VOL. 21/NO. 4
Winter 2020
The Official Publication of The Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association
Restoring Client Experience with the Natural World Highlights from the Tennessee Green Industry Celebration and TNLA Golf Classic
VOL. 21/NO. 4 •
The Official Publication of The Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association
RECENT EVENTS TN Green Industry Celebration TNLA Golf Classic
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GUEST COLUMN The Balance Myth
16
DEPARTMENTS From the President................................................................................................................... 6 TNLA Sponsors........................................................................................................................ 6 News from TNLA..................................................................................................................... 8 Index of Advertisers................................................................................................................ 27
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Winter 2020
COVER STORY Restoring Client Experience with the Natural World
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The Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association serves its members in the industry through education, promotion and representation. The statements and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the association, its staff, or its board of directors, Tennessee GreenTimes, or its editors. Likewise, the appearance of advertisers, or their identification as Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association members, does not constitute an endorsement of the products or services featured in this, past or subsequent issues of this quarterly publication. Copyright Š2020 by the Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association. Tennessee GreenTimes is published quarterly. Subscriptions are complimentary to members of the Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association Third-class postage is paid at Jefferson City, MO. Printed in the U.S.A. Reprints and Submissions: Tennessee GreenTimes allows reprinting of material. Permission requests should be directed to the Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association. We are not responsible for unsolicited freelance manuscripts and photographs. Contact the managing editor for contribution information. Advertising: For display and classified advertising rates and insertions, please contact Leading Edge Communications, LLC, 206 Bridge Street, Suite 200, Franklin, TN 37064, (615) 790-3718, Fax (615) 794-4524.
The Tennessee Greentimes is the official publication of The Tennessee Nursery & Landscape Association, Inc. 115 Lyon Street McMinnville, Tennessee 37110 (931) 473-3951 Fax (931) 473-5883 www.tnla.com Email: mail@tnla.com Published by Leading Edge Communications, LLC 206 Bridge Street, Suite 200 Franklin, Tennessee 37064 (615) 790-3718 Fax (615) 794-4524 Email: info@leadingedge communications.com Editors Dr. Bill Klingeman Dr. Amy Fulcher Associate Editors Dr. Nick Gawel Dr. Frank Hale Dr. John Sorochan TNLA Officers President Bert Driver Bert Driver Nursery 1st Vice President Morgan Adcock Scenic Hills Nursery 2nd Vice President Michael Gallagher Heather Farms Nursery 3rd Vice President Terri Turner Turner & Son’s Nursery Secretary-Treasurer Cody Walker Walker Nursery Co. Associate Director Justin Woodlee Tennessee Valley Tractor & Equipment Ex-Officio Jon Flanders Botanico, Inc.
D & D AGRI
AGRIBUSINESS PROTECTION SPECIALIST
Chisholm Downs 1993 H wy . 31 S outH A tHenS , A lAbAmA 35611 e mAil : cdownS @ pclnet . net
c ell (256) 230-5677 H ome (256) 232-8184
Executive Director Louree Walker
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From the President James Bert Driver
T HE YEAR 2020
What a long strange trip it’s been ! TNLA Would like to
THANK
the following companies for being
Membership Sponsors GOLD MEMBERSHIP SPONSORS Barky Beaver Mulch & Soil Mix, Inc. BASF Blankenship Farms and Nursery Botanico, Inc. Flower City Nurseries Living Earth Nashville Nashville Landscape Systems, Inc. Nufarm Americas, Inc. Putnals Premium Pine Straw, Inc. Randall Walker Farms Safeguard Nursery Products Swafford Nursery, Inc. Tennessee 811 Warren County Nursery, Inc.
