Free State - Winter 2018

Free State

Winter 2018 Vol. XLV No. 3

NURSERY, LANDSCAPE AND GREENHOUSE NEWS

Trees Suitable to Plant Under Power Lines Are There Ever Enough Plants?

Landscapes Down the Coast Five Decades of Preventing and Solving Landscape Problems­—Parts 3 & 4

Boxwood When Have you Had Enough?

New Plant Conference Recap

Fungicid e

Shift to a better fungicide Controls Pythium, Phytophthora, and Downy Mildew

#segway_o @OHPSolutions ohp.com (800) 356-4647

INSECTICIDES FUNGICIDES MITICIDES PGRS HERBICIDES

Unique class of chemistry, no cross resistance Spray or drench applications Convenient 16 fl. oz. container size

© 2018 OHP, Inc. Segway is a registered trademark of Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Ltd.

President’s Message Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association Officers 2018 President Jessica Todd Clear Ridge Nursery, Inc. 888-226-9226 1st Vice President Larry Hemming Eastern Shore Nurseries 410-822-1320 2nd Vice President John Murphy Murphy John’s, Inc. 410-928-3029 Secretary Heather Wheatley Homestead Gardens 443-643-5073 Treasurer Carrie Engel Valley View Farms 410-527-0700 Director-at-Large Steve Black Raemelton Farm 240-416-0714 Executive Director Vanessa Akehurst Finney Quercus Management MNLGA Contact Info: P.O. Box 726 Brooklandville, Maryland 21022 Phone: 410-823-8684 Fax: 410-296-8288 E-mail: office@mnlga.org Free State E-mail: freestate@mnlga.org Website: mnlga.org

MARYLAND N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I A T I O N , I N C.

Rain, rain, and more rain, that’s the big topic this year. It has caused havoc across the country and has left its mark here in the Mid-Atlantic. If you work in agriculture, you must find a way to work through or around those wet days. On Election Day November 6, students of Maryland Future Farmers of America (MD FFA) didn’t let the rain deter them from touring four very different horticulture businesses. We wore our rain gear and were Jessica Todd prepared for Mother Nature. In kind, Mother Nature allowed for us to experience the entire day relatively dry.

We started our day at Live Green Landscape Associates in Reisterstown with owner Michael Martin. This is a new location for the company since March of 2018. It was very eye opening for the students to see that landscape does not always mean a fleet of mowers. Live Green is a full-service design-build landscape contractor that has commercial and residential divisions. They provide services up and down the east coast. Whether you like working with your hands outside or working inside reviewing site plans, Live Green has many opportunities with its company where you can succeed and have a career. Many of their current employees worked with Live Green over the summers and after graduating were hired right out of school back with the company as estimators or architects. Many have 2-year or 4-year degrees, but they all have a place at Live Green helping the company reach their goals. The students were able to see the process of a job site being completed via a video and the transformation of such a large project was incredible to see from start to finish. I think that it peeked the interests of several to look into being a Landscape Architect as a career.

Our second stop of the day was at Manor View Farm in Monkton. We were unsure whether we would be able to get a full tour of the farm due to the rain but were fortunate to have a slight break in the weather to allow a wagon ride through the Distribution Yard, Phil Kraeh of Ladew Gardens explaining construction of garden topiary to students Field and Liner Production areas. Brian Mitchell, Joe Clark, Colin Jones, Will Krakowiak, and one of owners John Clark all joined us on the tour to talk about the different moving parts that make Manor View Farm operate successfully. The students were able to see that in each division of Manor View Farm there were different opportunities in which an employee(s) held a key role(s) that kept the operation running smoothly. All those moving parts require people to manage and complete those different tasks. One (continued on page 10)

2 • Winter 2018

34

Contents Features

Departments

5 This Business of Ours

Landscapes down the Coast

– Mike Hemming

2 From the President

12 Growing Forward Are There Ever Enough Plants?

– Leslie Hunter Cario 16 It’s Time for Sharing

Plant Prices Stay the Same Since 1930

– Jerry Faulring

2 Association Officers 4 Executive Director Report 4 MNLGA Board of Directors 8 GWA-The Association for Garden Communicators 49 CPH 41 Obituaries

19 New Plant Conference Wrap-up

52 New Members

20 Growing with Education Plants Suitable to Plant Under

Power Lines

– Ginny Rosenkranz

54 Press Releases

27 Editorial

China—A Unique Opportunity in a Unique Country

– Alan Jones

5

50 Affinity Programs

64 Industry Calendar 66 Directory of Advertisers 68 MNLGA Mission Statement 68 MNLGA Chairs and Committees

20

34 Featured Member

Herring Run Nursery/ Blue Water Baltimore 46 Total Plant Management

Boxwood—When Have you Had Enough?

– Stanton Gill 48 Special Report

Leading the Way on Immigration

– Craig Rugelbrugge 56 Special Report

Five Decades of Preventing and Solving Landscape Problems

– Francis R. Gouin

Executive Director: Vanessa A. Finney Quercus Management Staff: E. Kelly Finney, Michelle Mount, and Chelsea Bailey Phone: 410-823-8684 | Fax: 410-296-8288 E-mail: office@mnlga.org | Web: mnlga.org Free State e-mail: freestate@mnlga.org

Design: Gregory J. Cannizzaro Graphic Design (contact information page 33)

56

46

© 2018 Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association, Inc.

Free State • 3

Director’s Message

2018 – A Year in Review MARYLAND N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I A T I O N , I N C.

Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association Board of Directors Terms Expiring 2020 Richard Buller Patuxent Nursery/ Complete Landscaping Service 240-691-3438 Brent Cassell Leyland Landscaping, Inc. 410-526-4449 Ronda Roemmelt Ruppert Nurseries 301-482-2009 Tiffany Shorten Waverly Farm 301-874-8300 Terms Expiring 2019 Ted Carter Pinehurst Landscape Company 410-592-5030 Ferenc Kiss Cavano’s Perennials 410-592-8077 Brian Mitchell Manor View Farm 410-771-4700 Andrew Thompson Foxborough Nursery, Inc. 410-836-7023

The Free State News is published for the membership of the Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association (MNLGA.org).

For more information, e-mail: freestate@mnlga.org

As I grow older, I more appreciate the adage “The days are long, but the years are short.” Certainly, as parents, Kelly and I wondered how we’d ever get through diapers, nighttime feedings, middle school, prom dress shopping, the college application process…yet, one day it seems we just wake up and the children are grown and Vanessa Finney building their own lives. And we hope we’ve raised them with the skills and mental fortitude to be successful adults.

And so it seems with our work; each day is a juggling act to prioritize and accomplish the tasks on the ever-growing to-do list. There is never enough time to do everything; we are overwhelmed and constantly assessing if we are on the right track, being diligent and dutiful in our actions, and then Bam! It’s the end of another year. We sit back and reflect – did we do enough; did we spend time on the right things and tasks; did we provide what the MNLGA members need and want in order to thrive in the future?

The answer to that question is a pretty large nut to crack, so I’ll focus on our work with youth and the hopeful next generation of our work force. This past year, MNLGA has engaged in more outreach and engagement of both high school and college students, to open their eyes and minds to the possibilities of careers in ornamental horticulture.

We have seen an uptick in the number of high school students, via increases in the number of schools participating in the CPH training curriculum as well as the number of students within each school. This is positive growth; however, our work needs to continue to bolster the success rate of the students on the actual CPH exam.

You all should be aware by now of the American Landscape Institute. If you are not, please refer to the spring 2018 issue of Free State, in which ALI was the featured member. (You may view the article online at www.mnlga.org, page 47). ALI is doing tremendous work in building a comprehensive program that simultaneously includes paid work and subsidized education. Students in this program literally “earn while they learn,” applying book knowledge and real-world field experiences on a daily basis. I’m also hearing that this program and boosted enrollment in Baltimore County’s Community College horticulture programs to levels not seen in decades. Kudos to the entire ALI board and staff, all of whom I believe are MNLGA members, in their work to bring in and sustain our future workforce.

If you are reading my column, then you’ve probably already read Jessica Todd’s column, where she highlights a new initiative between the MNLGA and Maryland Future Farmer’s of America (FFA) program. United with the Maryland Agriculture Education Foundation (MAEF), FFA, and MNLGA plan to continue the bringing together of Maryland ag students and member businesses – from all aspects – retail, wholesale, landscape contracting, public gardens, etc. One day, Jessica may reach out to you and ask your firm to participate in a student tour. I hope you agree to her request. These tours are really as educational and enriching opportunities for the hosts as they are the students.

Speaking of educational and enriching opportunities, I hope to see you at MANTS this year, January 9 – 11th – our industry’s symbolic kick-off to another new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Vanessa A. Finney “In the end, it all begins.”

Saji Ijiyemi

4 • Winter 2018

This Business of Ours

Mike Hemming

I

Landscapes Down the Coast

think I’ll be glad when this year’s rain is over weather wise, drought early on and more rain. Flo and I took a cruise from Quebec to Fort Lauderdale Florida the first two weeks of November.

