The Buckeye - January/February 2023

GENEVIEVE REINER MILLS

Oakland Nursery, Inc.

2023 OGIA President geneviever@oaklandnursery.com

Happy 2023 to our returning and new members! My name is Genevieve Reiner Mills and I am honored to represent the membership of the Ohio Green Industry Association as your board president. I am a thirdgeneration family operator at Oakland Nurseries, and among other things, I currently run our interior plant design department. As a kid and young adult, I grew up working in the family business, and like many others, I left to pursue a different career. But also like many others, I came back and discovered that I love this profession. I have now been working full-time for Oakland for ten years and have had the opportunity to touch many aspects of this industry.

What I have found most striking in these last ten years is how lucky we are to be doing this. As you’ll probably hear me say many times over the next year, our job as green industry professionals is, put simply, to make our world more beautiful. What career could be better than working with nature to enrich our environments? What is even more amazing is that we are in a profession whose products and services are widely valued and appreciated. (See: the ever-increasing prevalence of home gardeners, plant parents & plant nerds, Biophilic design concepts, urban renewal/green space development, and outdoor living spaces.) We have the daily opportunity to share our passion with our clients and customers, as well as with a rising generation of young people who are looking for career paths that directly contribute to improving our communities. We have the opportunity to show these future employees, their teachers, and their parents that this is a valued and valuable profession with long-term career prospects across a diverse array of specialties.

As of 2019, Ohio was the 8th largest producer of horticulture plants in the nation and our horticulture sales were worth $469 million dollars. We are not a small industry, and we contribute significantly to the workforce and economy of our state. To that end, our goals this year are to continue to develop the professionalism of our industry through building a strong membership and growing education opportunities to train our workforce. By developing a workforce that is knowledgeable and skilled, we can ensure a pipeline of talented employees providing excellent service and products to an ever more educated and critical consumer.

The team at the OGIA has a great year planned for us, and I encourage each of you to find a way to get involved or attend an event. We will start the year with a winter webinar series that will provide excellent general training but also OCNT certification hours. (Just a few topics: Spanish Communications & Culture, Effective Communication with Employees, and something I’d like to learn more about, Using TikTok as a marketing tool). In early Spring, be on the lookout for our in-person “Spring Start up” sessions that we’ll hold in a few locations around Ohio—these will be great introductory safety and equipment training for our field teams.

The theme of the January/February issue is Plant Care— without a doubt one of the most important and challenging aspects of our chosen profession. I would argue that we expand that theme to include other concepts of care: care for our employees and their opportunities for growth, care for our businesses in building sustainable, successful operations, and care for our industry, in demonstrating the value it has to our communities and environment.

I challenge each of you to share your ideas about how the OGIA can best serve you and help to equip your companies and your people in the future. Pick an event a quarter to attend or, if you are able, sponsor an event financially. Join our advisory board (we only meet two times a year!), and invite other non-members into the discussion. I can personally attest to how rewarding it is to be able to build meaningful relationships with my peers in this industry—and that only comes if we engage with one another.

We are lucky that our bones are made of strong personal relationships, rich histories, and deep knowledge. Add to that the creative and technological opportunities and progressive ideas of this next generation, and we can create an industry that can quite literally change the world. 2023 can be a year in which we continue to grow not our businesses, but also our association. While a relative “newbie” to the green industry, I’ve been in this profession long enough to see that we are a passionate, strongly opinionated bunch. Let’s channel that passion and energy into growing a strong, bright future for ourselves and our businesses.

Thank you so much, I look forward to a wonderful year.

TRACY SCHIEFFERLE OGIA Executive Director tracy@ogia.org

When we talk about business and the bottom line, what immediately comes to mind?

Most of us probably think about money or profit, or the final total of an account or balance sheet.

Merriam-Webster acknowledges that definition, but adds another:

The bottom line, it says, means “the primary or most important consideration.”

