VNLA News - Summer 2020

Summer 2020

The Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association Magazine

A UNITED FRONT

The Nursery and Landscape Industry Is Resilient in the Face of COVID-19 Health & Safety at

COLESVILLE NURSERY

Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association 5101 Monument Avenue, Suite 203 Richmond, VA 23230 Tel: (804) 256 2700 Email: info@vnla.org Published by: Leading Edge Communications, LLC 206 Bridge Street • Franklin, TN 37064 Tel: (615) 790-3718 • Fax: (615) 794-4524 Email: info@leadingedgecommunications.com 2020 Officers and Directors Year indicates start of volunteer service to VNLA Board of Directors EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE President / Research Foundation Co-Chair Christopher Brown, Jr. 2013 Lancaster Farms • Suffolk, VA

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Vice President / Legislative Chair Seana Ankers 2017 Meadows Farms • Chantilly, VA Secretary Treasurer Jeffrey Howe 2016 Windridge Landscaping Co. • Afton, VA

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Past President / Board Recruitment / Research Foundation Co-Chair Brent Hunsinger 2015 Brent’s Native Plantings • Fredericksburg, VA Executive Director Shellie Archer Richmond, VA DIRECTORS Matt Deivert 2017 MANTS Board Representative South Riding Nurseries • Bristow, VA Cecilia Palmer 2017 Continuing Education Chair West Winds Nursery / Shade Tree Farm Sudley Springs, VA Neal Beasley 2019 Certification / VCH* Chair Timmons Group • Richmond, VA Marshall Saunders 2019 Membership Engagement Chair Saunders Brothers • Piney River, VA

CONTENTS | Summer 2020

8 Legislative Update

Floriculture Industry’s Letter to Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue

DEPARTMENTS 6 President’s Letter 6 Index of Advertisers 10 News from VNLA

12 Feature Story

NLAE Supports Green Industry Across the Nation

14 Health & Safety

Colesville Nursery

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18 Resource Guide

Chris Dowdy 2020 Bennett’s Creek Nursery • Smithfield, VA Jeff Riggleman 2020 Kohler Equipment • Richmond, VA Robin McCall 2020 Williams Brothers Tree & Lawn Service • Staunton, VA Warner Winthrop 2020 Colesville Nursery • Ashland, VA EX-OFFICIO, VIRTUE OF OFFICE: Non-voting Laurie Fox, Ph. D. VA Tech Hampton Roads AREC • VA Beach, VA David Seward J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Montpelier, VA * VCH = Virginia Certified Horticulturist

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS

Engaged and Willing to Adapt

Bennett’s Creek Nursery.................16

W

ow what a spring we have all had! I think it is fair to say that the past several months have been challenging to say the least. However, today I do not want to harp on the challenges we are all facing; I want to bring everyone up to speed on what the VNLA is doing for you and all our members.

We have adjusted our year to make sure we keep everyone safe and continue to keep our members questions and concerns addressed. Our primary concern is safety! For the first time ever we had our quarterly board meeting via GoToMeeting and it seems that we will continue to operate that way at least until our 3rd quarter meeting. While operating this way has its own set of challenges, I am very glad to say that the entire board has been engaged and willing to adapt in order to keep your membership experience as normal as we can. That being said there are several things that we regrettably cannot move forward with at the time.

Testing for our VCH program has been put on pause, and we have decided to cancel our annual field day this summer as well. We will resume testing as soon as we can, and we will celebrate at Field Day 2021! I urge anyone who has any questions or concerns with testing being delayed to please reach out to me or anyone on the board. We are also coming up with a plan for CEUs since so many events are being cancelled this summer, please keep an eye out for emails and on our website for updates as they come in.

I want to personally thank Shellie for all of her hard work during these unprecedented times! From day one she has been in constant contact with local, state, and national organizations to stay ahead of any issues that could affect our businesses. Her leadership and commitment to our members has been unwavering.

As always, please feel free to reach out to me or anyone on the board with any questions or concerns that you have.

Sincerely, Christopher Brown, Jr.

Have your renewed your VNLA membership for 2020?

If not, a secure link is on the VNLA’s homepage at: www.vnla.org.

