News

L&L On the road: PLANET’s Day on the Hill
WASHINGTON – The green industry descended on Washington in July to press its case with Congress on such issues as immigration reform, water policy and pesticide regulations.

And as part of PLANET’s annual fly-in event in the nation’s capital, nearly 450 green industry professionals helped maintain Arlington National Cemetery at the 14th annual Renewal and Remembrance Monday. Owners and employees from 115 companies spread lime, aerated turf, planted trees and flowers, and repaired irrigation systems at the military cemetery.

“Your presence here is a statement that demonstrates your dedication to your country as well as the industry by presenting our industry issues to your legislators,” PLANET President David Snodgrass said. “You are not only representing yourself, your business and your state, but most importantly, our industry.”

About 75 contractors and other industry members will spend Tuesday on Capitol Hill, lobbying members of Congress. Before they headed out, legislative team members from PLANET and the ANLA prepped them with talking points on EPA’s WaterSense program, potential changes to pesticide regulations, immigration reform and other bills relevant to the industry.

But the main message was one of moderation. David Crow, president of DC Legislative and Regulatory Services, a lobbying consultancy, told the PLANET caucus that legislators and their staffs wouldn’t be receptive to constituents coming in and taking a hard-line approach – asking them to repeal portions of the Clean Water Act, for example.

“Obviously, we use products that can cause harm if used improperly. We know that,” Crow said. “We’re headed toward greater regulation. We’re for reasonable regulation.” – Chuck Bowen 

Lawn care seminar covers grub control, chemical runoff and rain gardens
WOOSTER, Ohio – The Ohio Lawn Care Association’s Eighth Annual Northeast Ohio Lawn Care Seminar brought about 120 professionals together in June to network, catch up on the latest scientific research and earn continuing education credit. OLCA held the seminar at the Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, Ohio.

Zhiqiang Cheng, a researcher at OSU, opened the program with a general session where he explained experiments he held to measure runoff difference between subsoil and topsoil. He created plots on four-degree slopes and applied fertilizer. After letting the fertilizer sit for 48 hours, he then applied one hour of rainfall at 3.5 inches per hour.

Cheng found that the runoff initiation time was significantly shorter for subsoil lawns than for topsoil lawns. The total runoff volume was also significantly higher for subsoil. The subsoil experienced greater losses in sediment and nutrients.

Kevin Power, research associate for the OARDC, reminded attendees to “think of your grass as an ecosystem” when dealing with pests. He explained that landscapers should identify the particular type of grub they’re dealing with in order to better formulate a pest management strategy.

Power passed out sheets with pictures of nine grub species each with a unique raster pattern, which is the arrangement of bristles and hairs on the underside of the tip of the abdomen. He stressed that proper identification requires straightening the grub from its normal, C-shaped posture and using a 10-times hand lens to get a clear view.

He says microclimates on a property, such as areas below a south-facing glass wall or areas with underground steam pipes, can alter the grub population as well. – Bo Gemmell

BIO Landscape & Maintenance acquires Forest Hills Lawn Service
HOUSTON – BIO Landscape & Maintenance expanded its Texas presence through the acquisition of Forest Hills Lawn Service, based in Dallas.

Forest Hills Lawn Service was established by Bob Ford in 1975 as a lawn maintenance and landscaping company primarily focused on municipal and governmental accounts including the city of Dallas, the city of Rowlett, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit and Dallas Public Libraries.

“With the Forest Hills Lawn Service acquisition, BIO gains valuable employees, a state of the art facility, and an equipment repair dealership business which allows BIO to bring additional value to customers,” said Robert Taylor, president of BIO.

With the acquisition of Forest Hills Lawn Service, BIO now serves 21 counties with a combined workforce of more than 500 professionals throughout Texas.

The transaction marks the third addition to BIO over the last year. In October 2009, BIO acquired Outdoor Environments, a Houston-based commercial landscape maintenance company.

In December of 2009, BIO acquired Texas Services, a lawn maintenance and landscape company in Houston focused on tree care. In May of 2010, BIO officially opened a maintenance branch in Beaumont.

BIO operates multiple branches in the state of Texas.

Ambius helps build largest vertical green wall in North America
KENNET SQUARE, Pa. – Longwood Gardens has engaged Bancroft Construction and Ambius to create the largest green wall in North America as part of Longwood Gardens’ new East Conservatory Plaza.

The East Conservatory Plaza, which will open to the public Oct. 9, was designed by U.K. landscape architect Kim Wilkie in association with Wells Appel of Philadelphia, and will feature a terraced lawn, lush new plantings and the largest indoor green wall in North America. This vertical garden will feature a panel wall system across a green wall surface area of 3,590 square feet and include more than 25 species of plants.

