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

Regional team of researchers continue studying miscanthus as possible source of biofuels

Turfgrass researcher David Williams in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture is part of a regional team of university researchers studying the feasibility of growing miscanthus for biomass and biofuels.

Miscanthus x giganteus is a warm-season hybrid grass native to China that can produce large yields. Unlike Miscanthus sinensis that is found in landscapes and is invasive, Miscanthus x giganteus does not spread by seed so it is not invasive.

Williams, associate professor in the UK Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, is one of the researchers studying the effects of nitrogen to miscanthus yields and quality. University of Illinois researchers are leading the project that is a part of the U.S. departments of energy and transportation's Sun Grant Initiative, which is administered by South Dakota State University. In addition to Kentucky and Illinois, researchers from Rutgers University, Virginia Tech and the University of Nebraska are also participating in the 5-year study. In 2009, they completed the project's second year.

Researchers apply three nitrogen treatments to their research plots. Each month, they measure plant height, stems per plant and leaves per stem as well as collect yield data at harvest. Then, they send plant samples and all data to South Dakota State University researchers for analyzing.

So far, a common finding is nitrogen fertilizer has no effect on miscanthus yields and quality.

"This finding has lead to several questions for researchers including: ‘are we applying at the most opportune time or using the right amounts,'" Williams said.

This miscanthus study is only the beginning and is laying the groundwork for further research. Researchers are in the process of working through some obstacles with the plant that they need to find solutions to before it can become an economically viable crop for farmers. A major concern is planting. Since the plant is sterile, it does not produce seeds. Additional plants are only produced by vegetative propagation. With no equipment currently available to handle the planting of this plant material, growers must plant it by hand.

Although UK plots had virtually no winter kill, plots at other universities did. UK's trial was unique in that it contracted a fungus that caused leaf damage. Little is known at this point about that fungus or any additional fungal or insect problems.

Is a lawn care pesticide ban in New Hampshire's future?

Will little New Hampshire become the crack in the dike that anti-pesticide activist groups are seeking in their efforts to curtail chemical lawn care in the United States?

Remember, it was the tiny city of Hudson in Quebec Province and favorable court rulings in the 1990s that started the avalanche of bans on lawn care pesticides in Canada that eventually led to entire provinces (Ontario being the most populous) banning them for what is termed “cosmetic” reasons.

Recently New Hampshire Rep. Suzanne Smith offered a bill (HB 1456) that would establish a committee to explore the consequences of a ban in that state. Anti-pesticide proponents and industry groups are keenly aware of the significance of this bill that, should it pass, would require a three-person committee to determine whether or not to pursue a ban. — Ron Hall

Here is HB 1456 as introduced:

AN ACT establishing a committee to study the use of pesticides, herbicides, and their alternatives in residential neighborhoods, school properties, playgrounds, and other places children congregate.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Committee Established. There is established a committee to study the use of pesticides, herbicides, and their alternatives in residential neighborhoods, school properties, playgrounds, and other places children congregate.

2 Membership and Compensation.

I. The members of the committee shall be as follows:

(a) Three members of the house of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives.

(b) Three members of the senate, appointed by the president of the senate.

II. Members of the committee shall receive mileage at the legislative rate when attending to the duties of the committee.

3 Duties. The committee shall:

I. Study the use of pesticides, herbicides, and their alternatives in residential neighborhoods, school properties, playgrounds, and other places children congregate.

II. Study the effects of a moratorium on the use of such pesticides and herbicides.

III. Determine what areas and properties would be exempt from such a ban.

IV. Study any other issue related to a moratorium on the use of such pesticides and herbicides.

4 Chairperson; Quorum. The members of the study committee shall elect a chairperson from among the members. The first meeting of the committee shall be called by the first-named house member. The first meeting of the committee shall be held within 45 days of the effective date of this section. Four members of the committee shall constitute a quorum.

5 Report. The committee shall report its findings and any recommendations for proposed legislation to the speaker of the house of representatives, the president of the senate, the house clerk, the senate clerk, the governor, and the state library on or before November 1, 2010.

6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Can you add to this list of sustainable landscape info?

The body of knowledge focusing on environmental and landscape practices that preserve and enhance our urban environments is growing at an astonishing rate, reflecting the recognition by our society that we can't continue to waste and misuse our resources — our water, our fossil fuels, our soils, etc.

Those of us in the Green Industry (product manufacturers/suppliers, plant producers, landscape architects, designers, contractors) have a special and direct relationship to our urban and suburban environments. In fact, the products we use, the planning we do, the practices we use to install and maintain landscapes as we maintain and grow our businesses and our industry have a huge impact on these ecologies.

The following is a list of information sources that you may find useful in meeting our society's expanding environmental consciousness.

