Bacteria and viruses lurk everywhere. This isn’t new. Almost everyone who has spent a few days strolling the aisles, shaking hands and chatting at happy hours has spent the following week in bed or at the very least, under the weather. The COVID-19 pandemic simply raised the stakes.
For many in the industry, Cultivate’21 will be the first in-person event they attend this year. There is understandably some trepidation and plenty of unknowns, too. However, you can minimize your chances of coming down with COVID, or any communicable disease, by following these tips from GES, a global event marketing company. Many will be a refresher for those of us who paid attention to the CDC’s guidelines over the last year, but as COVID fatigue has set in, we could all use a reminder.
The new perennial movement uses lots of our plants on tight centers to make a naturalistic look to gardens. It’s the opposite of a parterre garden, which is always the same every day, forever, if you do it right. This changes throughout the seasons. It grabs people emotionally and brings them in in a way that our traditional sorts of gardens typically don’t. It has the potential to expand sales and expand the season.
How is it different than a typical landscape, and who is the target customer?
People who are embracing this garden style don’t ever want to be finished gardening. This engages people in a different sort of way that seems like it would be hugely beneficial to the industry.
It’s plants as mulch instead of mulch as mulch. It’s a lot better ecologically and it’s great for pollinators. It plays well with green infrastructure, particularly rain gardens and stormwater basins.
How did this design movement get started?
The movement started in the 1980s but it was slow to catch on. Some German and Dutch growers and landscape architecture firms in the U.S. started using big sweeps of perennials and lots of ornamental grasses. It bubbled up from people trying to find something different and wanting to use plants in a different way. The most well-recognized person in the movement is (Dutch garden designer) Piet Oudolf. He’s the primary face behind gardens like the Lurie Garden in Chicago, The High Line in New York City, but he’s also got more recent gardens too, like Belle Isle in Detroit which just was planted last year. There’s Delaware Botanic Garden in Southern Delaware that has a 2.5-acre planting of his — 40,000 plants. It’s incredible. He does public and private gardens in the U.S. and Europe.
What are some of the hallmarks of the style used by gardens of the new perennial movement?
They look like you’d want nature to look. You go to places that are just breathtaking from the natural diversity, like Schulenberg Prairie in Morton Arboretum. It’s a 75-acre prairie restoration, one of the oldest in the country, made by Ray Schulenberg. You visit there and you see Echinacea pallida spread out over acres and acres in these wonderful massive drifts, but not as dense as they would be if you planted them on tight centers. Then you go to the Lurie Garden which is only 20 miles east, and it’s a lot of that same plant palette squished down onto less than an acre. It’s a concentration of a wild space.
One of the things that is important in the style is form over flower. Oudolf says a plant’s not worth growing if it doesn’t look good dead. Which is a little tongue-in-cheek, but not completely! One of his goals is to look for beauty in places where you wouldn’t ordinarily expect to find it. The first time I saw the Lurie Garden was in February and it was breathtaking. February does not compare to June, of course, but compared to the typical February landscape around greater Chicago, it was heaven.
What can people expect to learn at your session?
An introduction to the style and some of the plants that I like best for it, as well as some of the trends it hits on. It’s great for pollinators; it embraces natives; it plays well with green infrastructure. There are lots of reasons why it’s compelling. It is a gorgeous, emotionally moving style.
Want to go? The New Perennial Movement: Why it Matters to Our Industry Saturday, July 10, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., A110
Paul Westervelt is the chief of container operations at Saunders Brothers, Inc., a wholesale nursery in Piney River, Va.
Questions with JC Chong
Supplement - Cultivate ‘21
Learn about what make certain pests more likely to develop pesticide resistance and how to deal with them.
Q: What can attendees expect to learn from your session?
A: There are a lot of myths out there about pesticide resistance. One of the big things I want to do is debunk some of those myths. The other thing would be to provide practical advice, or even some examples of how you can develop a rotation program.
Q: What are some of the myths you’ll cover in your talk?
A: One that is often heard is that insecticide resistance is eventually inevitable. There are actually a lot of things that we can do to stop that from happening. It’s not inevitable. We will have to get that across so people have somewhat of a ray of hope. Otherwise, the grower says ‘10 years from now, I won’t be able to manage any of my thrips population. I might as well give up now.’
