MARYLAND
N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I AT I O N , I N C .
Presorted Standard U.S. Postage PAID Baltimore, MD Permit No. 269
P.O. Box 726 Brooklandville, MD 21022
Free State A NEWSLETTER FOR AND ABOUT MNLGA MEMBERS A SUMMER 2020 VOL. XLVII NO. 2
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
Unlock rapid control of leaf feeding beetles, thrips & caterpillars
with Sarisa.
Sarisa Insec ticide #sarisa @OHPSolutions ohp.com (800) 356-4647
4 hour REI (restricted-entry interval) New active ingredient and novel class Rapid knockdown 3 to 4 weeks residual control Soft on beneficial insects
INSECTICIDES FUNGICIDES MITICIDES PGRS HERBICIDES
ohp.com
© 2020 OHP, Inc. Sarisa is a trademark of OHP, Inc.
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 3
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
I
hope at the writing of this article everybody is doing well. I am not sure if things are getting better or not. At this time, I am fairly confident in what Maryland has done so far. For most of us, being able to stay open this year has been a blessing. I am thankful that we do not own a restaurant.
LARRY HEMMING
Eastern Shore Nurseries
Over the years, I have heard from both my grandfather and father, “Have a good relationship with your bank.” I found out why this year. I went and tried to get a PPP Loan for our nursery. Our local bank, Shore United, helped us get the loan in a timely fashion. I am convinced that having a good relationship with our local bank helped a lot. In addition, working with a smaller local regional bank helped. I heard of numerous problems when small businesses went looking for a loan from a large bank, they had a lot of problems getting their loan. During our 91 years, we have worked with a number of banks. When we first started in 1929 it was with Easton National Bank. We still have the first check written on February 19, 1929. They were taken over by Maryland National Bank. That was OK, but then they were taken over by Bank of America. They are a large national bank that left us feeling like we were small potatoes. (We are, but you don’t have to treat us that way.) We moved to Talbot Bank, a small local bank. They merged with another small bank and became Shore United. Over the years working with our bank has been very helpful when stuff happens. This year stuff really did happen. In a few months, it will be time for the election. The only thing I will say about it is: My grandfather Birge, (a lawyer and history teacher) told me, “If you don’t vote you can’t complain.” A
4 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
Contents 9 12 22 32
page 12
36 42 46 50
page 42
THIS BUSINESS OF OURS Mike Hemming Living Through These Interesting Times
GROWING WITH EDUCATION Ginny Rosenkranz Salt Tolerant Plants for Sun and Shade
FEATURED MEMBER Carol Kinsley Field Stone Nursery
Scholarship Winners
2020 Link Shanks Award Recipient 2020 MNLGA Ornamental Horticulture Award Recipient
CUT FLOWER WORKSHOP Chelsea Bailey GARDENCOMM Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp Get Social With Your Gardening Community
AMERICANHORT Craig Regelbrugge
FINDING BEES IN YOUR GARDEN Wendy Brister DEPARTMENTS
page 50
page 36
4 6 8 8 21 21 49 56 59 61 61
President’s Message Director’s Message Association Officers Directory of Advertisers Wye Oak Sponsors New Members Affinity Programs Maryland Green Industry Calendar of Events MNLGA Mission Statement MNLGA Chairs and Committees MNLGA Board of Directors
page 9
22 page 27 ON THE COVER: Maripat Neff and Mark Sullivan of Fieldstone Nursery, Inc. Our Featured Member, page 22. Cover photo: Alex Wright
Executive Director: Vanessa A. Finney Quercus Management Staff: E. Kelly Finney, Chelsea Bailey, and Michelle Mount Phone: 410-823-8684 | Fax: 410-296-8288 | E-mail: office@mnlga.org Web: mnlga.org | Free State e-mail: freestate@mnlga.org Design: Gregory J. Cannizzaro Graphic Design (contact information page 40) © 2020 Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association, Inc.
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 5
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
E
arly on in the pandemic, I waited until literally the last possible minute to write this column for Free State. I knew change was coming and I wanted to have the best and latest information VANESSA A. FINNEY Executive Director available to communicate. I was optimistic to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Sadly, that light, while out there, is still very dim. By now, you have mostly likely learned that MANTS 2021 will not be held as an in-person show. This is truly one of the most distressing pieces of news I’ve ever had to convey. I really could never have imagined a year without MANTS as we know it. It’s like a sucker gutpunch delivered by this enduring pandemic, that really has left no one unscathed. I am sure Ken Fisher and staff at AmericanHort were thinking and feeling the same way last spring when faced with uncertainty in hosting Cultivate in person. Huge kudos and props to them for being the first industry event to pull off a virtual educational conference and trade show, combined. What tremendous pressure, research, and time was invested in Cultivate, by both AmericanHort staff and exhibitors. I think they all showed that we can, and actually must, think of different ways to conduct our businesses to survive not only during a pandemic, but an everevolving world. Like Cultivate, MANTS has had to change. As of me writing this column, we know for sure that the Baltimore Convention Center will be retained for use as a field hospital by the State through the end of December, and quite possibly beyond. With this knowledge and
6 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
no assurances on availability of the BCC into early 2021, the MANTS board had really no option but to withdraw plans for an in-person show. I thank the many exhibitors who contacted me with their enthusiasm and optimism that we would be able to carry on with the January show and I also thank those that called and e-mailed and expressed concern, asking to “opt-out” of 2021 if we proceeded with an in-person show. Everyone’s feedback was on the table, until we had no venue. We now look at the alternatives to keep MANTS in the forefront, fulfilling its mission to promote industry commerce while supporting not only the MNLGA, but our sister associations in Virginia and West Virginia. I am confident we will have a plan to share in September. We will all pivot (again) and do our best to keep our MANTS exhibitors and buyers engaged. “MANTS means Business.” And business will continue, albeit in a different way. Speaking of doing business in a different way, the CPH board has been hard at work this spring and summer reinventing the delivery of the CPH exams. The CPH program has been a mainstay of the MNLGA since 1985. The Maryland Department of Agriculture, our partner in delivery of the program, has tested literally thousands of individuals in the past 35 years. Like clockwork, at least twice a year dozens of examinees made the trek to MDA headquarters in Annapolis to be tested. With the extra COVID-19 push, the work to move examinations to an online platform was accelerated. We expect to begin online testing this fall. Stay tuned for details. In closing, I wish you all the very best. There is such resilience, energy, passion, and commitment within our horticulture industry. I know so many MNLGA members made, and continue to make, special effort to help and support others in need – either professionally or personally. We will carry on and come out stronger! “Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.” A —Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
PROTECTING YOUR BUSINESS ISN’T CHILD’S PLAY. There’s no substitute for the real thing. You know that. So do we. That’s why we put more than 130 years of horticulture industry-specific experience to work every day. So when you and your business need us most, you always have someone to turn to. 800-541-5082
hortica.com
Hortica ® property and casualty coverages are underwritten, and loss control services are provided, by Florists’ Mutual Insurance Company, Florists’ Insurance Company, and Florists’ Insurance Service, Inc., Edwardsville, IL, members of the Sentry Insurance Group. For more information, visit hortica.com. Policies, coverages, benefits, and discounts are not available in all states. See policy for complete coverage details.
77-132A
14003237
6/4/19
ADVERTISERS Firm Page Affinity Program – MNLGA....................................................................................................................................................................49 American Landscape Institute........................................................................................................................................................... 45 AmericanHort.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Angelica Nurseries, Inc.........................................................................................................................................Outside Back Cover Babikow Greenhouses............................................................................................................................................ Inside Front Cover Cam Too Camelia................................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Cavano’s Perennials............................................................................................................................................................................... 35 Chesapeake Green Symposium......................................................................................................................................................... 41 CPH.............................................................................................................................................................................................................60 Fairview Evergreen Nursery.................................................................................................................................................................. 31 Farm Credit............................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Foxborough Nursery.................................................................................................................................................Inside Back Cover Gregory J. Cannizzaro Design.............................................................................................................................................................40 The HC Companies................................................................................................................................................................................ 54 Hortica......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Kollar Nursery...........................................................................................................................................................................................48 Manor View Farm..................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 MANTS........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 62 MD Ag Ed Foundation . ........................................................................................................................................................................ 55 MNLGA.org............................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Office Depot............................................................................................................................................................................................. 58 OHP................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1 Pender Nursery........................................................................................................................................................................................40 Perennial Farm........................................................................................................................................................................................30 Wye Oak Sponsors...................................................................................................................................................................................21
Foxborough Nursery, Inc.
MARYLAND
N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I AT I O N , I N C .
Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association Officers 2020 President Larry Hemming Eastern Shore Nurseries 410-822-1320 1st Vice President John Murphy Murphy John’s, Inc. 410-928-3029 2nd Vice President Leslie Hunter Cario Chesapeake Horticultural Services 410-924-5847 Secretary Patrick Waldt Griffin Greenhouse Supplies 443-417-3983 Treasurer Carrie Engel Valley View Farms 410-527-0700 Director-at-Large Jessica Todd Clear Ridge Nursery, Inc. 888-226-9226
Kollar Nursery
MNLGA Contact Info: P.O. Box 726 Brooklandville, Maryland 21022 Phone: 410-823-8684 Fax: 410-296-8288 E-mail: office@mnlga.org Free State E-mail: freestate@mnlga.org
G R E G O R Y J.
cannizzaro
Graphic Design
MARYLAND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION
8 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
Website: mnlga.org
THIS BUSINESS OF OURS A Mike Hemming
Making use of free time... fix this, plant that ... T
his has been the most stressful Spring I have ever been involved in. It was not all COVID-19, but of course that started the worry and stress. There was that period of “will we be shut down” in the beginning. Followed by “if we can’t open tomorrow what will happen to our business and employees? Lay them off and possibly lose good and valued workers? How long will it last?”
half capacity. “Don’t worry we will get it replaced in March.” It still hasn’t been done as the man hired to do it has been sick and his main employee has some other problem. The intake piping is too small to run both pumps on one pool. First one, and then the other, pump developed leaks. Got them fixed in my copious free time! Then had problems with stuff getting sucked up and the clogging sprinkler heads. Finally got around to ordering and installing strainers, making the jury-rigged distribution manifolds even more of a Rube Goldberg looking joke. But the strainers are keeping stuff from ending up in sprinklers. So, I can trust that water will end up where it belongs and in the correct quantity. But enough of this.