If you can add to the list, please do so for the benefit of all. — Ron Hall

Valuable websites

Professional Landcare Network: landcarenetwork.org
American Nursery & Landscape Association: anla.org
American Society of Landscape Architects: asla.org
Irrigation Association: irrigation.org
American Society of Irrigation Consultants: asic.org
Golf Course Superintendents Society of America: gcsaa.org
U.S. Composting Council: compostingcouncil.org
Sports Turf Managers Association: stma.org
Turfgrass Producers International: turfgrasssod.org
Synthetic Turf Council: syntheticturfcouncil.org
Sustainable Sites Initiative: sustainablesites.org
LEED: usgbc.org/leed
Sustainable Land Development International: sldi.org
Sustainable Horticulture: sustainablehort.com
U.S. EPA WaterSense: epa.gov/WaterSense
U.S. EPA GreenScapes: greenscapes.org
Lawns & the Environment Initiative: lawnsandenvironment.org

Edible landscapes

“The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, Home Landscaping with Food-Bearing Plants and Resource-Saving Techniques,” by Rosaline Creasy (author) and Marcia Kier-Hawthorne (illustrator), Sierra Book Clubs, 1982
“Edible Flower Garden,” by Rosalind Creasy, Periplus Editions, 1999
“Landscaping with Fruits and Vegetables,” by Fred Hagy, Overlook Hardcover, 2001
“Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally,” by Robert Kourik, Permanent Publications, 2009

Water issues

“Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to do About It,” by Robert Glennon, Island Press, 2009
“Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America’s Fresh Waters,” by Robert Glennon, Island Press, 2004
“When the Rivers Run Dry,” by Fred Pearce, Beacon Press, 2007
“Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition,” by Marc Reisner, Penguin, 1993
“Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water,” by Maude Barlow, New Press, 2008
“Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource,” by Marq de Villiers, Mariner Books, 2001

Sustainable landscaping

“Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies,” by Owen Dell, ASLA, 2009
“Sustainable Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Building Outdoors, Second Edition,” by J. William Thompson and Kim Sorvig, Island Press, 2007
“Living Systems: Innovative Materials and Technologies for Landscape Architecture,” by Liat Margolis and Alexander Robinson, Birkhäuser Basel, 2007
“The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Without Chemicals,” by Barbara W. Ellis and Ferm Marshall Bradley, Rodale Books, 1996
“Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses,” by Michael A. Dirr, Stipes Publishing, 1998
“Turfgrass Management (8th Edition),” by A.J. Turgeon, Prentice Hall, 2007
“Landscape Plant Selection, Soil Preparation & Planting,” DVD by A.C. Burke & Company

Landscape water conservation

“New Waterscapes: Planning, Building and Designing with Water,” by Herbert Dreiseitl and Dieter Grau, Birkhäuser Basel, 2005
“Rain Gardens: Managing Water Sustainability in the Garden and Designed Landscape,” by Nigel Dunnett and Andy Clayden, Timber Press, 2007
“Design for Water: Rainwater Harvesting, Stormwater Catchment, and Alternate Reuse,” by Heather Kinkade-Levario, New Society Publishers, 2007
“The New Create an Oasis with Greywater: Choosing, Building and Using Greywater Systems-Includes Branched Drains,” by Art Ludwig, Oasis Design, 2006
“Builders Greywater Guide,” by Art Ludwig, Oasis Design, 2006
“Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands,” by Brad Lancaster, Rainsource Press, 2006
“Xeriscape-Appropriate Landscaping to Conserve Water,” DVD by San Luis Video

Green roofs

“Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls,” by Nigel Dunnett and Noel Kingsbury, Timber Press, 2008
“Green Roofs: Ecological Design and Construction,” by Earth Pledge Foundation, Schiffer Publishing, 2004
“Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planting Guide,” by Edmund C. Snodgrass and Lucie L. Snodgrass, Timber Press, 2006
“Green Roof: A Case Study: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates’ Design for the Headquarters of the American Society of Landscape Architects,” by Christian Werthmann, Princeton Architectural Press, 2007
“Roof Gardens: History, Design, and Construction,” Theodore H. Osmundson, W.W. Norton & Company, 1997
“Award Winning Green Roof Designs,” by Steven Peck, Schiffer Publishing, 2008

Healthy soils

“Handbook of Soils for Landscape Architects,” by Robert F. Keefer, Oxford University Press, 2000
“Urban Soil in Landscape Design,” by Phillip J. Craul, Wiley, 1992
“Soil Science and Management (5th Edition),” by Edward Plaster, Delmar Cengage Learning, 2008
“Soils in Our Environment (11th Edition),” by Raymond W. Miller and Duane T. Gardiner, Prentice Hall, 2007

General reading

“Green to Gold, How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage,” by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston, Yale University Press, 2006
“Smart Green: How to Implement Smart Business Practices and Make Money,” by Johnaton Estes, Wiley, 2009
“Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — and How it Can Renew America,” by Thomas L. Friedman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008
“Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things,” by Michael Braungart, North Point Press, 2002

Don't let a bumper sticker kill a sale

Bill Phagan, a former Tampa-area landscaper and long-time industry business consultant (Green Industry Consulting, Inc.) offered up what we feel is valuable sales advice in his latest quarterly “Your MoneyTree News” enewsletter.

