Photos courtesy of Hoffman Nursery, Concept Plants and Emerald Coast Growers (‘Shining Star’)
Little bluestem
The Perennial Plant Association’s 2022 Perennial Plant of the Year is Schizachyrium scoparium and cultivars. Little bluestem is a tough and dependable clumping grass that blends well with perennials such as asters, sedums, coneflowers, and other grasses. Native to a broad swath of North America, it was one of the dominant grasses of the vast tallgrass prairies. Cultivars have been selected for shorter plants, enhanced leaf colors and stronger stems.
The wider selection of not only little bluestem, but any associated cultivars, allows regional perennial experts to select and promote the cultivars that do best in their location.
Grower notes: Best in 1- to 2-gallon pots. A bit slower growing. Once established, grow on the dry side with low to moderate fertilizer rates. Overwinter on the dry side. Overwatering and too much nitrogen can cause floppy growth and increase the probability of rootzone and foliar pathogens. Has few pest issues; scout for aphids and spider mites. Some cultivars are vegetatively propagated and patent-protected, while the straight species and a few cultivars can be grown from seed.
Survival strategies
Features - 2021 // STATE OF THE INDUSTRY // Business Management
CEOs and business pros share methods that may help your business navigate through the next recession.
Nonprofit small business booster SCORE asked CEOs and business professionals to reveal their strategies to help survive recessions. From standing firm on price to looking for innovation in the market, there are several ways to help your business survive any future recessions and continue to grow your business.
Listening to customers
The pandemic was and is a time of uncertainty and panic. People didn't feel safe for obvious health reasons, but the economy also came crashing down. There was a mass feeling of panic among businesses. We run an insurance company, where our goal is to make people feel protected and safe. We never strayed from our core business and continued to support customers and make them feel safe and taken care of. Listening to our customers and putting in the extra effort to make them feel heard is what got us through the dark months of 2020. -Vicky Franko, Insura (insura4you.com)
Stick to your core values
Core values exist to help guide the decisions, actions, and behaviors of a company. They’re essential in tough situations because they can help add clarity when the answer isn’t quite clear. For example, one of our core values is “Bias for Action” which has a definition of, “When in doubt, do what you think is right.” Using that core value as a guiding principle helped us do tough things like omitting one month of invoices to support our customers or going remote forever as a company. By defining and sticking to core values during a decision-making process, companies can enjoy a business strategy that is truly unique to who they are.
When recessions hit, the best way for a business to survive is to lean into its existing client base. Target the customers you haven't heard from in a while through email marketing and other methods. Create loyalty programs such as a points card or offer seasonal discounts for popular products.
Learning when and where to pivot has been a great tool in staying positive amongst the madness. Pivoting, in essence, is the ability to make a sharp and assured move when you are at a turning point. If you want to be successful, you have to accept that not everything you think up will work; not every idea you have is actually bright. Last year felt like a year of dead ends but keeping in mind that I can always go in another direction and reach a better outcome kept me going.
At the risk of sounding harsh, we survived the economic problems of the pandemic by staying firm on our pricing. Many people asked us to give discounts due to the pandemic. We didn't know who was on the level or just trying to take advantage of an opportunity to get a discount, so we didn't discount our prices.
Throughout the pandemic, we've had an unwavering customer-first approach, and that has made all the difference. At our company, we don't just serve our customers. We serve as an extension of their team. We take pride in each customer's brand as if it's our own. Our customers come first no matter what. They know that, and because of that, they stick with us through thick and thin.
Companies have realized that they need to offer mental health benefits for their employees. Although remote work has not been linked to mental health problems, the stress of the pandemic has caused a mental health crisis in the U.S. Benefits like paid flexible hours, mental health days, and adding mental health services to company-provided healthcare plans are the benefits today’s workers need. Mentally healthy workers will be more inspired and productive than those struggling, so providing benefits as part of a business strategy for the future is a win/win for the company and the individual.
Our company took a hit during the first lockdown, and we were able to survive due to our love for innovation and our amazing team. We were able to launch products that met the moment’s needs, like hand sanitizer, while providing new diet consultations and tips to help our customers take care of their skin during stay-at-home orders. Our employees were also a big help to us, working an extra day every week and volunteering to take ESOPs in place of their salary. We are so grateful to our team for helping us get back on the growth track, stronger than ever. In future crises, we’ll aim to have a similarly innovative spirit—as innovation is one of our core tenants—and to have an equally passionate team around us. We’ve also learned how to create effective work-from-home strategies that will remain in place for some of our remote hires, and we’ve been able to benefit from an increased trust in online healthcare.