“The East Conservatory Plaza is embracing innovative landscape design, which captures the very essence of Longwood Gardens,” said Longwood Gardens’ director Paul Redman. “The size and beauty of the green wall will amaze our guests as well as advance our continuing commitment to sound environmental practices.”

“Longwood Gardens’ vertical green wall will feature over 47,000 plants,” said Denise Eichmann, Ambius project development North America senior project manager. “The majority of the featured plants are fern varieties including the evergreen holly fern, the versatile and showy rabbit’s foot fern, the button fern featuring arching, dark-colored stalks, the asparagus fern with its feathery arching stems, the delicate and lacy maidenhair fern, the leafy ladder brake fern and the Dallas fern, which features a compact round globe with fronds.”

Currently the largest green wall in North America is the 2,380 square foot living wall at Pittsburgh’s PNC Bank. Two other major green walls installed by GSky Plant Systems, a provider of green wall systems based in Vancouver, Canada, are at the Vancouver International Airport and at Vancouver’s Whole Foods grocery store.

“After this is installed, Longwood Gardens’ green wall will be the largest in North America by a wide margin, as it will be 1,210 square-feet larger than the PNC Bank wall,” said Chad Sichello, president of GSky Plant Systems, the manufacturer of Longwood Gardens’ panel-based green wall initiative.

The plants for this wall were contract grown for Ambius into the wall panels at Michael’s Nursery in South Florida and will be shipped in climate-controlled trucks to Philadelphia at the end of August for installation into the wall by Ambius. The plants have been growing at the nursery since February.

Ambius also worked with Longwood Gardens in 2005 on the East Conservatory project.

 
Hardscape show to co-locate with GIE+EXPO
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With the addition of Hardscape North America (HNA), attendees at the 2010 GIE+EXPO, Green Industry & Equipment Expo, Oct. 28-30, will have access to more education, certification opportunities, demonstrations and exhibits than ever. They can attend two tradeshows for the cost of one at the Kentucky Exposition Center.

Together, HNA, with products and materials exclusive to the hardscape industry, and GIE+EXPO, with the latest in outdoor power equipment and landscaping supplies, will offer 750 exhibits and 19 acres of outdoor demo space. HNA’s Conference and Tradeshow will run concurrently with GIE+EXPO.

Attendees can register for more than 85 educational sessions and workshops covering everything from installation certification and hands-on demonstrations to lawn and landscape management and business marketing.

“There’s no question that combining hardscape education with landscape education, in addition to acres of equipment on display, make this an all-in-one business-building experience contractors can use to grow their hardscape businesses,” said Mike Mueller, chairman of the HNA steering committee and general manager of TEKA North America.

Registration for HNA or GIE+EXPO will allow attendees to build their show schedule around their particular business needs along with optional training and certification events. Visit www.HardscapeNA.com or www.gieexpo.com to register.

The HNA indoor area will feature exhibits displaying new products and equipment including pavers and segmental retaining walls (SRW), edge restraints, hardscaping tools and more.

Tradeshow attendees will also be able to visit hundreds of other power equipment and green industry exhibitors inside and outside at GIE+EXPO as well as compare the newest innovations at GIE+EXPO’s New Products Arena.

Davey named to Employee Ownership 100
KENT, Ohio – The Davey Tree Expert Company has been named as one of the 100 largest majority employee-owned companies in the country.  Davey is also the largest employee-owned company based in Ohio.

The list is compiled annually by the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), a private, nonprofit membership and research organization in Oakland, Calif.

Davey, which was established in 1880 by John Davey, was purchased by its employees in 1979.

“Employee ownership at Davey has been a tradition for the past 30 years.  It has also been an essential part of our company’s success,” said Karl J. Warnke, Davey chairman, president and CEO.  “But perhaps more importantly, employee ownership will serve as a catalyst for Davey’s future endeavors.  The employee commitment will help drive the company through our next 30 years.”

Overall, there are about 11,400 companies in the U.S. with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), the most common form of broad-based employee ownership. About 13 million workers participate in these plans.  About half of these plans own a majority of the company’s stock.

Free ‘how-to’ sustainable practices guide available online
HOUSTON – The Groundskeeper and the IFMA Foundation announced the release of “Sustainable Landscaping,” a practical, real-world guide on how to introduce and advance sustainable practices in landscaping.

