “organic”. In my own communi-ty a lot of consumers do not know the difference between “organic” and “local”.

Local is Important Consumers are starting to search out products made in their own country or locality and preferably locally grow products. This means there is an opportunity for the promotion of local products. An example of this is “Good Eggs” a website in San Fran-cisco that promotes local growers. The consumer can search out a local farmer and find where their produce is sold.

You cannot get more local that manu-facturing and growing in your own community .Community Gardens are appearing around the world and some supermarkets are considering grow-ing some produce at the store. This is easy with produce such as lettuce.

This means you have to be “clicks: and bricks” savvy when communi-cating with the new age local con-sumer. To help retailers I produce a monthly Clicks for Bricks Webinar that looks at a new clicks marketing



subject each month, you can get in-volved with this webinar on http://www.clicksforbricks.com.au

No Waste is Important Apart from being local the consumer is looking for less waste, these in-cludes packaging and recycling of so called ”waste product”.

On the grand scale we are seeing this theme coming through with sculpture parks being created in Nepal from scrap brought down from Mount Ev-erest and recycling of washing ma-chines being used to create art at the 2012 Olympic Park in London. At a more local level recyclable garden containers are starting to replace the traditional plastic pot around the world.

Telling the Story is Important One of the most important issues is we need to tell the story. Suppliers and retailers need to combine forces to tell the story from start to finish. The “Green” consumer wants to

know the story and expects the retail-er to tell the story.

The story can be told in numerous ways. It can be on packaging, via links to YouTube or a mural in the store that explains the process.

Nostalgia is Important The “Green” consumer often wants to reflect back to earlier days when they feel they lived in a happier more harmonious society when life was more harmonious and “values” were more important. Whether they were or not is not the role of this article. The fact is that nostalgia sells at pre-sent.

The very successful adverts from John Lewis department store in the UK at the end of 2012 focused on nostalgia and old fashioned values.

This is a marketing opportunity for any retailer. What products do you sell that reflect on nostalgia and how can you use them to generate sales. Even your sales team could get in-

volved and play the nostalgia game and pro-vide “good old fashioned ser-vice” Something most customers now think is lacking.

John Stanley is a Conference Speak-er and Consultant.

In 2012 he was awarded the WA Small Business Exporter of the

Year. He works in 35 countries and is one of the world’s sought after gar-

den retail and marketing present-ers. His new con-ference presenta-tion looks at the

new consumer and how that affects your business.

Tips - More Than A Wall: SmartSlope Mimicking Nature

to Tackle Big Problems Just across the Anacostia River in northeast Washington, DC’s Fort Lincoln neighborhood, a large con-tiguous parcel has been ripe for de-velopment for over twenty years. Setbacks and controversy marred the project located just off New York Avenue/Route 50, but as a result of innovative storm water management techniques and solutions pioneered by the site’s regulators and develop-ment team alike, ground was finally broken on the $52 million, 42 acre project in September of 2011. The master plan for what it now called Dakota Crossing calls for 430,000 square feet of retail - including a town center shopping center, Costco, Marshalls, Shoppers Food Ware-house, and another big box retailer to be named later, as well as nearly 1,400 residential units. The project is being developed by a joint venture of Trammel Crow Company, CSG Ur-ban Partners, and Fort Lincoln New Town Corporation.

The Challenge Phase I of the commercial portion of the project was site work for the big box retailers and the construction and build out of Costco. Despite a grow-ing ire targeted towards multinational retailers, Costco has been winning customers and urban planners over; one main draw being their commit-ment to incorporating eco-friendly construction techniques into their stores. As many other retailers passed on the complexities of Dakota Cross-ing, it was this openness to appropri-ate and innovative building technolo-gies that made Costco an excellent fit.

The biggest challenge facing the site has been its proximity to the Ana-costia River. The section of the river that passes within a quarter of a mile of the site is a fragile tidal river. It has

Ad - John Stanley



been negatively affected over the years by urban storm water runoff and industrial pollution. However, major initiatives and alliances have formed to rehabilitate and clean up the river. Hence, new development within the watershed has faced added scrutiny. Two major additional con-straints of the site are its hilly topog-raphy and dense clay soils. The Envi-ronmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Army Corps of Engineers, and the District Department of Environment (DDOE) - Washington’s environmen-tal watchdog and storm water man-agement regulator - reviewed numer-ous strategies and proposals from de-velopers, planners, and third parties in an effort to abate these issues. As a requirement for the development to move forward regulators required that virtually all storm water runoff would be contained onsite, both quality and quantity.

The Project And then a fundamental part of the solution was discovered. The site plan required significant retaining wall infrastructure - 5 segments total-ing 21,000 square feet in Phase I - to handle grade change. While tradition-al retaining walls were considered and would have accomplished this objective, on such a challenging site a more complete solution was neces-sary and engineered. SmartSlope, a vegetated / structural retaining wall system, was chosen as a versatile so-lution that accommodates grade change and acts as an integral com-ponent of the storm water manage-ment plan. SmartSlope is a product of Baltimore, Maryland based Furbish Company. Furbish specializes in in-novative and environmentally sus-tainable products and services includ-ing green roof installation and maintenance, living retaining walls, and interior bio walls.

Moreover, the innovative storm water management plan includes capturing storm water runoff from the roofs,

parking lots, and impervious surface, which are then channeled into in a series of approximately 10,000-gallon cisterns buried below grade. The cis-terns act as holding tanks for the col-lected storm water and to process large storm events. The water is then pumped through the retaining wall by means of integrated drip irrigation tubing. The tubing attaches to the SmartSlope module through a notch on each sidewall. Although Smart-Slope walls do not require irrigation, by utilizing the plant’s natural evapo-transpiration process and the bio-retention qualities of the planting soil, storm water quantity is managed and naturally treated for quality, much in the same way a natural wetland func-tions. The system can manage ap-proximately 0.5 gallons of storm wa-ter per square foot per day. After the completion of Phase II, a combined 50,000 square feet of vegetated wall will handle approximately 1.2 million gallons of storm water annually.

The installation of a SmartSlope wall is similar to that of a traditional struc-tural retaining wall. Due to the scale of Dakota Crossing, a larger than normal 2 foot wide by 4 foot deep poured concrete footing was installed as per design. In a standard design, an 18 inch wide by 6 inch deep, com-pacted gravel footing would be used. Next, two rows or courses of wall modules were set and filled with gravel. These courses are below grade and the gravel helps facilitate drain-age. Above the vegetated portion of the wall is constructed. Modules are stacked 14 inches apart and additional courses rest on the sidewalls of the modules below. Strap reinforcement is belayed through a true mechanical connection in the base of the mod-ules. The project was engineered to employ strap reinforcement every third course with maximum strap lengths of 32 feet deep, because of the excessive top load. Site soil was used in the reinforcement zone and compacted over the strap with heavy

construction, vibratory rollers. The modules were then filled with the bio-retention planting soil, before starting the next course. Installers and wall contractors have praised Furbish Company about the ease regarding the installation of SmartSlope.

Phase I of the SmartSlope installation at Dakota Crossing commenced in May 2012. The actual wall installa-tion took approximately 5 laborers and 1,000 man hours. Commercial SmartSlope walls can be installed at a rate of around 700-1000 square feet per day in normal site conditions with an experienced 5-man crew. Addi-tional workers are needed for planting and excavation.

