Horticulture Connected Spring Volume 5 Issue 1

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News, analysis and trends in landscape, garden retail & edible horticulture

STRATEGIC INSIGHT

Tara McCarthy speaks with Barry Lupton

WHAT IS A TREE

Terry O' Regan poses a difficult question

FALSE PROFITS

Colm Kenny shines a light on labour costs

Volume 5 Issue 1

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Nangle&Niesen wholesale nursery

Irish grown mature & semi-mature trees

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6 REASONS TO MAKE NANGLE & NIESEN YOUR

FIRST CHOICE WHEN IT COMES TO SOURCING TREES

Quality - We pride ourselves on the quality of our trees and operate to the highest horticultural standards. We operate rigorous quality control systems throughout every stage of the growing process.

Range - Over 40,000 trees with more than 200 varieties to choose from including a large stock of mature and semi mature trees.

Experience - A history of over 40 years of growing and supplying trees provides a wealth of knowledge and experience unsurpassed in Ireland.

Reliability - Our proven track record means we can be trusted to give the best advise and service.

Plant Health & Biosecurity - Nangle and Niesen Ltd is committed to operating in a manner that promotes good plant health and biosecurity as far as it is reasonable and practicable to do so and will ensure that the Company’s suppliers are selected with

due consideration to plant health.

Price - All of the above allied to competitive prices and great value.

www.nangleandniesen.ie Rathcullen, Aherla, Cork Tel: 021-733 1126 l Fax: 021-733 1663 l Email: info@nangleandniesen.ie 2

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EDITOR

IF WE ALWAYS DO WHAT WE ALWAYS DID…

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f it hasn’t already been done, someone should undertake a study on the motivations of nursery owners. On the face of it, it’s very difficult to understand why they stay in business; the financial rewards are small, the level of physical input is high, work life balance is challenging, the risks are immense, and let’s face it, few nursery people are really fulfilling what it is they set out to do. So, what is it that keeps them going?

From my experiences over the years, I would say - at least anecdotally - nursery owners are kept going from a sense of duty, the joy of bringing plant life into the world, the sense of making a positive impact, the occasional sense of peace and solitude (usually early in the morning) and seeing their plants and trees in the landscape. I’m sure many simply keep going as they don’t know what else to do, while others because of the deep sense that they are doing good in the world.

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

News, Analysis and Trends In Landscape, Garden Retail & Edible Horticulture

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for daily news updates

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E Spring 2018

News, analysis and trends in landscape, garden retail & edible horticulture

FALSE PROFITS C OL M K ENNY S HI NES A L I GHTS ON L A B OUR C OS TS

WHAT IS A TREE

TERRY O' REGA N P OS ES A D I F F I C UL T Q UES TI ON

STRATEGIC INSIGHT TA RA MC C A RTHY S P EA K S WI TH B A RRY L UP TON

Volume 5 Issue 1

Unit 3, CTEK Building Riverside Rd, Carrickmacross, Co.Monaghan, Ireland +353 (0)42 966 3532

The last few years have shown us that things need to change.

Those staying in the business need to reevaluate what they do, to make bold decisions: get out of the sector or strategically plan for the long term. The latter presents us with a cultural and business challenge. We’re just not good at it. While those on the Continent think in multiples of decades and in Asia they think in centuries, we think in weekends, or at best, season to season. We need a revolution in thinking and planning to secure our future and it needs to happen now. In one important area, things are starting to change. Bord Bia has a new CEO and a new focus. Tara McCarthy took over the reins at Bord Bia from Aidan Cotter and is making her presence felt through root and branch reform and a renewed focus on the future.

Whether it will be enough, only time will tell. And while there are those who seem unhappy about it, what we can be sure of is that if we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get what what we always got. Personally speaking, I think change is good.

In this issue I speak with Tara on her vision for Irish horticulture and try to dispel some of the myths and rumours currently circulating.

Also with an eye to the future is the Bloom Fringe team who shares some exciting news about how they are evolving and changing. In our retail section, Liam Kelly provides some sage advice on what you should really look for in new employees while Colm Kenny offers guidance on how to correctly cost for labour in landscape works. Following on from national tree week, regular contributor Terry O’Regan asks a simple yet rarely answered question: ‘What is a tree?’ and Mary Forrest reports in from Northern Europe with some excellent new plant suggestions.

And on a similar theme, I ask several nursery owners what designers should be doing this season to make more of their services. Also in design, Patricia Tyrrell reports in from the recent GLDA seminar. Rounding up this issue, Rachel Gerrard Shouldice shares her academic and professional journey to becoming a leading horticultural therapist, Stiofán Nutty details developments at the Horticultural Industry Forum and Dónall Flanagan and Andy Whelton share the latest frontline news and research advances. ✽

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

News, Analysis and Trends

Editor: Barry Lupton PrintHorticulture Run: 3,000 copies In Landscape, Garden Retail & Edible editor@horticulture.ie News Editor: Joseph Blair Distribution: Readership of 10,000 across joseph@horticulture.ie - 087 921 2044 Ireland to businesses and professionals in Creative Director: Tanya Gilsenan the following sectors: tanya@horticulture.ie Landscape Architects / Garden Retail / Editorial Assistant: Koraley Northen Florists / Nurseries / Greenkeepers / Advertising Sales: Anne Marie Browne Sports Surfaces / Local Authorities & annemarie@horticulture.ie Parks Departments / Machinery / Recruitment: Emma Blair Education / Edible Horticulture emma@horticulture.jobs Cover image: Aleksandar Mijatovic/123RF Publishers: Horticulture Connected Ltd HorticultureConnected.ie Printers: Turners Printing

Spring 2018 / www.horticultureconnected.ie /

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C O N T E N T S

FALSE PROFITS

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Colm Kenny shines a light on the realities of labour costs and provides some helpful tips to avoid the pitfalls

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Storm Ophelia & horticulture news

All the latest news from Bord Bia

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STRATEGIC INSIGHT Barry Lupton talks with Bord Bia’s CEO about her plans for the future of Irish horticulture

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All the latest news from Teagasc

The Bloom Fringe Team becomes the Green Edge Team and there are exciting times ahead

KNOWING WHAT TO LOOK FOR Independent retail consultant Liam Kelly, shares his insight on what garden retailers should really be looking for when they’re hiring new staff

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CHILLING REALITY

COLLABORATIVE GROWTH Stiofán Nutty explains how producer organisations are fostering collaboration and how Storm Emma may have at least one silver lining

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Barry Lupton asks Ireland’s leading nursery professional to share their thoughts on how the design community can make more of what they offer

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ORNAMENTAL BRASSICA Andy Whelton of Teagasc Horticultural Development Department looks at the potential of Brassica oleracea which is gaining popularity in the trade.

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USING HORTICULTURE TO RESTORE HEALTH Rachel Gerrard Shouldice and Rachel Freeman explore the educational and work practice opportunities available through horticultural therapy

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RECRUITMENT CRISIS

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GLDA Seminar, Unichem & BTME

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WHAT IS A TREE

Joseph Blair talks on recruitment and retention issues

THE DESIGNED GARDEN – AN UNFINISHED CANVAS

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LESSONS FROM NORTHERN EUROPE: EXPANDING YOUR PLANT PALETTE

In the first of a series of features, Terry O’Regan gets to the roots of a fundamental question undermining our landscape

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GROWTH ON THE MENU: OPPORTUNITIES IN IRELAND’S FOOD SERVICE MARKET FOR FRESH PRODUCE

Mary Forrest provides a fascinating insight into the trees and shrubs of Denmark

SMARTER PLANT SELECTION: WHY IRISH DESIGNERS SHOULD BE MAKING MORE OF IRISH NURSERIES

Patricia Tyrrell MGLDA reports on some of the high notes and salient points from the hugely successful GLDA seminar

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Horticulture trade events

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Mike Neary, manager of horticulture at Bord Bia, summarises recent positive research results on Ireland’s food service market

Dónall Flanagan captures the chilling reality of the damaged wreaked by Storm Emma and the Beast from the East

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PLACE AND SPACE

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Latest jobs from Horticulture.jobs

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HORTICULTURE NEWS

PHOTO: EPPO

NANGLE & NIESEN REPORT ON UK PLANT HEALTH AND BIOSECURITY CONFERENCE Ronan Nangle reports for HC on his recent visit to a conference on plant health and biosecurity at Highgrove House in Gloucester in the UK. The conference was organised in conjunction with The Royal Horticultural Society, Woodland Heritage, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and The National Trust. It was hosted by Alan Titchmarsh and addressed by Lord Gardiner (the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity), Professor Dr Nicola Spence (Chief Plant Health Officer to the UK Government), the Secretary of State for DEFRA Michael Gove and HRH Prince Charles.

It brought together all sectors within the arboriculture, agriculture, forestry and horticulture industries and the assembled audience covered the owners and managers of many of Europe’s leading nurseries, UK importers, leading garden and landscape designers, foresters, contractors among others. The conference initially dealt with the threat we face in the area of plant health and biosecurity (particularly from Xylella fastidiosa) and then moved on to how we might address these issues and the actions we as an industry need to take.

In the first instance it was agreed that a system of certification for nurseries is needed to ensure that all are implementing good practice in this area, particularly those that are exporting. Traceability on the supply chain right back to the source was also seen as essential so that in the event of any infection being discovered, the source of the outbreak can quickly be pinpointed and isolated.

The issue of border controls and quarantines was discussed but it was felt that these may not be that effective given the logistics involved and the fact that, for instance, Xylella fastidiosa can take up to 18 months to become evident.

All attendees further agreed that there needs to be much more information and education available to the industry as a whole and to the wider public.

Effective communication and collaboration will be vital in combating any infections and more importantly in preventing any future outbreaks. A dedicated member of staff in every nursery and plant retail outlet should be trained and given responsibility for biosecurity within that organisation.

Around this issue lies an opportunity for Irish nurseries in that if we can keep Ireland infection free and provide continued assurance to the UK market of this, there is potential to satisfy demand for plants that is currently being filled from Europe. Within our own marketplace using Irish nurseries to select trees and plants increases our national biosecurity and lessens the risk of importing stock with Xylella, Chalara fraxinea, oak processionary moth or any of the other pests and diseases that are prevalent in parts of Europe.

Ronan Nangle ✽

E PROBLEM FOR JOHN DEERE X950R DIRECT COLLECT DIESEL MOWER Dublin Grass Machinery is enthusiastic about the new John Deere X950R Direct Collect Diesel Mower. Robert Mitchell tells HC, “ It thrives on hard work.

This model has a rugged steel frame and mower deck for years of trouble-free service. The high-torque diesel engine and heavy duty wheel motors can power across tough terrain all day, and thanks to great ergonomics and intuitive controls it is very user friendly for operators. The clear and open design of the X950R operator’s platform allows the operator to get on and off the tractor easily. A tight uncut circle, the tail follows trail concept and the mower deck trimming on both sides ensure increased productivity by reducing the amount of maneuvers required to cover a mowing area.

The smoothly rolled deck edges ensure the grass will not be scalped or ripped out.” Robert is inviting interested businesses to come try it for themselves.

Find out more at dublingrass.ie ✽

E CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVING QUALITY NR Rubber Products was founded in August 2016 by the Hand Family. They began working with recycled rubber back in 2003 when they founded Crumb Rubber Ireland. In 2009 they started making rubber products out of SBR rubber granules. Since then they have invested in automating the production plant resulting in improved quality of the products. They offer a range of products for both consumer and professionals across the amenity horticulture sector including playgrounds and sports surfaces. Available to garden retailers is a range of mulches and home garden tiles. More at nrrubberproducts.com ✽

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/ our landscape. We drink it, swim in it, fish from it, are inspired by it, sail on it and live beside it…

How often do we discuss it in the context of an integrated landscape approach? Ireland’s 2018 National Landscape Forum organised by Landscape Alliance Ireland aims to answer this question.

The Forum will comprise an Evening launch and boat trip from Killaloe on Thursday 24th May (19.00 to 21.00) and a full Day Event (09.00 to 17.00) on Friday 25th May. Register for both days or just Friday. Field trips include historical tour of Killaloe and views from 10th Century Cathedral Bell tower; A ‘Go Green’ walk to Clarisford Park with psychologists highlighting how our brains respond to restorative landscapes and a trip to Mountshannon to discuss Holy Island (Inis Cealtra), an island on the tentative list of World Heritage Sites. ✽

NATIONAL LANDSCAPE FORUM 2018 IRELAND'S WATERSCAPES Irelands Waterscapes– there are few locations on the island of Ireland where water does not feature in the landscape – as streams, rivers, lakes, estuaries and seascapes. It is a vital ingredient that often defines the quality, health and cultural/natural richness of

KINGS SEEDS EMPHASISE QUALITY AT UNICHEM TRADE SHOW At the recent Unichem trade show, Tracy Palmer of Kings Seeds told HC that “Essex has been the centre of English seed production for many centuries. Its climate and rainfall are ideal for raising plants and taking them through the growing cycle to obtain the highest quality of seed. Kings have been following that process for over 100 years. On our farm, we have been selecting and maintaining seed stocks longer than most. We are now unique in that Kings is the last surviving wholesale horticultural seed merchant in the country.”

Also emphasising the quality of the seed Tracy went on to say, ”We supply seed to commercial growers of flowers and vegetables and garden retailers. Whatever type of customer Kings are supplying, they all have one thing in common; they all receive the same fine quality seed.There have been many changes over the 100+ years of our company's existence and there will be many more in the next 100, but quality of the highest standard is one thing that has never changed at Kings and never will in the future.”

More at kingsseeds.com ✽

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O’CONNOR NURSERIES ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS

COLM WARREN POLYHOUSES OFFERING FREE CONSULTATIONS AND SITE VISITS

Despite some serious snow damage to glasshouse structures, Jim O’ Connor tells HC that “We are open for business and already have plans in place to meet any shortfall in planned production capacity for 2018. This is in no small way, thanks to the wider community of ornamental producers who have been very good to us. Words cannot really say how much we appreciate their support and that of our customers across Ireland. We want to emphasise that O’ Connor Nurseries are ready and looking forward to the 2018 season. We have lots to offer at the nursery with an extensive range of patio and bedding plants as well as our signature geranium crop which look fabulous for the coming season.”

More at oconnornurseries.ie ✽

The design and build team at CWP are offering free consultations and site visits and have been busy advising and assisting edible and amenity growers across Ireland in the wake of Storm Emma. The family run business has been successfully manufacturing and building polytunnels, greenhouses and canopied steel structures in Ireland for over 36 years, including single commercial units as well as multispan options. Colm Warren told HC “It has been a difficult time for growers affected by snow damage but it’s been heartening to see the positivity and solidarity among growers affected by Storm Emma. We are on hand to advise and assist both our existing and potential new customers.”

More at cwp.ie ✽

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Members of Hardware Association Ireland, together with various industry representatives, turned out at Citywest Hotel recently for the official launch of The Hardware Show 2019.

In preparation for 2019, an extensive review was undertaken of all three potential venues – the RDS, Citywest, and Punchestown. Various show features that had previously existed were considered, together with the vast potential to expand upon these. Annemarie Harte, CEO of the association, tells HC that exhaustive research has led to new ideas, subsequently allowing for the mapping out of a clinical, tailor-made floor plan for the upcoming show. She is also delighted with the increasing numbers of garden retail exhibitors and visitors, and intends to build on this segment for the 2019 show. It was decided that the show will take place on 17 and 18 February 2019, in Citywest, a venue boasting over 3,100m2 of floor space. While the venue may dictate a slightly more limited number of features, it will more than make up for this with a significant increase in comfort areas. More at thehardwareshow.ie ✽

SNRG HORTI STRUCTURES PROVIDES SUPPORT TO NURSERIES AFTER ‘STORM EMMA’ Following the devastating snow damage to businesses around the country SNRG Structures have already provided support and repair works to several nurseries. Steve Evans told HC “We have been busy working with existing and new customers to get production back up and running. Thanks to our experience over the years we’re able to work on many different polytunnels and can quickly organise and fit new parts. It's not all negative out there though as some growers are pragmatic, and although it has been forced on them, they see it as an opportunity to improve production with the installation of newer houses.” More at snrgstructures.ie ✽

POSITIVE OUTLOOK FOR 2018 FROM EXHIBITORS AT UNICHEM TRADE SHOW There was a large turnout of garden retailers at Unichem’s recent bi-annual event. Over 20 UK companies along with Irish suppliers were exhibiting or represented at the show.

