Q: How serious is rose rosette to the rose market?

A: The rose industry is worth about $750 million. We estimate conservatively that we lose about 15 percent of that figure each year to rose rosette. Some areas of the country are hit harder than the others.

Q: What areas are hit the hardest?

A: The areas that are hit the hardest are the southern Midwest and the mid-south, which stretches from Texas and Oklahoma, all the way to the East Coast.

Q: Why do you think these areas are hit the hardest?

A: Oh, we would love to know that.

Q: What are some of the new developments in understanding this disease?

A: There’s several things. From a short-term approach, we now have the best management plans for landscapers, rosariums and rosarians that involve early detection and removal of plants. We’ve also identified miticides that suppress movement of the disease. We’ve identified resistant roses, but they’re not roses that people can currently buy. That means they’re not available on the market. They have a lot of things that people would not like, so we have a lot of breeding to do to incorporate those chains into things people would want.

Q: What do wholesale growers need to understand about rose rosette?

A: The first thing that needs to be understood is that they have to be constantly vigilant. In 2017, a wholesale grower in California lost more than a million dollars because they were not being vigilant. The disease and the mite were not known to occur where they were, but they were brought in on plant material. The same thing can happen to wholesale container nurseries. We had a container nursery in Georgia last year that suffered a $400,000 loss. Not many wholesale container nurseries can survive with those kinds of losses each year. So, what we tell people is they have to be constantly vigilant and if you’re not, this disease can bankrupt you.

Q: How can the industry reassure consumers that roses are still safe to plant?

A: What we tell them is that there are best management practices in place. They can get these from their extension service, by consulting rosarians with the American Rose Society and by asking rose companies for information. We have found that people don’t have to spray miticides, but regularly scout their roses on a weekly basis to catch and remove it. You have to understand this virus can not move itself. It’s not spread on pruners or by people’s hands, it’s spread by microscopic eriophyid mites that have no wings, eyes, ears or nose. It randomly blows around like dust particles. The odds of them encountering a rose is not high, but once it does, the populations will build quickly. So, if you see symptoms of rose rosette, you have to remove that rose early. We recently published a fact sheet on early detection to aid landscapers and consumers on what to look for and what to do when they find it. If they do this, they can stop the epidemic in its tracks.

Want To Go? “Winning the Battle with Rose Rosette Disease” Sunday, July 14, 10:45 - 11:45 a.m., A115

Q: Please provide a short history of the Chicago Botanic Garden trial program.

A: The trials have been in existence since 1982. They’ve always been a comparative trial, so they were always collecting as many plants within a specific plant group that they could, that were commercially available. Then, they were grown outside in an all-outdoor trial. When perennials became big in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s and hit the big market, that’s when our program became primarily perennials and less woody plants. It’s always been a program to recommend the best perennials specifically for our region, but also any region with a similar environment.

Q: How do you choose which perennials to trial?

A: The selection process varies and there’s a couple of reasons why we choose specific plants. A lot of them are just plants that are very popular and of common knowledge to the average homeowner and gardener – phlox, salvia, coneflowers – flowers that the average person have seen before and will recognize. Plant groups that nobody knows about has also become a big choice for us. Everything we do has to fit into our cultural and environmental characteristics which right now, is full sun, so we’re not looking at shade plants at all. Sometimes a trial is determined by a disease issue. When we did phlox, it was primarily to find ones that were resistant to powdery mildew.

Q: In what conditions are the plants trialed?

A: Our trial garden right now is full sun and clay loam. Our pH is about 7.4 and it’s a fully exposed site, which means there’s no microclimates in our garden. The plants are planted in those conditions and everything gets the same environment.

Q: How can growers get the trial results?

A: Our results are all available on our website. There are all of the official reports we’ve written and published in Plant Evaluation Notes, which is our publication. Everything is available on our website for downloading and viewing. I also write trial report articles for Fine Gardening magazine, which average two to three a year and are also available on our website.

Q: How can the horticulture industry market a plant’s trial results to the end consumer?

A: I hope people are seeing our results and using them for what they are selling. I hope they’re informing their clients that certain flowers have done well at the Chicago Botanic Garden if they have a similar cultural environment and can also work well for them. I hope our recommendations are being recommended in kind by the green industry to the end client overall.

Want To Go?

“Proven Perennials: Trial Update from Chicago Botanic Garden”

Sunday, July 14, 9:30-10:30 a.m., Union Station Ballroom A

Q: Have you noticed that the horticulture industry, in general, uses antiquated ways to communicate? If so, please explain?