The Project Team The major players involved in Dakota Crossing are as follows:

SmartSlope Team

Furbish Company - Product Manufacturer / Project Manage-ment / Planting & Maintenance

Hardscapes Construction, Inc. - Wall Installer

CIS Engineering - Retaining Wall Designer

W.H. Boyer, Inc. - Landscaper Development Team Trammel Crow Company, CSG

Urban Partners, Fort Lincoln New Town Corporation - Devel-opment / Ownership Group

Harvey Cleary - General Contrac-tor

Vika - Civil Engineer Saco Construction, Inc. - Site

Contractor



Materials and Equipment SmartSlope modules are 20 inches wide by 15 inches deep with 8 inch lifts. They are manufactured as a wet caste concrete at 5,000 PSI and weigh 88 pounds each. SmartSlope uses 50% less concrete than the typical segmented retaining walls in the mar-ketplace today. A traditional 21,000 square foot retaining wall would use almost 2 million pounds of concrete (1,995,000 lbs) while on Dakota Crossing Phase I SmartSlope used 1 million pounds of concrete (998,918 lbs), a significantly lower carbon footprint. Much less reinforcement strap was necessary compared to a traditional geogrid gravity system. The strap is Paraweb 30. Filter fabric was also used due to the poor drain-age qualities of the clay soils. Typi-cally this is not a necessary compo-nent of SmartSlope. The strap length is also project specific. Due to its scale Dakota Crossing represents a scenario that exceeds typical engi-neering needs. Gravel #57 stone wedge was used behind the wall per design.

A plate compactor, vibratory roller, skid-steer Bobcat, and large earth-mover were all used for the wall ex-cavation and installation. Once the topsoil soil is added planting is done by hand.

Plants & Soil The plants were chosen specifically for their high evapotranspiration characteristics. Andropogon virgin-icus (Virginia Bluestem), Muhlen-bergia capillaries 'white cloud' (Muhly Grass), and Pennisetum alo-

pecuroides (Fountain Grass) were planted, one plug in each module. Once fully grown out - anticipated to be mid-summer of 2013, they will be up to three feet high. The wall will be fully covered and hidden, creating a dramatic aesthetic quality.

Special bio-retention soils were cho-sen, because of their ability to retain water longer and their ability to aid in the quality treatment of the runoff. On a standard SmartSlope wall top-soil is used.

THE PRODUCT SmartSlope offers a replacement of hardscape with landscape without sacri-ficing structural capacity to stabilize slopes. SmartSlope provides equivalent structural integrity of structural retain-ing walls while utilizing biomimicry techniques and restoring environmental and aesthetic benefits - local produc-tion, lower carbon footprint, nutrient uptake, heat island mitigation, habitat creation, and aesthetic appeal. Smart-Slope also contributes points to LEED certification. 10-18 points can be achieved by utilizing SmartSlope in a project. As Michael McKelvin of Grif-fith Brothers, who has installed large commercial SmartSlope projects re-marked, “SmartSlope offers the owner a viable, green solution to their hard-scape package. The structural capacity offers the developer and civil engineer options when beginning to layout a new project that they may not have consid-ered previously”.

Furthermore, the Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund, administered by the Mar-yland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech), a unit of the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, awarded Furbish Compa-ny $81,000 in 2010 to be used towards developing SmartSlope. Fund recipi-ents are jointly selected by Mtech and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The fund invests $250,000 annually. The goal of the fund is to accelerate the flow of capital to innova-tive ventures creating sustainable solu-tions to restoring the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. This partnership has been fundamental to SmartSlope and

continues to thrive today.

Dakota Crossing showcases SmartSlope as much more than a retaining wall, but as an integrated system and fundamental solution in mitigating site constraints, as well as a product that delivers numerous interconnected benefits - environmental, aesthetic, and combining form with func-

tion. provided by Jimmy Dick, Furbish Co., [email protected] 434-874-7465

News - New Specialty License Plate Supporting

Community Trees Available for Pre-order

A new specialty license plate is avail-able for pre-order in Virginia. The Virginia Loves Trees license plate features a community skyline en-hanced by trees (with one tree even featuring a swing) in eye-catching blues and greens and is designed to raise awareness of the value of com-munity trees in Virginia.

Plates can be ordered online, or in the mail using forms downloaded from the

Virginia Loves Trees website (www.valovestrees.org ).



Do you need an official seal for your

landscape plans?

If you are a Virginia Certified Horticulturist,

order a Stamper from the VNLA Office for $67.90,

includes tax and shipping

VNLA - Board Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, January 8, 2013, 1-5 pm Baltimore Convention Center,

Room 334

Mission Statement: To en-hance and promote Virginia’s nursery and landscape industry Vision Statement: To be the leader and resource for the Virginia nursery and landscape industry

Noon - New Board Member Orienta-tion

1:00 p.m. - Meeting Call to Order - Steve Grigg, Pres. With the following present: Bill Gouldin, Matt Sawyer, Matt Shreckhise, Sonya Westervelt, Cheryl Lajoie, Christopher Brown, Doug Hensel, Tom Thompson, Lorene Blackwood, Jim Owen, Craig Attkisson, Sandy Miller, Virginia Rockwell, Jeff Miller, and Mark Maslow 4:30 pm

1:10 p.m. Virginia Green Industry Council/VNLA Partnership Pro-posal - Lorene Blackwood, President of the VGIC gave a brief history of the relationship of the VGIC and the VNLA. The VNLA helped start and fund the VGIC since the beginning. The VNLA used to fund the VGIC up

to $25,000 per year. She noted that the VGIC name and image are power-ful across the state.

She suggested that a committee from the VNLA work with the VGIC and Roger Harris to bring the whole in-dustry under one umbrella. The seat that would be appointed from the VNLA would head up the VGIC. This would facilitate a unified voice on legislative and regulatory issues, and marketing programs (Plant More Plants) would be more effective. Leg-islative and environmental issues are quite often tied together. The green industry is fragmented and strength in numbers is needed to unify under one banner.

The joint committee would work to resolve details on how things would work on funding, coordination, etc., and to make a wise transition and de-termine why the VGIC should be a part of the VNLA. It was also sug-gested that consideration should be given to reaching out to other groups.

A motion was made for the VNLA Executive Committee to be the liaison committee, seconded and passed. The Virginia Tech CALS De-partments could be involved via providing information and background and the associa-tion could be advocates for VT needs.

Secretary’s Report - Matt Shreckhise requested approv-al of minutes of 10/18/12 Board Meeting, Ashland. A motion was made to approve the minutes as presented, se-conded, passed.

Treasurer’s Report - Matt Shreck-hise (emailed reports) reviewed the highlights of the financial reports. A motion to approve the financial reports was made, seconded and passed.

VNLA Dashboard MetricsCurrent Membership 518Membership 1 year ago 12/11 565Peak Membership (2008) 632 Current VCH Count 549VCH Count 1 Year ago 12/11 542 Total Income YTD Nov’12 398,024 Budget Year 399,311Total Income YTD Nov’11 355,574 Total Expenses YTD Nov’12 294,504Budget Year 391,150Total Expenses YTD Nov’11 294,802



President’s Update - Steve Grigg reported:

The Strategic Plan had been general-ly reviewed via a conference call with Christine Kennedy on Thursday, and she will make a revised plan to re-view at the February 27 meeting. Ste-ve thanked the board for all of groundwork that had been laid for the future of the VNLA.

Renewal of HMA contract - The Executive Committee had re-viewed the current contract, re-examined the position and added additional responsibilities. A new contract for 2013-2015 has been revised and approved by Horti-culture Management Associates LLC and the VNLA Executive Committee and was signed by HMA and Steve Grigg on Janu-ary 8, 2013.

IRS audit - the audit of the 2009 tax year has been completed with everything in order and we are

awaiting the final report letter from the IRS.

Expanded board size was dis-cussed and the consensus was to continue with the at-large mem-bers.

