Landscape Trades January 2020

January 2020 VOL. 42, NO. 1

landscapetrades.com

Improve payment odds with insolvent debtors Recruitment tips from other trades

CONGRESS

Turfgrass is a managment balancing act

opens doors Canada’s green show convinces young people great careers await — that’s just the beginning

40 PM40013519

Five pros share lessons learned

6

Two ways to promote pollinators: Feel-good and real

68

Conference peek: Tumber on emotional design

CONGRESS PREVIEW: PLAN YOUR SHOW page 45

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CONTENTS ART DIRECTOR Kim Burton | kburton@landscapeontario.com LANDSCAPE ONTARIO MAGAZINE EDITOR Robert Ellidge | rob@landscapeontario.com MULTIMEDIA DESIGNER Mike Wasilewski | mikew@landscapeontario.com

Experience the energy at Congress

ACCOUNTANT Joe Sabatino | joesabatino@landscapeontario.com ACCOUNT MANAGER Greg Sumsion | gsumsion@landscapeontario.com COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR Angela Lindsay | alindsay@landscapeontario.com ADVISORY COMMITTEE Gerald Boot CLM, Laura Catalano, Jeremy Feenstra, Mark Fisher, Hank Gelderman CHT, Marty Lamers, Bob Tubby CLM, Nick Winkelmolen, Dave Wright Landscape Trades is published by Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association 7856 Fifth Line South, Milton, ON L9T 2X8 Phone: (905)875-1805 Email: comments@landscapetrades.com Fax: (905)875-0183 Web site: www.landscapetrades.com LANDSCAPE ONTARIO STAFF Darryl Bond, Amy Buchanan, Tony DiGiovanni CHT, Denis Flanagan CLD, Cassandra Garrard, Meghan Greaves, Sally Harvey CLT CLM, Keri MacIvor, Heather MacRae, Kathy McLean, John Russell, Ian Service, David Turnbull, Lissa Schoot Uiterkamp, Tom Somerville, Myscha Stafford, Martha Walsh

Landscape Trades is published nine times a year: January, February, March, April, May, August, September, October and November.

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Views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the association or its members, but are those of the writer concerned.

FEATURES 6 Pollinator promotion done right

Landscape professionals can either look proactive, or make a real difference in supporting pollinator populations.

BY PAT KERR

14 Congress welcomes new energy

Garden builds, special events, networking: How Canada’s top green show inspires careers.

BY SCOTT BARBER

20 Sustainability sells

Contractors are in a great position to pair environmental action with prosperity.

BY SEAN JAMES

28 Trading recruitment ideas

A survey of how other trades are successfully attracting new blood.

BY JORDAN WHITEHOUSE

34 Independence four years on

Update on two contractors who struck out on their own, with their employers’ blessing.

BY INDIRA KANNAN

40 Landscape lessons learned

ISSN 0225-6398 PUBLICATIONS MAIL SALES AGREEMENT 40013519 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT LANDSCAPE TRADES MAGAZINE 7856 FIFTH LINE SOUTH, MILTON, ON L9T 2X8 CANADA

Five contractors open up on how others might avoid learning some lessons, the hard way.

BY SCOTT BARBER

44 Successful tree planting, by the book

Researchers answer questions on the Ontario Landscape Tree Planting Guide

CANADA’S PREMIER GREEN INDUSTRY TRADE SHOW AND CONFERENCE - JANUARY 7-9TH

ASSISTANT EDITOR Scott Barber | sbarber@landscapeontario.com

CONGRESS 2020 PLANNER

JANUARY 2020 VOL. 42, NO. 1

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Lee Ann Knudsen CLM | lak@landscapeontario.com

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50 Never forget nature

A horticulture pro gets fascinated with nature’s therapeutic role for dementia patients.

BY JIM LANDRY

56 Designers tour Normandy

Horticulture – and culture – connect Atlantic Canada designers with garden treasures.

BY ELLEN RUDDICK

66 Sustainability tips for lawncare pros

Steps to help homeowners manage healthy turf and promote long-term client relationships.

BY KATERINA JORDAN PH.D.

68 Dream big and design big Conference speaker Randy Tumber

on his expansive landscape vision.

COLUMNS 74 Road to success

BY ROD McDONALD

76 Legal matters

BY ROB KENNALEY

78 Management solutions

BY MARK BRADLEY

86 Mentor moment

DEPARTMENTS 70 NEW PRODUCTS 72 MANITOBA UPDATE 80 CNLA NEWS 82 NEWSSCAPE 85 EVENTS 85 CLASSIFIEDS 85 ADVERTISERS JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

3

GREENPENCIL It can do for you what it’s done for me

Come home to Congress It’s Friday morning, the show floor is and eventually ended up serving on bare. I watch teams gather, jobs get the Landscape Ontario Show Commitdelegated and displays build up from tee. Congress has benefitted my career nothing. The floor gets energized with in so many ways. beeping forklifts, cases of merchandise, Happy faces on the show floor trucks moving in and out, and people make me happy. Some in the industry renewing friendships. Then opening tend to race through the floor and skip morning comes, along with a little the events. They come alone or in a anxiety. small group, are in and out, and that’s I am at Congress for a seven-day as far as they take it. I know for a fact progression every year. It’s always an that spending multiple days at the emotional run, but you are never alone.

MICHAEL LaPORTE show benefits me, as well as others.

From a vast open space, to excitement, You get the opportunity to develop to almost sadness at the end. The whole further, and new relationships open up. You don’t have to team wants to see Congress succeed, and it does. be on a board or committee, just take advantage of what is I was a student at Niagara College when I attended offered. Happy people are the ones that stay at the show my first Congress in 2000; I volunteered in the Conference longer. area to get into the show for free! Since I did not know My appreciation for Congress exhibitors deepened when many people, I found the show overwhelming. But when I the company I work with took the step of booking a booth.

It has also been great building so many personal relationships with suppliers. Knowing the Congress exhibitors from my committee work has broadened my industry contacts, because I often get calls or emails asking if I know a vendor for this or that — and I usually do. I am a connection point; knowing the suppliers helps me to help others, who are there for me when I need something.

Congress really does bring people together. For example, the GreenLive area offers free demos on success with trees, and it’s a collaboration between nursery growers and arborists. I have really enjoyed watching those groups share and work together.

What is Congress? I recently heard it called a homecom-

went to the volunteer area, it took about three minutes to feel part of everything. It was that welcoming. I was introduced to so many people; suddenly I felt as if I had been in the industry forever.

I continued volunteering this way about four more years,

4 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

ing, which is bang-on. In the committee, we say the show’s purpose is to provide the opportunity for communication, education and celebration. Congress is so much more than sales on the floor. I hope you will join me in coming home, to Congress. LT

Michael LaPorte is a longstanding Congress volunteer, and general manager of Clearview Nursery, based in Stayner, Ont.

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Native plants are essential in supporting pollinators, but in many parts of Canada, regional variations are not commercially available.

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wish list for 2020: Pollinator success

BY PAT KERR

Pros can make a real difference, plus satisfy client desires to help reverse declining populations POLLINATOR GARDENS ARE A GROWING FAD — or perhaps a tidal wave of change — and they are increasing in popularity. The National Pollinator Garden Network reported 1,040,000 registered pollinator gardens in North America. In addition, 30 Canadian cities now identify themselves as pollinator cities. People who enjoy eating are figuring out that without native pollinators, grocery bills will climb.

The challenge for landscape professionals: some customers want beauty, no maintenance and a feeling of being environmentally kind to pollinators, while others want to know what they are doing will work — and the two are not the same.

If your customer wants a feel-good approach to supporting pollinators, your job is simple. Plant bright colourful flowers, a native tree or two and feel good about pollinators. We have done this and pollinator numbers are in decline. It isn’t enough.

IT’S BEEN SAID, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting change.” If your customer will be checking or sending photos to a citizen science project, you An educational pollinator garden in Desbarats, Ont., demonstrates gardens need not be large or exotic to protect pollinators.

JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

7

To protect pollinators, larvae need specific plants, shelter and the freedom to eat host plants.

To truly support pollinators, a landowner must accept they will make ugly plants.

A suggestion is to plant larval host plants at the back of a property or other areas with lower visibility.

have work to do. We have scientific evidence pollinator declines are real. Our past designs and ideas aren’t working for them. If we want pollinators in Canada, we need change. However, there is a ton we don’t know, including the complete cause of pollinator decline.

A factor in pollinators’ favour is their tiny size. This means the smallest balcony garden can benefit pollinators, while the largest garden, if not designed with their needs in mind, may be of little use.

Jennifer Marshman, a Ph.D. candidate in human geography at Wilfrid Laurier University, said, “The city can be a refuge for insect pollinators; the number and diversity of native bee species in cities tells us that cities can have high conservation value. Cities don’t necessarily support MORE bees, but they do seem to support a greater diversity of bees. It is important to improve conservation efforts in cities.”

POLLINATORS, LIKE ALL LIVING THINGS, need food, water and shelter. Many pollinators satisfy their need for moisture from nectar so this is covered at the same time as food.

Here in Canada, we have literally thousands of pollinators, and the needs break down to specific plants. The monarch needs milkweed, and not the tropical milkweed often retailed. Skippers (tiny butterflies with monarch colouring) need timothy grass. No matter how large or grand a property, choices must be made. No property can support all our pollinators, but any native plant is likely to support at least one pollinator species, and any native tree is likely to support hundreds.

Lately, the fad is to protect monarch butterflies. Some research shows that tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, can actually harm monarchs by confusing their migration — unless you are in the Caribbean. When it comes to supporting insects, tiny details matter. Like the exact host plant. Our milkweed differs across Canada, and we don’t know if there is a difference to the butterflies, but assume in eastern Canada you should stick with eastern strains like common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca; butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosa; or swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnate. In B.C., showy milkweed, Asclepias speciose, is a better choice. We have 12 native milkweeds in Canada.

If matching exact native plants to specific pollinators seems like a huge headache, there is good news: if you plant any native tree, A spiral garden under construction at Wilfrid Laurier University, as part of their pollinator project.

Photo: Jennifer Marshman

8 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

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Nativars are native plants propagated for the horticultural industry.

We do not know how effectively they support pollinators, but feel they are better than exotics.

shrub or plant, you will help some pollinator, even if you don’t know exactly which one. We don’t have a lot of research at this time on nativars, or native plants bred and propagated for gardens, it is generally believed they are better than exotics, but far from perfect. This makes the job of landscaping for pollinators really tough. Sources for true native plants are non-existent in many areas, and moving them from wild areas is wrong.

It seems obvious, but in the pollinator garden I care for, I repeat to our guests over and over, that dill and borage, like the timothy grass for skippers, is larvae food. It is only doing its job if larvae eat it. They are not pretty, showplace plants. To be effective, they cannot be sprayed with natural or synthetic pesticide. You can’t pick the larvae and dump them in soapy water.

BUTTERFLY LARVAE, like all larvae, make holes in leaves, poop and leave ragged plants. Fritillary butterfly larvae eat violets; marble wings eat either conifers, wild cabbage or mustard. Swallowtail larvae will eat blueberry and carrot family sagebrush. If your customers want to support butterflies, they must both provide the correct host plant for larvae food and accept ragged plants.

When it comes to bees, host plants are high-nectar plants, the same plants that support adult butterflies. But nothing about caring for insects is simple. They also need a place to live and breed and as people tend to not like being stung, they need places that are safe for humans. Almost 80 per cent of our native bees live in, or on, the ground. They choose places like abandoned chipmunk holes and leaf litter. If the garden is manicured and “clean,” there is nowhere for bees to nest.

Seeds of Diversity and Wilfred Laurier University use a spiral garden design. You can make these in any shape or style, but the idea is to have graduated heights and lots of crevices for insect housing. Since many insects drown if submerged in a rainstorm, the goal is to elevate housing sites, providing varied levels of dryness that are attractive to beneficial insects. Spiral gardens are planted with drought tolerant plants like herbs, leaving large empty spaces between the plants for ground nesting. Yes, this means hand weeding is necessary.

We have only a small amount of data for bee hotels. These are usually wooden structures designed to support the 20 per cent of our bees that nest in straw-like structures. In a survey of 600 bee hotels in Toronto, introduced bees nested at 32.9 per cent of sites and represented 24.6 per cent of the bees using the hotels. Native bees were parasitized more than introduced bees. Native wasps occupied three-fourths of all bee hotels. And introduced wasps were the only group to significantly increase in relative abundance year over year.

12 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

Native wasps are garden workers that consume pests, so they are beneficial in a pollinator garden. But they have a reputation as stingers. The bigger problem with bee hotels is they can become habitat for diseases and parasites. This can increase mortality for pollinators the land owner wants to protect. Any time a species is encouraged to live close together, disease transfer is supported.

Location is always priority when it comes to real estate, for both humans and bees. Shady spots favour wasp boarders. When the southeast morning sun strikes a hotel, it is more attractive to bees, as they like morning warmth before starting work.

A British study done this year found that female bumble bees emerging in spring will travel long distances, spending each night in leaf litter. They use trees for direction and tree blossoms for their first food of the season. The obvious response is, we need earlyblooming trees like maple, willow and elm. We also need leaf litter, or a property is not truly protecting pollinators.