6 • VNLA News • Summer 2020

www.bcnursery.com

Bremo Trees...................................11 www.bremotrees.com

Cam Too Camellia Nursery, Inc.....11 www.camtoocamellia.com

Fairview Evergreen Nurseries............3 www.fairviewevergreen.com

Leading Edge Communications.........3 www.LeadingEdgeCommunications.com

masLABOR............Inside Front Cover www.maslabor.com

Meadows Farms Nursery................17 www.meadowsfarms.com

Smith Seed Services.........................11 www.smithseed.com

Spring Hill Nursery...........................7 www.springhillva.com

The Turfgrass Group........Back Cover www.theturfgrassgroup.com

Virginia Turfgrass Council.................. Inside Back Cover www.vaturf.org

Wellmaster Carts..............................5 www.wellmaster.ca

To discuss advertising opportunities, contact Leading Edge Communications:

615-790-3718 888-707-7141 (TOLL FREE) sales@leadingedgecommunications.com www.LeadingEdgeCommunications.com

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, VNLA News, or its editors. Likewise, the appearance of advertisers, or their identification as Virginia Nursery & 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 © 2020 by the Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association.

VNLA News is published quarterly. Subscriptions are complimentary to members of the Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association. Third-class postage is paid at Jefferson City, MO. Printed in the U.S.A. Reprints and Submissions: VNLA News allows re- printing of material. Permission requests should be directed to the Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association. We are not responsible for unsolicited freelance manuscripts and photographs. Contact the managing editor for contribution information.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

THE GREEN INDUSTRY SPEAKS TO SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE SONNY PERDUE

In

times of uncertainty, it is essential for our industry to present a united front when addressing national leadership. The following letter was a great first step in protecting and promoting horticulture and many influential businesses contributed to this very impactful message to our leaders.

that have too many employees to qualify for the Small Business Administration’s loan and grant programs, even though they are almost universally family-owned and multigenerational farms. It also includes farms for which H-2A seasonal labor comprises the majority of payroll; based on current guidance, H-2A payroll is excluded from Paycheck Protection Program loan relief.

April 10, 2020

The AmericanHort letter went on to describe relief approaches to help nursery and floriculture growers suffering crippling losses and a liquidity crisis. Possibilities include the following:

The Honorable Sonny Perdue Secretary of Agriculture U.S. Department of Agriculture Washington, DC 20250 Dear Secretary Perdue: We thank you for your strong and steady leadership, in these extraordinarily challenging times. And, we seek your help. Our organizations represent and support America’s nursery and floriculture crop growers. The nursery and floriculture sector, which represents one-third of the value of all specialty crops1, is experiencing serious economic harm resulting from COVID-19-related marketplace disruption. The timing could not possibly be worse, as 60 to 80 percent of the industry’s sales occur in a 10-week window stretching from mid-March to Memorial Day. Early estimates suggest that nursery and floriculture live plant crop sales losses directly attributable to COVID-19 may exceed $400 million, jeopardizing the very survival of many family farms, and the well-being of some of the industry’s 275,000 full and part time employees.

The industry’s ongoing losses are resulting substantially from state and local government-mandated business closures and restrictions on consumers. The most extreme impacts are being felt by producers of the most highly perishable “color crops” which also have some of the narrowest market windows. Data for these crops are reported in the USDA Floriculture Crop Summary, which for 2018 reported total wholesale sales of $4.63 billion by growers producing at least $10,000 worth of these crops.

The worst-affected growers are literally being forced to dump hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars’ worth of finished, market-ready crops per week in recent weeks.

In an April 3 letter to you, Mr. Secretary, AmericanHort, the national horticulture industry trade organization, described growing operations in our industry which may “fall through the cracks” of current federal relief initiatives.

This includes highly labor-intensive growing operations 8 • VNLA News • Summer 2020

• The most impacted plant growers are losing a high percentage of their seasonal market and need a bridge to survive and sustain operations. The inclusion of our industry in any direct assistance payments to these most affected producers, regardless of business size or the number of employees, may be the simplest approach.

