Does your city belong on the 'thirstiest' list?

The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) is the poster child for conserving its fresh water reserves. Since 1984 the city’s population grew 65% to more than 1.3 million people. Yet SAWS is holding the line on the amount of water it pumps from the Edwards Aquifer and other lesser sources to the 1984 level.

Because SAWS, which serves approximately 1 million people, including 326,000 water customers, expects continued growth and development for San Antonio, it aggressively pursues a variety of water conservation policies.

Karen Guz, director of conservation SAWS, spoke at the Rain Bird Intelligent Use of Water Summit State of the Union in Washington D.C. last week. She said that SAWS takes a 3-pronged approach to driving water conservation: 1.) financial incentives, including rebates, 2.) reasonable regulations and 3.) education and outreach. Much of the water system's efforts are aimed at landscape irrigation that, of course, is greatest when water supplies are most stressed.

She said that about 20% of property owners irrigate their landscapes and SAWS doesn't feel it's fair that the other 80% of water users must share in the cost of finding and developing new sources of water to meet peak demand caused by lawn watering.

I thought about Karen’s presentation at the IUOW Summit as I skimmed a recent Forbes piece, “America’s 10 Thirstiest Cities.” San Antonio appeared as the nation’s third thirstiest city.

Top 10 lists are usually entertaining if not particularly enlightening. This list of thirsty cities included a couple of surprises (Honolulu and Portland, OR), and left off at least two that probably should be on the list (Atlanta and Tampa?).

The 10 thirsty cities, in order: 1.) Los Angeles, 2.) San Diego, 3.) San Antonio, 4.) Honolulu, 5.) Bakersfield, CA, 6.) Phoenix, 7.) Portland, OR, 8.) Sacramento, 9.) Las Vegas, 10.) Tucson. — Ron Hall

Mirrorscapes cleans up mysterious prehistoric Indian site

Park Director David Fey, left, and Mirrorscapes owner Chuck Miller, right


Tucked on the edge of the tiny village of Tarlton in central Ohio is 29-acres of old-growth oak, beech, maple and ash. On this picture-perfect April 22 morning the tender greenery of the forest floor is dotted with irregular patches of phlox, wild geranium, and other pastel spring bloomers. Red buds in full lavender colorize the banks of rocky, rippling Salt Creek, which divides the park into two sections, the entrance, a flat grassy area with parking spaces and a nearby shelter house, and the woodlands. Salt Creek is spanned by a suspension foot bridge erected by the WPA in 1936.

This tiny patch of old-growth woodland is the site of one of the most curious manmade prehistoric features in the United States, and perhaps the only one of its kind in the world — an earthen “X”-shaped Indian mound. Nobody’s been able to determine just how old it is, with some experts pegging it from 1,000 BCE and others anywhere from 200 BCE — 400 AD.

What is certain though is that the Tarlton Cross Mound needs continuing tender loving care if it’s to survive for future generations to marvel at its purpose and its construction. In addition to its shape (If you drew a circle around it, it would be about the size of a Little League infield.) it contains a natural and undiscovered herbicide that, apparently since its construction, keeps it vegetation free in spite of being surrounded by mature trees and the spectrum of shade-loving plants common to eastern hardwood forests.

Today the Cross Mound and the parkland leading up to it got a measure of TLC thanks to Chuck Miller, owner of Mirrorscapes LLC, specifically its 6-man crew. Based in nearby Lancaster, OH, Mirrorscapes was one of several hundred landscape and lawn service companies nationwide participating in today's PLANET Day of Service.

Miller said his team has been going full blast since winter broke in late March, and he viewed the chance to improve the park as an opportunity to give his guys something different to do, which they took to with youthful exuberance. The morning essentially turned into a picnic thanks as much to the perfect weather as to the food and drink Miller laid out for his guys on picnic tables at the park's shelter house.

Mid-morning and at the height of the property cleanup, David J. Fey, director of Fairfield County Parks stopped by to thank Miller and his guys. Fey’s a fascinating man in his own right. A retired high school biology teacher, for the past 11 years he’s essentially been a one-man parks staff in a county loaded with historical sites and 29 acres of soccer fields. As he walked up the footpath along the ridge line approaching the Cross Mound he shared the fascinating history and the geologic significance of the site. It became obvious that Fey takes the condition of all of the county's parks very personnel, and in particular Cross Mound, which he has had to close to vehicular parking because of lack of funds and senseless vandalism, including site-damaging traffic from 4-wheelers.

I could easily continue this narrative, and perhaps I’ve gone on too long as it is. But I just wanted to use this blog to plug this and other great PLANET Day of Service projects that we will be featuring in the May issue of Landscape Management magazine. You’re going to read some good stuff.