Phagan opines that it’s not a good idea — at least from a sales perspective — in being too out front with clients in regards to your political, religious or perhaps even with your favorite team preferences.

Being a native Floridian he offers up the example of a owner/salesman who may have lost sales after getting into extended conversations with prospects over which is the better athletic program, the Seminoles or the Gators. If you know anything about Florida football (and you’re not a Hurricane booster), you’re either a fan of Florida State or the University of Florida. It's unlikely you're passionate about both.

The point of Phagan’s advice: don’t expect prospects to necessarily embrace your political, religious, social or sports views. In other words, keep your sales calls focused on business. This goes for any potentially devisive bumper stickers (including non-U.S. flags) that you sport on your sales and service vehicles, too, he writes. — Ron Hall

Builders and landscapers have allied conservation goals

Energy efficiency and water conservation — the building trades and the Green Industry are starting to think alike. We're encouraged.

Atlanta-based Ashton Woods Homes recently announced that it completed a sustainable landscaping and irrigation implementation at The Enclave at Riverwalk in East Cobb near Atlanta. The company builds high-performance new homes in growth communities in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Phoenix and Tampa.

The home builder touts its communities as being close to jobs, shopping and transportation corridors, effectively balancing healthy-house features with energy efficiency and saving homeowners as much as 45% per year on utility bills.

The Enclave, near Atlanta, was developed with the goal of providing residents with a sustainable landscape design and use of non-potable, harvested rainwater to provide for the complete irrigation needs of the entire community.

“We had a unique opportunity based on several site specific factors, and the catalyst of the Georgia EPD watering restrictions during the drought last year," said Chris Sears, a local registered landscape architect and LEED-accredited pro who was commissioned to design and oversee the entire installation process. "This allowed us to be proactive and initiate a strategy that just a few years ago would not have been a realistic cost-effective option."

The sustainable landscape and irrigation project included, installing several underground cisterns to hold approximately 7500 gallons of rainwater; which is collected from roofs of several buildings, and will be pumped into a highly efficient irrigation system. Minimizing the amount of lawn areas and utilizing more drought tolerant and native plantings are all factors in the planning for the success of this strategy.

Grazing as a weed control option?

Several years ago while attending a business conference in San Jose, CA, we saw a herd of goats munching contentedly on the vegetation in what appeared to be a city park there. Since then we’ve learned that the city, through its Environmental Services Department, used several hundred goats and sheep to keep thistle and other unwanted weeds and invasive plants in check without the use of pesticides.

Grazing isn’t often considered for properties when battling the spread of invasive and, oftentimes, toxic weeds, but why not?

A San Francisco-based contractor, Living Systems Land Management, L.L.C., supplied the animals and apparently a shepherd, too. This is not a fly-by-night operation. It’s a well-thought-out, 7-year-old business that offers creative solutions to tough environmental problems.

We’re convinced that its this kind of thinking that will move the Green Industry to a more sustainable model. — Ron Hall

Landscaper offers aid to Haiti on "Eagle Wings"

Scott Lewis, 52, and his wife Carol run 35-year-old Scott Lewis’ Garden & Trimming, Inc., in West Palm Beach, FL. His name was mentioned in a short article in a south Florida newspaper concerning volunteer aid to Haiti. Curious we investigated further and discovered a person with a remarkable desire to help his fellow man.

Lewis, a landscape architect and long-time volunteer fire fighter, is the founder of the Eagle Wings Foundation, a non-profit agency that provides disaster relief in hard hit areas of the Western Hemisphere. He founded the Foundation in 1999 after learning that donations were not reaching survivors in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd, which devastated The Bahamas.

Since then he and his all-volunteer task force have been in the forefront of disaster relief efforts in Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne (2004), Katrina (2005), and Hurricane Ike (2008), and these past weeks — Haiti.

These are not a bunch of do-gooders that hamper disaster relief, but a well-trained team of volunteers that mesh into and provide valuable on-the-ground services as part of larger disaster-recovery efforts.

But even before founding the Eagle Wings Foundation, Lewis was actively involved in rescue and disaster efforts, and holds just about every certification you can imagine to personnel involved in such work. In 1992 he served as a disaster team unit leader in the initial emergency efforts at the University of Miami Arboretum and the President’s residence in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew that flattened Homestead, FL. — Ron Hall

Feral hogs as landscape pests — big and bad

OVERTON, TX — Most of us have figured out how to get rid of white grubs, mole crickets, billbugs, fire ants and their likes . . . but feral hogs?