Payments could defray losses based on a set percentage of market value for finished plants for which markets or market access are lost, resulting in crop losses. The market values could be guided by the 2018 USDA Floriculture Report market value averages.

• Many growers producing perishable woody plant crops (e.g., shrubs and trees) need a backstop for their payroll in the absence of current revenue. A loan or grant program similar to SBA 7(a) that would allow funding of 2x average payroll would provide critical cash flow to avoid massive layoffs while maintaining the health of the plant inventory. A loan forgiveness feature, similar to the SBA Payroll Protection Program, would extend much needed liquidity to a supply chain which will be under constant pressure this year. We urge USDA to consider a parallel program to cover farms exceeding the under-500-employee eligibility threshold, or have a significant number of H-2A workers, for which payroll costs may be ineligible under PPP. Growers throughout the country have been severely impacted by the pandemic and eligibility for various federal assistance program options is critical for their economic survival.

• A third possibility is to leverage the existing federal nursery crop insurance program (both the Nursery policy and the NVS Pilot policy) managed by the Risk Management Agency. RMA can be a platform to fairly and equitably document and distribute aid to many horticultural businesses which have sustained COVID-19 losses simply by declaring COVID-19 as a covered peril. RMA is well-accustomed to dealing with catastrophic events

and natural disasters and understands the record-keeping nuances unique to the horticultural industry. Inventories and losses in the form of discarded or dumped plants can easily be tracked by the current framework. This framework already establishes fair market prices for products (varieties) and is updated yearly. RMA already has the people and the systems in place to audit the fair execution of aid when losses have been sustained. We note not all nursery and floriculture growers are eligible; further, not all who are eligible may meet the COVID-19 related plant losses under their selected crop insurance coverages, so this approach needs to be supplemented by one or more of the above or other strategies.

AgCredit AgChoice Farm Credit AgFirst Farm Credit Bank AmericanHort ArborOne Farm Credit Carolina Farm Credit Certified American Grown Colonial Farm Credit Farm Credit East Farm Credit of the Virginias Irrigation Association MidAtlantic Farm Credit National Christmas Tree Association National Council of Agricultural Employers National Council of Farmer Cooperatives Southern Nursery Association Western Nursery & Landscape Association Alabama Nursery & Landscape Association Arizona Nursery Association Arkansas Green Industry Association Agricultural Council of California California Farm Bureau Federation Butte County Farm Bureau Monterey County Farm Bureau Orange County Farm Bureau Riverside County Farm Bureau San Diego County Farm Bureau Solano County Farm Bureau Yolo County Farm Bureau Plant California Alliance California Cut Flower Commission California Landscape Contractors Association California Seed Association California State Floral Association California Strawberry Nursery Growers Association Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado Colorado Farm Bureau

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Mr. Secretary, the American horticulture industry certainly finds itself as others at the front end of a crisis the likes of which we have never seen in our lifetimes. Yet it is a crisis for our nation’s nursery and floriculture growers that could not be more ill-timed, hitting just as our peak season is underway. We cannot overstate the level of anxiety and depth of concern about our growers’ future. We join to sincerely urge any forthcoming USDA assistance includes nursery and floriculture crop farmers devastated by this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis.

Sincerely,

Colorado Nursery & Greenhouse Association Connecticut Farm Bureau Association Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association Farm Credit of Florida Farm Credit of Northwest Florida Florida Farm Bureau Federation Florida Fertilizer & Agrichemical Association Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association Turfgrass Producers of Florida Georgia Agribusiness Council Georgia Farm Bureau Georgia Green Industry Association Georgia Urban Ag Council Hawai’i Farm Bureau Federation Idaho Nursery & Landscape Association Illinois Green Industry Association Illinois Landscape Contractors Association Indiana Nursery & Landscape Association Iowa Nursery & Landscape Association Kansas Nursery & Landscape Association Louisiana Nursery and Landscape Association Maine Landscape and Nursery Association Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, Inc. Massachusetts Flower Growers Association Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association Michigan Farm Bureau Michigan Greenhouse Growers Council Michigan Green Industry Association Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Mississippi Nursery and Landscape Association Missouri Green Industry Alliance Montana Nursery and Landscape Association