In today’s world, the primary or most important consideration has come to mean a lot of things other than money or profit.

In August 2019, 136 U.S. public company executives, many of them titans in American business, signed a document titled “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation,” in which the executives wrote, “While each of our individual companies serves its own corporate purpose, we share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders.”

They created four “value pillars” that can strengthen a company in the long term: financial value (think costs and capital allocation); customer value (think brand and trust); people value (think about workers’ loyalty, health, and engagement); and societal value (think how a company affects a community, the planet’s resources, or human rights).

That commitment, written and agreed to by members of the Business Roundtable, included: delivering value to customers, compensating workers “fairly” and “providing important benefits,” and training employees with new skills “for a rapidly changing world.” The executives committed to using “sustainable practices” to protect the environment and to “foster diversity and inclusion, dignity and respect.”

The COVID era has left many businesses realizing that they needed to break from the traditional financial metrics to comprehend opportunities and risks. As a result, many have adapted to the decade-long rise of nontraditional ‘soft’ ways of evaluating performance.

What might this look like?

It could mean evaluating workers’ anonymous opinions about their company/managers, taking those opinions to heart, and doing something if those assessments are less than glowing. Or it could mean taking employee burnout and turnover far more seriously. It could mean viewing your company through the eyes of a customer or client from initial contact to end. How did they find you? What was easy, challenging? How was their interaction? Was there assistance easily provided? Think steps between not just the end result. Are they still happy with your product a year later? Is your company contributing to a community

need or charitable cause? How are your environmental efforts?

What will drive or destroy value for a business in this next era? And how can the business be aligned around a wider “four-pillar” agenda?” Of course, one must keep an eye on the budget. Running a lean and profitable core is vital to driving investments within the business. But with a shift in values can we expect companies that focus on a broader set of stakeholders will perform better—in the short, medium, and long term—and will be rewarded in the marketplace, with better employee and customer engagement, and, in the long run, growth and value.

As we begin a new year, for most of us, it makes us think of goals and resolutions both for us personally and professionally. While OGIA may not be able to help you with that goal of shedding those persistent extra 10 pounds, we do exist to help you professionally. That has been our main purpose since 1908 – to serve our stakeholders and represent our profession to the community at large.

OGIA has certainly evolved in the past 100+ years and will continue to do so. We thank YOU, or stakeholders, for supporting OGIA’s growth and transformations over the years to better serve you, your company, and the profession at large.

As you look to the start of 2023, please look to OGIA to help you with your “four-pillar” commitment. OGIA offers multiple educational opportunities and communications throughout the year to keep you and your employees on top of the latest trends, tips, and techniques. We offer opportunities to promote your business and benefits that help your business. We offer industry certification to demonstrate your value in ongoing education and to a professional standard. We offer networking and a voice for the industry. How much of OGIA are you taking advantage of?

As always, we value your membership and support. Our hope for the new year is that you engage with us so that together we can maximize potential in the profession – which is, after all, the primary or most important consideration. Our bottom line.

ARBOR DOCTOR LLC

BY ALANA SETTLE

Arbor Doctor LLC is a full-service tree and shrub care company based in Cincinnati, specializing in plant health care and tree preservation.

Ronald Rothhaas, an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, founded the company in 2005. He is the company’s principal owner and manager and does consultations, tree risk assessment, and tree and plant appraisal, having passed the exams for ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ) and ASCA Tree and Plant Appraisal Qualification (TPAQ). After 17 years, the company remains fairly small with five employees, but has seen steady growth.

OGIA: Why did you start Arbor Doctor?

Ron: In the early 2000s, I was employed in the green industry. People had encouraged me to start my own business but I was, honestly, too scared. My wife and I were pursuing adoption and I realized I wasn’t making a whole lot of money and we needed some direction in our financial life. I had recently passed the ISA Certified Arborist exam and was planning to supplement my income with some consulting. We began a very specific prayer that God would give us direction.

