UAC Magazine

Official publication of the Georgia Urban Agriculture Council

Board of Directors

Pam Dooley

Plants Creative Landscapes

Jennifer Jorge King Green

Matt Lowe Swift Straw

Josh Morrow

Athletic Fields, Inc.

Ken Morrow

The Turfgrass Group

Bob Scott

Irrigation Consultant Services

Ron White TurfPride

Ex Officio

Bodie Pennisi

UGA Extension Horticulturist

Clint Waltz

UGA Extension Turf Agronomist

Staff

Mary Kay Woodworth

Executive Director

Kathy Johnson

Marketing Director & Editor

A member of:

American Hort

Atlanta Botanical Garden

Federation of Employers & Workers of America

Georgia Arborist Association

Georgia Association of Water Professionals

Georgia Tree Council

Georgia Water Alliance

National Association of Landscape Professionals

National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture

Nursery & Landscape Association Executives

RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment)

Seasonal Employment Alliance

Tolar Capitol Partners

Georgia Urban Ag Council

2566 Shallowford Rd, Ste 104 - Box 117 Atlanta

Phone: 706.750.0350 Fax: 404.900.9194

Email: office@georgiauac.com Web: urbanagcouncil.com

FALL 2024 URBAN AG

Dear UAC Members and Supporters,

Fall is finally here, after a sweltering summer. If you are thinking along the same lines that I am, I will enjoy October and look forward to getting past the election and all the drama that has been on display the last two years. That said, there’s always the high probability that the election results won’t avail themselves to us for weeks. Anyway – let’s all enjoy the cooler weather, successful businesses, and our loving families and friends.

Upcoming events you won’t want to miss

Halloween brings us one of the most anticipated UAC events every year – the UAC Sporting Clays Tournament at Blalock Lakes in Newnan, GA. This year’s event will be the kick-off for the new Georgia GrowPAC, UAC’s long-awaited political action committee. Our membership has been engaged politically on many fronts, and the Georgia GrowPAC will be an effective tool for our industry to show strong support for candidates, especially in election years. More information on page 31 in this issue. Join us for this great clay shoot event on October 31 for fellowship, sports, and delicious barbecue!

We are excited to announce that we’ve added a new educational event in Savannah on December 6. Landscape Pro University Coastal provides more great education, like what we offer at LPU in Atlanta in late January. In Savannah in December, we will have two educational tracks that include insect and disease management for turfgrass and ornamentals, pruning (basic and advanced), mosquito control, and additional topics. We thank Troy Strickland, SiteOne Landscape Supply in Savannah, for collaborating and sponsoring this new event!

Landscape Pro University Atlanta will be January 29, 2025, and we are offering more topics than ever before – along with a bigger, better tradeshow experience. With 500+ contractor attendees last year, we anticipate another sold-out event. Registration opens October 1, and exhibitor/sponsor registration is ongoing. Don’t miss this in 2025.

and best practices that are used by successful landscape teams across the country. Registration is now open for this workshop.

UAC Board update

Finally, I want to share that UAC’s Executive Committee (Chair Jennifer Jorge, Vice-chair Pam Dooley, and Secretary/Treasurer Ken Morrow) have worked tirelessly to update the UAC Bylaws (originally approved in March 2011).

The updated bylaws were approved by the full board on August 26, and include updates to the board makeup, nominations committee, board member requirements, and board member and Executive Director roles and responsibilities.

With several changes in the status of current and past board members, we look forward to the Nominations Committee’s work and selection of new board members in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Mary Kay Woodworth | Executive Director

The Amended and Restated Bylaws can be found on our website (urbanagcouncil.com). Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments! 4 4 4 4

We are also proud to announce a workshop that we are constantly being asked about. Envisor Consulting has partnered with UAC to offer Estimating Success on February 28, 2025 at the UGA Griffin campus. Ben Gandy and Ken Thomas will lead this four-hour workshop, presenting modern estimating concepts

Coastal Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida: We’re coming to you!

For the first time, we’re offering a full day of education for landscape professionals on the coast!

Choose one topic from each time slot:

8:00 am - 8:30 am Registration/Breakfast

8:30 am - 9:30 am AGRONOMICS Turfgrass Fertility for Proper Growth and Pest Management

8:30 am - 9:30 am LANDSCAPE MGMT

Dr. Clint Waltz, UGA

Mosquito Control: Introduction to Mosquito Control and Licensing Julie Fogg, SiteOne Landscape Supply

9:45 am - 10:45 am AGRONOMICS Angry Dogs and Irate Customers: Problem-Solving Turfgrass Issues Dr. Clint Waltz, UGA

9:45 am - 10:45 am LANDSCAPE MGMT

11:00 am - Noon AGRONOMICS Turfgrass Pest and Disease ID and Control

11:00 am - Noon LANDSCAPE MGMT

Mosquito Control: Content for Licensed Applicators Julie Fogg, SiteOne Landscape Supply

Tripp Williams, UGA CAES Columbia County

A Walk Through the Landscape: Outside Hands-On Troubleshooting Dr. Bodie Pennisi, UGA

Noon - 1:00 pm Lunch/Sponsor Presentation/Legislative Report

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm AGRONOMICS Adversity in the Landscape: Educating You and Your Customers Dr. Bodie Pennisi, UGA

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm LANDSCAPE MGMT Basic/Introduction to Pruning

2:15 pm - 3:15 pm AGRONOMICS

Rick Smith, The Pruning Guru

Calibration 101: Your Key to Success

Troy Strickland, SiteOne Landscape Supply

2:15 pm - 3:15 pm LANDSCAPE MGMT Advanced Pruning

Rick Smith, The Pruning Guru

Registration fees include breakfast, lunch, educational sessions PLUS quality time with vendors:

Registration fee, full day ....................................UAC member: $125 ............. Non-member: $175

Registration fee, mosquito control only UAC Member: $50 Non-member: $75

Friday, December 6 | Savannah, GA (check website for specific location) Thank you to our sponsors!

Get the training you and your team need, all in one day, at one location!

Category 41 Mosquito Control

> Mosquito Biology and Behavior

> Mosquito Control: An Integrated Pest Management Approach

> Don’t Label Me: Pesticide Selection, Use, Safety & More

> What Bites Other Than Mosquitoes?

Agronimics

> Common Turfgrass Weeds and Management

> Biological Control in Turfgrass Diseases: Current Status, Latest Research and Future

> Integrating Biological Controls and Fungicide Programming for Diseases in the Landscape

> Abiotic Stress and Disorders in Turf Areas

Horticulture/Tree Care

> Ornamental Disease Issues: What’s Emerging and How to Deal With It

> Dealing with Adversity in the Landscape

> Pruning with Purpose

> The Natives are Restless: Improving Design by Using Native Plants

Business

> The ELITE Formula: Top Performance Hallmarks

> Organizational Development: Scale Your Business

> LEAN IN the Landscape: Field Level Productivity Training

Irrigation/Lighting

> Irrigation Planning: From Sketch to Scheduling

> Two Wire Irrigation: Trouble Shooting

> WIFI Irrigation: Advanced Controls

> Lighting Design and Advanced Installation Techniques

Hardscape

> BioSoils and Pond Management

> Porcelain:It’s Not Tile, It’s a Paver

> Permeable / Alternative surfaces

> Solstice Series Stone: Cover Your Floor and More with Natural Stone Flooring and Veneers

Spanish-Language

> Two Wire Irrigation: Trouble Shooting

> WIFI Irrigation: Advanced Controls

> Proper Paving and Retaining Wall Installation

> How I Got Started and Grew My Company Successfully for 34 Years

> Georgia Pesticide License Review

Sod Solutions wins big Marketing team takes ten awards in national contest

by Cecilia Johnson, Media and Content Manager, Sod Solutions

Scan to watch the “Benefits of Natural Turfgrass,” awarded Best Long Video.

UAC member Sod Solutions traveled to Lake Las Vegas Resort in Nevada in April 2024 for the 35th Annual Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) Meeting and brought home ten communications awards, including a prestigious Gardner Award. Competing among some of the most reputable turfgrass industry marketing companies and publications, Sod Solutions won six First Place Awards, three Merit Awards and a best-in-show Gardner Award.

First Place Awards

Photography, Video & Multimedia

• Best Long Video: “Benefits of Natural Turfgrass” This video also won a Gardner Award for Photography, Video & Multimedia. It details why grass is beneficial to the planet and highlights its role in cooling the environment, improving air quality and fostering biodiversity.

Writing

• Writing for Printed Newsletters: 2023 Turf Review: Mid-Year Turfgrass Industry Review by Sod Solutions

• Writing for Company Website - Original Content: How to Start Urban Container Gardening

Design

• Printed Collateral - Overall Collateral Design: Lawnifi Plant Packs

• Overall Newsletter Design - Printed Newsletters: 2023 Turf Review: Mid-Year Turfgrass Industry Review by Sod Solutions

• Electronic Publishing - Overall Company Web Design: Lawnifi Website

Merit Awards

Photography, Video & Multimedia

• Best Long Video: NorthBridge® Bermudagrass at Palmetto Bluff

Writing

• Writing for Company Website: How to Save Water with a Natural Lawn New Media

• Blogs: Lawnifi Blog

Cecilia Johnson, Media and Content Manager, attended the meeting on behalf of Sod Solutions and serves on the TOCA Board of Directors. She expressed her excitement, saying, “It was an incredible honor to accept 10 awards on behalf of the entire Sod Solutions team at the TOCA awards banquet. I am extremely proud of everyone who contributed to the work recognized this year. We strive to create informative, high-quality content to advance the industry and it’s rewarding to see our efforts acknowledged.”

The TOCA conference, which gathers marketing and communications professionals from all over the country to a new city each spring, will travel to Charleston, South Carolina next year. Sod Solutions looks forward to showcasing the beauty and innovation of their hometown.

For more information or to read award-winning content, visit SodSolutions.com and SodSolutionsPro.com.

Sod Solutions is celebrating 30 years of successfully developing and releasing turfgrasses with over 20 market-leading varieties like Palmetto® St. Augustine, Celebration® Bermudagrass, EMPIRE® Zoysia and more. Based in Charleston, SC, Sod Solutions is your go-to expert resource for lawn and garden content. Reach out to Cecilia Johnson at cecilia@ sodsolutions.com.

Cecilia Johnson at the 2024 TOCA awards banquet displaying the 10 communications awards Sod Solutions won.

WHAT DID YOU MISS?

Sustainable and

profitable

How

to give your clients what they want while feeding your bottom line

by Dr. Richard Ludwig

Q: “My clients want a sustainable landscape, but where do I start and how can I make it profitable?”

This response is for those of us who are super passionate about sustainable design and offering environmentallyfriendly products and services. Too often as design/ builders, we want to impose our ideas on the site and client. Clearly, we’re professionals; we have the knowledge and design savvy to make the correct eco-smart decisions.

Follow their lead

Take heed! With “green” products and services, it’s best to let the client lead. Typically, they are equally passionate and very specific with their needs and wants. Start by being an avid listener and write down everything they say. It will be the backbone of your design solution.

One of my favorite questions when getting to know the client and their wants is, “What breaks your heart?”

This immediately gets to the core of their genuine emotions. Let’s not ever forget that design/build decisions are mostly emotional decisions! Create ownership by focusing on their wants vs. your wants while offering options that they’re excited about. It is virtually impossible for a customer to reject your plan if they’re intimately involved in the design choices.

Try this client-centered activity to get to the bottom of their true wants and needs. Ask your client to rate each of the following on a scale of 1-5, based on their interests:

5 = very interested

4 = somewhat interested

3 = neutral

2 = somewhat not interested

1 = not interested at all

This will provide significant direction into the design and an excellent way to create ownership.

1. Recycle and retain

Create compost pile(s) for all biomass

Mitigate runoff/retain stormwater - create a rain garden, retention pond or bio swales

Other strategies: __________________________

2. Attract wildlife

Attract pollinators, birds and/or other wildlife

Develop/preserve wild areas/native habitat

3. Use Integrated Pest & Pollinator Management (IPPM)

Identify pests, their hosts, life cycles and establish thresholds

_____ Apply pesticides sparingly. Spot applications vs. total coverage

4. Address plant nutrient needs sustainably

_____ Use organic vs, synthetic fertilizers

Use local sourced mulch/organic matter

5. Make sustainable plant selections

_____ Use of natives vs. exotics

_____ Correct selection based on artistic qualities

6. Create an environmentally-friendly lawn

_____ Minimize turf area (add beds and islands)

_____ Use alternatives such as white clover or other groundcovers

_____ Eco-smart turf management (mulching blade, aeration, organic fertilizer and pest control)

7. Select eco-smart hardscape materials

Locally sourced mulch, stone, wood, etc.

_____ Use pervious materials for driveways, patios, decks, etc.

8. Increase energy efficiency

_____ Reduce summer heat

Mitigate chilly winter winds

_____ Insulate home with plant material

_____ Improve heat pump efficiency

Solar powered night lighting

9. Improve carbon sequestration

_____ Minimize landscape maintenance

Feed the soil, build your beds

_____ Layer and mass plantings of large, long-lived plants

Once they have completed this questionnaire, add all items ranked 4 or 5 into your design plans. I can promise they will be excited about your design and be ready to get going!

Did you know...

Valuable video content from industry experts, just waiting for you to press “play.” (And it’s FREE!)

Current UAC members can access previously recorded content from Georgia Urban Ag Council at no charge (just log in as a member to receive your discount). Content is available to non-members at a fee of $5.00 per video.

Did you also know...

If your company is a business-level member of the Georgia Urban Ag Council, your employees are also members. Each employee can have their own member login so they can do things like access the Webinar Vault for free and register for UAC events at a discount.

Need help?

Call 706-750-0350 or email office@georgiauac.com

Topics currently in the vault

Business

• Herding Cats: Bringing Order to Chaos

• The Knowledge Gap: Science, Clients & Compliance Design

• Tips for Improving Designs Using Native Plants

• Cheers in the Garden: Seasonal Color for Spring Irrigation

• Smart Irrigation: Beyond Smart Controllers Legal

• Landscape Contracts: How, What, Why?