Nebraska Nursery & Landscape Association Nevada Farm Bureau Federation New Jersey Farm Bureau New Jersey Green Industry Council New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association New Jersey Nursery & Landscape Association New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau New York Farm Bureau New York State Flower Industries North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Ohio Landscape Association Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association Oklahoma Farm Bureau Oklahoma Nursery & Landscape Association Oregon Association of Nurseries Oregon Farm Bureau Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association Rhode Island Nursery & Landscape Association Tennessee Farm Bureau Tennessee Nursery & Landscape Association Texas Farm Bureau Texas Nursery & Landscape Association Utah Nursery & Landscape Association Northern Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association Virginia Agribusiness Council Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association Washington State Nursery & Landscape Association West Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association Commercial Flower Growers of Wisconsin Wisconsin Landscape Contractors Association

ongress in the Agricultural Act of 2014, Public Law 113-79 (the Farm Bill) defines specialty crops as “fruits and C vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops, including floriculture.”

Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association

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NEWS FROM VNLA

2020 VNLA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Below: front row left to right

Below: back row left to right

Marshall Saunders: Saunders Brothers Nursery, Orchard and Farm Market, NLA Membership Engagement Chair

Nicholas Dzurenda: Virginia Tech student

Shellie Archer: VNLA Executive Director Seana Ankers: Meadows Farms Nurseries and Landscape, VNLA Board Vice President, Legislative Committee Chair

CONGRATS TO OUR AWARD WINNERS!

Brent Hunsinger: Brent’s Native Plantings, VNLA Immediate Past Board President, Research Foundation Committee Co-Chair Jeff Riggleman: Kohler Equipment

Chris Dowdy: Bennett’s Creek Nursery, Research Foundation Committee

Warner Winthrop: Colesville Nursery

Cecilia Palmer: West Winds Nursery and Shade Tree Farm, VNLA Continuing Education Committee Chair

Neal Beasley: Timmons Group, VNLA Certification Committee Chair Not in photo

Christopher Brown, Jr.: Lancaster Farms, VNLA Board President, Research Foundation Committee Chair

Jeff Howe: Windridge Landscaping, VNLA Board Secretary/Treasurer, Certification Committee

Matt Deivert: South Riding Nurseries, MANTS Board Representative, VNLA Continuing Education Committee

David Seward: Horticulture Department Head Reynolds Community College, VNLA Certification Committee

2019 Environmental Steward Award recipient John Magee

Robin McCall: Williams Brothers Tree & Lawn Service, VNLA Continuing Education Committee

Dr. Laurie Fox: Hampton Roads Agriculture Research Extension Center, VNLA Certification Committee

2020 Professional of the Year Award Wes Bray and his wife (left) and with Christopher Brown Jr. (right).

Welcome New Entomologist, DR. ALEJANDRO DEL POZO VALDIVIA

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NLA would like to welcome Dr. Alejandro Del Pozo Valdivia into the Virginia turfgrass community. Dr. Valdivia is originally from Lima, Peru.

There he earned his B.S. in Agronomy at La Molina Agrarian University.

He studied at Washington State University and obtained his M.S. in Entomology before earning his doctorate at North Carolina State University.

He will begin work on August 10th. He will be responsible for the entire state and will be based at the Hampton Roads AREC. • 10 • VNLA News • Summer 2020

Where agriculture and nature meet

CONGRATULATIONS

NEW VIRGINIA CERTIFIED HOTICULTURISTS! Given the current and evolving circumstances due to COVID-19, the VNLA had to postpone all of its upcoming Virginia Certified Horticulturist (VCH) exams. As soon as appropriate, the VCH exams will be rescheduled. Thank you all for your understanding and patience. The VNLA values your membership and appreciates your understanding and support for each other and the actions we are all taking to keep everyone safe and healthy.

So far in 2020, below are the newest Virginia Certified Horticulturists: Lauren FitzHugh, Colesville Nursery Mike Atkinson, Green Side Up Landscaping, Inc.