SILVER MEMBERSHIP SPONSORS BWI of Memphis Carpe Diem Farms Dayton Bag & Burlap Co. Old Courthouse Nursery Samara Farms Turf Mountain Sod Youngblood Farms 6
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As
we turn toward the holiday season and reflect on what has been a year of growth, uncertainty, frustration, and triumph... the long shadow of the pandemic remains. The writer Nicholas Christakis stated that “even when the world returns to ‘normal,’ the legacy of Covid-19 will transform everything from wages and healthcare to political attitudes and global supply chains. For some time after we reach herd immunity or have a widely distributed vaccine, people will still be recovering from overall clinical, psychological, social and economic shock of the pandemic and the adjustments it required, likely through 2024.” Again, the members of TNLA are resilient and innovative and if we continue to keep our wits about us, then we can continue to embrace the many changes in ways of doing business that have been implemented this past year. We are blessed as an industry to live and work outside in nature and by the very definition ESSENTIAL! The industry is alive and well because of the attitude and the guts to work with Mother Nature on a daily basis and that is called intestinal fortitude. Makes me proud to be part of this unique group of dirt farmers that make up the green industry in Tennessee... it is a horti-CULT! Kind souls, I leave you with one of the most enduring poems ever written. In times of strife, in times of victory, and in times of fear, Rudyard Kipling summons that which we need to be reminded of, and the message is clear: we all have it within us to know and understand that one must, first of all, endure. I beseech thee to read this poem and please read it slowly. Go back and read it again and again... chew on each word, read it out loud to yourself and listen to the words. Let them sink in and marinate in your heart and soul, for that is truly where the power and the energy reside to “force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold On!’” James Bert Driver TNLA President
If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings, And never breathe a word about your loss: If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can dream — and not make dreams your master; If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same. If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much: If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And which is more: you’ll be a Man, my son!
– Rudyard Kipling, 1895
TENNESSEE DIVISION 204 Red Road, Suite 180
McMinnville, TN 37110
News from TNLA
Trees Donated to Nashville by Hale & Hines Nursery
In
the aftermath of the March 2020 tornado that devastated parts of Nashville, then the derecho that followed in May, parts of Nashville suffered a significant loss of trees. This compounded the already reduced urban canopy which has been strongly affected in the last 10 years by development pressure, tree diseases and old age, which has cost the city an estimated 9,000 trees per year, according to a state estimate. Hale & Hines Nursery donated 1,000 trees to the Metro Tree Advisory Committee. It is this spirit of generosity and the high quality of their product that led to Terry Hines’s induction into the TNLA Hall of Fame in 2019. Patricia Miller, Chair of the Metro Tree Advisory Committee, says of this donation, “To make this endeavor successful, different groups came together, developing systems for future similar efforts and forging partnerships that I think will endure. All of this will benefit the community.”
TNLA is proud to count Terry Hines and Hales & Hines Nursery as loyal members and a great example of the community-minded spirit of the professionals our organization represents.
Welcome NEW
MEMBERS
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Thank You
TNLA MEMBERS
RICKY MINTON AND JERRY BLANKENSHIP for your service on the 2020 SNA Board! TNLA is proud to be represented so well on the SNA Board for the 2020 term. SNA President Rickey Minton holds a B.S. Agriculture from Tennessee Tech University, a Masters in Global Studies from Liberty University, and a Ph.D. from Trinity University in Religious Studies. He has been the owner of Triangle Nursery since 1995, a 500-acre field and container production nursery. In addition to his nursery, Rickey is involved in several business ventures. Rickey is also a Pastor and Missionary in Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Africa. He is a Billy Graham Evangelical Association Chaplain and Tennessee State Prison Chaplain. His hobbies include fishing, hunting, and boating. Rickey has been married to Greta (Porter) for 38 years. They have two boys, Zach and Kati Minton and Wes and Victoria Minton and three grandchildren, Lake, Landon, and Aubrey. Jerry Blankenship joined the SNA Board in 2020. Jerry, along with his wife Beth, own and operate Blankenship Farms and Nursery, McMinnville, TN. Jerry is a past president of the Tennessee Nursery & Landscape Association (TNLA) and was awarded TNLA Young Farmer of the Year (2003) and the TNLA Nurseryman of the Year (2014). In 2005, he was awarded SNA’s David E. Laird, Sr. Memorial Award. Jerry has served on the Tennessee Department of Transportation Highway Beautification Committee and the US National Arboretum Horticulture Advisory Board. He and Beth have three children, Katie Beth Stanfield, Emilie, and William. Jerry enjoys being crew chief for his dirt late model racecar driven by his son, William. He is a deacon at Westwood Church of Christ.