Key person Insurance - The Ex-ecutive Committee added this in-surance provision for next year and is included in the 2013 budget and the executive director is in the process of getting final quotes to implement the policy.

VTC - Steve reported that he had several calls with the VTC and they should be continued; and it was the consensus that the Turfgrass Council should be in-vited to Board meetings.

Succession Plan is being estab-lished and a compilation of proce-dures and history are being com-piled by the executive director for continuity.

Board Member Job Description

updates were discussed and it was the consensus that Sonya and Jeff would review and edit the current descriptions in the next 2 weeks and send the revised version to Board to review and respond by the end of January.

Executive Director Update - Jeff Mil-ler (Report e-mailed and attached)

Committee Reports: Legislation - Virginia Rockwell re-viewed upcoming legislative and regu-latory issues for 2013.

She noted that Delegate Hope’s bill probably won’t come up.

Invasive plant regulations, TMDL, and other hearings will have VNLA representation when-ever possible.

VAC State Policies meeting in November was attended by Vir-ginia Rockwell and Jeff Miller. Virginia tried to insert “land-scape” whenever appropriate in policies.

Ad - Johnston County Nursery Marketing Association



Storm water issues will be ad-dressed in 2013 with responsibili-ties moving from DCR to DEQ.

Obama heath care will be a big issue for employers to address in 2013. The maximum employee contribution has been set at 9.5% of their income and the employer doesn’t have to pay for family health care. The SNA has an online summary of the Healthcare bill as currently interpreted.

Virginia Rockwell, encourage members to participate in in Na-tional Ag Statistics Census of Agriculture. A motion was made to send an E-Blast to members to encourage completion of the sur-vey, seconded and passed.

Virginia thanked the Board for the funding assistance of the APLD DC VA MD Seminar which was re-scheduled for 1/24/13. She noted that the APLD had been asked to host the 2014 international conference.

Environmental Affairs - Tom Thompson reported on a member concern about alliances with envi-ronmental groups and that he had re-ceived a written response from the executive director that the VNLA is just working to create a forum for discussion and feedback on environ-mental issues. He will follow up with a call to determine what the specific member concerns are.

Invasive Species Report - Feral swine and nutria rats are becom-ing an invasive animal issue in the southern part of Virginia.

LEED Classes are scheduled for June 20 and 21 with a mock exam on July 11 with a fee of $100 for the class and $50 for the mock exam. The contract agreement with deposit will be completed and the classes will be re-schedule if have to cancel on the-se dates.

Certification - Cheryl Lajoie

reported:

Tests and Review Classes were scheduled and registrations were coming in for these.

Online review by video for the review classes is still being con-sidered on the best format and how to proceed.

Certification Study Manual revi-sions are being studied and Cher-yl has had discussions on putting the manual online with Dave Close. Cheryl will go to Blacks-burg to meet with him in the near future.

Legacy VCH membership was discussed and will be reviewed by the committee.

Public Relations - Sonya Westervelt

Field Day and Summer Tour 2013 plans are well underway. A site visit in early December was made by Sonya, Sandy and Jeff to review fa-cilities at Brent & Becky’s Bulbs. They are being very pro-active, re-viewing potential speakers and sum-mer tour sites, possibly a Williams-burg behind the scenes tour. A possi-ble collaboration with other associa-tion/groups for the tour was also dis-cussed. Most of the plans for these events should be confirmed by the end of February.

Research - Matt Sawyer -

2013 Research Gala/Auction reported that everything was set for the event at the Tir Na Nog Restaurant, same as last year, with the Skyla Burrell Band per-forming. Ticket sales are just a little behind last year and the guarantee has been adjusted down some.

Research balances of invest-ments have been improving over this past year.

Christopher Brown is coming on the research committee.

Promotion of auction items ahead of time is a committee goal

for next year. Beautiful Gardens Report - Doug Hensel reviewed the report from Lisa Lipsey, the Beautiful Garden’s pro-gram director. Challenges are going to continue, but with no breeding program in Virginia and no plant finder person for new plants, finding and evaluating new introductions is a slow process. There will be a BG Committee meeting on Wednesday at 3 pm in Room 334.

Membership - Jeff Miller

Dues Categories and VCH staff - Jeff explained a new policy for the number of VCH staff that can be had under each dues category. Active membership: A1 membership catego-ry allows 1 VCH staff; A2 member-ship category allows 2 VCH staff; and A3 membership allows 3 VCH staff. Associate Membership allows 1 VCH staff and Allied Membership allows 2 VCH staff.

MANTS Update - Danny Shreckhise - reported that MANTS is a well-run show. This year, there are:

107 new exhibitors 984 exhibitors, 1530 booths Mobile app 5,017 room nights 1st time in 3 years with over

5,000, Over 100 comp rooms for show staff

Over 7,300 pre-registered at-tendees, up over last year

10,940 last year total attendees

Old Business - None

New Business -

Request from Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center for con-tributions to support the start of their new greenhouse program. Matt Shreckhise will meet with the Center to find out more de-tails about their program and re-port back to the February 27 VNLA Board Meeting.



ANLA Dolibois HRI Award - A motion was made to contribute $500 to the ANLA HRI Susan & Bob Dolibois Key Award Fund in recognition of the retirement of Bob Dolibois after successfully leading the ANLA and our indus-try for twenty-two years, second-ed and passed.

CRITICAL ACTION ITEMS (based on strategic plan) 1. Enhance certification program

- Cheryl Lajoie, Tom Thompson, Matt Sawyer

a. Online reviews b. Standardized testing format

across professional organiza-tions

c. Certification Manual revi-sions/online

2. Identify VNLA Legislative Pri-orities and Agendas - Virginia Rockwell, Matt Shreckhise, Steve Grigg

a. Identify areas of concern for membership

b. Proactively educate legisla-tors on the size/impact of green industry

c. Solicit VAC for aide in legis-lative issues

d. Network with our legislators

3. Public Relations and Commu-nications - Mark Maslow, Sonya Westervelt, Jeff Miller a. Increase participation in the

grower’s guide and enhance the publication

TASK LIST FOR NEXT MEET-ING

1. Job Descriptions updates 2. Key person insurance 3. Executive Board meet and dis-

cuss VGIC partnership 4. Search out another board

member Adjourn - Being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:56 p.m.

Upcoming Events VNLA Spring Board Meeting,

February 27, 2013, Char-lottesville (Strategic Plan Review with Christine Kennedy)

VNLA Summer Board Meet-ing, June 8, Blacksburg (in con-junction with the Hahn Garden Gala)

VNLA 2014 Budget Meeting - mid-October

VNLA Fall Board Meeting - late October

Strategic Plan Follow up Pre-Mortem: It’s 2013 and we’re reconvening to talk about what we didn’t accomplish. What caused us to fail or not succeed with the planning goals and objectives we set today?

Good to Great calls this process Red Flagging. Build red flag mechanisms that turn information into information

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[email protected]

November/December 2007 VNLA Newsletter 70

Designing With Elegant Silvers, Striking Plants for

Every Garden; Saturday, January 19, 9:30 - 11:00 am

Silvers are the shimmering chameleons of the plant king-

dom. Their silvery appearance is caused by water-conserving hairs, scales, powder, waxy coatings or air

bubbles. The beauty and drought-tolerance of familiar

downy silvers such as lamb's ears and artemisias have long

made them favorites in the herb garden and perennial bor-der.

Karen Bussolini will discuss and show beautiful slides of the many inventive ways gardeners across the United

States have used these stalwart plants in containers, bor-

ders or the larger landscape. She will pay special attention to the use of silvers for our hot and humid summers, pro-

tective adaptations, and using color and texture to create

exciting combinations. She will also touch on historical

uses from medieval times to modern xeriscaping. $20 members / $30 non-members.