About the author: Brett Farmiloe is the Founder & CEO of Markitors, a digital marketing company that connects small businesses to customers through organic search, markitors.com.
This was used with permission by SCORE.
SCORE, a nonprofit organization, is dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground, grow and achieve their goals through education and mentorship. www.score.org
Find your pace
Departments - View Point
Like a good runner, pace yourself and exert energy at the correct times to prevent burnout.
After the last 18 months of extreme hustle, do you feel like you’re in a sprint or a marathon? What about your staff?
Make sure you are setting the proper pace for everyone at the nursery and preventing stress and exhaustion (physical and mental).
In our State of the Industry report (beginning on page 32), we liken the COVID sales frenzy to a marathon and how important it is to have stamina and celebrate the victories.
It’s a bit humorous for me to talk about running, since I am not a fan of that particular activity. In fact, if you ever see me running, you should just assume there’s something mighty fierce chasing me. Since I’m not familiar with all the details and guidelines when it comes to running, I looked up “how to find a running pace.” I had one of those 2x4 over the head moments when I read the definition.
This is from The Run Experience: “To understand your run pace, check your rate of perceived effort. The rate of perceived effort takes into account how you're feeling during the run and what actions you can take at that level of exertion without being completely out of breath.”
Whoa. That’s excellent advice for anything in our personal and business lives, right?
Did everyone go on autopilot of sorts this season? That is a classic reaction (I’m guilty of it), but when you’re finally finished with your project (or growing and shipping season, as the case may be), it’s likely you feel like death warmed over.
As we go into another season full of unknowns – more than the typical season – I think we should all find our “run pace” even if we’re not donning running shoes and wind shorts.
Check in with yourself and ask, “How do I feel at this stage?” then identify the actions you need to take so you’re not losing your “breath” (think: temper, attitude, concentration, etc.).
Next, do the same for your staff.
Perhaps this pace exercise could lead to something bigger like implementing an employee wellness program, which will help improve the health and productivity of your teams. The Society for Human Resource Management (www.shrm.org) says a wellness program lowers health care costs, reduces absenteeism, achieves higher employee productivity; reduces workers' compensation and disability-related costs, reduces injuries, and improves employee morale and loyalty.
In a nutshell, SHRM suggests a few steps to create a wellness program.
If you decide to implement this plan, or already have one, let me hear from you.
Take care of yourselves and your people. We still need you!
Resetting your mindset
Departments - Tip Jar
Learn why it’s necessary to adjust your train of thought to enjoy more enriching professional relationships. Five ways to gain the positive attitude you need for success.
Have you ever noticed how you can have a really pleasant, enjoyable conversation with a person one day, and then the next day get into a really intense, highly emotional, negative conversation with the person the next day?
How is that possible? The same two people are talking. How can it go from very pleasant one time to very unpleasant the next time?
The key is what is happening below the surface. If it was just the surface of the water both times, then you would expect to have the same interaction. However, it’s what is happening below that impacts the interaction. If you are bringing exhaustion, stress, frustration, anger, worry, or fear about something into an interaction with another person, then eventually it’s going to make its way to the surface. And when it does the conversation can turn ugly even without you wanting it to.
Or you might be bringing negative judgments or unrealistic expectations of the other person into the conversation, and then those will impact the interaction.
It’s not necessarily anything the other person is saying or doing that caused the conversation to get so ugly. It could very well be what is happening inside of you.
Dr. Barbara Frederickson wrote a tremendous book called, Positivity: Discover the Upward Spiral that Will Change Your Life. I really encourage you to read at least Chapters 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, and 11. She provides a wide array of practical ways to reset your mindset to a positive attitude. Here are five of my favorite insights:
Let go of gratuitous negativity and stop ruminating
I think this is a home run of an idea. I never thought of being negative as being gratuitous, but as soon as I read that it hit home with me. Sometimes I can hang on to a negative thought about a situation or another person like I was savoring a fine meal. I bring it back up to a level of conscious awareness several times a week. Dr. Frederickson showed me how incredibly unhealthy that is for any of us to do. The key is to stop ruminating. Ruminating is when we go over and over our negative thoughts and feelings and bring them to a fever pitch. Now when I’m about ready to experience gratuitous negativity, I say to myself, “Stop ruminating.” That one tip alone has allowed me to step into conversations with a much healthier mindset.