The whole Unichem team were on hand to advise on what's hot for the 2019 season.

Many of the UK exhibitors that HC spoke to are very positive about the future of the Irish garden retail market.

John Jones, sales manager for Unichem’s garden division, told HC “We are delighted with the turnout and the opportunity to introduce our customers to quality new products that we believe will assist them to increase turnover and profitability for the 2018 season.” Also Pictured below was one of the lucky raffle winners for product vouchers, Rosaleen Hayden of Irishtown Garden Centre, Mountmellick. More at unichem.ie ✽

UNA MCDERMOTT RIP It is with sadness that we report the death of Una McDermott of Carrick-on-Suir, Waterford and, Dublin, lecturer at the Waterford Institute of Technology, Kildalton College and the National Botanic Gardens. Una was course leader for the BSc in Horticulture and liaised with Teagasc on the delivery of the course at the Botanic Gardens. She trained in the Botanic Gardens (1980- 82) and worked in a number of gardening posts culminating as OPW Head Gardener of the War Memorial Park at Islandbridge during its extensive restoration. She returned to study at UCD and graduated with a BAgSc (Land Hort) in 1916. Una completed an MA in Museum Studies at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. She took the Specialism in Education and her thesis was ‘Developing an educational programme for the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin: factors to consider’. She returned to work in Dúchas, the heritage service, and worked to develop a three-year public education strategy for the organisation.

Subsequently, Una moved into teaching and taught with Teagasc in the Botanic Gardens and Kildalton College before moving to WIT in 2001. She is sadly missed by current and past students along with her colleagues in the horticulture education community. Our condolences to her family. ✽

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EXPORTS 2017 In 2017 the farmgate value of the mushroom industry was valued at over €121m, producing 68,000 tonnes of mushrooms. The mushroom industry exports 80% of its production to the UK market and these were valued at €91m last year which was a robust performance by the sector in the context of Brexit and the impact this was having on currency rates. In volume terms exports were back slightly compared to 2016. The UK retail market, which is the key destination market for Irish mushrooms, has been showing good volume growth at a rate of 2.5% per annum reaching an all-time high while value grew by 3 %. The largest product category in the retail mushroom market in the UK is closed cup pre-packed mushrooms with almost a 50% share of total retail mushroom sales. There is larger growth in smaller sectors but from a smaller base – the two areas with strongest growth are currently button mushrooms and brown mushrooms. In 2017 on the domestic market retail mushroom sales were strong with a 6% increase in volume and 2% in value. ✽

PROMOTION The EU and industry funded promotional campaign titled “Potatoes – More Than A Bit On The Side” is being rolled out from 2015 to 2018.

This year will be the final year of the current campaign. Key activities include outdoor, print and online advertising as well as significant social media communication across a number of digital platforms which drive consumers to the campaign website potato.ie. Consumer research tracking the campaign is showing that the campaign awareness and messaging are cutting through. Kantar Worldpanel data for the retail potato market 2017 reports both value and volume growth and an increase in the frequency of purchase by the target audience. To date some noticeable outcomes for the campaign include 524,000 of the target audience reached by press advertising, 15m impressions delivered through digital advertising, and 700,000 unique visits to the campaign website potato.ie. In 2017 in Ireland over 380,000 tonnes of potatoes were produced on over 9,000 ha. ✽

PROGRAMMES The EU School Fruit and Vegetables scheme is implemented in Ireland through the Food Dudes programme. The Food Dudes programme is an evidence-based incentivised behaviour changing initiative which is managed by Bord Bia and funded by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine and the European Union. The Food Dudes programme aims to increase sustained fruit and vegetable consumption amongst primary school children through the provision and repeated tasting of fruit and vegetables over a 16 day intervention period with the support of accompanying measures in the form of role models (Food Dudes Heroes) and small rewards (followed by a home phase where fruit and vegetables are supplied from home). The Food Dudes Boost programme was introduced at the beginning of 2015 and will have been offered to all national schools by the end of the 2018 school year. A total of over 800 schools and 110,000 school children participated in the Boost programme in 2017.

The Incredible Edibles programme reaches its 10th birthday in 2018 and is still going strong. The Incredible Edibles is a school based programme with the aim of engaging children in growing fruit and vegetables and increasing awareness of their role in a healthy and balanced diet. Jointly funded by the horticulture industry with support from the Departments of Health and Education and Bord Bia, the programme is managed at school level by the farming promotion body Agri-Aware. A total of 1,500 national schools took part in the programme during 2017. The programme is commencing in schools this spring with another strong year of participation by schools anticipated with close to last year’s total already registered. ✽

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EXPORTS 2017

The value of exports from the amenity sector was estimated at over €17m in 2017 which was an increase on the previous year. Amenity horticulture exports rely heavily on the UK for sales and despite currency changes triggered

by Brexit growers of plants, Christmas trees, cut foliage and flowers managed to maintain or in some cases increase exports to the UK and Northern Ireland.

Hardy nursery stock accounts for €7m of exports. Bulb and cut flower exports to Northern Ireland, the UK and continental Europe were valued at €1.3m. Cut foliage producers have made significant inroads into a strong mainland Europe market with exports valued at €4.8m. Recent investments in production should see significant opportunity to realise further growth. Christmas tree exports were valued at €4.8m last year which was similar to the previous year and while returns were back a little this was compensated by a small increase in volume. ✽

COMPLEMENT EVERYTHING In 2017 a successful application to seek EU funding for a new €2m promotion campaign over three years in the UK and Ireland market was made. The new campaign will commence in 2018, and will focus on digital advertising and social media. The campaign titled ‘Mushrooms Complement Everything - Great Taste - Europe Grown’ is a promotions programme designed to highlight the health, versatility and quality of mushrooms, and maintain their market position against a set of competing vegetables mainly imported into the EU. In 2017 Bord Bia co-funded a campaign with the industry in UK and Ireland to maintain promotional activity in the market ahead of the new campaign commencing this year. That campaign activity was focused online, i.e. through digital and social media, and the campaign achieved 11 million impressions and resulted in 139,000 visits to the campaign website. ✽

Bord Bia is a joint sponsor with the EPA (and E their stop food waste campaign) of the new TV series Grow Cook Eat which commenced a seven-week run on TV in mid-March. It is aimed at people with little or no knowledge of gardening, but who like the idea of being able to grow at least something themselves.

As well as the step-by-step guides to growing vegetables, there are features on building raised beds, making a compost heap and improving soil fertility. Each programme ends with a recipe using the featured vegetable and made by one of two chefs featured in the series: Jessica Murphy, from Kai Restaurant in Galway, and Jack Kirwan, owner of the Sprout chain of restaurants in Dublin.

Bord Bia is delighted to be associated with the programme which will demonstrate gardening as an activity that anyone can do and how its healthy produce can be used in many tasty and convenient ways. The programme will also help to build awareness of the horticulture industry in Ireland through the featuring of some local producers in the programme and a visit to Bloom. Bord Bia promotes gardening as a healthy and enjoyable activity which contributes to a person’s wellbeing as well as enhancing the environment we live in. Bord Bia also promotes the consumption of fresh produce as part of a healthy balanced diet. ✽

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MANAGEMENT

Bord Bia, in partnership with Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc has been and is implementing pilot lean management initiatives in the horticulture industry. Following the successful pilot lean projects carried out in early 2017 in the mushroom sector (which identified the benefits through cost savings/ increased productivity), further initiatives are currently taking place in the mushroom sector, and in amenity, tomato, strawberry and field vegetable enterprises. The pilot initiatives include a mix of lean start and lean plus programmes.

It is hoped to be able to take the learnings from these initiatives and communicate the outcome within sectors on how lean practices can be implemented to improve business performance. ✽

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e ine / NEW MOMENTUM FOR PRODUCER ORGANISATIONS

PRESENTERS AND FACILITATORS AT THE INFORMATION MEETING ON PRODUCER ORGANISATIONS ORGANISED BY DAFM RECENTLY

An information meeting on producer organisations organised by DAFM was held in Backweston, Celbridge, Co Kildare on the morning of 6 February. This meeting was primarily aimed at non-producer organisation growers and other interested parties, who wished to learn more about the potential value and benefits of participating in producer

organisations. This meeting was the first of a series of proposed meetings, to facilitate a better understanding of the producer organisation scheme.

The follow up workshops will take place shortly at the Department's Backweston campus involving discussions between interested producers, representatives from the two existing POs and DAFM. The aim will be to facilitate further information sharing about the structure and operation of POs and potential benefits and opportunities that exist through participation in POs. ✽

NURSERY STOCK MEETING The spring nursery stock meeting was held in Portlaoise on 7 March. It was very well attended and a lot of good discussion followed, in particular in relation to damage from Storm Emma and a new plant health initiative. Sinéad Kelly from the Department of Agriculture gave an overview of the bacterial pathogen, Xylella fastidiosa. Neil Helyer from Fargro covered IPM strategies for the coming season and introduced some new pests to watch out for. Andrew Wilson discussed the precise use of controlled release fertilisers and finally Dónall Flanagan, Teagasc introduced the Irish Plant Health Initiative.

This was developed by the Department of Agriculture,Teagasc, the Irish Hardy Nursery Stock Association and Bord Bia. It sets out five actions growers should take to improve their response to plant health concerns, not least Xylella.

Growers can sign up to the scheme, using it to improve their biosecurity and to build customer confidence. See the Teagasc website for more details www.teagasc.ie/horticulture. .✽

MUSHROOM GROWERS EMBRACING LEAN FARM PROGRAMME The Commercial Mushroom Producers Organisation has launched the Lean Farm Programme for mushroom growers. Lean is about driving continuous improvement to enable businesses to be operating more efficiently. A lean pilot programme was introduced to the mushroom sector in 2016 as the industry faltered following Brexit. The pilot programme was a success with savings identified in the areas of product giveaway, harvesting, growing, energy, people management, planning/forecasting and benchmarking. CMP (commercial mushroom producers) have taken the initiative by Incorporating lean into their operational programme and have achieved EU grant aid approval to roll out a lean farm programme to any

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A RECENT MEETING OF THE COMMERCIAL MUSHROOM PRODUCERS ORGANISATION

mushroom farm who wants to introduce lean practices. Teagasc is taking a lead role in the Lean Programme by organising and coordinating the programme and also by doing an assessment on each unit to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. So far, nine farms have started the lean programme with eight more farms ready to sign up. The programme will run up until the end of 2018 with the aim of continuing the programme into the future. ✽

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IHNSA TROLLEY FAIR AT KILDALTON COLLEGE On 27 February, Kildalton College hosted the first of this year’s trolley fairs organised by the Irish Hardy Nursery Stock Association (IHNSA). The threatened weather that was forecasted may have impacted numbers attending but it did not hinder the energy and success of the event.

Over 30 nurseries and horticultural suppliers exhibited at the event and over 150 visitors from the horticulture industry attended. There was a wide variety of plants on display ranging from trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, alpines, roses and bedding. The quality and variety of FRED TOWNSEND, DÓNALL FLANAGAN, CONOR GALLINAGH (ALL FROM TEAGASC) AT plants were extremely high and this reflected the high THE TROLLEY FAIR IN KILDALTON COLLEGE standards and quality that Irish nurseries practice.

The IHNSA trolley fairs provide an ideal opportunity for wholesale nurseries to showcase their plant ranges and selections for the upcoming season.They also provide an opportunity for garden centres, landscapers and other horticultural professionals to place orders, network with the various nurseries and view the various plant ranges on offer.. ✽

APPOINTMENTS In November 2017, Teagasc appointed Ivan Donnelly as Horticulture Technician, the latest member of the horticultural staff at Kildalton College. He replaces Brian Lyons who retired after over 40 years of service at the college. A native of Wexford, Ivan graduated with a BSc in land management (horticulture) Level 8 in 2017. He previously worked for John B Dockrell Ltd where he was the trainee salad production manager. Ivan’s new role will consist of teaching students in the fundamentals of commercial fruit and vegetable production as well as the management of the college’s fruit and vegetable unit. ✽

EVENTS One of the events being run for the industry is the berry seminar to be held at the Teagasc centre in Ashtown on 18 April. A number of excellent speakers have been lined up including the following: Johan Alterman from the Italian soft fruit propagation nurseries, Salvi Vivai, Mazzoni and CIV will give us a technical briefing on their strawberry cultivars with the emphasis on best production practices. Keeping with the plant theme, Kees Van Giessen from Holland’s largest soft fruit propagator (Van den Elzen Plants) will talk about their propagation business, new strawberry cultivars with an emphasis on the production of ‘Malling Centenary’.

Combined with this will be a technical update on the soft fruit research programme in Teagasc by Eamonn Kehoe, followed by an update on spotted wing Drosophila (SWD).

Lorcan Bourke from Bord Bia will give the latest marketing insights into the berry sector in Ireland. ✽

UPCOMING EVENTS: 18 APRIL - Soft fruit and berry seminar, Ashtown, Dublin 15 17 MAY - Kildalton College horticulture open day 21 MAY - Bedding growers meeting, at Ashtown Dublin 15 21 JUNE - Summer nursery stock meeting (venue tbc) 10-12 JULY - Flanders study tour – innovations in nutrition, weed control and irrigation.

FUSARIUM MEETING AT ASHTOWN An unusual meeting took place at Ashtown on 16 February.

Unusual in that only one small group of growers was invited – lettuce producers – and SPEAKERS AT THE EVENT INCLUDED ALAN HORGAN also for that CERTIS, STEPHEN ALEXANDER TEAGASC AND JOHN fact that only JOHNSON ENZA one topic was on the agenda – Fusarium wilt disease. The aim of this well attended meeting was to bring growers up to speed with this deadly disease which has struck at the heart of the lettuce industry in Rush, Co Dublin. Fusarium, which is a soil borne disease that causes a wilt in lettuce, has broken out in the past season on several nurseries in Rush. The problem with this pathogen is its persistence in the soil and difficulty of control.

One of the speakers, John Johnson of Enza Zaden, did hold out hope that resistant varieties will be developed to counter this intractable disease. But that’s some years away. More immediate results may come from soil sterilisation. Alan Horgan, technical manager with Certis, outlined the benefits of sterilisation by treating the soil with Basimid. He emphasised to the growers present the importance of correct application of the product to obtain the best effects from it. And Teagasc foliage specialist Andy Whelton posed the question “Is there life after lettuce?” He made the point that there are alternatives to lettuce and cut flower production was one of them. Based on trial work at Kildalton College, Andy recommended that stocks and ornamental brassicas might be possible replacements for a grower looking to produce something different. ✽

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KNOWING WHAT TO LOOK FOR Independent retail consultant, Liam Kelly shares his insight on what garden retailers should really be looking for when they’re hiring new staff

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y meetings and visits to clients around the country tend to kick up all sorts of questions and enquiries on the many and varied aspects of retail from merchandising to layout issues, and purchasing help to management advice.

But the two topics that are always discussed are recruitment and staffing. If I decided to set up a recruitment company for garden centres and other plant-centric retailers I’m sure I could probably retire on the residuals that would accrue from the ‘finder’s fee’ I could add to staff wages as a conscription tax.

And it’s not just about finding ‘horticulturists’ – a snooty sounding label I still hate to hear or see being used in garden centres – and throwing them into retail. Selling plants and gardening products, and imparting information, isn’t some easy-peasy task that anyone can master. There are certain qualities that are required - and some that need to be taught - before a plantsperson can be let loose in a garden centre, or any retail environment for that matter.

Back in the day, garden centres were really just plant nurseries that were open to the public with precious little retail savviness or know-how, but from the 1980s onwards there were a few of us working in the sector who started to apply shop knowledge, both training-gained and self-taught, to our repertoire so that by the late 1990s and early 2000s many garden centres were seen as proper retailers with everything you would expect from any shop or department store in other sectors of retail.

Even back then I often felt that newly minted, collegetrained plantspeople didn’t have the communication ability nor the basic retail knowledge required for a job in a garden centre, and although that has changed somewhat since those times there is still a huge gulf of missing knowledge that

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"I often felt that newly minted, college-trained plantspeople didn’t have the communication ability nor the basic retail knowledge that was required for a job in a garden centre" needs to be taught in order to turn new recruits into retailers.

Of course, there are many departments within modern large garden centres that require no plant familiarity; I won’t focus on those here, although the basic traits required are similar.