The upside was no election blitz to listen to. When we got back TV had returned to your regularly scheduled prescription commercials which might fix what ails you, may kill you another way, or make your hair turn green. Anyway, going on the cruise didn’t get us away from the rain. Weather kept us out of 2 ports, one in Canada and one in Maine because we had to anchor out and it was too rough to tender in. Another ship that tried left over 150 passengers on shore because it was too rough to get them back.

Riding a bus to the next port does not make for happy passengers.

I admit with the rain and dreary weather I didn’t look hard at Canadian landscaping much.

Other places we stopped were mostly repeats and while we did go on different tours, we saw little in the way of landscaping.

The landscaping bright spot was Norfolk VA. It was my old stomping grounds from my US Navy days.

First part was a bus tour of the Naval Operations Base which

neither Flo or I remembered much of except some street names and a few of the huge buildings. A rather amusing thing to me is the route the bus took, carefully avoiding the submarine piers. I still enjoy seeing them even though these new subs are like space ships compared to the leftover WW2 boats I rode. But the bus did give us a good tour of Admirals Row, which I never got to see much of. The history of some of the houses was interesting.

Landscaping, while always neat and nice, varied from the very simple to semi elaborate. However, nothing had any sort of "I wish I had designed that" quality. But this

was understandable as sailors even Admirals and Captains go to sea, not work in the yard much.

After we left the Navy Base we toured what is now called Old Norfolk. This is the historic, oldest and richest city part.

Landscaping was very nice and mostly traditional in keeping with the history of the area. By this time it was getting dark and the bus ride precluded any decent photography. So the camera remained in my lap, shooting through bus window is a chancy reflection-riddled affair any way.

When we reached Fort Lauderdale, we took a tour of the

Free State • 5

Everglades in an airboat. I think I am done with the Everglades after sitting in an airboat driven by 2 large V8 Cadillac engines which is hard on anyone’s hearing. If you have to see a wild alligator go ahead but I'm done that. A much better wildlife viewing is Ding Darling NWR on Captiva Island near Fort Myers on the west coast.

You can walk, bike or ride it in your car, without two not very muffled V8's roaring 12 feet from your ears. You will see far more wildlife that way.

The best part of that tour came later when we stopped at The 6 • Winter 2018

Flamingo Gardens and walked around looking at the myriad of plant life there. Not much of it will grow in Zone 7 of course. Photography there was limited to some interesting tropical flowers. One thing these trips lack is the inability to visit any nurseries or even garden centers. I guess we would need one of those Theme Cruises and Tours for that. Any takers?

Don't get me wrong as we did enjoy the cruise. In fact, we are planning another already from Barcelona, Spain across the Atlantic to Fort Lauderdale next November. There are stops at the Canary Islands where we have not

been before and the Azores where my submarine spent a week some 52 years ago.

Returning home meant getting back to work and I really mean back to work. It was time to finish getting ready for winter. We were back only a few days when a promised 19 degree F night was coming. That certainly put some real urgency into covering hoop houses for the winter. We had been getting the plants into the houses for several weeks before and during the time I was gone.

So now there was a real sense of urgency, which of course meant the weather would turn windy and or rainy. Larry and I decided to pick the houses that needed covering

first because of variety and size of stock.

At this time we were also shorthanded as our longtime foreperson Shelly decided to leave at the end of the summer.

But Shawn has stepped up and is doing a great job taking over.

She has always been great with customers as a sales person. She does the same kind of a job with the other employees when needed.

Proving once again no one is irreplaceable.

In two days we covered all the houses but two that had plants in them. They were done today though it was after the cold night that only went down to 23° F. Today we did the 2 left that had plants in them like deciduous shrubs and Japanese Maples and Crape Myrtles in 15 to 25 gallon containers. There are 2 more empty ones that will be gotten next calm day.

In between covering, I proceeded to blow out the irrigation system, but this did not go so well. I blow air through the suction side of the pumps to make sure all the water is out of the whole system. There was a crack in one of the PVC

pipes that didn’t leak because it was never under pressure. Well on the second blow, it really blew; it woke up everyone, shattering the entire manifold to both pumps. It, also, broke off the pipe coming out of the stop valves to the pools. This means we will probably have to drain those pipes to replace those valves. I did not build the manifold; the company that installed the system did. Building something out of PVC pipes is a great deal easier than rebuilding it. There is no room or ability to move components like pumps just a bit to get things to fit. This will take some study and work but we do have until March.

For the 3 or 4 irrigations in January and February the well pumps will suffice. Those are very important for good survival of container stock in winter poly houses. It seems like the older stock that is just a wee

bit to long in the container suffers the worst. Those are followed in damage by the young not rooted out plants.

I am going to leave you with a link to an article on a subject that should concern us all. Allowing or going along with this sort of thing gives us all a black eye for greed and stupid. ❦ Mike Hemming Eastern Shore Nurseries

"Name that Plant - The Misuse of Trademarks in Horticulture" https://www.plantdelights.com/blogs/articles/name-that-plant Copy paste and read. Thank you.

Free State • 7

Call for Entries - 2019 GWA Media Awards Garden communicators are invited to submit their articles, photography, books and more to the 2019 GWA Media Awards through March 15, 2019. This year’s program features over 50 categories across seven disciplines. All works primarily focused on horticulture and gardening topics are eligible.

The awards program, held annually for more than 20 years, is the only national online media awards program for the gardening communications industry.

Throughout the years, the GWA Media Awards have recognized professional gardening and horticultural communicators in the areas of writing, photography, speaking, digital media, broadcast media, publishing and trade. A list of past winners can be found on www.gardenwriters.org.

will be announced in spring 2019 and displayed at the 2019 GWA Annual Conference & Expo in Salt Lake City on September 4-7. The Gold Awards will be announced during the Annual Awards & Honors Dinner, which takes place during the conference.

For complete entry instructions, visit www. gardenwriters.org.

Save the Date: 2019 GWA Annual Conference & Expo GWA is heading to Salt Lake City for its Annual Conference & Expo, which is taking place September 4-7. The four-day event will feature an exciting schedule of engaging educational sessions, tours of Salt Lake City’s unique horticultural scene, and essential networking meetups.

Both GWA members and non-members are eligible to submit work first published and copyrighted between January 1, 2018 and December 31. Entry fees will be based upon the membership status of the submitter.

All entries must be received no later than 11:59 pm ET on March 15, 2019. Submissions received before February 15, 2019 are eligible for a special early-bird discount of $25 off the standard fee per entry.

Education tracks will cover horticulture, writing, technology, business and publishing. Additionally, attendees will have special access to amazing public gardens as well as exclusive tours of beautiful private gardens. Some potential tour stops include Red Butte Garden, Temple Square & Brigham Young Historic Park, Gilgal Sculpture Garden, The Conservation Garden Park, The Utah State University Extension Botanical Center, and Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point.

Awards will be given at two levels for each category: Silver Awards of Achievement and Gold Awards for Best Talent or Best Product. Silver Awards

To learn more, visit www.gardenwriters.org/GWA2019.

Registration will open in April 2019.

8 • Winter 2018

Over 1,500 choices delivered to you. perennials, natives, ferns, grasses, vines, herbs, ground covers, pansies, dahlias, cannas, green roof and environmental planning material.

www.cavanos.com • 410-592-8077 Free State • 9

(President continued from page 2)

of the challenging tasks that all nurseries face is inventory. It is ever changing and requires a great deal of attention in a company such as Manor View. Manor View is a forward-thinking company and is looking to adapt its inventory tracking by looking into Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

The generation of students now are very tech savvy. When hearing the idea of RFID tracking and drones they were immediately interested.

Manor View Farms knows that in order to stay in business they need to continue to diversify and peek the interest of the next generation whether its in the product they sell, the services they provide, or in the way they operate their business.

A short hop and jump from Manor View Farm led us to Ladew Gardens where we met with Sarah Oktavec and Phil Krach. Ladew Gardens is normally closed this time of year for visitors, but we were able to arrange a tour of the gardens and learn more about what goes on behind the scenes with this incredible non-profit. This was my first time visiting Ladew, as it was for several of the students. It was amazing to see the gardens starting to transform and be prepared for the next seasons. Learning the history behind how Ladew Gardens was founded and hearing all the different activities that go into keeping the gardens open really surprised our group. The number of visitors that can walk the paths of the gardens during the season is amazing. The other stops that we had visited were for-profit companies and Ladew Gardens is a non-profit. They plan many events and fundraisers to keep the 10 • Winter 2018

▲ Live Green Landscapes ▼

gardens open to the public. You must wear many hats. Your tasks for the day change depending on the season and there is a large educational aspect to each job at a public garden. If you have a passion for education, gardening, and event planning then check out the closest public garden and see if there are any opportunities that you can pursue.

Our last stop of the day was to Cavano’s Perennials in Kingsville.

