March/April 2021 LCA Groundwork

MARCH/APRIL 2021

GROUNDWORK A P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E L A N D S C A P E C O N T R A C T O R S A S S O C I A T I O N M D •D C •V A Plant of the Month—Carolina Yellow Jessamine Periodical Cicada—Brood X Coming in 2021 Prolonging Your Pond’s Retirement Hitting the Right Buttons Strength in Difference

contents

March/April 2021 4

Calendar of Events

5

President’s Message

6

Plant of the Month—Carolina Yellow Jessamine

10 2020 Grand Award—Munsun Place 12 Periodical Cicada—Brood X Coming in 2021 16 Prolonging Your Pond’s Retirement 18 Hitting the Right Buttons 20 Strength in Difference 22 Advertising Information

“This year’s presentation was excellent. It was also my first virtual experience like this. LCA did a great job, as always!”

–David Burdette, Congressional Country Club

See page 8 for a conference recap.

Munsun Place

Plant of the Month

Surrounds Inc. Total Residential Contracting

—GRAND AWARD— Gelsemium sempervirens “Feature” and “Plant of the Month” articles can also be found online for LCA members under the GROUNDWORK link in your Profile Home page at www.lcamddcva.org

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CALENDAR OF

2021 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Paul Jester—President J&G Landscape Design, Inc.—(301) 476-7600 Aaron Raines—Immediate Past President Live Green Landscape Associates, LLC —(443) 763-8580 Ron Rubin—Vice President SavATree—(703) 625-4400

SPRING 2021 April

Excellence in Landscape Awards Celebration Virtual Happy Hour

Time TBA

Look for announcements of upcoming virtual programs in the weekly Gram newsletter and email.

Jeff Rossen—Secretary/Treasurer JRossen Landscape—(703) 327-2284

DIRECTORS Krisjan Berzins Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape—(703) 921-9200

Cicadas: The NeXt Generation Returning in May. See Page 12.

Matt Glover, CLT Wray Brothers Landscapes—(301) 906-1571 Josh Kane, CLT Kane Landscapes, Inc.—(703) 803-3146 Zack Kline A.I.R.—(240) 772-1639 James Kole, CLT Level Green Landscaping—(240) 429-3153 Kristen Mowery McHale Landscape Design, Inc.—(240) 508-8056 Barry Schneider Surrounds, Inc.—(703) 906-7600 Jeff Waters SiteOne Landscape Supply—(240) 375-7470

LCA STAFF Thérèse O. Clemens, CAE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Julianne Clarke MEMBERSHIP SERVICES SPECIALIST Julie Hill SENIOR MARKETING DIRECTOR Meghan Maker MARKETING SPECIALIST Lynne Agoston MANAGING EDITOR Kiki Devane MARKETING AND MEETING COORDINATOR Maryia Alenchyk PRODUCTION MANAGER Barbara Bienkowski, CEM EXHIBITS/SPONSORSHIP MANAGER Lynette Randazzo MEETING MANAGER Dawn Rosenfeld DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTING SERVICES Deryck White WEBSITE MANAGER G R O U N D W O R K , the official publication of the Landscape

Contractors Association, MD•DC•VA, is published bimonthly by LCA, 1300 Piccard Drive, Suite LL 14, Rockville, MD 20850.

No Matter the Season...

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P: (301) 948-0810 F: (301) 990-9771 E: lca@lcamddcva.org W: www.lcamddcva.org.

Office hours: Monday–Friday, 8:30 am–5 pm (EST).

LCA is not responsible for opinions expressed and facts presented by contributing authors.

Editorial Deadline: The deadline to submit copy is the 20th of the month for the following bimonthly issue and is on a space­­­– available basis.

Advertising & Classifieds: All ads must be high-resolution PDF and pre‑paid. Contact Barbara Bienkowski at bbienkowski@msp-amc.com for more information and the deadline schedule.

Copyright © 2021: Landscape Contractors Association, MD•DC•VA. Reproduction of any material allowed only with prior written permission from LCA. LCA’s core purpose is to advance the success of its members and provide a community for green industry professionals.

President’s Message Warmer Weather and Networking in the New Normal Happy spring! I hope everyone was able to stay safe, and possibly even enjoy, the cold and snow of the past few months.

While traveling and activities have been limited in the last year, we are looking forward to warmer weather and new opportunities in 2021! With the hurdles of the last year, LCA was able to successfully adapt and adjust to continue providing educational opportunities to the industry. We had great success with the online format for both the LCA Awards submissions this past fall and the Pesticide Recertification last month.

Moving forward into the warmer months, we are keeping track of safety regulations and guidelines to explore new options for hosting inperson events to continue meeting and networking with all of you.