Obviously, since our editorial staff couldn't visit every one of the great PLANET-sponsored projects taking place today, feel free to email me and share your story. Include some digital images and we’ll either blog about here or post it on landscapemanagement.net. — Ron Hall (rhall@questex.com)

You call that a 'green' house: Here's a 'GREEN' house

On a perfect May day in 2009 we spent an afternoon with Michaela Miller and Steve Sadler on their property located on the bank of the Arlington River with a great view of downtown Jacksonville, FL. It took imagination at the time to see what the couple had in mind in restoring their Villa Paraiso to become perhaps the “greenest” home in northeast Florida. Their former home on the location had been destroyed by a hurricane, and they had decided to rebuild in the most environmentally friendly way possible.

We’re glad to report that the couple is having a “grand opening” of their home on Earth Day, April 22. The home is one of the most energy efficient in the United States. Only four dumpsters went to the landfill during the deconstruction and rebuilding of the home. And, they expect Villa Paraiso to be the 1st Platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) home in Northeast Florida.

Project Highlights:
* 68 photovoltaic roof panels
* Recycling rain water from roof into two 1,500 gallon tanks
* Geothermal for heating/cooling/hot water (involved drilling 14 wells 200 ft into the ground)
* Smart Home technology (more than 2 miles of cables prewired – will be able to operate lights, music, HVAC, security cameras, and gate via iPhones)
* Protective spray sprayed on roof to extend warranty 15 - 20 years (used on Space Station)
* Spray foam insulation on ceiling, exterior walls and underneath house gives R value of 22-30
* Virtually all materials recycled into new home - bricks, pavers, & timber
* Roof shingles and drywall used for landscaping and leveling the ground
* Living walls (between the pillars/stilts climbing vines)
* 1,000+ native and/or heritage plants
* Organic Garden

Recycling Statistics to date:
* 1.38 tons of glass
* 1920 lbs. of combined metal
* 1600 lbs. of aluminum
* 286 lbs. of insulated CU wire
* 132 lbs. of copper
* 36 lbs. of brass

To learn more about the home and see a slide show of the home during phases of its reconstruction, visit the couple’s Website, www.builttotallygreen.com, then check out their Facebook page by clicking here.

You an also read what I wrote a year ago (Dream green landscape rises from disaster), which shows the couple, and gives some sense of the scale of their project. — Ron Hall

Earth Day Climate Rally at the Mall will find (at least) one patch of nice turfgrass

Pity the National Park Service (NPS). One of its tasks (perhaps its most visible) is maintaining healthy attractive turfgrass on the National Mall in Washington D.C. The deck is stacked against the NPS from the start, we were reminded April 15 as we walked the Mall on a perfect spring afternoon.

Keeping the Mall (our nation’s “front yard”) grassed is a numbers game, and the NPS can’t help but come out on the short end of the score.

How can it be otherwise?

More than 25 million people each year walk, jog, play sports on or gather for massive events on its 112 acres. One of these massive events takes place Sunday, April 25. Nobody knows for sure how many people will be gathering there for the Earth Day Climate Rally. With the likes of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, film director James Cameron and entertainer Sting making appearances, you can bet they will number in the hundreds of thousands.

They’ll find at least one rectangular patch of turf verdure. Whether they’ll be able to enjoy it (enjoy it to death) is not known. On our visit the 45-by-75-yard section of healthy turfgrass was fenced in and off limits, obviously an attempt to restore a tiny part of the Mall to a semblance of a park. The remainder of the middle turfed section of the Mall sported just tufts or small sections of turfgrass. Much of the area was bare earth and as hard as concrete.

Several years ago SafeLawns.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting natural lawn care, began conducting a test at the Mall. It tilled sections of the existing lawn, cultivated them to relieve soil compaction and added solid plant material compost and other natural soil amendments before reseeding the sections.

Since there was no signage indicating how the sole rectangle of nice turfgrass on the Mall, left, had been established or maintained, it was unclear if this, in fact, was part of the original SafeLawns demonstration area.

Add to the equation Washington D.C.’s location in the turfgrass “transition zone,” a climatic zone with cold winters unfavorable to the growth and health of warm-season grasses such as Bermudagrass and zoysiagrass and with hot and humid summers that stress cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue and perennial ryegrass and the NPS has one very tough (impossible?) challenge keeping our nation’s “front yard” covered in green.

Actually, given the incredible amount of foot traffic and the number of events taking place on the Mall each year, the fact that Washington D.C. is in the transition zone or that organic products are used probably doesn’t matter too much.

Floyd Perry, a longtime sports field manager and consultant, has a saying that fits the Mall’s situation exactly. “Turf grows by the inch and is killed by the foot,” he says. In this case, of course, turfgrass is killed by the feet of 25 million people.