A few weeks later my boss informed me that he wouldn’t have a place for me the next season. It seemed like a disaster with the adoption underway but a man in my church suggested I start my own business and introduced me to a CPA named Terry Grear who sat down with me, helped me to understand what it is to be a Christian in the business world, helped me to set up my LLC, and donated a financial projection for the fledgling business to help us keep the adoption going. The LLC was formed in February 2005 and in July 2005 my wife and I were in China, five months after starting the business, to receive our daughter. Truly an answer to prayer.

OGIA: You are very involved in the industry, outside of running your business. Tell me a little bit about why you love working with plants.

Ron: Unlike many in this industry, it is not inherited. My father was a professional jazz musician and my mother worked for the public schools. The only horticulture I can find in my family tree is that my great-grandfather had a large garden. I remember getting excited by

Arbor Day in elementary school and planting the silver maple and Austrian pine seedlings I got at school (yes, that is what we got in the early 70s!). I tended the family vegetable garden and was always excited when we could harvest produce I had grown.

My parents and grandparents were in a hiking club, and they took me out to hike every Sunday afternoon, including many parks, Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, Krohn Conservatory, and Kentucky’s Red River Gorge. I remember being fascinated by all the trees and plants. It just touched something inside me.

When I was in 10th grade, the Westwood Civic Association formed a tree board to work with the city of Cincinnati as it sought to establish an urban forestry program. I showed up to the inaugural meeting and spent my high school years attending tree board meetings, planting trees in parks and along boulevards, advocating for the urban forestry program, and helping with street tree plantings. I became chairman of the Westwood Civic Association Parks and Recreation Committee. We planted a number of trees in parks and there are today 50-foottall bald cypress trees, as well as oaks, maples, honeylocusts, zelkovas, and Ruby Red horse chestnuts that I planted during that time.

OGIA: How do you set your company apart from your competition? What are you most proud of?

Ron: I remember a speaker at the short course years ago saying you need to figure out who you are and who you want to be. Don’t try to compete with K-mart (yes, that was the example) on price because you can’t. Compete on experience and expertise. I love to learn, so I took that to heart!

I stopped doing free estimates and consultations a long time ago. I charge for my expertise, and I have raised my prices several times as my expertise has increased. It saddens me how many people in our industry give away free advice. Obviously, that is how it is done in a retail garden center—nothing wrong with that. But if I, as an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, am going to visit your property and spend two hours with you and follow up with a written summary, I am going to charge for that. I have a lot of happy clients who have gladly paid for my expertise. It’s not cheap to become

Photo: Left - Ron Wilson, Natorp’s Right - Ron Rothhaas, Arbor Doctor LLC

educated and it should not be cheap to benefit from that expertise.

OGIA: What’s your company culture like?

I encourage personal growth and learning. My best hires have been people who love what we do but don’t have much, if any, knowledge or experience when they begin working. We have had success bringing people in who have enthusiasm and teaching them what they need to know. I encourage and pay for training sessions.

OGIA: Regarding day-to-day operations, anything you’re proud of that you’d like to share?

Ron: Our biggest and most recent change was hiring a Director of Operations, Camille Rechel, with extensive knowledge of business and industrial processes. I read a book called The EOS Life by Gino Wickman and a big takeaway was the importance of knowing what you love and don’t love, and what you are good and not good at. The book made the point that when you spend your time in areas where you lack expertise, you are not only spinning your wheels and being inefficient, but you are also robbing time from the areas of the business where you can contribute the most. Interestingly, my list and Camille’s are amazingly complimentary. The areas in which I excel are the areas where she has little interest and vice versa.

Our marketing strategy is very simple, it’s mostly word of mouth and people know the experience and expertise I bring to the table. Virtually all our growth comes from referrals from other industry professionals, including Natorp’s Ron Wilson, White Oak Gardens’ Jeff Webbler, and many others.