So what do you need to know to work in the plant side of garden centre? Obviously some of the aforementioned knowledge of gardening is important as staff will be advising and helping customers with their plant and garden care choices in addition to maintaining stock. It’s the traits that are needed above and beyond this which can be in short supply.

Here are five other areas that need to be focussed on in order to be a great gardening department operative.

This is perhaps the most important attribute needed, as without the ability to pass on information in a friendly, clear and succinct way all of the above mentioned gardening knowledge is pointless. It’s difficult to create in a person who doesn’t at least have a grain of this ability in their persona and teaching it is certainly one of the most difficult tasks in a manager’s – or consultant’s – role in the garden centre.

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"Simple housekeeping is often ignored in the plant sales area and the act of cleaning down benches or gathering up spilled compost seems an alien concept to many"

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It can be improved by watching how others communicate, and this goes beyond retail to watching how interviewers, commentators and even politicians interact with those around them. Observing, mastering and applying this to one’s interaction with others can make a huge difference to verbal exchanges and, by default, to daily sales targets.

E Another ability that is often seen as ingrained or unteachable but I rarely find this to be the case in retail. Sure, being able to draw or sketch is a difficult thing to train but the use of props, products and signage in a retail environment to create a selling display is teachable and learnable, and a satisfying task. It’s not rocket science and just needs a little bit of visual coordination and a good degree of common sense, and once taught is rarely forgotten and usually improved on.

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This is an area that tends to give me a bee in my bonnet when working with garden retailers, as I find it difficult to see how people have grown up without an inkling of how or why to use a sweeping brush and dust pan. Simple housekeeping is often ignored in the plant sales area and the act of cleaning down benches or gathering up spilled compost seems an alien concept to many. It goes beyond all of these basics to making sure that the labels all face outwards on plants and that stock is correctly spaced, how you deal with stock from when it arrives in the garden centre to when it’s placed in a customer’s boot. This is all immensely teachable too and I have found that it is possible to teach old dogs new tricks, while receiving just the odd bite.

E This is a difficult one to master, but it is essential when dealing with complaints. We all know that the customer is actually very rarely right, but in dealing with problems there is a real need to see the issue from their side. Willpower and an ability to bite one's lip are needed in order to shut up, listen to and hear what is being said and how it has affected the customer. It is only by seeing their side of things that you can deal with the problem. The first part of finding a solution is to empathise with the customer; this puts them at ease and makes your life easier as far as dealing with their complaint.

The initial reaction is to go on the defensive and butt heads with the customer. This gets you nowhere. It’s a tricky task to get the hang of but once you get into that right frame of mind it makes dealing with customers so much easier, and keeps them happy – and returning – too.

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argued that this is becoming less important on the plant side of retail gardening, as customers tend to pick colourful, impulse-driven plants aided by all of that wonderful pointof-sale signage you have created. But there are two areas where it does make a huge difference. One is in selling bigger ticket items such as greenhouses, fountains, pots, furniture and barbecues. The other area is just as important as it is another bugbear of mine - link selling. For this, most of the aforementioned traits come into play either by creating extra sales via displays of products or by actual one-on-one interaction with the customer. Either way it means having an almost psychic ability to know what the customer needs before they do and then making sure that they don’t leave the store without it. This isn’t a hard-sell pushiness, it’s more to do with making sure that the customer has everything they require to make their plants grow, whether that is compost, pots, feed or the myriad of garden care products now available in every garden centre, or a greenhouse to go with the tomato plants they just purchased.

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Those who do interviews for new staff members would do well to be aware of these attributes and how to check for them while talking to potential new staff members too. Even with existing staff members it’s good for managers to spot areas of weakness that can be improved upon, instead of just shrugging and saying, “Well that’s the way Joe has always been.”

Surely everyone working in the garden retail sector should want to be better than they currently are and should strive to improve. And if they don’t? Then maybe it’s time to employ someone else. It might make me start that recruitment company sooner rather than later! ✽

LIAM KELLY - Since establishing Retail Services & Solutions in 2007, Liam has become one of the most influential people within the retail side of Irish horticulture.

His knowledge of the mindset and ethos of those in this sector, combined with his problem solving ability, experience and hands-on work ethic make him uniquely placed to offer advice and help to those who need it most.

Key to his success is his knowledge of purchasing, pricing and sales combined with his understanding of layout, signage and merchandising, and how the interaction of these can lead to increased sales and profits. His focus is on garden centres, nurseries, hardware and DIY stores, where discretion, honesty and unbiased opinion are crucial and appreciated by those who secure his services.

Liam Kelly, Retail Services & Solutions, Garden Centre Design & Consultancy, 086 822 1494, 059 913 0176, lksolutions@eircom.net

Last but not least is the ability to sell product. It could be

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CHILLING RE A L I TY

COLIN AND PAT FOX SURVEY THE DAMAGE

Teagasc nursery stock/ornamentals advisor, Dónall Flanagan captures the chilling reality of the damaged wreaked by Storm Emma and the Beast from the East

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read shortages were the least of our concerns during Storm Emma. The impact was quick and severe. I think we can all say that what we saw was like something that happens in other countries – never in Ireland, until now.

Over 36 hours in the early days of March up to a metre of snow fell on the east coast of Ireland, drifting to well over 2m in places. With plenty of warning in advance growers had time to prepare: snow shovels, ropes, brooms, bamboos and leaf blowers to knock snow off tunnels. Glass houses were readied, thermal screens lifted, fleece put on. Heaters purchased in 2010 were dusted down and fuelled up. Tunnels were braced if they didn’t have snow bars. Knives were taped to long handles to cut polytunnels away if it got really bad.

While most of Ireland was watching the storm reports on TV, growers were shovelling snow to save their businesses.

Heated glass was burning through oil, gas or wood chip at a phenomenal rate. PJ McMahon from Kilmoon Cross Nursery says: “We burned 10,000 litres of oil and 16 tonnes of wood pellets. Constant maintenance and repairs were running at this high level. One fruit grower spent €8,000 heating his glass over the cold period. I have heard that some tomato growers were running up to 600C to keep the snow levels down. 30cm of snow is about the maximum that modern glass can withstand, polythene houses might take up to 44cm snow or more. Saturday morning [3 March] growers woke to see unimaginable damage. I estimate the cost to the nursery and fruit sector will be in the millions of euros just for repairs and replacements – cash flow lost during the peak of the season is impossible to calculate. Growers that came away with little damage worked hard, had made preparations

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and were lucky.”

I don’t know what must run through your mind after seeing your livelihood and your life’s work smashed. The picture unfolded very quickly. Exceptional levels of snow fell in two main pockets: east Kildare and Wicklow, Wexford border saw the worst damage. Soft fruit, salad, bedding and nursery growers were hit along with many farmers. An Taoiseach visited some sites in Wexford, including O’Connor’s Nursery, shortly after the damage was done. O’Connors Nursery was one of the worst hit, losing some new and old glass on their main site. All growers on the Barnland site had some damage, John Nangle lost 1 ½ acres. Over the following days it was heartening to hear of all the offers of support coming in; extra space, labour, spare potting machines and more. The media was keen to report the unfolding scene. Colin Campbell’s nursery was very badly damaged – he was interviewed on Liveline and on TV. He gave a very good picture of what challenges lay ahead.

Looking further afield, to the eastern states of USA that would occasionally see both severe snow storms and hurricanes, speaking with growers there, they say that insurance often picks up much of the cost, but clean up and stress are added costs not usually covered. It’s never an easy recovery. We often hear of emergency funds being made available after hurricanes etc. The US government has offered low cost loans in extreme cases, but the industry has found that is is generally not very helpful.

Speaking with Alan Jones of Manor View Farm, Maryland: “Generally, growers have ended up making it work themselves, but we have often seen growers who did not suffer damage helping out those who did. You find out who

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/ your true friends are.” Discussions amongst growers were lively at the Teagasc Nursery Stock spring meeting on 7 March. It is clear that insurance is the real issue to be resolved, more than government support in times of crisis. It is difficult to get insurance for polytunnels in Ireland, some insurers ask for tunnels to be reclad every three years. Other insurers will only insure a tunnel from new; if there is a lapse in the policy they will not offer cover for it again. Structures can be insured and if they fail the plastic may be covered by the policy.

Glasshouse cover is available from other European countries e.g. the Netherlands through brokers. Stock cover where available is expensive, sometimes the premium is the value of the crop itself. Tomato crops have a very predictable pattern and value. In ornamental and nursery stock the value and volume of stock can vary widely during the year. To prevent over or under insuring, stock levels need to be reviewed every three months and premiums adjusted accordingly. Where insurance is not viable or available it’s a serious barrier to business. As an upside to insurance, when your crop is insured and damaged the insurers are very quick to make repairs to prevent further losses.

Those who had planned ahead and been best prepared will pick themselves up faster than those who didn’t. Like the army general who focuses his attention on the immediate war at the expense of the longer war. Planning for such rare events might seem like a waste of time when you’re busy but with two red alert weather events in six months it might not be such a waste of time after all.

Usually where risk occurs in trade there is suitable reward

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D NALL FLANAGAN has been teaching with Teagasc for a number of years. Before this he worked with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Co Co Parks Department, landscaping and in protected crops. He will be based with the Teagasc Horticulture Development Department in Ashtown, serving the nursery stock and ornamental sector.

Dónall Flanagan, Ashtown Food Research Centre Mobile: 087 703 5823; Tel: 076 111 4021 Email: donall.flanagan@teagasc.ie to the business. Where margins are so tight in food and plants it is only the bravest, luckiest and those with deep reserves that will survive into the future. As I write, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed that anyone who was approved for grant aid for 2018 can transfer the value of the grant to repairs if needed.

Dermot Callaghan, head of horticulture in Teagasc says, “The speed that people are dealing with the issue and trying to get back on track is very impressive. Everyone is trying to help get them back to business as normal as quickly as possible.” Growers impacted by the storm have said they really appreciate the continued support. All are trading, taking orders and busily getting ready for the hectic spring season.

We all wish them the very best of luck. ✽

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Independent consultant and Horticulture Industry Forum coordinator, Stiofán Nutty, explains how producer organisations are fostering collaboration and how Storm Emma may have at least one silver lining

GROWTH ince the Horticulture Industry vision report was adopted by the HIF at the end of 2017, work has commenced on all four strands identified in the report, i.e. greater grower collaboration, securing the required resources, exploiting market opportunities and advancing public policy initiatives to tackle below cost selling, labour shortages etc. Leaders were appointed for the management of each of the four strands and good progress has already been made.

As part of the greater grower collaboration strand a DAFM pilot programme has been developed to demonstrate to producers how a producer organisation (PO) can benefit and support their businesses. The programme was announced by the Minister for Horticulture Andrew Doyle TD on 6 February at an information meeting held in Backweston, Co Kildare. A number of DAFM speakers presented on topics, where new improvements are likely to make it increasingly attractive for producers to join a PO. These included the new national strategy for operational programmes in the fruit and vegetables sector 2017 – 2022 and a briefing on the updated

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operation of the PO scheme. The final formal presentation was made by grower Paul Brophy. Paul informed the meeting that he was working with other growers and that this group was planning to join a new PO. Paul outlined the potential benefits to his business of being in a PO and he explained why he was choosing to join a PO now. The meeting then broke up into a number of workshop sessions where participants discussed the positive and negative practicalities of joining a PO. The information meeting ended with a presentation and discussion of the conclusions from each of the workshops.

Further information sessions are planned in the coming weeks where participants will be afforded an opportunity to explore in detail all aspects related to joining a PO. In addition, participants will get to meet representatives of the two POs that currently operate in Ireland. This “suck it and see” approach allows producers experience what it is like to operate within a PO without having to commit fully to joining one. Producers are free to leave the process but it is expected that, in time, many will choose to fully commit to a PO. POs have the potential to reduce input costs for producers and deliver more effective distribution and marketing of produce. This also means that producers have more time to concentrate on growing. The programme will continue to run over the coming months.

If you would like to learn more about POs and/or about the current PO pilot programme please contact the DAFM horticulture section on 01 505 8600. Work is progressing

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/ on the securing the required resources strand of the vision report, which focuses on improving the supply of education and training to the industry, and on better resourced R&D and exploiting market opportunities (including industry collaboration with health practitioners to promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables to boost public health and to promote the role of plants, flowers and trees to improve mental health). Updates will be provided to the next full forum meeting later in the spring.

The public policy strand has been very active with particular focus on the mounting crisis in the labour supply market. The strand is led by the IFA and a detailed submission was compiled outlining the strong case for horticulture to be made an eligible category that would enable the industry to apply for a work permit programme for non-EU nationals.

HIF and the IFA participated in a forum on labour migration hosted by ESRI on 26 February and have been working closely with Teagasc, Bord Bia and DAFM to build the case for a non-EU permit programme.

It had been just four months since Storm Ophelia caused major damage to many fresh produce and amenity growers.

The latest bout of bitter winds and heavy snowfall has caused heart-breaking structural and crop damage, particularly in the southeast and east. One silver lining of Storm Emma for our industry were the images of bare food shelves in the supermarkets, highlighting the precarious nature of

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STIOFÁN NUTTY has been involved in commercial horticulture for nearly 30 years. In that time he has built an expansive experience and knowledge base across the horticultural spectrum. He has owned and operated a nursery business, an award winning garden centre, worked extensively in education and TV and was appointed as special advisor to the Minister for Food and Horticulture Trevor Sargent. In 2010 he was appointed as special advisor to the Minister for Sustainable Transport, Horticulture, Planning and Heritage Ciaran Cuff e. In the past three years Stiofán has facilitated and moderated eight European conferences in Brussels.

In 2015, he was appointed as coordinator of the Horticulture Industry Forum.

Ireland’s food supply chain and underlining why Ireland needs indigenous producers of food. The country needs to foster a vibrant more prosperous horticulture industry in Ireland and we must all work together to bring this about. ✽

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EVENT Promote your event to a wide network of horticulture businesses and professionals inprint, online & social. Find out more at www.horticultureconnected.ie/events

Venue: FloraHolland, Aalsmeer, The Netherlands www.royalfl oraholland.com ✽

17 APRIL HORTICULTURE OPEN EVENING DON’T Fancy a blossoming career in horticulture?

MISS! Are you interested in the environment and the outdoors? If so, our horticulture courses may be of interest to you. From 5-7pm Venue: ITB Blanchardstown, D15 itb.ie/studyatitb/horticulture ✽

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The National Landscape Forum 2018 will comprise talks, fi eldtrips and workshops.

Venue: The Killaloe Hotel, Kincora Harbour, Killaloe http://lai-ireland.com/pdf/Irelands-NATIONALLANDSCAPE-FORUM-2018.pdf ✽

E Bloom, which is organised by Bord Bia, celebrates its 11th anniversary this year, providing a showcase for garden plants, garden design, construction, horticulture and gardenening as a hobby.

Venue: Phoenix Park, Dublin bloominthepark.com ✽

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DON’T E MISS! OPEN DAY

COLLEGE

Kildalton is the largest agricultural college in the country. It is a leading provider of training in Machinery, Agriculture and Horticulture.

Venue: Kildalton Agriculture College, Piltown, Kilkenny ✽

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The Salon du Végétal is a trade show in France for plants and flowers international trade. 600 exhibitors and 15.000 professional visitors.

Venue: Parc des Expositions de la Beaujoire, Nantes, France salonduvegetal.com ✽

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A unique visitor event, in the stunning Northern Ireland setting of Antrim Castle Gardens. Flowers, gardens, crafts, food, family activities and lots more.

Venue: Antrim Castle Gardens, Randalstown Road, Antrim gardenshowireland.com ✽

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DON’T MISS!

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Venue: Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin 15 Teagasc.ie ✽

4 - 6 MAY

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International Exhibition Centre, Kiev, Ukraine fl owerexpo-ukraine.com ✽

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Venue: Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin 15 Teagasc.ie ✽

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Venue: Stoneleigh Park, Coventry, UK The HTA National Plant Show will once again showcase the very best of British plant suppliers all under one roof. nationalplantshow.co.uk ✽

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Horticultures Forefront - Join 11.000 experts Venue: RAI Amsterdam, The Netherlands greentech.nl ✽

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The world’s most prestigious flower show that inspires millions through showcasing the best in garden design.