We were greeted by the evercharming Ferenc Kiss. He started our tour at the potting barn, which was empty this time of year.

But he talked us through their process of potting up material and using racks to transport to their end destinations in the yard or greenhouse. We then

walked to visit some of the many greenhouses. This time of year, you may think that many of the houses would be dull and dormant in the fall. But the heated greenhouses allow for the plants to continue to grow so there was still quite a bit of color surrounding us. Besides color we were lucky enough to visit the sweet-smelling lavender house. This is where we talked production and the importance of knowing your plants and what they need to flourish. I personally found it fascinating that instead of having one production manager they have many and each one of their managers is responsible for certain greenhouses. As you would hope each manager takes pride in each of the greenhouses that they manage. The idea of ownership is

key to Cavano’s success. When a house has more turns of product this equals more sales for the company. The MD FFA students seemed to really connect with this concept.

When this concept of organizing a tour of different businesses came to mind, it was not a new concept. What I wanted to do is present an opportunity for students and horticulture businesses to connect. To peek the interest of students already interested in agricultu to investigate the avenue of horticulture as a career. We as an industry must look for every opportunity, to talk about the wonderful work we do in all our respective niches. Whether it is landscape construction, nursery, public gardens, or greenhouses.

No matter the size of business, we all need people to fill positions to make our companies perform and succeed. I hope that we as an industry can continue to connect with people out in the work force that want to succeed and see themselves doing it in horticulture.

Please take the time to watch MD Farm & Harvest on MPT and you will be surprised at the diversity of Ag Businesses in Maryland.

I am interested in coordinating another tour for more MD FFA students in 2019. If you are interested in participating please feel to contact myself, jessica@ clearridgenursery.com or the MNLGA office, office@mnlga.org ❦

▲ Cavano’s Perennials, Inc. ▼

Jessica Todd Clear Ridge Nursery, Inc. 410-775-7700 Jessica@ClearRidgeNursery.com ▲ Ladew Gardens

Free State • 11

Growing Forward

Are There Ever Enough

Plants?

Leslie Hunter Cario

12 • Winter 2018

I

f it seems to you that it has been difficult to locate plants for projects, or that plants have been flying out of your nursery faster than you can grow them, this is not your imagination.

Changes in the economy over the past dozen years have led to some major adjustments. We’ll touch on how plant availability is looking these days, where to find assistance with sourcing challenges, and some ideas to make the process a little bit easier all around. (continued on page 14)

Free State • 13

(continued from page 13)

Those of you working in the Maryland horticulture industry for a long time are no stranger to the recession that took place from late 2007 through mid-2009.

Most likely you are still observing some lingering after-effects as we work towards a new equilibrium.

According to William Verbrugge of Nursery Sales Associates, we are in a post-recession marketplace, with supply as the biggest market challenge. This trend is projected to continue for years.

As Verbrugge explains, postrecession there were 30-40% fewer growers, leaving the other 60-70% to supply 100% of the demand for plant material. In the following years, demand has increased by 110%. This is good news for the remaining growers, many of whom have been able to increase production by as much as 10-15%, however for the time being we still have a gap in the plant supply chain.

Depending on the project type, there may be some flexibility with sourcing. A high-dollar design often means there is a customer willing to pay more to track down the exact plants specified, truck 14 • Winter 2018

them in from long distances if necessary, and secure availability by paying to have plants held by a broker or holding yard. Other projects may have very exact size specifications, such as countymandated buffer management plans with woody plant material.

In this case, expanding the search radius or trying lesserknown species should help reach the quantities needed. Projects that have a requirement of plant material from within a set radius (ex. 100 or 250 miles) or from within the same ecoregion (ex.

Northern Piedmont) may require flexibility with lead time to have seeds collected and plants contract grown. Then there are often commercial site projects that simply need green, living plant material, and therefore are more likely to allow substitutions in order for the planting to take place in a cost-effective manner.

Designers may sometimes find that landscape installation contractors are not able to locate all of the plants on their designs.

One way to address this challenge is to streamline the process by building in design flexibility up front. Specifying plant substitutions that have the same functions, values, and goals, using species that are likely to be available, will allow the contractor the flexibility to secure plants without a lot of back and forth.

An experienced nurseryman such as William Verbrugge, who brokers for an established customer base with very active commercial sites, can take the guess-work out of tracking down plant material and have everything lined up and ready to go in time for installation.

If looking to explore working with a broker, you may wish to contact Lisa Stadler of Stadler Direct (lisas@stadlernurseries. com), whose company has access to a great variety of plant material including natives. You may also wish to contact Craig Higgs of Hort Inc. (craig@hortcorp.com), whose company provides pickup, plant care, and shipment to job sites throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Brokers’ services may be available for a single project, while others may prefer to work together on an ongoing basis.

Wholesale yards such as Manor View Farms or Homestead Horticultural Supply provide a large selection of readily assembled plant material to choose from.

This is a great convenience when looking to move fairly quickly on a project and there may be some flexibility with final plant list. Nation-wide horticultural distributors such as McHutchison have sales representatives who can help locate what you need from a large network of growers, including several from Maryland.

For those of you working on the plant sourcing and/or design

angles of landscape projects, particularly those working with native species, you can add some powerful tools to your toolbox by attending the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional Native Plant Sourcing Workshop on February 1, 2019 in Annapolis.

More information can be found online at cblpro.org/event. This learning opportunity is open to CBLPros and all other horticulture professionals with an interest.

As always, attending Chesapeake Green A Horticulture Symposium on February 20 and 21, 2019 is a super opportunity to network and learn from a variety of horticulture industry professionals.

In order to provide some insight on how installers can most effectively get the plant material needed from growers, or how growers can help streamline the process to make things easier for themselves and customers, I spoke with several growers for their recommendations. Also included are some of my thoughts on the subject from having worked as a grower.

One of the most important actions is to work on making a

connection and developing a relationship between grower and customer, according to Sue Tantsits of Edge of the Woods Native Plants in Orefield, PA. Sue knows that it is invaluable for customers to understand operational capabilities, and will provide tours, when possible, to help accomplish this. Growers may choose to schedule such events at times that fit in well with production cycles and sales activities.

Growers may examine the ways in which they communicate to see if they are reaching their customer base or new customers. Live availability updates on the website, frequently updating the availability if not live, and sending updated availability lists directly out to customers who have opted in are all ways to show what plants are on hand, reducing the volume of inquiries.

Likewise, customers can look for ways growers choose to communicate, in order to get the best service. For example, some nurseries publish regularly updated availability lists and will only take orders from customer notations on those lists. Most growers are open to a variety of ordering methods but may suggest how an order will be processed the quickest.

Jim MacKenzie of Octoraro Native Plant Nursery in Kirkwood, PA offers inventory availability and ordering directly through his company’s website. For orders by e-mail, he requests a complete plant list that includes quantity, species, size, and date needed, preferably in an Excel document rather than a PDF that may consist of pages and pages of design.

By communicating the best ways

of placing orders or requesting a quote, and sharing this information widely through website, catalog, e-newsletters, and availability lists, it will help customers help you to help them more efficiently!

Whether you are a landscaper, garden center, designer, or broker trying to locate specific plant material, availability will be challenging over at least the next few years. The good news is that this means growth is happening and things are moving in the right direction. Hopefully understanding some of the reasons and exploring some of the resources mentioned will help just a bit. â?Ś Leslie Hunter Cario Chesapeake Horticultural Services lesliecario@cheshort.com www.chesapeakehort.com Leslie Hunter Cario is a Certified Professional Horticulturist and IPAC board advisor to the MNLGA, also licensed as a Nutrient Management Consultant and a Pest/Disease Consultant through the Maryland Department of Agriculture. She runs Chesapeake Horticultural Services, consulting with nurseries, landscape operations, and nonprofits on planning, production, research, and photography projects.

Free State • 15

It’s Time for Sharing

Plant Prices Stay the Same Jerry Faulring

T

Since 1930!

his may come as a surprise, but it is relatively true.Several years ago, my good friend Jack Lowry gave me some historical artifacts he accumulated over his long and noteworthy career in the nursery industry.

One of those items, in mint condition is the salesman’s catalog of Towson Nursery dated 1930.

The President of Towson Nurseries at that time was William Warner Harper. The sales department is listed as Paul S. Hoffman, W. E. Ambrose, Guy M. Stricklen, and W. L. Kone.

Harper was also the owner of Andorra Nursery, Chestnut Hill, Pa. At 1400 acres it was the largest nursery in the east during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

16 • Winter 2018

It has a soft but firm fabric jacket. It smells very old.

Remember what was going on in 1930? -the really great Depression of 1929. Yet they had the confidence to print an extensive catalog in 1930. I don’t know if they printed a new catalog every year. Stapled to the back inside cover is a brief price sheet, well done, for Fall 1931 and Spring 1932.