I am blessed to have developed a friendship with Ron Wilson over the years. Ron hosts the radio show In The Garden with Ron Wilson and I am a frequent guest. I get a lot of referrals from the show, but I would do it even if I got nothing out of it. It’s that much fun and I am so thankful to Ron for inviting me to join him so often.

OGIA: Any “fails” you’d be willing to share?

Ron: Yes, wasting time over many years trying to do tasks that were way outside my wheelhouse.

The business has suffered for that.

OGIA: Where do you see the industry heading? Any trends you’re watching?

Ron: That’s a difficult question. In arboriculture, I see the tension between low-quality/low price and those who do things right. As a whole, I see too much low-quality work. Trees planted incorrectly, e.g. too deep, mulched incorrectly, etc. Ultimately, I think companies that pay attention to high quality standards are going to win.

It is also obvious the interest in native plants and pollinators is growing. We avoided beeattracting plants like the plague 35 years ago because we didn’t want anyone to get stung; now we do everything to attract them. I love both native and non-native plants. They all have a place as long as they are not invasive. Aesthetics and functionality.

In arboriculture, correct practices and expertise are critical. Most ISA Certified Arborists I know care about doing things right. There are a lot of uninsured, low-price hackers out there and we need to continue to educate our clients as to why our prices are higher and how you get what you pay for.

OGIA: Any advice you’d like to share for industry business owners who are just getting started?

Ron: Hang out with people who are smarter than you and learn from them. Find a mentor. Ask questions. The Senior Corp of Retired Executives has a mentorship program for new business owners just starting out (score.org/ find-mentor ). Figure out what you are good at and what you are not. I am terrible at taxes. I hired a CPA before I had my LLC. My SCORE mentor told me word of mouth would be the way I would find most of my leads and he was 100% right.

People like Ron Wilson, Ohio State Extension’s Joe Boggs, Nurseryman Bill Lagergren, ISA Board Certified Arborists Guy Meilleur, Dave Leonard, John Palmer and Mark Webber, the late Brad Bonham, Steve Foltz and Scott Beuerlein from the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Kris Stone from Boone County Arboretum, Brian Heinz from Spring Grove Cemetery and

Arboretum, Organic Air’s Bernie Carr, and Busy Bee Tree Service’s Mark Hoenigman are just some of the many people I have learned from over the years.

Learn more about Ron and Arbor Doctor LLC at arbordoctor.com.

TONY SEEGERS

1803 Consulting, LLC tony@1803consulting.com

he 134th General Assembly closed session with a lame duck all-nighter that saw the House and Senate go until 6:45 in the morning before adjourning sine die. Much of the time was the chambers waiting for the other one to finish bills so they could be taken up and sent back. In the midst of the lame duck session fun, OhioPLANT (Coalition of Pesticide, Landscape, Agriculture, Nursery, and Turf professionals) saw a legislative victory that will preempt local governments from banning or regulating pesticides for use on private property or private property open to the public (think golf courses).

OhioPLANT, who’s membership includes OGIA, was informed by a member that an out of state environmental group called “Beyond Pesticide” was operating in a suburb of Columbus. Among the group’s radical goals is the elimination of pesticide use through local government ordinances. They also advocate for the prohibition of commercial fertilizer, but that is a discussion for another day. Organizations like Beyond Pesticide have a common tactic of going to city councils and advocating for the passages of ordinances to carry out their agendas, creating a patchwork of laws that can change from municipality to municipality as one drives through the state. It is a method that has led to cities passing bans on items like plastic bags and even eliminating the use of natural gas in new construction. One of the most egregious examples of out of state groups pushing bad policy through local governments was the passage of the Lake Erie Bill of Rights in Toledo a few years ago. However, that too is a story for another time.