... got the February-potted 2-gallon crape myrtles out of the house... they rooted to the bottom of the container and the heavy multi stemmed plants getting close to 3 feet tall. My best crop ever on those.
Now we know that we don’t know how long it will last. Because it’s not over yet! But business has been good, once we all got guidelines on how to interact, and put them into place. Masks are annoying to those that wear glasses. When it is cool, mine fog up constantly. But the social distancing part is easy when people have over 2 acres to roam. Nurseries and landscapers have fared pretty well, for the most part. Though I did hear of a nursery that had to close down because they could not keep customers far enough apart. Our small sales office became a bottle neck because we only allowed 1 customer in at one time. But no one complained about it. The real stressful part of this spring was the trouble I had with our irrigation system. Late last year one of the pool liners split halfway down, limiting it to one
As I mentioned in my last article, we did more movingup during the winter. This is starting to pay dividends as growth is more and better on those plants and some are being sold already. I also got the February-potted 2-gallon crape myrtles out of the house before the diffused light made them floppy. In the past I had to stake some of the faster growers. They are now rooted to the bottom of the container and the heavy multi stemmed plants getting close to 3 feet tall. My best crop ever on those. (continued on next page) Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 9
THIS BUSINESS OF OURS (Continued) house with a piece of garden hose used to tap into a faucet. I used a 6-inch piece of hose and 2 female hose fittings at each end to do this backwards connection. I always have a couple of those fittings made up and in my tool carrier.
Larry and I have both been grabbing 5 to 25 plants and moving them up all spring long. With what we did this winter we have more stock coming on than we ever had for a long time, prompting Larry to beat me by over 2 months asking, “Where are we going to put all these “plants” this winter. That is usually my question about mid September. We may finally have to use one of the ideas I have about overwintering stock we don’t have greenhouse space for. If so, it’s a great problem to have.
So, then I was ready to install the electronic leaf mist controller I mentioned in my last article. First, I had to change the solenoids to new 24-volt ones. It was another thing to do but that part went OK. I hooked up the new electronic leaf, plugged in after attaching the wires. No Joy! No workee! Fussed and fiddled with the wiring, nothing. Gave up, I had other things to do. The next day I tested the wiring; current was coming out of the transformer but not out of the mist controller. Larry, while I was gone, called the company; after some back and forth’s they said turn it upside down and see if the wires inside are connected. They weren’t. Once connected it worked and we started running the system, adjusting the counterweight that makes the
When it became close to the time to start making cuttings, up jumps another problem. The water tank for the mist system became waterlogged because of a leak in the air space that keeps it pressurized. Meaning that pump would run with every misting. Getting at the tank to change it would have been another timeconsuming project. The answer was to add in the new tank temporarily in another location for the time needed. It looks ridiculous sitting in the propagation
Finally got around to ordering and installing strainers, making the juryrigged distribution manifolds even more of a Rube Goldberg looking joke. But the strainers are keeping stuff from ending up in sprinklers. So, I can trust that water will end up where it belongs and in the correct quantity.
B
E C
A
F
D G
HOW TO GET WATER WHERE IT BELONGS
10 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
H
* Our Landscape Distribution Center has an Extensive Selection of Quality Plant Material Available for Pickup or Delivery * Field Grown Material Available for Personal Selection * Potted Liners
Distribution Center Availability is updated several times daily and available on your mobile phones at
www.manorview.com R
VIEW RM FA
The results…I like it, for me it is doing a better job than the old timers. In the past Crape Myrtles would have leaf rot problems about the time the new roots got going, but were still too small to reduce the misting time because of the other cuttings with no roots. Nor could we take the them out of the mist altogether. This year I have already pulled 3 flats out of the mist entirely that were stuck 22 and 23 days ago. Seven other flats have been moved to edge of the misting area. Only one flat has a small area of lost leaves. So far none of the Japanese Hollies have shown evidence of this wet problem that caused pretty heavy losses last year. So far so good.
Delivering the Confidence You Desire and the Value You Deserve for over 40 years
MAN O
leaf part move up and down to turn the system on and off. After a day of that it seemed to be doing its job. So, Flo started making cuttings. After a couple more days of adjusting the weights and position of the unit in the mist area I decided it was good. I did tweak it one more time. I haven’t touched it since. The old system would come on at 7:30 a.m. and go off at 7 p.m. no matter the ambient conditions. The leaf only works when the leaf dries out, not by an arbitrary time. One cooler cloudy day it didn’t do the first misting until 10:30. If it operates at night, I’ve never seen the evidence. Last times running in the evening seem to be from 5:30 to 7:30.
On the plant scene, Franklin’s Gem Boxwood have been our big surprise seller this year. We have been rooting some for the past couple years. We put out our 1-gallons, along with the larger ones we bought from Marshalls’ Riverbank Nursery. All sizes have sold very well along with Winter Gem, Winter Green, and Justin Browers. Marshalls’ grow a nice boxwood. It saddens me that we have to avoid English Boxwood right now because of the blight. I guess it’s the first time in 90 years Eastern Shore Nurseries has no English Boxwood on site. A Mike Hemming Eastern Shore Nurseries Inc 410-822-1320 esn@goeaston.net easternshorenurseries.com
15601 Manor Rd, Monkton, MD 21111 410-771-4700 fax 410-771-8246 sales@manorview.com
www.manorview.com
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 11
GROWING WITH EDUCATION A Ginny Rosenkranz
Salt Tolerant Plants for Sun and Shade in
MARYLAND
12 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
S
Hemerocallis
Dow Gardens , Dow Gardens, Bugwood.org
alt tolerant plants are essential in the landscapes that border the ocean, tidal rivers and creeks, the Coastal Plains, and the Chesapeake Bay. They are also needed throughout Maryland where the winters can be so cold that ice and snow form on sidewalks, paths and roadways. These areas are often treated with a form of salt (calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, calcium magnesium acetate, rock salt, potassium chloride and Urea/carbonyl diamide) which removes the snow and ice to various degrees but all will harm plants that are sensitive to salt damage. The salt in the soil can affect plants in more than one way. Salts can pull the moisture away from the roots causing the roots to dry out or desiccate. Certain salts that contain chloride will be taken up by the roots and transported to the foliage where they can accumulate to toxic levels and cause marginal leaf scorch. There are some wonderful herbaceous perennials that can offer color and texture along walks and pathways from late winter through all the seasons to the late fall and those that are salt tolerant should be the first plants to consider. For the landscapes that offer full to mostly full sun, the native spring blooming plants that could line a walkway could start with Phlox subluata or Moss phlox which blooms March through May in pure white, various shades of pink to red and blue to purple. Not only does this spring beauty provide colorful flowers but the low growing creeping foliage stays green all year long. The month of May brings Aquilegia, the native Columbine that stands up to 2 feet and the flowers flame bright red and yellow against the soft green clumps of foliage. Columbine is not a long lived perennial but it self-seeds creating the impression that it has grown in the garden for years. May also brings the native Babtisia australis or False Indio blooming with tall spikes of bright to smoky blues, sunny yellow or pure white flowers. These flowers last most of the month of May then the flowers mature into black seed pods that when dry, rattle in the autumn winds bringing music into the garden. The foliage can grow 3-4 feet tall and wide and the seeds can spread if not trimmed off. There are many other sun-loving herbaceous perennials that are suitable for highlighting a path or walkway. (continued on next page) Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 13
GROWING WITH EDUCATION (Continued)
ABOVE baptisia australis blue flowers BELOW hemerocallis Pardon me
14 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
Iberis semperviens or Candytuft is a beautiful carpet hugging plant that has dark evergreen leaves and in April produces tiny bouquets of fragrant white flowers that last for at least a month. The early pollinators appreciate the amazing banquet. Armeria maritima or Sea Pinks with their tiny tufts of bright evergreen grass like foliage can be found growing right on the edge of the ocean among the rocks and the sea salt water. They bloom the month of May with small bouquets of bright pink or carmine-red flowers held aloft on sturdy thin straight stems. ‘Splendens’, ‘Bloodstone’ and ‘Dusseldord Pride’ have proved they can bright up the sunny landscape with moist but well drained soils. For full sun and dry soils Cerastium tomentosum or Snow in Summer will spread its ground hugging silver green foliage and lots of bright white flowers all through May. These plants thrive in cooler summers of north and western Maryland and are not tolerant of high humidity. Dianthus on the other hand will thrive in cool or hot and humid weather, showing off their silver blue evergreen foliage in full sun and moist but well drained soils. The common name of Pinks is a preview of the bright or soft, dark or light pink flowers that perfume the air with the scent of cloves from May through July. Pinks is also another term for trimming with a jagged edge, and the flowers of Dianthus are not only colored pink but are trimmed pinked. ‘Bath Pink’, ‘Firewitch’, ‘Mountain Mist’ and ‘Helen Allwood Pink’ are listed as very salt tolerant. Shady landscapes also have beautiful salt tolerant herbaceous perennials starting in late winter with Helleborus orientalis or the Lenten Rose which grows about one foot tall with deeply divided 7-9 segmented dark evergreen foliage. Lenten Rose are often the first of the shade plants to bloom in colors ranging from pure white to pinks, rose and burgundies. The cup shaped flowers can last 8-10 weeks due to the cool weather, then the colorful calix will continue to show color into early summer. These hardy plants can thrive in moist but well drained soils and when established are drought tolerant. Another low growing shade loving evergreen is Pachysandra terminalis or Japanese spurge with small parasols of leaves and bright white flowers that perch on the tips of the plants from March to April. These groundcover plants spread by rhizomes, covering