The catalog contains 150 pages filled with detailed plant descriptions. Many of the plants we still know, and grow are listed. Many have been replaced with new cultivar selections. They list 16 Viburnum, all of which are species. Notably, Viburnum carlessi is still in high demand and was, as is now, the most expensive of the group due to its slow growth.

You are probably familiar with inflation calculators available on the internet. I refer to the site at (https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl). I use it mostly for fun when I am thinking about how inflation has impacted our world. For example, my starting salary right out of college in 1970 was $7500.00. I also had a company car, health insurance, and an opportunity to earn additional income from commissioned sales. But

if you enter the $7500.00 into the calculator for 1970 it will calculate that inflation caused that salary to be about $49,000.00 today. According to Google, that is about average in 2018.

What about plant prices?

According to Towson’s catalog a 24-30” Viburnum carlesii sold for $5.00. The CPI calculator says $74 today. We would sell the plant for $82 before any allowable discounts.

Towson lists a 4-5’ Syringa vulgaris ‘Charles Joly’ at $5.00. We list it at $107.00 before discounts while the CPI calculator says $74.00.

Other growers will sell the noted plants for much less which usually means a lighter grade.

Towson sold 30-36” Buxus sempervirens for $12.50; 10 rate. The CPI calculator puts it $185.00 today. Buxus must have been pretty rare.

Thus, prices adjusted for inflation remain in the same range.

What about costs of doing business? Jack Lowry told me he worked summers at Towson Nursery in 1958 and 1959 and was paid $1.35 per hour which adjusts to $11.79 today.

According to the internet, laborers in 1935 earned an average of $.45 per hour which is $8.23 per hour today.

A model T Ford cost $300 in 1935. According to the calculator we should be paying $5500.00 for the most popular car available today.

It is hard to think about all the other nuances of costs today and in 1930. They dug their plants with shovels.

Tractors were engaged in agriculture at the time. John Deere had four models at the time with horsepower ratings of 12 to 14. Irrigation? They probably relied on rainfall.

H2A worker visas? I can only wish we were in business back then.

When we consider how the world has changed regarding government regulation, taxes, health insurance, etc., it seems like our prices should be higher. ❦ Jerry Faulring Waverly Farm 1931 Greenfield Road Adamstown, MD 21710 310-874-8300

Rediscover PENDER NURSERY PHONE: 800-942-1648 FAX: 919-773-0904

ONLINE: www.PenderNursery.com 2620 Wall Store Road

•

Garner, NC 27529

Free State • 17

MNLGA and University of Maryland Extension

New Plant Conference On October 25 the Maryland Nursery Landscape and Greenhouse Association and University of Maryland Extension co-hosted the inaugural New Plants Conference at Country Springs Wholesale Nursery in Woodbine, MD. Over 40 MNLGA members and guests gathered together for a day of learning and engagement with five speakers from across the industry. The morning portion of the event featured speakers Scott Aker from the U.S. National Arboretum, Dr. Mark Brand from the University of Connecticut, and Ralph and Kathy Denton from Pungo Palms Nursery.

Scott Aker spoke on “Succulents, Temperannials, and Shrubs for Low Maintenance Landscapes”, Dr. Mark Brand covered “New Cultivators from the University of Connecticut”, and Ralph and Kathy Denton discussed “Interesting Palms, Citrus, and Aloes that are Hardy” complete with fruit that was passed around for attendees to view.

Attendees were able to discuss the morning programs and converse with speakers over a lunch menu of fried chicken, vegetable lasagna, and garlic mashed potatoes catered by Zeffert and Gold Catering and Event Planning.

The afternoon portion featured speakers Heather McDermott of AgriStarts and Brent Heath of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. Heather spoke on “Hot Tropicals and Cool Edibles” while Brent covered “Bulbs as Companion Plants”.

“I enjoyed the combination of herbaceous and woody plants, “house” plants, ‘tropical’ plants, and hardy plants. It’s good to consider using all types of plants and think about new uses for plants, like in containers!” commented an attendee.

The MNLGA would like to thank Country Springs Wholesale Nursery for hosting the New Plants Conference and University of Maryland Extension for partnering to produce a productive event. ❦ Victoria Perouty

Brent Heath

Heather McDermott

Ralph Denton

Scott Aker

First Time Event

Stanton Gill

Free State • 19

Growing with Education

Trees Suitable to Plant Under Power Lines Ginny Rosenkranz

T

here are many neighborhoods that have all the power lines buried under ground, leaving the landscape open without wires and tall poles. All landscape contractors know to call 811 from 7 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday at least 2 days before digging in these neighborhoods. The 811 Miss Utility can only mark lines directly from the point the utilities enter the property to the home or business; any other lines will need to be located by a private contractor. There is a secondary perk to calling 811 before digging and planting any plant larger than an annual - the phone and cable companies will come and repair the lines without charge if the landscape contractors stayed at least 2 feet away from the marked lines.

There are still many other neighborhoods that still have overhead electric power lines and any trees planted under or even near to the lines need to be able to grow to their full potential without needing constant pruning

by either arborists or the power companies. Many lists are

available both

on-line and in old

and new horticultural

books. In an effort to give

Canadian Serviceberry 20 • Winter 2018

a list of trees that will thrive in Maryland I utilized lists generated

by Donald Wyman, Trees for American Gardens, and Michael Dirr, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, the Morton Arboretum, the Missouri Botanical Gardens and various state Extension Fact Sheets. Some of the small trees

that are suitable for planting under power lines are natives while others are what we used to consider exotic plants from foreign lands.

Most of the trees on those lists are deciduous, which lose their leaves in the late autumn, while a few are evergreen all year long. To be eligible for the list of trees to plant under power lines, the trees should be able to grow to their full height, which can’t be over 30 feet.

Although there are some wonderful short trees from all over the world, there are some excellent small native trees that will provide color, texture, flowers and fruit, and stay safely under the power lines.

Amelanchier arborea or Downy Serviceberry, A. Canadensis, or Serviceberry, A. x grandiflora or Apple Serviceberry and A. laevis or Allegheny Serviceberry are all small trees growing 15-25 feet tall. They offer fragrant white

to light pink flowers in the

early spring, edible

fruit in the fall and often present excellent autumn colors if there is adequate rainfall and cold nights followed by warm sunny days.

Tolerant of many soil types, they prefer to grow in moist loamy soils with sun or part shade.

Some beautiful cultivars include ‘Autumn Brilliance’ (excellent red fall foliage), Cole’s Select’, ‘Forest Prince’, ‘Princess Diana’ (yellow flower buds that open to pure white flowers) and Lustre®.

There is always debate on using the species or the newer cultivars and there are pluses and minuses for both. The newer cultivars often offer cleaner foliage, better winter cold tolerance, and some resistance to diseases.

Another native is Carpinus caroliniana, also known as American hornbeam or Musclewood, which can grow 20-30 feet tall. The new growth is purple bronze to reddish purple, turning dark green in summer;

fall brings yellow, orange

red and reddish-purple

foliage color. Plants

transplant best from

containers in the

spring into rich and moist acidic soils in full sun to shade. The smooth slate gray bark gives the plant the name of Musclewood.

Some excellent cultivars to consider include Ball O’Fire™ with brilliant fall color, and Firespire™ with a narrow upright habit and great fall color.

Cercis Canadensis or Eastern Redbud can grow 20- 30 feet tall but usually is 20-25 feet tall and has brilliant rosy pink or purple (not red!) edible flowers that mature into long pods. The heart shaped leaves often emerge purple in color then change to a lustrous green for summer and change again in the autumn to shades of yellow. They are all very adaptable to many soil types and sun/shade conditions.

They do require watering at least once a week especially during periods of high heat and drought to keep them from being susceptible to disease.

Cultivars to consider include ‘Forest Pansy’ with dark purple leaves and excellent cold tolerance and ‘Merlot’ which looks very similar to ‘Forest Pansy,’ but does better in the high heat of summer.

Burgundy Hearts® has burgundy color on both top and bottom of

foliage when young and

matures to glossy green

leaves with burgundy

petioles and (continued on page 22)

(continued on page 16)

Flowering Dogwood

Witch Hazel

Eastern Rosebud Free State • 21

(continued from page 21)

stems. New growth continues with burgundy color which gives the plant an interesting two-tone color all summer. The Rising Sun™ foliage starts out apricot in color, turning yellow and finally medium green with pink petioles. Any new foliage that emerges during the growing season also shows off the color parade, creating an interesting and colorful plant.

The positioning of the leaves creates a colorful waterfall look!

Cercis Canadensis var. texensis ‘Oklahoma’, is a variety of Eastern Redbud that is native to Oklahoma and Texas. It is listed as slightly more drought tolerant with darker buds and brighter flowers, but it is the thicker, glossier leaves that are more round than heart shaped, that make the plants able to withstand the high heat and dry soils.