Q: What pests do you plan to cover?
A: For the nursery operations, what I would cover mainly would be thrips and spider mites. Those are the two major ones I was thinking about because they are our major pests and also they have a nasty reputation for developing resistance pretty quickly.
While I am talking about those two pests, I will also bring up some examples to demonstrate to attendees how you can develop a program and some of the things that you need to consider when you’re developing your program.
Q: Why are some pests more likely to develop resistance to pesticides?
A: Generation time is one of the biggest considerations when it comes to trying to predict which pest population might become resistant faster. So the reason why resistance develops is because there is a particular gene that provides the insect population with the resistance. And if you have more generations that gene spreads through the population faster.
That’s why we keep seeing spider mites and thrips becoming resistant and whiteflies becoming resistant. Spider mites complete development in seven days and thrips and whiteflies in about two to three weeks. That means you have maybe six, eight to 10 generations per year. If you are using the same insecticide over and over again, the pest population basically has a lot more time to develop the resistance.
Q: What can be done once they’ve already developed resistance?
A: The first thing I would do is to figure out where there is really resistance. Another commonly misunderstood fact is that when you do not achieve the same level of control as you used to, it is not always resistance. Sometimes it is application issues. Maybe you’re not using the right application rate. Maybe you’re not achieving the right coverage, or you’re not applying at the right time against the right life stage. So the first thing I would do is to figure out if it is really resistance or not. If you’ve got to the point where you think ‘Surely, I’ve done everything right.’ Then I’m going to start thinking about resistance.
The next step is what did I use before? Is there something in there I keep using? And is that the one that I’m starting to lose efficacy on? And if that’s the case, that is the one product I need to pull out from my past management program. Just pick it out and then replace it with a different mode of action. And if it is a resistance issue, and if the pest population is still susceptible to the new mode of action, then you will see a reduction in your pest population again.
Q: What does the title mean – good things come in threes?
A: That’s basically a play on the whole process of rotating modes of action to build a rotation program because I often have folks ask me how many modes of action they should put in their program. If you have one, that’s not a rotation. If you have two, that’s not much of a rotation either. So you want to have at least three and more is even better.
Want to go?
Good Things Come in Threes (or more): Insecticide Resistance Management for Nurseries
Sunday, July 11, 4:15 p.m.-5:15 p.m., Union Station Ballroom B
JC Chong is a professor and extension specialist at Clemson University.
Questions with Ryan Contreras
Supplement - Cultivate ‘21
Celebrating the work of academics who are breeding remarkable plants.
Q: What are some of the fundamental differences between a public breeding program and a private one?
A: The biggest difference is in a private breeding program, the new releases need to come pretty regularly. In an academic setting, we have more freedom to take a detour and explore interesting questions. We’re both here to introduce new plants and help growers, but university programs get to take a more circuitous path.
Another difference is that public universities publish all of their findings. When I started working with Hibiscus syriacus, there was no knowledge or information published on how flower color or eye spot was inherited, which made it difficult, and you basically cross everything with everything. But we recently published a paper (“Segregation of Flower Color and Eyespot in Althea”) in the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science about the heritability of flower color and eye spot and we named two different genes. So now anybody who’s breeding Hibiscus syriacus can take the data we generated and apply it to their breeding program.
Q: How do public breeding programs fund their work?
A: Funding is as diverse as the people who are breeding the plants and the plants themselves. Some may come from HATCH funding, which is federal funding that supports a faculty member. More commonly now, many of us at public universities are on nine-month appointments, yet a lot of breeding goes on during summer. Therefore, faculty must generate their own summer salary and that’s a challenge. Keep in mind not everyone in a public university gets a stipend for graduate students. I don’t get any funding for graduate students or research student workers.
I’m lucky to be in Oregon where there’s a, a pretty solid amount of funding that comes from the industry through competitive grants. There are also specialty crop block grants. Some university breeders can contract with companies to do specific breeding. But public universities need to be delicate when entering into a contract with a private company, so it doesn’t run contrary to the purpose of the land grant university. And there are some older, more mature public breeding programs that are generating some funds from royalties.