434.842.8733 email@bremotrees.com www.bremotrees.com

Jack Bloor, John Richmond Landscaping, Inc. Andres Lowery, BWS Landscaping Michelle Chatham, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Anna Niemeyer, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Trip Coleman, SiteOne Wade Waller, Ruppert Landscape April Sullivan, Individual VNLA Member Alda Krinsman, Individual VNLA Member Maraea Harris, Individual VNLA Member Addison Weinbrecht, Individual VNLA Member Sara Ruckman, Meadows Farms Nurseries & Landscape Glenn Louis, Meadows Farms Nurseries & Landscape Barbara Burger, Meadows Farms Nurseries & Landscape Kate Downey, South Riding Nurseries Laura Lagaly, Fortney Lawn and Garden Amy Jones, Merrifield Garden Center Jared Velasquez, Merrifield Garden Center Barbara Ryan, Chain Bridge Native Landscapes Nicole Conners, Green Spring Gardens • Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association

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FEATURE STORY

AN INDUSTRY UNITED

The

Nursery & Landscape Association of North America (NLAE) is an organization dedicated to supporting the Nursery and Landscape industry by working with and for association executives. The group has been advocating on behalf of green industry professionals amid the changes and challenges as a result of COVID-19 and the resulting shelter-in-place orders.

The map at right indicates the reach of this organization, and the interactive version, available online allows nursery and landscape workers to access both national and local resources and news:

www.nlae.org/covid-19

12 • VNLA News • Summer 2020

Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association

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HEALTH & SAFETY

Colesville NURSERY In

light of the new rules and regulations regarding the health and safety of customers and employees, many nursery and landscape business have risen to the occasion of altering operations. Mask wearing, social distancing, and cleaning and sanitization are the name of the game in the COVID-19 pandemic. Colesville Nursery, like many other VNLA member companies, has implemented the necessary changes to operate, and we are encouraged to see the innovation our industry promotes to continue to serve the public.

We asked Kate Leffler, General Manager and Vice President at Colesville, to share some of the changes that the company had made in response to the new operational guidelines. Kate said: We have purchased more official signage about social distancing as we move into phase one of reopening.

Those signs read “masks required” in both English and Spanish, and “We are practicing social distancing” in English and Spanish as well.

The most important message, above anything else, has been employee and customer safety. We know that this is not a money-making spring for us. We knew that if/when we had a positive case, we would have to close because of the close proximity of everyone’s working environment.

So far, we have not had any positive cases of COVID-19 and we hope to keep it that way. We rely strongly on trust that our employees are going home and to work and doing the things we are asking them to do to social distance in their downtime. We have asked them to limit trips into town for lunch since Ashland is an exit off of Interstate 95, etc.

We were lucky enough to get the PPP loan from our bank (which is a small Virginia-owned bank), so we know we are very lucky not to have to focus on sales numbers. If we did not get the PPP loan in the first round our strategy would be completely different.

We began by closing on Saturdays because the first Saturday we were open we had a record Saturday and this place was a ZOO. It was as if people were treating Colesville as a park and I was not okay with that. We closed on Saturdays for the remainder of spring the following week.

14 • VNLA News • Summer 2020

Colesville employees with masks loading tree

Colesville sign regarding masks and other instructions

Colesville outdoor office and staff with masks

Colesville pick up orders and portable bathrooms

Colesville sign regarding masks and other instructions

Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association

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HEALTH & SAFETY • continued We then began not allowing customers to browse at all and both retail and wholesale customers had to call in for curbside pick-up orders. We were inundated with retail orders for “one clematis,” or “one hellebore.” It’s not that we don’t appreciate those sales, but our business just isn’t set up for sales like that in the way we were doing it.

The next week we closed for WHOLESALE DELIVERY ONLY which lasted for 3.5 weeks. This was during peak COVID-19 numbers in Virginia. We were only allowing plants out and no customers in. The gate was locked, and our employees came in every day. Customers were frustrated, but we knew it was temporary. We had anyone willing to do deliveries in their own vehicles, often on their way home from work (including me!), doing them along with renting an additional box truck just to get as much out the door as possible.