Typically, this hodgepodge of local bans result in the General Assembly passing a bill to preempt local governments from enacting such ordinances. In the case of Beyond Pesticide, that organization has on its website model ordinances for cities to adopt that prohibit the local government from using pesticides on that city’s own property, such as metro parks, in city buildings and their grounds. While this is concerning, it is the second model ordinance that prohibits pesticide use on municipal property AND private property (with exceptions so narrow and subjective that it is a de facto ban for private pesticide use) that worried OhioPLANT members.

Because “pesticide” in Ohio law covers both pest control and herbicides, such a ban on private use would be detrimental to agriculture, nurseries, landscape, lawn care, and golf industries. One could no longer effectively treat for weeds and insects. It would also be a health and safety issue as disease carrying insects and pests could not effectually be eliminated from homes, apartments, businesses, etc. To head off any potential issues with cities enacting bans for private use of pesticide, OhioPLANT drafted language that reads as follows:

No political subdivision shall regulate or ban the packaging, registration, labeling, sale, storage, distribution, use, or application of a pesticide registered under section 921.02 of the Revised Code on private property, including private property that is open to the public. As used in this section, “political subdivision” has the same meaning as in section 905.503 of the Revised Code.

OhioPLANT worked with Representative Kyle Koehler (R-Springfield) over the summer to amend the preemption language into his House Bill 507, which revised the number of poultry chicks that could be sold in lots, that was passed the House and was in the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. Rep. Koehler was great to work with and was supportive of the efforts. Senator Bob Peterson (R- Washington Courthouse) carried the amendment in the Senate committee, where it was amended into the bill and voted out of committee on December 6. The full Senate then passed the bill the following day and the changes were agreed to by the House and HB 507 was sent to Governor DeWine where, at the time of this writing, it awaits his signature.

While it might not seem like a big deal to any not in industries like nursery, landscape, lawncare, pest control, golf course maintenance and ownership, or agriculture, this was an important victory for these industries as we joined the current number of 44 states that have some form of preemption for pesticide sales and use. It also demonstrates how significant organizations such as OGIA and OhioPLANT are for their member industries.

Plant Health Radar

Common plant diseases, pests, and problems you should be on the lookout for in 2023

BY ALANA SETTLE

The more eyes the better when it comes to scouting for plant health care problems. Simple identification of common pests, diseases, and abiotic disorders is something new crew members can be taught to do from the first day on the job.

OGIA’s Plant Health Care Newsletter author Ron Rothhaas has shared his list of five common pests and diseases that he’s seeing out in the field and views as the most problematic. We’ve included a brief overview of characteristics and symptoms. Consider this an introduction to identifying these pests and diseases—an entire article and more could be written for each.

Needle Cast

Caused by the fungal infection Rhizosphaera kalkhoffii, needle cast typically affects stressed trees due to drought, poor planting location, or other factors. Colorado blue spruce trees are highly susceptible. White spruce and Norway spruce can also be vulnerable when grown in stressful conditions.

Symptoms are noticeable in the spring and early summer. Needles will turn brown and fall off the tree, spreading from the bottom up and inside out.

You can use a hand lens to look closely at the needles for signs of needle cast. Tiny black bumps, spore-producing structures, will appear in rows along infected needles. Lab analysis can distinguish needle cast from other diseases of spruce trees.

Prolonged moisture and humidity can make plants more prone to needle cast. Don’t overcrowd plants and maintain good air circulation. Experts also advise watering susceptible plants by hand or with drip irrigation to avoid getting the needles wet. Fungicides can be effective after proper identification is obtained.

Scale

Scale is a common landscape pest that can be difficult to detect. There are around 8,000 species of scale, which are categorized into two groups—soft scales and armored scales. Both feed off a plant by attaching themselves to branches or leaves and sucking fluids out of the plant with a straw-like mouth.

Symptoms of a scale infestation include foliage dropping prematurely, less flower production, and twig or brand dieback.