Copies of The Unsung Season and Elegant Silvers will be available for purchase at each lecture, and the author will

sign copies.

Down to Earth Gardening; Saturday, February 2, 8:30

am - 4:30 pm

A horticulture symposium on gardening smarter, problem solving and going green with the best new plants

Join Horticulture magazine and Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden for a day-long garden symposium featuring these

topics and speakers:

Gardening Smarter, Problem Solving and Going

Green: Nan Sinton

Down to Earth Gardening with keynote speaker, Ireland's

Helen Dillon -It's more than putting plants together and

making pictures in the garden. See how to rethink, re-

design and manage change in a smaller space

The Elements of Organic Gardening with David How-

ard, head gardener to HRH The Prince of Wales. Explore the process of creating an organic garden the Highgrove

way.

Conifers to Fit Your Space with Richard L. Bitner. See

how to choose conifers that fit smaller gardens, and add

year-round interest to problem sites.

Plants that Go Green with Bill Cullina

Registration fees: $129 regular rate / $119 for Horticulture subscribers and Lewis Ginter members. Registration avail-

able through Horticulture magazine only at

www.hortprograms.com or call toll-free 1-877-GDN-PROG (1-877-436-7764)

Tree Care Symposium February 15

Professionals in tree care, green industry professionals,

and advanced gardeners are invited to attend the Tree Care

Symposium, Friday, February 15, 2008, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm. To receive a detailed program, email regis-

[email protected]

A Workshop for Professionals on Designing with Stone

Gordon Hayward, garden designer and author; Friday,

March 7, 9 am - 1:30 pm (9 am - 12 pm workshop, 12-1:30 pm lunch & conversation with Gordon Hayward)

Walls and walkways, terraces and steps, benches, boulders and bedrock, water and stone, standing stones and sculp-

ture - stone is at once beautiful and useful in the landscape.

In this day-long workshop for professionals, you will learn

how to design with stone to create a lasting framework as well as a wide range of stone features, ornaments and de-

tails that will add a sense of age and permanence to your

client's garden. Gordon will also discuss the practical is-sues of setting walkways, terraces, and walls, how to set

boulders and standing stones, and how to site any number

of stone garden features to underpin the garden's itinerary. $75 Garden and VSLD, VNLA, and AS LA members/ $85

non-members. Presented in cooperation with the Univer-

sity of Richmond School of Continuing Studies Landscape

Design Certificate Program. Recent Alumni and current students of this program should contact the Program Spe-

cialist, Gary Ray, for a special offer.

Small Buildings, Small Gardens, Saturday, Mar. 8, 9:30 - 11:30 am

Join acclaimed garden designer and author Gordon Hayward for this discussion about structures in small gar-

dens. Hayward looks closely at how gardeners can use

small buildings and built structures such as gazeboes and

arbors, pergolas and bridges, fences and decks to help find just the right place for new gardens. Learn how these

structures ease the design process by helping you see how

to develop new gardens in relation to existing or new structures. Built structures in our gardens are magnets for

family, guests and visitors. Learn how structures help

viewers frame their relationship to the garden. Finally,

when you see how built structures in your garden provide anchors, centers and starting places for good garden de-

sign, you will gain confidence in designing your own gar-

dens. $25 members / $35 non-members.

Gordon Hayward's book Small Buildings, Small Gardens

will be available for purchase and signing.

For more information or to register contact Phyllis Laslett at

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden; [email protected]



that can’t be ignored.

We will fail if…. We don’t change our process No follow-through No inspect of what we expect Our tasks don’t change our out-

comes- do our actions make a better VNLA?

Certification implemented online but not matching changes in manual

Not aligning resources with prior-ities

No pipeline for board or commit-tees

**Attach these to each board agenda to keep these red flags from being ignored.

Executive Director’s Report

Membership and Certification - As mentioned in the last report, we’ve still had quite a few members pay dues in the last 2 months after we had sent notices to VCH individuals that their employer had not renewed their dues for 2012. We are starting an FAQ page for certification to address these questions.

Re-Certification renewals and CEU reports have been rolling in during the last several weeks now that eve-ryone is slowing down some.

2013 Test Registrations - there is still the usual confusion on VCH test and class registration on needing to be a member of the regional associa-tion and the VNLA and that being a Virginia Certified Horticulturist is a benefit of being a VNLA member or working for a VNLA member.

Represented the VNLA at the Virgin-ia Agribusiness Council (VAC) State Policy and Annual meeting in November with Virginia Rockwell.

On the same trip, also attended the Virginia Society of Association Ex-ecutives annual meeting and trade

show and attended 3 seminars:

Emerging Technologies for Non Profits

Treasure Hunting: Smart Strate-gies for Growing Ad, Sponsor-ship and Other Non-dues Reve-nue

A Small Association CEO Shared Interest Group (SIG) with a dis-cussion of management issues

Attended the VAC Townhall meet-ing in Abingdon in November

Participated in two Nursery & Land-scape Association Executives (NLAE) webinars:

How to Create Your Company’s Employee Handbook

Crisis Management in the Lawn and Landscape Industry

Website upgrades in the works:

Adding the Re-Certification Ap-plication to the Online store

Setting up Google Analytic re-ports for the website

Upgrading the Events listing with something similar to the Google iCalendar.

Adding photo galleries from events

Determining feasibility and cost of having online Certification testing anytime.

Consumer access to looking up members with Virginia Certified Horticulturist on staff. (Currently is on the consumer website www.VirginiaGardening.com which has had some hosting software changes and this look up is not fully operational now. It al-so requires manual updates each time there is a change in mem-ber/VCH status changes.

Membership - develop a color membership brochure with benefits and association info and then use the application as an insert as it changes in 2013.

Grower Guide - two growers were dropped and two were added. There

was a net decrease in line listings of 76 from 4056 listings in 2012 to 3980 list-ings on 2013.

Office Operational Info - started compiling lists of resources for materi-als, vendors, account info, event proce-dures/guidelines, etc. in one document.

Landscape Management Seminar in partnership with Carter Machinery and Caterpillar did not work out.

PCI Credit Card Processing certi-fication being setup (this will reduce processing fees slightly and will in-sure total security on credit card pro-cessing through the website and by fax, phone, and mail paper trails when completed.)

Jeff Miller, Executive Director

VNLA - Minutes Membership Meeting

Thursday, January 10, 2013, 7-9 am Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel,

Harborview Room Mission Statement: To enhance and

promote Virginia’s nursery and landscape industry

Vision Statement: To be the leader and resource for the Virginia nursery

and landscape industry

7:00 a.m. Breakfast

7:25 a.m. - Meeting Call to Order - Steve Grigg, Pres.

Secretary’s Report - Matt Shreckhise asked for a motion for approval of the minutes of 1/12/2012 Annual Member-ship Meeting which were published in the Jan/Feb/Mar 2012 VNLA Newslet-ter. A motion was made, seconded and passed.



Treasurer’s Report - Matt Shreckhise reviewed the current financial reports which were on the tables and reviewed the proposed 2013 VNLA Budget. A motion was made for approval of finan-cial reports and 2013 Budget

President’s Update - Steve Grigg Boxwood Blight Research - Steve

asked Tom Saunders to report on the status of the Boxwood Blight Research. Tom thanked the VNLA for committing $12,500 in 2012 and again in 2013 for research by Dr. Kelly Ivors at NCSU. North Carolina and West Virginia had al-so contributed equal amounts. There was a report on the research on the tables.

Virginia Green Industry Council - the VNLA Executive Committee is in discussions on how the two groups can work more effectively together on legislative issues.