Chionanthus virginicus, White Fringetree or Old Man’s beard, grows 15-20 feet tall and prefers moist fertile soils but is tolerant of many soil types as long as it is not subjected to drought. Plants are dioecious like hollies with separate male and female plants. The pure white slightly fragrant male flowers are usually larger and showier than the flowers on the female trees when they bloom in the early spring. The female flowers mature into dark blue-black egg- shaped drupes that are enjoyed by many native birds. The leaves are spear shaped and dark green in color, changing to yellow in autumn.

Plants prefer to be transplanted in the springtime. ‘Emerald Knight’ is a male cultivar which has an upright habit with glossy dark green foliage and ‘Spring Fleecing’, also a male, with both having masses of snow22 • Winter 2018

white flowers.

Cornus aternifolia or Pagoda Dogwood grows 15-25 feet tall with horizontal spreading branches that tip up at the ends. The yellow white fragrant flowers bloom in the late spring, looking like airy parasols of tiny flowers. It transplants best when young, during the springtime into moist acidic well drained soils in full sun or partial shade. This dogwood does best with cooler summers and needs a light covering of mulch to maintain adequate soil moisture.

The flowers attract native butterflies and the fall berries attract native birds to an autumn feast.

Some beautiful cultivars include ‘Argentea’, a plant with green leaves bordered by white, lightening up the landscape especially when planted in front of dark green plants. Gold Bullion™ has golden yellow foliage that matures to a chartreuse yellow green during the heat of summer.

Cornus florida or the native Flowering Dogwood is usually 20-25 feet tall with horizontally spreading branches and a flat top crown. The foliage starts out bronze green to turn a rich dark green in summer and red to purple foliage color in autumn. Powdery mildew can cause the foliage to darken with purple tones earlier in summer. The tiny yellow green flowers are almost never noticed when they are surrounded by the 4 white decorative bracts that seem to form a cross. Plants prefer to grow in rich, moist, well drained slightly acidic soils, and can thrive in full sun with a covering of mulch to maintain soil moisture.

Stress from excessive heat, cold or drought can cause the Flowering Dogwood to become more

susceptible to diseases. Often considered the aristocrat of native flowering trees, the Flowering Dogwood is truly a four-season tree with outstanding spring flower (bract) color, beautiful dark green summer foliage, scarlet berries and colorful autumn foliage color, dark squares and rectangles of bark and graceful winter branching.

Some of the large number of cultivars include ‘Appalachian Spring’, a tree found growing wild at Camp David, with a high resistance to Discula, pure white bracts, large red fruit, apple green summer foliage and excellent autumn color. There is a series of Cherokee plants, including Cherokee Daybreak™, with green and white foliage that retains its color through the heat of summer to turn pink to deep red in autumn.

‘Cherokee Princess’ has very large white bracts up to 5 inches across and is consistently reliable to flower heavily every spring.

‘Cherokee Maiden’ has excellent cold tolerance.

There are also Cornus florida var rubra Cherokee Brave™, a vigorous grower with burgundy bracts, a white center and resistant to mildew. ‘Cherokee Chief’ is possibly the most popular with a rich, ruby red bracts. Cornus florida var rubra Cherokee Sunnset™ has pink to red tipped new growth that matures to green foliage with an irregular margin of yellow and bright red bracts in the spring.

‘Cloud 9’ is a slow grower with very abundant showy overlapping white bracts about 2½ inches long and is considered the most cold tolerant of the dogwoods. ‘Barton’ has larger than usual white overlapping (continued on page 24)

“

Although there are some wonderful short trees from all over the world, there are some excellent small native trees that will provide color, texture, flowers and fruit, and stay safely under the power lines.

Allegheny Serviceberry

”

(continued on page 18)

Free State • 23

(continued from page 22)

bracts. There is a series of Cornus Florida bred to be resistant to mildew and they include ‘Jean’s Appalachian Snow’ with large overlapping bracts, ‘Karen’s Appalachian Blush’ white bracts edged with pink and ‘Kay’s Appalachian Mist’ which does have good mildew resistance.

There are a number of double ‘flowered’ trees including ‘Eternal’, ‘Pena, ‘Pluribracteata’ and ‘Welch’s Bay Beauty’.

Wonderberry™ has exceptionally large leathery dark green leaves and the white bracts are tipped with a red spot. There are a number of red bracted Flowering Dogwoods including ‘October Glory’ with excellent fall color, ‘Pink Sachet’ with fragrant flowers, ‘Royal Red’ with good red foliage color and ‘Welch’s Junior Miss’ with large deep pink bracts that grade to pure white in the center. There is also an autumn Flowering Dogwood named ‘September Dog’ that blooms in September rather than in the spring, and it doesn’t produce fruit.

Hamamelis virginiana, or Common Witch Hazel, has crooked spreading branches to form an irregular open crown. One of the lovely fall flowering trees, Witch Hazel has bright yellow fragrant, crinkly ribbon shaped flowers that

Flowering Dogwood 24 • Winter 2018

cling to the stems. The flowers can often appear while the plant is still in full leaf, while others will wait till the early winter to bloom.

The fruit stays on the plant for a full year. Although they prefer moist organically rich acidic soils, it can tolerate heavy clay, and can tolerate full sun to partial shade.

Often grown as a tree or a shrub, the Witch Hazel can be pruned to remove root suckers. The wavy margined dark green leaves turn an excellent yellow in autumn. There are a number of cultivars of the Witch Hazel including ‘Harvest Moon’ with abundant fragrant lemon-yellow flowers and good fall foliage, ‘Lemon Lime’ which has leaves that are specked with light yellow and light green spots on deep green foliage, ‘Mohonk Red that has red flowers with yellow at the tips, and ‘November Glow’ that produces a larger flower than the species.

Prunus virginiana, or the common Chokecherry, is also a small native tree that grows 20-30 feet tall that likes to grow in average, well drained soils in full sun.

Like a lot of native trees and shrubs,

Eastern Rosebud

Chokecherry is susceptible to suckering from the roots and will need to be pruned in the spring to keep it trained as a tree. Plants are tolerant of many soil types and can be salt tolerant. Mid-spring brings the 3-6-inch-long clusters of fragrant cup-shaped white flowers. Flowers ripen into small red to dark purple to black fruit that is very astringent and is best served in jams, jellies and pies, or left alone for the birds.

The cultivars include ‘Schubert’ with dense foliage and a pyramidal growth habit. ‘Canada Red’ is a sport from ‘Schubert’ which has faster growth rate and straighter branches and brighter red autumn foliage color.

There are a few native evergreen trees that will grow comfortably under the power line including Magnolia grandiflora ‘Baby Doll’ and Magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’.

‘Baby Doll’ has small glossy leaves and small fragrant white flowers with the plant growing only 25 feet tall. ‘Little Gem’ has small

Chokeberry

glossy dark green leaves, with fuzzy brown bronze on the underside, that typically fall off in the early spring when the new foliage begins to emerge. The plants begin to flower when very young, and when the 4-6-inch pure white fragrant flowers bloom they almost cover the tree, continue to bloom through November. The flowers are followed by a cone like fruiting clusters that mature to release red coated seeds.

The major problem with ‘Little Gem’ is that it is only cold tolerant to USDA zone 7 in Maryland.

Juniperus virginiana, or the Eastern Red Cedar on the other hand, is cold hardy into USDA zone 2 and can tolerate a wide range of soils and growing conditions; even the dreaded Black Walnut tree roots don’t faze this survivor.

It is extremely drought tolerant

but will not thrive in constantly wet soils. Preferring to grow in full sun, the Eastern Red Cedar is a dense evergreen that grows into a broad pyramid and matures to a columnar form. The scale like foliage is sage green, medium green or even blue green in summer, turning a bronze green in winter. Plants are dioecious, with separate male and female plants. The females produce round gray green berry like cones in the summer. The species grows 40-50 feet tall but some of the cultivars will stay within the under 30 feet limit.

Juniperus virginiana ‘Brodie’ is a female cultivar with bright green foliage that turns sage green in the winter and

Witch Hazel Free State • 25

grows about 30 feet tall. ‘Burkii’ is a male cultivar which also has a pyramidal form but only grows 10-25 feet tall and the foliage is blue silver in summer, steel blue in winter. ‘Taylor’ is more narrow than pyramidal in form, growing 15-25 feet tall with silvery blue-green foliage. ‘Hillspire’, a male cultivar, grows 15-30 feet tall in a dense compact pyramid and bright green foliage all year long. ‘Idyllwild’ grows 15-20 feet with dark green foliage on a dense broad base pyramid. ‘Manhattan Blue’ a

compact pyramid

with silvery blue

foliage and grows only 10-15 feet tall. And last is Prairie Pillar™, a silver blue compact female cultivar that grows only 15-20 feet tall but has very short branches which makes it less breakable under heavy wet snow

loads that could

occur during winter

storms.

