Horticulture Connected Summer Volume 3 Issue 2

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

Summer 2016

News, Analysis and Trends in Landscape, Garden Retail & Edible Horticulture

Brexit and Irish horticulture

Mike Neary, Dermot Callaghan and Neville Stein share their insights

Designer Insight

Patricia Tyrell casts an expert view over Bloom 2016

Cultivating Cuttings

Andy Whelton on Ireland’s foliage sector

Bord Bia Services for the Horticulture Sector INFORMATION:

EDITOR'S LETTER

EDITOR Barry Lupton

No

Comparison

Provides in depth consumer and trade market research and analysis of production statistics to assist companies in their business planning. Contact Lorcan Bourke.

MARKETING ASSISTANCE:

Provides financial support to companies to assist them in their marketing activities. Contact Carol Marks (Amenity); Michal Slawski (Food Crops).

HORTICULTURE VANTAGE PROGRAMME:

Provides targeted training workshops, seminars and mentoring to assist companies to improve and maximize their business capabilities. Contact Carol Marks.

QUALITY PROGRAMME:

Establish and promote high standards including identification and promotion of the implementation of best business practices to improve performance.

Contact Carol Marks (Amenity); Alice McGlynn (Food Crops).

SHOWS AND SPONSORSHIPS:

Provides funding and support to shows and events that play an important role in the development of the Horticultural Industry. Contact Michal Slawski.

EXPORT DEVELOPMENT:

Provides access to expertise in export markets and support from Bord Bia international offices in developing export sales.

Contact Gary Graham (Amenity); Michal Slawski (Food Crops).

INNOVATION:

Provides businesses with access to workshops, mentoring support and resources to help stimulate innovation and new product development.

Contact Michal Slawski.

PROMOTION:

Bord Bia consumer promotions supports generic and industry specific promotional activity; for the amenity sector the aim is to raise consumer awareness on the joys and benefits of gardening, while for the horticulture food sector the objective is to highlight the seasonality of fruit and vegetables and their important role in a healthy balanced diet. Contact Carol Marks (Amenity); Mike Neary (Food Crops).

T

here are only a few times that a horticultural writer would have call to use the proviso, at the time of writing, this is one of them.

We find ourselves in interesting times again, and speculation is best left to the speculators, for they will be the first to benefit. The rest of us must contend with getting on with business as usual, until of course we feel the direct impact of our neighbour’s departure.

And perhaps more importantly, until the crunching gears of commerce and politics are sufficiently oiled to facilitate the necessary state of mutual dissatisfaction needed for things to progress. Regardless of time of writing it’s perfectly safe to say, there will be winners and losers.

This editorial was originally focused on the opportunities presented by our limited horticultural heritage. On how we are unencumbered by the past, free to reinvent, reinterpret and innovate.

But of course we have a heritage, of sorts. A muddy mix of agrarian culture and supplanted ideas. Ideas forced upon us, which took root and which still cast a shadow across our landscape and psyches. Even after

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

“Bloom” is the annual five day annual garden show which is a spectacular display of the best of Irish Garden Design, landscape construction, nursery stock and fresh produce promoting Irish Horticulture to a national and international audience.

Contact Gary Graham.

News, Analysis and Trends In Landscape & Amenity Horticulture

Visit us on our stand at GLAS in the City West Exhibition Centre on July 21

st

HORTICULTURE CONNECTED

Summer 2016

News, Analysis and Trends in Landscape, Garden Retail & Edible Horticulture

Growing the success of Irish food & horticulture

BREXIT AND IRISH HORTICULTURE

MIKE NEARY, DERMOT CALLAGHAN AND NEVILLE STEIN SHARE THEIR INSIGHTS

DESIGNER INSIGHT

PATRICIA TYRELL CASTS AN EXPERT VIEW OVER BLOOM 2016

CULTIVATING CUTTINGS

ANDY WHELTON ON IRELAND’S FOLIAGE SECTOR

Call: +353 1 668 5155

Email: info@bordbia.ie

www.bordbia.ie

20 The Cutlers 33/34 Parliament St Dublin 2 Ireland +353 (0)87 921 2044 www.horticulture.ie

ten years, people compare Bloom to Chelsea, like a weaker sibling. The Irish nursery sector has always stood in the shadow of the Dutch industry, success being measured in ability to emulate their scale, service and approach. We expected to lose the Euros.

I didn’t watch the football, but I was fascinated by our fans. How we changed things. How our unique way of being brought hilarity, passion, music and camaraderie to a potentially fractious event. We defined the word ‘craic’ to the world by video meme. Our fans, and team, played blinders. As did everyone involved in Bloom. Perhaps it was the fans, or Bloom, or the sheer number of top-down and bottom-up horticultural initiatives gaining ground, which make me think it’s high time we leave our cap doffing, self-effacing, begrudging, subservient attitude in the past. Our future doesn’t lie in being able to do what everyone else does, it lies in what makes us unique.

Picking up on some of these ideas, retail consultant Liam Kelly explores the impact of retail homogenisation, GLDA President Patricia Tyrell offers her expert insight into the show gardens at Bloom and John Mulhern, Principal of

Editor: Barry Lupton editor@horticulture.ie News Editor & Advertising: Joseph Blair 087 921 2044 joseph@horticulture.ie Creative: Tanya Gilsenan tanya@horticulture.ie Editorial Assistant: Koraley Northen Subscriptions: subscriptions@horticulture.ie Publishers: HortiTrends www.HortiTrends.ie joseph@hortitrends.ie

the National Botanic Gardens, brings us up to date on how experiments with apprenticeship learning are unfolding.

On the other side, Michael Gaffney reports from Europe on the latest IPM research, while newly appointed nursery stock advisor Dónall Flanagan sets out the scope and nature of his new post.

With the commercial property market picking up, I visit with Michael Caffrey of Universal Floral to get the inside track on interior plant supply. In this issue we are also launching dedicated Teagasc pages.

By working closely together with our colleagues in Teagasc we will strengthen communication across the sector. With that in mind we are delighted to feature articles exploring the cut foliage and fresh produce markets. Their head of horticulture, Dermot Callaghan also shares his insights on Brexit.

Also in this issue we share news from Lynn O'Keeffe-Lascar on an exciting new group bringing owners of gardens open to the public together under one roof, Terry O’Regan brings us up to speed on the recent National Landscape Forum and Colm Kenny checks in from the front lines of landscape construction. In our Insight section, lecturer in horticulture at ITB Rachel Freeman shares her knowledge of the social and therapeutic benefits of horticulture, while award winning designer David Shortall reminds us all of the importance of minding ourselves in troubling times.

Sincere thanks to all those who contributed to this issue. Drop me a line at editor@horticulture.com if you have something you’d like to share with the wider community. ✽

See Hortitrends.ie for Daily News Updates Printers: Turners Printing Earl Street, Longford.

Distribution: Readership of 10,000 across Ireland from Businesses and Professionals in the following Sectors: Landscape/ Architects / Garden Retail / Florists / Nurseries / Greenkeepers / Sports Surfaces / Local Authority’s & Parks Departments / Machinery / Education

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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01 / NEWS

CONTENTS

horticulture news

Horticulture Inspiring NCAD Design Graduates

Contents NEWS

03 LATEST Horticulture News

CONSTRUCT

32 Responding and Reacting Colm Kenny shares his thoughts on how the construction industry is reacting to the upswing in activity

Brexit news 07

Brexit- Impact on Irish horticulture

Mike Neary, Dermot Callaghan and Neville Stein share their insights

BORD BIA EZINE 10

All of the latest news, events and updates from Bord Bia

TEAGASC 12

Research, education and advisory news from Teagasc

NURSERY 15

Demonstrating Integrated Pest Management

Dr Michael Gaffney reports on the recent EU workshop 'Demonstration Farms on Integrated Pest Management’

17

New Advisory, New Vision

Dónall Flanagan sets out an exciting new vision of how the advisory services will support and strengthen the nursery sector

19

Horticultural Health Check

Stiofán Nutty diagnoses some serious horticultural health problems and how the sector is tackling them

INTERVIEW

34

Inside StorY Barry Lupton interviews Michael Caffrey of Universal Floral

EDUCATION 37

Apprenticeships in Practice

John Mulhern brings us up to speed on the Teagasc apprentice training trials

EDIBLES 38

Ireland’s Thriving Soft Fruit Sector

Dr Eamonn Kehoe provides an overview of the Irish soft fruit industry and its challenges and prospects for the future

40

Fresh Produce, Healthy Figures

Mike Neary shares some positive sales figures for Ireland's fresh produce sector

Mind Yourself David Shortall shares his thoughts on why horticulture professionals need to look after themselves and those around them

RETAIl 20

43 Horticulture for Human Health Same Difference Rachel Freeman shares her knowledge of the social and

Liam Kelly explores why retailers need to be wary of trends toward retail homogeneity

DESIGN

22 D esigner Insights

therapeutic benefits of horticulture

46

Patricia Tyrrell shares her views on Bloom 2016

LANDSCAPE

30 T he Oldest Landscape Rocker in Town

Building Footfall in Irish Gardens Lynn O’Keeffe-Lascar explains how Irish garden owners are collaborating to promote Ireland’s wealth of garden treasures

RESEARCH 47

Terry O'Regan takes a break from the dancefloor to report on the 21st National Landscape Forum

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ALCI training days at the Botanic gardens

INSIGHT 41

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

Cultivating Cuttings

Andy Whelton presents an overview of how the cut foliage sector is expanding to meet a rising global market

A number of students used a horticulture theme to present their final year projects as displayed at the Design and Degree Show at the National College of Art and Design recently and one particular project caught the eye of HC at that event. Diarmuid Mulligans brief for his final year project was to address a problem that had a special resonance for him as there is a history of arthritis in his family. His research revealed that there are three leading pathways to increase one’s well being; through their community, nature, and positive hobbies. A recurring hobby was gardening, which can become quite painful, and is often neglected by those who suffer from arthritis.

He designed ‘Easy Grow’ to create a way for arthritic patients to garden with the least amount of pain possible. Outputs include a raised gardening bed which has three varied heights to accommodate all users, whilst the joinery of the bed uses a pin-in-hole technique designed to make the assembly arthritically friendly.

Additionally, a set of ergonomic tools eliminate the regular pain acquired when using traditional gardening tools. More at diarmuid96@hotmail.co.uk. ✽

The ALCI has organised a number of one day Invasive Weeds Identification and Control courses with Teagasc at the National Botanic Gardens in midAugust. They follow on from Soft Landscaping training days held there for ALCI members earlier in the year and are part of an ongoing continuous professional development (CPD) programme.

The timing of the courses is particularly apt given the recent media national reportage about the problems caused by Japanese Knotweed and it will enable participants to recognise this and other invasive weeds such as Giant Hogweed, Himalayan balsam, Rhododendron ponticum, Buddleia, Gunnera waterway weeds and more. They will also learn how invasive weeds can be controlled, including methods, timings, programmes and environmental issues. The courses will be presented by Dr Paul Fitters and Dr Michael Gaffney.

Separately, the ALCI and Teagasc are discussing setting up an apprenticeship scheme whereby Teagasc students will take internships with ALCI member companies while still in college to gain practical working experience, benefit from on the job training and help them to further their careers. It is hoped to progress this scheme during the 2016/17 academic year.”. ✽

Outdoor Demonstrations Return to SALTEX for 2016 The organisers of SALTEX have announced that outdoor working demonstrations will be returning to the 2016 exhibition, which will be held on 2 and 3 November at the NEC, Birmingham. The return of this feature will once again provide exhibitors with the opportunity to showcase their products in an outdoor setting. The decision to bring back outdoor working demonstrations was made based on the SALTEX 2015 post-show feedback surveys. Although more than 70% of SALTEX’s 2015 visitors rated their overall show experience as being excellent, the survey also revealed that the show could benefit even further from the addition of outdoor demonstrations. From working demonstrations to new ideas, products and machinery, along with exciting new features and an enhanced education programme, SALTEX 2016 will offer better than ever opportunities for visitors to find the products, advice and support they need. More at iogsaltex.com ✽

Tully Nurseries Presents Extensive Collection and New Varieties at GlAS The team are introducing new to Ireland varieties of Laurel hedging: Prunus laurocerasus ‘Greenpeace’ and Prunus laurocerasus ‘Genolia’.

These are already tried and tested on the continent and have proven to be much hardier, and more importantly, require less maintenance. The collection of shrubs, perennials, grasses and alpines is selected to keep garden centre benches full of colour all year round. They are also excited about a new range of Helleborus exclusively grown in Tully Nurseries for their Irish customers.

The team will be on hand to offer advice and as ever are looking for suggestions of what they should be growing to GLAS STAND meet your #E16 customers needs.

More at tullynurseries.ie ✽

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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01 / NEWS Nangle & Niesen Return to Bloom Nangle & Niesen ventured back into Bloom for the first time in a number of years when they collaborated with garden designer Hugh Ryan on his ‘Well Centred Garden’ in the Phoenix Park. The garden, which featured 65 Himalayan birch supplied by the Cork based tree nursery received a silver award.

Ronan Nangle tell’s HC that their involvement in the garden was to promote that fact that far from being just a regionally based Munster supplier, the business now trades across the 32 counties of Ireland and even further afield into the UK market. More at nangleandniesen.ie. ✽

Exciting Lineup of Speakers on Stage at Plantarium 2016

01 / NEWS The ‘Monty Don Effect’ Increases Visitors to Garden Show Ireland

GLAS STAND #E10

Now in business and expanding for 28 years, the Young family will be showcasing their colourful range of perennials at Glas. Nuala Young tells HC that the aim in 2016 and into the future is to supply garden retailer with ‘Instant ‘Pops of Colour’ for the garden. They will assist garden retailers to extend the plant buying season. The range has been brought together to be easy to care for and low maintenance, which means that the overall range is pest and disease resistant, in keeping with the current trends for garden retailers. ✽

The 2016 Allianz Garden Show Ireland event at Antrim Castle Gardens in May was an again a big success for show director Claire Faulkner and her team. Visitor numbers were up some 30% on previous years. The efforts of exhibitor and designers to produce engaging gardens and trade stands were well rewarded, with trade exhibitors reporting strong sales throughout.

A happy main show sponsor was Allianz’s Damien O’Neill who tells HC that “Allianz is delighted to have supported what was the biggest event in the show’s history, presenting the very best in the world of gardening, food and drink”. It being Northern Ireland’s Year of Food & Drink, the artisan food and drink producers were out in force. More at gardenshowireland.com. ✽

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HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

GLAS STAND #ST7

The team at Dublin Grass will be on hand to answer questions on all machinery lines including their main agencies of John Deere Homeowner, Commercial & Golf Machinery as well as Grillo AgriGarden Equipment, Goupil Electric Vehicles, Kersten Sweepers, Meyer Spreaders and Wiedenmann Terra Spike Equipment. The display at GLAS will include John Deere Ride-on Mowers, Front Mowers and Compact Tractors. They will also be exhibiting a range of Grillo Agri-Garden Products. ✽

Infrastructure Investment & Research Key for Rentes Plants

GLAS STAND #J14

FÁna Nurseries Excited about Showcasing Quality and Variety of Range at GLAS

Fána Nurseries is now a significant Irish grower and supplier of trees and hedging, with over forty acres currently in production. The sizes available range from 6-8 to 30-35cm in girth. Thier main customer base consists of local authorities, landscape contractors and golf courses. Joe Ahern wants to showcase some of this range at GLAS 2016 but will also be trying to convince you to visit the nursery to see firsthand the quality product on offer. Joe and the Fana team are committed to producing a quality product and since 2010 Fána Nurseries has been a proud and certified member of the Bord Bia Quality Assurance scheme. More at fananurseries.com ✽

Photo: koraley northen

It was with great sadness that we shared the news of Kieran Skelly’s untimely passing in the last issue of Horticulture Connected. As an editor of horticultural trade publications for several years I’ve had many opportunities to speak with Kieran on industry matters. In the time since his passing, I have spoken with many of Kieran’s colleagues, and the sense of shock and loss is still palpable.

In any small industry the loss of such a key figure takes a significant toll and he will be missed by all. “I’d known Kieran for almost 20 years,” explained Gary Graham. “In that time I’d gotten to know him well. To respect him. He was a man willing to speak his mind. And in an industry such as ours that is a valuable asset. He was creative, a man with passion, drive and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Someone willing to experiment and innovate, to see beyond the confines of the industry and to keep moving forward. I know I speak for the industry when I extend my sympathies to his wonderful family."

Kieran will be best remembered for establishing K & M Plants Direct with his wife Muriel in Ballyhagen, Carbury, Co Kildare. The nursery, which Muriel continues

to operate, specialises in the supply of garden and landscape plants, while also offering landscape construction services. He will also be remembered for his long serving role as chairman of the Irish Hardy Nursery Stock Association and more recently, for the introduction of the new Irish plant Potentilla ‘Glamour Girl’.

Kieran’s contribution to the industry will be long lasting and his absence notable. He is survived by his wife Muriel and family Lydia, Jerome, Bianca, Mckayla and Dylan, grandson Tadhg, brothers Bernard, PatrickGerard, Frank, David and Donal, sisters Mary (Toomey) and Brenda (Jordan), mother-in-law Sheila, godchild Rebecca, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, relatives and friends. The thoughts of the industry remain with you. ✽

Dublin Grass Machinery Offers Extensive Range of Machinery Options at GLAS

GLAS For 2016 the Rentes family have introduced a new range of larger perennials that have which has been well STAND received by garden retailers across Ireland. The team at Rentes believes a range of plants larger than the usual #A3 industry standard for perennials delivers more colour impact and higher margins for their customers. The existing staple range of calla lilies, lavenders and hydrangeas will also be presented at the show. The process of selecting new varieties for these staple ranges can be very time consuming. Calla lilies, for example, were field tested with 25 new varieties and only the top five made it on to their shortlist for next year.