SEEDS OF DIVERSITY has a suggestion to help with the “messy” areas needed by pollinators. They call it a fedge — again, it can be any shape or size. The example they are testing is a border garden, dominated by native trees and plants, but it also includes apple trees and squash plants because their goal is to increase pollination to a community food garden. Unlike a traditional hedge, plant choices are native and diverse. Most important, the ground is not cleaned; leaf litter is allowed to compost naturally, providing nesting sites and habitat for insects.

Not every part of every garden must be pollinator friendly. Like child play areas, decks, walking trails or water gardens, pollinator gardens can be part of a design, or the focus of a property. The hard part is determining if the customer wants to feel good, or be good to pollinators. LT

Pat Kerr is an Ontario-based freelance writer.

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Beyond products, professional development and friends, Congress welcomes young people to great careers

Congress opens doors

BY SCOTT BARBER

A Humber student sets a stone at her school’s Congress garden build; a foundation for her future career.

14 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

LANDSCAPE ONTARIO CONGRESS blew Destiny Lacasse’s mind.

Now in her third and final year at Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, Lacasse first visited Congress in 2018, as a member of her program’s garden building team.

“I was mind blown by how big it was,” Lacasse remembers. “You start in one massive section, with equipment and pavers and plants everywhere, and you think that must be the whole show. Then you see a door that leads to another giant hall, with even more equipment and businesses and people. And then there’s another. The scale of it really blew me away.”

Each year, students, young people and newcomers to the horticulture profession visit Congress to check out the latest products and equipment, connect with potential employers and attend the Conference program.

Landscape Ontario’s executive director Tony DiGiovanni describes the annual trade show and Conference at the Toronto Congress Centre as a “homecoming” for the profession. It’s also a career launching pad.

“I went to Congress for the first time in 1975, as a first-year student in the horticulture program at Humber College,” DiGiovanni remembers. “At the time, I wasn’t sure

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Congress 2020 salutes the landscape profession Jan. 7-9, 2020

Celebrating its 47th year in 2020, Landscape Ontario Congress is the annual face-to-face event that brings Canada’s green pros together. If you have been to Congress before, you are probably planning to go this year. If you have never been to Congress, now is the time to make plans.

The show ranks among Canada’s top 10 trade shows, filling six acres of floor space with energy. Reasons to attend include: l Products: Over 600 exhibitors display their best sales and productivity solutions, from trucks to pavers to equipment to nursery stock and more. Budget time to visit the New Product Showcase, a juried display of new technology and merchandise. l Pro development: Business education opportunities at Congress are second to none. Conference sessions are geared toward every sector, and tailored to business owners as well as frontline staff. Specialized events are offered for Integrated Pest Management, leadership and landscape design. Don’t miss the two top-flight keynotes, plus live floor demos on hardscape, vehicle compliance and success with trees. l Events: The Tuesday evening Awards of Excellence ceremony draws over 500 guests, and celebrates landscape pride and professionalism. Relax with friends at Congress After Dark on Wednesday evening. l Fun: Try your hand at axe-throwing (!) in the north hall near the hardscape demo area. Then ease your thirst at the Ale Trail stations on the show floor.

The beauty of Congress is the unpredictable things that happen — chance new contacts, unexpected technology solutions, or seeing an old employee who is doing well. Get details and register at www.LOcongress.com.

16 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

the industry was right for me; I didn’t know what my career path could be.”

A Congress seminar for students led by Landscape Ontario’s first president, Glenn Peister, was a turning point for DiGiovanni.

“The way Glenn talked about landscaping and horticulture, and all the potential careers in the field, really made a big impact on me,” DiGiovanni says. “It was so inspirational, I can honestly say it was one of the reasons I decided to stay in the program and to pursue a career in horticulture.”

Another factor was DiGiovanni’s experience building a student garden on the show floor.

“It was a bonding experience for our class, to come together to design and build a garden at Congress,” he said.

“I look back at the positive energy and the team work and I can see now what a big impact the experience had on me and my career path.”

He added, “Congress really is more than just a show. It’s a place where students and young people find inspiration, and industry veterans get reenergized.”

Student garden displays have been part of every Congress since then, providing horticulture and landscaping students from schools including Fanshawe College, Niagara Parks School of Horticulture and Humber College practical, hands-on experience. The garden builds give Congress visitors a glimpse of the future of the industry.

TIME FOR TEAMWORK Brian Cocks, owner of Brian Cocks Nursery and Landscaping in Winona, Ont., has managed the student gardens for decades. With 150-200 students working in a small area with a tight deadline, ensuring everything goes smoothly is no easy feat.

“What I have seen over the years, is the quality of the work and the gardens has drastically improved,” Cocks said.

“The students really take ownership over their gardens, and that sense of pride in the work you do is so important. I’ve also seen a real competitiveness amongst the schools, which I think is great. It shows me that these young people really

Brian Cocks treats the garden build like it’s “a real job on a real jobsite,” to keep things safe and give students the chance to show off their skills.

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care, and they are passionate about what they do.”

Lacasse has been part of two builds, and for 2020, she’s part of the design team for her school’s garden.

“The student garden build experience is really valuable for all of the colleges involved, but it’s especially important for Niagara, because we don’t get a lot of hardscaping experience; it’s not the focus of our program,” Lacasse said. “I really enjoyed the opportunity to create the plans, and cut the stone, and work on some skills we don’t otherwise spend a lot of time on.”

Taniel Ajamian is also a third year student at Niagara Parks School of Horticulture. Ajamian says the biggest challenge was keeping the plants watered, recalling times when they “were running around with buckets and garbage cans, filling them at custodial staff sinks.” But the hard work and the hectic environment was worth it.

“Participating in the student garden build is a fun experience,” he said. “I enjoy the teamwork and urgency that goes into building our booth, and it’s very fulfilling once it is complete.”

EYES WIDE OPEN Once the garden build was finished, Ajamain relished the opportunity to check out everything Congress has to offer.

“The biggest takeaway from the trade show is having fun, meeting new people and making new contacts, and seeing cool things,” he said. “The size and scope of the industry does surprise me and also excites me as a student. I always see new equipment every year and look forward to visiting nursery booths for a catalog and to check out their display. I plan on attending Congress in the future to network,

and to keep up-to-date on future technology and innovations.”

Lacasse agreed that Congress is a great place for students and young people to get a taste of the industry. “I enjoy walking the whole show floor, because you get to see what’s new, all of the different businesses and products that are being introduced,” she said. “Then when you go back each year you get to see familiar faces and you get to reconnect and build your network. I think that’s really valuable for students and people who are getting started in their careers, to be able to meet so many people in the industry all in one place.”

The opportunity to network, meet with potential employers and suppliers is key, Cocks says.“It’s as simple as taking the initiative to introduce yourself, and to ask questions.”

For 2020, the conference program features several events geared specifically to students. The Greencareerscanada.ca Game of Life seminar will explore education pathways and career opportunities in the landscape horticulture profession; the Lunch and Learn Speed Networking keynote will provide opportunities to make new connections; and the Snap Dragon’s Den event is a great chance for secondary and postsecondary students to show their knowledge and initiative to potential employers.

Students are eligible for a free Congress trade show pass, and special conference pricing. Visit LOcongress.com/students. LT

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Sustainability makes sales

BY SEAN JAMES

Landscape pros have all the tools needed to align environmental action with prosperity

W

HAT DO POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS care about, and how can it help your business? It seems we professionals are often playing catchup with what the public really wants.

Opportunity is out there. So what do we need to know, and what can we do to be part of the expanding interest in eco-friendly landscaping?

Garden experts and landscapers from across Canada have offered their insights.

I was chatting with exclusively-organic Halifax gardening guru, writer, blogger and radio show host, Niki Jabbour, who observes, “My readers range from newbie food gardeners to those who have been gardening for decades.

Often they’re looking to expand their skill set into winter harvesting, greenhouse growing, or want to try cool new-to-them crops like cucamelons or ground cherries.” Niki understands what the public wants; they want what’s new and cool. They need someone to teach them. That should be us. We need to keep up, but we have to get outside our regular circles.

POISED FOR LEADERSHIP Heike Stippler, from Whistler, B.C., says, “The biggest challenge is showing people that it [eco-friendly gardening] takes time and understanding — that it’s not ‘instant.’ But once you get eco-friendly, it’s even more about timing.

Eco-friendly lawns and fertilizers take more time. Even pruning and recovery; all these things take time. As president of Heike Designs, she laments, “It gets frustrating being the bearer of bad news; having to fix the mistakes of others, 20 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

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The public wants what’s new and cool like cucamelons.

They need someone to teach them.

them. [There’s also] the other end of the spectrum; people want what they want. Some can be educated, but others not.” Most people don’t know which plants are native and which aren’t. If they don’t ask for eco, they don’t need to know that their landscape is designed with beautiful natives and nativars, supporting biodiversity, lowering water use, and still raising property values. Just do it. There’s no harm.

GREEN VALUE APPRECIATES

educating the client.” Having the depth of knowledge to offer this education is an ongoing gift and challenge.

Lorraine Johnson is an Ontario writer and popular speaker who’s been advocating for environmental landscape practices through her books, such as 100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants for Canadian Gardens, for decades. Her thoughts are blunt, but good words and what we need to hear: “I think there’s an unfortunate Catch-22 happening, and it’s impeding progress on the environmental front. The horticultural industries often say they provide what the market wants. At the same time, consumers are highly motivated to make environmentallypositive choices, but in many cases, the products or services just aren’t available. Think, for example, of the difficulty of finding native plants grown from local seed sources in the general nursery trade. This is just one example. There is an incredible — and urgent — opportunity for industry to be a force for positive change, but we’re just not seeing it yet on the scale that the environmental crisis demands from everyone — industry and individuals. We need to stop waiting for others to lead. Everyone has to be a leader. Now, not later.”

What more can we do? Starting small is something. Stippler feels, “Even just making smart trips, minimizing waste, doing several things in one trip, taking the time to be sure you’ve got everything and are organized, can save a lot of carbon — and save money on crew wages.

Route planning can make a huge difference.” Landscape Ontario’s Environmental Stewardship Committee urged folks to start ‘at home,’ looking for ways to run companies in environmentally-friendly ways, before looking for ways to make landscapes eco-friendly.

“I don’t really use the word eco-friendly. I use the term ‘environmentally-conscious,’” says Stippler. “‘Good horticulture’ and ‘ecofriendly’ go hand-in-hand. Proper horticulture is not that far from being eco-friendly. We kind of have to be horticulturally smart to have a base to be eco-friendly.

“In Whistler, there are quite a few clients that want a natural look; blending into the environment. A few people are asking specifically for ‘natural’ and ‘low-maintenance.’ Doing it right is a good fit for 22 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

Jabbour offers more thoughts. “I practice diversity in my vegetable garden to encourage a healthy soil food web and avoid nutrient depletion, but also to invite a wide range of beneficial insects to my garden. Plus, pairing food and flowers makes for a gorgeous garden that’s eco-friendly and beautiful for the gardener. Being an eco-friendly food gardener is viable for anyone. Paying attention to your soil health is vital. Healthy soil grows healthy plants, which in turn offer a good harvest. I also practice crop rotation so my soil isn’t depleted of essential nutrients, and insect pests and disease problems are minimized.”

Incidentally, following folks like Jabbour on social media is an excellent way to get ahead of what the public is interested in. Other greats include The Garden Professors Blog with Dr. Linda Chalker Scott, Master Gardeners of Ontario and soils expert Cristina da Silva — and that’s just scratching the surface (see sidebar).

Manitoba’s Guy Dowhy of Dowhy Design & Landscapes shares his thoughts, “Landscaping on the Prairies is tough, or should I say hard-y.” He continues, “We think that the best thing we can do is start with locally-sourced, prairie-hardy plant selections. We have great plant growers and breeders in Manitoba who are improving the aesthetic characteristics of our hardy plants. Every client wants a great-looking yard but minimal maintenance, so plants have to be given the best opportunity to get established, and then survive for years to decades. The best thing we do is educate the client on the benefits of using organic mulches versus crushed stone on filter fabrics. Once we explain that the mulches will regulate soil moisture and temperatures while suppressing weeds and contributing to the soil’s organic matter content, they will always agree to go with this option.”

Dowhy believes it’s about the long-term success and return on investment for the customer. Soil stewardship may be the best hope for reversing climate change. More on the bright side, Dowhy continues, “Our industry is the only property investment that will increase a property’s value and aesthetic over time, with proper initial installation and some guided upkeep.”

THE RECRUITMENT ANGLE The new Ontario curriculum for Horticultural Apprenticeship and the national Red Seal Program have large swaths dealing with soil and water stewardship as well as enhancing biodiversity, in part to satisfy the demands of a potential workforce that wants to change the world. Forward-thinking concepts are introduced, such as ‘refugia’ (leaving piles of brush for creatures to hide in, possibly tucked behind some shrubs) and ‘let it lay’ (allowing fallen logs to rot in place providing habitat for all forms of life), which is especially

2312

Getting the word out

While word of mouth is great, today’s customers (or is it ‘audience’? Same thing maybe!) get a lot of information from social media. How to get the word out? In a perfect world, folks can’t get away from you! Every turn. Every click. Every time they search ‘gardens’ or ‘landscapes.’ Being everywhere is an ongoing challenge today, but a mission that can be fun, fulfilling, and even educational.

important since, according to Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees, 60 per cent of all living things have to spend part of their life in rotting wood.