Venue: Royal Hospital Chelsea, London rhs.org.uk ✽

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SM A RTER P L A N T SELECTION

Why Irish designers should be making more of Irish nurseries It’s a problem as old as our sector, a divide between those that grow plants and those that specify plants. We’ve talked about it before in these pages, attempted to tease out the problems and forge better relationships between the various parties involved in the creation of gardens and landscapes in Ireland. We’ve not been successful in our endeavours and despite some excellent examples of best practice relationships between growers and specifiers, generally speaking the problems persist.

Not to be defeated, we have decided to include a two-part article with views from each camp. In this first part we asked several high-profile nursery operators to state how they think designers should be better using the services and products they have on offer. In the next issue we will ask the specifying community how nurseries can better engage with them. Many thanks to those who took the time to contribute.

E AR L Y E N GAGE M E N T P R O D U C E S B E T T E R R E SU L T S J O H N M U R P H Y , AN N AV E I GH P L AN T S

As a group, Architects and designers generally wish to push out the bounds of landscape fashion. Unfortunately in most cases, this doesn’t suit the Irish nurseries. The overall market in Ireland is small and due to economies of scale, nurseries must concentrate their production on those items that sell in numbers. Whilst we have some specialised nurseries the numbers produced are generally small and get used up very quickly. So how do the designers make more of Irish nurseries?

Obviously, the first advice I would give is to visit the nurseries and see what is on offer. Progressive growers will always have something new and we often see our plants appearing in specifications after visits. Crops vary widely in quality and it’s often beneficial to know who has the best products and specify from these. Visiting nurseries and meeting the people will give you a better concept of what they can or cannot offer. Also, try to visit projects the nursery has supplied to be sure they are up to the task.

Involve the nurseries from the beginning of the concept.

Recently we have been working with a landscape firm who always push out the boundaries when it comes to plants. I was having difficulty finding some of the stock and spoke to the Architect and received a concept drawing of the project.

Immediately I understood what they were looking for and was able to recommend alternatives for the difficult to find items. The Architect was happy and we got to use more of our

product. I sourced the rest of it overseas.

Many Architects and designers now send us the proposed bill of quantities prior to the tender stage, asking us to check availability of the plants and sizes specified and to suggest alternatives if supply is a problem. This is where a good relationship with the nursery is important. It would be very easy for us to say this and that are not available and to try to push what we grow. If a nursery is going to be any good for the Architect or designer then the sales people must have a truly universal understanding of plant supply. They need to have a complete knowledge of the European market and know the best nurseries and use their knowledge to find the most obscure requests.

Often the nurseries are seen as just another supplier into most developments but involving them from the start of a project can have a big influence on the outcome. During the last three years we have been involved in major and complex projects such as Adare Manor Hotel, No.1 Ballsbridge and the restoration of the gardens in Hillsborough Castle. In many cases we were brought on board by the landscape contractors from the start and through this developed a relationship with the Landscape Architects. The result was that the contractor was happy to let us deal direct with the Architect and sort out any supply problems and source material for the projects as they evolved. We also organised and handled the overseas nursery visits, leaving the contractor free to get on with the job.

In a simpler way, most nurseries have vast knowledge of what will grow and not grow in demanding sites. We are often

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/ tasked with suggesting a range of products for different locations and are happy to help out where we can. Another simple way of using the nurseries more is through images.

Requests come in for photos every day and it has become a major sales tool for our company, especially when dealing with large or unusually shaped plants.

It’s impossible to grow everything required for landscape planting, and as a result most nurseries are involved in

importing. Each season we bring Architects and designers abroad so as they can choose the best plants available. This year we have been overseas with Architects and designers seven times marking stock for projects as far ahead as 2021.

Using the nurseries to organise visits to overseas producers ensures only the best nurseries are visited and apart from the immediate project involved gives Architects and designers a much better view of what is available for future work. ✽

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destination can often increase establishment rates. You might buy something cheaper from abroad but that’s false economy if they won't thrive in the planting location. Ask your nursery supplier to advise you on establishment rates for particular plants in different counties; a plant that grows well in Dublin might not last a season in the midlands. Always ask.

Build a working relationship with nurseries you trust. This starts with a visit so you can understand working practices, quality, scale, services and so on. Be honest with nursery owners, we don’t bite and we won’t hold it against you if you can name as many plants as we can!

Don’t be afraid to ask about the basics, what we think of the plants being specified, what we might recommend, planting styles, densities, colour combinations etc. Plants are our lives, you can’t be expected to know everything and we’re more than happy to help.

Here at Young Nurseries we are constantly developing new product lines and improved varieties to add to our extensive range of perennials. We completed a new state of the art greenhouse in 2017 with phase 2 due to begin later in 2018, this has allowed us to meet extra demand for new lines and capacity to supply large volume in busy periods. Our plants are biologically grown using environmentally friendly practices. We have an integrated pest management system in place (IPM) and we do not use neonicotinoids. ✽

E D O N ’T B IT E

N U AL A Y O U N G, Y O U N G’ S N U R SE R I E S The most beneficial thing any plant specifier can do is make time to visit nurseries. I cannot overemphasize how important this is. In my years of experience, I’ve not seen anything else that had such a huge impact. It’s like a light switch being turned on. We enjoy nothing more than making time for specifiers and helping them on a one to one basis.

Every specifier that has ever visited us always leaves saying the same thing: “I wish I’d done this years ago.”

If you are planning to visit a nursery, make a day of it and try to take in a few different suppliers. Call ahead to ensure someone will be on hand to provide any information needed.

If you are visiting in relation to a specific project, plan as far in advance as possible. I know it’s not always possible but realistically the earlier you visit the better. If it’s a show garden you’re creating, give yourself 12 months in advance rather than the usual 12 days.

When you come to specifying plants, make a couple of calls and check availability, ask for possible substitutions.

Let your nursery do the hard work at the start so you can get what you want and you won’t leave clients disappointed.

Consider geographic location. Plants sourced closer to their

M AT C H I N G C R E AT I V I T Y W I T H T E C H N I C AL K N O W L E D GE D AGM AR A ST R AC H O T A, T O B Y SM I T H , J O N AT H AN F O X O F T U L L Y N U R SE R I E S

We believe that a good working knowledge of horticultural practices and plant availability in the market is essential to be a successful designer and we as a supplier need to work closely with Landscape Architects, garden designers, landscape contractor and local authorities knowing that each group of our clients has different needs and wants. In order to find out what our clients require we have to ask them and work with them to improve our product offering and to match it with what the industry needs.

Our open days have helped us obtain knowledge of what our clients are looking for, which plants work successfully in our climate and at the same time they can view our grown stock which is a combination of their feedback and our visits to suppliers and trade shows in Europe. Clients can

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also familiarise themselves with some imported stock ready to be viewed and inspected. We highly recommend our clients to visit us when it suits them or during our open days, which can be organised on special request. It’s extremely important for people to visit suppliers regularly to look at changes in product ranges. We do this ourselves with our suppliers and no matter how often you visit someone you always learn something new. This is the only way to share not only theoretical knowledge but also practical experience.

Our team attends GLDA seminars and ALCI meetings to understand current trends better.

In our opinion, creativity is as important as the practical side of the design which is why we travel abroad to find some unusual plants and shapes to suit the most demanding gardens. By assisting us in foreign visits clients can discover new shapes and forms of plants and include them in some of their designs. That can work very well if clients are giving themselves enough time for a sourcing process, inspection, deliveries, etc. We highly recommend planning in advance, allowing plenty of time to share your ideas with us. We are

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/ E always ready to advise our clients on what can be sourced, provide pictures and full plant descriptions if needed.

Otherwise, they can trust our experts who always handpick the stock for the big projects. Our quality manager makes sure you receive a plant according to the specification and particularly that tree girth is correctly measured and supplied. To raise the quality of the industry in Ireland everyone has a role to play in checking standards and sizes and ensuring that when a nursery supplies a batch of 10/12 trees they are all the correct size and grown to ENA standards. As an experienced nursery we buy plants only from the best growers, where we can obtain certificates and plant passports, and where we have confidence that our suppliers take the source of their stock seriously and will not risk buying or selling stock from unknown sources.

Cooperating with a nursery that designers can trust gives them more time to spend with clients, engineers, and building Architects; this is key to understanding a project and to meeting everyone’s expectations. Dealing with a professional sales person in the nursery helps enormously in preparing site plans, specifications, and cost estimates.

Irish nurseries are full of passionate plantspeople who grow high quality stock and are amazing plants advisors. Taking time to explore nurseries first hand and meeting nursery people face to face are the keys to understansing what they can provide.

As a company that has been in business for over 30 years and experienced the highs and lows of the economy, we know that being progressive is the way to ensure a striving business. Our tagline ‘’Your ideas, our expertise’’ sums up our collaborative approach to working with the industry. ✽

B I O SE C U R I N G O U R F U T U R E

have a hugely positive impact for everyone, and building the relationship between the specifier and the grower is vital going forward. The most satisfied clients I work with continually seek advice about what is available and what can be used as substitutes, often before the specification is done.

I recently completed a large project with Adare Manor where the client visited the nursery four times to select the trees individually. The result was that of the 147 extra large trees (50-90cm girth) planted on site there were no failures – an extraordinary result for trees that size.

There are also other issues at stake. I recently attended a conference at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire with growers and buyers from the UK and around Europe. The topic was plant health and biosecurity. The bomb has already exploded in relation to ash dieback, but the real damage has yet to happen. It was very obvious that the focus of UK buyers has shifted and in the next few years we are going to see much more emphasis on plant origin, traceability and plant health. UK buyers want to stop buying from Italy and Holland and ring fence the UK oak fortress. That may be unrealistic but is indicative of the prevailing mood.

Using Irish nurseries to select your trees increases our national biosecurity and lessens the risk of importing stock with Xylella, Chalara fraxinea, oak processionary moth or any of the other pests and diseases that are wreaking havoc across Europe. Both parties, nurseries and buyers, will have to take this into account when planting up our stock and when specifying trees that can only be sourced in Europe.

The number of tree growers in Ireland is small, but we are all experienced, have high standards and excel at what we do. We have to shout about this more and get people down to our nurseries on a more regular basis. As growers we go to extraordinary lengths to source and grow fantastic specimens that would grace any garden in Europe. I have yet to show somebody around who hasn’t been blown away with what they have seen. Everyone is extremely busy and time is scarce but if the buyers could make it part of their schedule to visit some of the Irish nurseries every year then I think that growers, buyers, clients, the landscape and the biosecurity of the country as a whole, will benefit. ✽

R O N AN N AN GL E , N AN GL E AN D N I E SE N

In an ideal world, for both designers/Landscape Architects and Irish growers, each tree would be handpicked and tagged individually in the nursery. Designers/Landscape Architects would come to the nursery and select from the available stock, thus ensuring that they get what they want from a quality and aesthetic perspective. Tenders would not be adjudicated solely on price, rather they would be awarded based on quality and suitability. Clients would understand that quality and sustainability are ultimately what matter and not bottom line costs. Unfortunately we don’t live in that ideal world.

However, we do live in a world where it is vital that our clients come to visit us on a regular basis if possible. Be they landscapers, Architects, designers or public authorities, a visit to the nursery is of huge benefit to everyone. If this happens, the decision makers can see what is available in the Irish nurseries, what looks good and what does well in Irish conditions. This leads to informed decision making, better specification and better pricing if you don’t have to import.

The classic example of this in the last number of years is the excessive demand for Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’, which is in short supply in the bigger sizes throughout Europe and not available in any of the nurseries in Ireland, and yet still appears on most landscape schemes in these larger sizes.

All designers want to push the boundaries in their work, to look for something different that will raise the standards and look spectacular. It is our job to give them the materials to do so. I would love it if we had everything on our own nursery, but of course that will never be the case. All of us growers spend weeks visiting the Continent sourcing the best suppliers for different material. Ever more frequently we are bringing the clients with us to meet the growers to ensure that they are happy with the plant quality.

I do feel, however, that this decision to search abroad could often be avoided in a lot of cases by sourcing locally. Again, visiting Irish nurseries and talking to the growers would

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THE DESIGNED GARDEN – an unfinished canvas

MORNINGSTAR CORPORATION CHICAGO, DOUGLAS HOERR

REFLECTING POOL, JUNE BLAKE'S GARDEN

Highly regarded Landscape Architect, Bloom gold medal winner, and president of the Garden & Landscape Designers Association (GLDA), Patricia Tyrrell reports on some of the high notes and salient points from the recent seminar

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eedback from this year’s seminar makes it arguably one of the most enjoyable seminars, with a lovely community atmosphere. Our speakers contributed greatly to this with their relaxed attitudes and accessibility to the audience.

Probably most in our profession have heard of mycorrhizae, unless they are living under a rock, in which case they have probably encountered them personally.

According to the first speaker, Peter Korn, this is where they do their best work. Mycorrhizae are those useful symbiotic fungi that form an alliance with plants, to maximise nutrient uptake for both plant and fungus. Available to purchase in powder form, you can sprinkle them into planting holes, like magical fairy dust, to enhance the establishment of your trees, shrubs and perennials. What I did not know is that the magical fairy dust may not work if your soil is already rich.

Peter Korn hails from Sweden, and his passion for his subject made a big impression on the audience. He prefers to plant into pure sand, where due to the poor nutrient availability, plants will form extensive alliances with mycorrhizae to enable them to take up nutrients. In rich soils this does not happen as the plants have little need of assistance to access the nutrients that they need. The poor sandy substrate also reduces weed competition and therefore maintenance. Dry at the surface but moist beneath, the sand draws moisture by capillary action through its open pored depths.

In his garden, which he gardens with his partner Julia, he has carved out niches for plants from all over the world, that will survive in the Swedish climate. When I say carved out, he has done this physically with his own hands, showing

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us images of a gorge he created, where plants adapted to various aspects of that microclimate can grow.

The second speaker James Basson, is probably best known to us as winner of best in show award at Chelsea 2017 for a spectacular quarry garden, again illustrating the small specialist niches that plants can occupy, even in poor conditions. James is from England, but now lives in the South of France where he and his wife Helen have set up Scape Design.

In his designs he likes to use locally sourced young plants that are compatible with the native climate and soil, requiring little or no irrigation. This lack of irrigation reduces maintenance and creates a landscape that is more sympathetic to the local environment.

To achieve this, he experiments with plant combinations and monitors them over time to see what will survive, what will thrive and what fades out. Taking this one step further, he has started to explore the use of software to try to predict how this will happen over the short and long term. This could be an exciting development, with wider uses for maintenance of public spaces. With great honesty, he took us through some of his planting successes and failures and the learning processes involved.

He brought us through his progression at Chelsea, from his first garden there to his largest one last year, and the concepts behind them. Also of real interest was his sponsorship progression and the risk he took in financing his first show garden in Chelsea by himself.

After lunch June Blake, the creator of one of Ireland’s most beautiful gardens, in Blessington, Co Wicklow, talked

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/ E us through her progression from sheep farmer and jewellery designer to full time garden creator. In this case there is no doubt of who controls the evolution of this garden. Though all design decisions are hers it is interesting to note how strongly influenced she is by the garden’s setting, its history, geology and climate and by her own experiences growing up in those surroundings. The garden has become a palimpsest of all that has gone before and is so much the richer for it: relics of archaeology, buried walls rediscovered and the use of more recent clues to past farm use in the form of steel edgings recycled from the farmyard barns.

A master plantswoman, she chooses plants that retain an element of wildness, so that the planting is in harmony with the surroundings. She grows many of her plants from seed and experiments with painting swathes of them through the garden. Layers of perennials ensure reduced weeding, and seasonal flow, with colour for long periods of the year.

From the farmlands and landscapes of Wicklow to the city of Chicago, USA, Douglas Hoerr was the final speaker.

Douglas spent his early years on a farm in Indiana. He followed his interest in land, design and building to Landscape Architecture. A keen interest in plants brought him to England on a sabbatical where he learned from some of the best: Beth Chatto, Alan Bloom and John Brookes. Returning to Chicago he started to get noticed for a fresh approach to planting, involving an adventurous use of perennials in the Chicago streetscapes. His business grew from there. He now leads

Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects, a 40-person studio. His message was experiment and have some fun but take careful note of the results. Think about the client and the future maintenance available at the outset of your design. Douglas advises the use of lots of annuals, to suppress weeds in the initial establishment phase, and to provide instant gratification for the client.

Gardens evolve and change. All the speakers focused on working with nature as the ultimate answer to the evolution and maintenance of a garden. The message was ‘adapt, experiment and learn’. Look to nature.