IRS Audit - The VNLA had an IRS audit for the 2009 tax year re-sulting in no issues other than up-dating the name on the return and listing the website on the return.

Expanded Board - three new at-large board members were added in 2012 and there are 2 new board members coming on for 2013 to cover successions in the board.

Key Man Insurance - the board has budgeted to add key man in-surance to cover the executive di-rector.

Contract Renewal - the manage-ment contract with the executive director, Jeff Miller, through his management company, Horticul-ture Management Associates LLC, has been renewed for another 3 years.

Strategic Plan - the VNLA Board will be reviewing and updating the 2012 strategic plan at the February 27 board meeting in Char-lottesville.

ANLA Update - Joe Bischoff gave a brief update on the current legislative issues facing the green industry in 2013 with immigration being a big issue with potential for some action this year. He thanked the VNLA for supporting the

Lighthouse Program partnership.

He introduced Michael Geary, the new Executive VP of the ANLA who has replaced Bob Dolibois after 21 years as the ANLA EVP. He explained the on-going process on the tentative merger of the OFA and the ANLA which would be effective in 2014.

SNA Update - Danny Summers report-ed on the transition of the Southern Nursery Association and their com-mitment to work with the 16 states in the SNA southeast region and they want to continue to support and com-plement the goals of these states and to bring the industry in the Southeast to-gether. There will be a completely re-vamped SNA trade show and confer-ence on August 5-7, at a hotel at the Atlanta Airport. The first day will be the Southern Plant Conference, then the trade show and a State Officers Confer-ence. The GGIA will host some educa-tional events. And Meister Publications with be the key sponsor. The 3rd edition of the Nursery BMP manual would be available online for free use and will have English and Spanish versions. Virginia Tech Horticulture Department faculty has been instrumental in the updates of this manual. The SNA awarded 12 scholarships to students in 2012 and three were from Virginia.

Committee Reports:

Legislation - Virginia Rockwell re-ported on upcoming issues and activi-ties for 2013:

Invasive plants - continues to be an ongoing issue and the VNLA has several members involved in attending various meetings.

Transportation, Budget and Bay issues will be major items that the General Assembly will be addressing this year.

Plant Baskets - these will be de-livered on February 7 to the 140 members of the General Assem-bly, the Governor and state De-partment Heads with information about the green industry’s eco-nomic impact in the Common-wealth. The baskets will have blooming and Virginia native

plants. USDA Ag Census - Virginia

urged everyone who receives the 2012 Ag Census to complete and return it as soon as possible. This is the only viable source for green industry economic statis-tics and we need the most com-plete and accurate information as possible.

Environmental Affairs - Tom Thomp-son

Invasive Species Legislation Re-port - there hasn’t been much ac-tivity on this front this year after concerns in Northern Virginia were mitigated in 2012.

LEED Classes are scheduled for June 20-21, 2013 (8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond and a Mock Exam will be given on July 11. He noted that completing this course and the exam will benefit land-scape contractors working on jobs with LEED requirements.

Certification - Cheryl Lajoie Tests and Review Classes are

starting in January with a good re-sponse so far.

Online review by video is still being investigated and talks are in progress with Dave Close at Virginia Tech on making the Basic Certification Manual avail-able online in an eBook format.

Recertification applications will be available to complete online and linked to the member’s data-base later this month.

Public Relations - Sonya Westervelt - Jeff Miller reported for Sonya the Field Day and Summer Tour 2013 where scheduled for Au-gust 8-9, 2013 and will be hosted by Brent & Becky’s Bulbs in Gloucester, VA. Sonya and Jeff have meet with them in early December, and plans are well underway for a memorable event.

Research - Matt Sawyer 2013 Research Gala/Auction



was a successful event with a net of over $8,000 to be added to the permanent Research Fund and he thanked everyone’s participation and support. For 2014, they will try to ramp up the Gala to return to a dressier event, open bar and rebuild the excitement of the event.

Research Grants 2013 - The Research Committee approved 9 of 15 grant requests for $52,409 in requests and actual funding of $27,789.

Beautiful Gardens Report - Lisa Lipsey reported:

Plants of Distinction - 2013 plants were selected for their gold characteristics. Posters have been printed and will be distrib-uted to participating garden cen-ters in February. 2014 POD will be native selections and 2015 POD will be new “Wow” plants. Members are encouraged to nom-inate plants for the Plants of Dis-tinction promotions.

New Introductions - the next introduction will be the Raulston Remembered Hellebore devel-oped by Judith and Dick Tyler with Pine Knot Farms and it is now in the test sites under evalu-ation. There is a yellow decidu-ous Magnolia that has performed well for several years in the test site. There are three triploid day-lilies under evaluation and we re-ceived a patent on the new ‘VT Spirit’ Daylily in October 2012.

‘VT Spirit’ Daylily is being pro-duced by Growing Virginia in Danville, Poplar Ridge Farms and Lancaster Farms and plants will be available in May 2013. Licensing agreements are being developed for licensing propaga-tion with a royalty fee coming back to the Beautiful Gardens program. There was approxi-mately $19,000 in income from the ‘VT Spirit’ in 2012.

2013 Marketing - There will be

3 ads in the Virginia Gardening magazine this spring featuring the 2013 Plants of Distinction and ten garden centers that will have some of these plants.

MANTS Update - Danny Shreckhise reported that the show was a well-oiled machine. The show continues to be sold out with a waiting list of ex-hibitors. Hotel room nights are up over last year.

VA Tech Horticulture Department - Roger Harris gave an update from the Department and CALS thanking the VNLA for their support. In December the college had 80 graduates and they expect 300 graduates in May. There are 2,700 undergrads and 130 in the 2-year Ag Tech program. The Horticul-ture department is doing their planning for the next six years. The enrollment continues to be flat with 85 under-graduate students. He introduced Dr. Alex Niemiera, Dr. Joyce Latimer, Dr. Holly Scoggins, Sarah Gugercin and Lisa Lipsey from the Blacksburg cam-pus and Dr. Pete Schultz and Dr. Jim Owen from the Virginia Tech Hamp-ton Roads AREC. Dr. Scoggins invit-ed everyone to participate in the annu-al Hahn Horticulture Garden Gala on June 8 with the theme of ‘Wine and Roses’.

Necrology - A moment of reflection was held in remembrance of Dr. Bon-nie Appleton and Nick Covatta who passed away in 2012.

Old Business - None

New Business - None

Awards Presentations Environmental Steward Award

- presentation by Tom Thompson to Tom Saunders, Saunders Brothers, Piney River, VA Professional of the Year Award - presentation by Steve Grigg to Dr. Holly Scoggins, Virginia Tech Department of Horticulture and Director of the Hahn Horticulture

Gardens Other - John Barbieri - was pre-

sented a Certificate of Apprecia-tion by Steve Grigg for his 4 years of service on the VNLA Board as Membership Chair.

Elections of 2013 Officers and Direc-tors - Mark Maslow presented the fol-lowing slate of officers and directors for 2013.

Matt Sawyer, President Matt Shreckhise, Vice President Sonya Westervelt,

Secretary/Treasurer Steve Grigg, Past President Cheryl Lajoie, 1 year Director Virginia Rockwell, 1 year Director Christopher Brown, 1 year

Director Craig Attkisson, 2 year Director Tom Thompson, 2 year Director Doug Hensel, 2 year Director At-Large Directors Mike Hildebrand Dawn Lerch Bill Gouldin Mark Maslow

Being no nominations from the floor, it was moved that the slate be accepted as presented, seconded, and passed. 2013 VNLA President, Matt Sawyer present outgoing President, Steve Grigg, with a past president’s plaque in appreciation of his service Comments - 2013 President - Matt Sawyer said he looked forward to serv-ing as the 2013 VNLA President and asked members to provide input on any suggestions or questions for the VNLA in 2013.