All plants, native and exotic, have insect and disease pests that can discolor foliage and fruit, damage stems and roots, and in extreme conditions kill the plant. Native plants have grown up with native pests, and if the plants are grown in the right soil conditions, the right cold as well as heat tolerant zones, they can often overcome or outgrow the problems caused by the pests. This might be the perfect time to look at our natives and their wonderful cultivars for our landscapes. ❦ Ginny Rosenkranz Extension Educator, Commercial Horticulture, University of Maryland Extension, Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester County 410-749-6141 ext. 106 Free State • 25

Editorial

CHINA

A Unique Opportunity in a Unique Country

Earlier this summer I had the privilege of being invited to speak at The World Garden Show held at Chang’An Flower Town, China. Chang’An Flower Town is close to the city of Hangzhou and about two hours south of Shanghai. The World Garden Show is a major event set up to examine the enormous Chinese horticultural industry and look for opportunities for global cooperation. Leaders and experts from the international horticultural industry gathered to discuss, pursue, develop and establish business relationships.

Over 1000 delegates from twenty countries attended the two-day conference. The event included two days of conference presentations and an extensive flower show which was open to the public.

The main purpose for visit was to introduce the China horticultural industry to the principles and value

of membership in the International Plant Propagators’ Society (IPPS). IPPS is a professional organization founded in the U.S.A in 1951 with a vision to seek and share plant production knowledge globally. IPPS strives to improve the knowledge of its members and promote the integration of horticultural research, education and plant production through a global plant production knowledge network. There are eight IPPS regions throughout the world. Regions include Australia, Europe, Japan, Southern Africa, New Zealand and three in North America (Eastern, Southern and Western Regions). Along with the IPPS Australian Region, the IPPS International Board has been slowly developing a potential region in China.

The horticultural industry in China is huge and the hunger for knowledge is extraordinary. Many of the (continued on page 28)

Pandas having fun at the Bamboo Museum Free State • 27

(continued from page 27)

nurseries have been set up with advice from the Dutch, the Brits, the Germans and Americans. It was surprising to learn how many American nurseries have quietly been making connections with nurseries in China.

The spectacular conference opening event included speakers from the United States (Terri McEnaney from Bailey Nursery and Marshall Dirks from Proven Winners), Europe, Australia and China. As IPPS International Chairman I was given the opportunity to make a presentation outlining the value of IPPS and how joining an IPPS China Region would provide a unique networking opportunity to ‘Seek and Share’ (the IPPS motto) with like-minded horticultural industry people around the world.

On the second day, the conference divided into sub-forums with speakers focusing on more specific industry issues, with many of a very practical nature.

Topics at the sub-forums included, plant breeding, flower tourism, horticultural e-commerce, garden center development in China, plant production and propagation, landscape architecture and garden design.

It was at one of these forums that the first IPPS China conference was held. Presentations were made by IPPS members from the U.S.A and Australia as well as representatives from the local Chinese nursery industry.

The attendees at the IPPS China conference were very

interested in learning about how IPPS could help them become better growers and gain more horticultural knowledge from global IPPS networking.

The World Garden flower show included extensive indoor and outdoor exhibitions with creative demonstration gardens as well as an extensive display of new plants and displays from local and international nurseries. The flower show was attended by many families who brought along their children to experience the beautiful gardens and plant displays.

They were expecting over 100,000 people to attend the flower show which was held on the grounds of the Hongyue Horticultural Corporation nursery. I was asked to be one of the four judges of the flower show and it was an honor to be judging alongside the wellknown Chelsea Flower Show judge - James AlexanderSinclair.

The IPPS delegation was hosted by Julienne Zhu, Secretary-General, Nursery Stock Branch, China Flower Association who is helping to develop the IPPS China Region.

Following the conference our hosts arranged for the IPPS delegation to visit nurseries and places of cultural and historic interest. The nursery visits included the Hangzhou Huazhiyun Agricultural Investment Co. Ltd, the Zhejing Senhe Seed Company, the Hangzhou Floral Whisper Agricultural Investment Company, and the Hangzhou Runtu Horticultural Science & Loropetalum – recently transplanted!

Welcome to the World Garden Flower Show and Conference

28 • Winter 2018

Thousands of great qu instant

Technology Co. Ltd. The cultural visits included the beautiful Xiashu Lake National Wetland Park, the Anji Bamboo Expo Park where over 400 different kinds of bamboo are grown and Wuzhen in Jiaxing city, Zhejlang provence. Wuzhen is an ancient town established over 1000 years ago where the buildings sit on either side of canals, it is very similar to Venice, just older!

The nursery visits were impressive due to the volume, quality and in some cases the unique methods of production. One nursery was growing tens of thousands of 7’ roses grown on a tripod frame – all in full bloom ready to be shipped to a landscape project.

We were also surprised by extensive production of uniquely woven Crape Myrtles.

The Chinese government has embarked on a program to ‘Color China’ and the nursery industry seems well positioned to assist in that goal. Color China is the next phase following the successful “Green China” program where large amounts of trees and shrubs were planted in towns, cities and along roadsides. The landscaping in China is much denser than we are used to, with larger material used at closer spacing to give the “instant landscape look” We also learned what ‘China Speed’ means – projects happen very quickly!

As guests of the China Nursery industry we were very well looked after. As you would expect our Chinese

uality 7’ high roses – t color

hosts wanted to showcase the very best of China and that included some spectacular meals. Meals are supposed to be an experience and very relaxing.

Multiple dishes are served on a very large Lazy-Susan type table and the dishes are usually very creative, beautiful and colorful. It was often best to sample a dish first and then ask what it was! Every meal was full of surprises.

IPPS is an organization for professionals working with plants, including horticultural education, production, propagation and botanical gardens. Horticultural students are offered free membership of IPPS. For more information visit www.IPPS.org For those looking for a Global Horticultural Adventure in 2019: Consider joining the IPPS International Tour to N.E Australia - May 17 – 29, 2019. For more information visit the IPPS website or contact pam@ipps.org.au Or join the first IPPS India conference to be held in Guwahati, India (north east India) February 11 - 13, 2019. This meeting will be held in conjunction with the International Conference on Next Generation Plant Production and Bioresources Utilization Technologies. ❦ Alan Jones For more information: www.ngppbut2019.iitg.ac.in or Rakhi Chaturvedi rakhi_chaturvedi@iitg.ac.in

Unique Crape Myrtle production

Large Azaleas on display at the flower show

Free State • 29

I’m Certified...

Are You? DESIGNS FOR

GREENER

ARDENS

“

The business of horticulture, like our environment, is an everevolving science. To be a professional is to not become complacent in one’s knowledge, but to strive to continually build upon experience. Continuing Education Units require CPHs to regularly learn new techniques, earth friendly practices and aesthetic trends applicable to nurseries, garden centers and landscape professionals.

”

Nancy Lowry Moitrier, APLD Horticulturist/ Landscape Designer Designs for Greener Gardens, Inc.

Certified Professional Horticulturists (CPH) provide either “do-it-yourself” or professional landscape installation and maintenance advice.

For more information contact the Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association 410-823-8684 or visit mnlga.org

You only grow the best.

Why not offer your customers the best in advice, too!

30 • Winter 2018

Maryland Certified Professional Horticulturist Program

BRAUN CONTINUOUS WIRE BASKETS

Interested in a subscription to

Free State News?

Contact us with your request and we’ll add you to the mailing list.

BETTER DESIGN

Subscriptions are $35 annually; MNLGA will invoice you upon receipt of your subscription request. (members need not subscribe)

BETTER WIRE BETTER FIT

Name_______________________________________________ Business_____________________________________________ Address_____________________________________________ City, State, Zip________________________________________ E-Mail_______________________________________________

Mail/Fax or e-mail: Free State, MNLGA, P.O. Box 726, Brooklandville, MD 21022 or e-mail: freestate@mnlga.org

WWW.BRAUNGROUP.COM 1-888-732-7286

USA - Braun Better - USA - 3.5x4.875.indd 1

Free State • 31 3/9/15 2:20 PM

2019 Chesapeake Green

AN ANNUAL HORTICULTURE SYMPOSIUM REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN Three ways to register by fax, mail or online at www.mnlga.org

A premiere two day industry-wide education and pesticide recertification conference

Wednesday, February 20 and Thursday, February 21 Maritime Institute Linthicum Heights, MD

Sponsored by

FEATURING • Keynote Speaker, Rebecca Lemo-O’tero, City Blossoms • Engaging Breakout Sessions Pesticide Recertification • Vendor Showcase and Networking • MNLGA Scholarship Fund Annual Silent Auction

MARYLAND N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I A T I O N , I N C.

Three ways to register: by fax, mail or online at www.mnlga.org

Get Your Ag Tag Today! www.agtagmd.com

Enriching Lives Through Education in Agriculture 32 • Winter 2018

creative design solutions for every business

Seasons Greeting Advertising Brochures

from the staff of the

Direct Mail

Maryland Nursery, Landscape

Catalogs

and Greenhouse Association

Logo Design Package Design Trade Show & Vehicle Graphics

PUBLICATION NOTICE: The deadline for submissions for the winter issue of Free State Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse News is April 1, 2019.