To check out the NPS's detailed National Mall Plan, click here. — Ron Hall

This pink tractor has a special significance

Pink tractors?

OK, maybe not such a good idea in the landscape trade. Or maybe they are. Who can tell?

But Paige McClure loves hers and we think what her tractor symbolizes is cool.

Paige, who runs a 100-acre farm and orchard in Peru, IN, with her husband, Jerry, bought the 34-hp, KIOTI CK30HST model recently to do farm chores. Paige and Jerry had the tractor painted pink, which wasn’t as simple as taking it into a spray booth and hitting it with a case of spray cans.

Dealer Lyle Woods of Off Duty Ranch, working with the manufacturer, had the tractor disassembled, then custom painted and reassembled and re-tested before turning it over to Paige, who then strategically stenciled the words — Hope, Faith and Love on the sides of the tractor in loving memory of her mother, who passed away from breast cancer four years prior.

The McClure and the Woods families have taken their support of breast cancer research one step beyond the tractor and now sell t-shirts and other clothing items to support the cause at www.offdutyranchinc.com.

While we’re on the subject of breast cancer research, we’ve posted several blogs on this site about Hope in Bloom, a non-profit based in Massachusetts that plants gardens free of charge at the homes of women and men undergoing treatment for breast cancer. This is a creative and kind effort and deserves the industry’s support.

Pierre adds the green spaces to this Habitat for Humanity project

((Image courtesy San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity)

Earlier this year Pierre Sprinkler & Landscape volunteers partnered with San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity in landscaping of a multi-unit complex in Monrovia, CA. Pierre Sprinkler & Landscape contributed estimating and installation services.

The complex involved more landscaping then most typical Habitat projects that have either an outdoor common area or several planters, but not private lawns. The personal outdoor space makes this project special.

“Initially, before the application, Pierre helped us look at the proposed system provided by public works and helped us ensure the system would work properly. They then helped us install on site” says Damien Allen, Director of Corporate and Community Sponsorships at SGV Habitat.

During construction, our construction manager, Rigo Sanchez, along with several field members worked with Habitat volunteers and Damien to landscape the project. The crew assisted volunteers in laying out the main and lateral lines as well as suggesting appropriate trench depths.

“We learned a lot of lessons from this project,” says Damien, “it’s a pretty large system and the only one we’ve done.”

The system involved 16 valves, four per unit that Pierre crews installed. They also built the manifolds for each zone, installed the backflow preventer and set up the boxes The Habitat homes were dedicated on March 6, 2010.

Each home features its own private lawn that is maintained by automatic irrigation controls.
“They were really able to help out with anything we had trouble with,” said Damien of working with Pierre. “This was our first install and having that technical supervision was really important to us.”

Hope in Bloom should inspire us to greater service

Roberta Hershon, founder of Hope in Bloom

It’s April 2, just 20 days before several thousand landscape and lawn workers and their families and friends, representing hundreds of landscape and lawn service companies participate in PLANET’s 2nd annual Day of Service.

Leading up to the April 22 event we’re going to be sharing some of the great things that our industry do for their communities — and society in general.

Today, we want to remind you of Hope in Bloom, a remarkable non-profit organization dedicated year-round to providing indoor and outdoor gardens (container, patio or in-ground) free of charge at the homes of women and men who are battling breast cancer. Healing gardens are therapeutic sanctuaries offering both comfort and hope to meet the emotional and psychological needs of patients and their families.

To date, the activities of the organization, founded by Roberta Hershon in memory of a lifelong friend who died of breast cancer in 2005 and aided by the support and volunteer efforts of a (so far) small cadre of Green Industry professionals, have been confined basically to Massachusetts.

We feel others within the Green Industry, recognizing the soothing and comforting power of gardens, will offer their support to Hope in Bloom, or be moved to emulate its example in their regions.

Email us and we'll let the rest of the industry know of the great things or community services that you or others in our industry are providing our society. Don't be bashful. We'll keep sharing the great things our industry is doing up to and beyond this year's Earth Day.

Hey pal, you need a permit for that leaf blower

ARDSLEY, NY — This community of 4,900 on the southern edge of affluent Westchester County in the New York Metropolitan area likes things nice and quiet. Maybe too quiet. Take its leaf blower law for example. Posted prominently on the village’s Website is a regulation:

— that makes it unlawful to operate a leaf blower within the village without first obtaining a permit, a separate permit for every blower,

— states that every person intending to use a leaf or debris blower must apply to the village clerk and pay a fee and get a sticker for each unit. The fee for each blower operated by a landscaper is $25,

— mandates that every blower operated within the village must meet EPA Phase II exhaust emission standards,

— says that between May 15 and Sept. 30, only one blower can be operated at any one time on any one property. And only up to 30 minutes between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m,

The regulation, passed and amended by the village’s board of trustees late last summer also forbids the operation of radios, etc., including singing, at a volume that “disturbs the comfort or repose of persons in any dwelling or residence.”