Q: Is there room for improvement regarding communication between public breeding programs and growers? If so, how can the two parties do better?
A: I feel like I do a pretty good job communicating with growers, but we always can do better. If you’re a grower in a big nursery producing state, I would encourage you to reach out to university horticulture departments and talk to them. Breeders want more input from growers, whether it’s positive or negative.
Public university breeding programs don’t have the marketing budgets like private companies, but I think we can work on a solution – potentially partnering with some of the state and national associations.
Q: What are some examples of groundbreaking breeding that have come from a public institution and which ones will you highlight during your presentation?
A: I want to include the USDA in my answer, and that means talking about Donald Egolf’s crape myrtles from the U.S. National Arboretum, and more recently Cecil Pounders work on the black leaf crape myrtles. Tom Ranney at NC State is doing incredible work in remaking old classics like his Chaenomeles Storm Series – these are incredible. Denny Werner did some amazing work with butterfly bush and sterility, as did the late Jon Lindstrom at the University of Arkansas. I’ll highlight work from Stan Hokanson at the University of Minnesota who released some cold-hardy azaleas. Zhanao Deng at the University of Florida is working on sterile nandina and lantana. I’ll show some work from David Byrne at Texas A&M and his rose breeding program. John Ruter at UGA and his work on hibiscus, in particular, has been really cool. And I’ll talk about my own program, like what we’re doing with cotoneasters, plus a lot more.
Want to go? For the Common Good: Public Breeding Programs Address the Needs of the Industry Saturday, July 10, 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m., A110
Dr. Contreras is a professor in the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University where he teaches and manages the Ornamental Plant Breeding Program.
Return to Cultivate
Supplement - Cultivate ‘21
Here are our picks for must-see educational sessions at the largest green industry trade show in North America.
We’re just as happy as you are to return to Columbus, Ohio, for an in-person trade show. As you prepare for Cultivate’21, thumb through this preview guide to find the nursery-centric educational seminars that fit your operation and crew needs. For the full list of educational sessions, go to www.cultivateevent.org.
Show schedule:
Sat., July 10: Education sessions open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., trade show closed.
Sun., July 11: Education sessions open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., trade show floor open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Mon., July 12: Education sessions open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., trade show floor open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tue., July 13: Education sessions open 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., trade show floor open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Cultivate is operated by AmericanHort (AmericanHort.org). Times and locations are subject to change. Please refer to a Cultivate show guide for final session locations.
Saturday, July 10
Using both SANC and Plant Sentry to Increase Productivity and Sales
The evolution of systems approaches is changing the way growers and staff think about producing high quality saleable plants. Learn how and why to embrace SANC and improve its effectiveness with the Plant Sentry systems approach to ease woes with intra/interstate plant shipments. You’ll also hear a grower perspective how these programs create and leverage production efficiencies and increase the marketability of an operation’s plant material - allowing companies to sell more plants hassle free.
Tom Buechel, chief compliance officer, Plant Sentry Saturday, July 10 • 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM • Location: A110
For the Common Good: Public Breeding Programs Address the Needs of the Industry
There are a myriad of private companies doing really outstanding work to develop and introduce plants that are new, beautiful, and exciting. But we should not overlook the work of academics who keep an eye toward the needs of the industry and use all the tools at their disposal to try to solve emerging and persistent issues. These programs are not there to compete with private industry. Rather, the goal is to compliment the strengths of the industry by addressing long-term problems or issues, such as tree breeding, for which the return on investment is sometimes decades in the future. This talk will highlight some of the work being done at public institutions from coast-to-coast and in between.
Ryan Contreras, associate professor, Oregon State University Saturday, July 10 • 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM • Location: A110 See our Q&A with Ryan Contreras here.
The New Perennial Movement: Why it Matters to Our Industry
While much of the nursery industry is focused on the latest and greatest, compact, spring blooming whatever - there’s a counter movement afoot. The New Perennial movement embraces a more natural look, a different pallet of plants (and scads of them on tight centers) all while creating beneficial habitat and food for pollinators. This session will cover The New Perennial movement and why it matters to our industry.
