News

National Arboretum planning turf exhibit

WASHINGTON – The green industry plays a key role in educating the public on the importance of turfgrass. And soon there could be a large tool to help with that effort.

The U.S. National Arboretum hopes to install an exhibit that will inform the public and policymakers of the positive impact of turf in home landscapes and the communities. The idea is to explain what turf is, its benefits, ongoing research and the value the industry has on the economy.

While plans are still tentative, a group of green industry professionals is being developed to help in the coordination of the exhibit and fundraising is getting underway, said Kevin Morris, executive director of National Turfgrass Evaluation Program and the person the arboretum originally approached with the idea.

Depending on the amount of in kind products and services donated, the design, installation and maintenance of the project for three years will cost between $100,000 and $250,000, Morris said. Though he thinks it will be more on the high end.

The tentative plan is for the exhibit to open in spring 2013 and continue through 2016 or 2017. The site is about 1.5 acres and prominently displaced across from the National Arboretum’s administrative building. About 500,000 people visit the arboretum each year.

– Carolyn LaWell

 

The Greenery makes acquisition

BEAUFORT, S.C. – The Greenery purchased the assets of Mazzanna’s Lawn & Landscaping of Beaufort, S.C., expanding its reach in the Lowcountry.

The Greenery now has locations in Beaufort, Hilton Head, S.C.; Charleston, S.C.; and Savannah, Ga. It was ranked No. 42 on Lawn & Landscape’s 2011 Top 100 list with $25.1 million in 2010 revenue.

Mazzanaa’s is a $3 million landscape maintenance and construction company that performs commercial, residential and military contract work. Gary Mazzanna and his staff continue serving their clients, but are doing so as employee owners of The Greenery.

In a letter to Mazzanna’s clients, Lee Edwards, CEO of The Greenery, said, “We are … certain that we will continue the same quality of service that Mazzanna’s Lawn & Landscape has practiced and will continue to improve and enhance the quality of your landscape.

Mazzanna will work closely with Jerry Ashmore, a branch manager with The Greenery, to oversee daily landscape operations and be available to assist with any special requests or needs.

M&A update Multiple acquisitions have taken place this year. Here are a few more. Bartlett Tree Experts bought Tree Medics located in New Orleans. In late 2011, Bartlett made acquisitions allowing it to expand its locations in Hartford, Conn., and State College, Pa., and it grew internationally with an acquisition of Writtle Park Ltd., in London and East Anglia, Great Britain. Lawn Dawg acquired Lush Lawn Service in Plainville, Conn., continuing its growth on the East Coast. Five weeks earlier, the New Hampshire company acquired Capital Green Lawn Care in Rochester, N.Y. Virginia Green Lawn Care, a Richmond, Va.-based company, acquired local company, Beaver Tree and Lawn Service. The merger allows Virginia Green to boost its number of employees to 35 and its number of customers to nearly 8,500. Connecticut Homescapes and READCO Landscaping have both joined The Yard Group’s family of companies. The Yard Group, a Connecticut company, now has four companies in the state in its portfolio.

Manitou and Yanmar create alliance

WEST BEND, Wis., ADAIRSVILLE, Ga. – Manitou Group and Yanmar Co. has formed a strategic alliance to launch a new line of equipment.

The two companies have had a long-standing partnership including the use of Yanmar engines in Gehl and Mustang branded compact equipment manufactured by Manitou in the United States, the companies said in a statement.

Initially as part of the alliance, Manitou will launch a line of compact excavators manufactured by Yanmar, under the Gehl and Mustang brands for the North American sales region. With this announcement, Manitou has concluded its distribution relationship with Wacker Neuson who has provided compact excavators and all-wheel steer loaders to Manitou for the Americas region since 1999.

In parallel, Yanmar will launch a range of skid loaders and compact track loaders designed and manufactured in the United States by Manitou’s Compact Equipment Division under the Yanmar brand for distribution in North America.

After the completion of the initial launch by both companies, they will look at broader distribution opportunities aimed at growing sales activities for both companies while strengthening each company’s independent dealer network, the statement said.

Further opportunities for manufacturing alliances will also be explored to shorten time to market and better utilize existing worldwide manufacturing facilities and expertise, the companies said.

“There is a strong synergy between our organizations, from our core culture and values to the complimentary fit of our product lines,” said Ted Bregar, president of Yanmar America.

“We believe the market will readily embrace the quality and value that our products have to offer.”

 

Industry veteran makes a change

ARVADA, Co. – After 35 years in the green industry, Tom Fochtman has launched a new endeavor. The new company, Ceibass Venture Partners, will work with green industry business owners to prepare their companies to be in the best possible position for a profitable equity event.

He is not exploring mergers and acquisitions, but simply helping business owners prepare for transfer or sale, whether it is next year or in five years. With few exceptions, no one is ready to have conversations about exit strategies until it is too late, Fochtman says.

 

The Dwyer Group CEO uncovers values in action

WACO, TEXAS – Dina Dwyer-Owens champions her company’s core values: respect, integrity, customer focus and having fun in the process. To see if those values were really being lived within The Dwyer Group’s family of companies, including The Grounds Guys, she stealthily went into the businesses as part of the TV series Undercover Boss. Lawn & Landscape caught up with Dwyer to ask about the experience. You can read more about what she learned and how The Grounds Guys reaffirms its code of values on our blog www.blog.lawnandlandscape.com.

Why did you decide to go on Undercover Boss?

I decided to go on Undercover Boss because it gave me an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong desire to see how my company’s code of values was taking hold across our franchise family. I wanted to see if we were truly putting the customer’s first.

What was the experience like working with The Grounds Guys?