We are asking people who have had direct contact with someone that tested positive to self-quarantine and then have a test (we are also paying for the test). We have also had to send an employee home indefinitely (paid leave) because someone she lives with works in D.C. and their job site has continuous positive cases and isn’t doing what they should about it (construction site). We are encouraging people to let us know about contacts with people testing

positive and letting them know we will pay them during a self-quarantine time and for testing so that they won’t be discouraged from being honest about their contact with a positive case.

On April 20th, we began allowing wholesale only pickup (pre-ordered) by appointment only. At first, we allowed in one customer per hour and we waited to see how that went for a few days, then we added on two per hour, and now we are up to three or four and we are comfortable here.

We are considering opening back up for wholesale sales only for spring/summer 2020 and not letting retail come back until the fall. It’s a tough decision, but I think it is the right one.

The bottom line is that these have been the hardest, longest days of many of our lives. We have adapted to what feels the best at the time, which for a while was day to day, and now it’s week to week. We will keep going like this until we feel like we can settle into something else. I don’t want to say it’s the new normal, but I do want to be able to handle something like this if it happens again.

Being prepared is never a bad thing.

Starting the first week of June, Colesville will be open for wholesale only. Current safety procedures will remain in place with additional protocols. •

Smithfield, Virginia Locations in Smithfield, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, and Currituck, NC Local: (757) 483-1425 www.bcnursery.com Toll Free: (800) 343-4611 16 • VNLA News • Summer 2020

Plant a Little Happiness

Meadows Farms Nurseries

would like to thank our Virginia partners!

Acer Acres American Color Battlefield Farms Bennett’s Creek Blue Ridge Growers Bonnie’s Plants Burnside Farms Chantilly Turf Farms Color Orchids Crookhorn Nursery Cros-B-Crest Driver Brothers Eastern Shore The Greenhouse Hanover Farms, Inc. Herb Land Hidden Creek Greenhouse Humphrey Farms Ingleside Plantation Nurseries The Ivy Farm John’s Nursery James L. Acors Jim Meadows Jones Flowers K & D Evergreen

KC Johnson & Sons Kermit’s Corn Kingsland Greenhouse Knots by Joanne Lady J. Farms Lancaster Farms Lar-lyn Farms Lava Pillows The Light Garden Lone Pine Organics Manassas Topsoil Luck Stone Corporation Mary’s Alpaca Poop Maw’s Ugly Soap Mill Creek Growers Mobjack Nurseries Myrtle Grove Greenhouses Napa Home & Garden Nivalis Nursery Norfleet Products The Orchid Station Paul Ayers Piedmont Growers Quail Ridge Products

Quarry Trail Pawpaw Trees Rainwater Topsoil Remington Mulch Company Riverbend Nursery The Roy Huff Company Sage Hill Hops Sandy’s Plants Saunders Brothers Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Springdale Water Gardens Strange’s Wholesale Greenhouse Sunflower Cottage Sunrise Orchids Tankard Nurseries Tree Diaper Trinity Turf Virginia Beef Corporation Virginia Ground Covers Virginia Grown Peonies Water Blossom Creations Wegmeyer Farms White’s Nursery & Greenhouse Woodward Turf Farms

MeadowsFarms.com

RESOURCE CORNER

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any companies and organizations provide information and support to nursery and landscape professionals, from national trade organizations to local educators. VNLA members have access to a vast array of experts who can advise and provide tools to help bolster the Virginia Nursery and Landscape industry and its workforce.

VNLA encourages all members to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge, information and expertise available from the organizations listed below.

AmericanHort www.americanhort.org Virginia Agribusiness Council (VAC) www.va-agribusiness.org

National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) www.landscapeprofessionals.org Landscape Contractors Association VA MD DC www.lcamddcva.org

Mission H 2O Virginia www.missionh2ovirginia.com Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional (CBLP) www.cblpro.org Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) www.mants.com VA Tech Agricultural Research and Extension Centers www.arec.vaes.vt.edu

Central Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association (CVNLA) www.cvnla.org Northern Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association (NVNLA) www.nvnla.org

International Plant Propagators’ Society www.ipps.org Piedmont Landscape Association (PLA) www.piedmontlandscape.org Mid-Atlantic Horticulture Short Course www.mahsc.org Southern Nursery Association (SNA) www.sna.org The Virginia Horticultural Foundation www.vahort.org Virginia Native Plant Society (VA NPS) www.vnps.org Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) www.deq.virginia.gov Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) www.vdacs.virginia.gov 18 • VNLA News • Summer 2020

Virginia Society of Landscape Designers (VSLD) www.vsld.org International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) www.isa-arbor.com

HOW DOES OUR INDUSTRY SUCCEED? By building and investing in stakeholder relationships; sharing info on a regular basis; maintaining our focus on the bigger picture and not on possible differences; staying connected and teaming together anywhere and everywhere we can.