If our speakers had one thing in common it was in a shared sense of adventure, an ability to question, to be unafraid of experimentation and trying new things, and most of all following their passions and interests. This is where fulfilment and success lie. ✽

PATRICIA TYRRELL is a landscape architect, garden designer, horticulturist and gold medal winner. She can be contacted via her website at living-landscapes.com

“Plant heritage is worth cherishing and merits a place of honour in our gardens”

BALLASALLAGH, MOUNT TEMPLE MOATE, CO. WESTMEATH

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Unique collection of over 150 ‘old’ Hydrangea Limited quantities in 4 or 5 litre pots Many more varieties on-site Propagation available for specific projects on demand

Contact Caroline Phone: (090) 648 1455 Fax: (090) 648 2731 Mobile: (086) 819 7138 odowdroses@gmail.com

Tel: 087 9012388 / 087 2969125 Email: tgmartincmx@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/hydrangea.ie Glenview House Mullantlavan Carrickmacross Monaghan

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PHOTOS: VINCENT MCMONAGLE

GLDA SEMINAR A CAPTIVATED AUDIENCE AT THE AT THE GLDA'S 22ND INTERNATIONAL GARDEN DESIGN SEMINAR WHICH TOOK PLACE AT THE CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL, DUBLIN 9 ON FEBRUARY 17TH. ‹ GLDA SEMINAR SPEAKERS L TO R: PETER KORN (SWEDEN), DOUGLAS HOERR (USA), JAMES BASSON (FRANCE), JUNE BLAKE (IRELAND)

FRASER MCDONAGH AND CAROL MARKS

BERNIE O'REILLY AND JANET HAWKER

PATRICIA TYRRELL (GLDA) AND PETER KORN (DESIGNER & GLDA SPEAKER)

PAUL KUNKLES AND LISA MURPHY

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KEVIN DENNIS AND INGRID SWAN

HUI XING, LINDA MURPHY AND SOFIE GUSTAFSSON

PETER O'BRIEN, GARY FORAN, SVAJA VAJCULA AND KAYLIE DONNELLY

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TANYA GILSENAN AND INGRID SMYTH

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BTME

BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition, Harrogate - 23 - 25 January 2018

CONOR NOLAN & MARK SHERIDAN (STRI)

U N IC H E M

PAUL CLARKE & CIARA MCQUAID (BEECHMOUNT GARDEN CENTRE)

DEAN CLEAVER (FEGGA) & DAMIAN MC LAVERTY (GCSAI)

PAT GALAVAN & JIM HOLDEN (TURFCARE)

SCOTT MARR (TRUMP INTERNATIONAL) & COLMAN WARDE (ICL)

CLIVE RICHARDSON & STEPHEN MCNALLY (CRL)

Trade Event, Portlaoise - 17-18 January 2018

JUST SOME OF THE TEAM MEMBERS FROM UNICHEM WHO ASSISTED & ADVISED GARDEN RETAIL BUYERS AT THE SHOW.

JUDE BEHARALL (NEUFORFF)

DAMIEN CONLON & DAVE MURPHY (HANLEYS OF CORK)

TRACY PALMER & ANDREW TOKELY (KING SEEDS)

DAN FOLEY (UNCHIM SALES) & BRID VAUGHAN (VAUGHANS GARDEN CENTRE)

NIALL DUNNE & JOHN JONES (UNICHEM)

CHRIS BIRCH (RED GORILLA - FAULKS & COX)

PHOTOS: JOSEPH BLAIR

KEITH BOLAND, KEVIN & MARK BOOKER (GOLDCROP)

NATALIYA & PAUL HARVEY (WINDYRIDGE NURSERIES & GARDEN CENTRE)

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FALSE PROFITS DISPELLING THE MYTHS OF LABOUR COSTS

Landscape estimating specialist, Colm enny e plores the reality o landscape labour costs and sets out some simple rules to increase profitability

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am always bewildered and sometimes a little frightened when I get tenders back on projects to analyse. The variance in returned tenders for even the smallest of projects can range from 1 % to twice the price of the lowest tender.

When I am going through the process of reviewing these tenders I question if they are all looking at the same project. All contractors received the same tender package containing the project drawings, specification and other information, yet all are on a different page when it comes to pricing it.

Unlike general construction schemes, there are not too many diverse elements involved in landscape projects. Items such as the proposed paving are generally specified by the manufacturer, right down to the colour so we all know where to buy them, and generally all contractors are buying them at the same price. Likewise, the trees, plants and sundry soft landscapes materials. The question remains how such a difference in tender returns prices vary from one contractors to another. Granted, contractors’ pricing strategies are unique.

However, the differences can’t be explained by this alone. So, if we can assume that the cost of the materials is to a certain degree consistent, the difference in tender returns comes down to the other two elements in a pricing formula: the cost of labour and contractors’ profit.

It might appear that an employee's hourly rate is simply the wage he receives for each hour he works. That amount, however, is only part of the real cost. The real cost includes employer’s PRSI, employee benefits and direct labour costs.

Items which are often forgotten about are holidays, sick leave, training costs, pension contributions, health insurance, training costs and uniforms. Knowing your employee’s true hourly rate facilitates accurate estimating and helps you reach your profit objectives. There are many online calculators

which can assist you with accurately calculating the cost of your workforce.

It is vital that the cost of each staff member is known as the staff are often set up as a crew, which adds another variable to costing each project. When tendering it is important you allocate the most appropriate crew to the project. Three elements that influence the cost for labour are the type of crew, the production rate for the specified crew, and the pay structure. A crew generally consists of specialised and nonspecialised members. A typical landscape crew can include laborers, skilled workers, and machinery operators. Additional classifications of workers may be required depending on the complexity of the project. Each task may require a different type of crew. For example, irrigation may require a crew of two skilled workers, whereas trenching may require a labourer and a digger driver to excavate the trench.

Each specific task will require a certain crew, and that crew will have a combined crew rate that is based on an hourly or daily rate. When applying the specified crew rate to the quantity and unit of measurement, a production rate is used to indicate how much or how many of a specified task is accomplished by the crew in a specified time. For example, a trenching crew may have a production rate of 30m of trench per hour. The production rate would therefore be 1m every two minutes. Every element of the project can be and should be calculated in this way.

Often contractors fail to add traveling time to the cost of labour. Employees get paid from the moment they arrive into the yard in the morning until they close the gate in the evening. Most staff are on a standard weekly wage and may only get extra wages if they work on a Saturday. However, the cost of having staff with their heads in the phones traveling to

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/ site is a cost which needs to be paid and therefore factored into rates. Contractors who are competing for a tender far away from their base should, in theory, be at a disadvantage as a local contractor will, in theory, have a competitive advantage as traveling time and other costs associated with transportation of machinery and materials are lower. However, my experience is they don’t seem to consider the additional costs. Even for someone like myself who only needs a pen and a calculator with no machinery to transport to site or staff accompanying me in the car. If I must factor all this into my rates, contractors certainly must factor in all the above.

While traveling time is somewhat easy to factor in and a science can be put behind it, hours associated with unexpected stand down time or inefficiency are more difficult to calculate and rely more on experience. Think about time lost to weather, restrictions imposed by main contractors or planning permissions, unavoidable holdups and disruptions to normal work flows. Some causes of inefficiencies, if known and earmarked by the design team at tender stage, are identified; these costs can be accounted for in the cost of preliminaries. A straightforward example of this would be working times. Here, the works requirements document states that works can only be carried out between 10am and 3pm, this would obviously have implications on the additional resources that may be required to keep the budget on programme, such as more manpower, more supervision and more office costs. These can all be accounted for in the preliminaries. Unforeseen items such as the weather or bad hair days come down to past experiences. Most contractors are afraid to include money to cover this risk for fear of losing out a project, but they should as such days can be the difference between a successful project and a failed one.

Once you have the cost of materials and the real cost of labour calculated for every specific project, you need to look at profit and profit margins. Profit can be defined as the money the project makes after accounting for all costs and expenses. The percentage profit a contractor might apply to their tender price will vary according to risk, workload and economic climate. Every expense in your business takes a little bite out of the profit of a job and of course you want to maximise your profit and bottom line, because that’s what business is all about. We are not all here to make friends, if you are like me you probably have enough of them. It is profit that makes the world go around and probably the main reason why most business owners started out on the rollercoaster journey of steering their own ship.

Again, there are a few different techniques to calculate this. The one which I think most contractors use, whether it is intentional or a habit, is the top-down approach. This method involves you asking yourself, ‘What is the market going to let me get away with in terms of pricing?’. Work backward from that, figuring in expenses as outlined above. What you end up with is a profit margin, though not necessarily the target profit you might have in mind. I don’t think it is the best method to use as it is not necessarily very accurate.

I would encourage contractors to calculate the cost of doing business in a similar fashion to calculating the cost of labour. Overheads should be priced proportionately against a project and are the calculated costs of running

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the company contracted to carry out a project. Often these costs are described as head office administrative costs. Head office costs might include property costs, finance charges on loans, insurances, office staff, external advisors, marketing and tendering costs. Typically, and from the contractors I have worked with over the years, most will calculate a percentage against project costs to be set against each project somewhere between 5% and 15% to cover head office services. I am not telling you that this is what your profit margin should be as every single landscape contractor will have different cost but as a benchmark it is probably not a bad guide.

Finally, you have submitted a price for the job having worked out the true cost and included a sustainable profit margin which will allow you to stay in business. After handing in the tender, the potential client calls you claiming they have found a competitor who can do the job for 10% less. They explain they enjoyed the experience of working with you on a previous job and would rather have you do the job, so could you please match that price? What do you do? It can look attractive to discount and beat the competition on price. It is money in the bank, food on the table and 10% seems a small amount to slice off the end price. But, a discount of 10% can wipe out a business. Fair enough, most contractors will be able to withstand offering a discount once but long term you can kiss the business goodbye.

Each time you or someone else undercuts the competition, the trades industry becomes just that little bit smaller. By competing on price, you are racing your competition to the bottom. In the end, something has to give, whether it is work quality, staff turnover or running out of cash. The client is the only one benefiting, be it a main contractor or a private home owner.

Clients will always want to pay the least possible in principle, but will often pay more when they perceive value.

High quality of work and great client experience are both important ways to offer value. Clients will find a way to pay more if they feel they get some value in return. Value also comes in other forms such as quality, speed, convenience, being nice to deal with, and being reliable. The job of any shrewd business owner is to find a value proposition that fulfils a need of their clients. Unless business is well-funded, if your strategy is to undercut the competition, you’re operating an unwise business strategy that has brought many a business to its knees. Offering that discount might look tempting when it means winning a job, but if you take it you’re only selling your business short. ✽

E , MSCSI MRICS MILI is unique in Ireland in that he is both a chartered quantity surveyor and a Landscape Architect. He provides cost consultancy services to landscape industry professionals, technical advisors, contractors and facility management companies. He can be contacted on 086 874 4300 or by email info@landscapeqs.ie

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B ARR Y L U P T O N INTERVIEWS T ARA M c C AR T H Y

STRATEGIC

I N SI GH T Having spent 20 years at the heart

of Ireland’s food and drink industry working as a senior manager in Bord Bia’s consumer foods division, as a director of the food and beverage sector, and then CEO of Bord Iascaigh Mhara, there are few people who can claim to have her knowledge and insight. In this interview, Tara sets out the opportunities and challenges facing the industry and how Bord Bia is adapting to them.

Where do you see the key opportunities for Irish horticulture over the next decade?

The ambition for the horticulture industry is clearly set out and endorsed by the sector in FoodWise 2025. The target is to achieve an output valued at €500m by 2025. It is an ambitious target and will require all stakeholders in the industry, including Bord Bia, to play their parts to realise it.

Many industries would look enviously at horticulture in terms of the many positive attributes that it has in its favour, particularly when you look at where the opportunities and challenges lie in areas such as economic activity, obesity and sustainability.

Obesity is a growing problem for first world countries including Ireland. The recommendation from health professionals is to follow a balanced diet with seven portions of fruit and vegetables daily at its core. As Ireland is below these recommended levels, we have an opportunity to increase fresh produce consumption. We are exploring promotional options with the fresh produce sector at the moment to deliver a stronger message to consumers and ultimately increase our intake levels.

Locally grown and sustainably produced food increasingly has a resonance with today’s consumer. We have seen from our own research, particularly when it comes to people’s

T ara M c C arth y , ord ia s C , shared her ambitions or the Irish horticulture sector with the readers o Horticulture Connected when I caught up with her recently understanding of the Bord Bia Quality Mark, the positive influence it has on purchasing decisions. On top of this, we are seeing a growing foodservice sector again after a number of years in recession. Recent Bord Bia research has identified a wholesale market valued at over €390m for fresh produce where operators are increasingly seeking local suppliers.

A recovering economy is good news for amenity horticulture with both domestic and commercial developments coming on stream helping to build demand for plants, landscape design and construction services. We know that a rise in consumer confidence translates to an increase in gardening spend. This is evident in our most recent market study which has seen the gardening market recovering more with every year. The growing demand for a cleaner, more sustainable and environmentally friendly environment for us to live and work in will create opportunities through use of more plants and attractively designed spaces. Promotional activity focused on gardening, like the industry’s Gromór campaign, will help to drive and harness this trend.

On the export side, despite various challenges, amenity exports have reached a value of over €17m, which is a commendable performance in the context of Brexit when the UK is the key market. We will work and support exporters to build on these achievements and opportunities to grow them.

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Following from the last question, what do you understand to be the key challenges it faces?

Similar to other sectors, there are many challenges impacting the whole horticulture industry at both a business and a market level.

Examples of these include the limited scale of operation, availability of labour, input and business costs and the threat from imported product. Attracting new and younger talent into the industry is also of major concern.

The domestic market is very competitive while in our key export market, Brexit is a challenge with much uncertainty surrounding it, particularly the short term concerns with currency movements.

From the outside looking in, there appear to be significant changes happening in Bord Bia; can you outline the key changes you are making in relation to the horticulture division?

The industry is constantly adapting to the many challenges and opportunities in the current trading environment and Bord Bia, as the marketing and promotion arm of the Irish food, drink and horticulture industry, must ensure that our services to producers and customers are fit for purpose.

Following a review, we concluded that our existing strategy is robust. It concentrates on developing our routes to market for producers, brand communications and promotion, the evolution of the Origin Green sustainability programme, attracting talent to the industry and investing in market insight. The changes you mention are primarily in aligning our teams under these strategic pillars to allow us deliver our supports effectively where they are most needed and where they will deliver the best outcomes.

Horticulture continues to be a key focus for Bord Bia with its own horticulture board on which sit industry representatives from both amenity and edible horticulture.

There are also two horticulture representatives on the main board who ensure the voice of the horticulture industry is clearly communicated.

As part of the team restructure, we have created a new horticulture and meat division. As before, there are dedicated sector managers with specific responsibility for horticulture. In bringing the two sectors under the one division, we are building expertise and synergies across a range of areas including; ● EU funded promotions that cover both categories

where significant funds can be secured to implement promotional campaigns; ● developing lean initiatives which we are currently running in both the horticulture and meat sectors; ● investing in consumer insights which provide guidance on trends in the future and where new opportunities exist; ● and building industry participation at Bloom across our food and horticulture industry to underpin its viability in the future.

In addition, Bloom is now part of the marketing department allowing us strengthen and amplify its horticulture message. While horticulture content is the core of the event, Bloom is supported by all divisions within the

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organisation to make it a success.

What are your thoughts on fears expressed to me that that Bord Bia is undergoing a corporate rationalisation process, and that the great work achieved through the efforts of individuals and the nuance of interpersonal relationships is being sacrificed?

I can understand fears may exist when these changes occur particularly where my colleagues have been deeply involved with the industry over many years. We still have the core horticulture team in place in the organisation involved with the industry. We do not wish those relationships to be lost and I expect that our new way of working will allay these fears. The changes are being made with a view to improving how we work as an organisation and deliver for the horticulture industry. We are, of course, open to feedback from the industry so we invite them to get in touch.

One of the key influences Bord Bia has had on the sector are the Quality Assurance programmes. What are you plans for them for the future?

Quality assurance has been a key activity for Bord Bia across food and horticulture sectors for many years. The Amenity Quality Assurance programme will continue to operate as one of our accredited schemes with participants permitted to use the Bord Bia Quality Mark on plants. Bord Bia and the scheme’s technical industry committee will begin to explore the scheme’s evolution under Origin Green, the sustainability development programme, through the addition of sustainability related criteria. The Landscape Quality Assurance programme, which has operated for a number of years, is currently being reviewed as to its next stage of development and how membership can be built going forward. All of these processes will include feedback and discussion with the industry.