Paul Jester, PLA, ASLA 2021 President

Networking and building professional relationships allows for many opportunities, including the chance to find reliable mentors, meeting peers and colleagues to discuss ideas, and finding opportunities within your industry to achieve your professional or personal goals. It is always a challenge to maintain a work-life balance, but LCA strives to provide these opportunities at convenient times and locations to build your network. As we continue to adapt and change in response to COVID19, we have all been forced to use

online platforms to stay in touch and build new relationships to continue networking. While there are many articles and notes discussing the benefits of professional networking, I wanted to share some tips and insight from Forbes and Nature to continue building meaningful relationships, even though we can’t always meet in person.

•

Don’t be afraid to reach out in new ways! We are all learning the intricacies of online meetings, video conferences, and the mute button. But it is also a great time to reach out in more traditional ways. A hand-written note or telephone conversation is a great way to pass along thoughts or share ideas.

•

Leverage your current network.

I’m sure we are connected to more people than we realize. Use this time to update and rekindle connections from previous employers or schooling. The virtual opportunities are limitless to create productive conversations or just touch base with old friends. These “forgotten” contacts and conversations may be beneficial to your professional or personal goals!

•

Participate in social virtual calls.

Virtual calls can go beyond the professional meeting or presen-

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tation. Utilizing virtual platforms for social activities such as lunches, exercise classes, coffee breaks, and happy hours can offer new ways to meet new and interesting people with shared interests. The goal is to build on these conversations and continue positive interactions after the virtual meeting concludes.

LCA continues to push forward and provide great opportunities for the industry and our members! We have once again partnered with Home & Design magazine to share your award-winning projects with the community. And keep a look out for virtual or in-person opportunities moving forward; I look forward to networking with each of you in the coming months.

As always, I want to thank each and every one of our members for supporting and being involved with LCA. We are excited for the new opportunities and to see what everyone is able to achieve in 2021!

Be safe,

Paul Jester, PLA, ASLA LCA President 2021

Plant of the Month

The Vine That Announces Spring

By Joel Hafner, Fine Earth Landscape, Inc.

Gelsemium sempervirens

As spring 2021 quickly approaches, those of us who are glad to see an end to the frigid and snowy February here in the D.C. metro area will soon see new flower blossoms of crocus, daffodil, hyacinth, tulips, cherry, dogwood, azalea, and the list goes on. However, before those plants even emerge or their buds begin to swell, there is one vine that calls in spring long before the myriad of colors can even get started, Gelsemium sempervirens.

G. sempervirens, common name Carolina Yellow Jessamine, rushes in spring in a spectacular show of yellow funnellike flowers that either form singular or in cymes. The flowers are 1½” long x 1” wide and are fragrant. Depending on winter coldness, the plant will start flowering as early as mid-February in most of the metro area and will continue through April; however, the plant will set flowers much earlier than this while remaining formed and closed on the plant. Before the flowers open, the plant will begin to show some slight hue of yellow color. In those mid-winter months when nothing is blooming, here is the chance to add just a dab of color to the landscape to excite the senses that spring is around the corner.

Carolina Yellow Jessamine is perfectly suited for the DC metro area too. With a hardiness zone of 6 through 9, no real pest problems, and its tolerance to almost any soil condition, this plant establishes quickly and GROUNDWORK 6 M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 2 1

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Plant of the Month continued vigorously. Michael Dirr says the plant prefers moist, well-drained soil, but I have seen it growing in some of the worst soil conditions, and it thrives. The plant prefers full sun but does pretty well in shade also. One of the best characteristics of the plant is its evergreen roughly 2” long leaves that provide a vertical green element in the landscape through the year as it climbs 20’ or greater. The leaves are robustly dark green throughout the growing season but tend to purple up in the winter months. This added color only enhances the glamor of installing the plant in the landscape. Like all vines, the better the soil, the faster the growth, but

Carolina Yellow Jessamine grows quickly and will need several prunings throughout the year to keep it managed and shaped. Dirr pointed out that the plant left unattended will form a tangled mound of 3’ to 4’ high stems. Pruned correctly, it will form nicely around any trellis and easily maintains that habit as it thickens densely around the structure to which it is attached.

So, while the plant is very suited, hardy, and durable, it does need maintenance to control its growth and habit. While it has nowhere near the maintenance requirements as wisteria, it definitely should not be left unattended for an extended amount of time.

So, if you are looking for an evergreen vine that grows in almost any type of soil or lighting condition, give this one a try. The fragrant yellow flowers are just the “icing on the cake” for Carolina Yellow Jessamine!

RECAP With restrictions on the number of individuals allowed to meet in-person during the pandemic, LCA offered its annual Pesticide and Fertilizer Recertification through a virtual platform for the first time, and the program was most successful. The course was kept open for the month of February, allowing the maximum timeframe for participants to work online and complete the program.

Registrations for the course topped 300 (302 to be exact). As in past in-person conferences, LCA offered recorded sessions by expert instructors and state updates. Participants

could access the course at a time most convenient to their individual schedules. Staff was available to assist with technical questions.