Ongoing extensive testing with different peat mixes, chemical and biological controls, etc, ensures that Rentes continue to offer the most environmentally friendly product possible, with a significant reduction in the volume of chemical usage being recorded. The nursery has also added three brand new tunnels to meet increasing demand. Meet the team at Glas and find out more at rentes.ie ✽

On Friday 26 August, Plantarium and the Royal Boskoop Horticultural Society will be holding a seminar which focuses entirely on the inspirational plant offerings. Pete Kruger, Director of New Products and Licensing at Star Roses and Plants (USA) will get the day off to a good start at 9am and will be repeating his presentation at noon. In his talk entitled “Plant Breeding Goals in the Future”, Kruger will discuss the opportunities and challenges for breeders and product development in the future. Insights into the ‘green consumer’ will be given.

Chris Hansen, the owner of Garden Solutions (USA) will be presenting his SunSparkler® breeding programme at 10am and 1pm. As well as demonstrating how he tests and selects new varieties, he will reveal which types of marketing activities he uses to focus the attention of growers and the retail sector on his novelties. Plantarium runs from 24 to 27 August 2016 in the Plantarium building at the International Trade Centre Boskoop-Hazerswoude. More at plantarium.nl ✽

Remembering Kieran Skelly

Youngs to Showcase ‘Pops of Colour’ at Glas

Irish Landscape Institute elects a new President Following on from its Annual General Meeting in May 2016, the Irish Landscape Institute (ILI) is delighted to welcome Peter Hutchinson as president for the year 2016-2017.

Peter Hutchinson is a landscape architect and designer based in Belfast, and the recipient of the inaugural Diane Nickels Award for landscape drawing at the ILI Awards 2015. Peter is a long-standing member of the ILI and former chairman of the Landscape Institute Northern Ireland. Speaking at the announcement, Peter said, “I am delighted to be the incoming president of the Institute. Coming from the North, the membership have taken a great leap of faith in nominating me and I am truly honoured to have been elected to the post. Our strength is in our membership. I am a strong believer in a bottom up not top down approach. I want to listen to and learn from them all. As an Institute we need to develop short and long term landscape strategies and create a framework that addresses such important and relevant topics as: green infrastructure; the public procurement process; a scarcity of landscape legislation; further education opportunities; improving standards so that we map a future and a direction for the Institute. The public

awareness and profile of the profession is not as high as it should be so we need to pay more attention to our PR and marketing. As president I will bring my years of experience and breadth of knowledge both in public service and private practice, and use my wide range of connections including links to the Landscape Institute UK. I am looking forward to the year and working with the council, our membership, academic and student body to bring landscape issues more to the fore, give them more attention and access to a wider audience when brought into the public arena.

ILI looks forward to working in closer collaboration with the Landscape Institute NI over the next few years, and plans are underway for an all-island joint conference in 2017. Keep an eye on our events page for details. www.irishlandscapeinstitute.com The ILI Council is also delighted to welcome Kevin Halpenny MILI, who was elected to the office of vice president. Kevin is a landscape architect and senior parks superintendent at Fingal Co Co. ✽

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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02 / EVENTS

Whether you are touching base with your current suppliers, or evaluating new ones, there is no better place to compare ranges, prices and busiiness terms.

Venue: Citywest Hotel, Saggart, Co. Dublin www.glasireland.ie ✽

DON'T MISS

Teagasc College of Amenity Horticulture Open Day Information session for students on Level 5 horticulture courses in other colleges, who are considering progressing to the level 6 Advanced Certificate in horticulture. Information will be available about all core subjects and courses.

Venue: National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9 www.teagasc.ie/events ✽

pLANTARIUM

✽ 05 - 7 OCTOBER

Around 300 exhibitors from various countries will be showcasing a huge range of tree nursery products for the consumer market in pots and containers and as bare-rooted products.

Venue: Plantarium building, International Trade Centre Italiëlaan 4, 2391 PT Hazerswoude-Dorp/Boskoop www.plantarium.nl ✽

International nursery stock trade fair. Nurseries, dealers, manufacturers and subcontractors from machinery and working equipment and many suppliers from the Netherlands and Belgium.

Venue: AJ Zundert, The Netherlands www.grootgroenplus.nl ✽

DON'T MISS

✽ 02 - 03 NOVEMBER

Fancy a blossoming career in horticulture? Are you interested in the environment and the outdoors?

If so, our horticulture courses may be of interest to you.

Tuesday 6 September 2016, 5 to 7pm Venue: ITB Blanchardstown, Blanchardstown Rd North, D15 www.itb.ie/studyatitb/horticulture.html ✽

The UK’s national event for grounds care, sports, amenities, estates and green space management.

From turf care and specialist machinery to landscaping and playgrounds, over 260 exhibitors bring the latest products, equipment and expertise to the NEC Birmingham for two days.

Venue: NEC Birmingham, UK www.iogsaltex.com ✽

SALTEX

✽ 06 - 07 SEPTEMBER

FOUR OAKS TRADE SHOW

Four Oaks is a commercial horticultural show now in its 46th year. Massive displays of plant material form the heart of the show, with associated supplies and services from production to point-of-sale.

Venue: Farm Lane, Lower Withington, Macclesfield, Cheshire,SK11 9DU UK www.fouroaks-tradeshow.com ✽

✽ 12 - 14 SEPTEMBER GLEE

24 - 27 August 2016 Boskoop/Holland Register your visit via the Internet and save yourself time at the entrance.

Glee is the UK's biggest and most valuable garden and outdoor living trade show. Discover the newest products on the market, source unique products for every category and set your ranges apart from your competitors.

Venue: NEC Birmingham, North Ave, Birmimgham B40 1NT, UK www.gleebirmingham.com ✽

✽ 30 SEPTEMBER HTA garden futures HTA Garden Futures conference and gala dinner bring together the key players in the garden industry to consider cutting-edge practice and ideas from business leaders and experts.

Venue: Heythrop Park, Enstone, Oxfordshire, OX7 5UE, UK www.gardenfutures.org.uk ✽

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HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie

BREXIT

– ImpacT on the Horticulture Industry

Groot Groen Plus

✽ 06 SEPTEMBER

ITB HORTICULTURE OPEN Evening

Photo: nerthuz

✽ 06 October

DON'T ✽ 21 JULY MISS GLAS IRELAND

✽ 24-27 AUGUST

03 / BREXIT NEWS

2016 EventS Diary

Mike Neary, manager of horticulture at Bord Bia and UK based independent horticulture consultant, Neville Stein share their thoughts on the potential impacts of Brexit on both sides of the water

T

he UK is Ireland’s most important trading partner for food and beverages taking over 41% of our exports valued at €4.4bn annually. While the domestic market is the most important market for the horticulture industry, UK is a key market for Irish mushrooms, and an important outlet for a range of products from the amenity horticulture sector. In 2015, mushroom exports to the UK were valued at €105m while the exports of amenity horticulture products were valued at €16m, the majority of which were destined for the UK. These are made up of nursery stock (€6m), Christmas trees (€5m) and cut foliage products (€4m). Therefore the recent decision of the UK to leave the EU is a cause for concern to these sectors and this will create challenges in the short, medium and long term.

At this very early stage since the UK referendum, it is impossible to predict the full impact and implications of Brexit.

Even the experts on these matters are saying it may take years for the full and real impact to be known. It is important to remember that the UK is still part of the EU and will remain so for at least another two years as they negotiate their way out of it, which means that full access to the market will be maintained in the meantime. In the short term, feedback to Bord Bia from exporting businesses has highlighted the volatility of the currency as their immediate concern. The ability of businesses to manage this particular challenge will be important and will involve various strategies, for example, currency hedging and negotiation with customers. In the longer term, full access to the UK market will be an issue of concern and the impact of this will only be apparent after the UK negotiations on leaving the EU are agreed. The horticulture industry (as indeed many other industries) will hope that some form of a free trade arrangement between Ireland the UK will be part of any final outcome.

Other areas that will potentially be affected in some way by the Brexit decision will include joint participation and collaboration of industries in both jurisdictions in areas such

as the generic promotions of products in the marketplace and participation in EU recognised producer organisations which currently attract EU aid. In relation to the home market, the biggest threat may come from the availability of cheaper imports that may arise due to a weaker Sterling.

While there is a lot of uncertainty around the fallout from Brexit, it is hoped that the impacts can be minimised with certain factors in Ireland’s favour including close proximity to the market and a long positive trading relationship with the UK market. The mushroom industry has a long track record for delivering quality produce daily into that market (which has a production deficit) and this will continue into the future, driven by the perishable nature of the product. The mushroom and amenity sectors have had to deal with volatile currency situations in the past and this experience will be crucial now in navigating through this new unchartered territory. Bord Bia will work closely with exporting businesses in the horticulture industry over the coming months to provide information, support and assistance in the aftermath of the Brexit, decision. For further information on Brexit, go to www.bordbia.ie or contact your sector manager in Bord Bia.

BREXIT – A view from the other side Neville Stein of Ovation Business Consultants has qualifications and direct experience across a range of horticulture and management domains. He is well known and highly regarded by the Irish nursery stock industry, having provided a consultancy service over many years. While it is still very early days after the Brexit decision, Neville was asked to look into his crystal ball and give his view on what he considers as the potential impact on Ireland from an exports perspective and the impact on the UK industry.

On Irish exports...

"In the short term, there will be no impact on Irish exports to

WWW.PLANTARIUM.NL Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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03 / BRETIX NEWS

03 /BREXIT NEWS

“The Brexit vote might eventually restrict the flow of migrant labour into this labour intensive industry which has for many years relied upon migrant labour to harvest crops” the UK as a result of the Brexit vote. Exporters of horticultural products should continue to explore, pursue and capitalise upon the enormous opportunities there are in the UK horticultural sector - a sector that is currently very buoyant and a significant contributor to the overall economy in the UK, the world's fifth largest economy. The UK and Ireland share a long history of intertrading, some cultural similarities and a common climate. Our proximity and strong links should mean that we can continue to trade effectively but we will both need to work hard together to ensure that new regulations do not limit our ability to move product and services around the two countries freely. Of course, there is some concern that a sustained fall in Sterling might not make euro priced products attractive and therefore exporters

On the potential impact on British industry...

"The decision to leave the EU will undoubtedly bring some insecurity as there are a huge amount of unknowns. We need to work hard to ensure that European markets remain open, free and unfettered by regulations and that we can continue to ensure that there is a free movement of plants around the continent. There is concern that the Brexit vote might eventually restrict the flow of migrant labour into this labour intensive industry which has for many years relied upon migrant labour to harvest crops. This has been particularly important during periods of strong economic growth. So, I see a need for more lobbying to reintroduce schemes such as the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Schemes (SAWS).

It is important to ensure that we remain calm as an industry, don’t accentuate the threats or challenges and stay positive about the prospects for UK horticulture. We don't know what will happen but we need to ensure that our economy continues to prosper, that the relationships we have developed with European partners, suppliers and customers remain strong, open and constructive." ✽

GLAS STAND #E16

over 1000 varieties of plaNts growN for the laNdscape market wide raNge of home growN potted trees aNd hedgiNg plaNts NatioNwide delivery service 5 days a week We are continually innovating and bringing neW products to the market to meet our customers requirements

Come to see us in RiChaRdstown, BallyBoughal, just 5 minutes fRom duBlin aiRpoRt

www.tullynurseries.ie 8

BREXIT: Implications for

will need to look at added value products or at efficiency savings which can be passed onto customers in the UK.

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

Dermot Callaghan, head of horticulture at Teagasc, outlines some of the potential implications of Brexit on Ireland’s mushroom industry

T

he Irish agri-food sector is much more dependent on the UK as a trading partner than is Irish industry in general. From a horticulture producer’s perspective, how Brexit plays out is outside their sphere of influence; growers, producers and exporters can only hope that policy makers and governments will act fast to provide reassurances which will minimise the negative impacts, principal among those being the exchange rate volatility. In the bigger picture, the consequences for Irish horticulture exporters will depend on the policies the UK and Irish governments pursue in the areas of trade, agricultural policy and regulation. At the moment, there are more questions than answers regarding the policy pathways which will be chosen.

With significant capital investment and specialisation in horticultural production in the last decades, trade with the UK is very important and in certain instances are crucial. The most significant sub-sector in the edible horticulture production is mushroom production. The Irish mushroom industry is valued at €140m farm gate and exports approximately 86% of product to the UK. In fact the industry

has built a significant UK market share of over 50% since the 1990s.

Exchange rate volatility, specifically a weak Sterling, has already impacted on the sector in the run up to the Brexit referendum, but since the outcome of the vote, the decline in the fortunes of Sterling has been significant. Producers have long battled with managing volatility, but generally moves in the relative strength of Sterling against the euro would be over a longer timeframe and would represent a trend rather than a shock. Growers and marketing companies would regularly buy their exchange rates forward to manage downside risk. This Brexit driven volatility represents a shock and will impact producers who have not bought forward, or are only buying forward on a short term basis. Ultimately all these forward arrangements come to an end in a matter of months and everyone has to face the realities of reduced prices and making the two ends meet.

Continued political instability in the UK seems to be weakening Sterling further relative to the euro. It is not clear where the leadership in UK policy terms is going to come from.

So what can growers do to mitigate the downside? Producers can only operate within their sphere of influence, which usually equates to what happens

“Producers can only operate within their sphere of influence, which usually equates to what happens inside their farm gate”

inside their farm gate. They will have to look at their cost base and focus on big costs like compost and packaging.

The importance of having a current detailed financial assessment of the business cannot be overstated in order to highlight the costs which have crept up during a more favourable trading environment. The main mushroom marketing companies will have a very important role in optimising the return from the marketplace and ultimately to the producer, albeit a difficult task against a background of intense price competition between traditional UK retailers and the German discounters.

We will have to wait to see what Brexit means in the wider economic context and overall input price inflation.

For example, how will the energy market be affected? It is not clear how Brexit will impact the all island electricity market and the fact that we have one electricity interconnector with Europe through the UK. A similar scenario exists in terms of a gas interconnector.

At the time of writing - one week after the vote - we have more questions than answers. One thing for certain is that the mushroom industry in Ireland is a very resilient, professionally run and forward thinking sector. The businesses that make up this sector have been at the front in terms of innovation and technology adoption and I have no doubt that the reserves of grit and determination which have seen this sector through previous challenges will help it successfully navigate the challenges posed by Brexit. .✽

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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04 / BORD BIA eZine

04 / BORD BIA eZine GroMόr

Salad promotion

Bloom 2016 was the most successful show to date A record attendance of 115,000 visitors attended the show in the Phoenix Park over the five days of the June bank holiday weekend, to experience the diverse range of horticulture and food content that this year’s show had to offer. Despite the large crowds, visitor satisfaction remained very high due to the improved layout and addition of walkways in the ever popular show garden area. The 23 fabulous show gardens, postcard gardens, floral and plant displays, gardening expert stage, plant village and horticulture displays in the food village provided a fitting showcase for the horticulture industry. Shoppers had the grand pavilion, outdoor retail and food village to satisfy their needs again, with horticulture and food content at the core. Post show evaluations are at an early stage but feedback from exhibitors and sponsors has been very positive with many booking space for 2017. The PR and media coverage achieved in the run up to and during the show was extensive (including three TV programme slots on RTE on the opening day of the show) which provided a high profile platform around gardening at a key sales time in the gardening season. ✽

Potato Promotion The EU and industry funded potato promotion campaign (Potatoes – More Than A Bit On The Side) commenced in October 2015 with its first key burst of activity taking place last autumn. These activities included print advertising, digital advertising, developing and promoting social media channels across the campaign, including driving visitors to the campaign website and ongoing PR activities. Some key outcomes of the promotion activity to date include: l Print advertising reach - 257,000 l Potato.ie visitors to date - 102,000 l Facebook interactions - 75,000 l Digital advertising click throughs - 72,000 l New recipes developed – 60

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The second key burst of promotional activity in the campaign is currently running with a similar mix of activities.

Current PR campaign activities and planning are revolving around market research on consumers’ cookery behaviour, new season potatoes arrival on the market in early July and highlighting national potato day which will take place in early October. Aoife Hearne, dietician and nutritionists (known for her role on the popular TV programme Operation Transformation) has been engaged as an ambassador for the campaign and to date she has participated in photo and video shoots, providing promotional assets to use on the campaign website and on the social media platforms.

A promotion of the campaign and its key messages was exhibited at Bloom in the Food Village. ✽

Mushroom Promotion

Young Horticulturist of the Year

The final phase of activity in the “Just Add Mushrooms” three year EU and industry funded mushroom promotion campaign in the UK and Ireland took place in May, and featured the personality Jeff Brazier, who has a good profile with female shoppers in the young target audience. There was print and online advertising, as well as traditional PR activities, with online content created to spread to the over 130,000 Facebook users interacting with the campaign.

Additional activity in the Irish market included print advertising in Irish Country Magazine. An infographic was produced which highlighted the scale of the Irish mushroom market market, which was a useful tool for online media. A Facebook competition was run, new recipes were circulated online, and a new consumer leaflet was designed and launched at Bloom 2016.

A new application for EU funding was submitted in spring and if successful, a three year programme would commence in December. ✽

The Irish final of the 2016 Young Horticulturist of the Year, sponsored

by Bord Bia was held last February.

The overall UK and Ireland final was recently held in the Botanic Gardens where the question master was Dr Matthew Jebb, Director of the National Botanic Gardens.