Bloom in the Park is considered to have been the most significant positive contribution to raising the profile of Irish horticulture at both home and abroad. Can you outline how you will build on the momentum created by the show?

Our Bloom festival has been a huge success for both Bord Bia and the industry. It has been a collaborative effort over the years with its success built on the significant input and support of the horticulture industry. We are already busy planning for Bloom this year with the show garden content looking very exciting again. We are aware that we must continue to develop the event to keep it fresh and engaging for our loyal visitors. We are now at the beginning of developing a strategy for Bloom and where we would like to see the event in five years’ time, to build on its success to date and what do we need to do in partnership with the industry to get there. We know from our research around Bloom, that outside of the 120,000 people who visit the show, the publicity generated also considerably impacts on one third of the wider population who are then influenced to engage in gardening activity. The aim is to build on this momentum and continue to get this influence to ripple beyond the show itself.

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/ The old maxim, if it can’t be counted it doesn’t count, has always undermined Irish horticulture. Many of the most valuable benefi ts of horticulture are notoriously diffi cult to pin down. For example, access to quality parks can reduce incidents of antisocial behaviour, decrease obesity and heart disease and increase rents for buildings. The wider cost saving are enormous but tricky to fix. How do you think we can better articulate this?

Horticulture is all around us and impacts us every day of our lives from the food we eat to the environment we live in, and positive impacts our health and wellbeing. While people may be aware of these aspects, they may not necessarily attribute them to the horticulture industry and indeed can take them for granted. That is a challenge for all of us who have an interest in the industry to identify how we amplify the message and benefits of the industry.

There are many industry associations that we provide support to that play a very important role here, including the recently formed Horticulture Industry Forum which includes representation from all sides. Bloom also provides a high profile communications platform for the industry to promote itself and the benefits it provides.

Horticultural exports have remained stubbornly resistant to all manner of initiative and support. How would you like to see this addressed?

Last year, horticulture exports were valued at €108m,

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dominated by mushroom exports worth €91m and amenity exports at €17m. When one considers that the key market for the majority of these exports was the UK, this was a robust performance overall in the context of Brexit and currency movements. Bord Bia is currently collaborating with the mushroom industry on a new three year EU and industry promotional campaign for mushrooms in the UK and Ireland to help sustain and increase the current share of the market. The mushroom industry has been successful in using innovation, such as Vitamin D mushrooms, to secure and build market in the UK. Similarly, there are opportunities to grow exports in the amenity sector and we are currently reviewing our Amenity Export programme to explore how we can further support those businesses.

You have the ear of the entire sector. What advice do you have for them?

Bord Bia and I are very committed to the horticulture industry and will continue to work closely with all sectors across our programmes throughout the year.

We see our role as a collaborative one working in partnership with the industry stakeholders and businesses as well the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and other state agencies. There is substantial potential within the industry and I am keen that Bord Bia will play its role fully in helping the industry to realise this. ✽

NATIONAL LANDSCAPE FORUM 2018 - IRELAND’S WATERSCAPES The Forum will comprise an Evening launch and boat trip from Killaloe on Thursday 24th May (19.00 to 21.00) and a full Day Event (09.00 to 17.00) on Friday 25th May. Register for both days or just Friday. Field trips include historical tour of Killaloe and views from 10th Century Cathedral Bell tower; A ‘Go Green’ walk to

Clarisford Park with psychologists highlighting how our brains respond to restorative landscapes and a trip to Mountshannon to discuss Holy Island (Inis Cealtra), an island on the tentative list of World Heritage Sites.

Email: landscapeallianceireland@gmail.com www.lai-ireland.com/landscape-f-i-welcome.html

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PLACE & SPACE

The Bloom Fringe Team becomes the Green Edge Team and there are exciting times ahead

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he differences and similarities between what a place is and what changes city spaces have intrigued and inspired us as designers for many years. As Jan Gehl, the renowned public space expert once said, “If you design for cars you get cars, while if you design for people you will get people”.

Our response as city dwellers has been to create events to green our concreted spaces and bring people into these spaces, to turn them into places in which to linger and make memories afterwards. It has been an incredible journey and we have made tons of friends since our first gig in 2014. Our work explores the power of temporary use to showcase change and how we can make cities more liveable.

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We don’t like to stay still for too long so we are now taking the opportunity through Horticulture Connected to announce some big changes. First up, we are moving our festival to September.

We will have more time now to nail our 2018 programme. Next thing is a name change; we are now called Green Edge.

These decisions were not taken lightly - Bloom Fringe has been such a rewarding project to work on for all three of us Róisín de Buitléar, Esther Gerrard and myself Marion Keogh.

We feel a weight has been lifted with these changes, and that the hustle for sponsorship and press coverage will be less competitive now.

L E G A C Y We work solidly on the festival every year for about 12 weeks and the projects that stay on the streets afterwards that

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“While passion doesn’t pay the bills it does fuel us” turn it into a legacy. 2014 had green wall panels activating the laneways, 2015 saw the Thornton’s skip seats popping up all around the city and around the country. 2016 had a willow woven castle sculpture which was left in Dublin Castle for the summer. In 2017, our flowery wheelbarrows and timber planters were moved from Wolfe Tone Square to a neighbouring piece of pathway on Wolfe Tone Street as a small greening project.

Ensuring community champions are supported and projects are implemented takes time, and we hope to achieve many more lasting legacy projects with Green Edge.

S U P P O R T We have always maintained a hard line on where our financial support comes from. Our principal sponsor has been Dublin City Council, with partners and supporters such as Fáilte Ireland, OPW at Dublin Castle, Sanctuary Synthetics, Mulch, and Powerscourt Townhouse helping us out. It’s not always money that comes our way but stuff too - old wheelbarrows, artificial grass, fabric offcuts, plants, chairs, coffee, food, all donated to us in exchange for a Tweet or a Facebook meme and a place on our map and a feature in our films. Our map, designed by Fuchsia MacAree, is distributed to 10,000 Dubliners and visitors. It’s a pull-out colourful funky guide to the community gardens, secret gardens, retailers and coffee shops that are all taking part in the festival.

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/ T H E M O N E Y A few years ago a drinks company showed interest in giving us some money. We didn’t pursue it because we felt our pop-up places could become beer gardens promoting the sponsor rather than us and our ethos. By having public money as our principal funding source, we can stay true to ourselves and to our objectives rather than becoming corporate and pandering to marketing demands.

Even though ours is generally a pop-up festival working with volunteers, there are still overheads and bills to be paid.

In year one we put in our own money to make the festival happen. We also got a huge amount of free stuff from some key players and without them Bloom Fringe would never have taken place. The following years we did receive funding but we only gave ourselves (Esther, Róisín and myself) a pay cheque in 2017, the fourth year. The festival only runs for a weekend, but all three of us start working on it part-time in February, then full-time for most of April and all of May. While passion doesn’t pay the bills, it does fuel us. And our passion is infectious. That’s how we get more and more people to take part with us every year. Everyone can see how powerful it is to plant in the city where there is so much concrete and tarmac - flowers, trees, herbs, vegetables - and they just want to be a part of this great festival.

THE PROJECTS - LIFE AFTER THE FESTIVAL Our projects always have an element of fun and intrigue to them. Like our flipping tree wall in December and January 2016-17 as part of the New Year’s Eve festival with Fáilte Ireland. We installed a 7m long timber wall on the railings at St Stephen’s Green for a month with flipping doors painted different colours. We stood on the street for a few hours every day flipping the flaps open, and then passers-by did the same. If you flipped the flaps one way you’d see painted trees in winter and the opposite direction revealed them with their leaves on in summer. You could flip them in a pattern and “write” your name on the wall. It was educational as well as fun, and people didn’t realise they were also learning about trees growing in the Green a few meters away.

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PHOTO: BETA BEJGART

Our bug hotel making workshops for kids in Body and Soul, Electric Picnic and St Patrick’s festivals have been loads of fun for us too. We love showing kids how to fill a wooden box with natural materials like seed heads and cones, straw and cardboard and chatting to them about all the insects that

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will live in there for the winter - a hotel for bugs - they get so creative with their little constructions. They’re learning all about sustainability and environmental awareness in a relaxed way that it has a real effect on them. It’s also a great way to get kids dirty and to handle worms and other insects.

THE FUN Our Mud / Dino Park in Wolfe Tone Square was a huge success in the filthy dirty stakes! Kids in their Sunday best hunkered down in the sunshine to play with toy dinosaurs, pouring water from little watering cans into a constructed bed of soil.

The water kept flowing and the soil got muckier and smiles got bigger and the mammies kept chatting and the coffee kept flowing. It was such a great thing to see. We have taken this model to Kilkenny for the Savour Kilkenny food festival, and with the School of Food we got kids to make vegetable monsters out of new veg varieties being grown in Ireland.

GREEN EDGE - THE SAME THING REALLY We’re not re-inventing the wheel here. We have gone from strength to strength every year and we want to up our game so we are moving to September. It’s a good time of year to take stock from a gardening perspective, to plan for the winter and following year, to appreciate the harvest and bounty of the summer. We are very excited our Green Edge “happening” this coming September will be a permanent fixture in the horticultural calendar. Our focus will be on exploring the city through walking and connecting it like a “green necklace”, in homage to Michel de Certeau’s statement: “Walking is to the city as speech is to language, making it legible and accessible”.

CALL TO ACTION - WE NEED YOU We are calling out to anyone interested in getting involved to run an event, an installation or intervention in Dublin city, or to anyone who has an appropriate product or business they want to promote. We want to talk to businesses who are interested in giving us financial support or other inventive types of support - old broken rusty wheelbarrows were a huge help in 2017! We need people too as volunteers - get in touch if you want to help on the day or in the lead-up.

We are also looking for community greening projects to get involved - community gardens, communal growing spaces or initiatives. Let us know who you are so we can include you in our map. Get in touch with us today via 087 813 7718 or greenedgedublin@gmail.com. ✽

BLOOMFRINGE was founded by Landscape Architect and project manager Esther Gerrard, award winning garden designer Marion Keogh and glasswork artist Róisín de Buitléar (creative director)

“Walking is to the city as speech is to language, making it legible and accessible”

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GROWTH ON THE MENU Opportunities in Ireland’s Food Service Market for Fresh Produce Mike Neary, Manager of Horticulture with Bord Bia, summarises recent positive research results on Ireland’s food service market

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ver the past three years, Bord Bia has commissioned new research and insights on the Irish foodservice marketplace. Deep dive insights on the quick service restaurant (QSR)and food-to-go markets were published in 2015 and a broader assessment of the entire foodservice market was published in 2014 and 2016. Last year, in addition to Bord Bia’s insight research around the entire foodservice sector, research on produce (including fruits, vegetables and potatoes) in Ireland was also carried out.

THE APPROACH TO THE RESEARCH INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING:

The infograph summarises the foodservice market in Ireland in 2017. Out of a total consumer spend of €7.8bn on the Island of Ireland some €5.7bn occurs in the ROI.

● One-on-one trade interviews

with knowledgeable persons in companies throughout the foodservice supply chain, including foodservice operators, distributors, trade associations and suppliers. ● Data collection from numerous secondary sources

LEADING MARKET FACTORS IMPACTING THE OVERALL IRISH FOODSERVICE MARKET - 2017 ● Continued strong economic performance ● Generally strong tourism statistics ● Continued growth in employment and exceptional growth in the tech sector ● Uncertainty over the ultimate impact of Brexit ● Tight labour markets create shortages and challenges in staffing ● Favourable VAT rate continues to encourage out-of-home spending

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OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF THE FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY 2017 In 2017, Irish consumers spent €7.8 billion on out-ofhome food and beverage across the island of Ireland.

Most consumer spending (approximately 91%) occurs in commercial segments, including quick-service restaurants, coffee shops and cafés, full-service restaurants and pubs.

A lesser amount (approximately 9%) is spent in the noncommercial segment, which includes business and industry, education and healthcare, among others.

Growth in foodservice has mirrored strong increases in employment and economic activity, and foodservice within the Republic of Ireland has continued to expand as underlying economic conditions remain positive. Current growth of 5.8% in the Republic for all of foodservice confirms that the industry remains healthy and robust, and the €5.7 billion consumer spend is the highest level reached over the past several years.

In the past, Northern Ireland underperformed relative to the South, and while growth in the North remains somewhat soft, figures developed for this study indicate that there has been an acceleration in foodservice in the North, particularly as the economy and tourism in large markets such as Belfast have accelerated.

35% of consumer spend in the commercial channel is found in limited service restaurants (LSRs), with only 12% attributed to full service restaurants (FSRs). Pubs account for 17% of spend (excluding alcohol). The two segments showing the biggest share gain are the coffee shop/café segment, accounting for 5% of total commercial spend, and the hotel segment, accounting for 17% of total foodservice consumer spending.

Within institutional foodservice, growth is more subdued, but still healthy. Business and industry are the category leaders, accounting for 42% of the institutional market. Healthcare is also a large player in the field, with hospitals and other healthcare facilities accounting for 32% of institutional consumer spend.

OVERVIEW OF DRIVING FACTORS - KEY TRENDS IN THE PRODUCE AND POTATO CATEGORIES/SUPPLY In 2017 foodservice operators purchased just under €400m worth of fruit, vegetables and potatoes. These include fruit at €95m, vegetables at €166m and potatoes at €135m.

BROADLINE DISTRIBUTORS DISRUPT PRODUCE AND POTATO SUPPLIERS Broadline distributors continue to capture more business with Irish operators. These larger distributors are able to offer a one-stop shop solution by providing a wider variety

of product categories as well as a larger distribution reach.

In addition, many produce suppliers have already or are considering supplying into these broadline distributors rather than working directly with operators. However, there is still a demand among select operator groups for a direct relationship with local, specialised suppliers.

LOCAL SOURCING /LOCAL SUPPLY Despite the challenge with sourcing fruits, vegetables and potatoes locally year-round, the majority of operators support the initiative. Operators often source locally whenever possible for as many months out of the year as their suppliers can feasibly manage. Both consumers and operators believe this initiative is important. However, there has been a decrease in the number of Irish growers over the last few years with overall consolidation in the supply base.

THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF BREXIT ON TRADE The threats of Brexit include the potential impact on trade, tariffs, movement of produce and currency rates.

HEALTHY EATING TREND PROMOTES THE CONSUMPTION OF PRODUCE With the island of Ireland increasingly concerned with combating obesity and encouraging healthy eating, fruits and vegetables are primed to grow in popularity among consumers and operators. The produce category is especially poised for growth now that fruits and vegetables have been repositioned as the most important food group on the food pyramid.

INCREASED OPERATOR NEED FOR CONVENIENCE PRODUCTS

E E Director of horticulture at Bord Bia. For further information contact the Bord Bia Horticultural Division at email: info@bordbia.ie

Operators, suppliers and distributors reflected in the research an increase in the operator demand for pre-prepped (e.g., pre-peeled, pre-cut, pre-washed) produce and potatoes. This trend is largely due to the labour shortage in Ireland, namely skilled culinary staff. Operators are also increasingly seeking out prepared and mixed vegetables for soups, salads and other dishes. As a result suppliers are deepening their product line-up with additional convenience products. ✽

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N O R T H E R N E U R O P E

expanding your plant palette Mary Forrest, Professor at UCD School of Agriculture and Food

Science, provides a fascinating insight into the trees and shrubs of Denmark, many of which could be effectively used in the Irish landscape

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enmark and Sweden are seldom visited for their gardens, parks and open spaces, at least by Irish horticulturists. A tour with the International Dendrology Society to Denmark and southern Sweden in June 2017 was an eye opener to the wealth of trees and shrubs cultivated. While the landscape elements in suburban gardens, parks and open spaces are similar to this country, many of the trees, shrubs, climbers and hedges cultivated are unfamiliar or cultivated differently.

They provide new ideas for the design and management of planting schemes in Ireland.

SOME TREES WORTH PLANTING Zelcova serrata, a relative of Ulmus (elm), is a well branched wide spreading, smooth barked tree to 20m with finely pointed ovate foliage and good autumn colour. More elegant that Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata’ (hornbeam), it is suitable for a space where Fagus (beech) would become too large a tree.