A C T I VE
A SSO C I ATE
Circle J Tree Farm Jeffery Jones 74 Magness Road McMinnville, TN 37110
J. Frank Schmidt P. Carey Horticultural Sales Pat Carey 10904 Sun Ridge Road Goshen, KY 40026
W ELCO M E TO TE N N E S S E E !
Meet ALICIA RIHN UT’s New Extension Specialist for Nursery, Greenhouse and other Horticultural Crops
G
reetings Tennessee! My name is Alicia Rihn (pronounced “Alee-sea-yah Rheen”) and I joined the faculty of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics on July 1, 2020 as the Nursery, Greenhouse, and Specialty Crops specialist. Despite joining the university during the pandemic, I have had the pleasure of meeting several growers in the past couple of weeks. I truly appreciate the diversity and vibrancy of the green industry here in Tennessee. I am looking forward to visiting with you in the near future and learning about your businesses and the opportunities to contribute to Tennessee’s green industry. Let me tell you about my background and how I came to Tennessee. I grew up in a small agricultural community in south central Minnesota. As a small-town kid, I was a 4-H and FFA member who tried on many hats and quickly settled on projects in horticulture, horses, and dairy cattle. Largely based on these experiences, I attended the University of Wisconsin-River Falls as an undergrad studying horticultural science with an emphasis on production. During my senior year, I realized that I needed to better understand consumers; especially how they perceive and interact with horticultural products. To learn more about these areas, I have pursued graduate training and post-doctoral work that has sought to answer questions related to the interface between consumers and horticultural firms. The goal of this work has been to find ways to add value to what both parties get when working together. As a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, my applied plant sciences degrees enabled me to merge the disciplines of horticultural science, consumer behavior, and agricultural economics. In my work, we were able to address marketing and behavioral questions that were directly linked to consumer demand and value for ornamental plants. Specifically, I assessed preferences of Gen X and Y consumers for horticultural products and then developed marketing recommendations to attract those groups. As a post-doc at the University of Florida’s Mid-Florida Research and Education Center in Apopka, Florida, I was able to continue this line of inquiry while evaluating the impact of the Fresh from Florida campaign on consumers’ preferences for and valuation of ornamental plants. Results of that research demonstrated that consumers are interested in and willing to pay premiums for plants that are grown in-state, if the campaign’s promotions are used in retail outlets. Since learning about this specialty crops position at the University of Tennessee, I have been very excited about the opportunity to use my skillset to help Tennessee’s specialty crop industries. Since moving to Tennessee, I have been impressed with the diversity and creativity of the nursery and specialty crop industries. I look
forward to better understanding the industry’s needs, concerns, and opportunities for growth. I enjoy working on applied research and extension projects that are based on industry-driven needs and ideas. From my past experiences, one of my greatest joys has come from the ability to offer actionable recommendations that improve the tools, options, and knowledge that business leaders need to make strategic decisions for their firms. Much of my work has addressed the interface between consumers and specialty crop growers to improve communication, expand markets, and increase product value. During the past few years, I have investigated opportunities including:
• marketing to young consumers • pollinator promotions • local / state promotional campaigns • visual attention to retail signage • purchasing behavior • value-added attributes • niche markets • tradeshow displays • sustainable residential landscaping • grower preferences for fruit traits, and • misperceptions related to production methods
Through these projects I have had the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of firms, industry associations, plant breeders, entomologists, pathologists, extension agents, and a plethora of specialists from other related disciplines. Together, these experiences have highlighted the need to address projects from different angles and come together with sustainable solutions that benefit growers and other specialty crop industry stakeholders. I cannot emphasize enough how excited I am about the opportunities here in Tennessee and I am looking forward to getting to know you, working with you, and helping you find viable solutions that work for you and your firms! For more information or to plan an opportunity for me to meet with you, please contact me (Dr. Alicia Rihn) at arihn@utk.edu, or by phone at (865) 974-7472.