We welcome your company news and updates or columns with your professional insight. E-mail any submissions to Free State News at

Gregory J. Cannizzaro Graphic Design 410-444-5649 • gjc.graphicdesign@yahoo.com

freestate@mnlga.org or mail to: Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association P.O. Box 726, Brooklandville, MD 21022

Free State • 33

Featured Member

H

erring Run Nursery is one of the programs within Blue Water Baltimore, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to restore the quality of Baltimore’s rivers, streams, and harbor. The goal is to foster a healthy environment, a strong economy, and thriving communities. The nursery’s focus is on plant material that is native to the Chesapeake region, seasonally carrying between 150-300 varieties of natives. (continued on page 36

34 • Winter 2018

Free State • 35

(continued from page 34)

The nursery actually predates Blue Water Baltimore, which began in 2010. Robert Jenkins, nursery manager, explained. The nursery began about 15 years ago as part of the Herring Run Watershed Association, one of the legacy organizations that later formed Blue Water Baltimore.

Originally the nursery grew native plants for the restoration work the Watershed Association was involved in. As that scope increased, the nursery began buying in native plant material as well as producing their own and began to sell to retail customers.

About eight years ago, five local “legacy organizations” came together as Blue Water Baltimore.

They were the Jones Falls Watershed Association, the Gwynns Falls Watershed Association, the Herring Run Watershed Association, the Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association, and the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeepers.

At this point, the nursery shifted more to retail rather than just restoration work. It’s now primarily a retail nursery. “We grow and 36 • Winter 2018

carry plants for the work we are doing, but the lion’s share is sold to homeowners, not necessarily for restoration,” Jenkins said The main office is located in Baltimore City, but the nursery is in back of Mt. Pleasant Golf Course, a property in northeastern Baltimore which is one of five golf courses run by the city. “It’s a unique location but we are like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!”

Jenkins stated. The address is 6131 Hillen Road, Baltimore, 21239.

“We are open to the public,” Jenkins said. “Our primary customers are residents from both Baltimore city and county, but we have customers visit from all over the state. We also work with other nonprofits, schools, both public and private, city and county.”

When you purchase native plants from Herring Run Nursery, you are supporting

Blue Water Baltimore. The nursery is self-sustaining and helps fund other work in the organization.

Like many nurseries, Herring Run grows some of its plants and buys some. “We are expanding the production work we are doing,” he said. “We have a great partnership with another nonprofit which will allow more greenhouse growing.

Our plan is to continue to increase production to the point that we can eventually sustainably harvest seed and produce our own local ecotype natives.”

In addition to the wonderful natives the nursery sells, there are gift cards available for purchase and they carry rain barrels and run rain barrel workshops for those who are interested in learning how to make their own. Jenkins added the nursery also offers an onsite or home consultation service that helps people who want to know what they should be doing with their yards. It’s not landscape design but suggestions, including advice on how to incorporate more natives. There’s also an information library where customers can come in, look at material, and chat with Master Gardeners and other volunteers, who donate thousands of hours to help get the work done. Says Jenkins, “We could not

do what we have to do without the help of our volunteers!”

The nursery is there for more than selling pretty plants. “We want to make sure people understand the function, not just the form of plants — how native plants benefit the environment; why native instead non-native,” Jenkins said. To that end, the nursery has designed and planted educational way stations - mini gardens - such as: pollinator garden, meadow garden, edibles/ medicinal garden, container gardens. They demonstrate the many ways natives can be used, as well as providing the benefits natives have over nonnatives. “We want to make sure people understand what’s so great about native plants — they need less resources, require less maintenance, are adapted to our local climate and soils, support more biodiversity. The plants have evolved in this region along with the native insects and animal populations, creating a healthy, functional ecosystem.”

“The benefits of natives are significant,” Jenkins said, “as is the work Blue Water Baltimore is engaged in. The nursery meshes perfectly with our mission of clean water and strong communities.”

Blue Water Baltimore Carl Simon is director of programs at Blue Water Baltimore, which works to achieve its goals through advocacy, education, and restoration. Simon manages the organization’s restoration programs, which include stormwater and tree planting projects.

“We are a waterkeeper-affiliated organization,” he explained. “We are prepared to take legal action to enforce the Clean Water Act in courts, for the city, county, state and EPA. We also work to ensure private organizations are adhering to CWA standards.

“We have a robust water quality monitoring program where we have established, over the last four years, a baseline of knowledge for Baltimore’s water quality health. We use scientific information in a legally

defensible way in protecting and improving our waterways.”

As for restoration, Blue Water Baltimore implements a significant amount of green infrastructure in Baltimore City and County.

It facilitates partners’ use of Best Management Practices for restoration. The majority of the restoration work involves tree plantings and storm water retrofits.

“We have one large stream restoration project under our belt,” Simon said. The Jones Falls Stream Restoration project was a stream channel realignment project designed to restore natural stream conditions to a degraded section of the falls. Blue Water Baltimore provided project management and grant management as 560 linear feet of concrete channel was restored to a natural landscape.

“We’re wrapping up an even bigger project at MedStar Harbor Hospital where we are retrofitting the 30-acre campus located on the waterfront of the Patapsco River with a large variety of bioretention, rain gardens, trees, shrubs and native plants.”

The actual work is done through (continued on page 38) Free State • 37

(continued from page 34)

(continued from page 37)

paid, private contractors. Simon said, “Our role as project/grant manager and community liaison is to look for ways to get the community involved and education related to the project out to residents and all our partners.”

Education, “eco-literacy,” is a key component of Blue Water Baltimore’s work. Programs are offered for school students with hands-on learning about the watershed through fun, interactive methods, as well as tours, watershed monitoring and stenciling of stormwater drains that flow into the Chesapeake Bay. “We make learning imaginative with exploration, trying to spark interest how water infrastructure works and what we can do to improve it.”

For one recent project, PhotoVoice, cameras were provided to residents in Baltimore neighborhoods, so they could capture their experience in the built environment. A professional art exhibit was developed to tell their stories. This method of sharing voices that otherwise never would be of life and work in certain areas began in China.

Blue Water Baltimore gets funding through Chesapeake Bay restoration grants, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Maryland Environmental Service, the Chesapeake Bay Trust (income from special license plates), and from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation where critical EPA funds are appropriated.

“We also have strong private foundations that support us and created Blue Water Baltimore, including the Rauch Foundation, Abell Foundation and Keith Campbell Foundation, as well as private donors and sponsorships.”

A major fundraiser has been the ‘Blue Water Bash’ held at the Boathouse Canton, which is now closed, but Blue Water Baltimore will find another location for next year.

For more information, visit bluewaterbaltimore.org and bluewaterbaltimore.org/herring-run-nursery. ❦ Carol Kinsley

38 • Winter 2018

In 1971 we hosted our first event with 64 exhibitors BFG Supply (formerly Wetsel), Ingleside Plantation Nurseries, Lancaster Farms, Mobjack Nurseries, Star Roses and Plants (formerly Conard-Pyle) and Tankard Nurseries were all there.

2020 MANTS turns 50!

Help us celebrate our 50th Anniversary. We are looking for old photographs, videos, Exhibitor Guides, Programs, Orange Jackets and other memorabilia.

If you want to share written stories or memories, please contact Kelly Finney at 410-269-6959 or kelly@mants.com

Obituary

Remembering Frank Gouin June 3, 1938 – August 2, 2018 To many working in the Green Industry, Frank Gouin was the Department of Horticulture. Frank was a human dynamo; he maintained active research and extension programs in plant propagation, overwintering of container-grown ornamentals, and the composting and usage of waste products in the environment. Frank’s frequent newsletters, coupled with his organization of and presentations to winter educational meetings, made him a tremendous asset to growers in the mid- Atlantic region.

His hard work with nurseries, landscape contractors and Christmas tree growers did not go unrecognized; Frank rose quickly and effortlessly from graduate student and extension educator to the rank of full Professor. In addition to being named a Fellow of the ASHS, Frank’s office walls were covered by a host of other awards. These plaques served as silent testaments to the value of his efforts educating growers throughout the country.

While Frank spent a lot of his time working off campus, he was also a team-builder in Holzapfel Hall. Frank and his wife Clara loved camping, and were fixtures at the department’s annual weekend trips to Trap Pond State Park. They also hosted friends and colleagues every Easter for a delightful brunch at their cozy home in College Park.

Frank’s connections with the horticultural industries eventually proved invaluable to the department. He helped organize the Horticulture Advisory Council, which paved the way for our transition to the 21st Century. That Council

first worked to redesign the Horticulture option in Landscape Design and Contracting into an accredited Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program. After that success, the Council went on to articulate the needs of the green industry to the State Legislature, and was a strong voice leading to the construction of the Plant Sciences Building.