• How to Handle an EEOC Complaint of Discrimination Lighting

• LED Landscape Lighting: Design Techniques Maintenance

• Diseases Affecting Landscape Trees and Shrubs

• Small Actions to Improve Ornamental Production

• Identify & Correct Nutritional Problems in the Landscape

• Water Management for Better Plant Health

• Fine Tuning Your Pruning Program

• Environmental Impact of Non-Native Invasive Species Pests

• Turfgrass and Ornamental Pest ID and Management

• Armyworms and Other Emerging Pests Turf

• Turfgrass Disease ID and Management: Latest Research

• Spring Greenup & 2024 Sod Survey Analysis

• Turfgrass IPM Strategies

Magnolia scale Biology and management

by Rajesh Vavilapalli and Shimat V. Joseph, Department of Entomology, University of Georgia

Illustration: Theresa Villanassery

Fig. 2. Life cycle of the magnolia scale (A) matured female scale in the summer and fall; (B) crawler emergence in the fall; (C) crawlers migrate to new growth, settle by inserting their mouthparts and overwinter; and (D) developing nymphs in the spring and summer in the following year.

Magnolias are a common plant species in southern US landscapes, as they are evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs. Native to Asia and the Americas, magnolia species are popular trees because of their attractive flowers, foliage, aesthetic value, requirements for low maintenance, and adaptability to the southern US climate and soil conditions.

Magnolia scale (Neolecanium cornuparvum (Thro); Family: Coccidae; Fig. 1), native to the eastern US, is a specialist, serious pest of native and non-native magnolias.

The magnolia scale is found in 29 US states. In the US, the magnolia scale is one of the largest scales, reaching the size of our thumb. It exclusively feeds on magnolias found in ornamental landscapes.

Description and life cycle

Magnolia scale completes one generation per year in the north (Fig. 2). Adult females have a diameter of ~12 mm (~1/2 inch) and are smooth, elliptical, and convex. The females give birth to young ones (referred to as crawlers) in the fall and overwinter as first instar nymphs.

Crawlers (Fig. 3) often aggregate in masses on the underside of 1 or 2 year-old twigs. They develop through nymphal stages and molt into adult males and females (Fig. 2). In the summer of the following year, crawlers will emerge again.

Crawlers are small (< 1/32 inch), mobile, 6-legged scales with no protective cover on their bodies. Once settled on the bark, they lose all their legs and become immobile. Gradually, they develop a white waxy covering over their bodies and increase in size. A magnifying glass is not needed when their size increases.

As they develop, females change their color to dark brownish-purple and harden their exoskeleton (covering) in the summer. Older females are brown.

Males are smaller than females, approximately 1/8 inch long, and appear as gnats. Once mated, males die.

Although the adult female dies after giving birth to crawlers, the waxy covering will remain on the stem for many weeks, giving the impression that they are all alive.

Fig. 1. Adult Magnolia scale. Matured females (red arrows).

Eric R. Day, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Bugwood.org

Damage symptoms

Similar to other scales, magnolia scales possess piercing and sucking mouthparts. As a soft scale, they ingest photosynthates (sap) from the phloem vessels and weaken trees by depleting essential nutrients. This causes reduced growth, yellowing of leaves, premature leaf drop, and increased susceptibility to other pests and diseases.

Infested trees may exhibit reduced growth and vigor, appearing generally unhealthy. They ingest more sugars than they need and excrete excess sugars as honeydew (Fig. 4). The honeydew excretion coats the leaves and stems, making the surface sticky where the black sooty mold fungus develops (Fig. 5).

The sooty mold fungal covering reduces photosynthesis by physically screening sunlight. The honeydew also draws ants, wasps, and flies seeking sugars for nutrition (Fig. 6). Sometimes, removing infested trees is the best option to stop honeydew dripping from the tree to reduce the damage it causes to cars and buildings. Heavy infestations of magnolia scales can lead to branch dieback.

Host plants

Magnolia scale primarily targets magnolia species, such as southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), star magnolia (M. stellata), saucer magnolia (Magnolia × soulangeana), cucumbertree magnolia (M. acuminata), lily magnolia, (M. liliiflora) and many magnolia hybrids.

Dispersal

Magnolia scale is primarily dispersed through plant trade between nurseries. Because females are immobile and crawlers do not typically move further away from females, they disperse locally. Crawlers can hop on the feet of birds and ants and are actively transported from plant to plant or canopies.

Management

Magnolia scales can be managed through integrated control tactics, such as cultural, biological, and chemical control.

> Regularly monitoring magnolia trees, especially during late summer and early fall, will help detect adults or early signs of infestation, such as honeydew or sooty mold fungus.

> Removing and destroying heavily infested branches to reduce the population size and prevent spread are advised.

> Adequate irrigation, mulching, and fertilization will help trees withstand and recover from infestations and maintain tree vigor and growth.

Fig. 3. Magnolia scale crawlers (red arrows) tended by ants.

Sarah Vanek, Bugwood.org

Fig. 4. Honeydew (white arrow) excreted from the adult magnolia scale (red arrow).

Brian Kunkel, University of Delaware, Bugwood.org

Fig. 5. Leaves with and without black sooty mold fungus developing on honeydew.

Sarah Vanek, Bugwood.org

> Planting resistant magnolia varieties, such as M. grandiflora ‘Little Gem’ and M. virginiana, to reduce infestation is advised.

> Adults and larvae of lady beetles (Hyperaspis signata), syrphid larvae (especially Ocyptamus costatus), lacewings, and encyrtids and eulophid parasitic wasps help reduce magnolia scale infestation.

> Because broad-spectrum insecticides (such as neonicotinoids) can harm naturally occurring predators and parasitoids, it is advised to use them if all other alternative options are exhausted or provided limited control.

Horticultural oils applied during the winter as dormant sprays can reduce scales that overwinter. Systemic insecticides (such as neonicotinoids, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, etc.) applied as bark sprays or soil or stem injections can reduce magnolia scale problems. Because neonicotinoid insecticides are implicated in harming pollinators, such as bees, these insecticides must be used according to label instructions. Because of the waxy layer on their bodies, adult scales are often shielded from chemicals. Application of contact insecticides, such as pyrethroid insecticides (such as bifenthrin and permethrin) and insect growth regulators (such as pyriproxyfen), can be timed in the summer to target the crawler stage. Please thoroughly read the label instructions before using insecticide, as the label is the law!

Fig. 6. Magnolia scale adults with coccinellids and a fly (wooden stake on the left, host stem on the right) feeding on honeydew.

Sarah Vanek, Bugwood.org

Visit urbanagcouncil.com/events for updates and to register.

Landscape: A Nature-Inspired Approach

This class will prepare you to create native plant displays and gardens that are both visually pleasing and environmentally conscious. Drafting supplies provided.

DATE: Tuesday, October 8

TIME: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

The 5:00 dinner that follows is included in your registration!

PLACE: Caldwell Tree Care | 310 E. Crossville Road | Roswell GA 30075

SPEAKER: Dr. Richard Ludwig

REGISTRATION:

> UAC members: $250

> Non-members: $325

Landscape Pro University & Expo - Coastal

DATE: Friday, December 6

TIME: 8:00 am - 3:15 pm

PLACE: Savannah, GA (check website for specific location)

See the schedule on page 6 or visit urbanagcouncil.com/events

Against the Big 3 PBMs Say no to high-cost drugs

by Tara M. Byrd

When it comes to employer-sponsored healthcare, one of the most significant cost drivers is prescription drugs. The traditional Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) that dominate the industry—CVS Caremark, Optum RX, and Express Scripts—operate with a business model that prioritizes profit over transparency and cost-effectiveness, exceeding a whopping $400 billion dollars in combined revenue in 2022. This has led to skyrocketing drug prices and a lack of clarity in pharmacy benefits management.

At Snellings Walters, we are committed to providing our clients with better health plan options that align with their needs and values. One way we achieve this is by partnering with SmithRx and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company, two organizations committed to revolutionizing the pharmacy benefits landscape through affordable medications. Read on for a fascinating take from our Employee Benefits Principal Tara M. Byrd as to why this partnership matters and what it means for you.

The problem with the Big 3 PBMs

The “Big 3” PBMs are partly owned by large health insurance companies and they use their influence to steer drug utilization toward their preferred pharmacies. They also design their formularies to maximize rebates, which they keep, driving up costs for the end user while increasing their own revenues (insider tip: Google stock prices for these companies for eye-opening insight). As a result, employers and their employees bear the brunt of these escalating costs.

Many businesses don’t even realize they have options when it comes to selecting a PBM. But take it from us: Once a company moves away from the Big 3, they can enjoy transparent prices, significant cost savings, and a more straightforward approach to pharmacy benefits management.

The cost-effective alternatives

4 4

SmithRx is a transparent, pass-through pharmacy benefits manager for self-insured employers, whose mission is to revolutionize pharmacy benefits by reducing complexity and medication costs.

Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company is a direct-to-consumer pharmacy dedicated to ensuring that every American has access to safe, affordable medicines at competitive prices.

By partnering with these companies we can offer our clients a more transparent and cost-effective solution for pharmacy benefits. This approach not only saves money for employers but also provides better outcomes for their employees and families.

The financial impact of switching

Choosing to work with smaller, independent companies like SmithRx and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company can yield significant financial benefits.

Employers gain access to detailed data on their prescription drug utilization and can receive rebates that are passed back to them rather than being kept by the PBMs. This transparency allows businesses to make more informed decisions and achieve cost savings that are passed on to employees.

Why we stand against the Big 3

At Snellings Walters, our commitment is to drive better results for our clients’ employees and their bottom line. The Big 3 PBMs are not conducive to this goal, which is why we actively work to help our clients transition away from them, and quickly at that. Our process focuses on minimizing disruption for employees while enabling more affordable prices for employers.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Continued reliance on the Big 3 PBMs perpetuates a system that prioritizes profit over patient care. As these companies continue to hike up drug prices, the burden on employers and the broader healthcare system increases. To combat this, we need more consultants and employers to challenge this new normal and explore alternative approaches.

Questions to ask your benefits advisor

If you’re concerned about your current pharmacy benefits arrangement, here are some key data-driven questions to ask your benefits advisor:

> What data drove your recommendation to place us with our current PBM?

> What rebates are we currently receiving for our RX utilization?

> What alternative PBMs should we explore as the market continues to evolve?

> How do we know this is still the best strategy for us?

You’ll likely find the answers to these questions both surprising and motivating. If you are self-funded, there’s no reason you shouldn’t have access to your data or the savings that are available through rebates.

Challenging the status quo

At Snellings Walters, our partnership with SmithRx and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company is a reflection of our commitment to providing our clients with transparent, low-cost, and purpose-driven insurance plans. We believe in challenging the status quo and working toward a better future for employers and their employees.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help you transition away from the Big 3 PBMs, contact us today to start the conversation.

About the author

Tara Byrd, CIC, is an Employee Benefits Consultant with Snellings Walters.

E: tbyrd@snellingswalters.com

P: 770-268-3688

W: snellingswalters.com

For over 20 years, the Trimax Pegasus has been leading the way in wide-area mowing. The S5 builds on the incredible strength, durability, and efficiency of the previous series to increase machine life and decrease downtime.

Low Maintenance Features Mean Less Downtime:

With zero daily maintenance required, we’ve reduced grease points by 50% and annual grease consumption by 80%

Maintenance-free features that come standard including roller bearings, spindles, and auto-belt tensioning

Your second most important web page

How to write an effective “About Us” page

by Harry Flynn of Twicsy for manta.com

Your “About Us” page is the second most important page on your website, right behind the homepage. A well written “About Us” page will boost your brand’s credibility and increase your website’s conversion rate.

The “About Us” page is where your visitors go to learn more about who you are and what you do. It is an opportunity to share the values, goals, and attitudes of your brand, build your credibility, and gain the visitor’s trust.

Why is this page so important?

If your homepage drives organic traffic, then your “About Us” page helps close the sale. Unless your brand is already a huge household name, a visitor with intent to purchase will want to learn more about you before they buy from you.

The primary objective of your “About Us” page is to establish the credibility of your brand and gain the visitor’s trust. This credibility and trust has a direct impact on the conversion rate of your website.

Most “About Us” pages focus on the history of the company, its goals, and its values. Yes, these are relevant as well, but essentially you need to answer the following questions for the visitor:

4 4 4 4

Can I trust this company?

How long have they been in business?

Who is in charge, and does the company have a professional team?

Why should I buy from them and not their competitor?

Crafting the content for your “About Us” page should focus on answering the above questions. Let us start by looking at the basic design guidelines to keep in mind while writing an effective “About Us” page.

Basics design guidelines

The best “About Us” pages on a website tell a story and take the reader on a journey in which they discover the company story, values, the team behind the brand, and the impact of the business or products on people’s lives. The content and design are both extremely important. The content is used to build trust while the layout and design add to visitors’ overall user experience. Here are three essential elements to bear in mind as you build your page.

> Sequencing

The visitor comes to your “About Us” page seeking to ensure that your business is legitimate and reliable, that their personal and financial information will be secure, and that they can access a team to help them if something goes wrong. These are the three core issues you must address.

Content that addresses these questions must be placed above the fold – that is, within the section of the page that is visible without scrolling. By addressing the core issues first, you improve the user experience and make the visitor more likely to scroll down to read the rest of your page.

Make sure you use a responsive design so your most important content also appears above the fold when a reader visits your site on a mobile device.

> It’s all about conversion

Your “About Us” page needs to be customer-centric because your goal is to convert the visitor into a customer. The visitor who navigates to your “About Us” page is reading it as a prelude to making a purchase decision.

By all means, talk about your brand journey, your values, and business information, and also include links to your social media profiles as it can aid in boosting your followers on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other channels. However, all this must tie into how your product or service addresses the visitor’s needs. What specific problems and pain points can you solve?

> Speak in your customer’s voice

How you speak to your customer depends on who your customer is. Imagine that your ideal customer is sitting in front of you. Now think about how you would talk to them.

The quality of your written content is perhaps the most important aspect of writing an effective “About Us” page. The content should be free of grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors, and should score well on readability indices. First impressions are hard to overcome! Tools like Grammarly and Hemingway Editor can help you tidy up your content. Alternatively, hire a professional copywriter to help you.

Writing an effective “About Us” page 7 critical steps

Now that we understand the relevance of the “About Us” page and the basic guidelines to creating it, let’s move on to crafting the type of content that will generate conversions. Here are seven critical steps to help you.

Give your business a human face. Start by defining the personality of your brand to develop the brand persona. Brand personality is a set of human characteristics that you want customers to associate with your brand.

Here are five basic personality archetypes that you might assign to your brand, along with their associated traits.

• Excitement: Carefree, spirited, and youthful

• Sincerity: Kindness, quality, empathy, family values

• Ruggedness: Active, outdoors, tough, athletic

• Competence: Successful, accomplished, leadership

• Sophistication: Elegant, understated, subtle If none of those sound good to you, don’t worry – you can create your own!