The presence of some soft scales, like the common magnolia scale, may go unnoticed until they begin producing large amounts of honeydew. This sticky, sugary substance accumulates on plants and attracts other insects like ants, wasps, bees, and flies. Black sooty mold often grows on the honeydew as well.

Armored scales have a hard, protective cover and are generally smaller than soft scales. They are not as easy to detect as soft scales and do not produce honeydew. Japanese maple scale is a particularly damaging and difficult to diagnose armored scale.

Learning about the life cycle of these insects can help you proper identify them and time effective treatment, especially when choosing amongst horticulture oils, and standard or systemic insecticides.

Photo via OSU Buckeye Yard & Garden Online, https://bygl.osu.edu/

Photo via OSU Buckeye Yard & Garden Online, https://bygl.osu.edu/

Bagworm

Brown spots on needles, missing needles, and dead branches could be a sign of a bagworm infestation. Once you know what to look for, bagworms can be easily identified. The caterpillars create spindle-shaped bags out of silk and bits of foliage to protect themselves as they feed and grow and to overwinter their eggs. These bags hang off the branches of the tree, however, they can look so much like a part of the tree that they may go unnoticed until more severe damage has occurred.

Arborvitae and red cedar are commonly affected, but bagworms can infest many other types of conifers and even some deciduous trees.

Hand-picking the bags off plants in fall, winter, or early spring before eggs hatch can be an effective control option if numbers are limited. Larger infestations require properly timed pesticides.

attack a specific tree or shrub. Proper identification is key to effective treatment. Clearwing borers will leave cracks in the bark, filled with sawdust-like frass, and oozing sap or gum may be present in some plant species. Common clearwing borers include the dogwood borer, lilac borer, peachtree borer (attacking peach, plum, cherry, and other Prunus species), and rhododendron borer, among others.

Flathead borers can be identified by the D-shaped holes they leave in trees as they emerge in the spring and summer. They also create winding tunnels underneath the bark, that can sometimes be visible as ridges or cankers in the tree’s limbs and trunk. Common flathead borers include the bronze birch borer, the infamous emerald ash borer, and the flathead appletree borer, a severe pest of small, stressed and newly planted landscape trees like crab apples, hawthorns, and maples.

Borers

Wood-boring insects, most of which are the larvae of moths and beetles, tunnel and feed under a tree’s bark and can be extremely destructive. Many different species attack trees and woody ornamentals; recently planted trees and those under stress are most susceptible.

Symptoms include thinning and dieback beginning in the top third of the tree. Damage to the tree’s tissues can also lead to girdling and structural weakness.

There are two types of borers—clearwing and flathead—and most species

Abiotic Disorders

The “absolutely number one” issue that Ron sees in his work as a plant health care professional is an abiotic disorder brought on by poor installation practices and poor care and maintenance techniques.

“Abiotic” means that the symptoms are not caused by an insect or pathogen but rather by a nonliving factor, such as weather, nutrient deficiencies, chemical or mechanical injury, and poor cultural practices. The frequency and impact of abiotic disorders affecting landscape and nursery plants far outweigh any pest or disease.

Most abiotic disorders usually affect a large portion of a tree or shrub. Wilting, yellowing, premature fall color, slow growth, and branch death are a few common symptoms. Abiotic disorders can predispose plants to insect infestation and disease as well. For example, mower damage at the base of a tree provides an entry point for a fungal disease.

When it comes to abiotic disorders, in most cases, prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Learn More

There is certainly not a lack of reliable information available to those interested in increasing their knowledge. University extension programs provide a vast amount of education, including in-depth articles on pests, diseases, and abiotic disorders on their websites. The BYGL site managed by OSU’s Extension, Nursery, Landscape, and Turf team provides timely updates and is a great first stop when searching for information. Ron has shared several resources on his company’s website, arbordoctor.com, as well.

Photo via OSU Buckeye Yard & Garden Online, https://bygl.osu.edu/

Photo - Adult dogwood twig borers Jim Baker, North Carolina State University, Bugwood.org.