A: Yes. We have this interesting disparity where end users and employees are using technology, but companies haven’t quite kept up with that. Everybody’s faxing service verification and invoicing and why? That’s very, very old. But I think we’re in an interesting place now where there’s a shift in generational leadership and comfortability with technology, where more is beginning to hit horticulture companies at a faster rate.

Q: When it comes to communicating with employees, what should business owners understand?

A: The most important thing to understand is that we’re still communicating with people and so much of communication is about perception, the purpose behind the communication or the meaning behind what is said. Very little of it is about the words that are spoken or typed. Technology can limit the transfer of emotion, and it makes it difficult for employees to effectively communicate the same way as we do in person. In the seminar, I go through all the major communications that we use — conference calling, video chatting, email, fax and in-person communication — and help attendees understand that these methods of communication can bring in convenience, but also take away meaning and fidelity of the conversation.

Q: Is there a difference between communicating with employees and customers?

A: I think it’s similar. It’s all about building that real connection with somebody and helping them understand what you’re trying to accomplish in terms of the relationship, the actions that need to be taken and how you’re going to work together toward a common goal.

Q: You’re going to discuss 2-D and 3-D communication in your presentation. What exactly does that mean?

A: That’s a great question. I define 3-D as communication that involves a “why” or an emotional hook. 2-D communication is very transactional communication. You’d have to come to the seminar to hear the whole thing, but basically, the difference between 2-D and 3-D is the reason why political discussions on Facebook don’t work.

Q: What are some of the new tools of communication?

A: There’s so many tools, they change all the time and by the time I present this in a couple months, there will already be new ones. Slack has become popular and is a buzzword to talk about. Most companies now are offering live chat, whether it’s just through Facebook messenger or Zendesk. I think what’s important is not staying on top of the latest, greatest method of communicating, but better understanding a process for communicating that’ll ensure that we don’t lose touch with the human on the other end of the connection.

Q: How can small business owners keep up with and implement new tools of communication?

A: I think the best way is to build a culture of collaboration where people who are particularly interested in communication or new technologies have freedom to introduce it, where teams can decide collectively, how they prefer to communicate and find not just what’s new, but what’s going to work best for the team.

Want To Go?

“The New Way to Communicate in Business in 2019”
Sunday, July 14, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m., Short North Ballroom A

Q: Is this workshop for beginners, growers with biocontrol experience, or all levels?

A: All levels.

Q: What’s a common misconception about biocontrol programs?

A: That you cannot use pesticides in conjunction with them and that they’re more expensive than conventional spray programs.

Q: Why do you think that’s a common misconception?

A: That’s a good question. I think biocontrol has always been held to a higher standard than pesticides because in the past, if people try biocontrol and they don’t work, they’re pretty quick to quit. Where, if people spray a pesticide and it doesn’t work, they’re willing to do that over and over again. I also think it’s an excuse because it does take a lot of education to get started and do biocontrol, but once people are there and cross over, they generally don’t go back.

Q: Are there biocontrol programs for growers who produce plants outdoors, or is it best for plants grown under cover?

A: Well, biocontrol started outside. If you look outside your window, every plant you see, biocontrol is going on. I actually think that outdoor biocontrol is almost easier than indoor because indoor growing is such a forced environment, even though there’s this idea that it’s designed for indoors. Yes, there’s been more research on indoor production than there has been on outside, but we’ve still been successfully able to do biocontrol outdoors. Not being able to do it outside is a big misconception.

Q: What should growers consider before starting a biocontrol program?

A: They need to look at what their pest complex is, and if their growers are on board with making this happen. They also have to look at their state and federal quarantine laws because if you’re in the fire ant quarantine zone, a lot of growers incorporate pesticides into their soil. Because of that, they’re excluded from doing some of the biocontrol agents in the soil. It’s also important to look at what the laws are in their area.

Q: What’s the learning curve for understanding biocontrol basics vs. traditional pest controls?

A: It depends on what your pest problem is. If you’re dealing with fungus gnats, it’s simple. But if you going with more complex programs where you’re dealing with whitefly and aphids, there’s definitely a learning curve with doing that. With today’s pesticides, there’s a learning curve with them because the pesticides in the market are more targeted, so we’re not seeing broad spectrum pesticides. Today, you have to be a lot smarter and identify specifically what your pest is before you can make a selection.

Do you have anything else you’d like to add?

A: This year’s workshop can be applied to multiple industries, not just ornamentals. Also, space is limited and it’s going to sell out so register early. It’s going to be a lot of applied and practical knowledge that can be learned the day of and put into production the day after.

Want To Go?

“Bicontrols Workshop: The How-to’s of Quality Control and Application Methods”

Saturday, July 13, 8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m., Eisenmann-Trott Cost: $165