Customers are more likely to purchase from a brand if its personality aligns with theirs (or the one they aspire to). The brand personality creates an emotional association in the minds of your target audience.

Now set about creating a personality and identity to give your brand the human face that will resonate with your audience.

Define your unique value proposition. Your brand’s value proposition comprises the benefits you promise to deliver to your customers. A value proposition highlights how these benefits are delivered by the brand and experienced by the customer. A value proposition answers the question of why someone should do business with your company. It also defines your competitive edge.

When building your brand and defining its value proposition, think of all the benefits your product or service offers and the problems it solves. Take a step back and think about why you decided to make the product or service you sell.

Let’s say you were frustrated with the lack of customization options on mainstream accounting software. Hence, you set up a SaaS company and developed software that is customizable across the needs of different industries. Share that experience as a powerful value proposition.

Your value proposition gives your customers reasons to buy your product.

GRASS

Share your brand story. Your brand story is what makes you unique and allows you to stand apart from your competition. It is the story of your journey from inception to where you stand today. No two brands (even if they are in the same niche) will have the same brand story.

Customers today want to know about your values, vision, and purpose. Customers need to understand the reason you exist before they buy from you. Keep the language of your brand story simple and write from the heart. Avoid hype, avoid making a hard sales pitch, and avoid using buzzwords.

According to research by Headstream, if customers love a brand story, more than half will buy the product in the future, 44% will share the brand story, and 15% will buy the product immediately.

Every brand story needs a backbone, a well-defined structure that ties the story together. The structure of your brand story creates a cohesive impression of your business.

> Define the problem

> Identify the solution

> Proof test the solution

> Reach for new horizons

To understand this structure, let’s look briefly at the brand story of KeepCup. KeepCup is an Australian company that wants to reduce the waste created by non-degradable coffee cups. This was the problem. After four years of research, they created a cup that was both functional and reusable. KeepCup has sold over three million cups since 2009 – the proof of concept. What will your brand’s story be?

Give the customer a behind-the-scene peek. A sneak peek into what happens behind the scenes at your company raises the transparency of your brand. It also raises the engagement level between the customer and the brand. Try not to crowd the page with too many images, you can always give them more information through recurring emails to your customers.

You could introduce them to aspects of your business by showing your team at work. A handful of appropriate pictures are worth a thousand words.

Tell your customers where you are located. Listing your location on your “About Us” page helps in building trust with visitors who are local to the area. If your operations are multi-locational, mention that. Multiple locations or offices add to the credibility of the brand.

Mentioning your location(s) prominently helps your local SEO efforts, giving you a chance to appear in searches with a local intent. It also reassures the visitor that delivery times will be quick, another factor that can affect the purchasing decision. The physical location of your brand with pictures of your office helps the visitor connect with you. Suddenly your brand is more than just a web address.

Showcase your testimonials and awards. Your passion for your brand goes hand in hand with pride in its achievements. Don’t forget to showcase these achievements. They help in building trust in your brand and pushing the visitor towards making a purchase. Display 3-4 customer testimonials on your “About Us” page. Each testimonial should have a picture of the person, plus their name and (if applicable) their company. Keep the testimonial text short and to the point, and ask your satisfied customers to highlight a specific aspect of your product or service that was of help, if possible.

Industry awards are the trophies in your virtual cabinet. A simple picture with the awards your brand has won is worth a thousand words and will go a long way towards converting the visitor to a customer.

Press citations should also be highlighted with relevant links where possible. Press citations in recognized publications go a long way towards increasing the credibility of your brand and building consumer trust.

Add internal links to your “About Us” page. Internal links (links to other pages within your website) give your site SEO credibility and help it to rank higher in organic search results. Make sure you have 3-4 internal links that go from your “About Us” page to some of the most important pages on your website, and viceversa.

You can use internal links from your About Us page to prompt a call to action (CTA). Your CTA could be a range of options, such as signing up for your mailing list, starting a free trial, or scheduling a consultation.

The bottom line

A well designed “About Us” page will go a long way towards building the credibility of your brand, gaining visitors’ trust, and triggering a conversion. The page deals with the what, how, and why of your brand. It is all about telling your story and building your connection with the customer. Above all, keep the content real and relatable to the user, and keep your “About Us” page updated. Learn more at manta.com/resources.

Back to basics

Landscaping hazards and safety

by Grace Hatfield, EHS Daily Advisor

Landscapers are exposed to all kinds of different hazards on a daily basis, ranging from heat and weather hazards, chemical exposures, accidents with machinery or tools, construction dangers, and the physical stress of lifting and other awkward postures. OSHA provides a full list of potential hazards that landscapers face and the possible solutions that can help workers reduce and avoid these hazards altogether.

Hazards

OSHA states that landscapers are in danger of facing the following hazards in their industry:

> Cuts and amputations

> Electrical hazards

> Ergonomics

> Heat and cold stress

> Lifting and awkward postures

> Motor vehicles

> Noise

> Pesticides and chemicals

> Slips, trips, and falls

Landscapers also frequently engage in specific activities that can cause more hazards, including soil preparation and grading, irrigation, hardscape construction, planting, lawns and maintenance, and tree care.

Soil preparation and grading

OSHA defines soil preparation as the process of preparing the existing soil material by loosening the sub-grade and mixing in soil conditioners such as topsoil, humus, and fertilizer to a quality needed for planting and landscaping. It defines grading as the process of moving soil to the desired elevations or the designed contours.

The common hazards that occur during these processes include equipment accidents, slips and trips, vehicle accidents, cuts and amputations, and hearing loss. Employers should combat these hazards by training and certifying operators and drivers. They should also make sure their workers wear ear protection and boots with traction soles, and stay clear of tiller blades.

Irrigation and hardscape construction

Irrigation is the process of installing and maintaining irrigation lines, says OSHA. Landscapers can be exposed to hazardous materials and excavation trenches during this process, along with glue and primer hazards, amputation, and electrocution. Employers should make sure their workers wear protective gloves, stay clear of trencher blades, and that the equipment is inspected.

Hardscape construction can include the building of retaining walls, hard surface patios, decks and walkways, water features, and wood construction. The biggest hazards include cuts and amputations, hearing loss, lifting-related injuries, slips and trips, and the hazards that come with trenching and excavation. Managers must ensure that equipment safeguards are functional and in place, utilize protective systems, and provide the proper PPE and training, including ear protection and saw training.

Planting and tree care

Planting involves installing trees, shrubs, and lawns, tree staking, work area housekeeping, and providing safe crew transportation. According to OSHA, the biggest concerns during planting are lifting-related injuries, heat stress, cuts and hand injuries, vehicle accidents, and slips, trips, and falls. Employers must train and certify drivers and make sure that equipment is inspected before use. Landscapers should keep the jobsite clean, drink plenty of water and take rest breaks, and get help for lifting.

Tree care companies provide specific services such as pruning, chipping and removal, plant health care, cabling, bracing, transplanting, consulting, fertilization, and lightning protection. OSHA says that exposure to overhead power lines, falling branches and tools, and faulty safety equipment can all lead to potential fatalities. Tree care workers are likely to face cuts and amputations, eye and ear damage, electrocution, and getting struck by objects. Management should have their employees wear safety goggles, hard hats, chaps, and ear protection, and comply with the 10-foot power line clearance rule.

Lawn and landscape maintenance

Lastly, a large part of a landscaper’s job is maintenance, which includes mowing, pruning, fertilizing, clean-up, blowing, and safely traveling from one job site to the next. During these activities, workers are at risk of cuts and

amputations, hand and eye injuries, chemical exposures, hearing loss, ergonomics, and vehicle accidents.

Employers need to train drivers to avoid accidents and implement an effective hazard communication program that includes employee training. They should have their workers wear gloves, protective goggles while using blowers, ear protection while using power equipment, and maintain comfortable mower settings. Workers need to use safe-lifting techniques as well.

Originally published at https://ehsdailyadvisor.blr. com/2022/07/back-to-basics-landscaping-hazards-and-safety. Reprinted with permission.

For the full list of hazards and OSHA recommendations for landscaping safety, visit: www.osha.gov/landscaping/hazards

SEED sponsorship opportunities

SEED sponsorships offer our members an opportunity to promote their businesses and support UAC at a level beyond the membership dues.

Five tips to avoid “epic fails” when hiring Slow down so you can hire faster

by Jeffrey Scott, MBA, Jeffrey Scott Consulting

Mis-hires are the biggest cost to an organization. They cost you significant time, money and organizational momentum - which I believe is the biggest cost of all.

An epic fail.

Recently a peer group member shared with us an “epic fail.” He had hired a manager who seemed to have great potential,...but over time it became clear that the manager didn’t have all the skills needed, and he rubbed his peers the wrong way.

When they finally released him, the owner heard from the team what a poor fit this person was. Everyone was upset by the chaos of this hire.

The owner realized he should have made a decision quicker to “promote this person to another company.”

Sound familiar? To avoid this fate here are five tips.

Five tips for hiring with confidence

Chronological question asking.

It’s common to ask someone about their most recent job first, and then the job before that - but it’s an awkward approach.

You get a clearer picture when you ask someone to take you through their history in chronological order. It’s easier to grasp the arc of their career, look for holes, and understand the transitions from job to job.

No trick questions.

Everyone has their favorite interview question, but I believe there is no better question than to dig into the fundamentals.

4 4 4

Have they achieved similar results before?

What parts of the job and your company are they most attracted to?

What do they value most?

To help with this, use a job scorecard. Have the five top skills/responsibilities and the five top results listed for the position, so that the candidate can be scored on their job fit by all people interviewing them.

Hold your interviews from different places. It’s easy to get into a rut when you hold the interviews from the same spot, e.g. always behind your desk.

To help you form new impressions, hold the interviews in different places. And if it’s for a field position, hold at least one interview in the field or shop or from your truck.

The wisdom of the team.

To help you identify if they are a good fit, have their new team members do some of the interviews.

To get clarity on the cultural fit, you need to have your core values written down and universally understood by your team — otherwise, everyone will be following their own compass.

BTW, you can develop some questions around each value by using Chat GPT, or an HR expert.

Hire with their first promotion in mind.

As you hire key positions, vet them for both the current role and their next role as well. This will help you see more clearly if they are competent for today’s job. It will also set you up for future success, by hiring people who are easily trainable for the next level.

Hiring better people may raise your payroll costs by e.g. 10%, but it will also help you earn a higher ROI and build a stronger organization.

Stay focused on the output!

Image by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay

A poor hire will cost you money, and a great hire will make you money.

Your challenge:

Slow down, so you can hire faster

There are, of course, other tools you can use, like how you ask for references, doing back ground checks, etc.

My most successful clients are systematic with their hiring process.

4 4 4

They have taken time to develop the tools and a methodology

They are always hiring, looking for great people to help them scale.

They cut bait quickly when they mis-hire.

Get team buy-in: more eyes on the candidate helps avoid those epic failures.

Our secret interviewing technique

Ask the candidate to videotape themselves answering a couple of key questions - about what excites them most regarding your firm and the job.

The “secret” is: they tend to gravitate/talk about what they like best, and it shows who they are at their core.

Like winning at any sport, it’s all about the fundamentals. Slow down, get the process dialed in, and then you can speed up by getting proactive.

About the author

Jeffrey Scott, MBA, is the leading authority on growth and profit maximization in the landscape industry.

Learn more and subscribe to Jeffrey’s free newsletter at jeffreyscott.biz.

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Build Lifetime Friendships: Never again will you have the feeling that you are alone. Build lasting connections with business owners you can lean on; who truly care and will help you succeed.

Propel your business into 2025

Year-end financial and tax planning

by Peter Thelen Sr., CPA, President of Thelen Financial Certified Public Accountants

As the end of the year approaches, it’s crucial for business owners to take a proactive approach to financial and tax planning. Properly managing your finances and understanding the nuances of tax law, not only will save you money this year but also set your business up for success in the coming year. In this article, we will discuss key strategies involving depreciation and capital expenditures, tax credits and incentives, retirement plan contributions, and year-end forecasting and budgeting.

These measures, when executed with precision, can provide a solid foundation for a financially sound and prosperous 2025.

Depreciation and capital expenditures

Buy what is needed, not just for tax savings

One common misconception is that purchasing equipment solely for the sake of tax deductions is a sound financial strategy. While it’s true that capital expenditures can be depreciated to reduce taxable income, it’s essential to focus on what your business genuinely needs.

Strategic purchases

Strategic purchases are investments in equipment and assets that will enhance your operational efficiency and contribute to your growth. Often an investment in capital could, over a period of time return a multiple of savings in labor cost. Such investments are typically tax-advantaged transactions. Work closely with your CPA to evaluate the potential tax benefits of these purchases. They can help you navigate Section 179 deductions, which allow for the immediate expensing of certain assets, and help you understand the implications of bonus depreciation.

Maximizing depreciation benefits

Depreciation is a powerful tool, but its true value lies in strategic management. Your CPA can assist in determining the optimal depreciation method and timing for your asset purchases given the type of your business tax structure. Also to consider in maximizing depreciation is differences between federal and state depreciation. This strategic approach can significantly impact your taxable income and cash flow.

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

Avoid overbuying

The key is to purchase what your business needs, not what merely what offers a tax break. Unnecessary purchases can strain your cash flow and burden your business with debt. Thoughtful, need-based capital expenditures can improve your service offerings, increase efficiency, and enhance profitability.

Tax credits and incentives

Don’t wait until it’s too late

Tax credits and incentives can provide substantial savings for businesses and owners, particularly in states like Georgia, which offers several state-specific programs. However, these benefits often require timely action, especially in the fourth quarter. Some of the tax credits to keep an eye out for are retaining tax credits, pass through entity tax credits and various other charitable tax credits.

Retraining tax credits

Georgia offers retraining tax credits that can offset the costs of employee training programs. This not only improves your workforce’s skills but also reduces your tax liability. This is also a potential cost offset of investing in updated technologies in your operations. Plan and implement these training programs before the year-end to take full advantage of the credits.

Pass-through entity tax exclusions

Georgia’s pass-through entity tax exclusions can significantly impact profitable landscape companies. Understanding these exclusions and structuring your business appropriately can result in considerable tax savings. Collaborate with your CPA to ensure your business is taking full advantage of these exclusions. The pass-through tax does have significant penalties if not paid timely so do not delay in having this conversation.