After 10 challenging rounds, Laurence Wright from the UK’s South East Branch emerged as the winner. Close on his heels were Joshua Stevens (2nd) and Fern Champney (3rd). Laurence won a travel bursary of £2,000, which was sponsored by the Shropshire Horticultural Society. All contestants won prize money and a beautiful limited edition signed print by Irish artist Vera Gaffney. ✽

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

The GroMór gardening promotional campaign continues to roll out across the summer. Building on its inaugural year in 2015, this year has seen the further development of existing activities and the evolution of new initiatives. The campaign which is supported by garden centres (through the REI Garden Centre Group) and nurseries with support from Bord Bia (and sponsorship from Bord Na Móna and Westland) is building up a recognition and presence across key communication platforms for the younger target audience. The integrated campaign includes an in-centre presence with seasonal POS, instore events including talks from the GroMór ambassadors, the revamped campaign website along with active social media platforms, and PR elements to the campaign. Early outcomes indicate growing traffic to the campaign website and an increase in the number of fans and followers on social media along with PR coverage in national and regional print media. The GroMór campaign was also highlighted and promoted in the Bloom supplement in the Sunday Independent at the end of May and in the Bloom pocket guide which is given out free to all visitors to Bloom. ✽

Rare & Special Plant Fair The Rare & Special Plant Fair 2016 returned to Russborough House, Blessington, to celebrate the bicentenary of the RHSI, and with months of forward planning and the experience of hosting the plant fair previously, it was one of the most successful Rare & Special Plant Fairs to date. Underpinned by a strong marketing campaign, the event helped to attract over 4,500 visitors to the estate that day with record numbers attending the Plant Fair. A total of 31 plant specialist nurseries and associated businesses exhibited on the day.

The Rare & Special Plant Fair 2017 will take place at Mount Congreve, Co Waterford. Bord Bia sponsors and assists the organising committee in the organisation of the fair. ✽

In a new initiative and with the assistance of the IFA, Bord Bia and salad producers are partnering in a summer salads promotional campaign to be held from 18 to 24 July which is a time of the year when there is the maximum range and supply of local salad crops available. A logo has been designed to give the campaign an identity and promotional activity will include PR activities, sponsorship of a radio show, a competition in the Irish Farmers Journal and advertising on the MyKidsTime website www. mykidstime.com (with over 650,000 young subscribers).

The aims of the campaign are to promote awareness of the seasonality of Irish salads salads, engage with retailers, and build momentum for more activity next year and beyond. The crops to be covered include tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and peppers. This initiative is being jointly funded by Bord Bia and the salad producers. ✽

National Strawberry Week National Strawberry Week took place from 6 to 12 June. The focus of the 2016 campaign, now in its ninth year, was on in-store activity, with a redesigned onpack label with a competition, providing further engagement with consumers.

Posters and shelf talkers also featured details of the competition, which resulted in increased participation with the week by both consumers and retailers. A set of other activities took place, including a schools competition, radio show sponsorship, advertising in the Irish Farmers Journal, PR activity and online advertising. The winners of the schools colouring competition was rewarded with a great day out at the Zoo, co-hosted by Agriaware. Four further schools that were runners up in the competition each received strawberries for everyone in the class that entered. ✽

Labour Review Bord Bia has recently commenced a review of the labour status in the horticulture industry which will provide an updated estimate of the levels of employment within the industry. One of the aims of the new survey is to gauge what effect the recovering economy will have on the supply of labour. The study will also be looking at some of the upstream and downstream industries that support horticulture and provide further employment. In addition an attempt will be made to put a value on the contribution that horticultural employment makes to local rural economies. The outcomes of the labour review will be available this autumn. ✽

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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05 / TEAGASC eZine

Introduction Welcome to the Teagasc Ezine, a new dedicated section in Horticulture Connected in which we will be bringing you technical updates and news on current and future research, advisory and education activities in Teagasc.

The Irish horticultural industry is an important economic sector in Ireland; the sector encompasses vegetables, fruits, ornamentals, flower bulbs, trees, mushrooms, protected crops and a large amenity service sector including sports turf, landscaping, and garden retail. Within these sub-sectors, Teagasc research, advisory and education support these progressive and dynamic sectors in meeting the challenges ahead and capitalising on the opportunities of the future. Teagasc Horticulture Development Department works directly with these sectors to advance their research agendas

05 / TEAGASC eZine and support their development needs. Teagasc’s two horticultural colleges, the College of Amenity Horticulture at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, and Kildalton College, Piltown, Co Kilkenny, play a major role in horticultural education and training in Ireland. Information on the latest course offerings and educational news will be presented here in current and future issues.

In recent decades, there has been a consolidation in grower numbers across certain sectors. Horticultural sub-sectors are characterised by high levels of specialisation. The increased size of individual operations has led to highly professional production systems and some vertical integration in the supply chain.

Opportunities for development rest with increased technology adoption and innovation around labour efficiency, general input use efficiency and adoption of Integrated Crop Management (ICM) principles. In the face of increasing globalisation and competition, increasing consumer demands around sustainability and quality assured products, growers and producers are constantly striving to harness innovation to maintain competitiveness, and have succeeded in supplying products which are of the highest quality, are nutritious, and are sustainably produced. ✽

Teagasc Horticulture at Bloom in the Park Teagasc horticulture exhibited at the 10th annual Bloom event in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. Teagasc’s two horticultural colleges, the College of Amenity Horticulture at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin and Kildalton College, Piltown, Co. Kilkenny play a major role in horticultural education and training in Ireland. This year the colleges joined with the Teagasc Horticulture Development Department to highlight the value that Teagasc horticultural courses gain through strong links with research, advice and industry training undertaken by the Teagasc horticulture development department.

Teagasc launched two publications at Bloom ‘Stepping Stones to Teagasc education, research and advisory staff at Teagasc Bloom stand a Career in Horticulture’ and ‘Greenhouse Salad Crops- a Guide for Home Gardeners both of which are free to download at www.teagasc.ie/publications.

Louise Jones from the Teagasc College in the Botanics led the design of the Teagasc stand and together with colleagues Leo Finn, Christine Murray, Liam Foy and Philip Dunne put together a gold medal award winning stand for the first time ever at Bloom. Congratulations to all involved. ✽

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

The on-going mushroom research project AgGenes is a DAFMfunded research project that aims to investigate how the commercial mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, breaks down mushroom compost to obtain the nutrition it needs to produce a mushroom crop. The most up to date genomic and molecular tools are being used to investigate the mechanisms underlying compost utilisation, with the ultimate aim of identifying important genes that are associated with high yields. Researchers at Teagasc and Sligo Institute of Technology are conducting genomic analysis of compost, casing and mushroom samples to track changes in compost degradation genes and/or other significant biological pathways/processes throughout the cropping cycle. Once key genes have been identified, researchers will also study how the genes are controlled, and whether different strains of mushrooms have different types of genes.

EPIC trial plantings at Kildalton Horticulture College, Co. Kilkenny

As part of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (2009/128/EC), EU member states are obliged to develop National Action Plans (NAPs) to reduce the impact pesticides have on the environment. Teagasc has commenced a research project EPIC (establishing a platform for IPM in Irish crops) to seek to address these issues. The project is in full swing, and through detailed surveys will establish the potential and limitations of IPM within horticultural crops and determine the potential for current forecasting or risk based IPM strategies,and disseminate best practice at farm level through developing specific IPM best practice guides. ✽

Technical Updates

Events

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Research News

‘Diamonds in the sky’ If you are a brassica grower, the diamondback moth is well known to you as a general pest. They are turning out to be a significant problem this year. They arrived by the truck load in early June and have never been witnessed in such numbers, and so suddenly. Growers reported examining their crops on a Friday with not a moth in sight but by the Monday there were millions of them in their brassica fields.

Everything about diamondback moth is small apart from the damage it does. Small green caterpillars hatch from tiny eggs laid on the underside of the leaf, which rapidly get eaten away leaving characteristic ‘window panes’. They attack all brassicas,

especially cabbage, with the worst damage showing up on York cabbage. The damage stems from the sheer numbers of the insect – every plant in the field can get attacked.

This migratory moth is native to southern Europe and gets carried in on high pressure winds during the summer.

It’s hugely destructive of brassica crops in hot countries and occasionally causes problems here in warm dry summers.

It looks like 2016 could be another 2006, the last time Irish growers were plagued by this unwelcome visitor.

The only way to control this pest is to get in early with an insecticide and spray frequently if pest pressure is high. Use something like Steward, Karate or Sitrine, with high volume of water along with a sticker. ✽

Appointments Teagasc has appointed Dónall Flanagan, as nursery stock/ornamentals specialised adviser, based at the Teagasc Horticulture Development Department at Ashtown, Dublin. He will be working as part of a team of specialised advisers in the Horticulture Development Department. You can learn more about Dónall and how he plans to engage with the sector in his article in the nursery section of this issue.

Grainne McMahon has been appointed as Assistant Principal at the Teagasc Agriculture and Horticulture College, Piltown, County Kilkenny. Grainne will also have responsibility across the campus for areas such as student welfare, access, security and rules and regulations. She completes the management team in Kildalton of College Principal, Paul Hennessy and Assistant Principal Agriculture, Tim Ashmore.

Grainne holds a Certificate in Horticulture from Warrenstown College and went on to qualify from University College Dublin with a first class Honours B.Agr.Sc in commercial horticulture. She completed a Masters in Agricultural Science specialising in turfgrass at UCD, before obtaining a Masters of Arts in Management in Education from Waterford Institute of Technology. ✽

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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05 / TEAGASC ezine

A number of Teagasc delegates attended the 19th ISMS mushroom congress in Amsterdam (May 29 to June 2). It attracted 449 mushroom scientists, students and industry technical representatives and delegates from 49 countries including Ireland. Around 100 scientific papers were presented on topics as diverse as pest and diseases, substrate and composting, nutrition and medicinal aspects, genetics and breeding, and research and innovation. It was a great opportunity for Irish mushroom scientists and students to network with the wider mushroom scientific community and to hear the latest advances on a diverse range of topics.

Irish and British mushroom scientists at ISMS mushroom Congress in the Netherlands The well-known Dutch Mushroom Days International Trade Show was held in its usual venue in Brabanthallen’s-Hertogenbosch from 1 to 3 June, to coincide with the ISMS Congress in Amsterdam. There were 75 trade exhibitors and the event provided mushroom growers and producer organisations with a chance to meet suppliers and to stay up-to-date on all the new developments and technologies within the mushroom industry. Ireland’s Harte Peat Ltd, JF McKenna Ltd, McDon Peat and Sylvan all had stands promoting their businesses to the wider European and world mushroom community. ✽

Photo: Bits and Splits

Dutch Mushroom Days meeting of minds

06 / NURSERY

Demonstrating

Integrated

Pest

Management Dr Michael Gaffney reports on the recent EU workshop ‘Demonstration Farms on Integrated Pest Management’

Teagasc Education Update Teagasc offers full and part time courses in Levels 5 and 6 in both its colleges. The conventional way to enter horticulture is through its Level 5 route, which is a Certificate in Horticulture. Students can then go on to complete the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Horticulture, specialising in landscaping, nursery, sports turf or food production.

There is also an increasing interest in part time programmes. These operate as components of the Level 5 or Level 6 programmes, whereby an applicant can do an individual subject such as plant propagation or plant ID alone. Students could eventually build their components into a major award. For more information on this please contact each of the colleges individually. The colleges run throughout the summer so you can call up anytime and make an appointment to meet staff and discuss course options.

See www.teagasc.ie for a full listing of all our course offerings, or visit us on stand ST18 at Glas 2016. ✽

National Spotted Wing Drosophila Monitoring Programme 2016 In 2008 Drosophila suzukii (Spotted Wing Drosophila, abbreviated to SWD) was detected in three European countries (Italy, France and Spain) as well as in the United States (California). Its presence in the United Kingdom was first recorded in 2012. In August 2015 its presence in Ireland was confirmed, with samples trapped at a commercial fruit growing farm.

D. suzukii, unlike most other Drosophila species has the ability to lay its eggs in ripening and ripe fruit. This is possible due to its serrated ovipositor, which allows it to puncture the relatively hard skin of fruits and lay eggs in them. These puncture wounds become soft and sunken and can also allow secondary pathogens to infest fruit.

Teagasc Horticulture Development Department has developed a monitoring programme to establish the extent and occurrence of SWD on Irish soft and stone fruit farms.

This monitoring is important to the fruit industry for several reasons: (1) It hopes to quantify the extent of the SWD populations in Ireland (2) It acts as an early warning system for growers to help prevent any unnecessary crop damage (3) The data set generated can help support and justify the need for emergency access to insecticides if required (4) Knowledge of the lifecycle and population size of SWD will allow better implementation of control strategies on farms.

A series of workshops has been arranged in the early part of this year with further workshops planned for late 2016.

Stay tuned to the events section of Teagasc website for more information. ✽

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HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

S

ince 2014, growers within the European Union are obliged to grow in an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) compliant manner. Integrated Pest Management (or Integrated Crop Management if you prefer) is a broad definition which covers almost every agronomic decision a grower makes, from seed and variety selection, soil management, crop protection through to harvest. Given the multitude of decisions and variables which are required by growers to achieve an economically viable crop, analysing and deciding which

decisions have the most benefit for the grower, while minimising the overall environmental impact of growing the crop, can be challenging for growers on an individual basis.

This challenge and how to best respond to it was the target of a recent EU workshop in Bonn, Germany, which focused on the concept of IPM demonstration farms.

According to a pre-workshop survey, 11 EU member states run and fund IPM demonstration farms.

What normally happens on a demonstration farm is that a grower or farmer works with a local advisor to implement a limited set

of new IPM techniques. The work is supported by research staff, changes are monitored and the information is fed back to the researchers for analysis. Some of the programmes are extensive, with countries such as France having 1900 participant farms, across a range of arable and horticultural crops. In the main, most countries that run IPM demonstration farms have between three and 60 participants. The DEPHY project, which is a large French project set up in 2010 and spanning 1,900 farms, looks to implement IPM practices on participant farms, but with an emphasis on overall pesticide reduction. The project commenced in 2010 but as yet, has not resulted in an overall reduction in pesticide usage.

This is not a failure of the project;

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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Photo: ronstik

06 / NURSERY

“The aim of Integrated pest management is not to eliminate synthetic pesticides from the crop protection armoury, but to ensure than all other available and economically sensible approaches have been considered before the use of pesticides” the aim of Integrated pest management is not to eliminate synthetic pesticides from the crop protection armoury, but to ensure than all other available and economically sensible approaches have been considered before the use of pesticides. The main driver of pesticide usage was unfavourable weather in 2012 and 2013 which led to an increase in fungicide usage. A similar story emerged at the Danish IPM demonstration farms (seven in total), where again poor weather negated any reduction in pesticide use. These findings point to a lack of available and effective alternatives to synthetic pesticides that face many growers who are keen to implement more comprehensive IPM systems on their farms, but sometimes the alternative control strategies may not exist yet.

The author presenting findings from Irish research to the workshop attendees

We also have to be careful in not confusing Integrated pest management with Pesticide Usage reduction. It is a stated aim of the IPM demonstration farms set up in Denmark, France and Germany to reduce overall pesticide application and where justified this is an appropriate target. However, the single goal of reducing pesticide usage while not fully considering the impact on grower income, the risk of crop failure, the potential for the development of disease and pest resistance and the selection of appropriate and low impact pesticide chemistry should also not be ignored.

It was interesting that the growers involved in viticulture and orchard growing have this year withdrawn from the German demonstration farms, as they felt the focus on pesticide reduction was not compatible with them producing economically viable crops.

How we measure IPM was another focus of many of the presentations. A common measurement of IPM is Treatment Frequency Index (TFI), which means the number of times the growing area can be treated with a full rate application of pesticides per year. This is a crude measurement, as it makes no allowance for the relative toxicity of the substance, nor the subsequent comparative yield of the crop. Therefore growers can be using less environmentally impactful pesticides, but this not being reflected in their TFI score, nor does it reflect

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the fact that across Europe growers can achieve widely different yields per hectare. Therefore it is essential that we develop new ways of measuring pesticide usage that reflects this, but also develop IPM indicators or measurement tools which are not solely focussed on pesticide usage. The Danish advisory service SEGES presented on their IPM points system, which gave a score for all IPM approaches, not just pesticide reduction. Of 394 farms assessed the vast majority scored over 50% making them some way IPM compliant, with rotation, the use of decision support systems and the use of environmentally benign plant protection products being the most common IPM tools used. The system is not necessarily used as a definite measurement, but more so as a target for continual improvement for the grower. Another interesting outcome of the Danish research is that there is a direct correlation between the IPM awareness of growers and subsequent IPM adoption. This highlights the importance, that even if we do not have a series of wide ranging IPM techniques in all crops, there is a value in providing continual knowledge transfer and instruction in IPM, so when new techniques and products are developed they are more likely to be adopted.

From an Irish perspective, our presentation on the Teagasc arable BETTER farm programme and the Department of Agriculture funded project, EPIC (Establishing a Platform for IPM in Ireland) was well received. One of the tools being developed as part of the EPIC project is a survey to measure IPM awareness of growers, which clearly fills a research gap in many European countries. The focus on the importance of measuring the financial impact of implementing IPM was seen as extremely important, as ultimately IPM will only be successful if growers can implement these systems and protect and increase incomes. Notably there was little mention of the role of retailers (and ultimately consumers), in implementing wide ranging IPM systems which needs more consideration and debate. As the ultimate buyer of many Irish horticultural crops, their role in imposing achievable quality standards which are compatible with available IPM systems may be most critical of all. ✽

Dr Michael Gaffney is an entomology and IPM researcher working in the Horticulture Department in Teagasc, having previously worked at the University of Wales, Swansea and at UCD. He leads a diverse research group focusing on crop protection and crop quality issues. He can be contacted at Michael.Gaffney@Teagasc.ie

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

New Advisory, N ew Vision Dónall Flanagan, newly appointed nursery stock advisor, sets out an exciting new vision of how the advisory services will support and strengthen the sector

I

am delighted to have joined the Teagasc Horticulture Development Department at Ashtown, Dublin as specialised advisor to the nursery stock/ornamentals sector. It represents a strong commitment from Teagasc and our new head of horticulture, Dermot Callaghan to this important sector.