Photo via Perdue University Landscape Report, https://www.purduelandscapereport.org/

Gabrielle Fernandez is the 2022 OGIA President’s Scholarship recipient. She is attending Cuyahoga Community College and working towards a degree in Applied Plant Science and Landscaping Technology We recently caught up with Gabby on the occasion of her award.

OGIA: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Gabby: I was born and raised around Cleveland’s east side, mostly in Bedford, and I live in Coventry now. Unlike probably many people in the green industry, I spend most of my childhood playing video and tabletop games. My favorite memories were playing Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering with my uncle. I still play D&D!

OGIA: What got you interested in pursuing a career in the green industry? What specific area are you hoping to work in and why?

Gabby: I actually wasn’t interested in the green industry until pretty recently. I considered myself a brown thumb and wasn’t very outdoorsy, but after I graduated high school, I picked up some house plants mostly to occupy my time and realized how therapeutic plants are. Once the pandemic hit a few years later working in retail really started to wear on me, so I looked into horticulture programs without much of an idea of what to look for and stumbled on Tri-C’s program. I had no idea what a great program it was until I started! I’m still pretty open to specific career paths but I know I want to work in urban neighborhoods that don’t get enough attention from the industry, and I’m really interested in landscape design and urban agriculture.

OGIA: Have you had any mentors along the way that have inspired you to keep going?

Gabby: Honestly all the faculty in Tri-Cs program have been incredible. I was pretty intimidated going in because I was very much new to the green industry world, but there has never been a time when I felt like I didn’t belong. Specifically, Lori Zatroch and Jim Funai have been so helpful during my time at Tri-C and really made me feel comfortable pushing myself more than I ever thought I would.

OGIA: How do you express yourself creatively?

Gabby: Art is my primary interest outside of horticulture. I’ve been drawing my entire life and still make and sell my art in the Cleveland area. I primarily do alcohol ink

illustrations and block printing. I specifically like doing urban sketching and surrealism!

OGIA: Do you have any fun hobbies?

Gabby: Besides my art and horticulture I play video games and board games and roller skate!

OGIA: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Gabby: In 10 years I hope to travel a bit. I love food and plants and I think the best way to experience both would be to travel. I’m pretty open to most career options but I definitely want my work to contribute to the community I live in. An ideal job would be at a botanical garden or designing/maintaining public green spaces or edible landscapes for private residences.

OGIA: What would you say to someone who is thinking about a going for career as a green professional?

Gabby: Whenever I hear people express interest in the horticulture field, especially if they’d be a minority in the field, I really push how many different jobs you could pursue. I think most people don’t realize how huge and important the industry is. You can work pretty much anywhere in the world and do anything from hands-on labor to lab work or research to design. Especially now that people are trying to be more conscious of our climate and environment, the industry is in pretty dire need of some fresh faces and fresh perspectives.

OGIA: What type of mark do you hope to leave on the world?

Gabby: My biggest mission in most of my endeavors is improving accessibility. A large part of why I didn’t grow up very outdoorsy is that my family spent most of our lives in rented homes with small yards and didn’t always have the resources to maintain a beautiful yard or go on camping trips or anything similar. My access to the outdoors was pretty much limited to what was within walking distance in my neighborhood, and although those public green spaces were pretty few and far in between, places like Viaduct Park where I grew up in Bedford were my favorite places to hang out. I think people have this idea that in order to have a connection to nature you have to live in the countryside or be a crunchy hippie who owns a camper, but my ultimate goal is to make greenery an integral part of every neighborhood.