Act promptly

Many tax credits and incentives require action before the end of the year. Delaying these decisions can result in missed opportunities. Regularly consult with your CPA to stay updated on available programs and ensure you meet all deadlines. By acting in the fourth quarter, you can strategically position your business to maximize the benefits of these credits and incentives, enhancing your profitability and reducing your tax burden.

Retirement plan contributions and profit sharing

Building wealth and saving taxes

Effective year-end forecasting and budgeting are essential for maximizing financial and tax planning. By preparing in the fourth quarter, you can ensure a smooth transition into the new year and avoid cash flow issues in winter months or from mis-timed capital purchases. 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Retirement plan contributions and profit-sharing arrangements are powerful tools for tax planning and wealth building. Proper planning and execution of these strategies can save thousands in taxes while securing your financial future. Contributing to retirement plans such as 401(k)s, SIMPLE IRAs, or SEP IRAs offers immediate tax benefits by reducing taxable income. Additionally, these contributions grow tax-deferred, enhancing your long-term wealth.

Recent developments have made these strategies available to all business owners regardless of employee counts or compensation levels.

Your CPA or an independent TPA can work up potential tax savings and ideal structures for these plans.

Profit sharing

Implementing profit-sharing plans for your employees can further reduce your taxable income while incentivizing your employees. These plans allow you to allocate a portion of your profits to employee retirement accounts, fostering a sense of ownership and loyalty among your team. The fourth quarter is an ideal time to make retirement plan contributions. Once you have forecasted your financial performance and determine the maximum contributions you can afford, often the deposits don’t have to be completed until well in the following year. This not only optimizes your tax savings but also ensures you’re fully utilizing the benefits of these plans and optimized cash flow.

As with all strategies and financial advice, you should consult your CPA so they can guide you through the complexities of retirement plan contributions and profit-sharing arrangements, ensuring compliance with IRS regulations and maximizing your tax savings for your particular situation.

Forecasting for the upcoming year

The key to cash flow management

A proper year-end planning process involves reviewing your financial statements and performance metrics to forecast your year-end financial position. This involves projecting your revenues, expenses, and profitability. Accurate forecasting provides a clear picture of your financial health and informs strategic decision-making such as making plans for Q1 and Q2 of the following year.

4 4 4

Budgeting for the upcoming year

Create a detailed budget for the next year, considering all aspects of your business operations. This includes revenue projections, anticipated expenses, capital expenditures, and tax obligations. A well-structured budget helps you allocate resources effectively and set realistic financial goals.

Cash flow management

One of the most significant benefits of Q4 planning is improved cash flow management. By forecasting and budgeting, you can anticipate potential cash flow gaps and take proactive measures to address them. This might involve securing lines of credit, adjusting payment schedules, or optimizing receivables and payables.

Continuous monitoring

Regularly review and adjust your budget throughout the year to reflect changing circumstances and ensure you stay on track. This dynamic approach to budgeting enhances your financial flexibility and responsiveness. Some companies have the capacity to do full forecasts and budget analysis monthly, some do it quarterly. Hiring a fractional CFO to assist you with the monthly review can pay dividends with more timely data.

Conclusion

As green industry business owners, taking a proactive approach to year-end financial and tax planning is crucial. By strategically managing depreciation and capital expenditures, leveraging tax credits and incentives, optimizing retirement plan contributions, and conducting thorough year-end forecasting and budgeting, you can set your business up for a successful and financially sound 2025.

Collaborate closely with your CPA to navigate these complex areas and develop a comprehensive plan tailored to your business needs. With careful planning and execution, you can minimize your tax liabilities, enhance your profitability, and ensure your business thrives in the coming year.

Remember, the decisions you make in the fourth quarter can have a lasting impact on your financial health. Don’t wait until it’s too late—take action now to propel your business into 2025 with confidence and stability.

About the author

Peter Thelen is Founder of Thelen Financial Certified Public Accountants, A Georgia Urban Ag Council member.

The former CFO of a landscape company, Thelen has spent the last decade either in a landscape company or other industry companies before moving into public practice. 3625

Welcome!

The Center for Urban Agriculture has a new director

We are very pleased to annouce that the UGA Center for Urban Agriculture has appointed its first full-time director, Dr. Bethany Harris.

The Center (located on the UGA Griffin campus) currently supports Extension and research programs in sustainable turfgrass, urban environment, nursery and landscape, irrigation/water issues, local food, professional training and certification, and urban forestry.

Since the Center’s founding in the 1990s, UAC has advocated for the need to fill this position. We view the Director’s position as being a liaison to bring together multi-disciplinary teams of departmental and county faculty and industry partners to solve urban issues, advance urban agriculture across Georgia, and engage nationally in this effort.

Dr. Harris’ background and experience within industry and academia will be of great benefit to the Center, UGA and industry. We look forward to working with her and have already met to discuss UAC’s role in the industry, our relationship with UGA, and the priority of hiring a new GCLP/GCPP coordinator as we advance training and certification opportunities. Please join us in welcoming Dr. Harris!

Industry experience

After earning her degrees and working on pollinator research, Bethany Harris served as the Director of Education and the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens. This role included planning and facilitating horticulture, entomology, and environmental programs for K5-12th grade students, homeowners, and education groups and overseeing the 7,000 square-

Dr. Bethany Harris Center for Urban Agriculture Director

MS Entomology, PhD Horticulture

Email: bethanyharris@uga.edu

Contact: 770-228-7247

Office: 1109 Experiment Street, Center for Urban Agriculture

foot tropical butterfly conservatory. She most recently worked as instructor and program coordinator for the Horticulture Program at Southern Crescent Technical College, assisting in training and workforce preparation of students entering the horticulture and turfgrass industry. In her free time, Bethany enjoys beekeeping, tending to her backyard flock, playing guitar, and traveling.

Thank you to our GrowPAC charter donors!

««««« Pike Creek Turf, Inc.

««««« The Turfgrass Group

««« Thomas L. Bradbury

««« McIntyre Turf

««« Sumter Sod

««« Sunbelt Turf Farms, LLC

««« Tolar Capitol Partners

«« Joseph G. Burns

«« Teddy Russell

Learn more and join them! Application on page 31.

UGA Griffin Turfgrass Team recognized

Griffin team wins Fox McCarthy Award

The work of the UGA Griffin Turfgrass Team leads the way for very impactful outdoor water conservation opportunities. In recognition of their long-time collaboration and research that has made and continues to make a great contribution to water conservation in Georgia, earlier this year the Georgia Urban Ag Council nominated the UGA Griffin Turfgrass Team, led by Dr. Clint Waltz, for the Georgia Water Wise Council/Georgia Association of Water Professionals’ “Fox McCarthy Award.”

The UGA Turfgrass Team has spent decades focusing on water conservation and water management in the landscape. The current team includes Dr. Clint Waltz, Dr.

Congratulations to Dr. Clint Waltz and the UGA Turfgrass Team in Griffin for their outstanding research, data collection and education on the progress of drought tolerant turfgrass.

Paul Raymer, and Dr. David Jesperson. Retired faculty members Dr. Bob Carrow and Dr. Gil Landry led the charge in the late 1980s through their retirements.

Since Dr. Waltz’s arrival at UGA, the state’s water issues have influenced the industry and Waltz’s Extension program, which has focused on sustainability of turfgrass and the landscape. Dr. Waltz, along with his colleagues, have developed a nationally and internationally recognized program on water conservation/water management in turfgrass and landscape systems.

The research and data that the team provided to state policy makers during Georgia’s last statewide major drought in 2007 was instrumental in crafting water policy and legislation.

The team continues to blend traditional programming with novel techniques as water conservation and improved turfgrass water-use efficiency continue to be critical issues, with Georgia’s population expected to grow to over 14.5 million people by 2030.

Their work will include integrating innovative technology into turfgrass management and information delivery. With new turfgrass research and education facilities brought to the campus in 2017, the UGA Turfgrass Team is seeking funding for additional innovative research projects to benefit water conservation. Dr. Waltz looks forward to leading the team, and their industry collaborators, in investigating options that will generate sustainable funding for facility operations, education (i.e., practitioners, undergraduate, and graduate students), research, and information delivery.

Outdoor water use on lawns has historically been vilified by local water authorities and conservationists. Now turfgrass research and drought-tolerant cultivars are receiving awards from the water industry and those seeking to save water resources. Congratulations to Dr. Clint Waltz and the UGA Turfgrass Team in Griffin for their outstanding research, data collection and education on the progress of drought tolerant turfgrass.

GEO R GIA

Gro w PAC

Georgia Urban Agriculture Council’s Political Action Committee Initiative

“Together

We Grow”

There is much our members have done individually to support elected leaders, and we want to build on this success while continuing to grow our outreach among elected leaders...together we grow.

To further these efforts, on July 11, 2024, your Georgia Urban Agriculture Council Board of Directors formed a Political Action Committee (PAC) called Georgia GrowPAC. This PAC will have several functions, including:

« Supporting the campaigns of political candidates friendly to our initiatives;

« Educating elected officials and key decision makers on issues important to the landscape, turfgrass, nursery, and other sectors of the urban agriculture/green industry; and

« Advocating to advance our industry and commonalities.

Contributions from Georgia GrowPAC will be restricted to non-federal candidates in their races for legislative and statewide offices.

As you are aware, government action can make the difference between the success of your business and the sustainability of our industry. In addition, as we experience each legislative session, the groups that we must battle for law changes have proven to be good at generating PAC contributions – we must compete in this arena.

The Georgia Urban Agriculture Council has grown and adapted over our 40 years of service to this industry. Advocating for our diverse green industry business interests in the legislative and regulatory arenas is critical to our future success.

Georgia GrowPAC will be an effective tool for our industry to show strong support for candidates, especially in election years. Georgia GrowPAC needs your contribution. We must act now, or we run the risk of being left behind.

Your corporate or personal commitment will help us prepare today - all donations are welcome.

To accomplish our goals, we have set up five levels of giving…please provide as much support as you can: c 5 Star: $2,500+ c 4 Star: $1,500 c 3 Star: $1000 c 2 Star: $500 c 1 Star: $250 c Other: _________

Name of contributor (person or company):

Mailing address:

Phone number:

Email address:

Checks payable to Georgia GrowPAC can be mailed to:

Georgia Urban Ag Council

2566 Shallowford Road, Suite 104 – Box 117

Atlanta, GA 30345

To pay by credit card, please contact: Mary Kay Woodworth Direct: 770-359-7337 Office: 706-750-0350

Georgia GrowPAC is an IRS 527 organization. Donations from individuals and/or businesses are not tax deductible.

SkillsUSA Atlanta hosts national landscape competition

by Jill Odom, National Association of Landscape Professionals

2024 marks the NALP Foundation’s third year attending the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta as the industry pushes to bring a national landscape competition at the high school level.

SkillsUSA serves as a workforce development organization representing 130 in-demand occupational areas, from plumbing and carpentry to architectural drafting and heavy equipment operation.

Jenn Myers, executive director of the NALP Foundation & senior director of workforce development, says that the SkillsUSA organization helps young people prepare for careers with both hard and soft skills. Over half of the students in the organization go straight into the workforce after graduating high school.

“The students here are just so engaged, so mature, and so wanting to learn and be successful,” Myers says. “It’s so refreshing and exciting to be around the future generation and feel so good about it.”

More than 16,000 students, teachers, education leaders and representatives from 850 national corporations, trade associations, businesses and labor unions participated in this year’s event.

Over 6,000 of those students competed in 115 hands-on skill and leadership competitions on June 26-27.

“We are so lucky to have this great event here in Atlanta,” says Mary Kay Woodworth, executive director of the Georgia Urban Ag Council. “We have so much opportunity here in the Southeast and have these students from all in the country here, being in our city, learning about our industry. We thought that this was going to be leaving Atlanta in 2028 and we’ve learned that it’s going to be here until 2033. I was talking to one of my board members earlier today, and he just was blown away. This is an unbelievable opportunity and the visibility we have in our own backyard is terrific.”

SiteOne loaned the NALP Foundation a variety of plants to create a mini park on the show floor. Part of the goal of this design was to get visitors to think about who cares for these green spaces.

The booth featured volunteers from different industry companies. Ben Miller, a design intern with Ed Castro Landscape Inc., based in Roswell, Georgia, demonstrated his design skills on AutoCAD and colored some of his designs. Some engineers and students studying architecture were familiar with the AutoCAD software while others were seeing it for the first time.

“Everything that we do is try to shape the land to be its most natural self and create spaces that not only look great but draw people into the area, which I think this booth has done a fantastic job,” Miller says.

Robert Bowers, P. ENG., vice president of engineering – hardscapes for the Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association (CMHA) says the booth is a good combination of the two associations’ focuses.

“It’s not just plants,” Bowers says. “It’s not just pavers. It’s an environment that we’re creating. I think it takes all the materials to achieve truly something that people like to see and like to live in.”

Bowers says the students he talked to expressed an interest in working outside and creating something with permanence.

“I am starting to see more and more interest in I like to work with my hands,” Bowers says. “I like to see that I’ve accomplished something. I want to get outside of the standard cubicle model of being employed.”

Jill Odom, NALP

Darby Gilbert, corporate and talent acquisition manager for Landscape Workshop, based in Birmingham, Alabama, who returned to SkillsUSA for her second year, says they’ve been able to build on last year’s efforts.

“I think our industry is getting more and more traction as far as especially the crossover careers,” Gilbert says. “We’ve had a lot of conversations where it’s not just an introduction anymore. It is a conversation about the crossovers. People have heard of us now. People know what we’re doing now and it’s a conversation about a career.”

Mark Svozil, vice president and general manager with The Davey Tree Expert Company, based in Kent, Ohio, says this growing workforce can fill the vacancies landscape companies have.

“We need to start controlling our own destiny by looking at this available workforce that’s very talented, has a lot of energy and is willing to put in the effort,” Svozil says. “We have to do more.”

Aside from creating general awareness of the crossover careers in the landscape industry, the NALP Foundation is also working to have a national competition at SkillsUSA. First, at least 15 states need to conduct state competitions.

“Those competitions are all decided each year by the individual state directors in each state,” Myers says. “We have been working very closely with those connections to try to help them understand why they should be doing a state competition and also all the support that they would have in their local area.”

Currently, 14 states have shown interest in having a state landscape competition and seven have already done a state competition.

Myers says having a national competition is important from a visibility standpoint for the landscape industry.

“The end goal really is getting our industry taught in classrooms and having curriculum in classrooms that supports the work that we do,” Myers says. “Having the competitions at the state and national level help drive that.”