All of the jurisdictions that approved past in-person program content for recertification credit did so again for the virtual program. As before, LCA staff will report credits earned to the states on behalf of participants. A new feature is that participants now have an account on the LCA education platform through October, and if they’ve completed all requirements, they can print a certificate of completion for their own records.

Thank You to Our Instructors Kelly Billing, Aquatic Plant Specialist Richard J. Buckley, Rutgers University Dave Clement, UMD Extension Alvin Harris, Government of the District of Columbia Stanton Gill, UMD Extension Hanna Mathers, Ohio State University Judy McGowan, Maryland Department of Agriculture Karen Rane, UMD Extension Michael J. Raupp, Ph.D., UMD Charles F. Schuster, UMD Extension, Retired

Thank You to Our Sponsors Abby Farms Central Turf & Irrigation Supply Manor View Farm

Newsom Seed Nualgi Ponds Rainbow Treecare Scientific Advancements

SiteOne Landscape Supply TWG Insurance WeCare Denali

And thank you to the participants who adapted so well to the change.

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The Perennial Farm Celebrating 41 years in business

Over 1500 Varieties Available Perennials - Ornamental Grasses - Hardy Ferns Roses - Flowering Shrubs - Flowering Vines - Ground Covers Natives - Succulents - Tropicals - Mr. Big Stuff - Flowering Bulbs Phone: 410-592-6106 www.perennialfarm.com

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2020 Grand Award Munsun Place Surrounds Inc.

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This project consisted of full design and installation of the entire exterior to include front hardscape (new driveway, entry columns, walkways, front entry gravel courtyard and front stoop); front landscape (new front landscaping, sod, grading, drainage and lighting); rear carpentry (new pool house garage structure with outdoor kitchen, full bath, plumbing, and sewer work); rear hardscape (new parking paver area, entry wall with gate, rear patios, retaining walls, waterfeature, and pool); and rear landscape (all plantings, bed preparation, grading, mulch, and lighting).

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Periodical Cicada—Brood X Coming in 2021

By Stanton Gill, Extension Specialist, IPM and Entomology for Nursery, Managed Landscapes and Greenhouses, CMREC, University of Maryland Extension; and Professor with Montgomery College, Landscape Technology So much focus has been on the economy and the COVID-19 situation.

So let’s move forward to what is happening in the insect world this spring. First, take a minute and drift back to 2004. The air was “a buzz” with the sound of the 17-year periodical cicadas, Magicicada septemdecim. Male cicadas were drumming their abdomens, making noises that carried for miles. The female cicadas slashed into branches to lay their eggs. At the peak of the flight activity of the cicadas the bird population was getting plump from the bounty of insects to feed on. The eggs hatched in a couple weeks, and the nymphs dropped to the ground to burrow into the root-zone of plants to feed for the next 17 years.

We thought we were safe from the 17-year cicadas until 2021. Well, fast forward to 2021, and we will be seeing and hearing the Brood X periodical cicada this late spring to early summer.

In 2020, we published several articles and pictures of rogue Brood X periodical cicada that showed up in Montgomery, Howard, and Anne Arundel counties. These were just periodical cicadas (Brood X) that got out of sync with the main body. The big emergence is set for 2021.

Periodical cicadas emerge in different geographical areas, and these emergence groups are labeled as “broods.”

The one we experienced in 2004 in most of Maryland is “Brood X.” There was another brood of 17-year periodical cicada that emerged in 2013 called “Brood II.” In most central and western areas of Maryland you will not see these Brood II cicadas.

Males are capable of producing a high-pitched whine that some people liken to a small chainsaw or twocycle engine noise. Females, which produce no sound, are attracted to the males for mating. Males have a large group noise, sing a quieter song when a female approaches, and then switch to an even softer noise when mating with the female. The group noise is the one that is slightly annoying and overwhelming.

Servena Park area. Photo by Earl Reeves.

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If you have customers in Southern Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Jersey, or New York, they will be seeing activity of Brood II in 2030—something to look forward to! The parts of Maryland that will experience emergence of Brood II are mainly Southern Maryland, Prince George’s County, and the lower portion of Montgomery County. In Pennsylvania, entomologists have recorded which counties you can expect to see Brood II emerge in 2013. They include Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, and Wyoming counties.

Periodical cicadas are found in eastern North America and belong to the genus Magicicada. There are seven species—four with 13-year lifecycles (including one new species described in 2000) and three with 17-year cycles. The three 17-year species are generally northern in distribution, while the 13-year species are generally southern and Midwestern.

Magicicada are so well-synchronized developmentally that they are nearly absent as adults in the 12 or 16 years between emergences. When they do emerge after their long juvenile periods, they do so in huge numbers, forming much denser aggregations than those usually achieved by cicadas. Many people know periodical cicadas by the name “17-year locusts”

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Smart control technology offers clients more options and flexibility for lighting controls than ever before. Clients can control their landscape lighting using an app on their smart phone. The three main types of smart controls for landscape lighting systems are: WIFI-based control systems; fixture manufacturer proprietary controls; and HUB-based controls. Of these three, we find HUB-based systems provide the best experience and overall value to our homeowners.