the moist shady woods quickly. Ajuga reptans or Bugle weed is often grown for its foliage and varieties like ‘Burgundy Glow’ and Rainbow’ provide colorful foliage in shades of green, burgundy, rose, pink and white while ‘Silver Beauty’ provides green leaves edged in white. Ajuga thrives in moist, well drained shady areas, growing in a thick mat of leavesonly 4-6 inches tall until the short 4-10 inch stalks of bright blue violet flowers bloom in April. The flowers are arranged in a whorled pattern up and down the stalk. For the shady dry woods, Epimedium x versicolor or Barrenwort will give soft evergreen color, competing with the roots of trees to bring small spurred flowers in shades of red or bright yellow in April. The plants are about a foot tall, fitting up against a walkway without taking it over. Moist, lightly shady areas are perfect for the deciduous groundcover of the fragrant Convallaria majalis or Lily-of-the-Valley that hang tiny pure white to light pink bells on 3-6 inch thin stems. The flowers perfume the air during the month of May and are a gracious invitation to take a walk in the dappled shade. After flowering the lance shaped leaves hold their deep green color through the growing season and mature to yellow in autumn. Late spring to early summer brings Achillea x Coronation Gold to bloom in sunny areas. The spicy fragrance (continued on next page)
ABOVE Aquilegia canadensis LEFT Achillea millefolium Little Moonshine. flower BELOW Foxglove flowers
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 15
GROWING WITH EDUCATION (Continued) of the clumps of silvery deeply dissected foliage give a great background to sunny golden yellow 4 inch discs of flowers that float like flat umbrellas 2-3 feet tall. The fragrant flowers will bloom from May through September, especially if the spent flowers are pruned out. Hemerocallis or Day Lily that thrive in full sun to part shade and bloom in a rainbow of colors from almost pure white to pale yellow to bright yellow then shades of orange from soft to flaming. Reds glow in the summer sun and lavender to purple flowers are also found blooming from May through September. The 6 petal flowers can have entire edges or scalloped or ruffled edges and some of the edges can be in contrasting colors. The colors can be the same on all 6 petals or one color on the inner 3 petals and another color on the outer 3 petals. The center of the flowers can be the same as the petals or have a bright yellow or green ‘eye’ at the very center. Some petals are small to fit the small size of some Day Lilies, while others are long and slender, twisting a bit as they grow looking like
16 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
they are dancing in the sunshine. Some Day Lilies have been bred to with multiple petals filling in where the stamens could have been. Some of the Hemerocallis foliage can be evergreen, some semi –evergreen and some are deciduous. There is a Day Lily for almost every spot along a sunny path or walkway or gracing a garden near a roadway. Another late spring or early summer bloomer is the Iris germanica or Bearded Iris, which have sword shaped evergreen foliage and in late May shoot up tall flags of flowers that have 3 inner petals that stand straight upright (standards) and 3 outer petals (falls) that cascade downward. These falls have a stripe of style, anther and stigma close to the center of the flower and forces the pollinators to tunnel through for the nectar and pollinate on the way. The Bearded Iris also blooms in a rainbow of colors from pure white through all the colors to the darkest purple that can look like black. The upper standards and lower falls petals can be the same colors or light and dark shades of the same color or contrasting colors pastels or vibrant. There are
3 sizes of the Bearded Iris with the shortest blooming first, the midsized blooming afterwards and the tall Iris blooming most of May. Keep in mind that these plants need full sun and the rhizomes needs to be planted so the top half is above the ground and above the mulch. May offers the color and fragrance of a very long-lived herbaceous perennial, Paeonia lactiflora or the Garden Peony which loves full sun in the morning and prefers late afternoon shade as summer turns up the heat. Plants usually bloom for a week to 10 days and the amount of bloom can be extended by planting early, mid-season and late blooming varieties to increase the flowering time up to 6 weeks. The flowers can be singles with a ring of 8-10 petals around a center of colorful stamens or double flowers with so many petals the center is never seen. Most of the peony flowers are very fragrant and the colors range from pure white to palest pink that flows to deepest red. The stems are not always sturdy enough to hold the large double flowers upright, but the colorful flowers are always welcome along a walkway.
Digitalis purpurea or Foxglove is a bi-annual that thrives in full sun to sun with dappled afternoon shade. They will only thrive when planted in moist rich well drained soils that never dry out. The first year the plant grows only a rosette of large oblong light green leaves that persist all winter. The next spring the flower spikes rise up 3-4 feet tall and produce large colorful tubular flowers on one side of the top of the raceme. Flowers can be 2-3 inches long with rose pink, purple or yellow outer colors and white or pale pink inside with purple and white spots. The brightly colored inner spots act as a beacon to the pollinators to encourage them to find the hidden nectar and to pollinate the flowers to produce seeds for the following year. If the plants are located with the correct soil and sun combination, the seedlings will fill in and flower as if they were truly perennials. Shade loving native Tiarella cordifolia or Foamflower demands rich and moist soils and will welcome the landscape with 1-2-foot-tall thin stems covered with tiny white starry flowers that have long stamens to (continued on next page)
FROM FAR LEFT Peony white w red flower Iris germanica Dianthus fire witch Iberis sempervirens Alexander’s White. Candytuft close up Convallaria majalis lilly of the valley plants Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 17
GROWING WITH EDUCATION (Continued) create a light and airy look. The rosette of heart shaped evergreen leaves have contrasting colorful veins of burgundy and grace the garden long after the flowers are gone.
ABOVE Helleborus orientalis spring frost.white pink flower.grIris germanica BELOW Day lily Mary Tod.2019 FAR RIGHT Kniphofia
June is the start of summer and the explosion of color in both the sunny and shady landscapes. There are a number of beautiful salt tolerant perennials that are small enough to fit close to a path or walkway while others can become a lovely background supporting the smaller plants. For the sunny areas Asclepiad tuberosa or Butterfly Weed will thrive, growing in a clump 1 – 2 ½ feet tall with upright and arching stems covered with short lance shaped leaves. Around June the umbrella shaped bouquets begin to bloom filled with loads of bright orange tiny flowers. Pollinators flock to the nectar producing flowers providing both color and motion to the garden path. Butterfly Weed needs full sun and doesn’t mind dry or drought soils once established, but once they are planted their tap root system prevents them from being moved around the landscape once established. Campanula persicifolia or Peach leaf Bell Flower prefers full sun to sun with light dappled afternoon shade and moist but well drained soils. The rosette of narrow bright green leathery leaves are semi-evergreen in cold winters and evergreen in mild ones. The slender unbranched flower stems rise out of the rosette up to 3 feet tall and are covered with large outwardly facing bell shaped flowers in shades of blue or white and will bloom almost until July. Both blue and white flowers soften the bold reds, oranges and yellows of early summer flowers and when planted at the ends of a garden walkway can make it seem longer and cooler even in the full sun. Gypsophila paniculata or Baby’s Breath makes a wonderful 2-3-foot-tall and wide billowing cloud of a background for many shorter brightly colored perennials. The plants thrive in alkaline well drained soils and full sun. Baby’s Breath grows from a mound of well branched airy stems that are lightly covered with lance shaped leaves and lavishly covered with pure white long-lasting flowers. Flowering will continue through the summer until the heat of August.
18 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
A native sun lover is the Oenothera macrocarpa or Ozark Sundrops, a low mounding perennial with bright green narrow lance shaped leaves and sunny yellow flowers. Plants thrive in full sun and average well drained soils, tolerant of drought and alkaline soils. The upward facing large 5-inch flowers are formed with 4 fragrant petals and open in the late afternoon. They will stay open all night and into the early morning before dropping their petals. Plants produce their flowers from the leaf axils and will continue to bloom till August. The flowers are followed by decorative winged seed pods. Veronica spicata or Speedwell is also a sun lover thriving in moist well drained soils with a bit of mulch to keep the soil moisture constant. It grows as an upright clump of toothed lance shaped leaves and blooms on flower spikes that grow on the top of each branch. Each flower spike can grow 24-30 inches tall and is covered with tiny star shaped bright blue or white flowers that bloom from the bottom and rise to the top, always keeping a bit of green on the very top of the bloom. Another native sun lover that blooms in June is Yucca filamentoa, or Spanish Bayonet that is so salt tolerant it thrives on the sand dunes by the ocean. The plants thrive in full sun and well drained soils and are tolerant of drought. Spanish Bayonet is formed with a rosette of sword shaped 2-foot-long evergreen leaves that are tipped with a very sharp spine. A strong flowering stalk rises from the center of each rosette, oven reaching heights of 5-8 feet tall with the top bearing panicles of creamy white lemon scented bell-shaped flowers. Pollinators love the flowers and landscapers need to
John Ruter, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org
Kniphofia or Red Hot Poker is also a full sun lover, growing in rich well drained soils. The 2-3-foot clumps of evergreen grass like foliage is slightly coarse and sometimes bluish green in color. Out of the center of the clump the strong flower stalks rise up 3-4 feet tall and begin to bloom with small tubular flowers that droop downwards. The flowers cover the top 6-10 inches of the flower stalk, blooming bright red to dark orange on the newest flowers then maturing to a softer red, a softer orange and then to a soft yellow. The newest flowers are always on top, mimicking the look of a burning torch. The flowers bloom in multiple successions giving upright color spikes from June through September.