Working with The Grounds Guys was one of the most fun experiences of all. I had never operated equipment quite like that before and I was a little nervous and thankful for Jake’s patience. It was extremely hot that day and it took me several tries to finally get the hang out of it all. Working in the flowerbeds truly gave me a worm’s eye view of what it takes to be on the frontline.

Why was it such an emotional experience for you?

I had the honor to meet some really tremendous frontline servicemen and woman. To see their dedication to not only their jobs and customers, but to their families was a wonderful experience for me. With The Grounds Guys, Jake was overcoming an emotional time in his life, with the passing of his father, and to see how he continues in his father’s footsteps, quite like I did after my father’s passing, was very powerful and inspiring. I can truly see how our code of values was being lived throughout their entire lives and not just on the job.

How will the experience help the company in the future?

This experience gave us an opportunity to take a harder look at ourselves, our businesses, our customers and all the opportunities we have each and every day to make a difference, and not only create a better experience for our customers but for our franchisee employees as well. I now have on a different set of eyeglasses.

 

Two new herbicides introduced

Dow AgroSciences and Untied Turf Alliance both recently released new herbicides for the lawn care market.

Dow’s Kerb SC T&O is a new formulation that uses pints per acre rather than pounds, making it easier for LCOs to match rates to the treatment area, the company said.

“The suspendable concentrate formulation has been a standard in key markets,” says Andy Kaler, product manager with Dow AgroSciences. “We have combined the performance you know from Kerb with a more user-friendly formulation.”

Kerb SC T&O provides both preemergence and early postemergence control of many winter annual and perennial grasses, including annual bluegrass (Poa annua) from warm-season grasses and the removal of perennial ryegrass from warm-season grasses during spring transition, the company says. The new product replaces Kerb 50WP specialty herbicide, and is now available in most states.

The new liquid formulation also is easier on equipment and reduces worker exposure, the company says.

United Turf Alliance also introduced a new herbicide: ArmorTech SureZone Turf Herbicide. The herbicide contains four active ingredients, including the protox inhibitor sulfentrazone. The other active ingredients in the new herbicide are 2,4-D, MCPP and dicamba.

“The sulfentrazone in SureZone herbicide is noteworthy because it causes weed cells to rupture and provides that quick visual response everybody is looking for,” United Turf Alliance President Tim Zech said. “As a fourth active, it takes SureZone beyond the traditional three-ingredient herbicide realm and also gives applicators more flexibility for controlling weeds in cool weather.”

Boxwood blight found in Connecticut Connecticut plant regulators are recommending that those who receive shipment of boxwood plants this spring monitor them for boxwood blight. Shipments should be isolated for about three weeks to observe the plants for any sign of the new fungus. Scientists lack a reliable test to determine if asymptomatic plants harbor the fungus. This puts all plant regulators – including those at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station – in a tough position because of the risk in certifying a boxwood crop “clean” when in fact it may show infection later on, said the Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association. Station inspectors will instead use the term “apparently free of disease.” The fungal spores can survive five years or more and can spread rapidly in warm, humid conditions. North Carolina and Virginia have also found Boxwood blight, according to the Station. More information can be found at 1.usa.gov/connboxwood.

SureZone is a water-based formulation packaged in 2 x 2.5-gallon cases and 55-gallon drums. Labeled for use on most cool- and warm-season turfgrasses, with the exception of St. Augustine, it controls a long list of broadleaf weeds including many tough species. SureZone can be applied at temperatures up to 90°F, is rainfast within six hours and allows reseeding in three weeks.

 

Company fined for disposing chemicals in stream

PITTSBURGH – EG Systems of Marysville, Ohio, was fined $160,000 in connection with an employee’s deliberate disposal of an herbicide-pesticide-fertilizer mixture into a small Allegheny County stream.

The fine came from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. EG Systems does business in the Pittsburgh area as Scotts Lawn Service.

“The results in this case serve notice that DEP will work diligently and tirelessly to protect our streams and waterways,” said DEP Southwest Regional Director Susan Malone.

In June 2010, DEP investigators discovered an EG Systems employee at the Scotts Lawn Service location in Monroeville had built a siphon system connecting an 8,000-gallon holding tank to a gutter downspout drain. The drain empties directly into a storm sewer, which discharges into an unnamed tributary that flows into Thompson Run.

The employee used the siphon to drain five gallons of a mixture of herbicide, pesticide, fertilizer and water into the drain, in order to test how long it would take to drain a known volume of the material. Neighbors noticed a strong odor coming from the storm sewer, but officials could not pinpoint the source because the discharge was relatively small.

The next day, the employee used the siphon to discharge between 800 and 1,000 gallons of the mixture into the drain. Neighbors again complained about the odor and contacted local police and fire officials. This time, officials found the source and contacted DEP, which notified EG Systems. The company promptly hired an environmental remediation contractor to handle the cleanup.

DEP’s investigation uncovered the employee’s arrangement and resulted in eight violations of the state’s Solid Waste Management Act and the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law. The agency and the company entered into a Consent Assessment of Civil Penalty. The $160,000 penalty DEP collected goes into the Clean Water Fund, which is used to address pollution issues.

In a separate action, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General reached a settlement on criminal charges against the employee. He must serve two years probation, pay a $2,500 fine and perform 40 hours of community service.
 

Climbing the ladder: Hires and promotions Benchmark Landscape has hired Andrew Cason and Cody Hutcherson to its team. Cason has been hired as a business developer in the company’s commercial maintenance division and will focus on customer relations. A was also hired to the business development team and will work on sales. EDI Landscaping has named Joan Murdoch-Davidson as partner of the firm. Davidson will oversee the company’s business development, as well as the financial and administrative aspects of the business. Davidson has more than 30 years in the construction industry and has worked in a variety of roles, including administrative, accounting and office management.