WIFI-based smart controls are a good option for budget-conscious, tech-savvy clients. A smartphone app sends a signal over the home WIFI network to a smart plug at the transformer. Examples of WIFIbased smart plugs include Wemo and Kasa. This equipment is inexpensive, costing about the same as traditional timers. One downside is that smart plugs will occasionally (once or twice a year) disconnect from the WIFI due to firmware updates, or power outages. When this happens, the smart plug receiver will need to be re-installed. This option is a good choice for clients who are willing, and capable of taking care of some on-going maintenance.

Proprietary Controls offered by fixture manufacturers such as Brilliance LED, FX Luxor, and Alliance also offer app-controlled products, using WIFI or BLUETOOTH. These systems offer the benefits that other smart control

systems provide, but tend to be unreliable. Fixture manufacturers typically do not specialize in controls, offering them as add-ons to their core product, light fixtures.

Smart phone app updates tend to be infrequent and inadequate, making these products prone to glitches.

HUB-based systems are more complex and expensive than other options, but are the most reliable. The system consists of a hub and smart plugs. The hub is hardwired directly to a modem/router, and sends out its own, amplified signal, rather than depending on the home WIFI signal. This eliminates the problem of re-setting smart plug receivers. Made by major electronics manufacturers such as Samsung (Samsung Smart Things) and Lutron (Lutron Casetta), these companies have the necessary resources required to regularly maintain and update their apps. As a result, HUBS tend to work seamlessly, with minimal ongoing maintenance.

We recommend and install HUB based systems. At a slightly higher price, hubs use regularly maintained apps that work well and rarely require smart plug receivers to be reconnected. Clients have the convenience of app controls, with minimal ongoing maintenance. These systems can be installed with new landscape lighting projects or retrofitted to existing systems. To learn more please visit olsonweaver.com or call 703.881.1841.

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Periodical Cicada—Brood X Coming in 2021 continued or “13-year locusts,” but they are not true locusts and are actually a type of grasshopper.

A few weeks before emerging in late spring, the nymphs of cicadas construct exit tunnels to the surface.

These exits are visible as approximately ½-inch diameter holes, or as chimney-like mud “turrets” the nymphs sometimes construct over their holes. On the night of emergence, nymphs leave their burrows around sunset, locate a suitable spot on nearby vegetation, and complete their final molt to adulthood. Shortly after ecdysis (the process of an arthropod molting its exoskeleton), the new adults appear mostly white, but they darken quickly as the exoskeleton hardens. Sometimes a large proportion of the population emerges in one night. Newly emerged cicadas work their way up into the trees and spend roughly four to six days as “teneral” adults before they harden completely (possibly longer in cool weather); they do not begin adult behavior until this period of maturation is complete. Adult Magicicada have black bodies and striking red eyes and orange wing veins, with a black “W” near the tips of the forewings. Most emerge in May and June.

The cicada have a sucking mouthpart called a stylet. Adult females can occasionally use their stylet to pierce plant material or small fruit to extract a small amount of sugar for flight and mating, but damage is not detected on most plants. Young, immature nymphal cicadas feed on liquid from plant roots. Adult cicadas do not generally feed, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

You may say, wait a minute, I see cicadas every summer in August.

Yes, you would be correct. The

annual cicada, which are out in August every year, are a large greencolored cicada and never reach really high in population number. They are also called “Dog-Day Cicadas” since they are in flight when the “Dog Star Cluster” is visible in the sky in August. Although the lifecycle of annual cicadas is typically two or three years, they are staggered, so we see some emerging every summer.

These late summer cicada species, which are sometimes mistaken for the periodical cicadas, are usually in the genera Diceroprocta. The annual cicada is more robust in body size than periodical cicadas and the body is a green color.

Noise and Egg Laying

A week to 10 days after the males begin “singing,” the “early adopter” females begin to lay eggs. Each female is capable of laying up to 400 eggs in 40 to 50 pockets in the wood of several small branches of many types of trees. More than 80 species of trees were recorded in 2004 as being damaged by female cicada ovipositing. Some of the most susceptible we recorded in 2004 included paperbark maple, oaks, maples, ornamental pears and fruit trees.

The type of branch preferred by the females is about the width of a pencil (if anyone remembers what a pencil looks like) up to ½-inch in diameter or a little larger.

Female cicadas, after mating, slice into the wood of the branch with an egg-laying apparatus (ovipositor) and place the egg into the wood. She usually lays one to several dozen eggs in a single branch before moving to another branch or tree. Female egglaying activity is controlled by temperatures. If it is cool in the spring, then egg laying is spread out over a longer period of time. Generally

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there are 30–45 days of egg laying.

Approximately five to seven weeks later, the eggs hatch into tiny white nymphs. The nymphs drop to the ground and burrow into the soil to feed on grass roots and, eventually, tree roots for the next 17 years

Are They a Threat?