wear protective gear to work around the spined leaves. June can also be a month when salt tolerant and shade loving Heuchera micrantha or Coral Bells bloom. ‘Palace Purple’ and ‘Montrose Ruby’ are listed as salt tolerant and both have clumps of heart shaped leaves formed in a rosette about a foot tall. ‘Palace Purple’ leaves are deep purple on top and a dark red on the underside. Out of the center of each mound thin wiry stems rise about 2 feet tall and are covered in tiny bell-shaped airy flowers. Plants thrive in rich moist well drained soils in full sun to part shade. A Photos: Ginny Rozenkranz (unless otherwise noted) Ginny Rosenkranz Extension Educator, Commercial Horticulture, University of Maryland Extension, Dorchester, Sommerset, Wicomico and Worchester County 410 749-6141 x106 rosnkrnz@umd.edu Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 19
Knowing You Matters Working with a lender that knows agriculture matters to you. Your operation matters to us. Contact Farm Credit when you’re ready for financial partner. 20 SUMMER 2020 a • Free State News
888.339.3334 | mafc.com |
NEW MEMBERS
We welcome the following into membership in the MNLGA! The extensive list of “Comp Members” denotes businesses and individual professionals who have joined since the advent of the COVID-19 crisis. The MNLGA granted complimentary memberships through December 31, 2020. All other members have had their dues payments suspended through March 2021. Full contact information may be found within the member portal of the MNLGA website, www.mnlga.org. We encourage you to reach out to your peer members – they may be a valuable business connection for you. Bella Vita Farm
Vatinee
The Arc Baltimore
Hedge Garden Care, LLC
Meridian Young Plant (MYP)
TG Designs
Robin’s Nest Floral & Garden Center
Columbia Country Club
Tidal Fresh
Hills Bayside
Valley Landscaping, Stone & Patio
PCM Landscape
Terry Ann Plants
The Sage Tomato
Roundwoods Farm and Nursery
Waterfront Engineering Design and Construction
The HC Companies
The Daily Grinder LLC
Gravity Payments
Potomac Petals and Plants
Outdoor Image
Dobson Lawn & Landscape
Academy Ford Sales
Legacy Land & Aquatic Management
Greentree Landscaping, Inc.
PNC Bank Naughty Pine Nursery
WYE OAK SPONSORS MNLGA would like to thank these companies for their sponsorship and support.
The MNLGA sponsorship Program is designed with your increased visibility in mind. It is a simple straightforward and reward driven program. The recognition opportunities coupled with an MNLGA Sponsorship are unparallelded for a state association. Sponsorship rates and benefits are avaiable on mnlga.org/sponsorship
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 21
FEATURED MEMBER A Carol Kinsley
Fieldstone Nursery, Inc.
22 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
“Even though we are on a busy road, we’re kind of hidden away here, we have people frequently stop by who say they have been driving by here for 20 years and when they finally stop in are pleasantly surprised at the scope of our operation.”
Mark Sullivan
I
“ f you grow it, they will come,” is the philosophy of Mark Sullivan and his wife, Maripat Neff, owners of Fieldstone Nursery Inc. in Parkton, Maryland. In 1988, they purchased 12 acres of what had been a 200-acre dairy farm and moved, with their three sons, into what had been the old homestead. The house was built in 1852. The property, which is in northern Baltimore County near the Pretty Boy Reservoir, just 6 miles from the Pennsylvania line, included a barn and a pond. The rolling hills, at 800 feet above sea level, are off the beaten path. “Even though we are on a busy road, we’re kind of hidden away here,” Mark said. “We have people frequently stop by who say they have been driving by here for 20 years and when they finally stop in are pleasantly surprised at the scope of our operation.” The land was part of a development where no houses had been built yet, and some neighbors objected to a nursery being located there. What was then the Maryland Nursery and Landscape Association was helpful in that struggle, Maripat said. “They’ve been very helpful from the outset,” Mark added. “MNLGA is a big resource for information, what’s going on politically, diseases, insects and things pertinent to Maryland right now — all the terrible things plant people are up against these days, including labor issues,” Maripat said. “They’ve also helped with business planning.”
Fieldstone Nursery pond
Neither Mark nor Maripat had a horticultural background. Both have a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the Maryland Institute, College of Art. That art and design background, they believe, gives them “a unique perspective on selecting beautiful, interesting plants and executing exciting and innovative landscape design.” (continued on next page) Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 23
FEATURED MEMBER (Continued) Mark does the growing, propagating and maintenance. Maripat does the majority of the customer relations, doing designs and running the landscape crew. They have also recently gotten involved in hardscaping, including two very impressive labyrinth projects. Mark also has a background in construction, having renovated historic houses in Baltimore as a business. Renovating the old homestead was a challenge, Maripat said. They recently added a significant addition to the house. As for horticulture, Maripat said she has always enjoyed growing and gardening. It comes naturally to her. “Mark is self-taught,” she continued. “My husband can do anything he puts his mind to.” Mark started by visiting nurseries and was really taken with them, especially those with interesting plant material. They decided to create a specialty nursery, to produce things that are generally unusual and harder to find. Maripat said, “Land is precious space for us!” They grow both deciduous and coniferous plants that have unusual growing habits, weeping, dwarf, columnar, variegated, or special colored foliage, bark, or flowers. Some of the more interesting selections include Kousa dogwood, styrax, beech, fir, redbud, dawn redwood and false cypress. In addition, Fieldstone Nursery offers a complete line of quality general nursery stock, including cold hardy trees, shrubs, perennials, and ornamental grasses Mark explained, “The nursery began with grafts from several local wholesale nurseries, but that was expensive, especially in the start-up years. Now it is more about having control over what we produce. It takes years of invested time, grafting and growing plants from tiny rootstocks. Sometimes you’re looking at 10 to 15 years to produce a tree. We’re not like production nurseries that turn over every three to four years. The plants we choose to grow are slower growing, so to get to a product of optimal size, it needs to be in the field longer.” (continued on next page) 24 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
TOP LEFT: Howell’s bicolor spruce TOP RIGHT: Japanese maples and sales area LEFT: Labyrinth in woods with local fieldstone and river jack ABOVE: Farmhouse Gardens Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 25
FEATURED MEMBER (Continued) Maripat added, “Selling plants we have created and grown provides both satisfaction for us and our clients. They know that they are working with knowledgeable and hands-on growers. Honestly, because we grow it, we can often offer cost saving to our customers.” Fieldstone Nursery operates more like a farm than a garden center. “We have a lot of mature plants, so when customers want very large trees, their landscaper can pick them up, we can deliver them, or we can install them,” Maripat said. Container stock ranges from one-gallon perennials to trees in 25-gallon pots.
Fieldstone Nursery has had a 36-inch tree spade for 20 years or more to remove and plant field-grown stock, but some of their trees, such as a 20-foot evergreen, might take bigger equipment to move. Mark has a special interest in and affection for Japanese maples. Over the years he has collected more than 150 different cultivars, with both field grown and those in containers ranging in size from 3 to 45 gallons. Maripat said, “Fortunately or unfortunately, Mark wanted to plant one of everything we grew, so we have a beautiful display of specimen trees, many over 30 years old. This makes it easy for visitors to envision what their plants will be like. Someday, when we are (continued on page 28)
“Land is precious space for us!”... growing both deciduous and coniferous plants that have unusual growing habits, weeping, dwarf, columnar, variegated, or special colored foliage, bark, or flowers. Some of the more interesting selections include Kousa dogwood, styrax, beech, fir, redbud, dawn redwood and false cypress.
Maripat Neff
26 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP OF PAGE 27: Display gardens Retail cold frames, perennials Japanese garden and labyrinth Bicycle and boat sculptures from Fieldstone wedding, 2018 Retail cold frames, Japanese maples
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 27
FEATURED MEMBER (Continued) gone, someone will have a beautiful property, like an arboretum.” Others already appreciate the beauty of the property. There have been three weddings held there, for two of the couple’s children and for a former employee. “There are still bike sculptures here from Miles’ wedding,” Mark said. “He and his bride met at a Baltimore Bike Party.” Whether any of their sons would like to keep the business going is yet to be determined. Only one, Miles, is working in the nursery. He is a foreman. “It has always been a struggle to have workers, since we don’t need them year-round.” It is nice, however, to have downtime in the winter after working seven days a week in season, Maripat admitted. She said she enjoys working with people — it provides a lot of satisfaction — but it’s a lot of work and she has small grandchildren she wants to “hang out with.” Maripat added, “My husband tells me he still enjoys it and does not want to stop yet.” In addition to landscaping services, the nursery offers design packages for those who want to do the installation themselves. Consulting services also are available, for a fee, to help customers with advice
28 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
on renovating an existing landscape or adding hardscaping, pools, ponds, garden beds and so forth. Despite COVID-19, 2020 has been a surprisingly good year, Maripat said. “People are home more; there are more do-it-yourself sales. We generally cater to older customers, and most of our referrals are in the same age group — people who want to pay you to do the work. But this year we’re seeing people in their 30s. There are no kids’ sports or activities so parents are home, not running around. It would be nice to think (the increased business) will happen again in the fall. We consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to stay RIGHT: Display gardens and retail cold frames BELOW: Japanese maple varieties
open through all of this. It has been very easy, since all our business is conducted outside. We can manage to socially distance.” The only problem is showing visitors plants in the ground spread over a large area. “We can’t walk people down 1,000 feet. That’s taxing in hot weather. And we can’t all sit in a golf cart together,” Maripat said.
Most of their marketing is by word of mouth. “We have an excellent reputation in this business,” Maripat said. “Mark does the Ladew Topiary Garden Sale every spring hoping to increase visibility. Our website brings in many customers, too. We have seen an increase of people finding us on the Internet since the pandemic, especially for Japanese maples. Some come as far as Philadelphia, Virginia and Delaware.“ Maripat’s rule is to only work for nice customers. Her approach is, “If you make them happy, they will come back and tell their friends.” She said, “We are very proud of our nursery and derive a great deal of satisfaction from growing and offering superior plants to our customers.” Learn more about the nursery’s offerings at fieldstonenurseryinc.com. A Photos: Marupat Neff Carol Kinsley Kinsley Communications. 410-924-3582 cjkinsley@comcast.net
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 29
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 30
The finest Taxus and Boxwood in the industry and so much more.