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Recent Events
G REEN I N DU S T R Y C E L E B RA T I ON The Tennessee Green Industry Celebration was held on September 10th, 2020. Please join us in congratulating this year’s award winners.
Wholesale Nurseryman of the Year:
Kim Henry Holden
Associate Board Member:
Justin Woodlee 10
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Young Nursery or Landscape Professional of the Year:
John Harney
William J. “Bill” Reilly Salesperson of the Year:
Kyle Creamer
Hall of Fame:
Charles Yancy
Hall of Fame:
Michael Hallum
GOLD
Committee Chair of the Year:
Committee Chair of the Year:
Steve Bennett
Bill Boyd
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR
Landscape Contractor of the Year:
JS Gardening, LLC Justin Stelter
Green Industry Celebration Sponsors
BASF Bert Driver Nursery Botanico, Inc. Boyd & Boyd Nursery Farm Credit Mid-America Cedarwood Nursery Harrell’s, LLC Haviland Plastic Products NYP Corporation Panter & Sunderland Nursery Pleasant Cove Nursery, Inc. Randall Walker Farms Scenic Hills Nursery Stowers Machinery Corporation Warren County Nursery S ILV E R
Barky Beaver Mulch & Soil Mix BWI Companies, Inc. Circle J Tree Farm Don Yancy & Sons Nursery Freedom Tree Farms Heather Farms Nursery, Inc. Hildreth Brothers Nursery J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. Pirtle Nursery, Inc. Simpson Nurseries Southern Agriculture Tennessee Valley Tractor & Equipment Turner & Sons Nursery B RON Z E
Aero Rubber Company Drees Plant Wholesalers Flower City Nurseries Haston Farm Nursery Hutchinson Publishing Corp. ProSolutions The Greenhouse Co. of South Carolina Triple C Nursery Tupper Tree Farm TNLA Memorial Scholarship Winner:
TNLA Floyd MacDonald Scholarship Winner:
Mary Esther Brewer
Samuel Vandergriff
M A S K S PON S OR
Classic Groundcovers
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Recent Events continued
GOLF CLASSIC TOURNAMENT OCTOBER 15, 2020 McMinnville Country Club
The TNLA Golf Classic raised more than $5000.00 for the TNLA Memorial Scholarship Fund. The Memorial Scholarship Fund is used to provide scholarships for college students enrolled in the horticulture program.
First Place
Second Place
Left to Right: John Adam Turner, Cody Fults, Peyton Haston, Barry Haston
Third Place
Farm Bureau Insurance McMinnville
Faron Green Nursery
Adam Wood accepted the awards for the team. Team Members: Ron Poston, Adam Wood, Pieter VanVuuren, Bo Rivers
Accepting: Austin Green and Paul Martin. Team Members: Austin Green, Park Hillard, Nick Stern, Paul Martin
Fourth Place BWI, Inc.
Team Members: Todd Locke, Jay Hooten, Brian Martin, and Rylie Marshall
Continued on page 14
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Hills Creek Native Plants
Growers of a complete line of native lining out stock, ornamentals, vines, wildflowers and ferns. 8 26 Hi l l s C re ek Ro a d Mc Minnv i l l e, TN 3 7 1 1 0
Jeff Panter (931) 224-7719
Austin Panter (931) 619-1449
hillscreeknativeplants@gmail.com
Brently Panter (931) 224-0955
Recent Events continued
CLOSEST TO PIN
CLOSEST TO PIN
CLOSEST TO PIN
Paul Martin #7
Will Stern #17
Kent Clendenon #2
$100
$100
$50
CLOSEST TO PIN
Cole Reed #4 $50
A S P E C I A L T H A NKS TO O UR S PO NS O RS : G O L F S PO NS O RS 20 20 BASF Bert Driver Nursery Bobcat of McMinnville Botanico, Inc. Burlap Room BWI Companies Champion Chevrolet Cherokee Mfg. Don Yancy & Sons Nursery
Farm Bureau Insurance – McMinnville
Kirby Real Estate – Hoover & Son Insurance
Gateway Tire & Service Center
Mize Farm & Garden
Griffin Greenhouse Supplies, Inc.
NYP Corp.