Cicadas do not bite or sting defensively, nor do they attack people. If a cicada lands on you, it is only because it finds you to be a convenient place to land. A good anecdotal story is that some lawnmowers and weed-whacker’s motors may produce a sound that might be attractive to the periodical cicadas. We did not witness any of this action in 2004. We did have people cancel outdoor weddings in late May and early June in 2004 because they were worried about the male cicada’s singing outcompeting their ceremony speakers and music.

When handled, both males and females struggle to fly at first, and males make a loud defensive buzzing sound that may startle but is otherwise harmless. Periodical cicadas are not poisonous to animals or humans, nor are they known to transmit disease. Adult periodical cicadas live only for a few weeks—by mid-July, all have disappeared. Their short adult life has one purpose: to reproduce. The males “sing” a speciesspecific mating song, which to most humans is an irritating din of noises.

The cicadas produce this loud sound using their tymbals. Singing males of a single Magicicada species form aggregations (choruses) that are sexually attractive to females. Think of it kind of like holding a rock concert to get females to come into the area.

Males in these choruses alternate bouts of singing with short flights from tree to tree in search of receptive females. When they get close to

Periodical Cicada—Brood X Coming in 2021 continued a female, they sing another song and finally at mating, they change to an even softer sounding song.

Periodical cicadas can cause physical damage to small trees or shrubs if too many feed from the plant or lay eggs in the twigs; such damage can cause “flagging,” or breaking of peripheral twigs. Orchard and nursery owners probably should not plant young trees or shrubs in the years preceding an emergence of periodical cicadas because young trees may be harmed by severe flagging. Mature trees and shrubs, however, usually survive even dense emergences of cicadas.

In 2004, many homeowners purchased netting that they could use to cover small trees, but this was not a very practical solution, as the netting is often blown off trees or entangled in branches. If you do choose to put up netting, leave it only on the plant during the egg-laying period of the females. Longer periods will encourage foliar disease on several plant species—especially fruit trees.

Use netting with ¼-inch or smaller openings. Contact me at Sgill@umd. edu if you are looking for commercial sources of netting.

One furry creature is made “happy” by cicada activity. Moles are said to flourish on the fully grown nymphs in the weeks prior to emergence.

Other wild animals that enjoy the advantage include snakes and spiders. So, at least some of nature’s wildlife gets a benefit out of the nymphs that emerge from the soil.

Chemical sprays are really not practical to control the periodical cicadas.

Beyond the concern by owners of fruit orchards and nurseries, periodical cicadas are not regarded as pests.

Their loud noises may be annoying but tolerable since it only lasts for a couple of weeks. Just prepare your customers for the activity this late spring to early summer.

Why So Many?

When periodical cicada emerge they do it in a big way with huge popula-

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tion saturating an emergence area.

Magicicada population densities are so high that predators apparently eat their fill without significantly reducing the population (a phenomenon called “predator saturation”), and the predator populations cannot build up in response because the cicadas are available as food above ground only once every 13 or 17 years, depending on the species.

If You Can’t Beat Them Then Try Eating Them

Cicadas are said to make good eating because they are low in fat and high in protein. There are over 3,000 species of cicadas, and they are considered a delicacy by many people in different parts of the world. The European settlers in North America observed some Indian tribe members eating cicadas.

During the last emergence of Brood X cicadas 2004, a number of very brave (or just weird) people reported to have tried deep-fried and stir-fried cicadas.

This is just for the adventurous people of the world, or good for a “dare” at a cookout.

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Prolonging Your Pond’s Retirement Proactive solutions to help extend the lifespan of your waterbody

By Gavin Ferris, Ecologist, SOLitude Lake Management

The very first fish I remember catching was a bullhead catfish. It was in a small pond in my grandparents’ HOA community that is still there today. Well, sort of. Though the pond had once been deep enough for fishing and stormwater collection, its depth is now best measured in inches rather than feet. The cattails that were once clustered near the outflow are now abundant throughout the pond. Today, the waterbody resembles the nearby wetland more than it does a pond. In the 55 years of its existence, no measures have ever been taken to mitigate against the process of succession.

Lake and pond succession is the natural lifecycle of any waterbody.

The very tributaries that supply a waterbody with its water also carry sediment, which, over time ,accumulates and decreases the water depth. Aquatic weeds and nuisance vegetation decompose and create

additional organic sediment. And the shallower the pond becomes, the more vegetation it produces—accelerating the aging process.

The speed at which a lake or pond becomes a marsh depends on several different factors. Some of these factors can be controlled; others can be mitigated. But it is a future that all waterbodies will face at some point in their lifespan. This is why proactive management is not only beneficial but key to preserving the health, function, and beauty of our freshwater resources.

A common tool recommended to HOA communities and golf courses is a beneficial vegetative buffer comprising native flowering plants and grasses. A vegetative buffer that is allowed to grow 3–5 feet out from the shoreline can help significantly reduce the amount of surface runoff, sediment, and pollution enter-

Golf course pond, before (left) and after.