Car Magic
pet Sp
irea
Blue P rin
Hortense Hydrang
Redpointe
ea
Blue Ar
Maple
cess Holly
row Jun
iper
See Availability List on our website! FairviewEvergreen.com 7463 West Ridge Rd. P.O. Box 189 Fairview PA 16415 800.458.2234 e-mail:Getinfo@FairviewEvergreen.com Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 31
SCHOLARSHIPS
2020 Link Shanks Award Recipient – Jenna Evans This spring, at is annual student awards ceremony, Jenna Evans was awarded the MNLGA-sponsored Link-Shanks award. The award, given annually through faculty nomination by UMD’s Plant Science and Landscape Architecture Department, honors Dr. Conrad Link and Dr. James Shanks as a tribute to their long years on campus in support of Maryland horticulture. This award is given to an undergraduate student as a junior who shows academic improvement and promise in horticulture. In the Fall of 2020, Jenna will be a senior in the Environmental Horticulture program at University of Maryland. She attained her Associates of Arts and Sciences degree while studying at Carroll Community College. She has enjoyed her classes at the University of Maryland, especially Fundamental Soil Science, Greenhouse Management, and Plants, Genetics and Biotechnology. Jenna enjoys seeing how the topics intertwine and build off one other and she finds herself anticipating the next course that follows. By receiving the Link Shanks scholarship award, Jenna feels secure in knowing that the path she has chosen is the correct one for her because the award will enable her financially to complete the rest of her senior year. After graduation, she hopes to find employment in the horticulture industry where she can work with both people and plants, applying her newly acquired knowledge to real world situations. She desires to raise public knowledge on topics of plants and science. Jenna considers herself to be truly fortunate that after several moves across five states, with her family growing up, she was able to eventually reside at length in Delmarva where there is a high density of botanical gardens. Growing up and visiting these gardens with her mother has really inspired her to learn everything she can about how plants function and how humans interact with them. A
32 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
2020 MNLGA Ornamental Horticulture Award Recipient – Alyssa Steele In keeping with its mission to promote and provide for the future success of Maryland’s ornamental horticulture industry, the Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association sponsors academic scholarships to students pursuing an education in the field of landscape/ornamental horticulture. This year, one scholarship was awarded. The MNLGA chose to name this scholarship after Dr. Frank Gouin, a distinguished professional and professor at the University of Maryland. Dr. Gouin passed away in August of 2018, but the impact that he had on UMD and its students and staff will live on forever. “To many working in the Green Industry, Frank Gouin was the Department of Horticulture. Frank was a human dynamo…” Even after he left the university, he continued to raise money and endowed the Francis R. Gouin Undergraduate Research Award to give students the ability to fully participate in various research opportunities. His contributions to UMD as well as the Green Industry speak volumes, and we hope to keep his memory alive through this scholarship award each year. This summer, Alyssa Steele was awarded the prestigious Dr. Frank Gouin Ornamental Horticulture award in the amount of $5,000.00. In the fall of 2020, Alyssa will enter her junior year at the University of Maryland, where she is studying Landscape Architecture. In addition, she is working towards her certification in Ornamental Horticulture from the Institute of Applied Agriculture. Initially, Alyssa was drawn to the field with an interest in Landscape Horticulture. Once she learned about the Ornamental Horticulture program, she knew it was the perfect fit for her. Alyssa averages about 20 credits per semester tackling both of her academic programs and has maintained this demanding schedule since 2018. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career in public horticulture within the Mid-Atlantic region. The
internship she completed at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. has given her hands-on experience working in this environment. She has loved the outdoors her whole life. Her mom is a naturalist, so Alyssa was constantly outside. As an adult her passion for the outdoors has continued whether she is out in nature hiking or on site working. She enjoys recognizing vegetation and especially appreciates her own familiarity with it wherever she travels. As part of her award, Alyssa receives a MNLGA student membership. A Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 33
P E R FO R M
BETTER Highlighting best practices throughout our industry.
GROW
FA S T E R Providing our members with the information needed to drive both business and industry forward.
PREPARE
F O R T HE F U T U R E Ensuring our industry’s continued growth and success for generations to come.
Learn how your business benefits with AmericanHort at AmericanHort.org/Join
Questions? mnlga.org has the answers The MNLGA web site is designed for our members and is your single source for the answer to almost any question. The site offers: ■ Searchable Membership Directory ■ CPH program info, basic & advanced test applications and registration ■ Up-to-date industry calendar from around the Mid-Atlantic region for finding CEUs for pesticide, nutrient management recertifications, and general education in horticulture topics
■ Free State Nursery News issues and archives
■ MaGIC (legislative) updates issues and archives
■ Chesapeake Green - speaker resources - year round
■ Job Board which members can post and track resumes/responses ■ Business resources ■ CEU forms
Visit today!
MARYLAND
N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I AT I O N , I N C .
34 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 35
EVENT RECAP A Chelsea Bailey Lewis
Commercial Cut Flower Educational Summer Session M
asks, gloves, Clorox wipes, and temperature screenings – no we weren’t at a doctor’s office – we were at The Perennial Farm! Events definitely look different in today’s world – but with all of the precautions in place, every step was worth it if it meant we could get outside and reconnect with our industry colleagues. COVID-19 has certainly shocked our world, and the last thing we were all thinking about in March was a cut flower seminar. However – when we put our heads together a few weeks ago, an in-person event for the first time in a long time, seemed feasible. As many of you know and followed along with this event, we capped attendance at thirty people total so that we could divide everyone up into three tour groups for our half “We can still meet in a COVID world, just prepare well for it and it can be done! We are seeing a gardening renaissance in our industry as the Millennial generation has embraced gardening as a family activity during this pandemic.” — Ko Klaver, Botanical Trading Company 36 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
day program. We are incredibly grateful for our industry partner, the University of Maryland and it’s Extension offices. Stanton Gill reached out to us and talked about hosting this event at The Perennial Farm in July. After all of the Zoom meetings, conference calls, and webinars, I think we were all a bit tired of staring at ourselves on a computer screen. Rick Watson, owner of The Perennial Farm opened his operation up to our
attendees and we could not be more thankful for his entire team in pulling this event together! The day started off with a welcoming introduction from Rick Watson and Stanton Gill as attendees were anxious to get the day started. The first station of the day kicked off bright and early at 8:15 am. Attendees were divided into three groups for the day and would rotate through three stations as the morning progressed. We were lucky to have great speakers including David Dowling, the technical representative for Ednie Flower Bulbs as well as Ko Klaver, President and CEO of Botanical Trading Company. David Dowling (continued on page 38)
Being new to the world of Cut Flower Production, I arrived thirsty for knowledge. Our speakers shared their considerable hands-on knowledge and advice for growing options from gardens to tunnels with shade cloths, suggestions for plant choices, disease, and insect control, as well as nutrition. In our small groups, we were able to ask questions as they came up and share tips and tricks of our own to discuss with our speakers. This friendly atmosphere proved the day invaluable to me. I offer a special thank you to everyone who kept us COVID-Safe throughout our day. — Helen Hecht, Colonial Gardens PAGE 36: Top: Shelley Russell takes time to examine specimens during David Dowling’s session Bottom: Speaker Karen Rane discusses with attendees various diseases found on cut flowers PAGE 37: Top: Rick Watson with his Daughter Katie Watson and The Perennial Farm mascot, Daisy Watson; Bottom: Speaker Stanton Gill discusses insect and mite diagnostics Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 37
EVENT RECAP (Continued)
“(We Have) new opportunities if we choose to use them and share love of plants with people who now work at home and maybe for the first time planted fresh flowers and vegetables!” — Ginny Rosenkranz, UMD Extension
38 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
talked about perennial cut flowers for shade as well as ranunculus and anemone success in the MidAtlantic. Ko talked about peonies and other great bulbs perfect for cut flowers. Attendees then went through the UMD Extension Station. The speakers at this station were Karen Rane, Stanton Gill, Dave Clement and Andrew Ristvey. Karen and Dave talked about diseases prevalent on cut flowers while Stanton addressed insect and mite diagnostics; Andrew’s topic focused on light on cut flower fertility in the summer months. Another highlight of the day was a guided tour of The Perennial Farm where attendees were taken through the property to discuss not only the operations but also great varieties that are grown for cut flower growers. Attendees had the pleasure of being with either Rick Watson, Kelly Hermann, or
Christine Klass on their tour. It was nice to walk around and hear so many engaging conversations and questions being asked. There is something to be said about a smaller event with a more intimate group setting. The day wrapped up with a fantastic lunch on The Perennial Farm patio with more discussion on the day’s topics as well as catching up with friends. We are incredibly The University of Maryland Extension has been conducting field days for commercial cut flower growers for over 25 years. This is the first year we have partnered with MNLGA to conduct this field day. The staff at MNLGA worked extremely well with our faculty at the University of Maryland. We were able to hold a successful field day, dividing participants into groups of 9 and efficiently and safely moving them about the various educational stations. — Stanton Gill, UMD Extension
grateful to our UMD Extension partners for whom we could not offer these events, as well as The Perennial Farm and its entire staff for opening their farm to our group. We had a great day and can’t wait to see what the future holds for our industry. A Photos: Carl Remsberg
PAGE 38 CLOCKWISE Speaker Dave Clement shows what diseases can be found on cut flowers in the summer months; Bahiyyah Parks from EcoBlossoms Farm listens intently during one of the station rotations; Attendees Kim and Helen listen and take notes; The Perennial Farm E-Marketplace building bustling with business PAGE 38 Top: Speaker Ko Klaver discusses various bulbs that provide beautiful cut flowers Left: Hats to stay cool and masks to stay safe made for a great event
Chelsea Bailey Lewis MNLGA Staff chelsea@quercusmanagement.com 410-823-8684 Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 39
creative design solutions
Advertising Brochures Direct Mail Catalogs Logo Design Package Design
Rediscover
Trade Show & Vehicle Graphics
PENDER NURSERY PHONE: 800-942-1648 FAX: 919-773-0904
ONLINE: www.PenderNursery.com 2620 Wall Store Road
•
40 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
Garner, NC 27529
Gregory J. Cannizzaro Graphic Design 410-444-5649 • gjc.graphicdesign@yahoo.com
MARK YOUR CALENDAR Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association and the University of Maryland Extension present
Chesapeake Green AN ANNUAL HORTICULTURE SYMPOSIUM
2021
A premiere two day industry-wide education and pesticide recertification conference
Wednesday, February 17 and Thursday, February 18 Maritime Institute, Linthicum Heights, MD
More information can be found on the MNLGA website, www.MNLGA.org Registration opens late-December at www.mnlga.org.