In what ways can a professional get the word out there? Niki Jabbour tackles it on many fronts. She says, “Read, research, join a gardening club and talk to experts to expand your knowledge.” Good thoughts. Why don’t we join garden clubs? Is it a feeling of superiority? “There’s nothing they could teach us.” It’s certainly not a lack of civic duty. It’s fantastic how many community projects landscape companies get involved with. Remember that an army of horticultural society members (and no, they’re not all little old ladies!) is great at spreading the word about organizations they like.

“What if I’m not interesting enough?” Don’t be afraid. Just post about what interests you today. The folks you want to work with will find it interesting. Those who don’t find it interesting? You probably didn’t want to work with them anyway.

Make sure your photos show things being done safely, professionally and in good taste, although a touch of impish humour doesn’t hurt when trying to engage folks.

The beauty of using social networking is that as you build a following (which doesn’t happen overnight, but be patient), your followers will do your outreach for you.

Niki Jabbour, who is also one of the intensely-popular ‘Savvy Gardeners’ on Pinterest, is practicing techniques like diversity, intensive planting, interplanting, and companion planting to promote a healthy garden. Her 20 raised beds are a combination of vegetables, herbs, and flowers to attract bees and other pollinators as well as beneficial insects to reduce and control pest populations. There are many ways to do good.

Other benefits? Back to Whistler and Heike Designs: “Being eco-friendly can bring and keep employees in their

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associations and staying on top of what’s happening is what makes a difference — not just what happens on site. There’s so much to learn. With the internet and social media, people find out a lot on their own.

“In the long run it pays off. Stick with it. You will save money doing it right. It doesn’t happen overnight,” says Stippler. “It goes with building relationships with clients; even building relationships with gardens, like you know the plants personally (laughing). We do inspire and we do make quite a bit of a difference. Think about how many trees we plant and how much stormwater those trees take up and how that affects the whole environment we live in.” LT

Sean James operates Ontario-based Sean James Consulting and Design, and is an eco-consultant and popular speaker.

mid-20s to mid-30s. They care about that kind of stuff and they like that part. It’s sometimes challenging when it comes to training them how to deal with each property differently. Sometimes you leave the seedheads and sometimes you don’t. It’s not quite as simple and straightforward as traditional hort, and it requires more training and understanding of how and why it needs to be done this way and to judge.” It’s a challenge to be embraced, not feared.

Stippler is firm in her beliefs. “If we want to elevate the industry, we need to make people understand that it’s more than just mowing lawns. It’s the thinking that sets things apart. Being involved in

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How other trades recruit:

NEW IDEAS

on new talent

BY JORDAN WHITEHOUSE

LABOUR SHORTAGE. It’s the chronic illness across the landscaping industry that just won’t go away. In August, the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council released a forecast which showed that if nothing changes, 40 per cent of landscape and grounds maintenance labourer positions will go unfilled over the next 10 years. For landscape and horticulture supervisors, that number could hit 35 per cent.

Of course, this isn’t the only trade experiencing recruitment troubles. According to a recent report from Statistics Canada and the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, Canada needs to attract over 167,000 new apprentices over the next five years just to keep pace with current demand. Signs aren’t looking good that will happen.

In the first quarter of 2019 alone, there were over 60,000 job vacancies in Red Seal trades, an increase of 14 percent from a year earlier.

So that’s the bad news. The good news is, there are a lot of smart people, in different trades, trying to solve this problem, or at least put a dent in it. And as more than a few of them have suggested, one good way to go about it could be to try to learn from each other. Sure, there are different reasons for labour shortages across different industries, but there are commonalities as well. And one thing most trades agree on; domestic recruitment efforts have to be focused on two groups in particular: young people and the under-

represented, including women and minorities. What follows are a few ideas from a variety of trades on how to do that.

GEN Z GROWS UP No matter the trade, one of the easiest ways to attract new blood, say some, is to target those who are just starting to think about a career path. And that’s no longer millennials, but Generation Z, i.e. those born between 1997 and 2012. According to research from Bloomberg, Gen Z will make up 32 per cent of the global population by the end of 2019. That’s more than any other generation, including millennials.

Not every member of Gen Z is of working age yet, but thousands of them are graduating from Canadian high schools every year, and that means thousands are trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. One enticing option could be the trades, say people like David Stillman, the co-founder of management consulting firm Gen Z Guru. He says the big thing to remember about this generation is that they came of age during the recession. “That means they’re a bit more realistic, a bit more cautious of the traditional path of going to college and going into massive debt. We know that 75 per cent of them feel that there is still a good way of getting an education other than going to college.” continued on page 30

28 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

One key for recruitment to Gen Z is to communicate the wide variety of career options and duties in the trades.

It can’t be recruitment as usual with Gen Z, however, says Stillman and others. This is a generation that grew up in a hyperpersonalized world, where customized playlists and even customized university degrees are the norm. One key for recruitment, then, is to communicate the wide variety of career options in a particular trade and the wide variety of duties within a particular job. “My message is that every single company, right on their homepage, should have a big button on careers and what it’s like to work for us,” says Stillman. And there, he adds, they should specifically communicate all of the career options and job duties at that company.

Kael Campbell’s biggest message to employers is to consider an employee referral program that rewards employees for bringing in new blood. He is the president of Red Seal Recruiting Solutions, a firm that specializes in hiring for a variety of trades in Canada.

“So instead of going to a third-party recruiter like me and having me learn your business and understand the culture, you already have people in the company who know what that culture is like and know what the advantages of working there are,” Campbell says. In the trucking industry, he adds, studies have shown that referred employees are safer drivers, more productive, and more

likely to stick around.

You also have to understand that Gen Z communicates differently, says Campbell. Take Instagram, for instance: “Facebook was huge over the last 10 years, but this generation may be spending more time on Instagram, and you may find your next employee or candidate there. So share your projects on Instagram, and tell potential employees that they can message you there. That could be a good entry point.” Bottom line: make it easy for new potential candidates to communicate with you, he says. Don’t make them fill out a form or fax you their resume.

You might even consider using text message to communicate with potential new employees from this generation, adds Campbell.

Dajen Bohacek agrees. She is the associate director of Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ Association of Milwaukee. In 2017, she helped set up a youth apprenticeship program, and part of the job was communicating with would-be high school apprentices. She found out quickly that leaving voice messages about jobs wouldn’t be an option. “They often don’t even set up their voicemails, and they look at you like you’re crazy if you ask them to,” she says with a laugh. She started using text message with them a lot more often, and it worked. Of the 30 high school students who have enrolled in this apprenticeship program, 75 per cent of them have gone on to apply for a trade.

And this gets at another way some trades are going after Gen Z: targeting them when they’re still in high school or even middle school. A national recruitment strategy developed by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, for instance, cites this as a key for their trade. They already have a number of initiatives in place on this front that they intend to build upon, including a program called “Open Doors” that takes youth as early as Grades Nine and 10 to tour manufacturing plants to see first-hand the opportunities on offer.

A somewhat similar recruitment strategy worked on Julia Zahreddine, a site supervisor at Toronto’s Bridgecon Construction. She appeared at an event in Toronto in the spring hosted by a couple of Ontario construction industry associations. She was Recruitment initiatives include text messages to communicate job opportunities, apprenticeship programs, manufacturing plant tours for high school students and scholarships to draw Gen Z to the trades.

30 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

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Tapping into minority groups for recruitment would increase the labour pool for the trades.

drawn to the industry, she said, because the Heavy Construction Association of Toronto took the time to visit her class in high school and offer scholarships.

MINORITY MATTERS Zahreddine is an anomaly, however. According to Statistics Canada’s most recent Labour Force Survey, women made up less than four per cent of people in the trades, yet they make up over 50 per cent of the total workforce. That can’t continue to happen if the recruitment problem is going to be solved, say experts.

Fortunately, some trades are making inroads in attracting

women. Alberta’s construction sector is one of them, and the Construction Owners Association of Alberta (COAA) released a report a few years ago with a number of recommendations that have worked for a variety of companies. They include making the recruitment and retention of tradeswomen a company-wide priority; establishing a company-wide team focused on recruiting women and helping them fit in to the organization; and participating in and championing awareness training for employees.

More specifically, the COAA found that the companies most successful with recruiting women clearly indicated in their recruitment materials that they were serious about recruiting women.

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Fast, Easy, Beautiful 32 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

They also used photos of real tradeswomen in their promotional materials and placed those materials where women would see them, such as women’s trades training organizations, women’s community organizations, and fitness and recreation centres.

The COAA and other trade organizations also cite the importance of establishing female mentoring programs to attract women.

Lisa Bordeaux agrees. She is a management and educational consultant with 20 years of experience in the trades, and says it’s important to remember that whether it’s Gen Z or women, they don’t all see apprenticeships as falling into the mentorship category.

“Historically, apprentices kind of get treated like underlings. But if you tell someone that their job is to mentor people and it becomes a mentor-mentee relationship, that can be a lot more attractive.”

One reason mentorships can be more attractive is they help foster a more positive work environment, says Bordeaux, and that’s key to attracting people who don’t typically see themselves in the trades, including minority groups — another huge untapped labour pool in the trades.

Indigenous groups, in particular, have been a big focus for recruiters across the trades in recent years. In the construction sector, many efforts have been all about creating a welcoming workplace that increases employer and employee awareness of the unique contribution Indigenous people make to the workplace. That means everything from introducing cultural awareness workshops, to hiring outreach coordinators, to providing more opportunities for mentoring and job shadowing.

And similar to the successful recruitment efforts already

outlined for Gen Z and women, that also means going where minority groups are. Take another initiative from the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ Association of Milwaukee (SMACCA) as an example. A couple of years ago, the association learned about an unused HVAC lab in a largely African-American populated high school in Milwaukee. Together with the school, it had the lab cleaned up and put back in use. Now about 10 highschool students are taking sheet metal classes there every year.

That kind of creative recruitment is paying off, says SMACCA’s Dajen Bohacek, as more African-American kids and women are seeing sheet metal as a viable career option.

It’s the kind of creativity that’s needed across the trades, including landscaping, if the chronic illness of labour shortages is going to be cured, or at least mitigated, say expert after expert and report after report.

“There are people in a wide variety of communities that can do this work and would benefit from the opportunity,” says Bohacek. “And so if we can circle the wagons and say okay let’s pull the best out of every community and every population, we’ll all be better for it.” LT

Jordan Whitehouse is a Kingston, Ont.-based freelance writer.

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1-800-361-0907 info@propowercanada.ca www.propowercanada.ca JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

33

Independence: Four years on An update on Kevin McAulay and Dave Milburn, two contractors who launched on their own with their employers’ blessing and were interviewed in Landscape Trades

BY INDIRA KANNAN HE WANTED TO “GIVE IT A SHOT” and hit bullseye. When this magazine interviewed Kevin McAulay in 2016, it had been only a year since he had left the well-known Toronto landscaping company, Allweather, to strike out on his own. When Landscape Trades contacted him in October, McAulay was up north in cottage country, working on his fifth straight job in the community of Minden. He had landscaped a cottage for a relative, and the job had produced so many enquiries that he had to camp there for a while to finish them all. McAulay wasn’t complaining, though, as he said, “We like doing work up here.

They’re larger scale projects and there’s no traffic!”

Typically, however, McAulay Design Build does most of its work in the Greater Toronto Area.

When he started out, McAulay would take up any job he could find. His former employer, Phil Charal, founder of Allweather, often helped by sending subcontracting work his way. Now, McAulay says, he has managed to build his own clientele and cultivate relationships with some big builders, which ensures a steady stream of work.

His work mostly involves landscape construction, and during the winter, he keeps busy with renovations.

Since that last interview, he has added his own yard and graduated to bigger projects, but has kept his team small. In fact, it’s just him and one employee; his sister helps with bookkeeping. “It’s sort of a pride thing for me,” McAulay explains. “The main reason I went out on my own was because I wanted to do things a certain way and deliver a certain standard of quality, and we’ve been able to do that with staying small.”

That commitment to quality is why Charal was comfortable hiring his former employee as a subcon34 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

Kevin McAulay

tractor; Charal still occasionally refers projects to him. McAulay had followed in the footsteps of his father, who had been a construction foreman at Allweather. “I think he was extremely well trained by his father Ollie,” says Charal. “There’s a certain code of ethics for us — you build it once and you’ve got to always do the job properly and with a lot of integrity. I’m always confident that whatever work we refer to Kevin will be done properly.”

Of all the work involved in setting up and running a business, McAulay believes his biggest strength has been his approach in meeting clients as a contractor, not as a salesman. “A lot of these bigger companies, they have somebody in the office who goes and sells the job, and then the architect does the drawing and then somebody different goes and does the job. I do all three of those jobs,” McAulay says. That also ensures a quick turnaround time, he notes: “Customers change their minds or something may not go according to plan, and with bigger companies you’ve either got to wait for the architect to show up or somebody to make that call.

Whereas I’m able to do that just between me and the client.”