Paul Westervelt, chief of container operations at Saunders Brothers, Inc.
Saturday, July 10 • 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM • Location: A110 See our Q&A with Paul Westervelt here.
Sunday, July 11
Creating a Culture of Metrics
There’s an old saying, “You can’t expect what you cannot inspect.” Don’t wait for an economic correction to force you to focus and measure cost management and revenue generation. This session will provide the momentum and direction that you need to affect dramatic, accountable, and measurable change in your team, your company, and your clients. Come find out, “What the heck is EOS?” and how this simple way of operating can drive enthusiasm and engagement into your workplace culture.
John Kennedy, John Kennedy Consulting Sunday, July 11 • 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM • Location: A213
Strategies to Reduce Weed Control Costs in Container Nurseries
Weed control in container nurseries is expensive. Despite multiple applications of preemergence herbicides supplemented with hand weeding, weeds continue to plague production. In this presentation, we will discuss several strategies for reducing overall costs for weed management such as: optimized herbicide selection, reapplication intervals, application methods, and sanitation practices that reduce overall labor inputs. Following these guidelines growers can reduce labor costs by an average of 40%.
Joe Neal, professor of weed science and extension specialist at NCSU Sunday, July 11 • 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM • Location: Union Station Ballroom B
Don’t Let the Bark Bite: Proper Handling, Storage, and Utilization of Bark Substrates
This presentation will provide an overview of fresh versus aged pine bark substrates and the challenges growers need to be aware of when choosing different bark products. Selecting different bark products for different production needs (crops, container sizes, longevity of crops in containers, etc.) will be discussed. Bark handling and management at both the bark supplier as well as on-site at the nursery will also be discussed. We will overview the processes involved in making high quality bark substrates and review grower-supplier interactions, quality control protocols, and criteria for product selection and management on-site at nursery.
Brian Jackson, associate professor at NCSU Sunday, July 11 • 11:15-12:15 p.m. • Location: Union Station Ballroom B
Approaching Grower-Level Pricing with a Strategy in Mind
In this session, we will cover the issue of pricing from the supply side. This will include a discussion of what constitutes a price floor, how often your prices should be increasing, and how important pricing is in determining your optimal product mix. We will also discuss how to shape customer purchasing behavior with various pricing tools. If you are unsure about how to go about setting your prices, or if you’re a veteran who just needs to tweak the process, you will not want to miss this session!
Charlie Hall, Ellison Chair in International Horticulture, Texas A&M University Sunday, July 11 • 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM • Location: Union Station Ballroom B
In Deep Water: Making Sense of New Nursery Irrigation Technology and Strategies
This session will provide an update on the latest approaches to irrigating nursery crops and walk through the process of deciding when and how much to irrigate. From DIY to more complex approaches, options for all budgets and nursery sizes will be discussed.
Amy Fulcher, extension specialist and associate professor for sustainable ornamental plant production and landscape management, University of Tennessee-Knoxville Sunday, July 11 • 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM • Location: A110
Succession Planning When There is No Succession
According to recent surveys, 80% of business owners have no transition plan or have not documented or even communicated a succession plan. It gets even more complicated when there are no family members ready or willing to take over the business. What is clear is that the best business transitions begin early and go smoother when there is a team of people working in tandem to maximize the value of the business and enhance it for a change. We will look at preparation and planning steps, as well as value-building, optimizing and transitional strategies to use when there is no family or heir apparent to take over the reins of your operation. We also will address your emotional readiness and review actions you can start to take today that will make your business and you more transition ready. It is hard to transition when no one is in place to take over, but that doesn’t mean the planning should stop. It is more important than ever to get started.
Todd Downing, Chris Cimaglio, Ben Molenda, Best Human Capital & Advisory Group Sunday, July 11 • 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM • Location: A213
Good Things Come in Threes (or more): Insecticide Resistance Management for Nurseries
Think pesticide resistance isn’t possible in nurseries? Think again. Come learn about what make certain pests more likely to develop pesticide resistance, and how to deal with them. Attendees will also learn how to develop pesticide rotation programs for common nursery pests, such as aphids, beetles, thrips, and mites.