MARYLAND N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I A T I O N , I N C.
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 41
GARDEN COMM A Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
Get Social with Your Gardening Community:
Your Business May Depend on It I
f there is one thing that has surfaced as critical to today’s businesses in horticulture, it’s social media.
Garden centers have survived, maybe even thrived, when they upped their customer service to curbside pickups and deliveries as part of their COVID-19 strategy. Who would have thought that these two services would have such an impact on sales, especially during a pandemic? Owners and managers learned the value of having
their inventory accessible online. The better the inventory listings — numbers available, prices, colors, sizes, materials, weights, for instance — the easier for consumers to shop and order, resulting in fewer phone calls and emails. It wasn’t just the brick and mortar stores that experienced a business boon. Several seed merchants and other online green industry retailers had to stop shipping for a few weeks while they caught up with orders. If you are like a lot of garden centers or growers, tomato plants and green bean seeds were your toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Today’s challenge After cultivating so many new customers, how do you keep them rooted in gardening? First, recognize they congregate on social media, from Facebook and Instagram to Twitter and NextDoor. Ideally, each garden center or nursery should assign someone on staff to monitor the social media sites. It needs to be that person’s primary responsibility.
Young customers are on social media and that’s where businesses need to go to reach them. Photo by Rawpixel/Depositphotos.com 42 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
Try not to laugh. For most garden centers, this is nearly impossible,
Most staffers have enough to do without adding social media to their load. Consider hiring someone to handle your social media. Photo by IndustryViews/Dreamstime.com
if not a joke. Staff already has a full plate, unloading plants, merchandising, watering and grooming plants, hustling to fill curbside pickup and delivery orders along with other duties. And even if performing social media duties, staffers on their phones give a bad impression to customers. Social media is where you have your best chance of building and nurturing relationships with the gardening community. This past spring and summer have taught garden centers and nurseries that online and virtual are where the business is, so these are not places to ignore. That’s where your customers are, including those desirable younger consumers. Newbies and even experienced gardeners post about something eating their roses or why there’s a big black spot on the bottom of their tomato…or why is there white stuff all over their lilac leaves and just what are those metallic green beetles devouring cannas? A social media solution If there is no one on staff you can assign to social media, hire someone. Of course, I’d recommend a GardenComm member, one from your community (https://gardencomm.org/connectdirectory). This person is knowledgeable about the plants that grow there, recognizes in-the-moment problems gardeners see in their yards, and knows where to find solutions.
This person could also visit your center, take photos of plants coming off trucks or carts to promote what has just arrived. As veronicas are pulled from the truck or set up on a table, your garden communicator can provide growing tips when posting the photos, for instance. This person could produce short videos of how to use a water-soluble fertilizer, how to plant a shrub, how to remove suckers from tomato plants or other how-tos. Some of these also may promote a product without a hard sell. Consider them “60 Seconds to Success.” This person also could make videos to profile a plant in the garden center or nursery that is particularly stunning in its prime. Adding descriptions of its attributes, from attracts pollinators to long-blooming to fragrant to disease resistance sells plants. This person could answer questions posted on social media from your customers and provide solutions with well-considered, science-based information. Facebook pages are filled with questions. These are your customers looking for answers and this is your opportunity to solidify your relationship with them. Many garden communicators are well versed in handling these activities with the purpose of helping people succeed. When the gardeners succeed, garden centers succeed, growers and breeders succeed, and garden communicators succeed. (continued on next page) Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 43
GARDEN COMM (Continued) Other tips: • Consider putting your first-time customers on a separate list to continue to engage with them at a different level than they do with other customers, especially if they are new gardeners. Text them reminders to water, deadhead, fertilize, harvest…all of which is more basic than experienced gardeners need. Give them tips on what else they might want Post signs thanking customers, announcing new arrivals, or when to expect seasonal shipments. to buy as the season goes on. For example, now is a great time to Photo by Orna Wachman/Pixabay.com there or even broach anyone there with a question? buy houseplants. They can spend the summer on a sheltered patio, then be brought in • Boost in-store signage. Thank customers for before it starts to get cold. shopping. Remind them to check back frequently for • Maybe open up a hotline via email or phone for new gardeners to call with questions and not feel dumb. Inviting questions should result in more sales and build customer loyalty. Someone took a picture of a sign at an Indianapolis greenhouse that said “we don’t have time for your questions.” Would you want to return
new perennials coming in. Mention fall mums arrive in August. Quick and Dirties • Set up a selfie station and post photos on social media pages. Post the best mask of the day or week. • If there’s no gardening group on Facebook or Instagram for your region, start one. Work together In the age when branded plants and big companies have their own marketing departments, how are the smaller operations expected to compete? If you are a grower, designer, IGC or other smaller company, you might not have in-house staff for your writing, speaking, videos, programs, or social networking. That’s where GardenComm members can help. A Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp thehoosiergardener@gmail.com 317-251-3261 317-443-3845 (cell)
Set up a selfie station and post the best mask of the week. Photo LNCzkaks2PGxA/Unsplash.com 44 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp has worked 20 years in a large independent garden center, where she bought perennials, trees and shrubs. A freelance writer and editor, she’s president of GardenComm: Garden Communicators International. She can be found at greatgardenspeakers.com and hoosiergardener.com.
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 45
AMERICANHORT A
Headlines in Horticulture Expanded H-2A Information Available through USDA Web Portal U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has announced new features on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers.gov website designed to help facilitate the employment of H-2A workers. The primary new H-2A features on Farmers.gov include: • A real-time dashboard that enables farmers to track the status of their eligible employer application and visa applications for temporary nonimmigrant workers; • Streamlining the login information so if a farmer has an existing login.gov account they can save multiple application tracking numbers for quick look-up at any time; • Enables easy access to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG); • Allows farmers to track time-sensitive actions taken in the course of Office of Foreign Labor Certification’s (OFLC) adjudication of temporary labor certification applications; • Provides access to all application forms on-line. All information can be found at www.farmers.gov/ manage/h2a. 46 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
Business Group Sues Trump Administration The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seeking to overturn restrictions recently placed on several categories of employment visas, including H-1B and H-2B visas. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco on July 21, argues that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he temporarily halted admissions under these and other visas by presidential proclamation. The move potentially affects hundreds of thousands of people seeking to work in the U.S. The case is Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 20-cv-04887, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. Craig J. Rugelbrugge Senior Vice President Public Policy and Government Relations 202-789-8111
Thiophanate-methyl Under Review
President’s Executive Order on Worker Visas
EPA is conducting a risk assessment of thiophanatemethyl (t-methyl), a common fungicide with labeled uses in environmental horticulture. Products labeled for use in our industries include various formulations of 3336 and others.
The State Department recently issued guidance on President Trump’s July 22 proclamation on employmentbased visas. The proclamation prohibits worker admissions on several employment-based visas, including H-2B visas, through the end of the calendar year. It provides narrow exemptions for H-2B workers that are part of the food supply chain and those that are deemed to be in the national interest. However, as of now it appears that “national interest” will be interpreted extremely narrowly.
At this time, EPA will benefit from better understanding the use of t-methyl in environmental horticulture including greenhouse and production and landscape management. T-methyl is considered the premier control product for Thielaviopsis basicola (black root rot), especially on Calibrachoa, vinca, petunia, and pansy, and is also recommended for control of other soilborne diseases, such as Fusarium and Rhizoctonia. Given its crop safety profile and unlikelihood to cause phytotoxicity problems, it is also commonly used as a rotational partner in disease programs for fungicide resistance management. https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=EPA-HQOPP-2014-0004 Comments will be accepted by EPA through August 20. The Advocacy team at AmericanHort plans to submit comments on behalf of the industry regarding t-methyl’s use and benefits. If you currently use t-methyl and wish to share your use patterns, please let us know (jillc@americanhort.org). Jill Calabro, PhD Research and Science Programs Director 202-789-0683
The new State Department guidance limits the H-2B workers in the national interest exemption to those that need to travel to the United States “based on a request from a U.S. government agency or entity to meet critical foreign policy objectives or to satisfy treaty or contractual obligations. An example of this would be supporting U.S. military base construction (e.g. associated with the National Defense Authorization Act) or IT infrastructure.” The guidance can be found at https://travel.state.gov/ content/travel/en/News/visas-news/exceptions-to-pp-10014-10052-suspending-entry-of-immigrants-nonimmigrants-presenting-risk-to-us-labor-market-duringeconomic-recovery.html. The latest Trump proclamation has drawn opposition from his own party, including most recently Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who is herself in a tough reelection battle. It has also prompted a court challenge by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (see next article). A Laurie Flanagan and Craig Regelbrugge (see contact information on page 46)
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 47
WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER? On July 3, 2020 the Red Cross informed me that I became a member of the 11 gallon club (88 pints of blood donated). While this is more than some, it is also a lot less than others. Regardless of where you are in your journey, 3 pints, 2 gallons, 20 gallons or thinking about donating for the first time. Let us know and we will be happy to publish your number while this craziness continues. If you are able, ask yourself why you have not made an appointment to give blood or platelets and then go make an appointment. It really does make a difference. And congratulations to all our fellow donors … what’s your number? Let us know and the first 3 who answer will have a gift card coming their way. Send your number to freestate@mnlga.org.