Svozil encourages other landscape professionals to also attend SkillsUSA, walk the floor and share with students the opportunities that the landscape industry offers.

“If you can’t be here, show your support financially to NALP so they can find ways to expand on what we’re doing,” Svozil says. “What’s already being done is amazing, but there are so many other ways that we can capture this audience by being creative but we got to have the financial support to do that.”

Thanks to all of our partners who helped during this year’s SkillsUSA!

> Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association

> Ed Castro Landscape

> Environmental Management, Inc.

> Georgia Urban Ag Council

> HighGrove Partners, LLC

> LandCare LLC

> Landscape Workshop

> Pacific Landscape Management

> Plants Creative Landscapes

> Pro Cutters Lawnscapes

> Russell Landscape Group

> SiteOne Landscape Supply

> STIHL

> The Davey Tree Expert Company

If you are interested in engaging with SkillsUSA at the national or state level or want more information, please contact Jenn Myer at jenn@landscapeprofessionals.org or Pam Moore at pam@landscapeprofessionals.org.

Jill Odom, NALP

Josh Chalfant

Dr. Grady Miller Advancing turfgrass science and education

by Cecilia Johnson, Sod Solutions Media and Content Manager

Dr. Grady Miller, PhD, is a Professor and Extension Turfgrass Specialist and the ENVU Distinguished Professor of Sustainability at N.C. State University. Growing up on a cattle farm in Florien, Louisiana, he developed an early interest in agriculture. As a firstgeneration college graduate, he pursued an Agriculture degree at Louisiana Tech, inspired by his teachers and family. This path eventually led him to become a leading figure in turfgrass science, with a career spanning several esteemed institutions and impactful roles.

During the summer of his junior year at Louisiana Tech, he worked for Rohm and Haas Chemical Company in the Mississippi Delta. Initially planning to teach agriculture, Miller completed education requirements at Louisiana Tech, earning his teaching certificate alongside his degree in Agriculture. But when he graduated, Rohm and Haas offered him a job to return to Mississippi, where he stayed before leaving for Baton Rouge to get his master's degree at LSU. Near the end of his graduate program, Miller’s professor left LSU, so Miller made friends with some turfgrass majors and decided to take a horticulture course after finishing his graduate requirements.

Educational background

A shift in his interests led him to pursue turfgrass science, inspired by LSU faculty members like Jack Fry, now a Turfgrass Science Professor and Extension Specialist at Kansas State. “He wasn’t there long, but I was impressed with Jack and turf. I’d been in forages and decided turfgrass might be more interesting. I finished

my master’s and when I was looking where to go, I met Professor Ray Dickens at Auburn University,” he said. Miller thought he’d be someone he’d enjoy working with, so he went to Auburn for his PhD in Turfgrass Science. “That’s how I ended up in turfgrass and certainly never looked back since starting my PhD in 1990,” he said.

The same week he graduated from Auburn, he started his professional career at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He spent nearly 12 years there, progressing from assistant to full professor and teaching five courses a year as the primary teaching faculty for the four-year turf program. “I was totally immersed in teaching when I was at Florida and enjoyed it—meeting new students and following them in their careers. I went to some of their weddings. I get Christmas cards with their family pictures on them now from students I taught 20-plus years ago. It's just a lot of joy seeing young people develop and grow up. It’s very fulfilling,” Miller said. Even for the students who aren’t in the industry anymore, he enjoys seeing what they’ve all gone on to accomplish.

In 2006, shortly after he was promoted to full professor at Florida, Miller took a position at N.C. State, replacing longtime educator and extension specialist Art Bruneau as he entered a phased retirement plan. The role included research, teaching and extension work, which Miller explained is adult education for industry professionals. He’d done some extension work at Florida, but not as a primary component of his job.

Over the past 18 years, more faculty members have retired, leading to Miller teaching more university classes. Now, his extension and teaching appointment are about the same. For the first ten years there, he only knew a handful of undergraduate students, but now his career has come full circle as he’s resumed teaching undergraduate students and is getting to know them better.

Shaping future leaders in turfgrass

Miller has taught many students who have excelled in the green industry, significantly impacting various roles. While he can't recall any current graduate students in academia full-time, some are still involved part-time. A handful of his former students are now adjunct faculty and community college teachers. Several of his students are thriving in the chemical company sector.

One notable graduate student of Miller’s is Casey Reynolds, Executive Director of Turfgrass Producers International (TPI). After earning his PhD, Reynolds began his career as a faculty member at Texas A&M. Miller expressed pride in Reynolds' accomplishments, noting his significant impact on the industry.

Many of Miller’s former students have worked at prestigious locations like Augusta National, including Asa High as Senior Assistant Superintendent and Max McQuade as an assistant in training for several years. His students from the University of Florida have gone on to work at TPC Sawgrass, the USGA and throughout the golf industry. Some individuals have delved into sports turf management, including professionals with renowned teams like the Miami Dolphins. Former student Danny Losito, CSFM, holds the role of Director of Sports Fields and Grounds for the Carolina Panthers. He also taught two Sod Solutions employees, Director of Florida Operations Mark Kann and Director of Production Joel Lane.

He’s taught hundreds of students, making it hard to recount all who have entered the turfgrass industry. Miller has seen students excel through people skills, influencing others and leading by example, showing personality traits can be as influential as knowledge. He advises young professionals to gain diverse experiences and actively participate in the industry. “Use the time while you’re in school to think outside the box, get out of your comfort zone, go somewhere exotic, manage some grass you've never managed before, just use that opportunity because that’s a time when it’s very forgiving to explore or make mistakes. Get involved and make your voice heard,” he said.

New turfgrass releases

Part of Miller’s extension role is researching new germplasm through the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) and germplasm from various breeders, such as N.C. State’s Dr. Susana Milla-Lewis or commercial breeders at seed companies. They conduct regional trials and take the time to look at germplasm regardless of where it comes from, particularly when it comes from their own university. N.C. State recently released Lobo™ Zoysiagrass and Sola® St Augustinegrass, with Miller playing a key role in their trials and evaluations.

“Lobo has a darker green color, nice texture and has done phenomenally under low input roadside DOT (North Carolina Department of Transportation) trials. It offers something different from what's available now and is an attractive grass,” he said. “Being able to see something not only different but better than what's commonly used

Drs. Grady Miller and Toralf Senger at NCSU’s Lake Wheeler Research Lab.

Drs. Susana Milla-Lewis and Grady Miller announce Sola® St. Augustinegrass at the annual N.C. State Lake Wheeler Field Day.

Dr. Grady Miller at SCRI Sandhills in 2011.

is pretty exciting. It's exciting for our industry, for our university and our breeding program.”

Miller feels the same way about Sola, seeing it as great for the southern United States. For North Carolina, Sola will work well for older neighborhoods with tall fescue and large tree canopies. “It offers a great alternative in a warm season grass they haven’t had before. That’s pretty cool to bring to a homeowner or builders putting in these landscapes to suggest a St. Augustine that will fit this situation pretty well,” Miller said. He thinks Sola will replace standard grasses in Florida, the Gulf Coast and Texas. Miller said the characteristics of these new turfgrass varieties may differ from state to state. For example, drought tolerance might justify using Lobo in California and Arizona, while its beauty might make it popular in North Carolina. “It can have multiple traits and sell based on different attributes.”

In addition to Lobo and Sola, Miller has evaluated germplasm through the Specialty Crops Research Initiative (SCRI) since its inception in 2010. Funded by a $3.8M USDA-NIFA grant, this project aims to improve drought and salinity tolerance for sustainable turfgrass in the southern U.S. It involves a team from Texas A&M, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, Oklahoma State, and N.C. State, allowing breeders to exchange and evaluate experimental lines across diverse environments.

Miller explained that this has opened up a huge opportunity for evaluating germplasm, similar to the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) and regional trials. It has also allowed him to collaborate with many scientists within the SCRI program. “It’s exciting we put together that group years ago and have continued to grow each project. We’re in the process of submitting our final round of research focusing on acceptance of new cultivars. It’s been cool to see it come full circle.”

He explained that new research initiatives are underway to transition from cool to warm-season grasses and that he is excited to see what they will learn.

Collaborations and challenges

Miller emphasized collaboration in the turfgrass industry through education, information exchange and problemsolving. “Almost nothing is done alone in a vacuum. All the great things we do in life are probably shared with other people. Anytime we can work with others or share information, it only makes the industry better, stronger and more responsive to problems and issues,” he said. He added that involvement in the industry fosters trust and respect.

“Misinformation can be damaging to this industry. You’d think such an environmentally friendly plant as turfgrass would be heralded as something that will help us environmentally. Still, sometimes it’s portrayed the opposite because of ‘water hogging,’ ‘full of pesticides’ and other misconceptions.”

Miller believes it’s essential to demonstrate successful turfgrass management in low-water usage areas despite the need for irrigation in some places. He stressed the importance of countering misinformation with accurate information. He also expects improved water use efficiency and reduced inputs, with alternative power sources and technological advancements playing significant roles. Looking ahead, Miller is excited about the work being done to install natural grass inside indoor stadiums for the World Cup. Although this work isn’t happening in their state, he finds it fascinating and relevant to the broader industry.

Contributions

Miller finds it hard to pick the accomplishment he’s most proud of. “Training students and young minds is something I’m certainly very proud of. A lot of accomplishments. I can also relish the students' accomplishments and successes.” Seeing a grass on the market and knowing he contributed brings a sense of pride. “Anytime you have something come out of your program that succeeds, whether it's grasses, people, products, new techniques or information that people are using and it helps solve problems, it’s certainly a source of pride.”

Miller has been a columnist for Sportsfield Management Magazine since September 2000, recently writing his 141st column. “That’s probably the longest single contribution I’ve made consistently in the turf industry in my career. If you had told me back then I’d be writing

Dr. Grady Miller teaching a sports turf logo lab in March 2006.

this for a quarter of a century, I would have said you’re crazy,” Miller said. He initially thought they’d move on after a few columns, but he continues to enjoy writing and the positive feedback. Many in the industry know him through his column and he values the questions and comments he receives. “It’s been a very great thing for me because it offers me a platform to educate and help people and has provided a lot of visibility for what I do and what I represent.”

Miller also co-authored Best Management Practices for Carolina Sports Fields, a guide for Carolina sports field managers, with Bert McCarty of Clemson University in 2021. The second edition will be available this summer on Amazon. These books are updated volumes of their first sports book published in 2005, serving as a reference for sports field managers, students and regulatory agencies.

He’s been acknowledged for his hard work and dedication in the industry with several awards, including the SFMA Henry Daniel Founders’ Award, TPI’s Educator Award, Crop Science Society’s Fred Grau Turfgrass Award, and being named a Fellow by the Agronomy Society of America.

Dr. Miller’s career is a testament to the significant impact one individual can have on an industry. From his roots in Louisiana to his current position at N.C. State, Miller has dedicated himself to advancing turfgrass science through education, research and extension work. His legacy is cemented in his students' achievements and advancements in turfgrass varieties and management practices.

Miller met his wife, Lisa, just as he left LSU to go to Auburn University. They dated long-distance for four years before marrying the same week he started his career at Florida. Both Louisiana natives enjoy returning to visit family and eat local cuisine. In his free time, Miller enjoys cycling, traveling, hiking and being outdoors with Lisa.

Sod Solutions is celebrating 30 years of successfully developing and releasing turfgrasses with over 20 market-leading varieties like Palmetto® St. Augustine, Celebration® Bermudagrass, EMPIRE® Zoysia and more. Based in Charleston, SC, Sod Solutions is your go-to expert resource for lawn and garden content. For media inquiries and visual materials, email cecilia@sodsolutions.com.

Soil testing Maintaining productive soils by UGA

Extension

Developing and maintaining productive soils begins with soil testing. Soils tests provide information on the soil’s actual nutrient status. Test results are used to determine the amount and kind of nutrients that should be added for the best growth of lawn, garden, and other types of plants.

Steps in soil sampling

Recommendations about when and how to apply nutrients are only as good as the soil sample submitted for analysis. To obtain a representative soil sample, the following steps are useful: identify sampling locations (zones), determine the sampling depths, use the right sampling tools, sample at the right time, and handle the samples accordingly.

Sampling locations

Map out the area where the plants are to be grown or are presently growing. This will help in recordkeeping and ensure that the soil is taken from throughout the entire area. Divide the area such that each soil sample represents one plant type or condition. An area that has been divided according to obvious differences in plant types, plant performance, soil types, and drainage is shown in Figure 1. Use a zigzag approach when taking samples. Collect eight to 10 soil samples from each location (zone) as shown in Figure 1. For trees and shrubs, take soil samples from six to eight spots around the drip line of the plants.

according to vegetation and soil characteristics. Yellow dots indicate sampling points.

Sampling depth

The depth of sampling depends on the type of plants being grown. For lawns, sample to a depth of 4 in. For gardens, ornamentals, mixed fruit trees, and wildlife plots, sample to a depth of 6 in.

Sampling time

Soil sampling should be done well in advance of planting or spring green-up. This allows adequate time for sample analysis, data interpretation, and fertilizer and lime application.

Sampling tools

Use clean sampling tools and containers to avoid contaminating the soil sample. Never use tools or containers that have been used for fertilizer or lime. Collect samples with tools like trowels, shovels, spades, hand probes, or hand augers.

Sampling procedures

Clear the ground surface of grass thatch or mulch (Figure 2). Using a trowel, push the tool to the desired depth into the soil. Push the handle forward, with the spade still in the soil to make a wide opening. Then, as shown in Figure 3, cut a thin slice from the side of the opening that is of uniform thickness, approximately 1/4-in. thick and 2 in. in width, extending from the top of the ground to the depth of the cut. Collect from several locations. Combine and mix them in a plastic bucket to avoid metal contamination. Take about a pint of the mixed soil and place it the UGA soil sample bag. Be sure to identify the sample clearly on the bag and the submission form before mailing.

Sample handling

Samples should be air dried overnight. Dry samples on a flat surface lined with clean white paper. Take care to avoid contamination. After drying, transfer the sample to a soil sample bag and bring it to your local Extension office to fill out the submission forms and to let them know which recommendations and information you need.

Locate your county office on the Extension website (extension.uga.edu/county-offices.html) or call 1-800-ASK-UGA1.

Figure 1. Area divided

Figure 2. Remove grass thatch or mulch before sampling.

Figure 3. Soil sampling with a trowel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When and how often should soils be tested?