His biggest challenge was surviving the start-up phase. Even with his years of experience at Allweather, many aspects of the business, like meeting clients and pricing jobs, were new to him. “The first couple of years when you’re out on your own, to say that you’re not going to have time for yourself is an understatement,” McAulay cautions. “You’re pretty much working ‘round the clock, because now you’re not getting a paycheck every week. If you don’t sell a job, you’re not getting paid.” His advice to wannabe entrepreneurs: “Be prepared to say no to extracurricular things … if all your friends are going to the cottage on the weekend, you can’t do that.”

Time management was one of the areas where Charal guided McAulay. “Phil did say to make sure you stay on top of your schedule; don’t tell a client you’re going to be there if you’re not,” recalls McAulay. Now that he has transitioned from being an employee of Charal’s to a fellow business owner, their relationship has evolved as well. “We still give each other input on business-related topics,”

says McAulay. Charal says he would advise McAulay — and other small businesses — not to neglect administrative chores. He also underlines it’s especially important for newer, smaller companies to keep track of their costs. “They’re so concerned with keeping their company going and paying suppliers and so on that they forget to pay themselves. At the end of the year there’s hopefully some money left over so that it’s worth your while to own and operate a company,” says Charal.

McAulay has no doubts that it has all been worth it. His only regret? That he didn’t leave sooner. “I worked for a good company and I was comfortable where I was, but I definitely don’t regret doing this,” he says. “I wanted to challenge myself to the next step, so I took the chance.”

Now he’s poised for the next big step. To accommodate his growing business, McAulay plans to move from Toronto to a bigger place he bought, about half an hour’s drive north of the city. He may also finally add to his staff. “Right now I rent a shop, on top of owning a house. I’m renting space to store my equipment and run my business.

I want to do all that out of one place, that I own,” he says.

DAVE MILBURN GETS EMOTIONAL talking about his journey as an entrepreneur and business owner. “There are difficult days, there are days where I wish I had more time with my family,” he says, but adds, “I wouldn’t change anything.”

When Landscape Trades interviewed him in 2016, it had been eight years since he had left Wetmore’s Landscaping, Sod and Nursery to start Focal Point Landscape in Fredericton, N.B. In the past three years, he has doubled his staff, won five awards from Landscape New Brunswick and two certificates of merit. He has a new shop, a new space and a new office. “That was the year we really took a jump and moved into larger projects; more intricate, custom work that I like to feel is what we’ve carved out as our specialty,” Milburn said when interviewed again in October.

Focal Point’s main focus is residential landscape installation, covering many aspects including hardscaping, stone work, lighting, plantings, lawn work, fencing and pool projects.

Recently, the company has ventured into Kevin McAulay natural playground installation, mainly for “You have got to give it a shot,” early education centres. “We certainly do need some more staff to keep up with the demand, but we really enjoy that aspect, it’s In April, a key hand suddenly unique,” says Milburn. announces the time has come to start his own company; His company employs six to eight most established contractors know what it’s like to get that news. people during the season. His staff includes And many have re-hired that employee, once the would-be entrepreneur understands how Red Seal technicians and apprentices, and difficult it is to manage stress, cash flow and sales. recently, his wife joined the company to On the other hand, many of those same contactors have had a work part-time after the birth of their special employee that ended up launching independently, with the daughter. “So I guess we’re officially a famestablished owner’s blessing.

In these cases, the employee/employer ily business,” Milburn quips. relationships were different before, during and after the fact.

And the relationships continue He has stayed in touch with his former in terms of mutual respect.

For example ... employer, Rod Wetmore, and occasionally buys plant material and sod from Wetmore’s. They have continued the conversations they had while working together, but Read “Win-win independence” from January 2016 at landscapetrades.com/win-win-independence

Win-win

independence

BY LEE ANN KNUDSEN

6 | JANUARY 2016 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

January LT 2016.indd 6

36 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

PHOTO BY MIKE SCHRAM

says Kevin McAulay about his decision to start his own company.

Allweather Landscape is an established Toronto contractor, headed by Phil Charal. Charal remembers his reaction the day employee Kevin McAulay broached the idea of heading out on his own: “Why would anyone but an idiot ever want to go into landscape contracting?” Failing to convince McAulay otherwise, Charal settled into a cooperative relationship with his former employee and the new company, McAulay Design Build. Today, Charal uses McAulay as a sub, and McAulay feels comfortable dropping into Allweather often.

McAulay says Allweather’s reputation and profile prevented him from going on his own even earlier. “It’s a great business to work for. I was privileged to work on a team doing quarter-million-dollar jobs. I felt that I was more than just an employee; that Phil and I could talk at another level.”

McAulay’s father was a long-term foreman with Allweather. Brian “Ollie” McAulay passed away in 2005, the year Kevin graduated from high school. Kevin McAulay began to work on Allweather projects at a young age, and was promoted to foreman.

While still employed with Allweather, McAulay’s own contacts often phoned him for weekend jobs. He eventually felt he had enough experience, and enough work lined up, to launch on his own. McAulay had known he was destined for the business from a young age: “Other kids bought playstations, I bought tools.” He was proud of his personal tool collection during his time with Allweather. The practice gave him a big advantage at his launch, as he already owned nearly everything but a skidsteer and a dump trailer.

“I keep my tools organized in my truck. I have three stone saws, because I hate down time.”

McAulay says he is a big fan of quality work, and recognizes that quality is more than a motto, “Things are very different when you are playing with your own money.”

Asked what his advice would be 20 years from now, if a young employee approached him the same way he had approached Charal, McAulay says, “I would tell him it is hard to find good guys. I will be there for you, and I will shoot some work your way.”

McAulay says Allweather has had a lot of guys go back to the company, because they found being on their own too stressful. They had no weekend time. McAulay says balancing time is the biggest challenge, but he is determined to make it work: “I am planning for the future; I have a fiveyear-old daughter to make time for.”

JANUARY 2016 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

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January LT 2016.indd 7

7

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less frequently and as fellow business owners. “We talk about how things have changed, where the industry’s gone, even the spec of work, so it’s interesting,” says Milburn.

One of the things that Wetmore advised him to do when he started his own company was to focus on maximizing billable hours. Milburn had received the same advice from another mentor, his horticulture professor. “Both of them instilled looking at what’s going to be efficient and what’s going to maximize the time spent working, not wasting time or losing time due to inefficiencies or poor planning,” Milburn recalls.

Asked about his most successful strategy to grow his business, Milburn is very clear: Holding out for the right employees. “The thing that I can honestly credit anything to is being patient in finding the right people,” he says. “Although it was easier at times to think I just need people out there getting the work done, our reputation is simply what our staff bring to the table in their knowledge, in their demeanour, in their professionalism.”

Now that he has carved out a niche for himself in the market, Milburn is intent on paying it forward. “I feel there’s a responsibility to pass that on because let’s face it, this isn’t every kid’s dream right now, to be a landscape contractor,” he notes. In the winter months, he is an instructor for an apprenticeship program, a task he is passionate about.

His advice to anyone aspiring to start their business is to first work in the industry before becoming an owner. “You have to be in the trenches and I still am on most days … you have to learn what it takes to get the job done in order to be able to instruct others or to estimate,” Milburn says.

He built Focal Point on his own terms, and will use the same approach for its future growth. “I’m still not in a hurry to grow too fast unless we’re ready. It’s important to me to build when it’s right and to expand when it’s right,” Milburn says. The only thing that’s more important? “You can’t forget to be humble at the end of the day or take anything for granted.” LT

Indira Kannan is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

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Solve their problems

Guy Dowhy, Owner of Dowhy Design & Landscapes, Winnipeg, Man.

My biggest lesson is when I learned the answer to every client request is, “Yes we can.” We are often the last contractor in, following a new build or renovation, and the client just wants to know we can solve their problems — and that they don’t need to worry about it. Our staff knows the answer to a client request is, “I’m sure that won’t be a problem, I’ll let the supervisor know.” We may be landscape contractors, but ultimately we need to specialize in customer service.

Plant a tree let it grow

Derek Lippert, Owner of Quiet Nature, Ayr, Ont.

Business is a long-game. Once you decide to start taking things seriously, it is a multi-year journey to growing and developing your business, and it can’t all be done at once. You have to be patient. Just when you think you have one thing figured out, there is no time to sit back and relax because the next element of your business will be in desperate need of attention. It’s also a journey of personal growth and development.

I don’t think that you can grow a business to any scale without also being willing to develop your own mindset, patterns, and habits.

Remember your purpose Brad Saugstad, Owner of Terraform Landscaping, Squamish, B.C.

I was fortunate to learn a lot about the business from my boss at the company I worked for before starting Terraform. He was really an inspiration; he told me that it would be tough, and he told me I needed to charge more for the work I was doing.

But there are some things you need to learn for yourself.

What’s the purpose of working hard to build a business?

It can be hard to maintain a healthy work-life balance when you’re running a business, but if that’s what is important to you, you need to make that balance a priority. continued on page 42

40 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

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Walk the walk

John Verhey, Owner of Limestone Trail Classic Garden Structures, Beamsville, Ont. After spending many long, hot summers working in a welding shop, I graduated from college with a Civil Engineering degree.

I was fortunate to quickly find a job in construction while the economy was in a deep recession. Since then, my career has navigated through various industry sectors — construction, steel fabrication, automation, material handling and manufacturing. Somewhere along the road, it became very apparent that my passion was in entrepreneurship and pursuing exciting opportunities and ventures. The biggest lesson I have learned in my career is; your integrity is your greatest asset. Your job, project, team, term or business can change and pass by — but you are only remembered for who you are, and you are only bringing yourself to the next event. ‘Do what you say you are going to do.’

The precursor is to listen.

Scale pace and standards Mark Bowering, Owner of Bowering Gardens, St. John’s, Nfld.

You can’t just jump into a $100,000 job when you’re starting out.

As you get better and the more mature your company gets, the better quality your product is going to be. You can’t start off expecting to be number one. You have to prove yourself first, and that takes a few years. Another thing is to make sure the quality is always there, because otherwise, it will come back to bite you. You never want to have to go back to do something over on a job. It’s a waste of time for everyone, and it will impact your reputation. So you need to make sure it’s done right the first time. And one more thing I’ve learned is to prepare in the fall for the following spring. Make sure all your equipment is well maintained and ready to go, that your tools are put away and organized.

You can’t put it off until spring because there’s no time then. LT

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Green profession gamechanger:

Ontario Landscape Tree Planting Guide The Ontario Landscape Tree Planting Guide is the most comprehensive reference document available to the landscape industry. It captures years of research conducted by Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) and experts from around the world on tree survival and establishment in challenging environments. The 99-page document is available for free download at greeningcanadianlandscape.ca and

stage, meaning recommendations may be less specific.

Q. What technical skills captured in the guide do you feel are the most useful to professionals?

JH: I believe the most useful technical skill in this guide is the initial evaluation of a site, both above- and below-ground. This section includes practical and easy to implement evaluation techniques, such as compaction testing.

landscapeontario.com/ontariolandscape-tree-planting-guide.

The Vineland team who authored the guide includes Dr. Darby McGrath (DM), Research Scientist; and Jason Henry (JH) and Ryan Munroe (RM), Research Technicians in the Greening the Canadian Landscape Program. The team answered a few questions on how the Guide came together and how it will help the industry.

Q. What did you learn while writing the guide?

RM: Mainly that there was a need for this type of guide, not just in Ontario, but across North America. Evaluating every step in the process allowed us to distill those steps into field sheets, a unique and valuable contribution.

Q. What is the purpose of this reference guide?

DM: The guide is intended for landscape architects, designers, contractors, urban forest managers, horticulturists and other professionals who have a working knowledge of the horticultural trades.

Its purpose is to capture the wealth of evidence-based information available on tree planting, to summarize research findings and make them accessible to practitioners.

Q. How do you think this guide will evolve over the next 10 years?

RM: We envision the guide to be updated periodically to reflect advances in knowledge, especially in areas such as the use of organic amendments, biological additives, site preparation techniques and nursery stock root quality. These are specific areas of interest to us and other researchers.

Q. How was it developed?

DM: In 1994, Landscape Ontario published a useful guide for the industry that was revised in 2005. In 2018, Landscape Ontario partnered with Vineland to develop a 21st century version, based on a comprehensive review of the research contained within the original guide, to ensure that the information was relevant.

Q. What’s next?

DM: We are looking forward to getting the guide into the hands of practitioners across Canada. I am presenting it at the 2019 Green Industry Show and Conference in Calgary. I will also be presenting this guide at Landscape Ontario Congress 2020 with Ian Bruce and Glen Lumis, two of the guide steering committee members. Additionally, it will be included in the Canadian Landscape Standard (CLS), as it has been reviewed and approved by the CLS committee in spring of 2019. LT

Q. What is the format of the guide?

DM: The guide is broken up into step-by-step chapters to provide readers with a summary of relevant content and up-to-date research findings. There is also a series of corresponding field sheets available where pertinent information from the chapters is itemized into actionable items.

Q. What was the most challenging part when preparing the guide?

RM: It was challenging to strike the correct balance between conveying scientific findings in a detailed manner and providing discrete recommendations while using clear language. In many areas of the guide, prior research is well-developed, providing clear recommendations, while in other areas, research is at an earlier 44 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

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More than a job board, Landscape Ontario’s Recruit LIVE is an opportunity for employers and future employees to network, interview and hire, right on the Congress Trade Show Floor. Located in Hall F by the Student Gardens

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Landscape ontario AWARDS CEREMONY AND PRESIDENT’S RECEPTION TUESDAY JANUARY 7, 2020 at 5:00 P.m.