Kollar Nursery
PUBLICATION NOTICE:
Native wildflowers, ferns, perennials, shrubs and trees for restoration, wildlife, landscaping, education, aesthetics or that special project. Contract growing. Since 1985.
The deadline for submissions for the fall issue of Free State News is November 1, 2020. We welcome your company news and updates or columns with your professional insight. E-mail any submissions to Free State News at freestate@mnlga.org or mail to:
5200 West Heaps Road, Pylesville, MD 21132
www.kollarnursery.com
(410) 836-0500
Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association P.O. Box 726, Brooklandville, MD 21022
YES, I want a subscription to Free State Contact us with your request and we’ll add you to the mailing list. Subscriptions are $35 annually; MNLGA will invoice you upon receipt of your subscription request. (members need not subscribe) Name_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Business____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City, State, Zip_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ E-Mail_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mail/Fax or e-mail: Free State, MNLGA, P.O. Box 726, Brooklandville, MD 21022 or e-mail: freestate@mnlga.org 48 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
The MNLGA is constantly figuring out new ways to serve and benefit our membership. One of the ways that we do this is through our comprehensive Member Benefit Affinity Program. The following organizations below have offered exclusive discounts and packages for MNLGA members. For many of these benefits, one order will “pay-back” your annual dues!
Office Depot • Free next day shipping on orders of $50 or more • 20% - 55% off core office supply items • 5% - 10% off virtually all Office Depot Office Max Products • Average 10% off 200 technology items • Special pricing on print and copy: $.22 color; $.025 black and white; and 40% off finishing services • And More!
Service First Processing • Savings on credit card and electronic payment processing • Unique savings proposal based on your business needs • 15% of the net processing revenue that SFP generates from your account will be rebated back to you annually • Free equipment loaner program • Free online reporting Landscape Management Network • Free LMN Budgeting software license (LMN is the #1 business management software in the industry) • 5% off LMN Professional Software License • Promotional savings off QuickBooks Enterprise subscription • Educational events throughout the year
PartnerShip Discount shipping program through AmericanHort partnership Small package shipping discounts; significant carrier discounts; reduced truckload shipping; and expedited/guaranteed/tradeshow shipping services • No minimum volume requirements • •
TireBuyer.com • Save 10% on any order • In most cases—Free shipping to your home or local installer! • Over 110 warehouses in the US with over 8,500 nationwide installation partners
Plant and Supply Locator • FREE Business/Plant Listing in print and online! • One FREE banner ad with your listing • FREE subscription to Plant & Supply Locator—and you’ll have access both print and online
Farm Bureau Looking for even more discounts and savings programs? Access the Maryland Farm Bureau for additional savings and discount programs. Not a member? Consider joining! The MNLGA is a proud member of our local Farm Bureau—and you should be too! Annual membership costs $80 or less.
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 49
EDITORIAL A Wendy Brister
A Native Plant Success Story
Finding Rare Bees in Your
GARDEN Bees. Depending on the audience, people love them or hate them. To some a ”bee“ is the pesky yellow jacket lingering on your soda can. To others, a “bee” is the honey bee, a European species known for iconic hives and honey production. Children often associate “bees” with painful stingers, while some adults worry about potentially deadly allergies. To me, a “bee” is all of these “things and none of them. I keep hives for honey bees;
50 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
I get angered by the yellow buzzing things like yellow jackets (which are actually wasps); and I thoroughly enjoy watching various native bees as they visit the diverse flora in my Pennsylvania garden. The native bees are the most interesting and extremely docile. They have one job to do - collect nectar/pollen and stockpile it for their young. Watching these various bees as they collect yellow/gold pollen on their legs is what alerted me to something unusual several weeks ago—a new garden visitor hanging out on my native Heuchera americana (Coral Bells). However, this visitor was a bit different.
Squeal! What else can one say when you find a bee in your backyard that has not been documented in your state for over 100 years? Needless to say I called my family, friends, and anyone who would listen about this exciting discovery.
Slightly smaller than a honey bee and carrying bright orange pollen on her back legs, the bee keeper in me wondered, “Where is she finding orange pollen this time of year?” Typically red-orange pollen is a spring occurrence on honey bees – a sign that the henbit is in bloom. (Henbit, or Lamium amplexicaule, is a European annual that has naturalized in the United States.) This observation led me to further investigation. If you are familiar with Heuchera americana, you know that the flower is nothing exceptional, predominantly green and tiny. For many years I would cut them off because they would flop. However this year, they were standing tall, in a site with more sun exposure than normal due to a recent tree removal. I quickly ripped open one of the small green flowers to discover a surprise – bright orange pollen. The next logical step was to take this recent finding to Sam Droege with hopes of identification. Sam is a Wildlife Biologist at the USGS (continued on next page ) Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 51
(continued from previous page )
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD. Within 8 days of sharing photographs, capturing samples and shipping them to a local entomologist (Shelby Kilpatrick, a PhD Candidate at Penn State University), we had a positive ID. A rare sighting of Colletes aestivalis, a pollen specialist bee on Heuchera americana, which had not been documented in Pennsylvania in 102 years. Squeal! What else can one say when you find a bee in your backyard that has not been documented in your state for over 100 years? Needless to say I called my family, friends, and anyone who would listen about this exciting discovery. As we navigate our way through the new COVID normal, we see our clients spending more time at home in their yards. The home has become a safe haven, and many have been or will be improving their outdoor spaces. Our clients are looking for an experience and many are looking to learn. The plant selections we recommend or install are the simplest way to boost this learning experience, by attracting the common favorites like hummingbirds and butterflies, but also the less common specialist bees. Native plants and their cultivars are important, typically attracting a more generalist population of insects. However, straight species native plants are important for these specialist species. Not only are there specialist bees for Heuchera, but there are specialist bees for Zizia, Asters, Goldenrods, Sunflowers, Coreopsis, Eupatorium, and so much more! Jarrod Fowler has compiled a great resource list 52 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
of specialist bees and native hosts for the Eastern United States (see link below). These native host plants can be integrated into any garden, formal or naturalistic. (If you have never experienced native plants in a formal setting, please visit Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware.) In fact, the Heuchera americana in my garden is in a container planting by my patio. Had it not been in that location, right by my patio table, I would have missed the Colletes when they visited. There are many unknowns when it comes to specialist bees. Will they collect pollen from cultivars
of the straight species? What do their nests look like? How do they know the exact plant they need is in a certain area? Scientists cannot answer all of these questions for all of the bee species. Continued monitoring and investigation is needed, from scientists, citizen scientists, and green industry professionals. What can you do? Utilize MidAtlantic native plants in the gardens you create and watch! Many people believe that a successful wildlife garden should resemble an unmown field, however my garden is proof that a more traditional, casual garden space with pockets
hope. After all, a garden is all about hope. I have hope in the knowledge that in the coming weeks new plants will bloom bringing new insects visitors to my garden. And hope that my story will compel at least one person to view their garden in a different way. A Resources: Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab (BIML), Patuxent Wildlife Research Center https://www.usgs.gov/centers/ pwrc/science/native-bee-inventoryand-monitoring-lab?qt-science_ center_objects=0#qt-science_ center_objects The BIML Flicker page has thousands of free-to-use photographs https://www.flickr.com/photos/ usgsbiml/ An updated checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Anthophila) of Pennsylvania, USA https://jhr.pensoft.net/ article/49622/
of specific native plants can result in the finding of a rare bee! If you read through Fowler’s list of host plants, you will probably be amazed at how many of these plants you are already using. This is where educating your client comes into play. Tell them about the potential for specialist bees in their garden, share a few pictures from Sam Droege’s Flicker page (which are sure to WOW anyone), and then tell them to put their phone to good use. Have them take pictures of what they see and send the images to their local extension office, share on one of the many insect/bee identification groups on Facebook, or submit photos to BugGuide.net
or iNaturalist.org. As quickly as the Colletes aestivalis appeared in my garden, they disappeared. With the foraging portion of their life over, they retreated to their in-ground nest to lay eggs and complete their life cycle. But as a gardener and horticulture professional I have
Further reading about this checklist and Shelby Kilpatreick’s lab can be found here https://lopezuribelab. com/checklist-bees-pennsylvania/ Jarrod Fowler’s website includes a wonderful resource - “Pollen Specialist Bees of the Eastern United States” and “Host Plants for Pollen Specialist Bees of the Eastern United States” http://jarrodfowler.com/
Photos: Pages 50 and 53 © Warren Wolf
For additional resources or questions. Wendy Brister, Marketing Director, Cavano’s Perennials, Inc. Wendy@cavanos.com, Cell (717) 676-1940 Wendy Brister is the Marketing Director for Cavano’s Perennials, Inc. in Kingsville, MD. Wendy’s past endeavors include: serving as Conference Coordinator for the Native Plants in the Landscape Conference (Millersville, PA), instructor at the Community College of Baltimore County, and various positions in the design/build and nursery industries. Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 53
Searching for the right nursery containers? HC’s comprehensive line of nursery products has you covered
From branded container programs to growing containers up to 65 gallons to propagation sheets and trays. HC is your full service nursery container vendor. Free container samples available upon request.
For more information contact Jordan Bukowski, District Sales Manager
440-724-1931 | JBukowski@hc-companies.com
Approved usage of brand and/or trademarks 54 SUMMER 2020 •registrations Free State News
800-225-7712 |
Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter! hc-companies.com/newsletter
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 55
2020 MARYLAND Green Industry EVENTS CALENDAR For a full and updated calendar of events, and to find registration information and event links, please visit the MNLGA website at mnlga.org.