A: Soils can be tested any time during the year. However, allow enough time for the analysis and for fertilizer and lime application. Lime reacts slowly and, if possible, it should be mixed with the soil 2 to 3 months before planting. Generally, fall is the most desirable time to sample because landscapes and gardens are usually dry and easily accessible.

Once medium or high fertility levels are established, lawn and ornamental areas need to be sampled every 2 to 3 years.

Vegetable gardens should be sampled every 1 to 2 years.

Q: How soon will I get my results back (turnaround time)?

A: The analysis takes 2 to 3 working days from the time the lab receives the samples. In general, it takes 4 to 6 days from the time we receive the samples to the time you get your test reports back.

Q: Who do I contact regarding my soil test results and recommendations if I don’t understand the numbers?

A: The Soil Test Report provides an interpretation of all soil tests done by the Soil Testing Lab and is accompanied by appropriate nutrient and lime recommendations. If you need further information about your test results, contact your local UGA Cooperative Extension office at 1-800-ASK-UGA1.

Q: What if I don’t have the suggested fertilizer or want to use organic amendments?

A: We have tools and bulletins to help you make the appropriate conversions. Visit our website at (aesl.ces. uga.edu) to find our fertilizer calculator and other helpful info.

Q: Can I visit or contact the UGA soil lab?

A: We welcome all questions and visitors to the lab. You may contact us at soiltest@uga.edu.

This content was modified and adapted in part from Owen Plank’s Soil Testing for Home Lawns and Gardens

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Native plants for Georgia, Part I Trees, shrubs and woody vines

by Gary Wade, Elaine Nash, Ed McDowell, Brenda Beckham, Sharlys Crisafulli

Reviewed by Bodie V. Pennisi, Professor & Vincent J. Dooley Endowed Chair of Ornamental Horticulture

There are many definitions for native plants.

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Several references say native plants are those that grow naturally in a particular region without direct or indirect human intervention.

Other references place a historical timeline on native plants, saying they are plants that were present in a particular area prior to European settlement of that area.

Others say they are plants that have inhabited a particular region for thousands of years.

Even the federal government published an “official” definition in the Federal Register, defining native plants as those that are “naturally occurring, either presently or historically, in any ecosystem of the United States.”

Before the development of the nursery industry, native plants were the only choice for landscape plantings. Early settlers transplanted dogwood, redbud, oak-leaf hydrangea and other plants with appealing qualities from the woods into their landscapes. Harvesting native plants from the wild for landscape purposes is no longer acceptable and is illegal in some areas. Today, nurseries and garden centers offer a wide variety of native plants, and some even specialize in native plants exclusively.

Why plant native plants?

A native plant community, left undisturbed and incorporated into a landscape, is lowmaintenance and self-sufficient. Today, there is a growing interest in preserving native landscapes as “green space” in residential communities, giving them a park-like ambiance and providing space for birds and other wildlife. A casual stroll through a woodland setting teeming with ever-changing flora and fauna is a relaxing and peaceful diversion from our daily lives.

Native plants provide “watchable” wildlife habitats. Native butterflies, insects, birds, mammals, reptiles and other animals evolve with the native flora and are sustained by it year round, providing diverse food, shelter and support for native food webs. They also create a sense of place, fostering appreciation of our natural heritage and the diverse beauty of unique regional landscapes.

Weather extremes, either temperature or drought, have shown us one of the best and most practical reasons for using native plants — their adaptations to local climate. Many Georgians will recall the extremely low temperatures in December 1983 and January 1985 that killed or critically damaged many introduced species. Few native plants, however, were injured because of the cold hardiness they had developed over many generations. When provided with growing conditions like those of their native habitat, native plants are dependable additions to cultivated landscapes.

Ecological preservation is another reason for using native plants. With the increasing destruction of natural environments for urban and agricultural use, many plant species and the animals they support have declined dramatically in numbers and in range. In fact, some native plants, having a limited growing range and very specific growing requirements, may decline or die when subtle alterations are made in their native habitat. Oconee-bells (Shortia galacifolia) and Florida Torreya (Torreya taxifolia) are examples of plants that require specific habitats and are rare in the woods of Georgia. Failure to conserve, tend and preserve the habitats of these and other native plants can lead to their extinction. Habitat protection and preservation are obligations of all Georgia citizens.

Plant ecology of Georgia

The ecological diversity in Georgia is complex and wideranging, from high mountain ridges of north Georgia to flatwoods and swamps of south Georgia. Among the geographic regions of the state, numerous ecosystems or environments exist where unique plants and animals have adapted. In some cases, plant species have adapted to very specific and restricted environmental conditions. Others occur over much wider and more general environments.

Georgia environments can be divided into a number of basic groupings: wet, moist, dry, upland or bottomland. There are more than 100 distinct environments or plant communities in the state. Depending upon past adaptive changes in each of these environments, some plants will be dominant while others will be rare or unable to survive. Plants grow where they do because they have finely adjusted to the local environment. For

example, some plants require a bare, mineral soil for seed germination. A thick layer of pine straw or leaf litter on the surface of the soil will prevent this type of species from getting started. Some bottomland species of trees grow well on upland sites once they have germinated. Their seeds, however, require wet soils in which to germinate. Other plants are tightly constrained by the environment to small ecological niches or “homes.” Although many of these plants will not grow and reproduce in cultivated landscapes like they do in their native habitat, they can adapt and become fine specimens.

Planting trees in areas similar to their native habitat will maximize their chances of survival and success.

In nature, the macroclimate of an area, including winter and summer temperature extremes, precipitation and humidity, dictates the geographic distribution of a native plant. For instance, white pine and sugar maple can be found in the mountains of north Georgia, but the heat and humidity of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain restrict their occurrence in south Georgia. Fevertree (Pinckneya

bracteata), Red Titi (Cyrilla racemiflora) and Black Titi (Cliftonia monophylla) are limited to the southern half of the state because the soils and climate there satisfy their special growing requirements.

Environmental features such as moisture, soil pH and sunlight level of a smaller, more focused area, are called the microclimate.

Subtle changes in microclimate influence where native plants grow. Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latafolia), for example, is common in certain areas of north Georgia, but it is rarely found in the Coastal Plain. Pockets of Mountain Laurel, however, can be found as far south as the Florida panhandle in areas where it receives its required growing conditions, including adequate moisture, shade and cool soils.

Establishing native plants

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Design considerations

Our native habitats are full of subtle beauty that can be skillfully and beautifully incorporated into our gardens.

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Beautiful, deep bluegreen most of the year Golden in dormancy

Few people can resist the dramatic and breathtaking beauty of native azaleas, the fragile white blooms of the Silverbell (Halesia spp.) or the delicate white, drooping spikes of Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum). True plant lovers will carefully select from the array of plants available, both native and introduced, to create the most beautiful and functional gardens possible.

People who own naturally wooded lots or acreage will benefit from and enjoy the shade, coolness and beauty of a forest. There are several ways to develop these types of properties while capitalizing on their native beauty. One way is to leave the largest and healthiest trees that form the canopy untouched, remove weak, spindly and diseased trees, then selectively thin the undergrowth. Pine straw and leaf litter left on the site provide natural mulch, and grass and/or ground cover planted in open areas fill the gaps where trees have been removed.

Another approach is to remove no more vegetation than is necessary to locate and build the house. This hands-off approach is more environmentally friendly. It preserves species diversity and distribution, and maintains the natural environment. If other species are introduced, their cultural requirements should be compatible with those of plants already there.

Unfortunately, many new landscapes do not have a plant community already in place. It takes time for a tree canopy and subsequent plant community to evolve on a site. If existing trees are small, delay planting shade-loving plants until tree canopies develop and cast shade. Deciduous trees provide moist, fertile mulch for understory plants. Broadleaf evergreens, coniferous trees and shrubs are useful in providing natural windbreaks, screening unattractive views, and creating areas of privacy for outdoor living and enjoyment.

In large, sunny, open areas, such as fields and rightsof-way, native grasses may provide a low-maintenance alternative to turfgrasses. Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus) and other early succession forbs, may already be present in open, sunny areas. Mints, goldenrods, asters and legumes can often be found growing naturally with many native grasses. These areas can be mowed once a year to prevent forest succession. Otherwise, they can be left alone.

Site evaluation and plant selection

The guidelines when planting a native landscape are the same as those for any landscape: select plants adapted to the soil, local site conditions and climate. Putting the right plant in the right spot will help ensure your longterm satisfaction and success with the landscape. Also, make certain all plants in a given location have similar cultural requirements for ease of maintenance.

Native plants vary widely in their requirement for plant nutrients and soil pH (a unit used to measure the acidity or alkalinity of a soil). Since pH influences nutrient availability in the soil and nutrient uptake by the plant, it is a useful measurement to know before planting.

A soil test, available through your local county extension office for a nominal fee, will provide information on the nutrient content and pH level of the soil. Many soils in Georgia are acidic (pH less than 7.0). Most native plants grow well at a slightly acidic pH around 6.0, although some ericaceous plants, like blueberries and rhododendrons, prefer strongly acid soils having a pH below 5.0.

Although native plants generally do not require supplements to their native environment, adjustments may be necessary when they are planted outside their native habitat to provide suitable soil fertility for best growth.

The level of sunlight is an important consideration. Most large trees require full sun to grow and develop properly because, in nature, they are dominant plant species. Planting sun-loving plants in shaded areas will result in spindly, weak growth, while planting shade-loving plants in full sun may cause leaf scorching or anemic-looking foliage.

Plants that naturally occur under the shade of more dominant trees are called understory plants. To simulate the understory, plant shade-loving native plants where they will receive partial shade, particularly during the afternoon when sunlight levels are usually more intense. It often requires one to two growing seasons to determine

Gary Wade, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org

Mountain silverbell (Halesia tetraptera)

when a plant can adjust to the specific light environment provided. Furthermore, light levels change as the plant canopies mature and change.

Water is essential for plant growth. In nature, plant growth on moist sites is usually abundant and lush. On dry sites, plant growth is often sparse and stunted. Plants vary tremendously in their need for moisture and their tolerance of moisture extremes. Northern and eastern exposures, slopes and bottomland are normally moist, while southern and western exposures, ridge tops and rocky soils tend to be dry. Red maple, bald cypress, willow and buttonbush are common species found in wet areas, although they will also adapt to dry sites when planted in landscapes. Species that occur where it may be wet in winter and dry in summer, such as southern wax myrtle and yaupon holly, also are reliable landscape plants.

For a sustainable stream bank environment, plant native trees and shrubs. Over time, grass alone will not keep stream banks intact during flooding. Stream banks have moist, well-drained soils that fit the habitat needs of several native species, including rhododendron, mountain laurel, stewartia and oakleaf hydrangea. Trees such as tulip poplar, black walnut and southern sugar maple also require moist, well-drained soils for best growth and are excellent choices for stream bank planting.

Dry sites are home to some of our toughest native plants, including some oaks, persimmon, beargrass, some pines, sassafras and sumac.

If rainfall is not adequate, all newly installed plants, including native plants, need supplemental watering their first year or until they become established.

Site preparation and establishment

Good soil preparation is essential for satisfactory plant growth. Dig a large hole at least two times wider than the root ball of the plant and as deep as the root ball. Remove any rocks, roots or other debris from the excavated soil and work it up thoroughly. Set the top of the root ball level with the soil surface or slightly above the surface if the soil is prone to settling. Then backfill with the same soil removed from the hole and water thoroughly to remove air pockets. Mulch with pine straw, pine bark, hardwood mulch or other organic material.

For more detailed information on the planting process, see UGA Extension Bulletin 932, Soil Preparation and Planting Procedures for Ornamental Trees and Shrubs. https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail. html?number=B932&title=soil-preparation-and-plantingprocedures-for-ornamental-plants-in-the-landscape

Medium and large trees

American Beech / Fagus grandifolia

American Holly / Ilex opaca

American Yellowwood / Cladrastis kentukea

Bald Cypress / Taxodium distichum

Black Gum, Tupelo / Nyssa sylvatica

Black Walnut / Juglans nigra

Chestnut Oak / Quercus prinus

Eastern Hemlock / Tsuga canadensis

Eastern Red Cedar / Juniperus virginiana

Green Ash / Fraxinus pennsylvanica

Hickory Species / Carya

Laurel Oak / Quercus hemisphaerica

Live Oak / Quercus virginiana

Loblolly Pine / Pinus taeda

Longleaf Pine / Pinus palustris

Northern Red Oak / Quercus rubra

Palmetto Palm, Cabbage Palm / Sabal palmetto

Post Oak / Quercus stellata

Red Maple / Acer rubrum

River Birch / Betula nigra

Scarlet Oak / Quercus coccinea

Shortleaf Pine / Pinus echinata

Shumard Oak / Quercus shumardii

Slash Pine / Pinus elliottii

Southern Magnolia / Magnolia grandiflora

Southern Red Oak / Quercus falcata

Spruce Pine / Pinus glabra

Sugar Maple / Acer saccharum

Sugarberry / Celtis laevigata

Swamp Chestnut Oak, Basket Oak / Quercus michauxii

Sweetgum / Liquidambar styraciflua

Sycamore / Platanus occidentalis

Tulip Poplar, Yellow Poplar / Liriodendron tulipifera

Virginia Pine / Pinus virginiana

Water Oak / Quercus nigra

Willow Oak / Quercus phellos

White Ash / Fraxinus americana

White Oak / Quercus alba

White Pine / Pinus strobus

Yellow Buckeye / Aesculus flava

Small trees

American Hornbeam / Carpinus caroliniana

Big-Leaf Magnolia / Magnolia macrophylla

Bigleaf Snowbell / Styrax grandifolius

Buckthorn Bully / Sideroxylon lycioides (Syn. Bumelia lycioides)