Adjourn - Being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:50 a.m. UPCOMING VNLA EVENTS

VNLA Spring Board Meeting, February 27, 2013, Charlottesville (Strategic Plan Review with Christine Kennedy)

VNLA Field Day and Summer Tour, August 8-9, 2013 Hosted by Brent & Becky’s Bulbs



VNLA - Certification FAQ

Certification Testing

and Preparation 1. Why should I be Virginia Certified

Horticulturist? You are recognized as a trained horticulture professional with a knowledge of the industry Career advancement Pride and confidence in self

and work Increased teamwork Demonstrates commitment to

the profession Enhance employability and

advancement The VCH designation means

you are qualified to offer sound scientific horticultural advice to clients, retail customers, nursery sales, landscape installation, even in lawn or maintenance environments.

Creates opportunities to network with other likeminded professionals

Gain exposure to a wider range of educational programs, events and those involved with them.

VCH certification is recognized and accepted throughout the State of Virginia. You will be qualified to stamp and approve engineer, landscape architect, or design plans requiring plants. This is now a requirement by most Virginia City planning boards. Order online at: http://vnla.org/Certification/StudyManualsCDsSupplies/tabid/6821/Default.aspx

2. Do I have to be a member of the VNLA to take the VCH test?

Registrants need to be a member for VNLA to receive a badge and Certificate for passing the test. Nonmembers do not receive these. This is a member benefit. Anyone can take the test, however it is much more expensive as a non-member.

3. Why do I have to pay a additional fees for classes and membership in the regional association?

VNLA is your state organization and "owns" the certification program. VNLA is paid for the testing and manuals. CVNLA, NVNLA, PLA, HRNLA are your local /regional organizations, and are separate organization from VNLA. To help members (of both organizations) pass the test - local or regional associations offer review classes at their expense. They have to pay instructors, find classroom space, maintain materials, supply their own computers and plant slides and often get guest speakers. This is a member benefit so a member gets the benefit of lower fees - usually paying for itself just in this single use. As a member you would be able to take advantage of lower member rates at all meetings, conferences etc. Some are available ONLY to members.

4. What do I need to do to register

for taking a VCH test? You need to register for the Test at least two weeks before the date of the actual test. A Test application provided on the website needs to be completed and mailed or faxed to the VNLA office along with pay-ment.

5. How is the test given? The test is given at pre-determined sites around Virginia. Refer to the VNLA Certified Horticulturist Test Schedule. The exam is proctored. You need to bring a picture id and #2 pencils. Do not bring personal

belongings such as purses and backpacks to the test.

6. How do I study for the test? Students can make their own study guide by Googling plant im-ages, printing out color copies and placing them in sheet protectors in a notebook. The process itself will help familiarize you with plants as you chose whichever photos you connect with plant names/details. The Virginia Tech dendrology site is an excellent source to start with. The Horticopia A-Z CD is also recommended and is available on the VNLA website at a member discount. http://vnla.org/Certification/StudyManualsCDsSup-plies/tabid/6821/Default.aspx Go over the questions in the manual. Although they are in a different format - the questions are still pertinent - you should include them in building a study guide -if you know the answer in the manual - you'll know the answer on the test. If you can't answer any ques-tion - take that as a hint you may need to re-read the chapter. You need to understand the information, not memorize the questions, so in that case being asked information different ways will increase your understanding of the material.

7. When and how will we be notified of pass/fail on the test? The tests are overnighted from the test site and are graded at the VNLA office as soon as they ar-rive. After grading, the test results are entered into the database. Re-sults will be emailed to you as soon as these are entered. Although it usually takes less time, please al-low 2 weeks for this process. If you do not have an email your test re-sults will be mailed to you.



What is the passing grade? What if I fail some parts but pass the others? You need to pass each section with at least a 70% and you must have an overall average score of at least 75%. You only need to retake those parts you did not pass. Your letter will have a list of your scores and a note of which sections you need to retake at the bottom which gives you one free retake, good for one year. You will still need to register for the next test you will be sitting at - but make a note on your retake test application that you have a re-take coupon.

8. How do members receive the VCH certificate and badge if they passed the exam? The certificate will be mailed to your home address, as soon as the pass/fail information has been en-tered and the certificates printed. Badges will follow in the mail 4-6 weeks later. Make sure the infor-mation on your registration form shows how you would like your name to be printed and where we should mail it. Reconsider using work information if it may delay delivery or you have multiple sites.

9. How do I stay certified? To protect your certification, you must maintain active membership in VNLA. You also must continue to add to your education and pro-fessionalism. CEU's are Continuing Education Units.. You can get the-se by attending seminars, confer-ences, and workshops - just to name a few. A reporting form and list of acceptable CEU's is availa-ble at http://vnla.org/portals/29/docs/Certification/CEUReportForm2011.pdf You need to accrue 30 credits eve-ry three years. This averages to 10 per year. If you do not keep your CEU's current and reported - your certification will lapse and you will need to take & pass the test again. You will receive a letter listing

your CEU status once a year - usu-ally in the fall.

10. How do I re-certify? Once every 3 years, you will need to turn in your CEU report along with copies of your supporting pa-perwork. (It is recommended that you turn in your CEU report each year) You will also need to include the re-certification fee of $30 and a completed recertification application which you can now do online http://tinyurl.com/bxa2nys (you will need to login into your VNLA account). We recommend keeping a folder or notebook to collect a record of activities & events you attend. When you pre-pare your CEU report you will have event materials at hand.

11. Who do I contact if I have questions? You should start with the Chairman of the Certification Committee, who's contact information is:

Cheryl Lajoie, [email protected],

757-484-4421. She will be able to respond and

have an answer for you. You may also send your questions to

VNLA email [email protected], 1-800-476-0055,

or fax 540-382-2716

Events - Virginia Tech Hahn Garden Gala

9th Annual Garden Gala June 8, 2013 “Wine & Roses”

Join us at the Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech for an evening of wine and roses - the most romantic Gala yet! Enjoy terrific food, drinks, and live music, all in a beautiful setting. A tast-ing of Virginia wines is planned. The live and silent auctions grow more ex-citing each year - and all for a good cause. Proceeds benefit the garden’s operations fund which critical for gar-den maintenance and improvements. This in turn benefits the students of Horticulture and the greater gardening community, through hands-on experi-ence, educational programs, and other outreach.

The Gala is always held the second Saturday in June; this year it is June 8th, from 5:30 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. More information and a ticket order form is available on our web site - www.hort.vt.edu/hhg.

Gala sponsorships are a great (and tax-deductible) way to show your support of the garden, and all levels receive complimentary tickets. It’s very easy to become a sponsor - please visit our web site for Sponsorship forms, or contact: Dr. Holly Scoggins at (540) 231-5783 o

[email protected].

News - 2012 Census of Agriculture

It’s VERY important for you to com-plete this census form because it pro-

duces important economic impact numbers the green industry needs!


Whe

re G

arden

ing C

omes

Natu

rally

March 27

For More Information:

540-942-6735 • [email protected] www.waynesboro.va.us

Bryce Lane Beautiful Bushes: Super Shrubs for the Landscape

A dynamic speaker who hosts the Emmy-winning show “In

the Garden with Bryce Lane” on UNC TV. He is a national award-

winning instructor in the Department of Horticultural Science at N.C. State Univer-sity. A perennially popular teacher, Lane has earned the university’s Outstanding Teacher Award three times. When it comes to choosing plants for a landscape, trees and herbaceous perennials get all the atten-tion. Any landscape would be incomplete without woody shrubs. This talk will identify some of the best shrubs for the landscape garden and show how they can be used with many other kinds of plants.