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ing a lake or pond during rainstorms.

Establishing similar erosion controls around streams and tributaries is also a wise precaution against transported sediment. Organic matter accumulation can be further prevented in the waterbody by applying nutrient remediation products, which process excess nutrients before they can be used to fuel algae and aquatic weeds, and introducing supplemental bacteria and enzymes, which aid in the decomposition of vegetation and bottom muck.

Another consideration relating to decreased water depth is the increase in temperatures. Shallower water warms faster, leaving it prone to excess algae growth, increased submersed and emergent vegetation growth, and oxygen depletion.

Lake and pond aeration can help mitigate these issues and help slow the accumulation of organic matter. Beneficial dissolved oxygen

can be produced by several types of pond aeration systems, which your aquatic management professional may recommend depending on your goals and the characteristics of your waterbody. Floating fountains provide effective circulation in shallow ponds, while submersed aeration systems oxygenate deeper waterbodies from bottom to top. And new technologies like nanobubble aeration treatments can be used supplementally alongside these systems to provide additional natural benefits, including toxic cyanobacteria control and the elimination of pollutants, while encouraging the growth of native wildlife and vegetation.

Eventually, the line between a pond and a wetland becomes a little blurry; after all, a wetland without vegetation is, well, just mud. Some forms of vegetation, like cattails and Phragmites, not only thrive in late-successional ponds, but actually speed the rate at which succession occurs, so removing these nuisance plants is especially important. At the same time, it is just as important to establish and promote healthy native wetland plants in order for any form of aquatic ecosystem to persist. The species best for your situation will depend on your location and your ultimate aesthetic and functional goals.

Golf course pond aeration.

One concern I often hear from community managers and golf course superintendents, especially those with aging ponds and shallow stormwater retention areas, is the production of mosquitoes. Certainly, shallow productive habitats are more conducive to mosquito breeding than are open water ponds. As long as sufficient water remains to sustain them, a population of fish, even minnows, will prevent mosquitoes from proliferating. Amphibian and insect predators like salamanders and dragonflies are also adept at controlling mosquitoes and can be promoted with appropriate native vegetation.

Proactive management strategies can be incredibly impactful in lakes and ponds, especially when introduced early on in the waterbody’s lifespan. Eventually, though, deci-

Ecologically balanced waterbody.

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sions must be made about the future of a waterbody. For stormwater basins and other ponds that must meet design specifications to fulfill their intended function, sediment removal or dredging may eventually become a requirement. While dredging can be a tremendously expensive endeavor, a well-designed custom management plan that includes strategic hydro-raking can help prolong the need to dredge by 10 years or more and will allow you to plan for the expense gracefully.

Aging is inevitable, even for your waterbody. It is up to us to decide if and how to intervene in that process.

Gavin Ferris is an ecologist at SOLitude Lake Management who has a keen understanding of the organisms and processes that allow a healthy ecosystem to function. He enjoys working with community managers to develop effective plans to help beautify their waterbodies.

Throughout his industry career, Gavin has conducted several notable studies on aquatic wildlife, including projects on aquatic community ecology and behavioral biology, as well as invasive plant ecology and nutrient management.

Gavin has an M.S. in entomology and maintains an array of industry licenses and certifications.

Hitting the Right Buttons

By Jimmy Miller, Associate Editor, Lawn & Landscape

SEO is complicated, but getting started can be simple.

takes very little to move the needle in our industry because people don’t take advantage of digital marketing.”

Practicing strong search engine optimization is like tending to a landscape: There’s multiple important components that make up the whole.

That’s how Jack Jostes likens it to his clients in the green industry. He’s the president and CEO of Ramblin’ Jackson, a digital marketing agency based in Boulder, Colorado. Between getting strong Google reviews and properly listing your company’s contact information online, Jostes says there’s not one clear-cut path to strong SEO. “There are multiple components that need to work together to get found online,” Jostes says. “There isn’t any one single thing that you do, just like there isn’t any one single thing you’re going to do if you’re in a landscape.”

While there’s no secret formula to finding success online, SEO experts say there’s certainly several steps that convert website users into leads.

And here’s the positive: Chris Darnell with The Harvest Group believes there’s very little competition online because landscapers simply haven’t put in the time as an industry to learn about SEO. “I would say if somebody would spend four or five hours a month on it, they’d be ahead of 90% of the other competitors,” Darnell says. “It

Two (green) thumbs up

Getting strong reviews online is among the first things landscapers can do to improve their SEO. Jostes says clients look at the reviews online before deciding to invest money in a company, and three out of five stars doesn’t look good when someone else has five out of five.

So, Jostes recommends asking for an online review while building that relationship with the client. He’s told companies to make it a part of their process, where managers will ask clients for a Google review before final walkthrough of the property. Others can secure the review months in advance by getting an agreement that they’ll leave their feedback at the end of the process.