Break any of these regulations — running your leaf blower without a permit, using more than one leaf blower on a property, using it for more than a half hour . . . or singing too loudly and you could be slapped with a $50 fine for a first offense and $100 thereafter.

So there you have it. If you ever get to visit this quaint, little community on the banks of the lower Hudson River be quiet — be very quiet. And don't forget to pay your fee and get a sticker to display on your leaf blower. (And no, this is not an April Fool's gag.)

Obama appoints CropLife America exec to key ag post

WASHINGTON D.C. — President Obama this past weekend appointed Dr. Islam Siddiqui to be chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the U.S. trade representative.

Siddiqui’s nomination was held up in the Senate and was opposed by a coalition of more than 80 environmental, small-farm, and consumer groups, citing Siddiqui’s close ties to the agrochemical industry as vice president of science and regulatory affairs at CropLife America, and as a registered lobbyist for the pesticide industry from 2001-2003.

Most everybody in the professional landcare industry is familiar with Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE), which lobbies for and supports the speciality chemical segment of the agrochemical industry. RISE was formed in 1991 by what was then known as the American Crop Protection Association, later to become CropLife.

Ironically, prior to the 2008 election, RISE was concerned about the possibility of Democrats taking over the White House and Congress.

RSVP to Rain Bird's Smithsonian Water Summit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — If you live in or around our nation’s capital and are interested in water issues — the broader perspective — consider attending Rain Bird’s Intelligent Use of Water Summit: “State of the Union”, set for Thursday, April 15.

There is room for 500 guests at the Summit that will take place from 10 a.m. to noon, April 15, in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History on Constitution Avenue.

The panelists are:

Doug Bennett, Conservation Manager, Southern Nevada Water Authority
Paul Goble, Public Works Director, City of Indian Wells, CA
Karen Guz, Conservation Director, San Antonio Water System
Elizabeth Hurt, Community Outreach and Education Coordinator, Inland Empire Utilities Agency, CA
Mark Risse, University of Georgia, on behalf of Conserve Water Georgia
Karla Wilson, Sustainability Consultant, on behalf of Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District

Brief presentations from each panelist will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

To reserve your place at the Intelligent Use of Water Summit, RSVP by April 1 to iuow@rainbird.com or 520/878-2426.

Webinars, like going to college but better

Landscape Management’s next Landscape Contractor Business School Webinar is Thursday, March 25, 11 a.m. EST. It's the third in a continuing series. This one features well-known business consultant Phil Harwood, Pro-Motion Consulting, who will share great information on landscape services in this incredibly competitive service environment — specifically how to determine which services to promote and which to abandon.

Webinars. Wow. I love them.

This morning, over several cups of coffee at a local Burger King, I listened to a 60-minute discussion on the use of alternative fuels in lawn mowers and other landscape maintenance equipment. It was incredibly informative — like going to a college class, but better. The discussion involved three knowledgeable panelists. Even though it took place weeks ago, I retrieved the information because the event's sponsor archived the entire audio/visual of the event on its Web site. I'll be passing on what I've learned soon. I promise you it'll open your eyes to great new opportunities to save money and offer greener services to your customers.

I listen to three or four webinars each week. I think they’re a great use of my precious time. (Everyone's time is precious, right? Once it skips by, there’s no retrieving it. It's gone, gone, gone.)

I’m not suggesting you spend every day dialing into every webinar related to your business that comes along. That's part of my job, which I love, learning what the best folks are doing and sharing it as efficiently as I can with you. But, I'm confident that if you check out our Landscape Contractor Business School webinars you will consider them time well spent.

And yes, if you miss the live presentations, access the archived presentations on our website. We post them all a week or so following the live events.

Like you, I want to keep learning. I’m grateful for people like Phil Harwood and the panelists I listened to via my laptop this morning that generously share what they know via webinars . . . which I can access over coffee as the sun comes up at my local Burger King. Or when I have the time to relax and learn. — Ron Hall

PLANET's Day of Service: Do something your community will appreciate

The Professional Landcare Network’s (PLANET) Day of Service, set for April 22, 2010, is going to be huge. More than 1,000 landscaper company owners and their employees from across the United States and Canada have already selected projects and are gathering the necessary supplies and readying their teams. Many more are expected to join the movement as April 22, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, approaches.

More than 2,000 landscape company employees and volunteers, many of them youngsters, selflessly gave of their time and sweat during last year’s PLANET Day of Service, the inaugural year of the event. They completed 285 projects. It’s impossible to calculate the amount of goodwill they generated within their communities.

