Herbaceous Perennials 2019 at the Perennial Farm Recap

It was a bit like a de ja vu – the weather was warm, and we were back at the Perennial Farm for the second time this summer! It made me stop to think how lucky we are to not only have members willing to open their operations up, but members that have such beautiful properties. This time we would spend the whole day at The Perennial Farm for the Herbaceous Perennials event.

Special thanks to University of Maryland Extension especially Stanton Gill who took the lead on developing the program as well as Karen Rane, Dave Clement, and Andrew Ristvey.

The day opened up with Rick Watson, owner of The Perennial Farm welcoming all of the attendees and speakers to his slice of heaven. We were happily overwhelmed with registration response for this event that we had to change up the format and have interactive stations in the morning and afternoon so that everyone could get up close and personal with the samples and topics at hand.

The beautiful grounds at The Perennial Farm

(continued on page 24) There were three rotating stations in the morning led by UMD Extension faculty. The first was “Disease Diagnosis on Herbaceous Perennials” led by Karen Rane, Dave Clement, and Rachel Ross. Attendees were given the opportunity in this station to see real disease on samples and ask questions of the speakers. The second station was “Insects and Mites – How to Deal with Bugs and Mites Based on the Best Biological Control Options and New Low Risk Pesticides” led by Stanton Gill. Stanton was utilizing the new E-Commerce building at The Perennial Farm and was showing real examples of bug and mite damage and spoke with attendees on how to best mitigate these issues. He even provided attendees with ice cream to wrap up his session. The third station was “Best Water Management Techniques for Growing Herbaceous Perennials – What Has Science Taught Us?” led by Andrew Ristvey. Andrew opened up his session talking about irrigation techniques and then had all of his attendees actually testing out the water

▲ Andrew Ristvey engaging attendees at his station as they test water samples.

▼ Before the ice cream, Stanton Gill talking with his group about insects and mites.

▲ Sara Tangren addressing attendees and answering questions during her afternoon session. ▼ The beautiful echinacea varieties being grown at The Perennial Farm

samples and irrigation equipment at The Perennial Farm. To say that the morning sessions were highly interactive wouldn’t do them justice – I think this was the best conference that people weren’t taking notes at because their hands were in the dirt learning.

After lunch all the attendees ramped up their sugar with a few cookies and were prepared to take on the rest of the afternoon. Joyce Latimer from Virginia Tech opened up the afternoon session speaking on Growth Regulators, and how to use them to grow the best-looking herbaceous perennials. The attendees then split up again into two groups for the afternoon hands-on sessions.

Sara Tangren led the first session on “Native Herbaceous Perennials – How to Propagate Native Perennial Plants from Seed.” Even though Sara didn’t have any water samples or diseased plants, she got both of her groups engaged in the presentation and asking great questions until it was time to switch stations. Kirk Floyd, Independent Drone Operator led his afternoon session with a live demo on “Can Drones Work in Herbaceous Perennial Operations?” There was certainly a loud buzz during this session and it wasn’t coming just from the drones! Attendees are actively interested in drones and how we can start using them in daily operations. Stay tuned for this year’s Biological Control event on December 17 as the UMD Drone Team (Stanton Gill, Dave Clement, (continued from last page)

▲ Stanton Gill addressing attendees using real samples in his session.

t The staff at The Perennial Farm always go above and beyond with their beautiful displays.

Andrew Ristvey, and Karen Rane) along with Kirk will be presenting more of their findings.

The day then wrapped up with the signing of recertification sheets and a visit from The Perennial Farm mascot, Rick Watson’s golden retriever, Daisy. We would like to thank The Perennial Farm, UMD Extension, and Silver Spring Mining Company for helping the MNLGA pull off an outstanding event. We look forward to the many events over the next year that we have coming up and hope to see you all at Biological Control and then at Chesapeake Green. ❦

Chelsea Bailey MNLGA 410-823-8684

▲ Dave Clement answering questions from attendees and using plant samples to show disease issues.