Cercidiphyllum japonicum f. pendulum is a weeping graceful tree, less angular than Fraxinus excelsior ‘Pendula’ (weeping ash). The leaves are opposite and round. Each spring the emerging amber coloured young foliage permeates the air with a sweet scent, this colourful display is repeated in the autumn.

As in Ireland, Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) were popular in suburban gardens and in tree collections. Their cultivation as a hedge is unusual but effective since when not in leaf, many branched stems continue to act as a screen (Fig 1). Many other small to medium sized maple species were cultivated; Acer carpinifolium, as the name indicates has hornbeam-like (Carpinus) foliage, produces plenty of seed; A.trautvetteri is a beautiful fast growing tree with seeds which become an attractive red colour, and A. sempervirens is a neat tree with the typical three lobed leaves of maple foliage, stiff to the touch and distinctly parallel sided seed.

Although Liquidambar styraciflua (liquidambar) is growing well as a street tree in Dublin, providing rich autumn colour, it flowers in Copenhagen. Clusters of female flowers, green ones from this year and reddish from last year, hung beneath the maple-like foliage.

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While birch is native in Nordic countries species from Manchuria, Japan and China trees were frequent in tree collections in Denmark and Sweden. Betula costata is a tall growing tree with ‘very’ peeling bark on main trunk, less so on well coloured branches. Betula ermanii has pale coffee coloured smooth bark on branches and upper part of the trunk. Betula davurica, again with a shaggy peeling bark, was planted in a few collections. Though in leaf the branch coloured and peeling papery nature of the bark was obvious, these trees growing as specimens or in groups must be spectacular in winter.

Ptelea trifoliata (hop tree) a deciduous wide spreading tree was commonly planted in gardens and tree collections.

In late June to July it looks attractive from a distance with shiny trifoliate leaves and a ‘haze’ of white flowers. On closer inspection they were clusters of dainty star-like flowers.

Gleditsea triacanthos ‘Rubylace’ is a small specimen tree.

It was well placed by a flight of steps in a suburban garden where brown tinted bark and bronze coloured pinnate foliage could be admired from above and below. Flowers were the noticeable features of two other leguminous plants. Colutea arborescens (bladder senna) is a 1m tall deciduous shrub summer flowering shrub with pinnate leaves. The bright yellow pea-like flowers each with delicate orange markings are succeeded by pea-like seed pods which swell to what is commonly called a bladder. Indigofera amblyantha is an elegant tall shrub to 2m, with small pinnate leaves. Pale pink or mauve flowers are borne over a long flowering from June to October, a time when few shrubs are in flower. While both genera are grown in Irish plant collections they deserve wider use as summer flowering shrubs in dry sunny situations.

SHRUBS AND CLIMBERS FOR LANDSCAPE SCHEMES Viburnum tinus and V. davidii are stalwarts of landscape schemes in Ireland but other species are worth planting.

Viburnum ‘Pragense’ is a medium sized shrub, a hybrid of V. rhytidophyllum and V.utile. The foliage is evergreen, like a smaller version of V. rhytidophyllum but with glossy rather

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FIGURE 1: SPECIMEN PURPLE LEAVED MAPLE WITH AN ENCLOSING HEDGE OF GREEN LEAVED JAPANESE MAPLES IN THE HORTICULTURAL GARDEN, UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN, DENMARK FIGURE 2: PHYSOCARPUS OPULIFOLIUS IN FRUIT PHYSOCARPUS ‘DIABOLO’ IN FLOWER. FIGURE 3: LONICERA INVOLUCRATA IN FLOWER AND FRUIT.

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FIGURE 4 BEECH AS ‘LAUREL LAWN’ AND NORWAY MAPLE, SILKEBORG, DENMARK

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than matt foliage. Viburnum lentago is an attractive medium to large size shrub with mid green shiny leaves. These Viburnum were grown to create informal wall or barrier like shrubberies in a garden.

While Cotoneaster is common in Ireland, little was grown in Denmark, an exception being Cotoneaster salicifolius floccus. A shrub to 2m x 3m with narrow leaves shiny green above, woolly white beneath, it was wreathed in white flowers. An autumn display of berries would follow.

Like Cotoneaster, Physocarpus opulifolius also gives good value in a landscape schemes. Though deciduous, the species has a neat dense habit, guelder rose-like foliage (Viburnum opulus). White flowers, borne in round heads in June are succeeded by round seed heads of small inflated pods. Physocarpus ‘Diabolo’ with dark red foliage was very common in gardens. Other cultivars grown were P. ‘Dart’s Gold’ and P. ‘Amber Jubilee’ with amber bronze young foliage which then fades to green (Figure 2).

Kolkwitzia amabilis (Beauty Bush) is a very popular early summer flowering shrub in Danish town gardens. Its popularity is attributed to Aksel Olsen (1887 – 1982) who founded his nursery at Kolding, Denmark, in 1917 and made the shrub known to gardeners. When in flower it is laden with pink bell shaped flowers, each with a yellow throat Lonicera involucrata is a shrub for large scale planting in light woodland or in the open. It is a deciduous shrub to 2-3m or so, flowering over the summer months. Yellow tubular flowers sit in heart shaped red bracts, an involucre, where black fruit later develops. It is the sort of shrub which

could be severely pruned every few years and would then regenerate (Figure 3).

Lonicera henryana is an evergreen climber with long narrow dark green leaves. In Ireland it can become rampant and is shy flowering. Perhaps as seen in Sweden it might develop more amber tinged red flowers when confined in a container.

As in Ireland Hydrangea petiolaris, a deciduous white flowering climber was cultivated. In Denmark it could scale the heights of tall trees and interestingly was also cultivated as an extensive groundcover plant.

Two species grown as groundcover plants provided substantial weed smother. Bugglossoides purpureocaerulea is a spreading ground cover suitable for a shaded situation beneath shrubs. The stems, with narrow elliptic leaves, rise to 50 – 60cm. The name is very descriptive, the flowers look like a tubular bugloss, the flower open purple and become blue (purpureocaerulea). Asarum europaeum grows a couple of centimetres tall but its chief merits are a dense habit and glossy green, heart shaped or kidney shaped leaves. It grows well in shade, at the margins of tree and shrub planting. It is also grown in landscape schemes in the Netherlands.

Trifolium pannonicum, (Hungarian clover) is a neat upright plant to 78-80 cm, branched from the base, with narrow green leaves in threes, as in clover with white globular flower heads, typical of clover. The stems have sufficient strength so as not to warrant staking and therefore useful in low maintenance schemes. Trifolium trichocephalum grows to a similar height with similar erect stems, leaves fringed with hairs and pale yellow flowers.

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/ LANDSCAPING IN TOWNS AND CITIES In the general landscaping of towns, larger growing trees such as Tilia (lime) and Quercus (oak) were planted.

Taxus baccata (yew) was a common hedge. Fagus sylvatica (beech) was managed more as an extensive groundcover ‘laurel lawn’ and a low internal wall in a car park, rather than as tall hedges (Figure 4). Alnus incana ‘Imperialis’, a cut leaved form of the grey alder, was coppiced and the resulting growth formed an attractive shrub. In Copenhagen Spiraea x bumalda and Symphoricarpos chenaultii ’Hancock’ were common groundcover shrubs, in leaf and flower in the summer and with a dense pattern of branches in the winter.

Travelling through towns and suburbs, Acer campestre (field maple) grown as a hedge and Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) cultivated as garden trees were well favoured in private gardens.

Climbing roses were common in Copenhagen. A semi-circular ornate ‘rose’ guard as opposed to a ‘tree guard’ was used against walls of houses, apartments and commercial buildings.

The white flowering Rosa ‘New Dawn’ was recognisable, but red flowering climbers were also grown. In the southern Swedish seaside town of Ystad, town dwellers had planted climbing roses and tall hollyhocks in the pavements outside their homes.

It was a surprise to see hollyhocks as they are associated with warmer climates.

Considering the range of trees and shrubs plants observed in flower or fruit suggests that they benefit from a more continental climate with warmer summers and more hours of sunshine than are experienced in Ireland. We have looked to Mediterranean countries for new plants; perhaps we might also consider Nordic countries for resilient robust yet highly ornamental trees and shrubs.

The following gardens and parks, all open to the public are worth a detour: University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden, University of Copenhagen Horticultural Garden, Assistens Kirkegård city cemetery and King’s Garden (Rosenborg Garden) a Royal park - all close to Copenhagen city centre. Gothenburg Botanic Garden - managed by the municipality and Trädgårdsföreingen - run by the Garden Society of Gothenburg. ✽

MARY FORREST was educated at the National Botanic Gardens, University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. Following graduation from UCD she was appointed Heritage Gardens Fellow by An Taisce, to prepare an inventory of trees and shrubs in exotic plant collections in Ireland. This work was subsequently published as Trees and Shrubs cultivated in Ireland. She then became Head gardener at Glenveagh National Park, Co Donegal. She was appointed lecturer in UCD in 1986 where she has since taught courses in Landscape Management, landscape trees and shrubs, garden history and Fundamentals of Horticulture to students taking degrees in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. She can be contacted at mary.forrest@ucd.ie

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What is a Tree Despite their immeasurable value to us and the planet we inhabit, the majority of professionals simply don’t understand the most basic things about trees. And it’s having disastrous consequences on our landscape. In the first of a series of features Terry O’Regan gets to the root of the problem

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oes this simple question offend you? If you ever aspire to be a fiction writer you will learn the importance of the first line of a novel – you must draw in your reader. I am practicing. Do I have your attention or are you about to move on to the next page muttering, “He’s a right eejit asking a question like that; sure everyone knows the answer to that stupid question!”

Ask a child to draw a tree and a beautiful picture will take shape – trunk, branches, leaves, possibly flowers, and there’s always a bird in a nest. That is only half the story. Maybe the teacher doesn’t know what a tree is?

Ask Google and it might direct you to The Royal Scottish Forestry Society website, which will tell you, “A tree is a large, perennial plant with a single woody stem which is hard and strong. This allows a tree to grow tall or very tall, to stay upright without flopping over, and to withstand wind and other pressures. Plants are built basically of cellulose, but lignin in trees is what makes wood hard. Tannins and resins in wood give each species a distinctive colour and odour.”

THAT TOO IS ONLY HALF THE STORY I put my pen to paper on this topic on the eve of National Tree Week 2018, but that was not my inspiration. The inspiration came from recent consultancy commissions to do with challenging in-fill planning applications with existing mature

trees on site or nearby. More specifically, the inspiration relates to the question of how existing trees are understood in the development and planning process.

Now, I am not an Architect, so I would not design a house, I am not an engineer so I would not design a bridge and I am not a planner so I would not adjudicate on all aspects of a planning application. However, I am a qualified, experienced landscape horticulturist, so I do know what a tree is and I have learned over the years to respect the skills of other professions and to understand the implications that Architects’ and engineers’ design and planner decisions have for trees.

In relation to both planning and legal matters, I have had cause to refer to the legal status of trees and the law surrounding matters sylvan, and as most of you know it is a blundering disgrace like so much else legislation in this incompetent state. The only sane legislation available has been the case law derived from common law that we share with the UK as it predates the foundation of the Republic.

(This may have been repealed under a process initiated by the state in September 2014, but I doubt we could ever be that legislatively efficient.) The only bit of law we have added is the tree felling licence requirement, a ponderous outmoded piece of big brother feudal control.

But I have to admit that my spirits did rise somewhat when BS 5837:2012 Trees in relation to design, demolition and construction – Recommendations was published. It is not a perfect document by any means and I would argue with some

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/ E E , B Agr Sc Hort(Hons), FILI, MIoH, founder of Landscape Alliance Ireland, has served the landscape industry in Ireland for some 45 years and promoted the intent and aims of the European Landscape Convention, Florence 2000, for some 22 years.

In recent years he has divided his time between his landscape services/consultancy enterprise in Munster and working as a Council of Europe international landscape and heritage expert in Southeast Europe.

He continues to promote and refine his ‘jargon free’ landscape circle methodology and modified it for use at local and regional administrative levels in Kosovo, Croatia and Cyprus.

The LAI website www.lai-ireland.com will shortly be relaunched with exciting news of National Landscape Forum 2018. Contact Terry at terryjoregan@gmail.com or 021 487 1460.

“Some Architects and engineers seem to think if they stick in an aspirational reference to BS 5837:2012 on a drawing that masquerades as a landscape plan, then everything will be fine on the day” aspects of its key recommendations, not least the extent of the root protection zone, but it is a civilisation ahead of what we have had in place in Ireland.

That said, we have no legislation underpinning these borrowed recommendations. So what has happened?

Well, in my experience some Architects and engineers seem to think if they stick in an aspirational reference to BS 5837:2012 on a drawing that masquerades as a landscape plan, then everything will be fine on the day (and pigs might fly). But it gets worse. Planners think if they request a tree survey based on BS 5837:2012 and if that comes in the planning package or in response to a request for further information, then they can grant permission even if it is patently evident that there are glaring conflicts and inconsistencies in the project documentation.

The problem at the heart of the issue is the simple reality that the majority of these professional people do not know what a tree is. And they fail to either undertake the necessary continuous professional development or to engage with experienced qualified experts.

Contrast the treatment of trees with the treatment of traffic or waste water concerns. You will find that the planner will

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refer the design of the project to qualified engineers in the local authority for guidance. But of course we have few parks departments in Ireland’s local authorities and even fewer qualified horticulturalists, arborists or Landscape Architects with tree knowledge.

So the planner often takes a decision based on their own knowledge of trees. We have all used the saying about not seeing the wood for the trees, describing the failure of getting too bogged down in the detail and not seeing the bigger picture. In this case people who should know better cannot even see the bloody trees, so what hope is there that they might ever see the wood? If you’ve read this far and are still with me, I’m sure you will agree that it is time for us to admit that not only has the emperor no clothes, but also he is also hiding behind the fecking trees. It is time for us to talk seriously and responsibly about trees in the planning process.

With the benefit of having BS 5837:2012 as a starting point, the problem is not insurmountable, but it still needs qualified, experienced tree experts, it needs clear guidance, it needs regulations from the Department of Environment and it needs a well-structured continuing professional development programme for planners, Architects, engineers and building contractors. Only then will we get to the root of the problem.

In a future article I will elaborate on how to build on the resource that is BS 5837:2012 and also share with you some of my misgivings with the standard. ✽

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C RI SI S Ireland’s recovering horticulture sector is facing a problem it hasn’t had to deal with for over a decade: a hiring shortage. Joseph Blair of Horticulture.Jobs provides some context and shares some salient advice to frustrated employers

dvertising for jobs has increased by 400% in the last 12 months. Applicants for each role have decreased by 50% across all sub-sectors.

The writing is on the wall, we have an issue with recruitment.

As with the previous boom, the economic upswing which is positively affecting the Irish horticulture sector is largely down to a resurgence in construction. And just like before, the building sector is sucking up the labour force. Not only can employers not fill new vacancies, but also they are struggling to retain staff in the ones they have. “They’ve gone off to start their own business…moved back to the construction sector… were offered terms that I just couldn't match…have gone back to Poland, Lithuania” etc are the all too familiar responses from employers when asked what happened to previous employees? The employers typically describe their ideal employee as a carbon copy of themselves; complete with years of experience and unparalleled multitasking abilities. If only I could clone people, I’d be set.

The Republic is not alone; Northern Irish companies have begun advertising more frequently and are reporting similar

difficulties. Mainland UK companies began advertising with us in 2016 in response to their own crises and many Irish graduates move over in search of the wider range of opportunities on offer. Even the Netherlands are not immune to the problems.

On a recent press trip to the Netherlands, Horticulture.Jobs visited many nurseries of varying sizes and found they had one thing in common, they were all were trying to automate, but with limited success because they couldn’t rely on the usual sources of staff at peak busy times.

DRIVING FORCES

Many different factors aggravate the recruitment crisis, particularly in relation to general positions in horticulture. The ones I most frequently hear are: ● Low wages ● Physically hard work ● Unfavourable weather conditions to work in ● Competition from the construction sector ● Reduced inflow of labour from eastern Europe ● High cost of living ● Choice of receiving social welfare and rent allowance, or

accepting minimum wages and a tough job outdoors ● Limited age range because of the nature of the work

FINDING SOLUTIONS Employers face a challenge to recruit the right people but there are some things that can be done. ● Communicate company values and culture rather than job specification. ● Horticulture isn’t everything: in areas such as retail it’s as important to attract people with a passion for retail as it is to be interested in plants. ● Look to add additional benefits such as accommodation,

health benefits and flexible hours. ● Communicate more about the health and wellbeing

aspects of work.