Pick out a worthwhile project that you, your team and your friends can do to improve your community and be a part of this great event.

Here is the website for learning more about the Day of Service where you can the details and register: http://planetdayofservice.org/home/index.php

And, while we’re on the subject, let’s recognize the PLANET Earth Day sponsors (at least to this point).

Lead sponsors: Agrium Advanced Technologies; American Profit Recovery; JOHN DEERE; Lawns by Yorkshire, Inc.; Shindaiwa

Other sponsors listed on the PLANET Website: Corona - Tools for a Lifetime; Duke's Landscape Management, Inc.; Ewing; Farmside Landscape & Design Inc.; The Greenwood Group, LLC; Grosh's Lawn Service; HighGrove Partners; Hoedown Gardening & Landscaping, Inc.; Include Software; Kichler Lighting; LawnAmerica; LebanonTurf; Nature’s Select; Nufarm Turf & Ornamental; PBI/Gordon Corporation; Premier Turf and Landscaping Inc.; Project EverGreen’s GreenCare for Troops; Schiller Grounds Care, Inc.; Sebert Landscaping Company; Second Nature Lawn Care; STIHL Inc.; Terracare Associates; Turf Appeal Inc.

Slinging 'green' mud

TruGreen, with more than 2.5 million clients and 250 branches, recently announced that it’s the “exclusive U.S. organic and sustainable lawn and landscape care sponsor” of Earth Day Network and that it will participate in Earth Day Network’s Earth Day event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on April 25.

The announcement drew strong comments from anti-pesticide campaigner Paul Tukey. “It’s all sickening, misleading and yet another example of an unfortunate sellout. Can the consumers see through this? Let’s hope so,” Tukey posted on his SafeLawns.org/blog.

Tukey, in just four short years, has emerged as a white knight leading the charge to slay what he and people in activist organizations see as the irresponsible, pesticide-using lawn care empire. As such, he travels the United States and Canada bashing the lawn care industry for its chemical use (pesticides and synthetic fertilizers) and promoting his book ("The Organic Lawn Care Manuel”), his documentary film (“A Chemical Reaction”) and the Connecticut-based lawn service franchise he co-founded.

Tukey, on his website, writes he once operated his own landscape company and used the same chemical herbicides that most companies use. But he claims they made him ill and a doctor advised him to quit using them, which he did. This revelation, like Saul on the road to Damascus, led to his conversion, only in this case to organic gardening. Building on the communication skills he acquired earning a journalism degree from the University of Maine and his experience as a newspaper reporter he’s attracted an enormous amount of positive press with his anti-pesticide activities and developed what appears to be a nice cottage industry for himself.

But back to TruGreen’s “greener” posture.

“Homeowners want to get the most out of their lawns, but often lack the time and expertise to create a lawn they can truly enjoy,” said President and COO Stephen M. Donly in the recent release. “At TruGreen, we’re not only partnering with homeowners to create a healthy, green lawn that’s easy to care for, but we’re also helping them do so responsibly.”

As part of its collaboration with Earth Day Network, TruGreen is also helping elementary and middle schools green up this year, the release said. Supporting Earth Day Network’s green schools project, TruGreen will help America’s youth enjoy green spaces, learn about the relationship between healthy turf and a healthy environment, and create gardens and landscapes.

The press release went on to encourage readers to call 888/901-LAWN to talk to TruGreen green specialists “to provide assistance in creating an organic, healthy, green lawn.”

(Hey, might as well round up some leads, right?)

Opined Tukey on his blog: “Earth Day is selling out to ChemLawn, the world’s largest lawn care company — and therefore the world’s largest purveyor of poisons around homes, schools and daycare centers.” — Ron Hall

Oh, I also came across the following article "Memphis' ServiceMaster on 'green' road with hybrid vehicles," Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 13.

Plan to “Respectfully Rehabilitate” National Mall Moves Forward

From the ASLA's "The Dirt"


The National Capitol Planning Commission (NCPC) has given its preliminary consent for the National Park Service’s preferred alternative plan for the National Mall, a “comprehensive framework plan” that has undergone a rigorous process of public comment. According to the Park Service, the $700 million plan has received thousands of comments to date. Nancy Witherell, historic preservation lead for the NCPC, argued that the National Park Service’s plan offers “respectful rehabilitation.”

Witherell outlined the major components of the Park Service’s new framework plan:

1) Improve resource conditions: This will establish a new “standard quality” across the National Mall, including standards for maintenance and care. Some areas of the Mall are irrigated; others aren’t. There are high levels of use (some 30 million visitors per year), so plans must address both high-usage and low-usage areas in stages.