Since I started working in horticulture I have met many passionate growers with a real interest in producing quality plants and I look forward to getting to know more growers and see them prosper in the coming years. I will start by engaging with the main stakeholders in the sector to assess what their development needs are. Ultimately this consultation should culminate in a nursery stock/ ornamentals development plan to 2020, which will also detail the research and educational requirements as well as the development agenda.

We are very familiar with the difficulties faced by growers over the last eight years and the economic mood music which has been playing at high volume. However, for many growers there is light at the end of the tunnel; the construction sector is buoyant again and the late spring weather has been very welcome. Many changes in the plant sector have been highlighted in this magazine. My hope is to be able to work with the sector and Bord Bia, to bring focused market analysis and business planning which will help growers take an increasing share of the Irish plant market and also continue to make inroads in the UK. Detailed market intelligence and analysis needs to be developed and shared with growers.

The traditional role of the advisor has been to meet growers on site, and walk the crops etc. The need for technical advice remains unchanged but the means of gathering and sharing new information have greatly increased the efficiency with which that information can be shared, demonstrated and bedded in. We are in a sector where highly educated and trained nursery men and women are the norm and one to one meetings are less critical.

Comments that have been expressed in Horticulture Connected and at stakeholder meetings frequently mention a

need to work together. I would like to see discussion groups, which are used very effectively in other sectors, developed for our sector. I hope to harness all the relevant resources within Teagasc, to add value to this sector and support producers and growers. Customer demand is changing; time saving gardening options, pre-grown hedges and preselected plant mixes are common place. Councils are seeking to protect themselves from future tree diseases by planting using the 10:20:30 model.

As witnessed at this summers’ HTA National Plant Show in UK, new products lines are in high demand. They are produced to meet the changing needs of consumers, such as shorter, more floriferous, disease resistant perennials, gardening in compact spaces, growing fruit on patios, longer flowering times, perennials as disposable seasonal planting.

With few breeders in Ireland we need to increase exposure and ease of access to new products for Irish growers. Some of these lines will give growers the opportunity to maximise opportunities for market segmentation and differentiate themselves from the competition.

The industry has transformed greatly over the last 10 years. I am hoping that by working with you in the coming years it will become more robust, and that there will be more cooperation and use of the available supports will be maximised.

2017 will be busier for most of us - prepare for staff and skills requirements. If you are planning to take on students, promote your nursery placement to colleges this September for students next spring. Address practical issues such as transport, working hours and accommodation.

Both Teagasc horticulture colleges offer part time training options for plant production skills: November to March in the National Botanic Gardens and January to May in Kildalton College.

More at www.teagasc.ie/education.

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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06 / NURSERY Nursery sector news The warm weather in early summer helped general nursery sales and bedding in particular. Outdoor potting was favoured by the warm weather and plants needed little extra protection.

The recent HTA Plant Fair in Stoneleigh, UK was an important event for new plant launches and meeting garden centre buyers. The event is almost entirely plant focused.

Kildare Growers and Kelly’s Nurseries both exhibited, with some Irish buyers there over the two days. The mood was good at the show. Some exhibitors suggested that attendance was low, but perhaps the looming Brexit referendum contributed to the lack of certainty around purchases.

A pilot programme entitled Responsible Sourcing Scheme for Growing Media was launched by the Growing Media Association (GMA) and the Horticulture Trades Association.

This tool, developed over five years, uses a traffic light system to illustrate whether growing and components mixes are good, fair or poor. Sustainable growing media remains an important issue in the UK as 2030 was targeted for the elimination of peat from growing media. See https://hta. org.uk/committeesgroups.html for details. A few seminar presentations identified how interested gardeners and plant enthusiasts can help in finding new plant varieties. The RHS has a system in place to help join growers and gardeners, and Thompson & Morgan have a financial reward system. ✽

Kildalton College

Piltown, Co. Kilkenny

The Teagasc plant diagnostics laboratory in Ashtown offers plant disease identification services to growers. Samples can be sent by post or given to an advisor for analysis.

When selecting samples, select representative material, include whole plants where possible, send to arrive on a weekday, not on the weekend. Full details should be included, i.e. plant name, symptoms, location, treatment etc.

Speed of results vary depending on ease of diagnostics, culturing and analysis requirements. Some results will be same day, others can take up to two weeks. See www.teagasc.ie for further details.

Dόnall Flanagan, a native of the Dublin mountains, has been teaching with Teagasc since 2007.

He has been a part of the Teagasc Sustainable Use Directive working group for the last year.

Telephone: 01-804 0204 Fax: 01-804 0212, Outlook number: 076-100 1171 Email: donall.flanagan@teagasc.ie

College of Amenity Horticulture

OPEN DAY

Thursday, 6th OCTOBER 2016 1pm - 4pm (Tours ongoing)

Helping people establish careers in horticulture for 45 years

• • •

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Kildalton College has an extensive horticultural unit for student training, including a commercial nursery, fruit and vegetable production unit, protected crops and sportsturf units, as well as 16 hectares of established gardens and woodlands.

For further information: Email: Kildalton.college@teagasc.ie Website: www.teagasc.ie/training/colleges/kildalton/ Facebook: Teagasc-Kildalton-College Telephone: 051 644400 or 051 644407

18

Horticultural Health Check

e e r in Horticulture . . .

A Ca r Teagasc are proud to have new state of the art classrooms and drawing studio to support the learning of the next generation of Horticulturalists in the National Botanic Gardens.

College of Amenity Horticulture Teagasc, National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9 Principal: John Mulhern | Phone: 01 8040201 Email: botanic.college@teagasc.ie

GLAS STAND #ST18

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

Independent consultant and Horticulture Industry Forum Coordinator, Stiofán Nutty, diagnoses some serious horticultural health problems and how the Forum is tackling them

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he Horticulture Industry Forum (HIF) has continued to make progress, particularly in the areas identified in its Action Plan. The below cost selling of fresh produce continues to be a major issue for the Forum. During the extended period taken to form the new government, the HIF compiled a ‘Health Check’ report on the horticulture industry. The report outlines the major impact that below cost selling is having on producers, threatening their viability and so posing a real danger to Ireland’s food security. Other EU countries are tackling below cost selling and the report suggests measures that can be taken by the new Irish government to help alleviate this critical issue. ‘Health Check’ also outlines the significant economic potential of the horticulture industry in Ireland. The report notes the jobs and major export possibilities which could be delivered by the industry, given fair trading conditions. In addition, the report outlines how Irish grown fresh fruit and vegetables can improve public health and play a central role in the fight against obesity.

HIF, led by Chairman Brian O’Reilly, has met with the new Minister of Horticulture Andrew Doyle TD and the agriculture spokespersons of the major opposition parties to provide them with an advance briefing on the report before it is publicly circulated in the coming weeks. “Given the new

political reality in the 32nd Dáil, it is imperative that HIF briefs all the main political players on the potential of this industry,” states Brian O’Reilly. The great potential of this industry to provide more rural jobs, increase exports and play a central role in the fight against obesity can only be unlocked if the growers still in production can secure a fair price for their produce that provides them with an adequate living and a capacity to re-invest in their businesses.”

The HIF has also begun to engage with policy makers in the retail market to explore how the trading relationships between growers and retailers can be improved on a collaborative basis and made more sustainable in the coming years.

HIF is also building its PR capacity and a new website for the Forum www.hif.ie is currently under construction. The HIF intends to use this resource to help disseminate salient information on the horticulture industry, which would be of interest to growers, government, state agencies, retailers and the public. The website will also act as a focal point for promotional campaigns in the future. As HIF builds its PR capacity it plans to reach out and connect with more of the growers in the sectors represented on the Forum. In addition, HIF hopes to open dialogue with all other sectors in the wider horticulture industry to explore greater collaboration in advancing the fortunes of all. ✽

StiofÁn Nutty has been involved in commercial horticulture for nearly 30 years. In that time he has built an expansive experience and knowledge base across the horticultural spectrum. He has owned and operated a nursery business, an award winning garden centre, worked extensively in education and TV and was appointed as Special Advisor to the Minister for Food and Horticulture Trevor Sargent. In 2010 he was appointed as Special Advisor to the Minister for Sustainable Transport, Horticulture, Planning and Heritage Ciaran Cuffe. In the past three years Stiofán has facilitated and moderated eight European conferences in Brussels. In 2015, he was appointed as Coordinator of the Horticulture Industry Forum.

Photo: nito

06 / NURSERY

07 / RETAIL

07 /RETAIL

Same Independent retail consultant, Liam Kelly explores why retailers need to be wary of trends toward retail homogeneity

C

onsidering the year that’s in it and how the word ‘independence’ is thrown around in newspaper articles, on social media and in everyday conversation, I find it ironic that retail is increasingly heading towards a world where every main street, shopping centre and retail park has the same clatter of stores selling the same products, merchandised in the same way, and at the same prices.

This is hardly a new phenomenon and it’s one that has been documented by brighter minds than mine, and is surely a subject for discussion by the retail sector as a whole before everywhere becomes Anytown, Ireland.

But my core focus is of course the garden retail sector and although there are a few garden centre chains spread across the country selling the same products in their stores - albeit not every store within a group has the same standard with regard to merchandising, quality or customer service - my focus is on the independent garden centres.

And it is here that I see a definite creep towards ‘same stock, different store’ - to paraphrase a well know saying.

It has become increasingly noticeable that there can be an 80% overlap in the products that most garden centres stock compared to their closest rival, with one or two exceptions.

This is of course entirely logical, as the better producers and suppliers who are at the top of their game from a quality, stock levels, price and order/delivery standpoint, quickly become the go-to suppliers for a particular product. From plants to containers, compost to garden care, furniture to bird care, barbecues to garden ornaments, and a host of other products, garden centres are all becoming temples for the ‘best practice’ suppliers of this country, and those beyond our borders to an increasing degree.

This is hardly a bad thing in many ways, and is certainly less of an issue for those with a large catchment area and little competition. The issue is, where will it stop? As customers travel more and see more, do they become jaded by this homogenous world we are creating? Personally I feel we are beginning to see this already along with the whispered remarks by customers who say, ‘Oh, it’s very like such-andsuch garden centre, isn’t it?’

I’m sure everyone has heard that said, although many don’t see it as a problem.

The danger is that garden centres have become justifiably complacent about from whom and from where they purchase. They don’t look for new suppliers or stock because their existing ones have made it so easy for them. This attitude could surely kill innovation and uniqueness, albeit with increased efficiency and profits in the short term.

Poorly run wholesale nurseries and other garden centre

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suppliers must take a great deal of the blame for this sameness too, as they make it very easy to not buy from them due to poor quality, outdated buying/logistic systems and their, ‘Ah well it’ll be grand’ attitude. For example there are a great many plants being sourced from outside the country because many Irish nurseries don’t have webshops, consistency or the efficiency of their UK or continental counterparts, or the willingness to work together to make things easier for the plant purchasers in garden centres. There is more irony in the fact that many of the garden centres who are perceived to be the biggest proponents of Irish plant promotion source huge amounts of what they sell from outside the country. A subject for another article perhaps.

So, what can be done about this potentialslippery slope that garden centres are now on? Well lots really, but let's look at three.

Educate your suppliers to best practice Suppliers – especially nurseries – need to be convinced by retailers of the need to up their game. They need to be aware that being proficient at one aspect of their business is no longer enough. There was a time when quality plants were all that was needed to drive sales but now retailers – driven by their customers’ needs - want large information labels, coloured pots, barcoding, efficient ordering/delivery systems, season-relevant stock, etc. Many wholesale nursery managers should get out of their polytunnels and into the garden centres they hope to supply, to work for a day or two in the places where plants are sold to the end user.

Talk to customers, talk to salespeople, and interact with the business they wish to sell to, look at how a best practice nursery operates from order, to goods inward, to shopping trolley. There are many good growers in the country who are let down by their inability to recognise a garden centre’s needs and those of the end customer, as well as the frankly ham fisted way they market themselves and their products.

The same applies to all other product suppliers too. Retailers need to work with wholesalers to make sure that the buyers in garden centres have a better selection of providers that they can depend on in order to be more diverse in what they offer.

their following or because they are leaders in their sector, but these are very few in reality. The garden centre’s brand should be on all POS information and signage as reinforcement to the customer of where they are shopping. This ties in with product rebranding too, which can become a shady practice when you are rebranding a product just for the sake of it.

Should own-brand compost, for example, be a reformulated mix and not just what others sell at a lower or higher price?

Should own-brand furniture be exclusively designed for you and not just a rebadged set that sells under a different name elsewhere?This leads us down the road of ethics in retailing.

Yet another area for further discussion.

Be proactive when planning and purchasing Being different requires effort, as buyers need to set aside time away from those easy-to-order-from webshops and look at what could make their garden centres different in the eyes of the customer. For example, a focus on locally produced products would be a great shop-within-a-shop or plant category, and is an area that few garden centres exploit.

Consider the way the food sector has started to be revived and improved by the emergence of a focus on the word ‘local’.

From cheese, to craft beer, to breads, to preserves and a

plethora of other consumables, the public has started to grasp the concept that local is better, and many restaurants now tout the concept that all their produce comes from within a certain radius of the business. This idea can’t be directly applied to a garden centre but the basics of the local product concept can be expanded upon to suit what you sell and can be positioned prominently to mark you out as different. The beauty of this is that most garden centres could do the same thing and still end up with a host of different and unique products.

Those are just a few ideas but there are many other approaches to changing how the customer perceives the products you stock, such as creative merchandising, contract growing, exclusive deals, etc. Balance is the key for garden centres, using existing suppliers while coaching others who have a good product but poor business or marketing sense, as well as always being on the lookout for something new Customers can easily tire when faced with the same stock time after time. Unlike other retail business such as supermarkets they don’t expect 80% to be the same as a similar store and 20% different. They expect the opposite, whether the difference is real or perceived.

Remember that customers want to be inspired, wowed and enticed. So don’t be just any garden centre; be a unique one. ✽

Liam Kelly was general manager of one of the largest garden centres in the country, where he was instrumental in transforming it into a large lifestyle store. He established Retail Services & Solutions in 2007 and has since worked with many garden centres, nurseries and hardware stores in Ireland. He has experienced every aspect of garden centre work from maintenance to sales, and purchasing to management. Contact: 086 822 1494, lksolutions@eircom.net,

GLAS STAND #E10

Specialist Perennial Growers Y 28 years in business Y Multiple Award Winning Nursery Y Bord Bia Awards ‘Grower of the Year’

Award Winning Wholesale Nursery Specialising in Perennials Alpines, Herbs and Grasses

Inflict your Brand on the Customer Self-branding is another area where garden centres can be pretty poor. They will proudly flash brands that mean nothing to their customer just because they have a banner or point-ofsale sign from a supplier. There are of course certain brands that need to be specifically mentioned or highlighted due to

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

Joe & Nuala Young, Young Nurseries Ltd. Ballinanima, Kilfinane, Co.Limerick

tel: 063 91035 l fax: 063 91500 email: info@youngnurseries.com w w w. y o u n g n u r s e r i e s . c o m

08 / DESIGN

08 / DESIGN

Irish Insight

Landscape Architect, Bloom gold medal winner, and president of the Garden & Landscape Designers Association, Patricia Tyrrell shares her views and insights on Bloom’s 2016 show gardens

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loom in the Park celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. Having launched during the boom years with some big budget gardens gardens, it managed to survive the ‘make-do-and-mend’ period where the public learned to create gardens on a budget. There is a feeling in the air at the moment that things are getting better and it was definitely evident in the positive atmosphere at Bloom, not just because the sun came out to join the celebrations for the entire weekend.

A wonderful variety of quality gardens were on show, ranging from formal to natural, and from conceptual to very earthy. It was really impressive.

Bloom follows closely after the Chelsea Flower Show, the London Fashion Week of the gardening world.

Some would hold the opinion that what we see on the catwalks and in the show gardens is not relevant to the ordinary person. However, designers look to these shows for new elements, materials and trends, ways of pushing the boundaries of design principles, exploring man’s relationship with the garden and giving us fresh perspectives on design. Over the years Irish designers have brought these

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ideas to Bloom: the cube garden house, coloured render, corten steel, still black pools, clipped box, meadow inspired perennial plantings, and many new varieties of plants and ways to include them in our gardens.

It is interesting to keep abreast of the trends, but in garden design it is also vital to be true to the place and your own vision. When you create a show garden you need to be true to the concept and completely immersed in what you are creating.

At Chelsea 2015 Dan Pearson recreated the slightly-gone-wild elements of Chatsworth Garden in Derbyshire. It was a beautifully atmospheric space which evoked joy and nostalgia in equal measure. For me, this was an example of everything a show garden should be: original and completely true to the concept, not influenced by fashion, the litmus by which others might be judged.

There was one such garden at Bloom. Barry Kavanagh’s ‘Across Boundaries’ garden won the People’s Favourite and the Designers Favourite awards. Designed to demonstrate the positive effects of farming on the lives and health of people in the health and social care services, it also had positive effects on those who viewed it. It was

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

lovely to just stand and look, absorbing the bigger picture and all the small and perfect details that gave it atmosphere and interest. I loved the kissing gate and the traditional field gate, both once an integral part of the Irish rural landscape, where each locality had a variation depending on the style of the local blacksmith. The whole garden was enclosed in a mossy, ferny wall of local Irish stone complete with a stile. It felt like a real place, with a timeless quality.

The planting consisted of mostly native species. Juncus effusus (such a wonderful accent plant) was used to great effect to frame and control your visual exploration of the scene. Bright and beautiful patches of Lychnis and Leucanthemum greeted you at the gate – it was just magic! The species rich meadow brought back childhood memories of picking cowslips in small fields. There were other references to the past in the remains of farm equipment, a milk churn and an abandoned cartwheel against the corrugated iron shed. The scale and proportion of the spaces and elements were created with an artist’s eye.