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SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

Most events are at the Toronto Congress Centre (TCC), unless otherwise noted.

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Visit LOcongress.com for pricing.

MONDAY, JANUARY 6 ALL DAY PROGRAMS FEATURE EVENT IPM Symposium 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 pm Cohen Ballroom

FEATURE EVENT Peer to Peer Workshop 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 pm New York Room (Delta Hotel)

FEATURE EVENT Landscape Designer Conference 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 pm International Ballroom (Delta Hotel)

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7 MORNING PROGRAM Registration Open HALL D. Regular admission. HALL E. Exhibitor and Student Registration.

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Congress Trade Show 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Toronto Congress Centre A Guide to Restoring the Little Things That Run the World 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Pinsent Room The Ins and Outs of Managing 4 Generations in the Workplace 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Berton Room OWNERS ONLY - Make the Most of Your Valuable Time 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Waxman Room Integrated Pest Management of Trees, Shrubs and Lawns: A Holistic Approach 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., Pinsent Room Art of Scaling: Building a Company Without Working Impossible Hours 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., Berton Room Recommended Repertoire of Respectable Plants 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., Waxman Room

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8 MORNING PROGRAM MEMBERS ONLY: Landscape Ontario Annual General Meeting 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., International Ballroom (Delta Hotel) Registration Open HALL D. Regular admission. HALL E. Exhibitor and Student Registration.

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Congress Trade Show 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Toronto Congress Centre Stormwater Management: The Role of the Landscape and Horticulture Profession 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Pinsent Room OWNERS ONLY: It’s Time! How to Retire Effectively From Your Landscape Business 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Waxman Room Digital Marketing 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Berton Room Landscape Contractors: The New Eco Warriors 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., Pinsent Room Take Control of your Future: Create a Game Plan For Your Career 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., Waxman Room Practical Social Media Strategies 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., Berton Room

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9 MORNING PROGRAM Registration Open HALL D. Regular admission. HALL E. Exhibitor and Student Registration.

8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Congress Trade Show 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Toronto Congress Centre Demystifying Soil Specifications: A Practical Guide to Soil 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Waxman Room

48 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 7 AFTERNOON PROGRAM KEYNOTE LUNCHEON: Why Collaboration Beats Competition 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., Cohen Ballroom Marketing Systems for Attracting Homeowners 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Berton Room OWNERS ONLY: Six Steps to Creating a Comprehensive Business Plan 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Waxman Room What’s Bugging Your Trees?

1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Pinsent Room Integrating Water Features into the Landscape 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., Pinsent Room Business Thinking 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., Waxman Room 21st Century Leadership: How to Cultivate Leadership in Today’s Workplace 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., Berton Room AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE CEREMONY 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Plaza Ballroom (Delta Hotel)

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8 AFTERNOON PROGRAM KEYNOTE LUNCHEON: Relentless Adaptation: How Great Companies are Really Innovating to Win 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., Cohen Ballroom Speed Networking 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., Sutherland Room The Art of Ruthless Execution 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Waxman Room Be Outside The Box 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Berton Room Tips for Award-Winning Maintenance and Annuals Planting Design 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Pinsent Room OWNERS ONLY: Insurance and Liability 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., Waxman Room Working with Difficult Clients 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., Berton Room Biophilia: The Roots of Landscape Design 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., Pinsent Room Congress ‘After Dark’ 8:00 p.m. to 11:59 p.m., Plaza Ballroom (Delta Hotel)

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9 MORNING PROGRAM Understanding the 2019 Ontario Landscape Tree Planting Guide 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Pinsent Room Reverse Engineered Interviews: The Secret of Hiring Great People 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Berton Room Snapdragon’s Den 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., Sutherland Room Nifty Natives 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., Pinsent Room

Conference presented in partnership with: JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

49

forget Never nature Gardens are integral to villages for dementia patients

BY JIM LANDRY I’VE COMPOSED SOME STORIES based on a theme, which happens to be Myosotis sylvatica, the forget-me-not.

I remember it as a child, fishing in the alder-choked brook running through my grandparent’s farm in rural New Brunswick.

I can still picture it in my mind, like blue polka dots in a sea of green, with tiny yellow eyes you have to squint to see. It appears in my garden, in fact throughout my entire yard. It’s invasive, but it’s welcome at least for now. It also appears as a logo on the bright yellow shirts I have worn almost every day, all summer and fall.

Let me explain.

WE DO

PET

FRIENDLY ICE MELTERS

Every summer for the last 10 years I do a solo bicycle ride somewhere, to raise awareness and a bit of money for a worthy charity. For the last two years I’ve been pedaling and peddling my message in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island for the Alzheimer Society.

My mom Julia faded away three years ago after being diagnosed with the disease, and it opened a window on a whole new world for me and my family. We knew nothing about the symptoms, the care, or the toll it takes. The day Mom was diagnosed, her life changed dramatically. She was living alone in a little house up to that point, and enjoyed cooking and gardening. Her days were filled with things to

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do and choices to make. We took the advice of the doctors and looked to find her a nursing home. Please don’t misunderstand me, I don’t have anything critical to say about the caregivers who work in the facilities where we send our loved ones, and I hold a great deal of admiration for families who sacrifice so much to insure their loved ones maintain a high quality of life for as long as possible.

My wife Theresa volunteers at an outreach program in our neighborhood nursing home and pays weekly visits to the care

facility where Mom spent her last months.

I have also come to know the people who work at the Alzheimer Society. I know them to be caring, open-minded and always looking toward new advancements in preventing the disease. Equally important, they work to create a high quality of life for those who must enter our nursing homes.

So in July, I searched for an activity to help raise some awareness and maybe some donations. Theresa and I met with the executive director of the Alzheimer Society of

New Brunswick and learned of a dementia village that was soon to open in Langley, B.C. It was inspired and patterned after De Hogeweyk in Weesp, near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. That was it for me. I just happened to have meetings in Abbotsford, B.C., with the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association, so I borrowed a bicycle and pushed off from there to Langley. Next, I booked a flight to Brussels, to cycle to Weesp, and added a few hundred kilometers by cycling P.E.I. and included Saint John, N.B., to Yarmouth, N.S., to attend the Communities in Bloom conference and awards. In total, I planned to travel 2,000 km and raise a bit of awareness and money in the process.

I consider myself blessed; at 60+ years old I have the health, wealth, time and my wife’s understanding attitude, that allow me to sit myself upon my bicycle and travel about. Please don’t picture me as a cyclist.

I don’t match the image. My chicken-type legs have never seen the sun, nor has spandex ever contacted my skin. I look more like a hobo … on a bicycle … with a credit card.

I’m slow.

Even though I enjoy cycling just for the sake of cycling, I extract even more pleasure if my travels have a purpose. A reason to go from point B to point A. My September Forget-me-not Tour provided all of that.

Plus, I love visiting the lowlands, and suggest that anyone who toils in the plant profession should go there at least once.

The first stop on my journey from Brussels to Amsterdam was Zundert, in Brabant province near the Belgian border.

Although I was familiar with Boskoop, known as a centre of landscape horticulture, 52 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

I discovered Zundert is not far behind. The countryside is dotted with nurseries and most residents are growers; I cycled past many nurseries and greenhouse operations during my 10 days in the Netherlands.

In Zundert, I watched the Kindercorso, a children’s flower parade. Hundreds of floats are built and pushed through the streets by more than a thousand children. Talk about connecting children to plants. I also learned that two weeks earlier, the Corso had taken place, the world’s biggest flower parade. It goes back to 1939, staged by a community of less than 25,000. Do yourself a favour and Google the town and the parade.

I’ll cycle back to horticulture during my closing argument, but I want to explain the dementia village concept. In Langley, villagers live in houses that are settled into a residential area just south of the city, on the site of a former school. Food is prepared in the houses, and residents can go outside to tend the garden if they take the urge. There is a barn with animals (that had not yet arrived when I visited). There is a restaurant and a pub/café onsite, as well as a place for visiting families to spend a few nights. It makes for a more comfortable transition for those who need care.

Weesp’s De Hogewey is a bit different. It is very much like any Dutch town. Within the confines of the facility is a barber shop, a music venue and a large restaurant. It is very hard to distinguish what is inside

At left is Eloy van Hal, facility manager at De Hogewey.

I’m the hobo.

the walls, from what is outside. I arrived at noon, parked my bicycle, and asked at reception if I could go inside and look around. “I’m sorry, but no.” I had anticipated this, as I was told that tours needed to be scheduled in advance. Since I was cycling, I was not sure when I might arrive, so I didn’t heed the advice. I said that I understood, for this was

I lived in this shirt (or one like it) all summer. On the back I have listed my 20 supporters, mostly from the landscape industry.

JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

53

De Hogewey allows meals to be cooked in the residences, pets on the property, and residents to dig in the earth and plant and harvest crops... by giving them choices.

that for a moment. Do you or anyone you know want to be in an institution? They achieve this by allowing meals to be cooked in the residences, by having pets on the property, by allowing the residents to dig in the earth and plant and harvest crops, by giving them choices on live music or the conversations they might enjoy. There are nurses and qualified caregivers present, but they just blend in with the crowd. There was laundry being done, but in the homes, in the background.

As participants in the landscape profession, we underwhere people lived, not a tourist attraction. Truly, I was just happy to have made the journey. It gave me and my Forget-me-not Tour a purpose. I had struck out in search of a village, and found it.

The gentleman standing with me in reception was Eloy, facility manager and founder of the village. Serendipitously, my Mom had placed him in the room with me. He explained further why I could not come in, and I told him I understood completely, and I was not in the least upset. He then spent the next hour-and-a-half guiding me through the streets, the shops, the history and plans to take this model throughout the world. Eloy used one word to describe what they were trying to achieve: Deinstitutionalization. Think about

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stand the satisfaction that comes with being connected to the soil, taking risks and solving problems that mitigate those risks. The longer we can keep those tools sharp, the higher quality our lives will be. Let’s continue our collective efforts to introduce future generations to nature and to plants. Show them the satisfaction that comes from being productive and hope they are provided the opportunity right through to the end. LT

Jim Landry is executive director of Landscape New Brunswick and Landscape P.E.I.

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Atlantic designers tour Normandy

BY ELLEN RUDDICK

The Atlantic Association of Landscape Designers (AALD) visited gardens in Normandy, France, in October, 2018. In this article, we will mention a few tips about traveling to and staying in Varengeville, Normandy. Then we’ll describe some gardens we saw, highlighting some trees and shrubs that we might try here in Canada.

But first, let’s mention the garden that sparked our interest in the Varengeville area and led to the trip.

Le Bois des Moutiers is a country manor and garden built by Guillaume Mallet starting in 1898 with the Arts and Crafts design team of Gertrude Jekyll and

1

Edwin Lutyens. (Photo #1) In addition to the beautiful house and its interior, there is a sublime collection of trees, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, and other woodland plants. (Photo #2) Guillaume Mallet’s grandson, Robert Mallet, who with his wife Corinne, brought together the largest collection of species and varieties of hydrangeas in the world. This hydrangea garden, known as the Shamrock Association, is also located in Varengeville.

Our AALD group travelled by air to Paris, then by train to Dieppe and finally by bus to Varengeville. The bus let us off at the Place des Canadiens, a short walk

Le Bois des Moutiers is a country manor and garden built

by Guillaume Mallet starting in 1898, with the Arts and Crafts design team of Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens.

56 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

2

The collection of trees, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, and other woodland plants is sublime.

to our lodging.

During our week there, the owner of the houses we stayed in, Mme. Constance Kargère, showed us around her delightful, exuberant garden, which is featured in books by both Penelope Hobhouse and Rosemary Verey.

Before describing the gardens, how about some travel tips?

Our first suggestion is to strike up conversations with gardeners.

Mme Kargère, for example, was knowledgeable, witty and generous with her time. Moreover, many of the gardeners we met shared their knowledge with enthusiasm. This is a great benefit of garden travel — meeting other gardeners and hearing about their gardens. Second, take advantage of public transportation in France.

It’s not as good as it was 20 years ago, but the trains and buses are still very comfortable, a good bargain, easier to manage than an automobile, and will take you almost anywhere. In our case, the bus from Dieppe took us nearly to our front door in the small village of Varengeville, at a cost of only two euros each. Third, for a hotel in Varengeville, check out the website for La Terrasse. It overlooks the ocean. You can walk to all the gardens in Varengeville. The stay there is a “demi-pension,” which means that for a moderate price you get not only lodging but also breakfast and your choice of lunch or dinner each day. The owners are gracious, kind people.

In 2013, one of our members joined the Shamrock Association and met Robert Mallet. For the 2018 AALD trip, Robert Mallet agreed to be our guide for much of the visit in Varengeville, and even suggested we might stay in two manor houses owned by his sister (that same Mme. Kargère). He also recruited Brian Woy, the

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Robert Mallet showed the group around the Shamrock hydrangea collection.

president of the Shamrock Association, as our second driver for two days visiting areas beyond walking distance. We had the best guide-companions for this trip. Robert Mallet was key. Expert, wellconnected and unfailingly helpful to us, he made our trip a success.