Harrell’s, LLC
Scenic Hills Nursery
Heather Farms Nursery, Inc.
Security Federal Savings Bank
Homeland Community Bank
Tennessee Valley Tractor
J & D Nursery
Tennessee Valley Nursery
John Holmlund Nursery
Turner & Sons Nursery
JS Gardening, LLC
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Guest Column
The
Balance Myth By Neal Glatt, CSP, ASM
F
or many workers, work-life balance used to be a noble goal. The idea was that if we can do our jobs well for 40 (or more) hours per week, then it would be possible to provide for a family to go back to and spend time with off-the-job. If the time was in balance, we would not worry about the obligations of work when spending time personally, or about personal issues when at work, then things would be good. There are a number of reasons that this myth doesn’t make much sense. For one, what does “in balance” even mean? How do you know when the equation is balanced? If I miss an hour of work, do I “owe” it back to the organization? Or I work an extra few hours on a big project, am I to be compensated more for them? What if I like work so much that I want to spend more than 40 hours there – am I off-balance? Second, who can possibly separate work and life anymore? Even before COVID forced us to work from home, where my living room, clutter, and/or children are on full display for my co-workers, business cell phones meant I was expected to respond after-hours or on weekends, at least for emergencies. It seems like the line between work and life has been awful blurry ever since e-mail started showing up on cell phones. Third, when I have a real problem, it bothers me no matter what I’m supposed to be doing. When I have a big problem at work, it affects my sleep and the balance idea doesn’t work anymore. Conversely, my mom was very sick in 2010. She required many surgeries and eventually passed away in December. There were times, especially for the weeks leading up and following her funeral, that I was heavily distracted even
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when I wasn’t on bereavement leave from work. When a family member has a problem, or bills are overdue, or anything emotionally devastating is happening to us personally, we simply won’t be performing at the same level at work. So, what’s a better solution? Work-Life Integration. The idea is simple: let’s find a way for what we do at work to fit into our lives in an integrative way. Employees do their best work when the mission of an organization inspires them personally. People want to feel part of something bigger than themselves and great managers help them bridge that gap between personal and work purpose. Gallup actually reports that workgroups which are mission-driven suffer 30%-50% less accidents and have 15% to 30% less turnover. If you want to improve the personal and psychological well-being of your people (and we need to be doing so now more than ever!), introduce your organization’s mission regularly and help draw connections to individual contributions or roles. When daily tasks are connected to a higher purpose, everyone realizes more success and feels better about their chosen job. After all, we only need work-life balance if we hate our work, right? Neal Glatt, CSP, ASM is a managing partner of GrowTheBench.com – a leading provider of affordable online education, professional development and peer networking for green industry professionals. Contact Neal via email at Neal@GrowTheBench.com.
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Restoring
Cover Story
Client Experience with the Natural World
Figure 1a: Hard to manage road verge (Courtesy of Michael Ross)
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1a
1b
Figure 1b: Sustainable solution for roadside road verge (Courtesy of Michael Ross)
By Michael Ross, SITES AP, Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Sciences + School of Landscape Architecture, University of Tennessee
Childhood Wonder and Our Diminished Connection to Nature As we find our urban and suburban spaces challenged by near continuous growth, our connections to the natural world are strained. The issues of
biodiversity and landscape resilience are increasingly in the news. These issues will continue to be exacerbated with shifting climatic conditions and natural disaster patterns. Landscapes that are resilient to drought, wildfire, flooding, and competitive with invasive species pressure will continue to serve their intended roles in the face of these disturbances. Hand-in-hand with resilience is the issue of biodiversity. The need to provide food, cover, nesting, and habitat connectivity are crucial if we are going to continue seeing a robust assemblage of native songbirds in our neighborhoods, parks, and greenways. As a kid growing up on the fringe of suburban development, my friends and I had what seemed like limitless access to woods, creeks, prairie, and endless adventure. However, within four short years all of that land, all of the forts we built, the box turtles and ring neck snakes we found, all the natural history we discovered was turned into suburban housing, pavement, infrastructural stormwater controls, lawn and a few foundation plantings. This was seen at the time as a net positive: proof that economic growth and single-family housing were living up to the promises of prosperity and progress. The purpose of sharing this story is not to critique development practices, but to provide my own example of the impact that the last 40 years has had on greenspaces and the access that many folks have to nature.