Jeff Fedorchak Vice President, Corporate Affairs of TruGreen First, I want to say THANK YOU for all of the work you are doing in being advocates for the folks in our industry during these very different times. The information that I see coming from you is much needed… and APPRECIATED! Aaron Simmons Superintendent of Parks and Maintenance Dept of Parks, Recreation and Events The City of Fredericksburg

I just wanted to let you know that you’re doing an amazing job of keeping everyone updated with COVID-related updates. I have had plenty of messages from turfgrass professionals and I can quickly point them to VTC’s timely updates.

Keep up the good work, from a socially isolated place of course.

David McCall Assistant Professor VT Turfgrass Pathology

Want to send a quick note of thanks, as VTC is doing a fantastic job in communicating with the membership. I have been forwarding your emails to other state associations and distributors.

Zenon Lis Burlingham Seeds

Your e-blasts and info are reaching folks.

One of our employees quoted you and your hard work.

Phil Bailey Virginia Green

You are crankin’ it up! This is such a massive pivot in a short time. Thanks for all your hard work.

Thanks for everything you’re doing for the industry, you should be earning combat pay at this point!

Jeff Fedorchak TruGreen

Thank you so much for always being informative! We greatly appreciate you!

Amy Thomas Reynolds Landscaping

Just wanted to tell you that VTC is doing a good job at communicating to the industry what is going on. Thank you for your leadership as we all try and figure out how to survive during these difficult times.

Patrick Connelly Landscape Supply

Richard Lindsay MowCow We appreciated your information that you provided us, it was very helpful.

Thank you for the letter justifying our work during this situation. I travel to multiple jurisdictions so I’m concerned about how each one might interpret the governor’s order. I believe this will help should I be questioned about my travel.

Barry Robinson Sustainable Horticulturist & Agriculture Consultant

I do not know if VTC is receiving enough congratulations for their work during all of this.

Being at home and pumping out information through emails may not seem like much, but for those of us who are leaving our families and asking our employees to enter harm’s way, and without much of a playbook, I can tell you what you are doing is a lot.

Chad Peevy Assistant Director of Grounds and Landscapes Old Dominion University

The VTC is working diligently to keep our industry alive during this epidemic, and I can’t say enough how relieving it is to know that I still have full capability to provide for my family!

Thank you, VTC for all of your efforts to help minimize the disruptions to the industry during this time.

Alex Austin

Ray Funkhouser

Craig Koster Premier Sports Fields

Thanks so much for your help on keeping us informed. We at Premier Sports Fields are very appreciative of all the work the VTC does on behalf of our industry. You are helping to keep our business going in this unprecedented time.

Bob Benyo Premier Sports Fields

Thanks for all you do.

Ep Curling

I’ve spent a good bit of time monitoring the response of turfgrass associations around the country and by far the VTC are being the most proactive in your communications and advocacy for your members. I think it’s a great comfort to know that someone is working on their behalf and that there’s a community supporting each other during this challenging time.

Julie Holt Content Director, TheTurfZone.com

In addition to the benefits listed above your membership provides you access to an organization that fights hard for your rights in Washington, in Virginia’s General Assembly and at the local level.

For more information or to become a member visit www.vaturf.org or call 757.464.1004

For more information about certified Zeon Zoysiagrass, or to locate a licensed producer in your area, please contact:

The Turfgrass Group, Inc. 1225 Savannah Lane • Monroe, Georgia 30655 (770) 207-1500 or (770) 710-8139 www.THETURFGRASSGROUP.com