Pam Baggett Cultivating the Garden Artist Within

Pam Baggett is a freelance writer, photographer, and previous owner of Singing

Springs Nursery in Cedar Grove, NC, a nationally-known

mail-order nursery specializing in tender and hardy tropical plants. A member of the Garden Writers Association, she has written articles in publications including Fine Gardening, Horticulture and The American Gardener. She is the author/photographer of ¡Tropicalismo! Spice Up Your Garden with Cannas, Bananas, and 93 Other Eye-Catching Tropical Plants. Imagine the possibilities for our gardens if we could train ourselves to see the world through an artist’s eyes. The gardener’s palette would then expand to include not just dirt and plants but everything around us, because whether we’re at our favorite nursery or trapped in the grocery check-out line, we can be teaching ourselves to be better garden designers.

Dan Heims Garden Gems & New Perennials from Around the World

Since 1973, Dan Heims has been deeply involved in all facets of

horticulture. He’s currently the president of Terra Nova Nurseries,

Inc. - a company noted for countless new perennial introductions. Dan’s work and garden has been featured in USA Today, Forbes, Better Homes and Gardens, Sunset Magazine and Organic Gardening. His first presentation highlights some of the newest, most exciting perennials, tropicals and woodies seen today pulled together from world-wide trips, botanical gardens, plant shows, and nurseries. Dan’s second presentation will be on new perennials from around the world. Meet the movers and shakers from ten horticultural countries (Japan, China, Germany, Tasmania, Australia, US, Holland, England, Ireland & New Zealand) and find out what plants they love.

Peter Hatch Thomas Jefferson’s Favorite Garden Plants

Peter Hatch is the retired Director of Gardens and Grounds at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s

historic home in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was responsible

for the restoration, maintenance and interpretation of the 2,400-acre site, including the landscaping, vegetable gardens, vineyard and orchards, since 1977. Hatch has written extensively on Jefferson’s gardens and lectured in thirty-five states, on Jefferson and the history of garden plants. Thomas Jefferson’s legacy still influences food and gardening today. Peter’s lecture will take us back to the horticultural world of early nineteenth-century Virginia through a fresh look at Jefferson’s favorite fruits, vegetables, shrubs, trees and flowers. He will share techniques to grow and prepare these treasured gems for today’s modern garden.

Presented By Waynesboro Parks & Recreation Department in conjunction with Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association

P.O. Box 818 • Brooklandville, MD 21022410-296-6959 • 800-431-0066 • fax 410-296-8288www.mants.com

Mark your calendar:January 8 - 10, 2014 Baltimore Convention Center

Sponsors listed are those who committed and paid by Friday, October 16.

MANTS® 2013The Masterpiece of Trade Shows ™

Plan to visit, thank and support all of the sponsorsand exhibitors, January 9-11, who continue to make

BADGE LANYARDS

INTERIOR PLANTINGS

INTERNET CAFÉ BANNER

REGISTRATION STAIR WRAP

Belgard HardscapesBooth #: CSL-B & 422 • Hall: CSLwww.belgard.biz

Proven WinnersBooth #: CSL-A • Hall: CSLwww.provenwinners.com

Olney Gardens Wholesale • Booth #: 164 • Hall: E • www.olneygardenswholesale.com

Babikow Greenhouses (2 Scholarships) • Booth #: 2402, 2404 • Hall: D • www.babikow.comLe Primitif Galleries • Booth #: 18, 19, 20 • Hall: G • www.leprimitifgalleries.com

Bennett’s Creek Nursery (2 benches) • Booth #: 1328, 1330 • Hall: H • www.bcnursery.comDavid’s Nursery • Booth #: 828, 830 • Hall: H • www.davidsnursery.com

Foxborough Nursery • Booth #: 726, 823 • Hall: G • www.foxboroughnursery.comKing’s Tree Farm • Booth #: 1106 • Hall: I • www.kingstreefarm.com

Lancaster Farms • Booth #: 428, 430 • Hall: F • www.lancasterfarms.comMay Nursery • Booth #: 1026, 1125 • Hall: I • www.maynursery.com

Odom Nursery Company • Booth #: 562, 564 • Hall: E • www.odomnursery.comPhillips & Turman Tree Farms • Booth #: 327 • Hall: G • www.phillipsandturmantreefarms.com

Saunders Brothers • Booth #: 424, 426 • Hall: G • www.saundersbrothers.comSurface Nursery • Booth #: 836, 1324 • Hall: J • www.surfacenursery.com

Tuckahoe Nurseries • Booth #: 1126, 1227 • Hall: I • www.tuckahoenurseries.com

Angelica Nurseries Booth #: 333, 335 • Hall: Fwww.angelicanurseries.com

Cambridge Pavingstones Booth #: 2646, 2648 • Hall: Bwww.cambridgepavers.com

Aqua Bella DesignsBooth #: 2438, 2440 • Hall: Cwww.aquabelladesigns.com

Hortica Insurance & Employee BenefitsBooth #: 1032 • Hall: Hwww.hortica-insurance.com

Montgomery CollegeLandscape Technology ProgramBooth #: Lower Pratt Lobby • Hall: LPcms.montgomerycollege.edu

The Perennial FarmBooth #: 539, 541 • Hall: Fwww.perennialfarm.com

Haifa North AmericaBooth #: 1705 • Hall: Jwww.haifa-group.com

Capital Forest ProductsBooth #: 535, 537 • Hall: Fwww.capitalforest.com

EverrisBooth #: 511, 513 • Hall: Gwww.everris.us.com

Foxborough NurseryBooth #: 726, 823 • Hall: Gwww.foxboroughnursery.com

CHARLES STREET LOBBY

GOLD

SILVER (Alpha by Category)

SHUTTLE BUS SPONSOR

AKEHURST MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

BENCH SPONSORS

P.O. Box 818 • Brooklandville, MD 21022410-296-6959 • 800-431-0066 • fax 410-296-8288www.mants.com

Mark your calendar:January 8 - 10, 2014 Baltimore Convention Center

Sponsors listed are those who committed and paid by Friday, October 16.

MANTS® 2013The Masterpiece of Trade Shows ™

Plan to visit, thank and support all of the sponsorsand exhibitors, January 9-11, who continue to make

BADGE LANYARDS

INTERIOR PLANTINGS

INTERNET CAFÉ BANNER

REGISTRATION STAIR WRAP

Belgard HardscapesBooth #: CSL-B & 422 • Hall: CSLwww.belgard.biz

Proven WinnersBooth #: CSL-A • Hall: CSLwww.provenwinners.com

Olney Gardens Wholesale • Booth #: 164 • Hall: E • www.olneygardenswholesale.com

Babikow Greenhouses (2 Scholarships) • Booth #: 2402, 2404 • Hall: D • www.babikow.comLe Primitif Galleries • Booth #: 18, 19, 20 • Hall: G • www.leprimitifgalleries.com

Bennett’s Creek Nursery (2 benches) • Booth #: 1328, 1330 • Hall: H • www.bcnursery.comDavid’s Nursery • Booth #: 828, 830 • Hall: H • www.davidsnursery.com

Foxborough Nursery • Booth #: 726, 823 • Hall: G • www.foxboroughnursery.comKing’s Tree Farm • Booth #: 1106 • Hall: I • www.kingstreefarm.com

Lancaster Farms • Booth #: 428, 430 • Hall: F • www.lancasterfarms.comMay Nursery • Booth #: 1026, 1125 • Hall: I • www.maynursery.com