Juang “JC” Chong, professor and extension specialist, Clemson University Sunday, July 11 • 4:15 PM - 5:15 PM • Location: Union Station Ballroom B See our Q&A with JC Chong here.
Monday, July 12
Keynote: AmericanHort State of the Industry Presentation
Hear from the industry’s most experienced leadership team on where our industry stands today and what the future holds. Our experts will provide insights on how to plan and navigate the environment of strong spring sales, record government stimulus, and the business and regulatory challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Ken Fisher, president and CEO, AmericanHort; Craig Regelbrugge, senior vice president of public policy and governmental relations at AmericanHort; Charlie Hall, Ellison Chair in International Horticulture, Texas A&M University Monday, July 12 • 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM • Location: Short North Ballroom
Leveraging Lavenders
For the last 5 years, lavender sales have been increasing in all markets by solid double digits and all levels of the supply chain are missing a great opportunity for selling a high-margin crop. A large part of this increase in lavender sales was caused by specific branded cultivars that presented major improvements; the biggest shift being that these new options are incredibly grower-friendly - a term never before associated with this crop. Still, it remains a challenging crop at many stages. In this session, learn tips, tricks, and techniques from one of the premier lavender growers in North America. You’ll learn what to do, what NOT to do, and what you should be offering to ensure success and profit from unrooted cuttings to final placement in the landscape.
Lloyd Traven, president, Peace Tree Farm Monday, July 12 • 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM | Location: Union Station Ballroom A
Policy and Labor: Impact on Greenhouse and Nursery Growers
Need help untangling policy and some real-world clarity on H-2A? Join Lynn Jacquez and Shawn Packer from JPH Law for the latest happenings in on the policy environment impacting greenhouse and nursery growers; Tom Bortnyk, Vice President and General Counsel for másLabor, the nation’s premier provider of H-2A and H-2B services, will also share updates and best practices for H-2A employers.
Craig Regelbrugge, senior vice president of public policy and governmental relations at AmericanHort Monday, July 12 • 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Location: A213
Nursery Swap Shop
Join us for this nursery-specific, interactive dialogue. Art Parkerson of Lancaster Farms moderates quick presentations that share both successes and challenges in nursery operations, while encouraging audience participation and collaboration.
Art Parkerson, owner & CEO, Lancaster Farms Monday, July 12 • 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM Location: A110
Tuesday, July 13
Are We Making Progress Toward Closing the Workforce Gap in Horticulture? An Update From Seed Your Future
The global health challenge has had a “green-lining,” attracting more people to plants and nature than in recent decades. The year 2020 brought new plant consumers to our industry — but will that turn into increased interest in pursuing careers working with plants? In this session, Seed Your Future will update attendees on their progress toward promoting horticulture and inspiring more youth to consider careers in horticulture.
Anna Ball, CEO/president at Ball Horticultural Company; Cole Mangum, vice president at Bell Nursery USA LLC; Susan E. Yoder, former executive director, Seed Your Future Tuesday, July 13 • 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Location: Union Station Ballroom A
Tune into Green Infrastructure Through the Power of Plants
From function, to aesthetic, to food source – producing plants that provide ecosystem services has become a rapidly expanding market opportunity for nursery growers and installers globally. Today, green infrastructure projects, including stormwater management and mitigation, green roofs, rain gardens, and bioswales are simultaneously curbing runoff, providing seasonal appeal, and nourishing our environment. Native plants used in these systems are beneficial for pollinators and create a lasting aesthetic impression. Join this session and learn more about why native plants are integral to providing solutions to stormwater management.
Steve Castorani, president/CFO, North Creek Nurseries Inc. Tuesday, July 13 • 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM Location: A210
Success with Cuttings: From Arrival to Stage 4 of Propagation
In this session, you will learn how to improve your rooting success with annual and perennial cuttings. You will get a better understanding of the ins, outs, and common mistakes made during rooting stages 0 to 4: from cutting arrival, storage, and handling to rooting, callusing, and toning.
Todd Cavins and Nathan Jahnke, Ball Horticultural Company Tuesday, July 13 • 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM Location: Union Station Ballroom B
Matt McClellan