The day following our arrival, after a perfect lunch in a restaurantartist’s studio called Le Piment Bleu, Robert Mallet took us around the Shamrock hydrangea collection. (Photo #3) The garden is in Zone 8, so lots of things were still blooming in October, especially mophead hydrangeas. (Photos #4) Corinne has been to Japan several

60 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

times, bringing back many plants. The extensive display of hydrangea species at the Shamrock collection provokes ambitions of finding hardy varieties to bring in and test in our Maritime climates.

During our week in Normandy, we visited numerous cultural sites such as L’Èglise St. Valéry with stained glass windows by Georges Braque, the Rouen Cathedral which was painted by Monet, and the beautiful Alabaster Coast, as it is known on the French side of the Channel.

A woodland garden, called L’Ètang de Launay, was within easy

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walking distance from our lodging. Dramatic examples of tree bark stand out in the woodland light of this sublime garden park, planted with birches, Japanese maples, Prunus, rhododendrons, bamboo, hydrangeas and more. (Photo #5) In addition to the photo of the garden, we’ve included one of Betula jacquemontii (Photo #6) with its dramatic white bark. Betula albosinensis, the Chinese red

4

Many things were still blooming in October, in paticular, the mophead hydrangeas.

5

This woodland garden park is planted with birches, Japanese maples, Prunus, rhododendrons, bamboo, hydrangeas and more.

birch, is another birch we would like to test here. Trees like this have now put us hunting for things like Betula utilis ‘Bhutan Sienna’, B. u. ssp. utilis ‘Chris Lane’, and Prunus serrula, the birchbark or Tibetan cherry. Perhaps this little sample of colourful barked trees will encourage landscapers to try to locate and plant some of these dramatic specimens.

The last garden we visited is probably the most famous. Known as Le Vasterival, created by Princess Greta Sturdza beginning in

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1955, this garden was also within walking distance of our lodging.

Its website www.vasterival.fr/en presents an extensive photo album of rhododendrons and azaleas, as well as many seasonal photos of the garden. We’ve included a photo of the bark of Clethra barbinervis (#9) and one of a cyclamen (#10) on the woodland floor to suggest that this place has a rich selection of plants.

Like Le Vasterival, many of the gardens we saw in Varengeville have remarkable plant collections. Overall, we felt a genuine connection to the area. Our hosts and guides showed us an engaging story of the horticultural traditions, cultural history and ties to

Canadians around Dieppe. We all loved walking through these beautiful stroll gardens. LT

Ellen Ruddick is a designer with Price Landscaping of Lutes Mountain, N.B. The Atlantic Association of Landscape Designers invites anyone interested in the group or membership to visit www.aald.ca.

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Sustainable turf is good business

BY KATERINA JORDAN PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH OF ALL the turfgrass sectors, I feel lawncare operators face some of the greatest challenges. First and foremost, with most clients, the lawncare operator is only responsible for a relatively small portion of the actual turf management. In all other sectors, the turfgrass manager alone handles mowing, fertilizing, cultivation and pest control. In lawncare, however, mowing is most often handled by homeowners. This creates a very difficult situation for the lawncare operator, as mowing affects so many aspects of turfgrass health, so lawn turf managers end up using the limited time they have on each property to fix issues, rather than to maintain healthy turf. Additionally, many lawn turf managers (especially in Ontario) are

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not allowed to use conventional pesticides on lawns. It has been 10 years since the Ontario cosmetic pesticide ban was passed. Although there have been numerous low-risk chemical and alternative management solutions for weeds, insects continue to be an issue on lawns, and there is very little lawn turf managers can do about them.

Professionals in the turfgrass industry have discussed the importance of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for years now, but in reality, we need more sustainable turf management, especially in the lawncare sector. What do we mean by sustainability?

Dictionary.com defines sustainability as “the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources,

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and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.” Within the context of lawn turf management, sustainability would involve a turfgrass stand that can support itself with minimal inputs and resources, and ideally gives more to its environment than it takes.

I am guessing most of you are quite familiar with the numerous environmental benefits well-maintained turfgrass stands can give, including reduced soil erosion, groundwater recharge, filtration of pollutants, and increased oxygen, just to name a few. One of the responsibilities of a turfgrass manager, regardless of sector, should be to maintain turf in a manner to emphasize the many benefits,, while potential negatives to the environment are minimized. Being a good turfgrass manager is a constant balancing act between the two, trying to maximize the benefits of turf and ensuring environmental, social and economic sustainability. This article outlines some methods that allow more sustainable lawncare programs, that hopefully lead to healthier turf over a long period of time.

As a lawncare operator, some basic practices you can do increase the sustainability of your clients’ lawns, although much depends on your clients doing their parts.

The following list of recommendations will hopefully allow you to keep your clients’ properties well maintained throughout the season, and ideally lead to long-term, satisfied clients over the years: l Communicate with your client. For a homeowner to help you maintain a sustainable lawn, you must effectively communicate not only what they need to do, but to explain why. If your client is responsible for mowing, lay out specific instructions about mowing height and, even more importantly, frequency. Develop a pamphlet about the importance of obeying the one-third rule (make sure you know it yourself) and what the drawbacks of infrequent mowing can be, such as self-competition or thinning.

l Send

soil for nutrient analysis prior to applying fertilizer. This ensures you add only what is needed, saving you money in the long run. l Use high quality fertilizers containing a continuous slow-release source of nitrogen. Coated and controlled-release products are good options to maintain consistent colour and health. l Cultivate only as needed. Use a soil probe to determine compaction levels, root depth and thatch levels. If you don’t have one, get one and take it to each site. De-thatch and aerate as needed, to reduce conditions conducive to pests, maintain soil quality and enrich the living portion of the soil. l Use healthy turf as a defense against pests. Weeds invade and take advantage of weak and bare areas, so by keeping turf healthy, you naturally out-compete weeds. Keeping thatch levels in check and encouraging deep root growth by maintaining healthy soil helps reduce insect populations and/or visible damage to the plant. Serious lawn diseases are rare, but insects can be very damaging; if you

have no chemical options; maintaining a healthy turf stand is your best defense. l Overseed as needed. If a lawn is thin or struggling, slowly shift the species population to a more suitable grass, to give it a chance to thrive. If a property is heavily treed, overseed with a shadetolerant species such as fine fescue. If an area has heavy traffic, overseed with a wear-tolerant species such as Kentucky bluegrass or perennial ryegrass.

Take note of the surrounding area and use patterns, and use overseeding as a method to introduce species that are more suited to each environment on the property. l Instruct homeowners to irrigate as needed and ensure that automatic

systems are properly set up. Water deeply and infrequently throughout the season, to encourage deeper root growth and reduce the risk of soil compaction.

You may be well aware of these recommendations, but sometimes we are so focused on the bottom line, we don’t always take time to think about long-term effects of management practices. I hope this serves as a reminder of steps that you can take as a lawn turf manager to maintain sustainably healthy turf — and ultimately, long-term relationships with your clients. LT

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The master plan was just the beginning of this site’s story; Tumber’s client was inspired to host tours on the property as well as earn Master Gardener status.

Tumber designs big and dreams big WHAT DOES IT TAKE to get a reputation for designing and building high-end, stylish landscapes for elite customers? Randy Tumber has earned that reputation, and he has some strong opinions about why.

With longstanding design/build contracting experience, Tumber currently operates T.I.L.T., for Tumber International Landscape Training. He is busy with teaching and speaking engagements, as well as landscape projects across the continent.

“I never compromise on quality, “ says Tumber. Rather than asking clients for budgets, Tumber says, “I do everything from the heart. I try to work with clients willing to dream big. My strategy is to get to know them, spend an evening asking questions:

68 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

What are your goals? What direction do you want to take? Who is your family? Your pets? How do you entertain? Do you have allergies? What are your outdoor memories?” All are attempts to identify elements with emotional impact, to help Tumber create a family environment. He says initial consultations take up to four hours, and unlike some contractors, he charges both time and expenses for the consultation.

How does Tumber show his dream to clients? He named a range of strategies, including hand drawings, pictures of other projects, and tours of properties where his work led to outstanding client relationships. “My clients are happy to showcase my work.”

The potential customer saying, “I have a budget of X,” is not a good fit, Tumber says.

“Why flounder in a sea of mediocrity?” Instead, he seeks to, “Design to dreams, build to a comfort zone.” He breaks projects into phases, and builds each phase right, to high standards, the first time. The customer can proceed to the next phase when he is ready financially. One of Tumber’s clients started in 1979, and is up to Phase Eight.

How do Tumber’s heartfelt convictions apply to smaller-scale contractors who are earlier in their careers? Tumber thinks his philosophy applies regardless of scale: “Do not be a paid Yes man.” He sometimes finds customers that are too specific, with preconceived ideas. When this happens, he has

to sometimes respectfully decline business.

“I owe clients my honesty. Just because they may have money to bankroll ideas does not always make them good.”

Tumber will share insights on building water features that look natural at his Congress Conference presentation. Too often, he sees contractors use “reams of PVC to build contrived monoliths with water spewing out. Or quite nice waterfalls that come from nowhere. No way can your brain accept the flow as emanating from nature.”

Instead, Tumber says it is always important to create, yet obscure, water sources. If you can use a trick, like a corner, to satisfy the mind, flow and acoustics will draw the eye to follow the water. Tumber believes in using the look, sound and feel of water to pull observers into a pleasant, reflective area.

Tumber likes to take clients on a journey, explaining, “The project is not about You or Me. It’s for every person who can appreciate the landscape. You called me because you like what I have done. I am guided by the principles of nature. I don’t care much for trends. Instead, I allow what I see in nature to guide me to recreate and refine to the best of my ability. I will integrate your home and landscape elements to be more beautiful over time. After all, who doesn’t love nature?” LT LANDSCAPE ONTARIO

CONGRESS TRADE SHOW AND CONFERENCE EST. 1973

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69

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71

MANITOBAUPDATE Landscape Trades runs occasional updates on the activities of Canada’s provincial trade associations. This issue features Manitoba Nursery Landscape Association.

The past 11 months have been a whirlwind of activity for the association, the Board of Directors and the Executive Director. Rob Officer’s official first day as the new Executive Director was Dec. 1, 2018, with the Grow 19 conference just nine weeks away. With only three speakers secured, and no sponsors confirmed, it was a team effort that contributed to the overall success of the conference.

The Board should be commended for its efforts, as should Sharra Hinton, for not only providing Rob with training, but also pulling many strings behind the scenes to make both the Grow Show and the Awards Luncheon into successes. Thanks to our speakers, sponsors, award winners and attendees as well.

Grow 20 has been booked for Feb. 12, 2020, at Canad Inns Polo Park. The speaker program has been set and sponsorship packages are available. We plan to build on the 235 attendees and 25 sponsors who participated in 2019. Although this is MBNLA’s largest event, many other activities and reviews are taking place simultaneously.

A complete review of the association’s Articles of Incorporation, By-Laws and

Booth # 328 72 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

Board of Director’s policies is ongoing. In concert with the aforementioned items, the association’s Strategic Plan is being reviewed, and priorities identified.

Furthermore, we have returned to a periodic newsletter to increase communication with members. Planning is underway to re-build the website; the focus is to include a members-only log-in area as a member benefit. The Annual General

Meeting and Fall Supper will take place at DeLuca’s on Nov. 28. More emphasis has been placed on member recruitment, and 12 new members have signed up in the past eight months.

Manitoba Agriculture hosted a number of stakeholder meetings on temporary foreign workers in Canada. MBNLA was represented by Roland Jeffries of Jeffries Nurseries. Not unlike other areas of the

Chris and Karen Griffin of Alternative Landscaping received national recognition for residential maintenance at the CNLA awards gala held recently in B.C. They were joined by Rob Officer, left, and Guy Dowhy at right.

The Clark residence in Brandon, Man., was Alternative’s winning project.

country, labour shortages are presenting some challenges in Manitoba as well.

ALTERNATIVE WINS NATIONAL AWARD Chris and Karen Griffin of Alternative Landscaping, Brandon, Man., were on hand at the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association awards banquet in Abbotsford, B.C., to receive the National Award of Landscape Excellence in Residential Maintenance for their work on the Clark residence in Brandon. Congratulations to the team at Alternative! Hopefully, this serves as an incentive for other Manitoba companies to participate.

APPRENTICESHIP UPDATE This winter, the last group of Red Seal Landscape Horticulturist apprentices under the previous non-harmonized curriculum will be finishing their third and final level of technical training. Additionally, every eligible apprentice has already registered for their second year of school, and will be the first group to receive the nationally harmonized Red Seal content.

Recruiting for first-level apprentices is ongoing, and we expect to once again have every seat filled for the Jan. 27 start date.

COMMITTEE INVOLVEMENT MBNLA believes that sector committees can be an effective way of getting representation for all of our diverse membership. We would like to thank Jordan Hiebert of Lacoste Garden Centre, Winnipeg, for agreeing to be our Garden Centres Canada Committee chair, our most recent appointment. We look forward to working with Jordan and getting feedback from our retail industry in Manitoba to the mutual benefit of our association members and our profession. LT

JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

73

ROADTOSUCCESS

Collecting debts: Life is not always easy

BY ROD McDONALD

IF THIS JOB WERE EASY, THEN EVERYONE WOULD BE DOING IT. We work hard, we struggle to find the right way to become successful, we sacrifice to build our companies, we try to be fair, we are passionate about our work — and yet there are times when we really wish we were doing something else.