Awareness and Desires of Forward-looking Clientele Fast-forward to today: Many of our residential and commercial landscape clients, especially residential clients with kids and grandkids of their own, have begun to realize that they miss the deeper and more personal connection to the natural world that they experienced in their past. As they explore this gap, new types of clients are seeking ways that designed landscapes can provide potential solutions to some of these challenges. Their parallel interests align with concerns about pollinator health, loss of habitat diversity, and increased urbanization. With these changes comes a growing appreciation for bird and wildlife watching, native plants, and sophisticated design, which have continued to expand development of new avenues for landscape expression. There is a vocal, passionate, and motivated group of residential, corporate, institutional, and rural landowners asking for something different, asking for regenerative, ecologically driven landscapes.
Re-examining the Natural World for Contemporary Design Solutions Ecologically driven landscapes are those that focus on holistic approaches to meet client’s needs and ecological benefit. Rather than a complete rejection of past landscape practices, ecological landscape design, implementation, and management looks to improve techniques and positive outcomes. Examples of this approach might look at how to increase biodiversity and landscape resilience in a neighborhood park, residential rain garden, or that most difficult of residential spaces, the “hell strip�, which may be more technically called the road verge and is that near-impossible-to-manage space between the sidewalk and street (Fig. 1 a and b).
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Cover Story continued
A Contemporary Design Solution Case Study for the Mid-Southern U.S. Let’s look at an example of landscape design with sustainability in mind. A residential client is looking for an alternative to their lawn framed by boxwoods. Their site is full sun and they have had poor luck in establishing traditional ornamentals as their soil has issues of compaction and construction fill remaining from when the site was developed. Depending on the severity of the compaction, anywhere from a little to moderate intervention may be necessary. We determine that the nutrient poor construction fill is not likely to be too great of a concern. Based on client interviews and site visits an ecological approach is agreed upon. Given the soil characteristics and the solar aspect, discussions start to center on a mesic prairie-inspired design. The plants utilized for this type of project prefer lean soils, full sun, and are adapted to disturbance. The client has children and would like to attract butterflies, beneficial insects, and songbirds to their yard for the family to observe. Planting choices that include larval host plants, nectar plants, cover plants, food plants, and soil building plants are all discussed.
Hidden Ecosystem Services from the Plants We Pick to Perform: Sporobolus heterolepis In a mesic prairie inspired design, prairie grasses like prairie dropseed, Sporobolus heterolepis (Fig. 2), will help build soil through the action of their deep root structure, carbon sequestration, erosion prevention, and increased stormwater infiltration. The plants will serve as a foundational plant by providing food for granivorous birds and mammals, cover for wildlife, nest material for birds and native bees. Perhaps one of the best characteristics of a plant like Sporobolus are its kinetic aesthetics; grass blades and seed heads will blow in light breezes and the seed heads are beautiful, especially when backlit.
Site Preparation and Planning with Plants in Mind Will Pave the Way for Success The goal in traditional landscape design has been to prepare a planting bed with ample soil amendments, aeration, and then maintain plants with extensive water use and chemical fertilizer and pesticides to keep plants happy and healthy looking. Ironically, while this approach creates the perfect growing condition for a wide range of ornamental plants, doing so also enhances problems from unwanted weeds. Weed species are typically aggressive growers and are among the first plants take advantage of available resources by rapidly completing their lifecycle and getting propagules into the seed bank. In a landscape that is sustainably designed, a preferential choice for plants that are disturbance-adapted and resilient to stressors yields great advantages via reduced landscape maintenance needs. When resilient plants are used and become established in the landscape beds, moderate plant stress can actually become an asset. Seek out plant species that are adapted to relatively nutrient poor soils and that don’t require specific light exposures or oxygen-rich soil conditions. Selection of plants that capably perform in soils with modest nutritional status will also allow the grounds manager to reduce or even eliminate soil amendments. In turn, the weeds will be forced to compete with desirable plants in a more equitable way‌and competition between plants becomes a management tool. In these landscapes, horticultural maintenance techniques can be applied selectively, as needed, instead of in a blanket approach and so saves time, effort, and money.