Landscape

AWARD WINNERS

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BEST SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT

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PUBLIC WORKS/SPORTS, PARKS & ATHLETIC FACILITY MAINTENANCE

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Merit Award: Landscapes by Terra, Inc. | Rustic Pool Retreat

Award: Lifestyle Landscaping, Inc. | Hippler Residence

Award: Goldenscapes LLC | Manzaurum Project

Award: Oakland Nursery | Welcome to the Congo

Award: M.J. Design Associates, Inc. | Industrial Parkway Association Roundabout

Award: Lifestyle Landscaping, Inc. | The O’Brien Residence

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WINTER WEBINAR SERIES

OGIA has expanded its benefits to members by developing new webinar-based learning opportunities for 2023. These webinars provide educational and informational opportunities to our valued OGIA membership. Educational webinars offer OCNT certification credit.

SCHEDULE (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

January 24

January 26

January 31

February 1 February 2 February 7 February 8 February 9 February 14 February 14 February 16 February 23

Febraury 28

March 1 March 2

HR Hot Topics for 2023

Year in the Plant Health Care Newsletter

Spanish Communications and Culture - Landscape

Spanish Communications and Culture - Operations

Legislative Update

Human Resources - Effective Communication

OSHA Update

TikTok in 2023

H2A/H2B Assistance

What’s the Health of Your Balance Sheet

Trees, Trees & More Trees!

Climate Update

Harassment Awareness and Prevention for Supervisors

Sanitation in the Landscape, Nursery, or Greenhouse

Content Planning for your Target Market

For a full list of scheduled webinars and descriptions, visit ogia.org/professionaldevelopment. Sponsor opportunities are available! Visit ogia.org/advertising to see all packages.

HUMAN RESOURCES CORNER

BOB BETHEL VP of HR & Learning Services

The Employers’ Association

your HR Needs

Last year The Employers’ Association (EA) started a partnership with the Ohio Green Industry Association (OGIA) to provide human resource related services to the membership of the OGIA. The EA is an organization located in Northwest Ohio that has been providing HR services to its member companies since 1950 and, through this partnership, we can provide many of those services to members of the OGIA. Most of these services are included as part of your membership in the OGIA. The EA is staffed by experienced HR professionals that can meet your HR needs quickly and thoroughly.

Included in those services is access to our HR Hotline, which can be used to ask questions about HR best practices, sample policies, employee disciplinary issues, compensation, benefits, job descriptions, incentives, recordkeeping requirements, performance appraisals, and any other HR issues with which you are faced on a daily basis. We know that many members of the OGIA may not have a person dedicated to handling HR challenges, but those duties are often delegated to an accountant, an office manager, an operations manager, or even an owner. Even if you have an HR professional on staff, you will have a ready resource that you can call during the hours of 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. that will provide an answer right away and always within 24 hours.

The EA will also provide three HR related webinars per year to OGIA members. This year the scheduled webinars will include “HR Hot Topics for 2023” on January 24; Effective Communication on February 7; and “Harassment Awareness and Prevention for Supervisors” on February 28. Should you want or need to provide training to a group of your supervisors, we can arrange to provide that training at a reasonable cost to you.

The EA also provides a monthly newsletter to members of the OGIA that includes the latest updates on employment law, safety, training, and leadership development. In addition, we provide HR Hot Topic emails with the latest employment law or other HR hot topic updates.

Do you need updated copies of employment law posters at your facility? You can order those posters and enroll in an update service that ensures that you will always have the most up to date posters.

Is your handbook outdated? The EA provides a handbook template suitable for customizing by OGIA members. Updating or drafting a complete handbook for members is available at an extra cost.

To access these services, you can call the EA at (419) 893-3000 or submit a question through the following link: https://theea.org/hr-answers-support/hr-hotlinequestion Just identify yourself as a member of the OGIA when calling or submitting a question or request. For more information about the EA, visit our website at https://theea.org.

We help you do your job even better. We empower excellence. You are constantly busy and expected to know everything. When you need help answering the tough questions or tackling time-consuming projects, The Employers’ Association has you covered. Our experts in Human Resource Solutions and Professional Training can meet your needs today. We look forward to partnering with you.

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