There were two parts of managing a garden centre and landscaping business, that I detested. The first was having to collect overdue accounts and the second was having to terminate an employee. Both left me with much stress. This column is about collecting monies owed.

On the contracting end of things, I always screened my clients, checking out what others had to say about them. Were they easy to get along with? Did they pay their bills or were they overstretched? I listened to what a potential customer said in our initial meetings, and tried to get a feel for who they were. More importantly, would the two of us be a good fit as contractor and customer?

I was listening to a potential customer who had asked for a quote, as she ran her mouth, criticizing three other landscape contractors. I didn’t question why she was upset with each of the three, I just listened. I told her I would get back to her and made a quick exit. I called one of the contractors she was less than enamoured with, and I asked him to describe his experience.

He told me she took forever to make a decision and once she had made one and the task was completed, she had immediate regrets and wanted everything to be placed on hold until she reached a new solution. “Doing work for her was an incredibly slow process and she was rarely happy with the outcome. She easily cost me double my estimated time before I had to ask her to call someone else.”

The story confirmed what I had suspected, that I was better off not working for her. Life is just too short. I often tell this story to illustrate that we are better off to avoid customers where there is a good chance of trouble or where collecting the account could be difficult. Trouble can often be avoided by avoiding troublesome people.

I avoided having bad accounts by requiring a 25 per cent deposit before work even began, and payments again at the 74 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

half-way mark and the 75 per cent completion stage. Of course for smaller jobs, I stayed with only the deposit. People reluctant to agree to a deposit or staged payments were usually people I did not want to work with anyway.

Yet, in spite of being careful, there would be someone every now and again who didn’t want to pay — or couldn’t. If it was a matter of a deficiency, the issue could usually be rectified, but a couple of people over the years used the deficiency excuse to deny payment. I only had to take three people to court for payment and I did get my money, but it was never fun. Having to do that was a task of last resort.

My friend, who has a maintenance business, had a slow payer.

He told me he was dropping by the customer’s house that evening and practiced his speech with me. His demand for payment included all of his expenses that needed to be paid, including fuel, licencing, labour and materials. I stopped him and said, “You did the work, he owes you the money, he needs to pay you — end of story. You do not need to explain why you need the money. That is irrelevant. He needs to pay you, again, end of story.”

On the garden centre end, as we were 95 per cent retail; collecting bad debts was rarely a problem. Prior to debit cards, cheques were common, and every now and again there would be a bouncer. Most people were embarrassed and would come down to make things right. A few, not many, made a habit of writing bad cheques and would offer up many excuses for not making the bouncer right. That handful made life a bit more difficult.

We had a landscape contractor who had bounced a $400 cheque and had every excuse for not paying “just now.” My office manager phoned his bank every day, asking if the account had sufficient funds. It took close to three weeks, but one morning there were available funds and she hustled down to have the cheque certified. There was no sense in sending it out through regular channels, as the funds would have disappeared before we were paid.

That afternoon the contractor phoned me, quite upset we had scooped the funds. “That money was for someone else, not you,” he screamed. My response was quite simple, “Then you will have to tell that ‘someone else’ what you told me — that you will pay him really soon.” I don’t enjoy being a bill collector, but I hate being lied to and treated as a fool even more.

A call from a local garden centre operator started me writing

about collecting outstanding accounts. He had sold $12,000 worth of artificial turf to a contractor in another city last May. The contractor agreed to pay him on a few occasions, but no money came forward. Then the contractor quit returning his messages. My friend asked, “What should be my next move?”

I quoted him an adage that is seldom heard any longer: “Some of us change because we see the light, but most of us change when we feel the heat.” I told my caller to increase the heat on the contractor by making contact with the end-use customer.

Not my first choice or favourite tactic, but with few options left and no communication, the best given the circumstances.

The call was made to the customer, who was surprised as the contractor had been paid upon completion of the work. The customer called the contractor and told him to fix this issue immediately. That is bringing on the heat.

The contractor called that evening and apologized for not staying in touch. He had a story of woe as to why payment had not been made, and said he was trying to rectify a bad situation.

My friend was willing to cut him some slack and asked for partial payments to begin. The contractor agreed to stay in touch and no longer duck calls. How this story finishes has yet to be determined.

Not staying in touch is perhaps the worst thing someone can do when they fall behind on debts. Avoiding contact made me nervous, and usually resulted in more aggressive tactics. One year, I had a reputable contractor come to me and explain he was short of money for the winter, and needed cash for gas and groceries. He offered to haul topsoil and manure for me the following spring until we were square, and I trusted him. He lived up to his word and he owes me nothing. A story with a nice ending, as he always stayed in touch.

Being tough when collecting your accounts is not an enjoyable experience, but it is a necessary part of staying on the road to success. LT

Rod McDonald owned and operated Lakeview Gardens, a successful garden centre/landscape firm in Regina, Sask., for 28 years. He now works full-time in the world of fine arts, writing, acting and producing in film, television and stage.

JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

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LEGALMATTERS

Remedies and the insolvent debtor

BY ROBERT KENNALEY IN THE EVENT you have been retained by a company that owes you money and is at risk of going (or has already gone) insolvent, care should be taken to ensure you preserve and pursue the remedies that may be available to ensure you get paid.

First, in most Canadian jurisdictions, a lien remedy will be available to secure amounts owing for the provision of construction and construction-related services and materials. In the event the debtor is placed under protection under either the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) or the Companies’ Creditors Arrangements Act (CCAA), lien claimants who prove their claims for lien will generally receive priority over other secured creditors to the extent of the lien holdbacks. This is significant as, absent the lien security, the contractors and subcontractors owed monies will almost always be classed as unsecured creditors who, in most BIA/ CCAA scenarios, will receive little or nothing upon a distribution under those pieces of legislation. It is therefore important for unpaid contractors and subcontractors to ensure, so far as is possible, that their lien rights do not expire where insolvency appears to be a possibility.

In addition, in the event of an insolvency, unpaid contractors and subcontractors should consider the extent to which a statutory trust is available to assist them in recovery against both the debtor corporation and its officers, directors or others responsible for the day-to-day financial operations of the company. More specifically, construction or builder’s lien legislation in most provinces imposes trust obligations on any payer in the construction ladder to ensure funds received for the purposes of paying for the work are paid to those beneath them before they are used for 76 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

other purposes. The legislation also generally provides that a failure to account for the trust funds amounts to breach of trust and that officers, directors and others who acquiesce in or consent to the conduct amounting to the breach of trust will be personally liable for those breaches.

In an insolvency situation, the potential trust obligations of officers and directors will generally be addressed by the Court under BIA or CCAA proceedings. Accordingly, anyone with a potential trust claim needs to bring it forward for evaluation as part of those proceedings. Further, trust claimants will need to be active in those proceedings as the trustee in bankruptcy, or monitor in CCAA proceedings, will have a lot on their plates and may not be focused on a full vetting of potential trust claims.

Lastly, in an insolvency situation, subcontractors should take care to ensure that any labour and material payment bond remedies are preserved and pursued. The applicable limitation period will be set out on the face of the bond itself, and in most jurisdictions a supplier of constructionrelated services and materials is entitled to request a copy of the bond from those above them in the pyramid (if one has been given). In Ontario, recent changes to the Construction Act have made the provision of labour and material payment bonds under public contracts worth $500,000 or more mandatory. It is anticipated that similar provisions may become mandatory in other jurisdictions as they consider adopting the changes introduced in Ontario, in some way, shape or form.

We note that, in an insolvency situation, the surety who gave the bond will be aware of the debtor’s financial circumstances and will recognize it has obliga-

tions to pay out the proper claims of the unpaid subcontractors and suppliers of the debtor. Accordingly, while it may take some time for the surety to perform an investigation and satisfy itself as to the amount that is owing, unpaid subcontractors will often receive payment long before the insolvency proceedings are resolved under BIA or CCAA proceedings. Again, it is accordingly important for unpaid subcontractors and suppliers, where the debtor who owes them money is potentially insolvent, to ensure they obtain a copy of any bond and make a timely claim in that regard.

Finally, if the surety denies a labour and material payment bond claim in an insolvency situation, and where the creditor is under BIA or CCAA protection, the stay of proceedings which will apply under those proceedings will not always stay a claim against the surety under the labour and material payment bond. Thus, while it can take years for insolvency situations to be resolved in BIA or CCAA proceedings, labour and material payment bond claimants will often be able to pursue their claims against the surety outside the insolvency proceedings.

In the end, there are options and remedies available to contractors and subcontractors who are owed monies by a corporation or person who appears to be insolvent.

Care, however, must be taken to preserve and pursue those remedies in a timely fashion if they are to result in recovery. LT

Robert Kennaley speaks and writes on construction law and can be reached for comment at 416-700-4142 or rjk@kennaley.com. This material is not intended to provide legal advice.

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MANAGEMENTSOLUTIONS

Achieve your New Year’s resolution:

Build a better business

BY MARK BRADLEY

HERE WE ARE: 2020! On top of ‘go to the gym five times a week,’ ‘bank $20 every day toward that new vacation’ and ‘start dance classes with my spouse,’ you’ve vowed to ‘build a better business this year.’ I hate to burst your bubble, but according to U.S. News and World Report, the failure rate for New Year’s resolutions is about 80 per cent. I may not be able to help you with the gym and dancing, but following are three tactics that, if implemented, can help you achieve your overall resolution of building a better business in 2020.

Before we get into specifics, it’s important to define clearly what ‘building a better business’ looks like, by identifying one (or several) measurable goals. Let’s say you hope to increase your profit margins and/or sales goals this year. A measurable goal would look like this: ABC Landscaping will increase profit margins X per cent, and annual revenue Y per cent by Dec. 31, 2020. Ideally, each of these goals would be separate.

Let’s get into some tactics that can

help you achieve your goals, regardless of what they are.

RALLY YOUR TEAM AROUND YOUR GOALS It’s impossible to have your team working toward something, if you don’t share it with them. Your seasonal kick-off meeting should outline your vision for the company and goals. And most importantly, how these goals translate into expectations for each team member. Every month, regroup, measure your progress and set new objectives.

Let’s be honest: Workers earning an hourly wage will not care if your business earns an additional $100,000 this year, unless there’s something in it for them. If you want buy-in and motivation from your team, start an incentive program that is tied to meeting monthly objectives. l Start simple: 10-20 per cent of every dollar above the objective becomes “bonus capital” for key staff. l Consider profit sharing when you start earning ‘Super Profit.’ When you exceed sales goals with the same amount of working hours, you drastically improve profits, since your payroll, equipment, and overhead costs do not increase significantly. That’s called Super Profit!

Not only will your team get invested, but they will feel pride and ownership in Effective systems are necessary to operate at full potential.

78 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

the business when their extra efforts are recognized and rewarded. In an industry with such high labour turnover, an incentive program goes a long way toward employee retention and recruitment.

START SPRING CLEANING Organization is a huge contributor to productivity, which quite obviously has a positive impact on the bottom line. I expect it’s the same for every landscape business: Before the start of the season, the shop, yard and crew trailers are sanitized and organized. And then two weeks later, they’re unrecognizable.

To maintain organized spaces and maximize productivity all season long, employ the 5S workplace organization model to your landscaping business: Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain.

Sort: Remove or relocate anything that’s not needed for current production.

Set in order: Everything has a ‘right’ place. Label shelves, containers and other storage areas so things can be easily found and put away. Every crew should have its own assigned equipment, from small tools to heavy equipment.

Shine: Simply put, keep everything from trucks and desks to job sites clean.

Schedule regular cleaning and inspections to ensure follow-through.

Standardize: When roles and responsibilities are clear, everyone knows what is expected of them. Invest in regular training and employee onboarding to improve efficiency.

Sustain: Conduct routine inspections to make sure that every one of your crews is following the 5S procedures. Offer rewards for continuous improvement and optimal performance.

A lack of effective systems in the green industry means many landscape companies operate at around 60 per cent of their potential. In other words, most companies are billing only 60 per cent of what they should or could be billing with the right systems in place. In addition to 5S, make sure you implement business management software to automate processes and increase efficiencies.

HOLD EVERYONE ACCOUNTABLE (yourself included!)

If you are two months in and results are not as expected, why? What are you doing to improve? If monthly expectations for your team in support of business goals are set at the beginning of the season, it might be time to look at individual performance. It’s hard for someone to blame his trainer if he’s eating junk food every night.

George Urvari of Oriole Landscaping says, “The people will change or the people will change.” Everyone from your forklift

operator and your foreman to your bookkeeper and operations manager should commit to meeting expectations at the start of the season. If you’ve done everything you could, from additional training to modified work plans, it is time to move on.

Firing people is never easy, but it’s far more costly to run a company with people who don’t (or won’t) do their jobs.

Whatever goals you need to achieve to build a better business, you can succeed with buy-in from your team, a commitment to keeping clean and organized, and a willingness to recognize and act when you are off track. This year, make a promise to yourself and your business to be part of the 20 per cent that actually stick to their New Year’s resolutions. LT

CORRECTION My October column incorrectly stated Canada is without a Red Seal Occupational Standard for landscaping. We do have a Landscape Horticulturist Red Seal Standard.