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FIGURE 2: A clump of Sporobolus heterolepis grass within a mixed planting with Nepeta racemosa catmint (Courtesy of Dr. Andrew Pulte, UT)
2
Selecting Companion Plants in a Prospective Portfolio If Sporobolus forms one of the key foundations of the planting then spring-, summer-, and fall-flowering perennial species can be used to provide aesthetic interest, nectar for insects and hummingbirds, and eventually interesting architecture and seed heads that provide food and cover into winter for songbirds. Again, prairie adapted plants would be a good choice.
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Cover Story continued Species and cultivars of native Rudbeckia hirta (Fig. 3), Ratibida pinnata, Echinacea purpurea and E. tennesseensis (Fig. 4), and Coreopsis lanceolata (Fig. 5), while all rather short-lived, will self-seed and with proper management continue to have a presence in the planting. Species and cultivars of aster, such as New England aster, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (Fig. 6)
Figure 4: Echinacea tennesseensis (Courtesy of Dr. Andrea Ludwig, UT)
Figure 3: Rudbeckia hirta (Courtesy of Dr. Andrea Ludwig, UT)
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Figure 5: Coreopsis lanceolata (Courtesy of Dr. Andrea Ludwig, UT)
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5
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Figure 6: Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (Courtesy of Dr. Andrea Ludwig, UT)
All we do is work. We work to conserve our environment, cover crops, recycling, and integrated pest management. We work to shear prune and trim our trees to give you, our customer, the best plant you can buy. We work to give you, our customer, timely deliveries and a wide selection of varieties to make your customer happy.
To make your landscapes work for you.
931-205-9783
1151 Petigap Road • McMinnville, TN 37110
www.blankenshipfarmsandnursery.com Take a virtual nursery tour on YouTube! Find us on Facebook to see more photos!
Cover Story continued and goldenrod, like Solidago speciosa or S. altissima (Fig. 7). The goldenrod cultivar Solidago ‘Dansolitlem’ Little Lemon® (Fig. 8), is a smaller clump-forming choice, and perhaps better behaved than wildtype goldenrod. These plants will provide nectar later in the summer
Figure 7: Solidago altissima (Courtesy of Dr. Andrea Ludwig, UT)
Figure 9: Asclepias incarnata (Courtesy of Dr. Andrea Ludwig, UT)
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and into fall. While goldenrod or butterfly weed, Asclepias incarnata (Fig. 9) or A. tuberosa (Fig. 10), might look rangy or out of place in a traditional ornamental bed, these plants would blend in nicely to the mesic prairie approach described in this example.
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Figure 8: Solidago Little Lemon® (Courtesy of Dr. Andrea Ludwig, UT)
Figure 10: Asclepias tuberosa with bumblebee (Courtesy of Dr. Andrea Ludwig, UT)
North Pole Arb
Franklin’s Gem Boxwood
China Girl Holly
Emerald Green Arb
Sullivan Cypress
Winterthur Viburnum
Excelsa Arb
Member of the Boxwood Blight Cleanliness Program with University of Kentucky. OFFICE PHONE: 606-346-0863 • FAX: 606-346-2139 • MIKE’S CELL: 606-706-1620 EMAIL: brownsnursery@yahoo.com
Green Giant & Nigra Arbs
Sprinter Boxwood
American Boxwood
Gem Box Inkberry
Nova Taxus
Uptight Boxwood
Green Mtn. Boxwood
Green Gem Boxwood
Steeds Holly
Popcorn Viburnum
Chicagoland Green Boxwood
Hicksi Taxus
Firelight Hydrangeas & Sprinter Boxwoods
Densiformis Taxus
Pragense Viburnum
Polar Gold Arb & Sky Pencil Holly
Wintergem Boxwood
MIKE BROWN’S WHOLESALE NURSERY, LLC. • 525 HOLTZCLAW LANE • HUSTONVILLE, KY 40437
Cover Story continued Depending on your location, native plants, including grasses like little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), shrubs like fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica) and spicebush (Lindera benzoin), and perennial herbs like coral bells (Heuchera spp.) and sedges (Carex spp.; Fig. 11) can serve as reduced maintenance plants that contribute to ecologically meaningful landscapes. The heart of successful sustainable landscape design is closely tied to selection of plants that don’t require inputs in large amounts of time, chemicals, money, maintenance, etc. Plant material that doesn’t require a lot of babysitting frees up the ability to actually enjoy the landscapes that we design. In addition to a plant selection criterion for limited maintenance, good choice of plants within a sustainable landscape are those species that provide an enhanced ability to support biodiversity. Plants like fragrant sumac provide berries that are eaten by songbirds, and also serve as larval food hosts for hairstreak and other butterflies, while creating microclimates beneath the plant canopy for other animals.