The guide, sixth in the IFMA Foundation’s “Sustainability ‘How-to’ Guide Series,” is available as a free download. It provides an overview of several key areas, including:

• The three primary phases of sustainable landscaping: Design, construction and maintenance;
• Guidance on making the business case for sustainability, along with information on developing an action plan; and
• Case studies offering real-world insight into effective approaches.

Insights and expertise for the guide came from a cross section of The Groundskeeper’s management team and other subject matter experts. It serves as a practical guide and reference for facility managers, property managers, community managers and operations professionals across multiple industry sectors.

“The Groundskeeper has been a valued partner of IFMA for a decade, and we are delighted to work with them on ‘Sustainable Landscaping,’ which we think will help facility and landscaping professionals in various industries see more of a return from their sustainability efforts,” said IFMA Foundation Executive Director Will Rub.

“Our constituency indicated a strong interest in learning more about sustainability in the landscape industry,” said Eric Teicholz, executive editor of the guides. “This new guide, coordinated by The Groundskeeper, definitely meets that need.”

To obtain a free copy of “Sustainable Landscaping,” visit www.groundskeeper.com or www.ifmafoundation.org.

FMC introduces product label notification service
PHILADELPHIA – Help is only a click away for busy pest and turf management professionals who need up-to-the-minute information on product label changes.  A new service from FMC Professional Solutions provides product users with rapid notification of label changes and updates.

After registering for the service on the FMC website, users will receive an e-mail alert each time an FMC product label is modified. Messages will include a summary of the change and a link to the label itself.

Signing up for the service takes less than a minute. Just visit www.fmcprosolutions.com/Home/LabelsMSDS.aspx and follow the directions.

“With all the things turf and pest professionals have to worry about – employees, customers, equipment, weather, local issues and more – we know they don’t have much time,” said Rick Lewis, FMC sales support manager.

Aqua Engineering receives Hunter Industries’ Trailblazer Award
SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Hunter Industries has presented the Hunter Trailblazer Award to Aqua Engineering. Hunter traditionally presents the award to an individual; however, Aqua Engineering is one of the few to be recognized as a group that makes great contributions to the industry.

Aqua Engineering is an irrigation engineering and water management firm headquartered in Fort Collins, Colo. The firm specializes in water-conserving irrigation system design and management for aesthetic and functional landscapes and agricultural endeavors.

“We are both excited and humbled by this award,” said Aqua Engineering President Robert Beccard. “We are passionate about what we do and pride ourselves in providing innovative water solutions to irrigation project challenges. This award will serve as an attractive reminder of how far we’ve come in 35 years.”

Hunter has a tradition of recognizing individuals who have made significant contributions to the irrigation industry.
The Trailblazer award is meant to showcase professionals whose innovation, leadership, and forward thinking not only benefit Hunter Industries, but also the irrigation industry as a whole.

Two semi-finalists named in 2010 Landscaper’s Challenge contest
RACINE, Wis. – The April and May semi-finalists were named in the 2010 Landscaper’s Challenge, sponsored by New Holland Construction.

K Morris Landscape Design, Oakdale, Pa., won for April. The company turned a drab suburban backyard into an entertaining platform for family and friends.

And Kinsella Landscape, Blue Island, Ill., won for May. The company created a “city chic” atmosphere for at a townhouse complex.

To see photos of the projects – or to enter your own – visit www.lawnandlandscape.com/NewHollandSkidSteer.aspx.

Refuge herbicide receives updated registration
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Refuge non-selective herbicide from Syngenta has received registration from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use on aquatic and wetland sites, forestry, railroad, utility and other vegetation management sites.

With five pounds-per-gallon of glyphosate acid, Refuge is the most concentrated liquid glyphosate formulation labeled for the vegetation management market. It offers broad-spectrum, systemic and non-selective control of more than 170 emerged annual and perennial grass and broadleaf weeds, and unwanted woody brush and trees.

People in the News
Andrew Freeman, IPM specialist at Broccolo Tree and Lawn Care, recently became a certified nursery landscape professional through the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

James Doyle, James Doyle Design Associates, Greenwich, Conn., was named 2010 APLD International Landscape Designer of the Year.

Bill Owen was named the first safety director at Hayward, Calif.-based Arborwell.

George Brown was promoted to area manager at Ruppert Landscape’s Forestville, Md., Landscape Management branch.  

OPEI  announced its 2010-11 officers at its annual meeting in June. They include: OPEI Chairman Fred Whyte, president, STIHL; OPEI Vice Chairman Jean Hlay, president and chief operating officer, MTD Products; and Secretary/Treasurer Richard Fotsch, president of the Global Power Group, Kohler.

Subaru Industrial Power Products appointed Michael Magolan as regional sales manager.