The award for best concept garden went to UCD’s ‘Evolution of Land Plants’ garden, another example of a

FROM LEFT: Andrew Christopher Dunne's SAVILLS GARDEN, Liat Schurmann's TARZAN GARDEN, TÜNDE SZENTESI GARDEN, Hugh Ryan garden, Photos: koraley northen

garden where shared passions and a strong concept made for a memorable and atmospheric space. The planting was beautifully carried out and the repetition of the ecological niches, with an ever expanding variety of plants, gave the whole a dynamic feel. A wonderful opportunity for Bloom too, to have a garden that was so educational. The garden seemed to literally buzz with interest. I also loved the corten laser cut panels which were cleverly reflected in the pools and added so much atmosphere to the space.

Best in show and the overall best large garden category awards went to Alan Rudden for his ‘Santa Rita Living La Vida 120’ garden, a celebration of the rich history, culture and heritage of the Santa Rita vineyards, winery and park in Chile. It had a wonderful Mediterranean feel, strongly redolent of holidays spent in warmer climes, the sun over the weekend playing a supporting role. Beautifully finished, I loved the proportion of the spaces and particularly the indoor/outdoor feel of the dining area. The Acacia trees placed in this area were a particularly nice touch.

The planting at the front was a nice homage to James van Sweden’s drought tolerant planting at Sonoma, California, consisting of olive trees, Agave and Nassella tenuissima, particularly beautiful when they caught the evening light.

The planting was mostly Mediterranean - olives, rosemary, thyme and citrus.There was a missed opportunity here to employ more Chilean plants in the garden, to transform it from a villa anywhere in the Mediterranean world to a distinctively Chilean garden. The vineyard connection was also quite weak with just a small group of vines at one end that looked unresolved in their location.

Another gold medal winning garden in the large garden category was Andrew Christopher Dunne’s ‘Face to Face’ Savills garden. Its aim was to reconnect us with our environment and with each other. Brave and bold in scale, with a very large rectangular dark pool of still water, the predominant materials corten steel and a long granite wall, also bound gabion-like in steel. The chief qualities of corten steel are its monolithic appearance, fine texture and warm rusty orange/brown tones. Though the planting had been carried out faultlessly, the choice of fine textured woodland

style planting lacked depth and tended to flatten the scene.

The overall pale colour scheme also failed to make the garden sing. Big and bold was needed here, to ground the garden and give it depth. Lots of of textured greens, deep coppery tones and some warm echoes of the rusty steel colours would have worked well.

Feelings of serenity and connectedness were shared themes through many of the gardens. The challenge in this is producing a strong and memorable space from a very broad concept or ideal. Hugh Ryan achieved this through symbolism and a minimalist approach which created a memorable space that could easily be incorporated into a bigger garden or park. Fiann Ó Nualláin’s ‘Tao of Now’ reducing stress and healing garden, also achieved his concept through simple but strong symbolism. The seat was a hand held out, which simultaneously combined a feeling of movement and calm.

Mental health was also to the fore in Padraic Woods’s ‘Sharing the Load’ garden, with the strong concept of a seesaw and a tunnel, representing the emotional seesaw that is part of depression and mental health issues. Sponsored

by St John of God Hospital, Stillorgan, the garden is to be reconstructed there. It will be interesting to see this garden on a bigger scale and site where it will have a greater impact.

There was a particular focus on planting this year by the Bloom judges, as this was an area identified as being weak in previous years, with potentially a prize for the best planting in 2016. Historically, Irish designers seem disinclined to take planting seriously and rather than design their garden holistically with a focus on both the hard and soft elements, the planting tends to become an afterthought.

The prize for best planting and the best overall winner in the medium garden category went to James Purdy for his ‘Podscape Garden’, a beautiful tapestry of Deschampsia, Briza, Geum, Mellica and Orlaya. James’ garden used a ‘matrix’ style planting, which repeats a desirable pattern. A different matrix was used at the back in the shadier areas areas, where ferns and foxgloves were used. From a distance it looked stunning, the colours of red and white working really well with the deconstructed black cube, though close

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

08 / DESIGN

“Why are designers still enthralled with birch, as if it were the only suitable small tree available?

Perhaps Bloom organisers should consider banning it for a year – just for fun!” up the constant repetition left little for the eye to rest upon.

The colour combination and the airy feel of the grasses were lovely, but the ‘look’ would not have lasted more than a week or two as the Geum and Deschampsia started to bulk out. I think too the Mediterranean annual Orlaya, which loves to seed itself in the gritty arid soil around olive groves and vineyards, might not have liked hanging out for too long with the Geum and Deschampsia, both of which need moist rich soil to grow well.

There were lovely colour schemes in the planting in Tünde Szentesi’s ‘Garden of Hope’. These were hard to appreciate though, as an invasion of bright pink elements distracted from the detail. The sponsors should really allow the designers to convey the message of the garden rather than have too much of their own material and symbolism present.

Liat and Oliver Schurmann of Mount Venus Nurseries had two gold winning entries in the small garden category, both demonstrating the Schurmann’s breadth of design skills.

The Tarzan garden was a perfect example of what can be done to create atmosphere and depth with plants alone.

Rhododendron, Aralias, Schefflera, Astilboides tabularis and ferns, to name but a few, combined in texture and shades of green to give the impression of looking deep into a jungle from above. Some mossy timber, some tiny gorillas and a little dry ice and water and an occasional appearance by Tarzan himself made the space truly theatrical.

The Schurmanns other small garden ‘The Designers Backyard’ was a study in elegant detail. New planting combinations and gems could be discovered by looking through the various openings and windows into the garden. In addition to gold, it won the best overall small garden award.

Planting was also to the fore in the garden for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin, designed by Kieran Dunne and Anthony Ryan and sponsored by Kildare Growers. So many beautiful specimens were here and it was refreshing to see more trees and shrubs used in the design. Unfortunately it had a very overplanted feel. It was hard to appreciate the beauty of individual specimen plants properly.

There was a tendency amongst all the gardens to put specimen trees to the back or sides or swamp them with uncomplimentary planting which negates the whole purpose of a specimen, which is to show off and be celebrated.

There also seems to be a fear of framing, by placing trees or specimens to the front where they control and give depth to the views into the garden.

Why are designers still enthralled with birch, as if it were the only suitable small tree available?

Perhaps Bloom organisers should consider banning it for a year – just for fun! There are so many plants and planting combinations to choose from. The scope for creativity is endless and yet the same plants and combinations come up year after year. I don’t think that the nurseries can really be entirely blamed for lack of variety as most plants can be

sourced with a little early planning.

It was good to see an increased use of sculpture in the show gardens but in similar vein to the planting, they tend to be an afterthought, rather than being given the careful placing they require. In the ‘Sculpture in the Parkland’ garden by Ingrid Swan and Ruth Liddle, there were so many covetable pieces that they spilled out into the surrounding area without a garden to cherish them. There were some lovely pieces here and elegantly designed seating that one could have designed a whole garden around.

The trend towards more local materials is an encouraging one. I have long felt the use of stone brought from halfway around the world to be not only very unsustainable, but aesthetically jarring on the eye, as it generally doesn’t fit in with our mild and misty island. Local granite and Valentia stone and Cavan sandstone were an encouraging sign for future Blooms.

Also encouraging were the seeds of a more Irish design style, sown by Barry Kavanagh. We can look elsewhere for ideas, but inspiration should come from within ourselves. ✽

Patricia Tyrrell, is a landscape architect, garden designer, horticulturist and gold medal winner. She can be contacted via her website at www.living-landscapes.com

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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09 / IN PICTURES

09 / IN PICTURES

BLOOM 2016

Image from Yi Garden during the visit of Mary Mitchell O'ConnoR TD, Minister of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Andrew Deeks) PHOTO: NICK BRADSHAW

TÜNDE SZENTESI in her 'OUT the OTHER SIDE GARDEN OF HOME' PHOTO: Nick Bradshaw

GOLD MEDAL WINNER, BARRY KAVANAGAH IN HIS 'Across Boundaries' GARDEN; PHOTO: Koraley Northen

Gary Graham, Andrew Doyle TD and Ross Carew, ALCI Photo: Nick Bradshaw

Paul Woods of gold medal winner Kilmurry Nursery, Photo: Nick Bradshaw

designer Hugh Ryan, in his Garden 'Well Centered'; PHOTO: Gary O' Neill

RACHEL DOYLE & Nicole Foley (ARBORETUM HOME & GARDEN HEAVEN )

RUTH LIDDLE (GARDEN SCULPTURES)

Sharon Bergin of Hughes Roses PHOTO: Nick Bradshaw

Chicago Park District- Thomas Contanza, Peggy Stewart, Matthew Barrett, Gavin Crowle; PHOTO: Koraley Northen

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

michael harford (keelings flowers)

BRONZE WINNER Padraic Woods FOR HIS 'Sharing the Load' Garden; PHOTO: Koraley Northen

NICOLA HAINES & DR CAROLINE ELLIOT KINGSTON FOR THE UCD EVOLUTION OF LAND PLANTS GARDEN

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Brian Burke in GOAL's 'Damascus Courtyard garden - War and Peace; PHOTO: Nick Bradshaw

Kieran Dunne, Ciaran O'Brien, Andrew Doyle TD(Minister of State at the DepT of Agriculture) & Valerie Murray AT THE Kildare Growers SHOWGARDEN; PHOTO: NICK BRADSHAW

Oliver & Liat Schurmann in their TARZAN GARDEN, PHOTO: Koraley Northen

Sofi Dosa, SILVER WINNER FOR HER 'BLURRED LINES' GARDEN; PHOTO: Koraley Northen

Frank Byrne & Aileen Muldoon Byrne of Boyne Garden Centre; PHOTO: Nick Bradshaw

Photos BY: JOSEPH BLAIR

On its 10th birthday, Bloom broke visitor records with an attendance of nearly 115,000 and has become one of Europe's biggest horticulture festivals. The sun shone brightly for five days as Ireland's horticulture community showcased the best of both our ornamental and edible sectors. Gold medals were also awarded in record numbers, and as some designers lamented “never again” we all know that they will of course be back next year. ✽

Tony Lowth, Guerilla Composter & Founder at OurFarm.ie

Dessie Harrington, Social Farmer & Leading member of the build Team for 'Across Boundaries' GARDEN

PAT MC CORMACK, COLM BRENNAN & Paul Giles (SaP LANDSCAPES)

HELEN GROGAN, LINDA MURPHY & MARGIE PHILLIPS (Teagasc GOLD MEDAL WINNERS)

MICHAL SLAWSKI, MOYA, PADDY COURTNEY (DIGGER DINER) MUIREANN & FIONA KIRK CALLAGHAN

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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GARDEN SHOW IRELAND The show has grown nicely into its new home at Antrim Castle Gardens. This year was a celebration, not just of gardening but also of food, as the show embraced and celebrated the Northern Ireland Year of Food & Drink 2016. ✽

Photos BY: JOSEPH BLAIR

09 / IN PICTURES

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00 / XXXXXXXXX

10 / LANDSCAPE

The Oldest Landscape

Rocker in Town Terry O’Regan takes a break from the dance floor to report on the 21st National Landscape Forum

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hose of you who have turned 40, 50 or even 60 years will have attended a few weddings and as the celebrations turn to overly loud music and songs that you might have danced to a generation ago, the anaesthetic effect of too much alcohol might tempt you take to the dance floor and imagine you are graceful and sexy all over again. If the event has been recorded on video or smartphone you would be well advised to plead that you have an urgent appointment rather than witness your ‘oldest rocker in town’ senior moment.

A version of such a senior moment hovered at the back of my mind last year when I decided to convene the National Landscape Forum in the National Botanic Gardens. Had my time as a landscape rocker passed me by? Could I inject the required energy and commitment into the process? I passed the test last year and the forum not only survived, it demonstrated that all generations share an enthusiasm for good landscapes and good governance.

A few days ahead of this year’s National Landscape Forum on 9 and 10 June in University College Cork, Michael Viney accorded me the nom de plume of ‘veteran campaigner’. I am a shade more comfortable with that than with ‘the oldest landscape rocker in town’.

This year’s forum marked a coming of age for the interactive event as it is 21 years since I convened the first such forum in June 1995. This significant turning point was marked by a new maturity in the structure of the forum and a partnership with the Centre for Planning, Education & Research in UCC. The two-day programme featured a morning of workshops when cross-generational, cross-disciplinary and even a

cross-cultural groups of people engaged enthusiastically and critically with the framework of landscape management in Ireland. Was it a morning of knocking and begrudgery? Not at all! Yes there was sharp criticism, but credit was given for the achievements of our practitioners and public servants and there were many proactive suggestions and recommendations, all of which were presented at the plenary session the following day. Study tours through the older parts of the city centre and the extensive environs of Cork Harbour provided rich subject matter for discussion and debate and some landscape assessment exercises.

Friday brought the more established forum fare of short intense presentations and really challenging discussions drawing on the presentations and the workshop reports. There appeared to be consensus that landscape was still an afterthought with most projects, introduced to the design process when it could have little impact on the fundamental landscape blunders of other disciplines and no disciplines. There was agreement that training and education needed to be extensively undertaken across all relevant disciplines.

Once again, the old bones of contention (the still-draft 2001 Landscape Guidelines) were chewed over and spat out.

I suggested in response to this reflux-inducing exercise that it was time that we the people produced alternative guidelines as a proactive confrontational initiative. This suggestion was well received and may progress further.

But listening to the final stages of the forum discussions, a war plan began to simmer in the soup of my declining grey cells.

Could it be the case that landscape would never break into the big time? Could it be that it would never realise the vision at the

“There appeared to be consensus that landscape was still an afterthought with most projects” 30

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

heart of the European Landscape Convention? Could it be that in time honoured Irish ‘hurler on the ditch’ fashion we would crib away year after year until even we lost interest in landscape?

I realised that no matter how good the landscape forum became it would never draw the landscape deniers to its gatherings. So when the uninformed masses won’t go to the landscape mountain, the landscape mountain must be brought to them.

My provisional big picture thinking for next year is that the 2017 forum should be identified as the Year of Ireland’s Landscape, with June designated Ireland’s 2017 ‘Month of Landscape’ – book-ended by Bloom at the beginning of the month and the Landscape Forum at the end and filled with other landscape related. events and projects.

What I have in mind with the Year of Ireland’s Landscape would be to encourage organisations representing planners, engineers, architects, farmers, hill farmers wind farm developers, utility companies, hillwalkers, environmentalists and more besides to have designated sessions on landscape at their annual events as envisioned by the European Landscape Convention and the National Landscape Strategy.

For all of this we need to identify a panel of speakers, a representative steering group, a management team and funding.

It would not require a very large budget or indeed a very large team, but LAI certainly could not do it alone.

But once and for all such an approach across the board might

fix the concept of landscape in the wider society mindset, and set the scene for a balanced respected integration of landscape into all decisions and projects into the future.

Hopefully that day will dawn before you see a gravestone bearing the words ‘Here lies the Oldest Landscape Rocker in Ireland’! ✽

Terry O’Regan B Agr Sc Hort (hons), FILI, MIoH, founder of Landscape Alliance Ireland, has served the landscape industry in Ireland for some 45 years and advanced the intent and aims of the European Landscape Convention for some 20 years; he now divides his time between providing landscape consultancy services in Munster and working as a Council of Europe international landscape and heritage expert in Kosovo. He continues to promote and refine his jargon free landscape circle methodology and is currently leading a pilot study on its use at local and regional administrative levels in Kosovo. The LAI website will shortly be re-launched as www.lai-ireland.com.

Contact Terry at terryjoregan@gmail.com or 021-487 1460.

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Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

31

11 / CONSTRUCT

11 / CONSTRUCT

Responding and Reacting

Working closely with all levels of the landscape construction sector gives landscape cost estimating specialist, Colm Kenny a unique insight. Here, he shares thoughts, opinions and his sense of how the sector is reacting and responding to the upswing in activity

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fficial figures show that 5,625 houses and apartments have been completed so far this year, up 16% (801 units) on the same period in 2014. In tandem with this activity, the commercial landscape contracting market has risen significantly. With the reigniting of the construction sector and improvement in the private landscaping market, landscape contractors, and indeed the landscape industry as a whole, should take the time to devise a strategy in order to ensure problems that arose around the bubble of the Celtic Tiger don’t happen again.

Skilled labour shortage For landscape contractors there are a number of key issues which must be overcome in order to sustain a profitable business. After several years of vicious price competition, a large number of landscape contractors I deal with are saying their biggest challenge is recruiting trained, experienced staff when they are required. The downturn had an enormous impact on the numbers employed in the industry. Many sector workers emigrated or diverted away from the industry entirely, seeking employment in more stable sectors

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of the economy. Added to the fact that the pool of workers was reduced, young people who may have once been interested in a career in horticulture could have change their minds when they saw the state of the industry and were unable to find full time employment a number of years ago.

To improve the situation and get the next generation into the industry, we need to encourage them and prove that it can be a rewarding career. Instead of throwing them in at the deep end, an apprenticeship type of scheme like that being trialled by Teagasc, would see them learn new skills gradually over time and gain supervised experience.

With the landscape sector still the most unregulated industry within the wider construction industry, professionalism is another problem which needs addressing. Uninsured, fly by night businesses are causing harm to the entire industry and damaging legitimate contractors. They often face competition from illegal contractors who win the job on an unrealistically low price and even give and take cash payments.

The standard of the completed job is often very poor but the homeowner or client may not realise that until the money has changed hands. This type of practice affects the view the average consumer has of the landscaping trade.

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

Again, making a comparison to an electrician, if you need a fuse board changed at home you will make sure the electrician you get is fully registered and insured. Unfortunately, customers shopping for landscape contractors don’t carry out the same due diligence as they think anybody can ‘do landscaping’, and they treat you accordingly.