Carolina Buckthorn / Frangula caroliniana

Carolina Silverbell / Halesia tetraptera

Cherry Laurel / Prunus caroliniana

Downy Serviceberry / Amelanchier arborea

Eastern Hophornbeam / Ostrya virginiana

Eastern Redbud / Cercis canadensis

Florida or Southern Sugar Maple / Acer barbatum

Flowering Dogwood / Cornus florida

Fringetree, Grancy-Greybeard / Chionanthus virginicus

Georgia Oak / Quercus georgiana

Loblolly Bay / Gordonia lasianthus

Mayhaw / Crataegus aestivalis

Narrow-Leaf Crabapple / Malus angustifolia

Ogeechee Lime, Ogeechee Tupelo / Nyssa ogeche

Parsley Hawthorn / Crataegus marshallii

Possumhaw / Ilex decidua

Red Bay / Persea borbonia

Sassafras / Sassafras albidum

Sourwood / Oxydendrum arboreum

Turkey Oak / Quercus laevis

Two-Winged Silverbell / Halesia diptera

Washington Hawthorn / Crataegus phaenopyrum

Wild Olive, Devilwood / Osmanthus americanus

Yaupon Holly / Ilex vomitoria

Shrubs

Adam’s Needle, Beargrass, Spanish Bayonet, Threadleaf

Yucca / Yucca filamentosa

American Beautyberry / Callicarpa americana

American Bladdernut / Staphylea trifolia

American Snowbell / Styrax americanus

Arrowwood Viburnum / Viburnum dentatum

Black Titi, Buckwheat Tree / Cliftonia monophylla

Blackhaw Viburnum / Viburnum prunifolium

Bottlebrush Buckeye / Aesculus parviflora

Button Bush / Cephalanthus occidentalis

Common Witchhazel / Hamamelis virginiana

Darrow’s or Glaucous Blueberry / Vaccinium darrowii

Deerberry / Vaccinium stamineum

Devil’s Walkingstick / Aralia spinosa

Drooping Leucothoe / Leucothoe fontanesiana

Dwarf Fothergilla / Fothergilla gardenii

Dwarf Palmetto / Sabal minor

Fetterbush, Pipestem / Agarista populifolia

Fetterbush / Lyonia lucida

Sparkleberry / Vaccinium arboreum

Florida Anise-Tree / Illicium floridanum

Gallberry, Inkberry / Ilex glabra

Georgia Basil / Clinopodium georgianum

Groundsel Bush / Baccharis halimifolia

Hillside or Blue Ridge Blueberry / Vaccinium pallidum

Honeycup / Zenobia pulverulenta

Hoptree, Wafer-Ash / Ptelea trifoliata

Horse-Sugar, Sweetleaf / Symplocos tinctoria

Littlehip Hawthorn / Crataegus spathulata

Mapleleaf Viburnum / Viburnum acerifolium

Mayberry / Vaccinium elliottii

Mountain Laurel / Kalmia latifolia

Mountain Stewartia / Stewartia ovata

Needle Palm / Rhapidophyllum hystrix

Oakleaf Hydrangea / Hydrangea quercifolia

Painted Buckeye / Aesculus sylvatica

Pinckneya, Feverbark / Pinckneya bracteata

Rabbiteye Blueberry Cultivars / Vaccinium virgatum

Red Basil, Scarlet Calamint / Clinopodium coccinea

Red Buckeye / Aesculus pavia

Red Titi, Swamp Cyrilla / Cyrilla racemiflora

Rhododendron & Deciduous Azalea Species

Rhododendron, Evergreen Species

Rusty Blackhaw / Viburnum rufidulum

Saw Palmetto / Serenoa repens

Small or Yellow Anise-Tree / Illicium parviflorum

Southern Highbush Blueberry / Vaccinium corymbosum

Southern Wax Myrtle / Morella cerifera

Spice-Bush / Lindera benzoin

Strawberry-Bush / Euonymus americanus

Summersweet Clethra / Clethra alnifolia

Swamp-Haw / Viburnum nudum

Sweetshrub / Calycanthus floridus

Virginia Sweetspire / Itea virginica

Winged Sumac / Rhus copallina

Winterberry / Ilex verticillata

Yellow-Root / Xanthorhiza simplicissima

Woody vines

American Wisteria / Wisteria frutescens

Carolina Yellow Jessamine / Gelsemium sempervirens

Climbing Hydrangea / Decumaria barbara

Crossvine / Bignonia capreolata

Dwarf Smilax, Sarsaparilla Vine / Smilax pumila

Lanceleaf or Sweet-Scented Smilax / Smilax smallii

Trumpet Honeysuckle / Lonicera sempervirens

Trumpetcreeper / Campsis radicans

Virginia Creeper / Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Detect and protect Expert tips to identify and control poison ivy

by Mark Czarnota, Extension Horticulturist, UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

The old saying “leaves of three, let it be” is a helpful reminder to avoid plants like poison ivy. These plants contain urushiol oil, which nearly 90% of people are allergic to at varying degrees.

Poison ivy is infamous for causing allergic reactions in up to 50 million Americans annually, according to the American Skin Association. To manage it effectively and safely, it’s important to understand its traits and use the right control methods to deal with this troublesome plant.

In his University of Georgia Cooperative Extension publication, Controlling Poison Ivy in the Landscape, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences horticulturist Mark Czarnota provides helpful tips to distinguish poison ivy from common look-alikes and shares several management options for controlling the irritating plant around the home.

Poisonous principles

Poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) is a common poisonous plant in Georgia. It thrives in moist, deciduous forests and wooded areas but is also found in various agricultural and residential landscapes.

Atlantic poison oak (Toxicodendron pubescens), a related species, inhabits similar habitats. The American Medical Association estimates that poison ivy and Pacific poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) cause more cases of contact dermatitis in the U.S. than all other plants and household and industrial chemicals combined.

All parts of poison ivy are poisonous year-round. The oily compound urushiol, found in specialized resin ducts, is toxic.

It is quickly released if the plant is damaged. People are commonly exposed as they brush against the plant and bruise the leaves. Exposure also occurs when people come in contact with the toxin by touching equipment, clothing or animals that have been in contact with poison ivy. Dogs and cats, for example, often transfer the toxin to people.

Symptoms of contact with poison ivy include skin inflammation, rash, itching and blistering. It’s important not to burn poison ivy, as the toxin can be carried on soot particles in smoke and cause severe allergic reactions if inhaled.

Anyone working outdoors or participating in activities like hiking and camping should first learn to identify poison ivy to avoid allergic reactions. Residents can use various management techniques to reduce the presence of poison ivy in their landscapes.

Distinguishing from common look-alikes

Poison ivy is a woody perennial belonging to the cashew (Anacardiaceae) family. It may grow as a small shrub or a high-climbing vine with aerial rootlets on trees, fence rows and buildings. In contrast, poison oak usually grows as a small shrub. Poison ivy reproduces by creeping roots and seeds. Leafy shoots can grow from the creeping roots several yards away from the parent plant.

Poison ivy leaves are alternately arranged on the stem, with each compound leaf consisting of three bright green, shiny leaflets. The leaflets are elliptic to egg-shaped with smooth, toothed or lobed margins. The upper leaf surface is smooth, while hairs are commonly found on the veins of the underside.

The shape and texture of poison ivy leaves can vary significantly, making them easy to misidentify. The saying “leaves of three, let it be” helps avoid confusion. While this approach may lead to unwarranted suspicion of non-toxic plants, it is important to consider sensitivity to poison ivy.

Box elder (Acer negundo) is a plant found in Georgia that is often confused with poison ivy. Box elder seedlings have a leaf with three leaflets that resemble poison ivy. The most distinguishing difference is that box elder leaves are oppositely arranged on the stem, while poison ivy has alternate leaves.

Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), a vining plant similar in growth habit and appearance, may also be confused with poison ivy. The difference is that Virginia creeper has compound, palmate leaves with five leaflets. Occasionally, Virginia creeper plants have three to seven leaflets.

Poison ivy flowers are small, with five yellowish-green petals arranged on slender stalks. The fruit is grayishwhite, nearly round, about 1/5 of an inch in diameter and containing a single seed. More than 55 bird species are known to consume poison ivy fruits.

Managing poison ivy in the landscape

Poison ivy will not tolerate repeated tillage, cutting or mowing. Continually clipping the plant at or near ground level during the year for several years will eventually control poison ivy.

Poison ivy shoots commonly encroach from wooded areas into newly established lawns. To prevent the spread of poison ivy into the lawn, start by controlling the plant in any adjacent wooded areas.

Digging or “grubbing out” poison ivy plants and roots can be used as a control method in small beds of landscape ornamentals. To prevent contact with the poison, waterproof gloves should always be worn when handling poison ivy plants, including the roots.

Paul Wray, Bugwood.org

Box elder leaves are often confused with poison ivy. Notice how leaves are oppositely arranged on box elder, where they alternate on poison ivy.

Using herbicides

Numerous herbicides are available for controlling poison ivy. Follow label directions carefully. Due to the plant’s extensive root system, multiple applications are usually necessary, and repeat applications should be made at the full-leaf stage of growth.

Here are three chemical options: > Glyphosate: Glyphosate is the active ingredient in several common herbicide products found in retail stores. The best control is achieved when glyphosate

as a high-climbing

Ansel Oommen, Bugwood.org

Virginia creeper, also confused with poison ivy, has compound, palmate leaves. It most commonly has five leaflets, but occasionally plants have three to seven leaflets.

Poison ivy can grow

vine with aerial rootlets on trees.

Joseph LaForest, Bugwood.org

is applied directly to poison ivy foliage on a warm, sunny day when plants are actively growing. Glyphosate requires a one-hour rain-free period and can be used along fence rows, as a spot treatment in turfgrasses and pastures, and as a directed treatment in ornamentals and fruit and nut trees. It should not be used on windy days to avoid injuring other plants.

> 2,4-D: Often sold in mixtures, 2,4-D is only marginally effective when used alone. 2,4-D and 2,4-D mixtures will not injure most turfgrasses and other grasses, but numerous broadleaf plants, like ornamentals, fruit trees, muscadines and many vegetables are highly sensitive to 2,4-D. Spray drift can severely injure these plants.

> Triclopyr: While mostly used in commercial agriculture and forestry, some trade names are available at retail stores. Triclopyr should be applied to poison ivy at the full leaf growth stage on a warm, sunny day. This product is recommended for use around homes, fences and in non-garden areas. It can be used near ornamentals, but do not spray in windy conditions as droplets can drift to susceptible plants.

When applying herbicide, always follow the specific guidelines on the label and take necessary precautions to minimize drift to avoid damage to non-target plants.

First aid

Sensitivity to poison ivy varies among individuals. Symptoms usually appear 12 to 48 hours after contact but may take several days to develop. If contact is suspected, immediately wash the skin with soap and cold water and wash clothes with detergent to prevent further exposure. Make sure to bathe pets that may have come into contact with poison ivy, as the oil can remain on their fur and spread to humans or other surfaces they touch. Only the oily toxin can spread the rash. The fluid contained in blisters is non-allergenic.

Several products on the market, like Tecnu, Ivy-Block, and Ivy-X, can prevent or reduce the formation of allergic reactions if used immediately after suspected exposure. Numerous topical ointments and lotions are also available for treating poison ivy symptoms. A physician or pharmacist should be consulted for the appropriate treatment.

To learn more about identifying and managing poison ivy and other troublesome weeds commonly found in home landscapes, refer to the “Weed Wizard” series from UGA Extension.

https://extension.uga.edu/publications/series/detail. html/42/weed-wizard.html

North Pole arborvitae

Perfect choice for living Christmas tree

by Norman Winter, Horticulturist, Author and Speaker

The North Pole is waiting for you! I’m not talking about a geographic location or small village where Jolly Saint Nick and his crew are making toys, but a tree or shrub that will put you in the holiday spirit for this season and years to come. North Pole is a selection of arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis, that will have you singing “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

I’ve seen displays of them at a local garden centers and they even had red ribbons as if shouting to shoppers with the suggestion, “Here Is Your Living Christmas Tree”! STOP THE PRESSES. This beautiful North Pole Arborvitae is not just for Christmas; it can become your front porch focal point come spring, the pinnacle of your patio garden in the summer and - of course - your living Christmas Tree the next year, too.

I got two North Pole arborvitae in 2021 and since have fallen madly in love with them. You may also find other conifers to suit your Christmas needs.

The Garden Guy is a closet conifer junkie. That being confessed, another one of my favorite living Christmas trees is Soft Serve Gold false cypress. The false cypress is known botanically as Chamaecyparis pisifera.

It is recommended for zones 4-8 and as the name suggests, it has foliage that is bright and golden throughout the year. So, for Christmas it was adorned with lights and ornaments and in May it was showing out as the thriller plant with Superbells Tangerine Punch and Black Currant Punch calibrachoas and a lime green Dolce heuchera.

The front porch area is obviously the place where my Christmas display is set up. It is hard to believe this area so close to the front door is frequently visited by deer, foxes and creatures of which I do not know. It is not uncommon to find several Christmas ornaments from the trees glistening brightly 30 feet away down the slope. So, I am relegated to using decorations that will not break once they hit the concrete surface.

I planted my living Christmas trees in the self-watering ceramic AquaPots. I have a combination of tall red and shorter white selections to add to the holiday color scheme and to partner with lighted candy canes. I added a couple of strings of white lights to make it festive. The self-watering AquaPots really come in handy as December watering chores are mostly eliminated.

This spring will come decision time as the six conifers I have in AquaPots will be starting year four, and I expect are root bound. I’ll pull a couple to check the root system and see if they need to head to spots in the landscape. I am already planning ahead and this will play into my decision making. I have two small new shrubs called Berry Box Pyracomeles growing on the patio in white

Decorated living Christmas trees can be the thriller plants for cool-season color such as Primo Wild Rose and Dolce Appletini heuchera and Diamond Snow euphorbia.

AquaPots. They have hundreds of red berries now but aren’t quite large enough this year. Berry Box is an exciting new plant. Botanically speaking, Pyracomeles is a hybrid of the Pyracantha and Osteomeles and has no thorns. So next year if everything goes accordingly the white AquaPots with berry laden Pyracomeles bushes will be in front of tall red AquaPots with North Pole arborvitae. Sounds pretty and festive too!

Consider the North Pole arborvitae for a living Christmas tree this year. Children or grandchildren will get a kick out of the name and have fun helping decorate it too.

About the author

Norman Winter is an author and speaker on horticultural topics. Follow him on Facebook for more photos and garden inspiration: Norman Winter The Garden Guy

A living Christmas tree is the perfect way to say, “welcome” to family and friends during the holiday season.

After Christmas the conifer becomes the thriller plant in your container, like this Soft Serve Gold false cypress with Superbells Tangerine and Black Currant punch calibrachoas and Dolce Appletini heuchera.

This North Pole arborvitae is the focal point of this patio display.

Effective bed prep for native wildflowers Controlling weeds and encouraging anthropods

by J. Spencer. Shelton, Bodie Pennisi, and Mark Czarnota

Native flowering forbs plantings have been found to support diverse arthropod (insects, spiders) communities by providing year-round forage and refuge from prey and chemical pollutants. Typically, pollinator habitats are planted from seeds; however, poor establishment and weed pressure often result in limited success of the planting.