2) Prepare Mall for intensive use: The National Mall must accommodate First Amendment marches, demonstrations, and celebrations. Some see the current placement of the reflecting pool as an obstacle in these events. “The reflecting pool currently disperses crowds. For some, it’s a barrier. There are also no bathrooms nearby.” Across the Mall’s long grass panels, “we examined the damage and found that short events aren’t bad, the mall can recover. However, multi-day events requiring the use of tents, generators, can do lasting damage to the turf.”

3) Provide desired experiences: This includes entertainment, social experiences, educational events. The plan includes replacing the Sylvan Theatre with a more flexible event space. The east pond in Constitution Gardens will also be turned into a destination — like the “National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.” The model is the “pleasure gardens of Europe.” Parts of this component of the plan include moving the Lockkeeper’s house further into the landscape (away from the road), and adding in more benches and sitting areas. Additionally, soils will be re-engineered in spots so they are more resilient for sports.

4) Address user capacity: The National Park Service hopes to expand bike plans throughout the National Mall so cyclists’ needs can be better met. Provide for physical needs, conveniences, and enjoyment: Food service is currently dispersed throughout the Mall. Restrooms will be linked to some food kiosks to the north of the National Air & Space Museum. New way-finding and signage programs, including clearer signs at the entrance of the Mall Metro station, will be developed.

5) Provide for physical needs, conveniences, and enjoyment: Food service is currently dispersed throughout the Mall. Restrooms will be linked to some food kiosks to the north of the National Air & Space Museum. New way-finding and signage programs, including clearer signs at the entrance of the Mall Metro station, will be developed.

6) Proposed Projects: The plan calls for a range of new projects, including:
* Re-development of the reflecting pool in Union Square: An international design competition will help generate proposals for the Capitol reflecting pool. The new plan may “retain water, but also make use of hardscape. Perhaps the water is transformable — there could be still / active water elements?”
* New restroom facilities, particularly for the Union Square area.
* New space for event trailers so they are kept off the main grass panels.
* Replacing the Sylvan Theatre with a new multi-use facility.
* Bike rentals / bike storage infrastructure and expanded paths.
* Separate bike and pedestrian paths.
* Canoe / kayak parking along the waterfront.
* Conservation Zoning Plans: There will be clear areas prioritized as conservation zones. People will be directed out of those areas.
* Implementation of 2003 OLIN replanting scheme for the Washington Monument grounds: Plans will finally move forward and incorporate the site design for the new National Museum for African American History.
* Improved circulation: The transportation system will be designed more like public transit, using “optional interpretation, so we can plug-in options.” More bus through-lanes, including access for the D.C. Circulator, will be included, and tour buses will drop off groups in select locations, and then be asked to move off the Mall. ”We are also considering parking meters on the Mall to raise revenue and encourage increased public transit access to the Mall.”
* Sustainable Resource Management: HOK and other leading sustainability consultants are sampling turf soil and grasses to determine the best way to make the grounds more sustainable and resilient and protect vegetation. The Sustainable Sites Initiative was highlighted as a critical tool for ensuring the Mall’s future sustainability.

Nancy Somerville, Honorary ASLA, CEO of ASLA, was first up to speak in the public comments component of the hearing. Somerville said ASLA fully supports the National Park Service’s preferred alternative plan, and added that there “hasn’t been a renovation of the mall in 30 years. It’s fallen into disrepair despite the involvement of the best designers and the work of the park service.”

Somerville argued that restoring adequate funding and creating a true vision for the Mall were critical to its future sustainability. “Repairs shouldn’t be piecemeal. There needs to be a commitment to sustainability, and soil and turf issues need to be addressed.” Additionally, there must be close cooperation among all the government organizations involved. “Planning can’t be done in isolation.” She promoted the redesign of the Union Square area and its connection with the reflecting pool, calling for an international design competition to generate new proposals.

The comments period on the preferred alternative National Mall plan is open until March 18, 2010. Send your ideas to the National Park Service.

For the complete article from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) click here.

Image credit: National Park Service National Mall Preferred Plan. Conservation Zones Map

Quick, informative refresher on preemergent herbicides

The North Carolina State University Turffiles website is an excellent source for information regarding turfgrass best management practices, especially for turfgrass and grounds pros working in turfgrass transition zone or the Mid-South.

If you feel you need a refresher on preemergent herbicide use for summer annual weed control in turfgrass, click here for an informative quick read from NSCU turfgrass experts Travis Gannon and Dr. Fred Yelverton.

Excellent resource for helpful hiring tips

Several years ago we attended an event hosted by Bayer Environmental Science (“Healthy Lawns, Healthy Business”). One of the presenters at the event was Mel Kleiman, CSP. His suggestions (do’s and don’ts) about interviewing and hiring only the best employees impressed us.