Education of the general public is key to eliminating such contractors and bad practices. The challenge for reputable contractors is to educate their clients so they know what they are getting for their money and are aware of the long term cost of poor workmanship.

A registration system is needed for the landscape industry, to weed out poor standards and increase professionalism.

The Association of Landscape Contractors (ALCI) is the professional trade association but is struggling to get members and recognition from other sectors of the industry.

They have around 100 members, which I would guess is less than 5% of the number of contractors operating in Ireland. If there were more members it would be a lot easier to promote it among the wider public. Again making a comparison to the electricians, they have a very strong trade industry in Registered Electrical Contractors of Ireland (RECI). This is the type of brand

recognition that is required to drive on the industry. How this is achieved won’t be done in the short term but recruitment of members into the ALCI is the first step on a long road. Often some non ALCI contractors I know would comment that they don’t see the benefit of joining organisations such as the ALCI. However, I am of the opinion that there is strength in numbers and having one strong voice lobbying for improved standards across the industry can benefit all. Apart from adding more contacts to your network, more information would be shared within the industry. Other contractors may be able to help you out in times of need such as sharing labour resources or specialist machinery. Indeed, there would be opportunities for contractors to collaborate with each other. Small contractors joining up together as a joint venture to take on projects that they would normally not be in a position to undertake would be of benefit to everyone and help spread the workload to more businesses. This is a common practice in the construction industry so why not in the landscaping sector?

Now that ads for 0% finance on new vans and jeeps are back on the radio, we all need to stop ourselves from getting carried away investing in vehicles and machinery that we don’t really need. The lessons learned in the past few years should stick, if you navigated those years successfully.

Collaborating with other contractors could reduce your need to buy specialist machinery, which might only be used a few times.

Taking an accountant's approach by hiring in all your machinery is another solution that could work, particularly for smaller contractors. Hire companies are plentiful and have built up a good stock of specialist landscape equipment. Even if this is used as a short term strategy, you could use it to gauge or estimate if you really need to buy new machinery. It doesn’t make sense to buy a machine if you don’t have at least a quarter of its value lined up in orders over the next year. The days when contractors bought €3,000 machines on a three-year loan at high interest are thankfully over and hopefully never to return again.

Recognition by potential clients of this professionalism along with the skills and experience required to carry out a landscape contract to the highest of standards can only have a positive impact when contractors seek to increase profit margins by raising rates. Pricing pressure, which was the result of a slowdown in the economy and also because of illegitimate contractors, should slowly start to ease with the rise in the economy. Smarter business practices such as selecting the project that suits your operation is also something contractors should consider. During the last number of years, we had a situation where contractors were afraid to turn down projects, even if they didn’t suit them. Smarter decisions in choosing projects that suit your machinery and the skills of you and your staff are key. Don’t be afraid to let projects pass you by. Concentrate on winning jobs that suit your business. Many contractors tell me they have not changed their rates since 2010.

Hearing this makes me nervous of the chances of a long term future for such business. Are they chasing the wrong types for projects for their businesses? Prices have increased marginally since 2014, but so too have costs, and prices haven't been able to increase fast enough to keep up with costs; so in order to combat this and stay in business

efficiencies need to be found. Cost control is a vital element in sustaining a business. The challenge is to determine how we can be all more efficient with our labour, machinery costs and general overheads and still deliver services profitably.

Other problems faced by landscape contractors are caused by our colleagues within the sector. Again recognition of the professionalism of contactors by designers and other consultants such as architects and engineers is needed in order to improve standards across the industry.

Communication and respect between all parties would lead to better working relationships and a clearer understanding of everyone’s requirements. It would be a huge step to get not just the contractors involved in the design phase at an early stage but also the nursery producers. The expertise they could bring to the table would be huge and of benefit to all parties. Designers would have added input in terms of how designs would be constructed. Plant availability would improve as designers would have up to date information and the nurseries would have the opportunity to promote Irish stock and contract grow it if required. This would cut down on the amount of imported stock sourced throughout Europe, provide employment and the opportunity for the next generation of nursery growers to pursue a career at home.

What often happens on larger landscape schemes is the designers spend a massive amount of time developing high class designs to satisfy their clients. Unfortunately such designs are not included in the original cost plan and so value engineering is required to bring the designs within a notional budget, often set by professions who have no comprehension of the importance of high quality landscape schemes to accompany their high quality buildings. Granite worktops and expensive tiling of bathroom floors are specified in lieu of tasty paving and feature trees and specimen plants. Setting budgets at an early stage, even from initial sketch designs, could be done in a logical manner if contractors were allowed to participate. The design can often be enhanced by input from contractors as they know the mechanics of implementing the design on site.

In the words of one contractor who has been around long enough to have survived numerous recessions, 'How do we survive?'. Simple, we do good work, we do it consistently and we charge appropriately. If we don’t get the job for the money we need for it, we let it go and chase the next one that suits our business. While the challenges within the industry are significant, I think that they can be overcome with correct decision making as individuals and work together to promote the industry to our colleagues within the industry and the wider public. ✽

Colm Kenny, B Ag Sc (Land Hort), M Sc Quantity Surveying.

Colm is a landscape estimating specialist. He provides cost and implementation advice to landscape industry professionals, technical advisors, contractors and facility management companies. He can be contacted on 087 288 5016 or by email info@landscapeqs.ie

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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12 / INTERVIEW

Inside Story

12 / INTERVIEW

Barry Lupton Interviews Michael Caffrey

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Photo: Barry Lupton

here has been a wealth of recent research demonstrating the benefits of plants in the work environment.

Reduced stress levels, increased oxygen, temperature regulation and ambient noise reduction are just a few of the generally accepted benefits. Plants have also been shown to improve worker productivity, sense of wellbeing and psychological comfort, and in consumer environments, the inclusion of trees has been shown to increase spending potential.

Ireland lags behind other developed countries in exploiting these benefits, both for worker happiness and increased productivity. Oftentimes plants are seen as an unnecessary expense and were the first thing to go in Irish offices at the beginning of the recession. In many cases, they have yet to return. Despite this, the market for interior plants is growing, due in no small part to the presence of foreign companies, who have a far better insight into how the inclusion of plants can improve the bottom line. Other factors such as the popularity of green walls, roofs and technological advancements are also having a positive impact on the market.

Currently the Irish market for interior plants is served by a limited number of SMEs, management companies and one large multinational. The vast majority of these businesses operate on a rental basis, supplying, maintaining and replacing plants on an ongoing basis. Like much of the horticulture sector, margins are tight, competition is stiff and the need to innovate is high.

As empirical research continues to illuminate the benefits of plants, and findings filter through to building regulations and environmental certification, we will see a gradual increase in demand for interior plants. One Irish company poised to exploit this potential is Universal Floral. Having been established in Navan in the late 1960s by owner Noel Caffrey and survived the troubling recession years, the business remains in family ownership with 22 employees and bases in both Ballsbridge and Finglas. With Noel now in retirement – inasmuch as anyone retires from horticulture – day to day running of the business falls to Noel’s son, Michael. I caught up with Michael recently to gain an insider’s view of their interior landscape business.

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HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

B. Horticulture courses often offer a small insight into the complex area of interior planting but rarely provide the indepth knowledge to work effectively. How did you go about learning your trade?

M. I grew up in the trade so my exposure to horticulture started from home when I was at a young age. I spent my summers going into offices servicing plants and learning from my colleagues the differences between the plants we worked with on a daily basis. It was more of an apprenticeship than a college education.

B. You decided to pursue marketing in college rather than horticulture. Why was that?

M. I have always been interested in marketing and saw this as a good career path. I think marketing is of huge importance to any business and the job opportunities were positive at the time I began my studies.

B. Having achieved your marketing qualifications, you spent a number of years working in various corporate environments.

What provided the impetus to return to the family business?

M. I travelled for a year and returned just as the recession began. I was drafted in for the hard times to help in returning stock from clients. It was always a road I planned on taking, but I felt I needed a good understanding of how other business operated so I could bring back what I had learned and utilise it in our family business.

B. How are you applying lessons gained from your marketing experience to the business?

M. I know who my target audience is and how to actively advertise our product and service to the right people. We make use of Google analytics and every penny spent on advertising is reviewed to make sure we are using our money wisely. Marketing has also taught me how to create engaging proposals using imagery to sell our service.

B. Can you describe your typical working day?

M. Working in a small business each day is different from the day before. On days when I am required to service plants I try to begin as early as possible. Other days involve sourcing new business, managing our online presence and setting up plants in new client’s premises. I find that planned days change rapidly and sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day.

B. Many people working in horticulture say they are not motivated by money. What motivates you?

M. I am motivated by providing the best service possible. I have always tried to implement customer service as a key to our business. And it always motivates me more when the client’s employees remark favourably on an installation.

B. How do typical contracts work with clients?

M. A client enquires about our service. We visit their premises and give advice on the right plants to suit the environment. We take into account the current decor when deciding on planters. After installation, our maintenance division spends a lot of time calling in on clients, watering, fertilising and dusting the plants down.

It’s a monthly subscription service that ensures the plants are kept in pristine condition, provided by experienced horticulture professionals.

B. How do you differentiate your business from the other service providers in the sector?

M. We are a small family run business with long standing loyal clients, some of whom have been with us for over 40 years. Everyone who works here at Universal Floral has been with us for at least eight years. We have a very high level of staff retention. Our service is very personal. We try to be as creative as possible and tailor our work to the individual needs of each client.

B Much of your work is with American multinationals. How do such companies differ from Irish ones?

M. Multinationals try to echo the head office layout. A lot of American companies incorporate plants into their environment as they understand the benefits. Those companies are usually bigger than Irish ones, so their requirements are on a larger scale.

B. In recent years you have expanded into the UK market.

How did you go about this and how has the expansion evolved?

M. We asked our Irish based clients if we could provide a proposal for their sister offices in the UK, and received very positive feedback. We now look after several clients in the UK – mainly now through word of mouth referrals - we offer the same personal consistent pristine planting service. A lot of time is spent on maintenance calls, making sure the plants are healthy at all times.

B. What do you count as the company’s most successful achievement to date?

M. We have been in business for nearly 50 years and staff turnover has been very low. Being able to retain clients for nearly as long is a huge achievement. Expanding into the UK has been a great achievement and we hope to move on from London to other parts of the UK. B. Conversely, what is the primary challenge faced by your business and how do you address it?

M. if the economy is unsteady, plants are pushed down the agenda. Increasing waste costs - our main waste is soil - which we try to give to people in the area to use in their gardens. We also give second hand plants to local people. Global warming is also an issue as it is affecting plant growth in countries where we source indoor plants from.

B. What are the most popular interior plant species used in Ireland?

M. While tastes have changed over the years species choice is still typically determined by success rate. I would say the most popular include Howea, Dracaena, Epipremnum, Aglaonema, Anthurium, Ficus, Monstera and Schefflera.

B. What are the drivers for interior plant choice in Ireland?

M. Success rate of course but there are other factors too.

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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12 / INTERVIEW We’ve seen a lot more interest in the types of planters used, especially from commercial interior designers and architects.

Companies are also very interested in seasonal diversity and are willing to bring in colour and impact at different times of the year. Social media and visual sharing sites such as Pinterest are also having a positive impact as clients can access a vast array of inspirational material.

B. The majority of the plant material you supply is imported from The Netherlands. Do you source products from Ireland and if so, what products?

M. A lot of our products are sourced from Ireland, including all the compost we use, plant food and winter and summer bedding plants.

B. Do you agree that Dutch have the interior plant market sewn up? If not, what opportunities do you see for Irish growers?

M. The Dutch import planting from all over the world. The Netherlands are the central planting destination of Europe.

They do a good job and we are happy with our relationship with our suppliers there and with the service they provide.

The Dutch know the European markets very well, and their knowledge and guidance has helped us to expand in the UK and also in Germany.

An opportunity for Irish growers could exist in developing and/or sourcing complementary products for plants such as pots. Clients are always open to fresh ideas. Recently we

13 / EDUCATION installed hanging upside down planters into a UK office, called ‘Sky Planters’.

B. Green walls have become a must have accessory for contemporary buildings. How has your company responded to this demand?

M. Green walls have certainly become very popular and we have completed a few installations. The walls we supply though are manually maintained by our maintenance staff, part of our commitment to ensuring that our plants are healthy at all times. It’s the personal touch. By manually monitoring the wall we feel we can control any water issues.

Green walls are fun because you can be very creative with planting and colour.

B. What will be your business's main achievement over the next decade?

M. Expanding more into Europe, exploring new trends, connecting with tech start-ups and maintaining loyalty with current clients. We always say to our clients, “We will grow with you”.

B. What advice do you have for graduates considering a career in interior landscaping?

M. Apply for internships with interior landscaping companies before the busy season starts. Follow planting and planter trends, visit tradeshows, grow plants at home, build a passion for plants and spaces. You can never stop learning. ✽

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Job Description: Price, schedule and manage projects working closely with the management team. Take on an active role in the development and growth of the business including design and implementation of in-house procedures. Develop strong customer relationship to ensure follow on works.

The successful candidate will also have the following qualities: • Excellent people skills with both clients and staff alike • Some landscape design ability • A knowledge of pricing projects up to and beyond the value of £1 million • Have good motivational and leadership qualities to lead a strong and cohesive work team Previous Experience 3 Years in Management Role Benefits:3 Colour • Salary £35K (sterling) • 3 months accommodation supplied • Company vehicle supplied Apply online at JobsInHorticulture.ie or send cover & CV to brian@quest.co.im www.quest.co.im

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

2 Colour

Apprenticeships in Practice

Having introduced the apprentice training trial initiative in the last issue of Horticulture Connected, John Mulhern, principal of the College of Amenity Horticulture, National Botanic Gardens brings us up to speed on how they are working in practice

I

n the past few months we have actively promoted the idea of apprenticeships with horticulture companies. We have had very good level cooperation from across the sector including representative organisations such as the Association of Landscape Contractors of Ireland (ALCI) and individual operators.

Just to refresh you, the idea behind the trialling of apprenticeships is to allow students of horticulture to connect with companies for work outside the normal academic calendar of their course, i.e. during the summer holidays. This allows the students to engage actively with a company for the summer months and develop their skills and practical knowledge further. Students then return to the college for their theory based components, but enriched with experience that would be of benefit to them. The initiative is a win-win for both students and employers alike.

To get the trials underway we set up a jobs boards in college, which advertised each company with a standard one page format. We had interest from 12 companies that were looking to take on apprentices in the landscaping area. Students were able to view the company profiles and then go and make direct contact with them. The jobs board also allows companies to advertise for graduate opportunities in their companies. So far we have had two companies that have actively come on board looking for students. Both of these companies operate in the landscape and nursery sectors. They are big employers and would take our students on work experience regularly.

Interestingly, any of our students targeted with summer apprenticeships had already secured work in their own field of interest. This reflects the upsurge in demand for horticulture staff in the greater Dublin area. We are seeing a lot of students who were on work experience in the 12 to 15 week period during the spring continuing with their employer for the rest of the summer. This is fantastic to see as it is providing the students with an apprenticeship in any case.

Employers are welcome 1 Colour to get in contact with us with regard to advertising for interns. This is a long term commitment to the college and to horticulture and I have no doubt that it will reap rewards for the industry in time.

We encourage all operators of horticulture businesses to contact us to see how we can work together.

One of the first Irish companies to get behind the apprenticeship trials was Tully Nurseries based in North County Dublin.

Owned and operated by the highly regarded nurseryman and education advocate Martin Tully, it is one of the leading businesses in Ireland and is well known for being an early adopter of new technologies and practices. As part of the new initiative, the nursery took on Kenny Brennan, a Level six student from the National Botanic Gardens for a 16 week placement.

During his time at Tully’s, Kenny is focusing on developing his plant knowledge and customer service skills. Skills which are being fostered by the experienced staff at the nursery.

“We were delighted to be one of the first companies to step up and support this programme”, commented Martin. “We are placing Kenny in different sections of the business to provide him with a diverse base of experience. Looking to the future of the programme, we need to develop a more formalised process, which affords transparency, traceability and a firm set of standards. Students and employers need the security of a robust process with agreed outcomes.

To succeed the programme needs commitment from all horticultural sub-sectors.”

Kenny has a further two years of study ahead, and hopes to build on the knowledge he has acquired and the relationship he has built with the nursery. His ultimate aim is to pursue a career in either nursery operation or garden retail. No doubt the practical experience afforded to him will help direct his final decision.

Kenny’s ultimate aim is direct employment in the nursery or garden centre sector. I have no doubt that this work experience will be a hugely important part of his success. ✽

JOHN MULHERN has worked with Teagasc for more the 17 years, primarily in an educational capacity. He is the current principal of the College of Amenity Horticulture, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin.

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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14 / EDIBLES

14 / EDIBLES

Ireland’s Thriving Soft Fruit Sector

ABOVE.: Modern table top production (Kearn’s Fruit Farm) LEFT: Raised growing facilitates efficient harvesting.

Dr Eamonn Kehoe, Teagasc Soft Fruit Specialist provides a review of the present situation in the Irish soft fruit industry and its challenges and prospects for the future.

Strawberry production The main soft fruit crop grown in Ireland is strawberries. In the 1970s and ‘80s this crop consisted mostly of processing strawberries. This has been offset today by a huge increase in protected fresh strawberry production.

At present we produce about 7,000 tonnes of fresh strawberries per year.

This is worth an estimated €37m. The Dutch cultivar ‘Elsanta’ is still the most popular cultivar grown. This is followed by a number of other cultivars including ‘Sonata’, ‘Clery’ and ‘Capri’. The cultivar ‘Malling Centenary’ is the most recent cultivar to be tried here. This was bred by the famous East Malling fruit research centre in East Malling, Kent, and named to celebrate 100 years of fruit research at the centre. So far it has proven very popular. This is especially due to its high quality attributes.

Protected strawberry production is now the mainstay of Ireland’s soft fruit industry. The area of glasshouses built for protected strawberry production has increased substantially since the turn of the new millennium, and the expansion continues every year.