Yes, we’re talking wild hogs, and they’re apparently a big problem for property owners in many areas of the United States. Well, if they’re a problem for you and you’re in the vicinity of Overton, TX, Feb. 4, you won’t find many better ways to spend a day than to attend the East Texas Turfgrass Conference.

Billy Higginbotham, Ph.D., extension service expert, is going to tell you what you can do to keep "mud pigs" from destroying your landscapes at the event that's planned for the AgriLife Extension Research and Extension Center.

"Because of urban and suburban sprawl, feral hogs encroachment into these areas is on the rise," said Higginbotham.

Higginbotham will not only discuss the extent of feral hog encroachment but also the issues involved in controlling the species in urban and suburban environments.

"The best control remains trapping, as in rural areas," he said. "But once you've got them, the question is what do you do with them."

In rural environments, it's common to shoot the animals once they're trapped. But in urban areas, this is usually not a solution because of safety and legal concerns, Higginbotham said.

"So it's necessary to choose a trap that allows it to either be loaded on a trailer with hogs inside or one where the hogs can be transferred to another confinement," he said.

Higginbotham will also discuss fencing, but doesn't recommend it as a control strategy.

Other speakers and topics will include: “Disease Control Updates For Turfgrass,” Karl Steddom, AgriLife Extension plant pathologist; "Weed Identification," Dr. Jim McAfee, AgriLife Extension turfgrass specialist; “When You Can’t Grow Grass,” Keith Hansen, AgriLife Extension horticultural agent in Smith County; “Zoysia Management and Varieties For East Texas,” McAfee; “Turfgrass Insect Problems,” Dr. Scott Ludwig, AgriLife Extension integrated pest management specialist; “Ants, Ants & More Ants,” Dr. Bart Drees, AgriLife Extension entomologist; “Facts & Fiction on Soil Fertility Products,” Dr. Leon Young, Stephen F. Austin University soils testing laboratory director.

The Overton center is located approximately 2 miles north of Overton on FM 3053 N. Maps and driving directions can be found online at http://overton.tamu.edu/maps.htm .

For more information, contact agent Dennis Smith at 903-236-8428 or dg-smith@tamu.edu.

If you’ve read to the end of this blog, good for you. Now you know what to do if feral hogs turn up in your neighborhood.

Click here for some excellent information from Texas Parks and Wildlife about feral hogs.

If you want to see some guys who really know how to deal with feral hogs, check out the Hogstoppers. These guys know how to deal with those nasty, dangerous critters, and promise low-cost removal for their Texas clients. — The LM Staff (on the lookout for huge, ugly landscape pests)

Bringing the dead (ornamentals) back to life

Frosty lawns in south Florida

Us Yankees flee to Florida in January anticipating balmy temperatures and blue skies, a respite from snow and ice. Imagine our surprise when we flew into the Ft. Myers airport earlier this month and the temperature is just above freezing. What followed was a string of mornings featuring heavy frosts of the kind that we typically experience in northern Ohio in late October or November.

Needless to say the cold front, lasting for almost two weeks, badly damaged Florida's orange and strawberry industries and devastated the vegetable crops being grown in the community of Immokalee, which is in far southwest Florida.

The bitter cold also did a number on the colorful tropical ornamentals so popular with homeowners and resorts from central Florida all the way to the Keys. The sight of white sheets draped over ornamental beds became a common sight for early-morning risers during Florida's extended cold snap.

In terms of landscapes, all is not lost though, reports Tampa Bay Online. If you’re wondering what you can do to revive landscape plants that suffered during the cold snap, you might want to check out the article “Bringing back the garden from Armageddon." — Ron Hall

Video of Eric Hansen's neat propane-powered lawn service truck

(Jack Roush, Roush Performanc, hands the keys to a new propane-powered Ford F350 to lawn care business owner Eric Hansen.)

Erie Hansen’s been researching and testing the feasibility of changing his 28-year-old company from gasoline to propane power.

It looks like his Competitive Lawn Service, Inc., Downers Grove, IL, is on its way to becoming the first completely propane-powered lawn service company in the United States.

That will depend, at least in part, on the performance of the new under-bed, propane-powered Ford 350 that Hansen picked up from Roush Performance, Livonia, MI, in December. If it performs as well as he hopes (and expects), he will begin cycling out the remainder of his company’s diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles and replacing them with propane-powered trucks and vans.

Hansen’s company has been using propane lawn equipment for several years, and this past June installed a propane fueling station at his company’s headquarters.

Hansen says propane has provided his company substantial fuel and maintenance costs since he began making the switch.

Check out this video of Hansen at Roush Performance.