About the study

In this study, we evaluated two bed preparation techniques: a glyphosate treatment with no tillage and tillage with soil fumigant (dazomet) to determine their impact on herbaceous perennial transplants establishment, weed control, and arthropod presence.

Our results suggest that:

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forbs grown in beds that are tilled and treated with dazomet exhibit greater growth, produce more blooms, and experience reduced weed pressure compared to plants grown in untilled beds treated with glyphosate; the bed preparation method had no effect on arthropod activity, despite higher bloom counts in plants grown in beds prepared with tillage and dazomet applications; and

of the fifteen native flowering forbs examined in this study, a majority attracted abundant and diverse insect populations, despite variations in plant growth and bloom counts due to bed preparation treatments.

Timing and location

This study extended over three consecutive years during the growing seasons of 2020, 2021, and 2022. The study was conducted in a peri-urban environment 24 miles south of Atlanta, Georgia, on property owned by Trilith Studios (461 Sandy Creek Rd, Fayetteville, GA 30214, USDA Plant Hardiness zone 8a). The site was previously used as rangeland and has remained fallow for at least two decades. The study site was an open field that extended 100 feet at a slope of less than 5° towards a major roadway. Soil type at the experiment site is classified as a piedmont series: fine, mixed, superactive, thermic Udertic Argiustolls. Testing determined that the site’s soil was composed of clay (sand 40%, silt 20%, clay 40%) with a pH of 4.99 and organic matter (2.24%), carbon (0.28%), and nitrogen (0.02%).

Design, plot layout, and treatments

The experiment was designed as a strip-plot experiment with two factors (bed preparation method and plant species) with three replicate blocks and eight experimental treatment plots per block. In each block, four plots were prepared via tillage and dazomet (commercial product: Basamid G®), while the other four plots were left untilled and treated with glyphosate (commercial product: Ranger Pro®). Experimental plots contained two randomly planted subsamples of 15 different plant species for a total of 30 plants per plot. The study site was approximately 0.16 acres.

Bed preparation

To prepare seedbeds for planting, no-till plots were treated with glyphosate on three separate occasions. Initially, a treatment solution containing 1.5% glyphosate was applied until runoff to the experimental area with a hand-pressurized backpack sprayer. After observing that the first glyphosate application was relatively ineffective (especially on Rubus sp.), the glyphosate concentration was increased from 1.5% to 5% and two additional applications were carried out with the same equipment. In the tilled plots, a tractor with a tiller attachment roto-tilled plots to a depth of six inches. Dazomet was

Photo by Bodie Pennisi

Smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve var. laeve (L.) is one of the 15 native wildflowers included in this study.

then applied at a rate of 400 lbs·A−1. The dazomettreated plots were then tilled in the same direction at the same depth to incorporate the dazomet into the soil and then packed with a roller. A one-inch rainfall event was stimulated using water hoses to properly activate the fumigant. Once the dazomet had been incorporated, compacted, and activated, a compact utility loader with a trencher attachment dug a six-inch deep trench around the treated plots. Plastic sheeting (HDX 6 mil clear plastic sheeting) was then laid over the plots, and the edges of the sheeting were buried by hand in the trench. This plastic sheeting was sealed in the dazomet and was removed after twelve days, after which trenches were backfilled.

Plant material

Plant material was grown from seeds purchased from Prairie Moon Nursery in Winona, MN. Plants were grown in a greenhouse at the University of GeorgiaGriffin campus. Standard protocols for dormant seed and subsequent seedling establishment were followed. Herbaceous perennial species were selected for the following reasons: native status (Georgia and/or SE region), purported pollinator value, suitability for growth in open areas, tolerance of wet to dry soil conditions, and bloom time.

Discussion

Plant performance

Plants grown in beds prepared with tillage and dazomet were larger, produced more blooms, and faced less weed competition compared to their counterparts grown in beds left untilled and treated with glyphosate. The top performing species were S. pilosum, V. angustifolia, B. asteroides, and R. fulgida.

We found that some species were more impacted by bed preparation than others, with the growth index in nontilled beds being reduced by as much as 55% compared to their tilled counterpart (A. foeniculum). The remaining species exhibited the following percent reduction (in descending order): H. autumnale, 40, B. asteroides, 31, V. angustifolia, 31, A. cernuum, 30, A. virginiana, 21, E. yuccifolium, 20, S. pilosum, 16, S. lyrata, 16, R. fulgida, 13, S. albidum, 12, P. sedoides, 10, A. tuberosa, 9, S. laeve, 8, and Z. aptera, 3.

Since both bed preparation treatments received the same amount of natural irrigation, soil compaction could be the most likely factor causing growth reduction. However, even in the non-tilled beds, soil was loosened to a depth of 10 inches during planting.

All 15 species bloomed as expected, spanning March through September. This factor, along with the finding

Species planted at the Trilith Studio (Fayetteville, GA, USA) research site in 2020 and evaluated in 2021. Scientific name and taxonomic information, common name, native range, and blooming period included (according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s plant database, https://www.wildflower.org/plants/).

Agastache foeniculum ((Nutt.) Britton) (Lamiales; Lamiaceae) anise hyssop

Allium cernuum Roth. (Liliales; Liliaceae) wild-nodding onion

Anemone virginiana L. (Ranunculales; Ranunculaceae) thimbleweed

Asclepias tuberosa L. (Gentianales: Asclepiadaceae) butterfly weed

Boltonia asteroides L. (Asterales; Asteraceae) white boltonia

Eryngium yuccifolium Michx. (Apiales: Apiaceae) rattlesnake master

Helenium autumnale L. (Asterales; Asteraceae) common sneezeweed

Penthroum sedoides L. (Saxifragales; Penthoraceae) ditch stonecrop

Rudbeckia fulgida Aiton. (Asterales: Asteraceae) orange coneflower

Salvia lyrata L. (Lamiales; Lamiaceae) lyre-leaf sage

Sisyrinchium albidum Raf. (Asparagales; Iridaceae) blue-eyed grass

Symphyotrichum laeve L. (Asterales; Asteraceae) smooth blue aster

Symphyotrichum pilosum L. (Asterales; Asteraceae) hairy aster

Vernonia angustifolia Michx. (Asterales; Asteraceae) narrow-leaf ironweed

Zizia aptera (A. Gray) Fernald (Apiales; Apiaceae) meadow zizia

Northeastern US June to September

Northeastern US June to August

United States April to May

Eastern North America June to August

Eastern North America

August to September

United States June to September

Eastern North America August to October

North America July to September

Southeastern US June to October

United States April to June

North America May to July

North America September to October

North America August to October

Eastern US June to September

North America May

Performance of 15 species of native perennials growth at Trilith Studio research site in 2020 and 2021. Data pooled from both bed treatments. Species arranged from highest to lowest values for growth index.

The 15 species of native perennials grown. (A). Agastache foeniculum, (B). Eryngium yuccifolium, (C). Boltonia asteroides, (D). Allium cernuum, (E). Sisyrinchium albidum, (F). Anemone virginiana, (G). Helenium autumnale, (H). Symphyotrichum laeve, (I). Asclepias tuberosa, (J). Penthorum sedoides, (K). Salvia lyrata, (L). Rudbeckia fulgida, (M). Vernonia angustifolia, (N). Zizia aptera, (O). Symphy-otrichum pilosum.

that the plantings attracted an abundant and diverse arthropod community, leads us to conclude that the 15 species can be recommended for provision of seasonlong floral resources.

Weed suppression

Dazomet was effective in suppressing weeds more than eighteen months after its initial application (March 2020). Weed counts were four times greater and weed coverage was more than doubled in no-till and glyphosate plots. Beds treated with dazomet had fewer weeds, less weed cover, larger wild-flower growth, and their plants produced more blooms.

There are several limitations to consider.

> First, dazomet is a restricted-use pesticide and can only be purchased and applied by those possessing the necessary credentials; thus, dazomet is not appropriate for home and garden settings.

> Second, tillage may damage soil structure [56], leading to erosion and soil runoff. Dazomet can only be used if incorporated into the soil by tillage.

> Third, our findings contradict previous research; a study on cropland in Virginia found that wildflowers were more successful in beds that were left untilled and treated with glyphosate compared to beds that were rotary power-tilled [48]. The differences in our results might be explained by the use of dazomet in our tilled beds, but further research is needed to examine the residual effects of both dazomet and tillage.

> Finally, in roadside plantings and other areas, site accessibility might be challenging because applying dazomet demands greater labor and equipment inputs than glyphosate; if a tractor is unable to reach a site, dazomet cannot be used.

Anthropod abundance

This study explored whether bed preparation (tillage and dazomet versus non-tillage and glyphosate) of perennial wildflower plantings impacts arthropod abundance and diversity.

Even though plant growth and flowering were significantly lower in beds prepared with no-till and glyphosate treatments, the bed preparation method did not impact the number of insects that visited the plots where the wildflowers were planted.

Although this result is unexpected in light of the fact that no-till and glyphosate plots contained fewer blooms, it is encouraging that the insect abundance was comparable

to that of tilled plots where plant growth was more robust, indicating that despite diminished plant growth, insects are present. For the top three pollinator groups (i.e., bees, wasps, butterflies and moths), the difference between tilled (bees, wasps, butterflies and moths = 122) and non-tilled (bees, wasps, butterflies and moths = 113) plots was small.

With respect to the insect diversity, arthropods from ten taxonomic orders were detected (flies, Order: Diptera; thrips, Order: Thysanoptera; wasps and bees, Order: Hymenoptera; spider, Order: Aranea; truebugs, Order: Hemiptera; barklice, Order: Psocoptera; beetles, Order: Coleoptera; springtails, Order: Collembola; butterflies and moths, Order: Lepidoptera; crickets, Order: Orthoptera). To the best of our knowledge, this is one of few reports exploring not only flying insects but also ground-dwelling arthropods (i.e., springtails, ground beetles, crickets, spiders).

Flies, and in particular long-legged flies (which were the most observed species in the present study), are typically present in high numbers on flowers, and often found resting on foliage. They are considered pollinators as well as biological control agents as adults feed on softbodied arthropods such as aphids, springtails, and many insect eggs. While thrips have typically been assigned to the category of “pests,” recent studies have claimed that thrips are beneficial as “minute” pollinators and can significantly contribute to the reproductive success of native plants.

Of particular importance was the presence of insects in the group Parasitica. Parasitica is a broad group that encompasses parasitic and parasitoid wasps, which use other insects (many plant pests) as hosts, depositing eggs which develop inside the host insect and kill the host when mature parasitoid wasps hatch. Parasitoid wasps are important biological control agents, and their presence in high numbers is encouraging.

Although there were significantly fewer butterflies and moths compared to bees and wasps (the other two pollinator groups), this variation could be explained by our trapping methods. Passive trapping methods, such as pan and pitfall traps, are highly effective for small- and medium-sized hymenopterans but less effective for larger lepidopterans.

Spiders were captured in both pan traps and pitfall traps. As spiders are predators and consume other insects, their presence is evidence of activity among higher trophic levels. The fact that 158 spiders were trapped also points to the presence of a reasonably abundant arthropod community.

Bloom period of the 15 native perennials evaluated in this study. Plants evaluated from March to September 2021. Individual box color corresponds to flower color.

Arthropod Order/Group Number Mean

Diptera 819 5.69 (1.22) a

Thysanoptera 812 5.64 (0.07) a

Hymenoptera: bees 177 1.23 (0.17) bc

Aranea 158 1.10 (0.23) b

Parasitica 126 0.87 (0.12) bcd

Hemiptera 105 0.73 (0.12) bcd

Psocoptera 95 0.66 (0.10) ced

Hemiptera: aphids 76 0.52 (0.07) fed

Coleoptera 66 0.46 (0.07) fed

Hymenoptera: wasps 44 0.30 (0.05) feg

Collembola 32 0.22 (0.04) fhg

Lepidoptera 14 0.10 (0.02) hg

Orthoptera 5 0.03 (0.01) h

Total number 2529

While planting plugs is more time-consuming than planting seeds, wildflowers planted as plugs might bloom earlier than those planted from seed, and as shown by our research, are able to survive warmer summers without supplemental irrigation.

Managing expectations

Managing customer expectations must be a major educational component of wildflower plantings. Many native wildflower species are not as visually appealing as other more common non-native plant species.

Before planting wildflower beds, land managers and landscaping companies need to help customers learn to visually accept wildflower spaces which are less orderly and more naturalistic than traditional landscape plantings.

Cultural discussions must take place regarding how wildflower plantings look year-long, future maintenance, and their importance to preserving pollinator health. For much of the winter, wildflower plantings lie dormant, lacking presence and color.

Conclusions

This study evaluated the effect of bed preparation on wildflower establishment, weed control, and arthropod presence.

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Growth index and bloom count were significantly higher under tillage + dazomet (GI: 47.4, bloom number: 9.4) compared to non-tillage + glyphosate bed preparation (GI: 36.5, bloom number: 5.2).

There were 8.1 weeds per quadrat in the tillage + dazomet treatment compared to 33.8 weeds in the non-tillage + glyphosate treatment.

Our results show that dazomet can be used as a tool to prepare wildflower beds for planting. Of the 15 native wildflower species evaluated in this study, each one grew larger, produced more blooms, and had to compete with fewer weeds when grown in beds treated with dazomet.

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The top performing species were S. pilosum, V. angustifolia, B. asteroides, and R. fulgida (GI, bloom count: 77.8, 22.7; 58.1, 5.1; 51.6, 10.2; 46.9, 3.0, respectively). Sisyrinchium albidum, R. fulgida, S. laeve, and S. pilosum were in bloom for two months, while the rest of the species bloomed for a month. Additionally, all species bloomed less than one year after being transplanted as a plug, demonstrating that this method of starting wildflower habitat is a viable option for land managers, landscaping companies, and civic entities looking to quickly establish plantings.

Despite not receiving supplemental fertilizer, organic matter, or irrigation, over 90% of the plants in the no-till with dazomet plots survived and were able to attract and sustain pollinator and beneficial insect populations.

Excerpted from Effect of Bed Preparation on Native Wildflower Establishment, Weed Control, and Arthropod Presence.

To read the complete research study online, visit https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/9/8/854

PROVEN ADAPTABLE

MIZZY ®

Itea virginica ‘SMNIVMM’ PP#33,549; CBRAF Native species | Fragrant | Compact

A sweetspire that literally stands out in the landscape! Abundant upright flower spikes bloom in early summer, bridging the gap between the seasons. This adaptable, compact shrub can be sited full sun to full shade, expanding its landscape applications.