Mark Bradley is CEO of LMN Software, and former CEO of TBG Environmental, both based in Ontario.

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NEW PROGRAMS: TRAVELODGE AND LMN CNLA adds two new member savings programs: Travelodge and Landscape Management Network (LMN).

Under the Travelodge program, corporate travellers, employees and family members of CNLA receive accommodation savings of 16 to 20 per cent at all Travelodge locations in Canada. With over 100 locations from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia, Travelodge hotels are conveniently located near major airports, highways and business districts, as well as great national parks and local attractions. Stay connected using free WiFi, stay active in fitness rooms, and jump-start your day with a free breakfast, featuring hot pancakes or waffles at most locations.

Landscape Management Network (LMN), is business management software designed to help landscape businesses grow.

CNLA members now receive a free LMN Budgeting software license, $200 savings on LMN Professional software license, up to 40 per cent off QuickBooks Enterprise subscription, plus additional partner offers.

Contact the member services team at 1-888-446-3499 to access these savings programs or log into the CNLA website at cnla.ca.

IGCA CONGRESS 2019 31 Canadians attended the 2019 International Garden Centre Association (IGCA) Congress in Windsor, U.K., alongside 216 delegates from 19 countries. Delegates visited some of the best garden centres in the world, featuring expansive home décor sections, cafés and restaurants, children’s play areas and seasonal experiences, farmers markets, butchers and grocery areas. Delegates had lots of great feedback.

Brian Sipkens with Sipkens Nurseries in Ontario said, “The best way to see what needs to be seen is often pointed out by someone else’s perspective. The networking opportunities and feedback are the sharpest tools found on the (IGCA) tours.

Seeing how the best garden centres in another country have evolved to meet 80 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

IGCA delegates visited Windsor, U. K., where some of the best garden centres in the world are located.

their economics and demographic helps us to look outside the norm for opportunities that may present themselves in our own respective businesses.”

John Zaplatynsky with Canada GardenWorks in British Columbia said, “My leading takeaway is how the U.K. garden centres have used cafés as a means of drawing year-round traffic to their centres. I love to attend the Congress tours, as it gives me a chance to keep in touch with other leading garden centres around the world and learn how they are dealing with challenges similar to what we face in Canada.”

Andy Fluit with Sunshine Express in Ontario said, “One point of interest is that each garden centre expressed how they are good corporate citizens…for the environment, community fundraising or even their promotion of British grown plants.

At the same time, they seem to love their restaurants more than their plants at most of these centres.”

Want to learn from leading garden

centres around the world, visit fantastic retailers and network with innovators in our sector? Registration is now open for IGCA 202, Oct. 18-23 in South Africa.

Visit igcacongress.com for more information and to register.

Funds may be available to assist with Canadian members’ travel costs through the Agri-Marketing program. Following your trip to South Africa for the IGCA Congress, please submit flight details including cost breakdown, departure date, and return date; registration receipts including cost breakdown; and corresponding credit card receipts to reflect the exchange rate, as well as a voided cheque.

Please send your completed report using a template available from the CNLA office. At the time of submission, we will review the documents to determine full or partial reimbursement; funds are available on a first come, first served basis. For more information, contact Lauryn Mullan at lauryn@canadanursery.com. LT

The Canadian Nursery Landscape Association is the federation of Canada’s provincial horticultural trade associations.

Visit cnla-acpp.ca for more information.

GREEN TRADE EXPO LEARN | NETWORK | GROW February 12-13, 2020 EY Centre Ottawa Over 120 landscape professionals and construction focused exhibitors from Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.

Participate in amazing learning seminars and breakfast series. Network with incredible industry peers. Join us for our Annual General Meeting on Feb 13.

Grow with Landscape Ontario.

February 12, 2020 6 pm at the EY Centre

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NEW APPROACH TO CONTROLLING INVASIVES An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Vineland, Ont., discovered a new approach to control and eradicate invasive plants and weeds. Vineland’s innovative solution utilizes the unique natural chemistry of invasive plants as a source of new sustainable control.

“Using Vincetoxicum rossicum,

commonly known as dog-strangling vine, as a model system, our team is assessing whether natural plant chemistry can control invasive species threatening our natural and agricultural spaces,” said Darby McGrath, Vineland’s Research Scientist, Nursery and Landscape.

Vineland is collaborating with curator Jon Peter and the Invasive Plant Committee at Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) to explore some of its sites invaded by dogstrangling vine, and to understand how these invasive plants affect soils and plant communities.

“Royal Botanical Gardens is excited to be assisting Dr. McGrath and Dr. David Liscombe and their teams at Vineland on this important research. Understanding and controlling invasive species is a high priority for us. Dog-strangling vine, An team of researchers at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre discovered a new approach to control invasive plants and weeds.

in particular, is a serious threat to natural habitats in our area,” said David A. Galbraith, RBG’s Head of Science.

Positive results from this project will help combat invasive species and provide new, effective tools for municipalities and landowners to reclaim natural areas.

The research was funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Ontario government.

GREENTRADE EXPO COMES TO OTTAWA Delegates from the Ontario/Quebec border area are looking forward to GreenTrade Expo, coming to Ottawa’s EY Centre on Feb. 12-13. This show attracts over 1,400 attendees and over 100 exhibitors, and has been staged by Landscape Ontario’s Ottawa Chapter since 1993. Associated opportunities include an MTO Contractors Breakfast, an Awards of Distinction Gala and educational sessions on new plants and inspiring gardeners. Visit greentrade.ca for details.

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GreenTrade Expo, will be held at Ottawa’s EY Centre on Feb. 12-13, 2020

MISKA OPENS ATLANTIC PICKUP LOCATION

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Miska Trailer Factory has opened a new pickup location in Dartmouth, N.S. The Hamilton, Ont.-based trailer manufacturer says the new pickup location will provide the company’s Eastern Canadian customers with in-stock inventory in Nova Scotia, and better access to trailers in Hamilton, Ont. Miska Trailer President Joseph Vandenhurk said, “I’m proud and excited that we have added a convenient option for our friends in Eastern Canada. Miska Trailer Factory has a deep Canadian Heritage of building quality trailers in Canada’s Steel Town, Hamilton, Ont.”

The Ontario government is poised to significantly reduce the statute of limitations for slip-and-fall claims from two years to 10 days. Bill 118, Occupiers’ Liability Amendment Act, put forward by Progressive Conservative MPP Norman Miller, is currently being reviewed by the standing committee on regulations and private bills.

“The Bill amends the Occupiers’ Liability Act to provide that no action shall be brought for the recovery of damages for personal injury caused by snow or ice against an occupier, an independent contractor employed by the occupier or, in the case of a tenancy described in subsection 8 (1) of the Act, a landlord, unless, within 10 days after the occurrence of the injury, written notice of the claim and of the injury are served.”

Exemptions include cases where the injury from the slip-and-fall results in death or where a judge finds there is a reasonable excuse for the delay.

PESTICIDE ACT AMENDMENTS PROPOSED BY ONTARIO GOVERNMENT The Ontario Government is proposing amendments to province’s Pesticide Act, including the removal of the Ontario Pesticide Advisory Committee (OPAC).

“We are proposing to end Ontario’s duplicative classification of pesticides and align with the federal government’s pesticide categories, as other provinces do,” the Ontario Government stated in a media release. “Health Canada’s PMRA is resourced and equipped to review and register pesticides for all of Canada, something all other provinces have recognized. Ontario would continue to maintain Ontario’s general regulatory requirements, including licensing and permitting realigned to the federal categories.”

The general cosmetic pesticides ban will be retained, including existing exceptions, but a single list of permitted pesticides would replace the current classes.

“Eliminating Ontario’s classification

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process would also remove administrative cost and time delays associated with the application and classification process, improving the efficiency in accessing pesticides for sale and use in Ontario,” the government stated. The amendments also add cemetaries to the exception list for cosmetic pesticide use.

The comment period for the amendments was set to end on Dec. 12, 2019.

AIPH RELEASES GROWER SHORTLIST The International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) announced the finalists of the International Grower of the Year (IGOTY) Awards 2020, which takes place in January at IPM Essen in Germany.

Ten ornamentals growers from eight different countries (China, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Israel, Kenya, South Africa, the Netherlands and the UK) have reached the final.

The IGOTY 2020 finalists are Anthura, BellaRosa, Citrina Sales BV, Danziger Guatemala, Hangzhou Huazhiyun Agriculture Investment, Hasfarm Holdings, Kernock Park Plants, LVG Plants, Miao Fu Holdings and Oserian Development.

The IGOTY Awards 2020 consists of four categories: finished plants and trees, cut flowers and bulbs, young plants and sustainability. Within each category, bronze, silver and gold awards will be given. One overall winner will be awarded the Gold Rose and crowned International Grower of the Year 2020.

An international jury of industry experts, led by Tim Edwards, AIPH Vice President, assessed the competition entries against specific criteria relating to economic performance, innovation, market insight, sustainability and human resources.

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MasonLift has partnered with Atlas Polar Company to create a new authorized sales and service dealer network for Hiab cranes, Moffett forklifts, and Multilift Hooklifts in British Columbia. The new company, ML-Truck Equipment, will launch Dec. 11, 2019. The company will be based in Abbotsford, B.C., and is supported by MasonLift service locations across the province.

MasonLift President Roger Sutton said, “MasonLift is proud to partner with Atlas Polar to launch this new business. And the offering of specialized truck-mounted equipment sales and service here is a great way to meet every customer’s needs. With over 150 years of joint industry experience behind us, no one will be better placed to provide it.”

“Atlas Polar introduced the first articulated truck-mounted crane to Canada – a Hiab – in 1953, and never looked back,” said Bob Parr, President. “For us, it’s all about quality, so partnering with MasonLift to create the sole distributor in B.C. for Hiab, Moffett and Multilift brands was the perfect relationship. Our new relationship with MasonLift, the most reputable and experienced forklift equipment company in British Columbia, is equally smart, logical and practical.” LT

EVENTS JAN. 7 - 9 Landscape Ontario Congress, Toronto, Ont. www.LOcongress.com

JAN. 8 - 20 MANTS, Baltimore, Md. www.mants.com

JAN. 22 - 24 Tropical Plant International Expo, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. www.tpie.org

FEB. 5 Nursery Growers Short Course, Burlington, Ont. www.horttrades.com/nursery-growersshort-course-2020.com

FEB. 12 Grow 20: A Manitoba Nursery Landscape Event, Winnipeg, Man. grow.mbnla.com

FEB. 12-13 GreenTrade Expo, Ottawa, Ont. www.greentrade.ca

FEB. 20 Grounds Management Lecture Series, Milton, Ont. www.horttrades.com/groundsmanagement-lecture-event-2020 LT

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MENTORMOMENT

Talent magnet JEFF FOLEY, of Para Space Landscaping in Burnaby, B.C., is being noticed regionally, nationally and internationally for his success with recruitment and retention.

He holds a landscaping diploma, as well as Certified Landscape Manager, Certified Landscape Technician, Certified Arborist and Red Seal Landscape Horticulturist credentials. He was suggested as a mentor by an industry member who noticed Foley invited a tableful of young employees to last fall’s national awards banquet.

is important; we have a very complex in-house database. It’s all part of attracting a younger workforce. You must show them you are committed to innovative technology.

Do you ever see tension between the generations?

What is the best route to connect with new talent?

We understand all contractors are having trouble with hiring. We believe landscaping needs to be a destination industry, offering full benefits. And we make sure we pay what other trades pay. Poaching won’t work. We recently had six interns come to our company from the National Collegiate Landscape Competition. One came from Niagara, the other five were from the States. The interns noticed the diversity of Para Space’s workforce.

Our strongest recruitment tactic is word of mouth.

Our staff appreciates our culture, and they want to bring in more talent — if the candidate is the right fit. A while back, we tried — and abandoned — a referral bonus, because our employees were already recommending right-fit candidates.

How does Para Space retain talent?

It is important to set up a formal human resources system: I know this from my early days with the company, when I climbed my way up. I felt a real need to formalize HR into a consistent system.

Our system is built around our senior management team.

Managers have a role in administering a formal skills passport. We have an in-house educational program comprised of 36 seminars, on both hard and soft skills. Tracks include leadership and customer service. Administration

86 | JANUARY 2020 | LANDSCAPE TRADES

Mentorship within my company is important. We assign aspiring leaders to work with mature staff members. Often, they go with account managers on sales calls. So, the answer is no, we don’t have tension. Rather than feeling resentful, staff members seem to gain a comfort level from the mentorship experience.

JEFF FOLEY

What do you look for in a candidate?

We look for a sense of ownership and accountability. If someone has good intentions, aligned with values, teaching skills is no problem.

Who is your mentor?

I have to credit my dad, Peter, who taught me to act with integrity. I also serve on boards; I work on professional development for the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association, and I served on the International Certification Council. I find being on boards is a great mentoring process, and I learn so much from others in the industry. Helping manage other organizations definitely gives valuable expertise.

What is your next goal?

I already mentioned our databases; I want to upgrade our software, and to make our company’s technology even more innovative. Our young people are all savvy enough to embrace it. LT

If you have a question to suggest, or a mentor to recommend, please write to editor@landscapetrades.com.