▼ Kirk Floyd practicing with his various drones to show how they can be used in our industry.

Karen Rane chatting with attendees from her morning session about how to diagnose different diseases.

Even the butterflies wanted in on this great educational event!

Rachel Ross shows attendees in a morning session various plant samples and how to diagnose diseases.

Chelsea Bailey and Rick Watson stop to take a picture and enjoy the day!

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Maryland Horticulture Industry Statistical Profile Economic Survey. Thank you to those that participated in the survey. We had a response rate of 21% which does make the results statistically valid. The findings in this report show Maryland’s green industry to still be in a position of strength, however, many opportunities for growth remain. Many limitations on growth were identified, as well. Information revealed in the survey is another tool to use when speaking to legislators, regulators, your financiers, and corporate partners as you develop your own company’s business plan.

Vanessa A. Finney Do your homework. Find your voice. Be authentic. And then dive in with purpose. ~ Julie Foudy

After the presentations are made, we met as a state group. Each of us decided what role we would play in our meetings. There is limited time in each of these meetings and in a majority of cases you are meeting with a staff assistant, so they may or may not know a lot of information on how it affects our industry. We focused on key bullets to highlight on each topic and split each topic by person with the ability to then tell each of our stories and how each issue affects us similarly or differently.

I think a big misconception is that these issues don’t affect you if you are not in a specific program like H2A or H2B. First, like Clear Ridge Nursery you may find it necessary to use the programs in the future to a get a reliable labor force. Second, there is a trickledown effect. You may not have to directly deal with specific issues like changes in Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) like H2A users do. However, owners like myself, John Murphy and more are affected because our customers who use the H2B program are unsure of whether or not they will get their workers. We have found that many landscapers who use the H2B program are not bidding on certain projects because the risk is too high if they do not receive their visa workers. Less jobs, mean less product being purchased and sold. As suppliers of materials it affects us and any company who may provide product to companies that use the H2B programs. I found it very beneficial to attend and tell our story, what we do, and how they can help us. Most of the folks we met with were informed on the topic and are supporters of us in the industry. There were a few that took the information and said they would pass it on to our legislators. It was very interesting to see the differences in how each office operated. You could tell which offices were clear supporters and who were not. This has and will continue to be an on-going battle to try and find programs that work and gain more support.

When it came to the transportation topic it was explaining to them the grey area in the definition of what an agricultural commodity is, and how the current bill, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), does not recognize the horticulture or floriculture industry as an agricultural commodity. We stressed that our industry is considered agricultural throughout the production cycle (by many other federal agencies), but once it is loaded on a truck it changes and falls into a grey area. We talked about the different product we ship and the perishable sensitivity of that material as a live product. It was simple to ask for their support for H.R.1673 & S. 2025 bills which contains language clarifying that horticulture and floriculture are agricultural products. This will help the trucking of the products in our industry. Everyone we met with was very receptive to this topic and we felt we would get the issue resolved.

For Research and Innovation, the discussion was to stress the importance of continued financial support of different foundations such as the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) and Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative (FNRI). We also asked for support to reinstate the non-federal matching funds waiver language for FY2020 in the H.R. 3952 bill. And last but not least, it would not be a discussion on research and innovation if we did not request and increase in budget for the IR-4 program. The budget for this program has been flat for many years and the pest pressure has only increased on food and environmental horticulture crops over the years. Supporting programs like these are fundamental to the success of our industry.

All in all, my experience was a positive one and I look forward to attending next year. I learned a lot about different issues and how the best way to present these issues to our legislators. It is a very different scene than the rolling hills of Carroll County, but it was good to get to the big city and show that I have a voice and can make a difference. I urge you to join us next year and tell your story and make your voice be heard! ❦

Jessica Todd Clear Ridge Nursery, Inc. 410-775-7700