(Tell me if you don’t think Hansen looks younger than you would expect someone being in the dog-eat-dog lawn service business since 1982.) — Ron Hall

2010 the 'test' year

It’s New Year’s Eve here in the frozen sticks and mud of north central Ohio. Our economy, hard hit by the decline of the U.S. steel industry in the late 20th Century, more recently took a massive bodyshot because of the downsizing of U.S. auto manufacturing. There hasn’t been much sunshine here recently, either from the sky or in the form of good employment news.

No wonder that we don’t see a lot to cheer about in terms of prospects for our local economy for 2010. We have a few more months, almost certainly longer, before things begin looking rosier again in our neck of the woods. But things will improve; they have to.

Too big to fail

Accepting things as they are, we’re optimistic about the long-term prospects of our particular region and of the United States, in general. To borrow a phrase that’s almost become a joke — our economy is “too big to fail." With one caveat, however. We’re confident our price-coordinated market economy will rebound if allowed to do so by our government. That’s a big “if” in light of the ill-conceived government policies, instituted more for political than economically sound reasons, that helped get us into this fix in the first place. Regardless, this downturn is the market’s way of shedding inefficiencies and waste that accumulated this past generation, and of allowing excess inventories to be absorbed.

In other words, it’s not a question of if we’ll heal, but when.

In fact, many regions of the United States, those not so dependent on manufacturing, continue to do reasonably well in spite of the lack of major construction caused by tight credit for consumers. The construction and job meltdowns depressing our economy these past 18 months have not affected all regions of the country with the same force. This suggests that our national recovery will return region by region and industry by industry, as well. Some regions will lag behind and some industries will shrink or disappear, of course.

Here are several larger trends continuing through 2010.

Consumer Confidence

As the recent Christmas shopping season showed, consumers are eager to resume spending. Traffic at malls and the major retailers was up from the 2008 season, and sales rose too. Not by a lot, but they rose; that's good. Even so, consumers remain wary. Yes, we’re no longer in shock as we were following the dire media warnings of a total banking collapse in the fall of 2008, but unemployment exceeding 10% nationally, persistent news of job losses and concerns over job security will continue to dampen demand for major purchases in 2010.

Real Estate

While home sales revived slightly as 2009 progressed, many of these sales were spurred by the home buyer tax credit. Also, investors and other bargain hunters snapped up foreclosures. Construction is slowly returning in some markets, but new homes and housing lots are smaller. New construction is still in the dumper, but many homeowners have decided to stay put (They can't sell their houses.) and are spending their money on improvements and renovations, both inside and on their properties.

Commercial real estate looks to be the wild card for 2010. There’s been a lot of talk about major defaults in that market, although analysts aren't being that specific yet of how this may play out, not yet. They probably don't know. The commercial market bears watching closely.

2010 the Test Year

This new year, 2010, will be the test year for the economic policies instituted in the wake of the the financial and housing meltdowns. We'll learn if the government’s expensive stimulus efforts are working or, indeed, if they will work. There’s a delayed reaction following every recessionary period. Of course, it’s our hope (as yours, we’re sure) that the delay is not too great and that any uptick is legitimate and not a teaser. — Ron Hall

Gardens that heal the spirit if not the body

There's no need to convince me of the mind-soothing, perhaps even healing benefits of gardens. So, it's a delight to learn of an organization that is promoting exactly that. Beyond that, I'm hopeful that as more of you learn of this organization, you might consider helping spread the word.

Hope in Bloom is a non-profit 501©3 organization that provides gardens for women and men undergoing treatment for breast cancer. The gardens come in various forms — small outside gardens, inside gardens or patio container gardens, whatever is best and most suitable for the individual undergoing treatment.

Hope in Bloom is based in Massachusetts and, to date, through the efforts of many volunteers (including landscape designers and other Green Industry pros), has provided more than 75 gardens to individuals undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

The founder of Hope in Bloom is Roberta Dehman Hershon. She started the organization in 2007 following the death via breast cancer of her longtime friend and fellow garden-lover Beverly Eisenberg in 2005.

“Beverly loved flowers and took pride in her garden. Together, we spent hours pouring over catalogs, visiting nurseries, selecting plants and digging in the dirt. When she was no longer able to garden, her friends kept her house filled with flowers. She, like so many of us, took pleasure in their quiet beauty,” writes Roberta Dehman Hershon on the website.

Hershon says she is grateful for the support of nurseries and other suppliers that have provided product at wholesale prices and of the volunteer efforts of landscape designers and others who have selflessly given of their time and talents. Even so, more than 100 individuals undergoing treatment for breast cancer are on the Hope in Bloom garden "wait list".

The need for more assistance (meaning more sponsors, donations and more volunteers) is great.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 192,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed among women and 1900 among men in 2009. More than 40,000 women and 400 men were predicted to die of breast cancer during 2009, said the Society.

"We know gardens play a part in the healing process," says Hershon from her Dedham, MA, office. "Gardens offer their own special medicine."