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the outset. ● Seek employees from abroad. Ireland is a very attractive

place for students and graduates of horticulture. ● Use existing employees to help find new ones. ● Explore ways in which you can sponsor employees from

non-European countries. ● Offer in-house training. ● Offer incentives for productivity and investment. ● Seek out partnership with other companies in your area

to share marketing costs, particularly in relation to getting the word out in Europe that we’re hiring.

RETENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE Ask any employer, and they will tell you that it’s easier to keep good employees than it is to find new ones. While money is important, it’s not everything. ● Offer the use of company transport. ● Consider supplying a phone or device. ● Offering health insurance shows you really do care. ● Give One4all tax-free gift vouchers for punctuality and dedication. ● Allow personal time off on top of normal holidays. ● Organise yearly team visits to at least one consumer garden or trade show. ● Consider profit sharing initiatives. ● Offer continual professional development opportunities. ● Ensure they understand how promotion is achieved. ● Hold regular meetings and keep the lines of communication open.

In addition to the above I would say there is one more key thing to consider in relation to retention and that’s value.

We’re human beings and we love to feel valued. It doesn’t have to be the grand gestures, it’s the small thing that counts.

While my own insight has been gained from professional experience I thought it would be good to hear some additional points of view from others in the sector. Here’s what Ross Carew, executive secretary of the Association of Landscape Contractors and Dermot Callaghan, head of horticulture at Teagasc, have to say.

IRONIC SUCCESS ROSS CAREW By some distance, the biggest issue currently facing our members (and the broader horticulture/landscaping/nursery sector) is the difficulty in recruiting and retaining good staff.

I’ve been hearing this from our members for 18 months now and it is only becoming more frequent, urgent and slightly panic-stricken. Several members have told me that the shortage of staff is a major obstacle to them growing their business and that they have had to turn down work as a result.

As one member said, “We have worked really hard on the difficult part – marketing and generating new business – and have been successful. Now, ironically, we are not able to carry out all the work that we have managed to win”.

I tell our members there is no silver bullet here, and that realistically the problem is going to get worse before it gets better. A recent newspaper headline said “Recovery threatened by shortage of builders”, going on to say that

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80,000 additional workers would be needed by 2020 to meet the demand for new housing.

The construction industry pays much better than our sector. While the new national minimum wage, as of 1 January 2018, is €9.55 an hour for an “experienced adult worker” i.e. an employee who has an employment of any kind in any two years over the age of 18, the mandatory minimum hourly rate of pay for new entrant workers in the construction sector is €13.77 per hour. Pay rates for landscape operatives vary from €12 to €15 per hour, depending on what they are doing and on how long they have been employed by the contractor. I advise our members that it is worth paying a good employee an extra euro or two an hour to keep him, rather than losing him and then having to replace him which will often cost more in the long run.

I am often told that, while they would like to pay their staff more, they can’t afford to as the rates they are getting for contracts are too low and under pressure. This raises a bigger issue of landscapers often getting sucked into a race to the bottom in terms of what they charge. I don’t see a good future for anyone pursuing that strategy but some guys are not able to break out of that mindset.

Another member told me that he recently lost two of his Polish employees because the economy and pay are improving in Poland, and they could get the same money at the end of the week as they would be getting in Ireland.

There is no doubt that the cost of rent in the greater Dublin area is a major contributory factor here. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. The ALCI has recently started working with Teagasc, along with other stakeholders, to develop a two year apprenticeship programme, 70% of the time on learning the job and 30% in a classroom, leading to a FETAC level 6 qualification on successful completion. This is something the ALCI has wanted to see happen for many years and we are most enthusiastic about this development, which it is hoped to have in place by autumn 2019.

A STRUCTURED SUGGESTION DERMOT CALLAGHAN The current shortages of labour in the horticulture sector are very serious and pose a threat to the various subsectors. By its very nature, horticulture is labour intensive, with approximately 40% of all input costs coming under the labour heading. What is notable about the current shortages is that they are being felt by all operators. Having an administration and HR function which is top class does not guarantee successful recruitment. Producers who are offering very structured employment packages covering flights, accommodation of a high standard, transport, induction and training are faring best but are still carrying the shortfall. ✽

E is a lifelong horticulturist who specialises in business support & development for horticulture businesses. Through his management of Horticulture.Jobs he has a unique insight into recruitment and employee retention. Contact him joseph@horticulture.ie

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ORNAMENTAL BR ASSICAS In a continuing series of articles on cut flowers, Andy Whelton of Teagasc Horticultural Development Department looks at the potential of Brassica oleracea which is gaining popularity in the trade

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hilst cabbage is firmly established as one of the recommended portions of our five-a-day fruit and veg, there is now an increasing appetite from supermarkets and florists for single stems of specially bred cultivars of Brassica oleraceae where they are used as fillers in mixed flower bouquets.

Experimental work carried out by Teagasc suggests that planting from mid-June (out of doors) to early/mid-August (under protection) will give continuity of cropping from September to February. The basic requirements are no different to growing edible brassicas where deep, well drained soils of pH 6.5 to 7.0 are preferred. The crop is generally grown on the flat. A soil test is necessary to accurately determine rates of Phosphorus and Potash. The species will respond to the use of Nitrogen when up to 100 kg/ha can be applied depending on previous crop history. A sterilised soil is recommended for weed control in the protected crop. Standard herbicides used in edible production can be used in the outdoor crop.

There is a wide selection of varieties available in all sorts of colours, shapes, textures but the Teagasc work concluded that the Crane series of ‘Red’, ‘White’ and ‘Rose’ cultivars is currently the most popular and of these ‘Red’ is in the greatest demand.

GET THE PLANT DENSITY RIGHT While the crop can be direct drilled, work to date has been on using transplants where plants are generally raised from seed sown in modules during April/May. Plants are planted in single rows at 80m2. This gives an overall plant density of about 650,000 plants per ha, leaving space at intervals to facilitate management and harvesting operations. A wire mesh is used to give support to the crop as it grows. This is put in place at planting and raised up as the plants grow with the aid of specially adapted poles. This prevents the growth of curved stems which are unacceptable in the trade. The flower heads must not be oversized and if planted too close they will be too small or they will not develop properly.

PEST & DISEASE CONTROL PROGRAMME VITAL The normal pests of brassicas must be monitored for,

including cabbage root fly, aphids and caterpillars. Insecticide treatments are justified during the growing season. Slugs can also be a threat. Experience with outdoor production suggests that rabbits and pigeons could also affect quality and yield. The main diseases to look out for include downy mildew, ring spot and alternaria. A fungicide programme must be implemented and regular spraying is justified.

Experience suggests that the crop should be well watered and fertilised in the first three to four weeks of growth so that adequate stem length is attained. The heads begin to colour at lower temperatures in autumn when night temperatures drop below 150C. The plants need five to six days of cold nights to change colour.

When the top of the stems has coloured up to the desirable tone, good quality unblemished stems, at least 55cm in length are carefully selected and cut using hand-held secateurs.

Grading and bunching are generally carried out in the packing shed. The lower leaves are removed and stems are tied neatly with a rubber band in bunches of 10, then left standing in water overnight and kept cool prior to packing or further transport in buckets on Danish trolleys.

Experience to date suggests a net return of €4.50 per m2 (€45,000 per ha) is achievable from a single crop under protection given a 60% grade out. It is assumed that a structure is already in place. The cost of the support poles and netting is estimated at €14,000/ha which is an additional capital cost to bear in mind. Further information at: www.teagasc.ie/crops/horticulture/cut-foliage. ✽

Andy Whelton M Sc Ag Sc is a horticultural development offi cer in the Teagasc Horticultural Development Department based in Teagasc Clonakilty College and is specialist adviser on ornamental cut foliage. He has spearheaded the developments in cut foliage as a new sector in commercial horticulture. He also works closely with outdoor vegetable and protected crop businesses in Munster and south Leinster. You can contact Andy via andy.whelton@teagasc.ie.

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USING HORTICULTURE T O RE ST O RE H E A L T H Interest in social and therapeutic horticulture has grown in Ireland in the last number of years, and with that a small but growing number of graduates are gaining employment in the sector. In this feature, Rachel Gerrard Shouldice, ITB graduate and horticultural therapist at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire, and lecturer in horticulture, Rachel Freeman explore the educational and work practice opportunities available in this emerging field

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or nearly 20 years I worked in the legal profession as a senior legal executive in a large firm, which I loved.

The economic downturn and redundancy gave me time to pause and the opportunity to change direction and return to education.

I have always loved gardening; I find that being outside working in the fresh air clears my head and grounds me. I decided to learn more as a mature student, and studied at the National Botanical Gardens, completing my honours year at IT Blanchardstown.

Horticulture is a broad church, offering both academic and practical modules. The lecturers were always approachable and supportive. I found the practical learning placement was a vital component of the learning experience. I majored in market gardening and nursery stock production. I also studied commercial crop production, garden management, plant treatment and integrated pest management, organic growing, and propagation of plants from seeds and cuttings.

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INTEREST IN SOCIAL AND THERAPEUTIC HORTICULTURE With particular interest, I studied social and therapeutic horticulture (STH) at IT Blanchardstown, where alongside the academic theory we also had the practical learning experience of designing and running weekly horticultural workshops for a group of special needs QQI L 3 learners.

The experience of engaging with these learners on a weekly basis formed the basis of my learning in STH, both in terms of theory and practice.

The focus of my fi nal year research thesis was on the role of horticulture in integrated substance abuse recovery programmes, exploring the benefits horticulture has to offer service users. The guidance and encouragement of my mentor was invaluable. My research involved an in-depth review of related published literature, studies and reports and interviewing a number of related service providers including the Peter McVerry Trust, Coolmine Therapeutic Community, Tivoli Training Centre and Thornton Hall Prison.

I worked with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Parks Department for four summers, during which time I had the opportunity to work with St John of God, Carmona Services Users, with intellectual disabilities, who came to work with us in Cabinteely Park two days a week on their 10 week practical learning placements. We formed a team, together engaging in amenity horticultural tasks such as watering window boxes, weeding display beds, deadheading and general maintenance of the park. The aim of these activities was to prepare the learners for independent living and sheltered employment.

WORKING IN SOCIAL AND THERAPEUTIC HORTICULTURE Since attaining my BSc (Hons) in horticulture, I have volunteered with the Peter McVerry Trust, assisting the horticulturist at their residential community detox centre in north county Dublin.

In addition, I design and construct, restore and maintain gardens for private clients, most recently upgrading the playground and restoring the willow dome of a primary school in Darndale. I was a finalist on RTE’s Super Garden 2016 TV series, which was an incredible experience. I designed and constructed a cottage style garden for a young family.

WORKING AS A HORTICULTURAL THERAPIST Since September 2016, I have been employed as the horticultural therapist at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire. This facility provides specialist medical rehabilitation, for patients who have acquired a physical or

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cognitive disability.

The skills, knowledge and attitude I have developed from working with the above services form the basis of my approach with NRH patients. I have also obtained a certificate in training, delivery and evaluation, QQI L 6 with an emphasis on communication skills and preparing lesson plans, which has assisted me in devising horticultural therapy sessions.

Patient needs are at the heart of any therapeutic horticulture session and in the process of devising these sessions, I familiarise myself with the individual patient’s needs by linking in with the occupational therapist and reading the referral notes which guide me in creating sessions tailored to meet the needs of the group, and/or individuals.

THERAPEUTIC USE OF HORTICULTURE IN PRACTICE Using horticulture as the therapeutic vehicle, the activities are designed to build physical stamina and strength through meaningful tasks. The sessions enable individuals develop better task focus, increase self-esteem, and give opportunities for experiential learning.

I am responsible for the day to day running of the occupational therapy garden and therapeutic horticulture facility. The facility provides a wide and varied spectrum of horticultural

activities, such as mixing compost, seed sowing, picking out seedlings, potting on, which assist with sitting and standing gait, fine motor skills, and cognitive understanding of sequential steps.

Watering with watering cans or a hose assists with balance, reaching, lifting and bending. Lawn mowing, hedge cutting, digging, hoeing, and hand weeding increase physical fitness, strengthen muscles and improve stamina.

Setting out and planting rows of vegetables, mulching, pruning and harvesting offer insight to the circle of the seasons. Along with the cognitive and physical benefits there are emotional and behavioural benefits, such as increased confidence and ability to manage anxiety, depression, anger and stress.

NRH patients in receipt of care become carers themselves through tending to the plants, which cultivates the urge to nurture and to take care of themselves, others, and the earth.

Patients prepare produce for use in their occupational therapy kitchen, where they may cook their own meals, increasing awareness of food provenance and nutrition. Patients are encouraged to participate in plant sales which help fund the garden, giving them a sense of achievement. They contribute to the maintenance of the garden, which encourages a sense of ownership and pride in their work.

The garden offers a quiet reflective space to address issues of bereavement which may arise in counselling sessions and allows them to process emotions. It is also a social hub. Patients chat away to each other as they work, swap stories and have the craic; laughter releases tension, lifts spirits and makes it an enjoyable and fun activity. The patients look forward to their next session.

Meaningful activities, outside in the fresh air, in contact with the soil, listening to buzzing bees and bird song while working with nature, offer benefits specific to horticulture as a therapeutic modality.

Sessions are patient-centred, focusing on their goals and working to achieve the best possible outcome. At the end of each session I provide detailed feedback to the interdisciplinary team, noting individual’s challenges, progress and discussing plans for future sessions.

Social and therapeutic horticulture is not a stand-alone treatment, but I strongly believe that it is an integral part of the integrated, interdisciplinary, rehabilitative programme.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AT ITB IN SOCIAL AND THERAPEUTIC HORTICULTURE Social and therapeutic horticulture education spans all four years of the

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/ BSc horticulture programme at ITB. The delivery takes a very hands-on, practical approach to learning, allowing students opportunities within this general horticulture degree to focus their studies on STH, if desired. Garda vetting is mandatory for anyone considering a career in the sector. As part of induction, ITB vets all students ahead of engagement with STH projects.

All first year students partake in horticulture in the community module. This is where they get their first taste of STH whilst working off-campus with a community group engaged in horticultural activities. Placement in year two, with the Green Bubble Project at St Mary’s Hospital (and others) in the Phoenix Park offers a further opportunity to engage and develop STH skills.

In the third and fourth years students with an STH focus have the opportunity to explore in depth, the current research and theoretical foundations of STH through their research methods module, and thesis. Year four provides students with a dedicated elective module in STH. This module is focused on the application of theory to practice, and student learning is very much hands-on. Students design and run weekly horticultural workshops for adult learners from the Daughters of Charity engaging in a QQI L 3 module. In this regard, the opportunity of working directly with various STH groups, we believe at this level, our course is unique in Ireland.

If you are interested in doing the degree, either on a part time of full time basis, and in particular if you want to focus on STH, please get in touch Rachel.freeman@itb.ie ✽

RACHEL GERRARD SHOULDICE BSc (Hons) Horticulture, horticultural therapist at National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire

RACHEL FREEMAN is an assistant lecturer in horticulture at the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, where she is also placement coordinator. In addition to teaching practice.

Rachel has completed an MSc in social and therapeutic horticulture at Coventry University, UK. She can be contacted at rachel.freeman@itb.ie

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CURRENTLY ✽ CAMERON KIERNAN LANDSCAPING Landscaping Foreperson

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NOW HIRING ACCOUNT MANAGER NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT MANAGER COMMERCIAL MANAGER

We are looking for innovative people with a love of indoor and outdoor plants.

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To discuss the role in more detail please contact Tom on 01 840 1888

Retail Horticulturist

Interested candidates should

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Apply online www.Horticulture.Jobs

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INTERVIEW WITH PHILIP MOREAU

BLOOM 2017

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Volume 5 Issue 1

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: HOW YOU CAN CREATE A SUSTAINABLE CAREER PATH

ASSURING SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE A

CENTRING THE FRINGE

ANDREW A NDREW MAHON FRAMES THE SUSTAINABLE HORTICULTURE ASSURANCE SCHEME (SHAS)

HIDDEN COSTS LOST PROFITS

BLOOMFRINGE TEAM ON HORTICULTURE, ART & COMMUNITY

DESIGNER INSIGHT

PATRICIA TYRELL CASTS AN EXPERT VIEW OVER BLOOM 2016

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