Jostes says it’s important to get Google reviews, but it’s also important to give clients options in the event they don’t have a Google account. Put a reviews section on the company website where people can write firsthand feedback without needing to create an account.

Reviews on social media also factor into the SEO equation, so he says landscapers can’t ignore those, either.

“The clients who are not getting strong results from the internet don’t have reviews yet,” Jostes says.

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“They all say that word of mouth is their number one source of business. Online reviews is still word of mouth.”

Ask for feedback

Getting strong reviews online is among the first things landscapers can do to improve their SEO.

A work in progress

Chad Diller says it’s easy for companies to forget that people—not computers—are on the other end of a Google search. Real, live humans are the ones viewing a website, so the site should be as user-friendly as possible.

“Every move that I’ve seen in Google over the last 10 years has been rewarding websites that provide a meaningful, valuable user experience,” Diller says. “If a person finds your website and they stay there… that is a big, big indicator to Google that things are going good.”

Diller is the director of client success at Landscape Leadership, which focuses on improv ing ma rketing and sales for companies in the green industry. He tells his clients to ensure their websites look good on both desktop and mobile devices, plus warns them to watch for slow loading times.

He also urges companies to consider what’s on their website. Don’t just tell people what services you offer—

tell them how their solutions will help them get what they want. For example, the writing is often something like, “we provide mowing” when it should be, “we’re giving you your weekends back.” “(The best sites) are writing for a human. It’s actually funny or clever or meaningful,” Diller says. “This looks different than the 12 other lawn care websites we went to.”

“I would say if somebody would spend four or five hours a month on (SEO), they’d be ahead of 90% of the other competitors.” Chris Darnell, The Harvest Group

Creating solutions

Tone is not the only important factor to consider when evaluating a website’s content. Darnell says it’s important, and for a prime example of why, landscapers should look at Apple’s website. They’re not posting photos of the latest chip that goes in their phone; they post photos of people dancing and having a good time.

But he also reminds landscapers that creating original, unique content is vital to success online. Darnell says SEO is like your digital reputation, and creating a strong reputation means doing and saying the right things over a period of time to establish yourself online. Showing off how many awards your company has won or that you can take nice photographs in front of a truck is not enough—potential clients want to see expertise.

“The misconception is that you want to talk about yourself a lot. You don’t,” Darnell says. “You want to identify the issue, the solution and

basically why you’re the best choice to provide that solution.”

There are some elements to SEO that can’t really be changed: Search location proximity factors into what people search, so a landscaper in Ohio is always going to show up higher than a landscaper in Hawaii if that Google user is searching “landscapers.” But Jostes says creating several web pages on a website helps build up SEO and including relevant links and keywords like the city names or services that the company offers will help. A four-page website won’t stand up against a 50-page website, especially if the pages on the latter are relevant.

Developed pages answer questions a client might have and provide education, while underdeveloped pages focus simply on why that company is so great—a marketing pitch.

“If you don’t mention the individual cities and pages, you’re not going to stand out online,” Jostes says. “And you could, because most landscapers have a very thin, weak website with no content. If you build out the content, you will rank (and get) those leads.”

Don’t just tell people what services you offer—tell them how their solutions will help them get what they want. For example, the writing is often something like, “we provide mowing” when it should be, “we’re giving you your weekends back.”

Chad Diller, director of client success, Landscape Leadership

Monitoring changes

Diller urges landscapers to remember that SEO work is never really done. Not all a company’s problems

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will disappear if they reach the coveted top landing spot for when someone searches “landscapers near me.”

He reminds companies that the goal is to get quality leads, not simply to get views.

“I think companies are looking for shortcuts,” Diller says. “They want someone to do this for them. They don’t want to be tied up with it.”

There are other search engines out there, but Diller says landscapers should max out what they can do with Google first since it’s king. Plus, if they do find success on Google, landscapers will likely inherently find success on the other search engines.

Monitoring the changes in algorithms can be complicated, Darnell admits, but using tools like Google My Business, Moz, and Search Engine Journal will help. Constantly reading about what Google uses in its algorithms helps people stay ahead of the curve in SEO. Jostes compares SEO to a “tree of good fortune”—you can go out and buy fruit, but if you grow it instead, it’ll be plentiful and more productive in the long run.

“It takes more work to get started and it takes time,” Jostes says. “But once you plant it and nurture it, every season you’re generating those leads, but not necessarily paying as much as you did to build it and plant it.”

Reprinted with permission from Lawn & Landscape magazine, January 2021.

Strength in Difference Encouraging diversity in the workplace leads to a high-performance business

By Tom Borg

When I was barely 18 years old, I joined the U.S. Air Force Reserves. As part of that process, I was required go active for six months. The first part was to go through six weeks of basic training at the Lackland Air Force base in Texas. For me it was the first time away from home. Immediately upon arrival, I was immersed in a sea of diversity and uncertainty.