This is a worthy program and one that deserves the attention and support of the Green Industry. My guess is that just about all of us have been touched by cancer — if not ourselves, then a family member or friend.

To learn more about Hope in Bloom visit its website at http://hopeinbloom.org.

To learn more about the therapeutic benefits of gardens, you can also visit the website of Therapeutic Landscapes Network — http://healinglandscapes.org. — Ron Hall

Massey Services deal attracts favorable ink

ORLANDO, FL — Massey Services Inc.’s recent acquisition of competitor Middleton Lawn & Pest Control (the company with a consumer brand characterized by grinning green frog) caught the attention of the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. An article appearing in the Dec. 22 issue of the Sentinel gives a revealing and positive account of 68-year-old Harvey Massey’s rise in the central Florida business (and political) world. Harvey Massey, of course, is the guy that founded, built and is still very active with the company.

The Sentinel pegged the deal, which closed the second week of December, at $54 million, and said that the now-combined lawn care/pest control company (1,300 employees, 1,250 trucks and annual revenues of $126 million) is the fifth largest in North America.

What many in the industry probably didn’t know was that Massey and his longtime former competitor Chuck Steinmetz, who built Middleton into one of the biggest regional pest control/lawn care companies in the United States, both started their careers at Orkin.

Check out the newspaper column "Big deal done, Harvey Massey plows on," by Beth Kassab.

If you're interested in the deal itself, you might want to check out a September news release from Sunair Services, "Sunair Announces Proposed Merger with Massey Services." (Middleton Pest Control, Inc., was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sunair.) — by Ron Hall

4th grader wows scientists with her artificial vs. natural turf research study

Which is more environmentally friend, artificial grass or living grass?

Schools and communities across the United States are debating the issue because of the growing popularity of synthetic turf on sports fields, home lawns and other areas formerly covered by turfgrass. Proponents of both point to the many “green” benefits of their respective type of grass. The stakes, environmental and financial, are high because of the tens of millions of acres of turfgrass on our home lawns, parks, sports fields, commercial and industrial properties.

So, who’s right? The synthetic crowd that pounds on the fact that their grass doesn’t need fertilizers, pesticides, mowing or water? (Although it would be foolish to install synthetic turf without a ready source of water to clean it or, in the case of sports fields, cool it.) Or the proponents of real, living grass who promote the heat-mitigating, dust-capturing, runoff-capturing benefits of real grass?

Along comes 9-year-old, 4th grade student by the name of Claire Dworsky and she nails it. With the help of research professor Adina Payton of UC Santa Cruz, she puts together an incredible research project comparing the two surfaces.

“As I soccer player and environmentalist, I looked down and I see the runoff water off the turf is murky,” Claire told KGO-TV science reporter Carolyn Johnson in a recent interview. Claire collected water samples from grass and artificial turf fields (hundreds of them from both) across San Francisco, then she and Dr. Payton analyzed the findings in the lab.

In addition to sharing her findings with San Francisco officials considering whether or not to build synthetic fields in the city, she was the lead author of a poster presentation at a recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union, which drew scientists from every corner of the globe.

Click here to access the KGO-TV article and several video clips about Clair. When you get to the site, check out the boxed sidebar and click on the links to pdf of the poster she put together.

In a word — fantastic.

You go girl! — Ron Hall

Links to two articles showing the international character of water issues

The most precious natural resource in the world isn’t oil or gold; it’s water. Life cannot be sustained without water. But, in spite of 75% of the earth being covered by water, the amount of fresh water available for human use is incredibly small. And even that minuscule amount is not distributed evenly around the globe.

The World Water Council says that more than 1.1 billion people (more than 16% of the world’s population) lack access to safe drinking water and another 2.6 billion people live in conditions that are far from sanitary because of lack of water. The World Health Organization in 2004 reported that 3900 children die every day from water borne diseases.

These numbers are expected to rise dramatically in coming decades because of population growth, urbanization and industrialization.

Click on the following headlines to access two articles that provide insight into growing international awareness and cooperation focusing on solving water scarcities.

— “Israel plunges into water technology,” by Michael Barajas, Associated Press

— “California taps Australia’s expertise in coping and drought,” by Janet Zimmerman, The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)

Great pesticide safety info that's practically free

I'm not sure I'm getting this blogging thing right. I'm not particularly witty, the issues I feel strongly enough to launch into a full-force Category 5 rant generally don't have anything to do with the landscape industry and I'm not good looking enough to charm anybody with my smiling mug.

That said, I know we all like "free," especially if it's something we should have or can use.

OK, here it is. If you buy, store and use pesticides in your business, go to the Web right now and download a copy of "Pesticide Safety Tips for the WORKPLACE and FARM," by Fred Whitford, Andrew Martin, Joe Becovitz and Arlene Blessing. The Purdue University publication is a must. Click here to download this 64-page pub.