September
October 6, 2020
September 14, 2020
Howard County Cut Flower Tour
CPH – Basic Exam
Location: Endless Rows Farm & Larriland Farms in Woodbine, MD Contact: UMD Extension Office
Location: Montgomery College Contact: MNLGA Office, 410-823-8684 office@mnlga.org www.mnlga.org
October
November
October 6, 2020
November 5, 2020
CPH – Basic Exam
Contact: MNLGA Office, 410-823-8684 office@mnlga.org www.mnlga.org
Contact: MNLGA Office, 410-823-8684 office@mnlga.org www.mnlga.org
56 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
mnlga.org
EDUCATION FOUNDATION
Location: Michael’s Eighth Avenue Contact: MAEF Office, 410-939-9030 www.maefonline.com December 5-8, 2020
Maryland Farm Bureau Annual Convention Location: Cambridge Hyatt Contact: MFB www.mdfarmbureau.com
GET CONNECTED. STAY CONNETED. 410-823-8684
AGRICULTURAL
December
October 6, 2020
CPH – Advanced Exam
MAEF Banquet
MARYLAND
office@mnlga.org
January
January 6, 2021
MNLGA Annual Meeting
Breakfast Meeting 7:15 – 8:45 am Additional event details to be announced Contact: MNLGA Office, 410-823-8684 office@mnlga.org • www.mnlga.org January 6-8, 2021
MANTS Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show Additional event details to be announced Contact: MANTS Office, 410-296-6959 info@mants.com • www.mants.com
February
February 17-18, 2021
Chesapeake Green 2021
Location: Maritime Institute Contact: MNLGA Office, 410-823-8684 office@mnlga.org
Due to the spread of COVID-19, many industry events have been postponed. As we emerge from this challenge, adjust to a new “normal” and events are rescheduled, they will be posted on mnlga.org and announced in our e-news and Free State. Be sure to add office@mnlga.org to your safe senders and bookmark mnlga.org to track important resource updates.
6 1 2 3 4 5 6
good reasons your company should advertise in the MNLGA’s Free State News Free State News is seen by members of Maryland’s Nursery, Landscaping, Greenhouse, Garden Center and Allied Industries and is the leading publication for members of the MNLGA
Free State News enhances your ad with important industry specific content that is educational and informative. And, the digital version gives readers direct access to your website
Free State News helps promote your company and product while providing direct access to readers in Maryland’s Green Industries
Articles are contributed by highly regarded members of the industry, many of whom have a lifetime of knowledge and are frequently published
Free State News is a cost-effective way to help keep your name out in front of the membership and your potential customers
Free State News helps support the association in its endeavors on behalf of the green industry in the state of Maryland
For more information on advertising in the Free State News contact Kelly Finney at MNLGA at 410-823-8684 or e-mail office@mnlga.org
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 57
58 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
MARYLAND
MNLGA.org is YOUR Industry Resource Hub
N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I AT I O N , I N C .
COVID-19 Resource Page
MARYLAND
N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I AT I O N , I N C .
MISSION STATEMENT The purpose of the Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association is to promote the use of ornamental plants, products, and services. The association supports all constituent groups of the horticulture industry including landscape, garden centers, interiorscape, grounds maintenance, nursery, greenhouse, and arboriculture. The association communicates the role of the horticulture industry in improving people’s quality of life.
Current members’ dues suspended through March 2021
Access member benefits to save on business operations
SPECIFIC GOALS Promote professionalism through education programs for members and the public and by encouraging enrollment in educational institutions.
Business-to-consumer resources to help build customer communication
Monitor state and local laws relating to horticulture industry.
Make sure office@mnlga.org is on your safe senders list.
Participate actively in legislative and regulatory processes.
Many e-mail communications have been sent to company key contacts since March 16. If you are not receiving them, please check your spam/junk boxes.
Promote the use of environmentally sound practices in the horticulture industry. MNLGA.org
Complimentary memberships are available through mnlga.org, Use “Click here to join!” and select 2020 Comp Org.
Monitor and communicate to members developments in allied industries including agritechnology. Support donations of plant products and services to state and community programs. Support research relevant to the horticulture industry. Participate in Maryland agricultural organizations.
All of this is available at mnlga.org Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 59
I’m Certified... Are You?
“
I feel CPH certification is important for all people working in the nursery industry. It gives you recognition as a professional in your field and distinguishes you from the questionably skilled segment working in our industry.
”
Bernie Kohl, Jr. Angelica Nurseries, Inc.
Certified Professional Horticulturists (CPH) provide either “do-it-yourself” or professional landscape installation and maintenance advice. For more information contact the Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association 410-823-8684 or visit mnlga.org
You only grow the best. Why not offer your customers the best in advice, too!
Maryland Certified Professional Horticulturist Program
CHAIRS AND COMMITTEES
Education Ronda Roemmelt – Chair Angela Burke Dave Clement Hank Doong Stanton Gill Brett Karp Mary Kay Malinoski Brian Mitchell John Murphy Karen Rane Andrew Ristvey Ginny Rosenkranz Chuck Schuster Heather Zindash Nominating Mark Dougherty – Chair Richard J. Watson Finance and Planning Carrie Engel – Chair Larry Hemming John Murphy Leslie Hunter Cario Link/Shanks Scholarship Mark Dougherty – Chair MANTS Jan S. Carter Bernard E Kohl, Jr. William A. M. Verbrugge
Legislative/MaGIC James R. McWilliams– Chair Mark Schlossberg All Officers and Directors Alan Jones Bernie Kohl
ADVISORS TO OTHERS
Invasive Plant Advisory Committee Brent Cassell Leslie Hunter Cario Kelli McGaw
CPH George Mayo - Chair Steve Bell Steve Black Steve Dubik Cindy King Andrew Ristvey Martha Simon-Pindale Ginny Rosenkranz Bob Trumbule Jaime Tsambikos Jon Vander Vleit Gaye Williams
LEAD Maryland Vanessa Finney
Scholarship Bernie Kohl, Jr. – Chair Hank Doong Leslie Hunter-Cario Jessica Todd George Mayo Mary Claire Walker
Maryland Invasive Species Council (MISC) Alex Betz Brian Mitchell
Historian George Mayo – Chair
Membership Committee Rich Poulin Greg Stacho
ADVISORS TO THE BOARD
Awards - Professional Achievement, Carville M. Akehurst Michael Marshall– Co-Chair Kevin Clark - Co-Chair
Kimberly Rice MD Department of Agriculture
Dr. John Lea-Cox University of Maryland
Maryland Agriculture Commission Ray Greenstreet Maryland Farm Bureau Larry Hemming Kevin Clark Vanessa Finney MAEF George Mayo
University of Maryland – Dean’s Global Leadership Council Vanessa Finney Young Farmers Advisory Council We need your help. Contact MNLGA to volunteer for this important committee
MARYLAND
N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I AT I O N , I N C .
Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association Board of Directors Terms Expiring January 2021 Alex Betz Kurt Bluemel, Inc. 410-557-7229 Cindy King The Mill at Kingstown 410-778-1551 Brian Mitchell Manor View Farm 410-771-4700 Tyler Van Wingerden Catoctin Mountain Growers 410-775-7833
Terms Expiring January 2022 Will Peace Tideland Gardens 410-778-5787 Martha Pindale American Landscape Institute 410-688-5115 Bryan Schlosser Roseland Nurseries 410-755-6500 Jon Vander Vliet Lawn Wrangler 410-975-5125
MNLGA Contact Info: P.O. Box 726 Brooklandville, Maryland 21022 Phone: 410-823-8684 Fax: 410-296-8288
Every member of every committee listed above is an individual who volunteers their time in support for the MNLGA and it is with the utmost gratitude and appreciation that we thank you for your selfless endeavors.
E-mail: office@mnlga.org
If your name is not listed above, please consider following the example of those who are. Contact Vanessa at 410-823-8684 with your interest.
Website: mnlga.org
Free State E-mail: freestate@mnlga.org
Get Active. Stay Involved. • SUMMER 2020 61
THE MASTERPIECE OF TRADE SHOWS™
JANUARY 6 -8
Unfortunately, MANTS is unable to host an in-person BALTIMORE tradeshow at CONVENTION the Baltimore Convention Center in January 2021. There are too many CENTER unanswered questions due to COVID-19 and so we have prioritized the There are plenty of horticultural shows, but there health, safety, andtrade well-being of our exhibitors, attendees, staff, is only one MANTS. For 51 years now, it has been all allied business partners. business at MANTS. It’s the one and show where buyers know that they can find all the plants, products and services their business needs. And exhibitors count While nothing can replacecanthe interaction and comradery of an on meeting a steady stream of well-qualified current and www.mants.com new customers. in-person show, we are currently developing alternative plans P.O. Box 818 • Brooklandville, MD 21022
that includes launch of an over online platform to help exhibitors and That’s why over 12,000the attendees, representing 410-296-6959 • fax 410-296-8288 3,800 buying companies and nearly 1,000 exhibiting attendees continue to connect and do business for the remainder of companies, attended the most recent show. But when the business day is 2021, over, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor areatowards MANTS 2022 in Baltimore. this year, and as we work @mantsbaltimore #mants2021 #mantsbaltimore offers a dazzling array of attractions and restaurants. So On-line Registration is available 24/7 beginning October 1. make your plansdetails now to attend Additional willMANTS. be available in the coming weeks on mants.com. The Masterpiece of Trade Shows. 62 SUMMER 2020 • Free State News
WE’RE
GROWING FOR YOU
Foxborough Nursery, Inc. 3611 Miller Rd. / Street, MD 21154 phone 410.836.7023 / fax 410.452.5131
View Photos & Plant Information at www.foxboroughnursery.com