We look forward to Kleiman’s periodic “Helpful Hiring Tips.” Here’s tip #49, which we thought appropriate given that everybody in the Green Industry is gearing up for another busy season, and some of you still need to add some good people to your teams.


1 It's harder to attract and hire STAR employees today because STARs, even if unhappy, aren't looking for new jobs. They are just going to stick it out until the economy gets better and they feel more secure about making a change.

2 While many companies have had layoffs, no one is letting their best people go.

3 It is harder to identify STAR employees today because the huge increase in the quantity of applicants does not equal quality. The haystack has just gotten a lot bigger which makes the STARs that much harder to find.

4 In these turbulent times, employers need all the STAR's they can get just to survive - and, more importantly, to position themselves to thrive when the turnaround comes.

5 Recent surveys report that over 90% of employees are satisfied with their jobs, but only because those employed are happy to have any job at all. The same survey reports that over 70% of employees will look for a new job as soon as the economy improves.

6 Desperate people do desperate things and today's applicants and employees are desperate. They falsify employment documents and stretch the truth in interviews. Once hired, many sue, file complaints, and have accidents.

7 When it comes to hiring, there's 10 times more data on how to look like a winning applicant than on how to hire a winner. Hiring managers need the newest strategies and tools to take back the upper hand.

8 The good news is that employee turnover is down. The bad news is that employee engagement and motivation are down too.

9 The most profitable customers you have are those who keep coming back. What brings them back is the quality of the products and services delivered by your hourly employees. That's why the most important decision a manager makes every day is whom they let in the door to take care of the customers.

10 A University of Chicago study showed that a hiring decision based on an interview is only 8% better than flipping a coin. No business can long survive with those odds.

If you feel this type of information is useful to you, you might want to check out Kleiman’s blog at http://www.kleimanhr.com/

What would it mean to lose our native plants?

Sometimes you have to travel 300 miles to appreciate what you have at your doorstep. That’s what I rediscovered as I attended and spoke at the Midwest Ecological Landscape Association (MELA) at the Chicago Botanic Garden Feb. 25.

Eager to tour the 385-acre garden located in Glencoe, an established, well-to-do suburb just north of Chicago, I arrived early the afternoon prior to the start of the MELA Conference. Twenty-six unique gardens delight visitors on and around the islands created more than 35 years ago on the property. But who tours gardens in late February? Well, I guess I do.

As I suspected, a landscape doesn’t have to be in full bloom to be beautiful, especially one the scale of the Chicago Botanic Garden wrapped as it was in a blanket of fresh white snow from the previous evening. Best of all, my wife, Vicky, and I had it to ourselves.

But this isn’t about the larger garden in all of its soft, sculpted winter beauty; it’s about a special exhibition in the Regenstein Center, one of the buildings there. The Regenstein, where the MELA Conference took place the following day, is housing an exhibit of watercolors and drawings of rare and endangered native plants. The exhibit, available for viewing through April 4, is entitled “Losing Paradise, Endangered Plants Here and Around the World.”

As we walked the exhibit, marveling at the incredible precision and beauty of the drawings and watercolors of the plants, I wondered aloud (and a bit exasperated) why one of my favorite plants, the Lakeside daisy, wasn’t also featured.

The Lakeside daisy (Hymenoxys herbacea) is among the rarest of flowering plants in the United States and gets its name from the community near my home (Lakeside, OH) where it grows on 19 acres of old limestone quarried land. Apparently, several other tiny colonies of the species can be found, one in Michigan and the other in Ontario, Canada. Even so, we claim the tough little survivor as uniquely ours. Early each May we celebrate the appearance of its tiny yellow blossoms and give the plant its own special day, our Lakeside Daisy Day.

As it turned out, my impatience was unjustified. I had just to turn a corner to discover an incredible watercolor of the Lakeside daisy by artist Dianne McElwain. Indeed, we discovered that our own Lakeside daisy was the star of the exhibition. Its image graced posters promoting the exhibition at several locations within the Chicago Botanic Garden. Imagine our pride. Here it was, an attractive but otherwise unremarkable plant that a casual and careless observer might, on an afternoon’s walk along the quarry property near our home, disregard as insignificant, being featured in one of the nation’s most stunning botanic gardens.

The sight of beautiful watercolor got me to wondering: what is the significance of this smallish, clump-forming, herbaceous perennial? Who can say? All that I can say for certain is that once it’s habitat is altered or destroyed, and once it’s gone — it could be gone forever. Not that that’s likely to happen, not now anyway. Our Lakeside daisy has been recognized and appreciated, and its habitat is being protected.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case for hundreds of other native plant species. Dr. Jerry Wilhelm, who spoke at the MELA Conference the next day, told the overflow audience of 200-plus attendees in the modern Regenstein Center auditorium. With more than a little passion and regret in his voice, he shared that more than a third of the plant species native to Illinois prior to settlement by Europeans has either disappeared or are threatened with extinction.