One of the main advantages of protective cropping is that it allows for the supply of fruit outside of

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the traditional short season of June to July. In fact today strawberries are now supplied from late March right up until November. Fruit quality is also much higher, which is demanded by today’s consumer.

Protective cropping also allows fruit to be harvested in unfavorable weather, giving pickers a much more comfortable environment to work in.

Table top systems Most protected strawberry crops are grown in substrate (peat or coco peat) filled bags or containers, placed on top of what is known in the trade as ‘table top’ systems. These are essentially steel frames or gutters, which are either raised off the ground or suspended from roof supports. This allows for much better crop management and makes picking much faster and easier, leading to major increases in efficiency and productivity.

The use of such substrates production has led to great flexibility in strawberry cropping, making it possible to grow strawberries nationwide. However, higher sunlight levels in the eastern and southeastern half of the country allow for earlier cropping, which gives a big competitive advantage.

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

Cane and bush fruit crops The most popular cane fruit crop grown in Ireland is the raspberry. The Scottish bred cultivar ‘Glen Ample’ and ‘Tulameen’ from British Columbia are famous for their high quality taste. To achieve the best standard they must be grown under glass or plastic protective cover.

With regard to blueberries there may be potential for a high percentage of import substitution here. According to Bord Bía figures, at least €25m worth of blueberries were sold in Ireland in 2015.

The vast majority of these were imported.

The first pioneering research on blueberries was undertaken by in the mid 1950s by the late Dr Keith Lamb at An Foras Talúntais/The Agricultural Institute (AFT) at Johnstown Castle in County Wexford.

Due to recent popularity of this fruit especially over the last five years, growers have taken a renewed interest in it. Some have opted to grow in containers and some in ameliorated soil. The crop requires a very low pH (4.5 to 5.5) so maintenance of this pH is vital for successful crop growth.

Other minor cane fruit crops are also grown in Ireland, including blackberries, loganberries and tayberries, to mention just a few.

Major challenges The biggest challenge for the soft fruit sector is control of labour costs, which in some cases are up to 50% of the total business costs. Any method of reducing these labour costs would be of major benefit. Because of the large share of labour costs, growers will choose innovations which are more labour saving, Technological advances are such that in some case worker productivity is being doubled. One example of this is the development of a new robotic strawberry harvester called ‘Agrobot’ developed in Huelva, Spain. This machine reduces the labour need from 10 to two pickers per hectare. Many other automations have been made including the use of more efficient spraying systems and potting and filling machines.

New technology is continually being introduced into managing more efficient and productive crop growth.

Not only are glasshouses fully automated and climate controlled but also the degree of automation is becoming increasingly specialised. New work on soil moisture sensors to irrigation and nutrition are being developed. Growers can even monitor environmental conditions in their glasshouses on their mobile phones, from almost anywhere. The use of artificial intelligence in control systems is only a matter of time. All of these new technologies should be used to complement the grower effort and not control it.

Price Squeeze Growers operate in a commodity market. The markets are tough and competition is relentless; the only way to survive is to focus on efficiency, efficiency and more efficiency.

At the moment growers operate in an oligopsony (too few buyers and too many sellers). This is not a healthy position for a grower to be in as the buyers have too much pricing power.

A rebalancing of pricing power may lead to a better and more stable pricing regime. This is up to industry to sort out.

Sustainability There is always the need to balance economic considerations with environmental and social ones. We need

to protect our environment for future generations. With this in mind there will be more control over the use of resources like water and fertilisers for example. Many growers already have systems in place to recycle and reuse water and fertiliser leachate.

The use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Decision Support Systems (DSS) are increasing. The aim is to use pesticides needed, in a very timely and targeted way.

With regards to the use of substrates (e.g. peat and cocoa peat) future emphasis may be on crops produced in more sustainable substrates. Cocoa peat for example comes over 9,000 km from Sri Lanka. There is a need to investigate the suitability of other media for strawberry production, such as bark, wood pulp etc.

Future opportunities There are always niche opportunities for new growers.

This very much depends on whether you can identify an opportunity in your local area and/or in a specific soft fruit crop. You need to do your research and have a good strategy. In your strategy think ‘local’ first. You must dominate a local market before you can even contemplate taking on a national market. I can provide you with the technical and financial advice in getting your soft fruit business off the ground. ✽

dr Eamonn Kehoe is a soft fruit specialist based at Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford, whose research is conducted at Ashtown Research Centre, Co Dublin. His primary focus is on providing a technical and business advisory service to Ireland's soft fruit growers and conducting an applied research programme for the industry. He can be contacted at eamonn.kehoe@teagasc.ie

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15 /INSIGHT Photo: Nick Bradshaw

Fresh Produce, Healthy Figures Mike Neary, manager of horticulture at Bord Bia, shares some positive sales figures for Ireland's fresh produce sector

“The value of the retail sales of fruit is €617m, vegetables €524m and potatoes €174m” 40

produce is currently valued at €1.248bn (for the year ending March 2016). This is an increase of 6.8% on the previous year.

This increase has been driven by an increased frequency of purchase which is now 149 times per year (up 3%) and an increase in the average price per kg of product purchased.

Over this period all the fresh produce categories have shown an increase in both value and volume terms with both the value of potatoes and fruit contributing the most significant increases. The value of retail sales of fruit is €617m, vegetables €524m and potatoes €174m.

It is also worth noting from the data that convenience continues to be a very important consideration for shoppers when purchasing fresh produce. The retail market for fresh prepared fruit and vegetables continues to grow and was valued at €101m over the last year.

This growth was driven by an increase in the frequency of purchase and the volume being purchased.

If you would like to have more details of this research of the retail market contact mike.neary@bordbia.ie ✽

Mike Neary, Manager of Horticulture at Bord Bia. For further information contact the Bord Bia Horticultural Division or the Food Industry Development Division in the Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine at email: Agripromo@agriculture.gov.ie

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

Sharing the Load by Designer Padraic Wood

Mind

Yourself

Photo: KORALEY NORTHEN

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he retail fresh produce market is the most important market for local fresh produce growers. Bord Bia uses Kantar Worldpanel data to monitor the trends in this market which indicate the type, range and format of product that consumers are currently purchasing. It highlights where produce is being purchased, how often, the volume and the average price being paid on the shelf. Over the last year ending March 2016, both the overall grocery market and the fresh produce segment of it have been performing well.

The grocery market in Ireland is currently valued at €9.2bn. This is a value growth of 2.5% on the previous year and the volume purchased was also up by 2%. All the grocery categories showed an increase in value except the alcohol category. The best performing categories were fresh and chilled (which includes fruit and vegetables) and ambient goods.

These categories were both up in value by over 3%. The increases were driven by consumers visiting the stores more often and an increase in spend per household. Five key retailers (Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Musgraves Group, Aldi and Lidl) continue to dominate, with a combined share of over 90% of the grocery market between them.

A total of 15% of the value of the grocery market is made up from the sales of fruit, vegetables (including potatoes).

These continue to be the two most important product categories in the grocery basket. The retail market for fresh

Award winning garden creator, David Shortall shares his thoughts and feelings on how a sector renowned for its therapeutic benefits can take a harsh toll on those on the inside, and how you can mind yourself and those around you

“The customer is always right.” What utter rubbish! The customer has engaged a professional, someone who is trained and experienced to advise, sell or guide them to a successful outcome so why would they even want to be right? They expect you to be right, to dispense the right advice, and the customer is generally impressed or even gets a kick by being proven wrong. Yet I think the customer holds all the power in the horticulture industry in a lot of cases. Our profession is not valued. In previous issues of Horticulture Connected this was proven in terms of salary and expectation in the National Wage Survey. Reading these had a long lasting and depressing effect on me. The realisation of how little we were valued or worth compared to other professions was more crushing than any the lack of decent wage.

Is this one factor which should be considered to contribute to a deterioration in an individual’s mental health? I do believe it is.

We all left college or started in this industry full of youthful enthusiasm, convinced we were going to change the world, dispense our wisdom and make a lot of money. We believed in crowning the customer, under-promising and then

over-delivering. It was great! Everything was a challenge and there was a buzz in being under pressure. Having no money and making things stretch was satisfying, frugality and innovation were something to boast about. We went to bed exhausted and satisfied.

An awkward customer was a challenge to be conquered and won over. We celebrated with alcohol and fine food.

The banks and the government told us we were great. If we had a pulse or were under 60 we were part of the booming economy rather than just a citizen.

Recession hit, family illness struck, relationships broke down, we were manipulated or swindled, the people we trusted let us down, they didn’t answer our calls, and they ignored our bills and statements. They overpromised and under-delivered.

Suddenly it’s hard. It’s not as much fun anymore. It’s hard to concentrate on day to day business or the future.

We console with alcohol and junk food. It’s hard to sleep these nights; alcohol helps, or a smoke, or something prescribed, but then the morning is a real drag. The banks phone us and we don’t answer them, or private numbers anymore. We can’t talk about it to

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00 / XXXXXXX

“Men are not good at talking about problems. It’s very difficult, or seen as a weakness, to tell your wife or partner that you are experiencing financial difficulties, feeling down or just that work isn’t enjoyable anymore”

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your head. Your mood is lifted too and you feel motivated by it.

Mobile phones have ruined us all and the internet on your phone was the worst development in history. It serves to have us accessible constantly and is antisocial to those around us.

We take photos of us enjoying an event and post them, while those around us are all doing the same. We all look down at our phones and don’t interact. There is now evidence linking phone use to childhood depression. We are so accessible that customers are irate if you don’t answer or call them back instantly. This has to add to stress and in turn depression. Failing eyesight is the best solution for this. If you can’t see the screen you can’t see who is calling so you answer it anyway, therefore you deal with irate customers straight away and it doesn’t hang over you. You also can’t see Facebook timelines until you’ve made time to sit down and put on your reading specs.

Family support is really important for me. Even when work is really getting me down I know they will take my side, listen to me and tell me the customer is not always right. A friend once told me that he watched an argument unfold between a builder on site and the client whose house he was building.

The customer said, 'Don't you understand this is my dream house, you don’t seem to care?” The builder who obviously had been around the block a few times said, “Well Mam, it may be your dream but it’s just a job to me.” He obviously realised that the client was not paying dream house money and that her stress was not worth him being stressed. Was he right or rude? I don’t know. I wasn’t there.

Being involved in associations, going to seminars or workshops or any continuous professional development courses can be of huge benefit to your business but it can also give you a lift, revitalise and motivate you. Talking to others at these events is sometimes more valuable than the itinerary. In the past I have talked to others I thought had it all worked out, only to realise that they had the same customer stories, the same frustrations and their calm and collected appearance was the mask of experience. Making connections through groups or associations can also lead to help and collaboration or advice on the end of a phone or even swapping or sharing of resources.

Do you get a buzz from pressure? Do you thrive on being busy? Are you motivated for the sake of getting the job done? Are you organised enough to under-promise and over-deliver for clients. Are you making enough money?

Should you be the boss? Maybe you should consider the Eastern tradition of rotating the boss position among all staff. Or maybe just talk? ✽

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

David Shortall is an award winning designer, garden builder, lecturer and former Chairman of the Garden & Landscape Designers Association (GLDA).Mobile: 086 603 7893. Email: design@ landscapediscovery.ie

Horticulture for Human Health Rachel Freeman, assistant lecturer in horticulture at the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, shares her knowledge of the social and therapeutic benefits of horticulture

T Photo: KORALEY NORTHEN

family. Yet the whole industry is talking about it in a superficial way but nobody knows just how bad it is for me so I put on a brave face or a mask. From the outside everybody thinks I’m great and an industry heavyweight.

I think I’ve seen it all in the last 20 years, and I’ve experienced quite a lot of it. I’m not sure I’ve ever been clinically depressed or suffered from poor mental health for any prolonged period but I think that most of us will admit that we have been near the edge. I am no professional and do ponder whether a chemical reaction that triggers an episode of depression, or does an event or series triggers a chemical shift. Chicken or egg.

I’ve been teaching horticulture for 20 years and interacted with colleagues who have suffered from poor mental health.

I can only speak from personal experience. One past student benefitted hugely from physical and practical work. The endorphins flowing, the physical exercise, the repetitive action, the time to think while doing something satisfying and positive with a tangible outcome (such as weeding a large bed or tidying up an area) made him content and physically tired enough to sleep.

Is there a lesson for those of us who are bosses, or those of us who are loaded down with paper work and dealing with customers? I always feel better when I get out on site and join in on the practical work.

A garden at Bloom this year by designer Padraic Woods hit the nail on the head, on describing mental health for for those who actually suffer depressed states, and those who do not actually claim to be suffering. The garden had a giant seesaw, which described the up and down moods of a family member, caused by bipolar disorder. Cleverly, it depicted the severe ups and downs that someone had suffered, being extremely elated at times and deeply depressed at other times. But it also showed that everyone is prone to times of elation and deflation, particularly people in business.

So what can we do to mind our mental health when we struggle to take of the physical aches and pains? Aches and pains that often shorten our working lives when not addressed? Men in particular are not good at talking about problems. It’s very difficult, or seen as a weakness, to tell your wife or partner that you are experiencing financial difficulties, feeling down or just that work isn’t enjoyable anymore.

I am lucky as my wife can’t hold anything in, she regularly wants to talk about finances, life trials, troubles etc, which makes it impossible for me to bottle things up. It’s true, talking makes you feel better. Outing a problem releases stress. That’s talking, listening and sharing, not arguing!

When I’m really busy and I have too much to do I tend to shut down. I tend to not answer my phone, and I say to myself I’ll call them back when I have worked out an answer. When I get home I look at the laptop and think I couldn’t be bothered working. The mountain of work seems too much so I put it all off.

I consider turning off my phone and having a beer to relax. Then I go to bed and can’t sleep. The solution is obvious. Write a list of actions and do them one at a time. The philosophy of a tidy mind is to put what’s on your mind onto paper and it’s out of

here is a renewed interest in horticulture and the outdoors, this time with the fresh perspective: gardening is good for your health. Reports in print and social media extol the virtues of time spent outdoors, gardening, growing your own food, and the benefits of green space in our immediate environment.

This comes at a time when much of society is experiencing a significant disconnect with our environments. A report published in the UK earlier this year showed that three quarters of UK children spend less time outdoors than prison inmates.

Societal changes, particularly those in the last 200 to 300 years, have given rise to a number of changes such as urbanisation, increased use of technology and a more sedentary lifestyle, all of which mean we spend increasing amounts of time away from plant filled natural environments.

In 1984 Edward O Wilson coined the term ‘biophilia’ and defined it as the ‘connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life’. Wilson believed that as humans we have deep subconscious affiliations with other living things as a product of our evolution. Early man needed to define his environment, knowing which plant provided food or a source of water. As a result, an evolutionary affinity with plants was developed which still exists today.

20 odd years ago, this was an emerging area of horticulture, the body of research available providing an evidence base for practice was limited. Back then, the odd time I mentioned horticulture therapy, I got one of two reactions: ‘Hmmmm, yes, interesting’ and ‘Sorry, what’s that?’ The situation has changed as a result of increased interest and greater dissemination through mainstream media, and most people are aware of the

benefits of contact with plants and natural environments.

Horticulture for Human Health Through publications and associated research, it is evident that contact with plants has demonstrated positive outcomes with a wide array of conditions and situations, for example intellectual and physical disability, visual impairment, dementia, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, stress, autism, deprived communities, and reducing unemployment, child development to name but a few.

Until recently, the dearth of consumer articles on the subject could fool one into thinking this is a new phenomenon but the use of horticulture to improve human health and wellbeing is nothing new; centuries old evidence offers examples of the healing benefits of plants and use of the outdoors for improvement in human health.

Healing places of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, monasteries and early hospital settings along with their grounds were highly regarded as medicinal places. In ancient Egypt for example, the pharaoh’s physician prescribed ‘a spell in the palace gardens for those troubled of mind’.

Gardens and outdoor space were considered as restorative and medicinal; these facilities were often set in scenic countryside locations with substantial grounds surrounding each establishment, with features such as central atriums, courtyard gardens and monastic cloister gardens being key components of the medical and restorative services offered.

This construct of facility and garden as one unit gave easy access to plants and the outdoors for fresh air, light exercise, or simply for a view.

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15 / INSIGHT was qualitative, coming from a wide range of disciplines, not just horticulture/healthcare. The findings were mainly correlational in nature, thus failing to clearly demonstrate a cause and effect outcome in the way a RTC can, and this was the basis for their issue.

Qualitative research is rich in information, giving a depth of understanding to a subject that quantitative trials cannot obtain. As part of a wider research community working together in a mixed methods research paradigm, there is a wealth of information that is, and can be in the future, obtained to offer clear evidence on the benefits of horticulture to human health.

A growing body of research is emerging, particularly in the areas of mental health, addiction and recovery, and in child development, with sound findings to support the theory that gardening is good for you.

Defining the terms, not the practice

Practitioners and qualifications

The use of horticulture for human health has a range of contexts and is used with of a diverse range of individuals and communities. These practices are known by many different terms: therapeutic horticulture (TH), or horticulture therapy (HT) and increasingly the more all-encompassing term, social and therapeutic horticulture (STH).

Using horticulture to improve human health and wellbeing is nothing new; research evidence shows that at its most basic level a connection with nature is beneficial, even vital for health.

Increasingly horticulture is used around the world in healthcare and community based settings as a means of promoting health and wellbeing for a variety of individuals and communities in a range of different contexts, with many horticulturists at the helm. It exists to improve human health and wellbeing, it emphasises the process over the outcome or productivity, and truly celebrates the person served. It is driven by a client centred approach, respecting the individuality and creativity of those choosing to use it. This is the essence of all programmes which use horticulture to benefit human health. In many cases horticulturalists have taken extra or post qualifying training to improve practice.