Coming from a mainly white section of Detroit, Michigan, I quickly came to recognize the hidden bias I had unknowingly possessed of other human beings due to their race, creed, color, age, education, abilities, cultural background, or location of the world where they had come from.

When I looked at a fellow airman, I didn’t see someone who was Black, Asian, Native American, Hispanic, or White. Rather, all I saw was another human being with a shaved head, dressed in a green fatigues uniform and combat boots, just like me.

In my group, we had airmen from the Deep South, West Coast, East Coast, Midwest, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The races that were represented included Black, Native American, Asian, Hispanic, and White. Some of my fellow airmen, no matter what their ethnicity, spoke different languages. Some were tall, others were short, some were slender, and others were rotund. As I looked around, I was struck with the impression of how different we were from one another.

When one stops to consider the diversity we have as a human race, this very ingredient strengthens our businesses.

After six weeks of living and experiencing each other in this most unusual environment, something magically strange and wonderful started to happen. Our walls of pre-wired bias, prejudice, and misunderstanding started to crumble.

Let’s look at some statistics. Boston Consulting Group, (BCG) reports that “Companies with a more diverse workplace make more money. They went on to say that companies with a more diverse management team have 19% higher revenue.” What would

Although there were differences, I realized we were so much more the same than different.

Many years have passed since that long “vacation,” courtesy of Uncle Sam. But one of the main lessons I learned remains. As a human race, we are so much more the same than different.

Today, we are living and working in a global village. Diversity abounds.

As you read that last statement, stop and look around at the team in your company. Do you have a truly diverse workforce? Do you have a diverse management team?

If you don’t, it could be costing you money—lots of it.

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19% higher revenue do for your bottom line?

According to Josh Bersin Research, “workplace diversity leads to innovation. Inclusive companies are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their market.” Do you have any business challenges that you can’t resolve (e.g., hiring qualified employees)? Would having a more diverse leadership team help you come up with an answer to that conundrum? It might.

A white paper from online decisionmaking platform Cloverpop reported that “workplace diversity leads to better decision-making. Diverse teams made a business decision, they outperformed individual decisionmakers up to 87% of the time when it came to making business decisions.”

As I have told my clients, if you are the smartest person in your company, you haven’t hired enough of the right people. With a more diverse set of front-line employees and a more diverse leadership team, as a whole, your decision-making IQ goes up exponentially.

Here is another interesting set of statistics. According to Glassdoor, “Workplace diversit y generates higher job acceptance rate. 67% of job seekers said a diverse workforce is important when considering job offers.”

In other words, people like to know that the place where they are seeking employment is open minded and accepting of all types of people. They avoid biased or prejudiced employers where they feel they would be treated less than equally. Wouldn’t you?

Wouldn’t I? I think we both know the answer to that last question.

Can you think of the last time you felt prejudice or someone’s bias in a negative fashion? Maybe it was because of your weight, age, or education level.

Here is the last statistic to drive home the point I am trying to make about diversifying your company.

McKinsey reports that “Companies with a diverse workforce outperform their competitors. Racially and ethnically diverse companies outperform industry norms by 35%.”

Take a moment and think of your nearest competitor. Can you imagine if your company could outperform that company by 35%? What would that be like? How much would that equate to, in terms of dollars and cents to your organization’s bottom line? As a business owner or a member of your company’s leadership team, how would that affect your sense of pride? How about your own personal annual income or bonus for the year?

It doesn’t stop there. One small business owner I was working with shared a comment from one of his clients (who was of a different ethnic group than his). “I noticed that you don’t have any employees that work here that are of the same ethnic group that I am.” Think about it.

Your customers like it when they see that you employ team members who are of their same ethnic group.

One more point to consider. Andra Picinu writing in SmallBusiness.

Chron.com stated, “Diversity and inclusion go hand in hand. An inclusive workplace is one where every person is heard, valued, and respected. As a manager, you need to prioritize inclusion—not just diversity—to engage and empower your team. A strong diversity and inclusion program can improve knowledge sharing, decrease turnover and increase loyalty.”

Here are some action ideas that you can use to take the concepts from this article all the way to the bank.

Hold a meeting with your entire company. Discuss the advantages of having a diverse team. Cite some of the statistics I have listed above and look for other forms of evidence through your own research. If you need some help in running a meeting like this, let me know, I would be happy to help facilitate it for you.

Next conduct a green light thinking session and ask them these questions: 1. How diverse are the members of our leadership team?

2. What can we do to make our leadership team more diverse?

3. What can we do to increase inclusion for all of our team members?

4. Are the people on our frontlines as diverse as they could be? Why or why not?

5. What do we need to do to increase the diversity and inclusion levels of our frontliners?

Tom Borg is a business consultant who works at the intersection of leadership, communication, a n d c u l t u re . A s a thought leader, he works with his green industry clients and their leadership teams to help them connect, communicate, and work together better without all the drama. To ask him a question please contact him at (734) 4045909 or tom@tomborg.com or visit his website at www.tomborgconsulting.com. ©All Rights Reserved

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