That may not seem like a big deal to those of us in the landscape industry, who make our living designing and installing gardens according to our typical plants lists, building retaining walls, laying pavers, or mowing properties. But to Dr. Wilhelm, principle botanist/ecologist with Conservation Design Forum, Elmhurst, IL, it’s an unfolding tragedy that we’re all likely to regret once we realize the significance of what’s taking place through careless land planning and development.

Listening to Dr. Wilhem, it occurred to me that as the sustainable movement gains importance (and it will), and the realization grows that we must design, install and maintain landscapes capable of thriving within specific, local environmental regions with fewer inputs of resources, such as water and chemical products, the loss of valuable native species may come back to haunt us. — Ron Hall

Interested in propane power? Hurry, catch this Webcast

If you are curious or interested in propane-powered commercial lawn equipment or service vehicles click here and register for the Propane Engine Fuel Summit.

Don’t mess around, the Summit takes place Wednesday and Thursday, March 3-4, near Washington D.C., but you don’t have to travel there to find out what’s going on.

The event is taking place at the internet TV studies of TV Worldwide and you can follow it live via a webcast. Again, you can access the link here to register here. Or you can go to http://propaneenginefuelsummit.com.

We don't know exactly what to expect but we're guessing that this Summit could turn out to be an eye-opener for anyone wanting to learn more about propane-powered lawn maintenance equipment.

The Commercial Mowing segment of the program takes place Wednesday, March 3, about 3 p.m. There will be a series of short presentations by:

Greg Lyman, Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Warren Evans, Dixie Chopper
Bill Baltzer, Ferris
Allen Baird, Cub Cadet
Bernardo Herzer, CEO, Lehr Industries
Lutz Hahn, president, Envirogard

That segment of the 2-day program, will be hosted by James McNew of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. Again, it's slated to start at 3 p.m. or shortly thereafter.

To learn about the real-life experiences of a successful lawn service company owner, catch the webcast presentation by Eric Hansen, Competitive Lawn Service, Downers Grove, IL, at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 4. Hansen will also be a part of a panel discussion at 2 p.m. on Thursday. Hansen, whose company uses propane-powered production equipment, is the only landscape professional speaking at the event.

(Apologies for the late notice; we just learned of it ourselves.) — Ron Hall

Synthetic turf lawns could get a boost

(Image courtesy easyturf.org)

Synthetic turf as a replacement for natural grass is gaining momentum in water-scarce regions of the United States, and could get a big boost if a bill proposed by Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña finds a favorable audience in the California legislature.

Saldaña’s proposal that would require HOAs to allow installation of artificial turf. Many HOAs in the state (and elsewhere) don’t allow fake lawns. But a growing number of homeowners in
these enclaves want to replace their lawns — or at least portions of their lawns —with artificial turf to save water and maintenance costs.

Synthetic turf doesn’t come cheap, $6 to $9 per sq. ft. per installation or as little as $2.55 sq. ft. if you do it yourself. But suppliers of the fake grass claim that property owners will recoup their investments in their properties in just a few short years through water and landscape maintenance savings.

We’ve blogged on this subject before and remain convinced that artificial turf installations for residential and commercial properties — judging by its seemingly ever-growing popularity in the sports field world — will continue to grow in popularity.

Check out this article (Homeowners, associations battle over turf) by Michel Gardner at signonSanDiego, and tell us if you agree or disagree. — Ron Hall

Round one on proposed NH lawn care pesticide bill

It’s not clear when the House Environment and Agriculture Committee in the New Hampshire legislature will make a recommendation regarding whether or not to proceed with a lawn care pesticide bill there.

HB 1456, sponsored by Rep. Suzanne Smith, would establish a legislative committee to study the use of pesticides in residential neighborhoods, schools and other places where children gather.

This past week the Committee conducted a hearing on the bill. Activists spoke in favor of the bill and for stronger measures against the use of lawn care pesticides. Lawn care business owners spoke against it, fearing the bill would be the first step toward banning the use of lawn care chemicals in the state.

The article about the hearing in the Concord Union Leader drew a string of posts from people with strong feelings on both sides of the issue.

Obviously, it’s impossible to assess the feelings of the majority of New Hampshire residents on lawn care chemicals from a handful of responses to a newspaper article, but it’s apparent there’s a segment of the population that’s determined to push for stronger restrictions on their use. The online posts in response to a particular article are often more revealing than the article itself. — Ron Hall