Whatever term is used to describe the practitioner, they are all qualified and trained to address the needs of those seeking benefit from horticulture through planned and organised programmes, using plants, horticulture practices and natural surroundings for positive outcome with both individuals and groups.

The research Horticulture’s potential in a therapeutic context is gaining credibility and prominence. It is used as a prescription for ill health. One of its most prominent supporters is paediatrician Robert Zarr in Washington USA, who prescribes time and activities in a park setting as a treatment. (www.theatlantic. com/magazine/archive/2015/10/the-nature-cure/403210) But horticulture treatments and therapies are not without their critics.

The naysayers and traditional researchers have a paradigm bias within which qualitative research is not favoured, and randomised controlled trials (RTC) are considered gold standard. Admittedly, much of the early research in this area

Access to Training in Ireland Provision for training in Ireland in this area is poor. Many of the horticulture colleges provide a comprehensive module in the subject, but this does not take the place of a recognised, accredited professional training programme.

Thrive, a national UK charity, working in conjunction with Sonairte, fills a gap in the Irish market, providing one and two day introductory workshops to STH. This gives an opportunity to interested individuals to gain insight and begin to map an entry route to the sector.

In the UK, Thrive, working with in conjunction with some well-known colleges provides a range of accredited undergraduate courses. In addition Coventry University, one of Thrive's main partner colleges, offer an undergraduate BSc Level 8 and post graduate MSc at Level 9 in social and therapeutic horticulture. As I understand it, the only other accredited programmes availableare those offered by the American Horticulture Therapy Association.

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

Educational and STH One of the more interesting and innovative STH initiatives I have been involved with is the DOC project. http://frontlineireland.com/service-users-from-the-daughters-of-charityservice-attend-the-institute-of-technology-blanchardstown.

Beginning in 2009 with a pilot scheme, a number of intellectual disability learners were integrated into third-level education at ITB. This initiative was designed to address the lack of post-secondary level options available to learners and piloted under the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004. Joining horticulture they skilled up alongside horticulture students. This opportunity supports learners to achieve through a specially designed FETAC programme, acquire new vocational and personal skills, and ultimately prepare for work.

Students enjoy interaction with the learners and the handson experiential learning in the use of horticulture as a therapy.

But the real benefit is in the development of soft skills, sometimes referred to as emotional intelligence. These are those all-important attributes that all employers seek.

Emotional intelligence skills enable students to perform effectively in professional and social settings, converse with a client or customer in a difficult situation, and remain engaged, focused and professional.

“Increasingly horticultural practices and green spaces around the world are used medicinally in healthcare and community settings as a means of treating conditions and promoting wellbeing in its broadest sense” When hiring it’s easy to find a graduate with suitable qualifications and experience but much harder to find one who is a savvy communicator, can work creatively and effectively, and in particular one that can work as part of a team, contributing and motivating others towards a shared goal.

From an education perspective the technical horticultural skills are straightforward teaching, the emotional intelligence skills less so; a realistic opportunity for practice supports and enables a rich and tangible teaching methodology.

For students taking this STH module, emotional intelligence is key to remaining client centred. All students complete a basic first year module in personal and professional skills which includes among other things, communications, presentation and IT. Working with the DOC learners and similar groups requires students to use and adjust these skills with individual learners; students must be patient, display enthusiasm, communicate effectively, search for nonverbal cues, enable individual participation to its fullest, creativity, plan meticulously (and have plan B, C, D...), and be calm under pressure. These skills are valuable, and hugely transferrable, to industry practice on graduation.

A recent ITB graduate outlined the value of the STH module; horticulture is only one part of the work, and you have to think, so what if the weeding doesn’t get done

today. Studying STH and in particular working with the group from the Daughters of Charity group was a great hands-on experience. It trains you to read a situation, make adjustments, or go to Plan B. That's invaluable. The clients don’t always say what’s going on and you have to be able to pick up on what’s happening for them, and plan accordingly.

Importance of STH to industry Enthusiasm in horticulture, plants, and the outdoors is always good for the industry. Regardless of where that interest comes from or what drives it, it can be capitalised on. Business is all about making hay while the sun shines.

For business there is always a trickledown effect from such a trend. A more knowledgeable gardening general public as a result of social and community horticulture initiatives will drive plant and associated product sales. The more knowledgeable the participants become, the more likely they are to be successful and continue to be motivated to be involved. As communities and individuals become more aware of definitive beneficial effects through involvement in horticulture, this motivation and involvement will continue. All of which can only serve to be positive from the industry’s perspective.

Where to from here for Irish practitioners?

There is much to be gained through collaboration and networking, and with a significant number of experienced horticulturalists working in the area, there is a rich body of knowledge to be exploited.

A database of organisations and individuals who would share ideas, activities, practice experiences, educational opportunities, would elevate standards of practice further, leading to a broadening recognition and mainstream acceptance of the profession. There is also a huge opportunity for cross disciplinary working and research.

A grouping would serve to strengthen and grow the profession, particularly in terms of helping to inform and shape national policy, thereby further increasing employment opportunities for graduates.

In addition, development of links to the UK, where established organisations such as Thrive and the Association of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture practitioners have been networking successfully for many years, would provide sound organisational experience and guidance.

I am starting a network, if you are interested in creating it please contact me at rachel.freeman@itb.ie ✽

Rachel Freeman is an assistant lecturer in horticulture at the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, where she is also year-two course and placement coordinator. In addition to teaching practice Rachel is also completing an MSc in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture at Coventry University, UK. She can be contacted at rachel.freeman@itb.ie

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

Photo: KORALEY NORTHEN

Horticulture activities were part of the treatment processes.

Asylum records noted ‘Male patients shall be employed in gardening and husbandry… to promote cheerfulness and happiness’. Dr Benjamin Rush, a late 18th century American psychiatrist, found that ‘Field labour in a farm setting had curative effects on people who were mentally ill’.

Historically this therapeutic value of horticulture was understood and widely used. This connection was lost through societal and demographic changes, and modernisation of medicine, particularly during the late 19th and 20th centuries.

However, things are coming full circle, and increasingly horticultural practices and green spaces around the world are used medicinally in healthcare and community settings as a means of treating conditions and promoting wellbeing in its broadest sense.

They are broadly defined as follows: Social and therapeutic horticulture is the purposeful use of horticultural activities and the outdoors to promote health and wellbeing and facilitate social inclusion.

Horticultural therapy is the use of plants by a trained professional as a medium through which certain clinically defined goals may be met.

Therapeutic horticulture is the process by which individuals may develop wellbeing using plants and horticulture. This is achieved by active or passive involvement.

These definitions are all broadly similar, focussing on differences and limiting practice on these differences is neither useful nor progressive.

This is a niche and comparatively young sector of horticulture. It is developing apace as the role of nature in relation to human health is better understood through research studies and practice evaluations. These terms, definitions and their scope will no doubt change, as use and practice of horticulture for human health advances; let’s not get too hung up on a name.

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Building footfall in Ireland’s Gardens Lynn O'Keeffe-Lascar explains how Irish garden owners and operators are collaborating to promote and develop Ireland’s wealth of garden treasures

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pen gardens' is a very broad sector. It stretches from large publicly funded free entry parks such as the Phoenix Park and the National Botanic Gardens, to successful commercial enterprises like Blarney Castle and Gardens, to 'plantsman' gardens open by appointment only, for instance Cahir Bridge in Fanore, Co Clare, to gardens that open as charity fundraisers.

Size, visitor numbers, design quality, accessibility and facilities available vary considerably. Some have grouped together into trails and others battle it out to promote themselves on their own. Some have joined Houses, Castles & Gardens of Ireland, some have linked in with the RHSI, but all feel we would be better facilitated by Failte Ireland and the marketing bodies of Tourism Ireland and Discover Ireland as one united group to gain more impact for the gardening sector.

On 24 October last year, the first Open Gardens conference was held at the beautiful Inish Beg Estate near Baltimore, West Cork. The turnout was great, with over 60 participants from gardens in Donegal to Connemara to Carlow.

The day was very well organised with inspiring speakers. Paul Keane of Inish Beg Estate spoke about how a representative group could work more effectively with Bord Failte, Discover Ireland and Tourism Ireland to maximise promotion and marketing.

Jane Powers was in attendance, author of the recently published 'The Irish Garden' book, and she is very passionate about the quality and standard of gardens in Ireland. She gave some good advice about what the visitor is looking for in a garden: escape, inspiration, unusual plants, plants for sale, good design, a nice cup of tea and a clean bathroom.

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Micheal O'Neil of West Cork Tourism and Tim Lucy of Cork County Council spoke about the nuts and bolts of attracting tourists. They talked about sustainable destinations (an EU initiative) and the different categories of tourists: those that want the “Experience Package, the Culturally Curious, the Great Escapers and the Social Energisers”. The culturally curious look for friendly welcomes, knowledge, learning and an authentic experience, all of which can be supplied by a well run open garden. The great escapers want to relieve stress, get into the outdoors, and like a multi-sensory experience. So these are the two groups open gardens need to market to.

Following on from these talks, we split into groups to brainstorm various topics, came together to debate the answers and elected an interim steering committee. It was also decided that meetings would be held in a different location each time, moving around the country. A delicious lunch was served, followed by walks around the gardens and woodlands of Inish Beg Estate.

The second meeting was held at the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin on 16 April 2016.

Another beautiful location, which always adds to the appeal of the meetings. The interim committee had done a lot of work since the first meeting, and had a possible name and logo for approval.

About 20 people attended, including representatives from tour operators and big name gardens such as Altamont, there to show support and discuss the practicalities of turning this diverse group of garden loving individuals into a properly structured organisation, to promote Ireland as the Garden Isle.

This meeting was a lot less idealistic and much more technical with debates as to the merits of being a

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

trust, whether or not to have a CEO, Board of Directors etc. Also discussed were types of memberships, sources of funding, minimum standards for gardens, and as proved very controversial, a star rating system for gardens, as used by B&Bs and hotels.

There were plenty of suggestions, but the idea was scrapped in favour of categories like 'Formal Parkland Gardens' or 'Small and Quirky'.

The interim committee suggested that the purposes of the group would be to: ● r epresent gardens open to the

public on the island of Ireland ●m anage the membership and website ● organise an annual garden tourism conference ● promote garden tourism ● run a garden awards system ● liaise with garden trails ● attend garden open days ● and also to evaluate and measure the development and performance of the Gardens of Ireland body A committee was elected, which included garden tour operators, which is great to see as their input is essential to the successful promotion of gardens.

The next stakeholder meeting was set for 21 October at a venue to be arranged.

If you'd like to attend please email Trevor@trevoredwardsgardens.com ✽

Lynn O'KeeffeLascar, DSc Amenity Horticulture, is a horticulturist based in Co Galway. She works with community groups, Tidy Towns, the OPW and for private clients. She can be contacted at lynnsirishgardens.wix.com or via Twitter at @OkeeffeLynn

Cultivating Cuttings Dr Andy Whelton presents an overview of how Ireland’s cut foliage sector is expanding to meet a rising global market

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ut foliage production is an innovative market led sector of Irish horticulture. It describes the decorative greenery used in floristry and is obtained from a wide variety of trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennial plants. Worldwide demand in developed countries is increasing and prospects for continuing expansion of the small Irish industry for export markets are very good. Ironically at a time when there is overproduction of many farm commodities, the demand for high quality, well graded cut foliage to export markets is buoyant.

The European flower industry is worth €2.5bn with the foliage element estimated at 10% of this, or €250m.

UK and Dutch packers and distributors need high volume supplies, and peak periods such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day are seeing significant increases in demand for cut foliage year on year. Indications are that the market is growing at 10% per annum.

25 growers are currently exporting over €5m worth of greenery, providing much needed employment in harvest and processing in rural counties of Kerry, Cork, Wexford and Waterford.

The mild, relatively frost free climate in Southern Ireland is ideal for growing lush, premium foliage. A plentiful supply of water, rich organic soils and the

short distance to market are all major advantages over competitors from Israel, Italy and developing countries.

70% of Irish foliage currently ends up in UK multiples such as Morrisons, ASDA and the horticultural suppliers to M&S, Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsburys.

Importance of Applied Research Effective technical and research support is proving vital to the development and success of the relatively new cut foliage business.

Evaluation of species, providing fully costed production and management blueprints for core and new species forms the basis of much of the current work programme.

There is a continuous need for a stream of new material that is market led as buyers and customers are constantly looking for innovation with new products displaying different textures, colours and scents in a discerning and competitive market. For that reason, in 2011 with support from Bord Bia, an extensive collection of over 100 species of foliage plant material from different parts of the world was established at Kildalton College, the aim being to screen suitability from a climatic and marketing point of view.

This is ongoing work, with new material being added annually and a number of newer types are now beginning to emerge which are being expanded in the industry.

Given the exacting market requirements for the continuity of supply of quality cut foliage, developing production and management protocols for ornamental species play a large part of the ongoing research and applied extension work on growers holdings in Wexford, Kerry and Kildalton College. The delivery of uniform stems of suitable length and spray form can only be achieved when optimum plant density coupled with best management

practices of pruning, nutrition and pest and disease control are met. The applied research work on foliage aims to meet these exacting requirements. More sustainable control measures fostering eco-friendly production, which are now desirable under the Sustainable Use and Integrated Crop Management directives, are an important aspect of the current research programme in Teagasc. Irish foliage is well positioned to capitalise on the recent surge in environmental accreditation being demanded by the multiples, and Teagasc research on sustainable production systems is crucial to progressing the industry and meeting the high regulatory and market specifications. Dr. Michael Gaffney, Teagasc entomologist, is leading a programme on pest monitoring and the development of trapping technologies that encourage growers to target pesticide application under sustainable production of foliage. Two of the most serious pests of ornamental foliage production - Carnation Tortrix and Capsid species - are being focused on in this work.

Andy Whelton discussing foliage production with growers in Co Wexford

Focused Research work on Pruning Most plant species flower at a particular stage in the season but trials work aimed at preventing the flowering phase and inducing vegetative growth is more desirable in cut foliage production.

Techniques such as timed pruning and altering the nutrition levels on plant species are helping to deliver product which is demanded in high volume at the key periods such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day. A recently completed MSc by Kildalton College’s amenity technician, Catherine Gavin has helped in plugging information gaps on optimum pruning treatments of

Summer 2016 / www.horticulture.ie / HORTICULTURECONNECTED

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16 / RESEARCH Ozothamnus, a key foliage species for the Christmas market.

Pruning regimes on young and older material coupled with summer tip pruning to improve shape of stems were closely examined in the research. The results indicated that higher yields of saleable stems are produced when Ozothamnus ‘Sussex Silver’ is pruned in March rather than in June, regardless of whether they are pruned to 200mm or 500mm.

More vigorous rejuvenation resulting in higher yields of desirable length and quality was evident in younger pruned sites compared to older more established crops, suggesting age of species to be an important factor to bear in mind.

Summer tip pruning while improving the quality of spray stems is not recommended for this species, given the high labour cost involved.

Continuity of Supply with Protected Crops Kildalton’s horticulture principal, Grainne McMahon and I have undertaken trials on developing production protocols for the continuity of supply of foliage fillers including flower species, which aim to supply foliage and meet supermarket demand for product in the off season to complement the main production period. This provides Irish producers with a clear market advantage. Using protected structures for early and late season cropping, coupled with a range of varieties and pruning regimes, production blueprints have been developed for bouquet fillers; fillers - Solidago and ornamental brassicas – just two species developed to date and currently being scaled up by growers in the industry.

soil type are deemed suitable by Teagasc, new entrants must be prepared to follow a strict protocol with regard to management and harvest, which has been developed for the key species. It can cost €5,000 to €12,000 per hectare to establish a plantation depending on the species and system of production and the returns can be in the region of €3,000 to €7,000 per annum from the third year onwards.

Future private and state investment in the development and commercialisation of innovative new species from trials in places like Kildalton will see the foliage industry copper-fasten its position as the dominant force for the mid to high end market place.

Major challenges lie ahead for the industry. Success will depend on a high level of market coordination and production based on committed, professional growers with solid research and technical backup.

If you are interested in hearing more about the cut foliage enterprise or would like to visit the trial site at Teagasc Kildalton College you can do so by contacting Catherine Gavin on 051 644 422 or Andy Whelton on 087 784 8065. ✽

Andy Whelton M Sc

View of Kildalton cut foliage trials plot

Flower crops such as herbaceous Paeony rose and scented stock are currently the focus of agronomy work which aims to provide the Irish industry with a suite of products demanded by a discerning developing market currently undersupplied both at home and in other EU countries.

DAFM Grant Aid The Foliage Ireland group, which oversees development of the sector comprise Teagasc, DAFM, Bord Bia, and Enterprise Ireland. Processors and growers are keen to see orderly, professional development and expansion of the industry. With a target of €20m under harvest in 2020, the Department of Agriculture provides support by way of grant aid for those interested in getting into the business. If location and

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. . . g n i w o r g is

Catherine Gavin alongside Ozothamnus foliage in Kildalton College on which she carried out an M.Sc research thesis on Pruning

Ag Sc is a horticultural development officer in the Teagasc Horticultural Development Department based in Teagasc Clonakilty College and is specialist adviser on ornamental cut foliage. He has spearheaded the developments in cut foliage as a new sector in commercial horticulture. He also works closely with outdoor vegetable and protected crop businesses in Munster and south Leinster. You can contact Andy at andy.whelton@teagasc.ie

HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Summer 2016

016 2 r be m e ov ngham N i 3 nd irm a B 2 C NE

SALTEX is at the heart of the industry and the must attend event for anyone maintaining or managing pitches, estates, grounds, landscaping, play areas and parks.

Bigger exhibition Latest industry innovations New student competition

Enhanced expert advice More educational seminars Larger awards event

Free admission to exhibition. To register visit www.iogsaltex.com.

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Institute of Technology Blanchardstown OPEN EVENING

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