Odom Nursery Company • Booth #: 562, 564 • Hall: E • www.odomnursery.comPhillips & Turman Tree Farms • Booth #: 327 • Hall: G • www.phillipsandturmantreefarms.com

Saunders Brothers • Booth #: 424, 426 • Hall: G • www.saundersbrothers.comSurface Nursery • Booth #: 836, 1324 • Hall: J • www.surfacenursery.com

Tuckahoe Nurseries • Booth #: 1126, 1227 • Hall: I • www.tuckahoenurseries.com

Angelica Nurseries Booth #: 333, 335 • Hall: Fwww.angelicanurseries.com

Cambridge Pavingstones Booth #: 2646, 2648 • Hall: Bwww.cambridgepavers.com

Aqua Bella DesignsBooth #: 2438, 2440 • Hall: Cwww.aquabelladesigns.com

Hortica Insurance & Employee BenefitsBooth #: 1032 • Hall: Hwww.hortica-insurance.com

Montgomery CollegeLandscape Technology ProgramBooth #: Lower Pratt Lobby • Hall: LPcms.montgomerycollege.edu

The Perennial FarmBooth #: 539, 541 • Hall: Fwww.perennialfarm.com

Haifa North AmericaBooth #: 1705 • Hall: Jwww.haifa-group.com

Capital Forest ProductsBooth #: 535, 537 • Hall: Fwww.capitalforest.com

EverrisBooth #: 511, 513 • Hall: Gwww.everris.us.com

Foxborough NurseryBooth #: 726, 823 • Hall: Gwww.foxboroughnursery.com

CHARLES STREET LOBBY

GOLD

SILVER (Alpha by Category)

SHUTTLE BUS SPONSOR

AKEHURST MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

BENCH SPONSORS

VNLA Newsletter Advertising Order Please check the ad size and circle “B&W” or “4-Color”

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Publication Issue Copy Deadlines Mail Date (approximate) [__] January/February/March January 15 February 28 [__] April/May/June April 15 May 30 [__] July/August/September July 15 August 30 [__] October/November/December October 15 November 30 [__] Run same ad each issue [__] Rotate Ads [__] New Ad each issue [__] Check here if you want an invoice for four pre-paid consecutive issues (10% discount). Otherwise, we will send you an electronic invoice after the issue is mailed to members.

Contact Person: _________________________________________________ Company Name: ________________________________________________ Mailing Address: ________________________________________________ City: _____________________________ ST____ Zipcode _________-_____ Phone: _____-______-____________ Fax: _____-______-____________ Email: _________________________________________________________ Date: ____/____/______

For Additional Information, Call, Fax or Email: Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association

383 Coal Hollow Road, Christiansburg, VA 24073-6721 800-476-0055 or 540-382-0943 ---- Fax: 540-382-2716 Email: [email protected] www.vnla.org

NEW Quarterly Publication Schedule Effective 4/1/2012


VNLA Virginia Certified Horticulturist Exam Dates

March 18, 2013, Henrico County Government Complex, Richmond, 6-10pm

March 23, 2013, Charlottesville, location TBA, 10am-2pm

March 30, 2013, Lancaster Farms’ Conference Room, Suffolk, 8am-noon (Basic and Advanced Tests)

May 9, 2013, Monroe Technology Center, Leesburg, 10am-2pm

June 19, 2013, Lancaster Farms’ Conference Room, Suffolk, 6-9pm (Basic and Advanced Tests)

For test applications, review class schedules and more details go to

www.vnla.org

February 20, 2013, SHENANDOAH

VALLEY NURSERY & GREENHOUSE ASSOC. 2013 Winter Short Course 8 am - 3:30 p.m. at the Workforce Center at Blue Ridge Community College 540-665-5699, [email protected]

February 22, 2013, VIRGINIA CHRISTMAS TREE GROW-ERS Winter Tree Summit Best Western Inn & Suites, Waynesboro, VA "Experience a Real Tree" [email protected] 540-382-7310 www.VirginiaChristmasTrees.org

February 23, 2013, VIRGINIA CHRISTMAS TREE GROW-ERS Winter Tree Summit Carroll County Government Complex, Hillsville, VA "Experience a Real Tree" [email protected] 540-382-7310 www.VirginiaChristmasTrees.org

February 23, 2013, VSLD WINTER MEETING with Stonework: Master Class for Master Designers Charles Luck Stone Studio, Manakin-Sabot, VA http://www.charlesluck.com www.vsld.org

February 27, 2013, VNLA SPRING BOARD MEETING Charlottesville, VA 10am-4pm www.vnla.org 800-476-0055 [email protected]

February 27, 2013, PIEDMONT NA-TIVE PLANT LANDSCAPE SYMPOSIUM Albemarle County Office Bldg, 5th Street Extended 1600 5th St, Charlottesville, VA 434-296-5841 [email protected]

March 6, 2013, ROANOKE TREE CARE WORKSHOP - Trees, The Dirty Truth at Virginia Western Community College, Roanoke www.treesvirginia.org

March 27, 2013, SHENANDOAH VALLEY PLANT SYMPOSIUM 2013 Best Western Inn & Conference Center, Waynesboro, 8 am-4 pm Sponsored by the Waynesboro Parks & Recreation Dept. and the Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association 540-942-6735 [email protected] www.waynesboro.va.us

April 11, 2013, INTERIOR PLANTSCAPE SYMPOSIUM, by PLANET at Longwood Gardens, www.landcarenetwork.org/events/ips

April 22, 2013, EARTH DAY Contact Mother Earth

April 26, 2013, VIRGINIA ARBOR DAY www.VirginiaGreen.org 540-382-0943

June 8, 2013, VIRGINIA TECH HAHN HORTICULTURE GARDEN GALA at Virginia Tech http://www.hort.vt.edu/hhg/ (540) 231-5970 [email protected]

June 8, 2013, VNLA SUMMER BOARD MEETING Blacksburg, VA [email protected] 800-476-0055

August 5-7, 2013, SNA TRADE SHOW & CONFERENCE Research Conference, Southern Plant Con-ference, State Officer's Confer-ence, SNA Annual Meeting Atlanta's Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) www.sna.org 678-809-9992 [email protected]

August 8-9, 2013 VNLA Annual Field Day & Summer Tour hosted by Brent & Becky's Bulbs, Gloucester, VA www.vnla.org [email protected] 800-476-0055

August 22-23, 2013, VIRGINIA CHRISTMAS TREE GROW-ERS ANNUAL CONFERENCE Holiday Inn, Blacksburg, "Experience a Real Tree" [email protected] 540-382-7310 www.VirginiaChristmasTrees.org\

For a Current Calendar of all Green Industry Events, go:

http://virginiagreen.org/events.htm

Upcoming Events


Licensed Grower of Encore Azalea®

National Brands, Homegrown Diversity

www.pendernursery.com • 1.800.942.1648 • FAX 919.773.0904 • [email protected]

Keep growing.

One day you may outgrow your current operation. Farm Credit will be there to help you expand.

Whether you need to purchase real estate, build new houses, buy more equipment or need a revolving line of credit for plant stock, we have the financing you need.

Every business has growing pains. Give us a call and we’ll be sure your financing isn’t one of those.

farmcredit.com

800-919-FARM

Lending support to rural America™

Your Roots Are In Virginia!

383 Coal Hollow Rd.Christiansburg, VA 24073-6721

Bremo Bluff, VA

Phone: 434-842-8733 Fax: 434-842-3823

email: [email protected]

Prsrt. StdU.S. Postage

PAIDBlacksburg, VAPermit No. 107

VNLA Newsletter Jan/Feb/Mar 2013

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Transcript of VNLA Newsletter Jan/Feb/Mar 2013