Create a mental list
If you get emotionally worked up, step back and just focus on the things you appreciate about the person. If you can zero in on three things the person does you are grateful for, then you can increase your chances of having a good conversation.
This was another one where Dr. Frederickson caught me off guard. Usually, I’ve heard people talk about avoiding self-pride, but she made a great case for actively being proud of our past. Too often we beat ourselves up over the 1 percent of our life’s decisions and behaviors that we are not proud of rather than cherishing the person we were when we made 99% of our decisions and actions. If we beat ourselves up, then we might very well emotionally beat up the other person in a conversation without even realizing it. If we look back at our lives and cherish the person we were at that time, then perhaps we will be more likely to cherish the person we are talking with now.
Smile and have a light touch
Think of a great conversation you had with another person. My hunch is you both probably smiled a lot and treated each other with respect. There might have been some good-natured kidding and some genuine laughter. Both people walked away from the conversation feeling good about themselves. Notice I didn’t even mention the content of the conversation, but rather only described the interaction: smiling, laughter, a nice tone and pace. No judgments, no expectations, no heavy negative emotions.
Spend time in nature
Nature brings its own vocabulary and emotions to the table. Going for a walk on a pleasant day is a simple but powerful way to allow our negative emotions to dissipate. We can then walk into conversations with a degree of calmness that we won’t have if we’ve worked ourselves to a state of exhaustion and have been ruminating for several hours.
Dan Coughlin provides both individual executive coaching and group coaching programs on management, leadership, and teamwork. visit his Free Business Performance Idea Center at thecoughlincompany.com.
Asian longhorned beetle
Departments - Under the Microscope
USDA scientists are evaluating a wasp's ability to detect and attack the Asian longhorned beetle.
The Asian longhorned beetle is a threat to America’s hardwood trees. With no current cure for infested trees, early identification and eradication are critical to prevent the loss of more trees.
August is the most critical time of year to spot ALB as adult activity peaks. That’s why the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) declared August as “Tree Check Month” for this invasive pest. Checking trees for the beetle and the damage it causes is how everyone can help USDA and its partners eliminate the beetle from the U.S. and protect more trees. USDA and its partners are working to eradicate the tree-killing beetle in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and South Carolina. However, residents in all states should keep an eye out for any new incursions.
ALB is an invasive wood-boring beetle that attacks 12 types of hardwood trees in North America, such as maples, elms, buckeyes, birches, and willows. Infested trees do not recover and eventually die. Infested trees also become safety hazards since branches can drop and trees can fall over, especially during storms. In its larval stage, the insect feeds inside tree trunks and branches, creating tunnels as it feeds, then adults chew their way out in the warmer months, leaving about ¾-inch round exit holes.
Source: USDA-APHIS
Native stingless wasp may benefit ALB eradication efforts
For 25 years, the USDA-APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine program's Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) eradication program has successfully battled back against the pest to significantly reduce its footprint. PPQ experts have established a solid response plan to eliminate the ALB and prevent its spread to other locations. As part of PPQ’s ongoing efforts, scientists are evaluating a biological control (biocontrol) agent—Ontsira mellipes—for its potential to attack and kill ALB larvae.
This stingless parasitoid wasp is native to North America, abundant, and widely distributed across the continent. Ontsira mellipes attacks larvae of native woodboring cerambycids (longhorned wood-boring beetles) and the ALB—a non-native cerambycid—in laboratory tests. For this reason, scientists are hopeful that the wasp can aid ALB eradication efforts. To prove it, they have teed up biocontrol field studies in the ALB quarantine area in Worcester, Massachusetts.
PPQ’s Science and Technology researchers Juli Gould, Carrie Crook, Mandy Furtado, and Theresa Murphy are working with colleagues from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and PPQ’s ALB response team to evaluate Ontsira mellipes as an effective biological control agent. They will conduct their 18-week study off the beaten path on conservation property in woodlots where public usage is limited, and ALB quarantine regulations are in place.