Figure 11: Carex cherokeensis (Courtesy of Dr. Andrea Ludwig, UT)
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As all of this occurs, the plant is actively contributing to organic matter enhancement in the soil. Plants that have extensive roots, like fragrant sumac, create conditions in the soil that are conducive to beneficial soil organisms. The exudates of healthy plant roots provide sugars, moisture, and organic matter that are used by mycorrhizae, soil mites, and the tiny predators, like pseudoscorpions, that eat them. In current practice, I and my colleagues are using native plants as key components of biodiversity while using floating treatment wetlands to mitigate storm water runoff and stream quality. The roots that hang down in the water and form the primary phytoremediation strategy also provide cover for fish, amphibian larvae, and aquatic insects. The biofilm that develops on the roots also provides a food source that is actively grazed by all the organisms mentioned above.
The Future Looks Bright for Proactive Landscape Design and Creative Designers One last point to be made in this example is that with careful plant selection, following an establishment period, these plants typically require little or no irrigation, fertilizer, fungicides, or pesticides. Management involves selective weeding, re-seeding to keep the desired species competing against encroachment from weeds and invasives, minimizing soil disturbance, a yearly cutting back, and an appreciation for change over time. The ecological landscape approach can work well within more traditional parameters and it does not require an all or nothing commitment. While preference for native plant material is an important component for reasons of ecological food web connections, ornamental species and cultivars are fair game as long as they are not invasive. These approaches can be applied at various scales and in different conditions from forested shade to open meadow. We in the landscape community, designers, contractors, managers, growers, educators and clients are both benefitting from development trends and left lamenting the loss of connections to living systems. Ecological landscape design, implementation, and management is about building connections and that includes the experiential connections that help people love landscapes and reconnect with nature.
For more information, visit: https://www.wildflower.org/plants https://tynnativeplants.wordpress.com https://tiny.utk.edu/floatingislands https://www.segrasslands.org https://extension.tennessee.edu/ mastergardener/Pages/default.aspx If you have additional questions, are interested in undergraduate studies in Sustainable Landscape Design, or would like to know more about the University of Tennessee’s Master of Landscape Architecture degree program, contact Michael Ross at mross28@utk.edu or (865) 974-1606.
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tennessee greentimes WINTER 2020
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Richey Nursery Company, LLC............................................... 5 www.richeynursery.com Rusty Mangrum Nursery.......................................................27 www.rustymangrumnursery.com Smith Seed Services................................................................ 5 www.smithseed.com Surface Nursery Inc...............................................................13 www.surfacenursery.com Swafford Nursery Inc............................................................... 3 www.swaffordnursery.com Tennessee 811........................................................................17 www.tnonecall.com The Turfgrass Group..............................................................21 www.theturfgrassgroup.com Tree Equipment Design, Inc.................................................27 www.treeequip.com Wellmaster Carts....................................................Back Cover www.wellmaster.ca
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1494 Bell Mill Road, P.O. Box 456, Tillsonburg, ON, Canada, N4G 4J1 P.O. Box 2663, Buffalo, NY, USA, 14240-2663 Phone: 519.688.0500 • Toll Free: 800.387.9355 Fax: 519.688.0563 • Online: www.wellmaster.ca
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