Oops, now that I've returned to the Purdue site, I see that the download cost of the pub is $1.00. What's a buck for this kind of great info, right? — Ron Hall

Congratulations to Kelly Giard of Clean Air Lawn Care

Kelly Giard, the founder and CEO of Clean Air Lawn Care was voted as Entrepreneur Magazine's "Emerging Entrepreneur of 2009."

Clean Air Lawn Care offers customers organic lawn care, and uses quiet electric mowers and other equipment for turf and landscape care.

In 2006, Giard started Clean Air Lawn Care, Inc. out of his garage. Twenty months after franchising the business, Clean Air has 27 territories owned by 18 franchisees. Sales multiplied from just $7,000 in 2006 to more than half a million dollars in 2008. Giard is aiming at 500 locations in the next decade and expects royalty fees to double for at least the next five years, he tells "Entrepreneur."

Check out the piece about Giard by clicking here.

Who should regulate fertilizer use on lawns, states or local governments?

When most of us think of preemption in terms of turfgrass care, we think of lawn care pesticides. In the United States, preemption means that the states, and not municipalities, regulate the sale and use of pesticides. Few of us think of preemption in regards to fertilizers. But that’s becoming a bigger issue across the country, as well.

Some states maintain the sole right to regulate the sale and use of lawn fertilizers and some allow municipalities or counties to enact their own fertilizer regulations. As a result, some local governments — concerned over the effects of lawn fertilizers on water quality — are passing regulations about how much nitrogen or phosphorus can be used on residential or commercial properties. Some are even forbidding the use of fertilizers during certain times of the year.

Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli has introduced a bill (A-4193) in the State of New Jersey that creates consistent regulation for towns there looking to manage residential and commercial fertilizer applications.

Referring to the proposed legislation, Nancy Sadlon, executive director of the New Jersey Green Industry Council, wrote a letter to the editor in the Millstone (NJ) Examiner, telling why she feels a consistent statewide regulation “makes uncommonly good sense.”

Here, in part, is Nancy’s piece in the Examiner:

As the executive director of the New Jersey Green Industries Council, I have a keen professional interest in laws that impact turf management. As a New Jersey resident and homeowner, I have an equally passionate interest in the quality of New Jersey's waterways. Enacting statewide legislative standards, which contribute to the common good of New Jersey's 566 municipalities, makes uncommonly good sense for our citizens and our environment.

Regulating fertilizer so that best management practices are used is in everyone's best interest for improving the quality of New Jersey's waterways, but it must be done in the right way. In the simplest terms, fertilizer is plant food. Too much is not healthy and none is not enough. We believe the same is true for fertilizer regulation. With A-4193, municipalities have an actionable sound-science blueprint for successful fertilizer management that protects our waterways, our environment and our citizens.

A-4193 calls for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to consult with research scientists at Rutgers University Agricultural Experiment Station to identify and encourage best management practices. The rationale for supporting legislation that adequately addresses urban fertilizer contribution to non-point source nutrient loading to a water body is a perfect combination of good science and good stewardship.

Healthy lawns help control erosion, contribute to dust and noise abatement, serve as nature's best water filter, and act as a carbon sink by accumulating carbon and lessening our communities' carbon footprint. Studies conducted by universities show that proper amounts of fertilizer fed to plants does not lead to fertilizer runoff into our waterways.

Our association recently joined with regulators from the NJDEP, other industry professionals and New Jersey grassroots watershed associations in a public-private partnership, the "Healthy Lawns, Healthy Environment" initiative. In one year, through changing formulas for lawn fertilizers to reduce phosphorous, implementing best application practices and conducting educational outreach to professionals and the general public, our group effected a total annual phosphorous reduction of 1,230,332 pounds — an estimated statewide reduction of 15 percent.

A statewide model for lawn care in private and public spaces will allow us to continue the momentum of our environmental stewardship by enabling lawn care professionals to adhere to a single comprehensive set of responsible, science-based practices that have proven environmental benefits. A-4193 offers a clear, actionable blueprint for municipalities, lawn care professionals and New Jersey residents that regulates residential and commercial fertilizer application sensibly and makes uncommonly good sense. — Ron Hall

Using language that focuses on the customer

Apart from different colored trucks, many customers - property owners and property managers - don't see much difference among the landscape/lawn service providers. Similarly, customers tend to hear the same selling proposition from landscapers: "We can do it cheaper, better and/or faster."

Instead of emphasizing the "we" part of the selling proposition, put the focus on the customer. Consider using messages such as:

-- We want to help you save at least 10%.

-- Partnering with us will make your life/job easier.

-- Our services will bring you peace of mind.

-- Let us help you maximize your investment.

-- You'll love our hassle-free service.

-- We measure our success by your success.

What other phrases can we add to this list?

White House party crashers finally forced to pay their lawn care bill

It turns out the couple that crashed the White House State Dinner tried to stiff a service provider out of a $925 lawn mowing bill, but a judge in Warren County, VA, was not about to let that happen.

According to Fox News, a judge there forced Tareq Salahi to hand over his expensive Patek Phillipe watch, apparently as payment to Mike Dunbar, owner of ALA Home Improvement, for a long-overdue lawn care bill.

The dapper Tareq and his striking wife Michaele, of course, gained notoriety by successfully inviting themselves to a White House State Dinner this past week, a stunt apparently planned to get them their own reality television show. Who knows, they may get their show, after all. But, for now, the media is having a lot of fun at the couple’s expense, as evidenced by Fox News article and a video of the couple going to court that you can access by clicking here.

National school IPM law proposed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — We don't know how likely this legislation is to be passed, and it's not clear what impact it would have on pest control, landscape and grounds maintenance operations. But it bears watching.

U.S. Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) and 14 of his colleagues put forward School Environment Protection Act of 2009 (SEPA), H.R. 4159. SEPA, if passed, would require all public schools to adopt integrated pest management (IPM) programs that emphasize non-chemical pest management strategies and only use defined least-toxic pesticides as a last resort.

A public health emergency provision allows the use of a pesticide, if warranted. In this case, notification of the pesticide application is required to be provided to all parents and guardians of students and school staff. Cleaning agents with pesticides fall under the bill's purview.

The legislation establishes a 12-member National School IPM Advisory Board that, with the help of a technical advisory panel, will develop school IPM standards and a list of allowable least-toxic pesticide products. In addition, under the language each state is required to develop its IPM plan as part of its existing state cooperative agreement with the U.S. EPA.

For a copy of H.R. 4195 click here.

Why is government meddling in the landscape business?

If you’ve been following my columns in Landscape Management magazine and these blogs you’re aware of how much local and regional governments are inserting themselves into the businesses of private industry, including the Green Industry.

Here’s yet another example — the commissioners in Lake County, FL, just passed an ordinance restricting how much St. Augustinegrass new homeowners and developers can install on their properties.

County commissioners voted to restrict the use of St. Augustinegrass sod for new developments to 60%, and are mandating the remaining 40% of landscaping be Bahiagrass or Florida native plants that require less water, reports cfnews13.com.

The commissioners said they took the action to conserve water in Lake County.
In defending this action, the commissioners, I’m sure, point to the common good. But really, what business does a government have in telling private citizens what kind of grass they can have on their lawns?

Early in my career as a journalist I covered the city and county governments in a rural Ohio county of about 30,000 people. Thirty-nine years later I still live in the same city. It’s my home. My wife, Vicky, and I raised two children here, we like our community and our neighbors and there’s a noisy little bar around the block that I can walk to that makes an incredible pizza and where I can still order a $1.50 draft beer and chat with friendly bartenders and longtime acquaintances.

While I left the newspaper game many years ago, I retain a keen interest in my community. Almost every evening the wife and I walk around our small city. What we see is discouraging — empty storefronts in what was once a vibrant downtown.

Gone since we moved here are two mid-sized department stores, two men’s stores, two shoe stores, two appliance stores, four service stations, a hardware store, a building supply company, a boat sales company and the town’s movie house. About half of the huge glass storefront windows in our downtown, once filled with goods and decorated with colorful seasonal displays, are now dark and sport “For Rent” and “For Sale” signs.

It’s pitiful sight, especially for what we’ve come to appreciate as such a secure, pleasant Midwest community.

Not that all growth in our community has been stymied. County government and the local hospital have become much, much larger these past several decades. Both employ more people than when I daily trudged the three flights of stairs at the 100-year-old country courthouse and gathered the daily news for the then-afternoon editions of our local newspaper.

This phenomenon, in particular the growth of county government, puzzles me since, as far as I can determine, the population of our region has remained essentially the same these past 30 years. Economic activity in our county — if measured by employment — has actually fallen. Admittedly, the growth in our county government, in part anyway, lies with laws passed in our state and national capitals. Even so, governments at every level are now meddling too much in private industry, in my opinion.

What I see locally seems to mirror what’s happening nationally; government and health care keep growing while small business finds it harder to grow and offer employment opportunities, and in too many cases even survive.

I’m sure the conclusion I’m drawing from this will be criticized as being too simplistic — but it appears to me that the continued growth of government, and its intrusion into private industry, is stifling small business, which is the biggest driver of economic growth in not only our communities, but our nation.

If you’ve read this far into this wordy blog, you may way to hear what Keith Truenow, a sod grower in Lake County, FL, has to say about the new law restricting the kind of grass allowed on new homes and developments. Click here for the article and a video with Keith’s take on a law that will hurt his business. — Ron Hall