Near the end of his career, Frank shifted his focus from off-campus extension education to undergraduate teaching and administration. While serving as Horticulture’s Acting Chair 25 years ago, he led by example. He taught well-regarded lecture-lab classes in plant propagation and landscape contracting. These classes were loved by his students.

While serving as Acting Chair, Frank traded in his typewriter for a computer, his three-speed Raleigh bicycle for a king-cab pickup, and his home in College Park for a small farm in southern Maryland.

During his last two years on campus, Frank, Clara, Bonnie and Tina moved to Upakrik Farm where he planned out his ‘retirement’. While Clara continued her commute to Howard County and work as a Landscape Architect, and Tina continued at the USDA Lab in Beltsville, Frank stayed down on the (continued on page 42)

David Babrock, David Tankard and Frank Gouin

Free State • 41

(continued from page 41)

farm. Never one to sit in a rocking chair, he built a barn, a boat and rebuilt an antique tractor. In his spare time he grew produce to sell at the local farmers market and greens for his church’s annual Christmas fundraiser. He also continued to write columns for the Annapolis Horticultural Society.

These were eventually bound into a book he titled “Enough Said”.

Despite leaving College Park more than two decades ago, Frank remained connected to our department. Using funds he earned from consulting in retirement, he endowed the Francis R Gouin Undergraduate Research Award. A summertime NSF fellowship launched his interest in research between his junior and senior years in college.

That had such an impact on his life that he wanted to pass on that same opportunity to others in our program. This was his way of giving something back. It is particularly valuable as it supports both summer research and also subsequent travel to a scientific meeting to report on that student’s research. As you may recall from our Ice Cream Awards programs, Frank was an articulate and outspoken speaker. His annual presentations of that award always led to unexpected insights and plenty of laughter.

These are just a few words that came quickly to mind on Frank’s unexpected passing. It is hard to sum up a lifetime in an email, so I am sure there are many things that I left out. Hopefully those of you who knew Frank can add more, and those who did not know him will marvel at his life. His contributions made our department, college and campus a better place to for all. We will miss him.

- Dr. Chris Walsh Department of Plant Science & Landscape Architecture, UMD Information on the service of Frank Gouin can be found here: https://www.leefuneralhomes.com/ obituaries/Francis-Gouin/#!/Obituary

Mike Hollins, Bernie DuPlan and Frank Gouin

42 • Winter 2018

Marilyn J. ‘Jean’ Lowry, Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland director, dies Jean Lowry had earned the National Council of Garden Clubs’ Gold Star and was a master gardener, environmental studies consultant, garden consultant and landscape design consultant.

Marilyn J. “Jean” Lowry, a master gardener, Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland director and secretary-treasurer of the horticultural firm Lowry & Co., died Aug. 29 from multiple myeloma at her home in the Phoenix community of Baltimore County. She was 85.

“She had a passion for the industry and, as a broker, always offered plant material of the highest quality,” said Vanessa A. Finney of Lutherville, president of Quercus Inc., an event planning and trade show company.

She helped bring a lot of beauty into the world, and her home garden was a showplace,” said Ms. Finney. The former Marilyn Jean Bushyager was born in Greensburg, Pa., the daughter of Clifford H. Bushyager, a machinist, and Martha Whitehead Bushyager, a homemaker.

She was raised in Jeannette, Pa., and graduated from Jeannette High School. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in education in 1954 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pa., then a master’s degree, also in education, from Penn State in 1958.

She came to Towson and joined the faculty of the old Lida Lee Tall School, which was located on the campus of what is now Towson University. She taught there for a year.

She married John C. “Jack” Lowry, a Penn State horticultural graduate, in 1958, and they settled

on Sweet Air Road in the Phoenix neighborhood, where they raised three children.

While attending an American Association of Nurserymen trade show in Boston in 1964, they met five growers who agreed to be represented by the couple.

They established Lowry & Co. that year. Mrs. Lowry, who was known as Jean, served as secretarytreasurer of the plant and horticulture business, which represented nurseries from coast to coast.

“They were inseparable; you always got both of them,” said Ms. Finney, who is also administrator of the Baltimore County Farm Bureau and executive director of Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association. “They were terribly well-respected. Jean and Jack were forces in the industry to be reckoned with.”

In the early days of the company, in order to transport samples to clients, Mrs. Lowry’s husband purchased a 1953 Cadillac ambulance-hearse, which he converted to suit his business needs.

“Jack was known for that hearse and people still ask if we have it,” Mrs. Lowry said last year in (continued on page 44)

Lowry and Company at the MANTS 40th

Free State • 43

(continued from page 43)

a biographical sketch. She reminisced about the early days of the business “when there were no computers or fax machines, and all Jack needed was a pen, an order blank and a car.”

Ms. Finney described Mrs. Lowry as “one of those individuals that people will grieve over.”

“Jean cared about people, and she cared about her profession,” she said. “She was a presence, yet had a soft side. She was such a dynamic person who brought a great deal to the Maryland horticultural industry.”

For years, the couple exhibited annually at the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, where Ms. Finney serves as executive vice president. She noted that the organization has 975 members, and said the Lowrys “came for the first 48 years, and are [among] the last seven members who have been coming since its inception.”

“I really got to know Jack and Jean through [the trade show],” said E. Kelly Finney, vice president of Quercus and Ms. Finney’s husband. “I had the great pleasure of helping them in and out of the show, catching cabs, helping arrange details for set-up and tear down and talking on the phone periodically between shows.

“I loved Jean’s irreverence and talking politics and martinis,” he said. “I called her ‘my girlfriend.’”

In addition to working in the business, Mrs. Lowry was a member for 52 years of the Lutherville Garden Club and served three terms as its president. She had served as the District III Director of the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland, and held offices both locally and statewide with the organization.

She was a member of the National Garden Clubs Inc. and had twice taken all the courses necessary to earn the National Council of Garden Clubs’ Gold Star. She was a master gardener, environmental studies consultant, garden consultant and landscape design consultant.

She was also an active member of the Central Atlantic Region of National Garden Clubs Inc. and the National Council of State Garden Clubs.

The Lowrys’ 1-acre garden was frequently included on tours organized by the Maryland Horticulture Society, the Annapolis Horticulture Society and the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society.

“In a suburban development in Phoenix, Maryland, it’s easy to spot Jack and Jean Lowry’s home. Their acclaimed collection of trees and plants begins curbside,” reported Baltimore Style Magazine. “An artistic, year-round tapestry of conifers, Ginkgoes and Japanese maples — highly textured and in a spectrum of yellows, greens and reds — offers the Lowrys screening from the road, and their neighbors a glimpse of a first-class garden more than five decades in the growing.”

“She loved nature, flowers and beautiful things,” said a daughter, Nancy Lowry Moitrier of Annapolis.

Mrs. Lowry had been a member since 1958 of Havenwood Presbyterian Church in Lutherville, where she sang in the choir for 35 years.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Chestnut Grove Presbyterian Church, 3701 Sweet Air Road, Phoenix.

In addition to her husband of 60 years, she is survived by a son, John Ryan Lowry of Finksburg; another daughter, Kim Hultbery of Forest Hill; and four grandchildren.

Frederick N. Rasmussen Contact Reporter The Baltimore Sun fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com

Jack and Jean Lowry

44 • Winter 2018

The Perennial Farm Phone: 410-592-6106 - eFax 410-558-6659 www.PerennialFarm.com Celebra�ng 38 years in business

Over 2000 Varie�es available

Perennials - Ornamental Grasses Hardy Ferns - Na�ve Plants

Roses - Flowering Shrubs - Flowering Vines - Ground Covers Succulents - Tropicals - Pansies, Viola, Cabbage & Kale Free State • 45

Total Plant Management

Boxwood When Have you Had Enough?

Stanton Gill

Making Lemonade from Lemons Lately I have been searching for good uses for dead boxwoods. I found that owing to its fine grain, it is an excellent wood for carving. In talking with wood carvers, they cannot get enough good boxwood of useable diameter. The boxwood is also resistant to splitting and chipping. It has been used for years to make decorative boxes and used as a great wood to make hair combs. It has also been used to carve chest pieces; with its high dense wood, it is perfect for regular handling in board games.

Boxwood was once called dudgeon and was used for the handles of dirks and daggers. Boxwood was a common material for the manufacture of flutes and recorders in the eighteenth century, and a large number of mid- to high-end instruments made today

46 • Winter 2018

are produced from one or other species of boxwood.

Even the famous bagpipers used to have canters made from boxwood.

What is Going Down?

If you are a nursery owner growing boxwoods or a landscaper struggling with keeping boxwood alive in the landscape, you may be pondering “why did I plant those ____boxwoods to start with in the first place?”

The warm, humid fall weather resulted in a mega infection period with resulting massive leaf drop on boxwoods in October of 2018. We were flooded with calls and e-mails about boxwood blight for about a 3-week period. It was not until the temperatures dropped into the 30 F range that the leaf droppage stopped.

Karen Rane and David Clement visited a site in Maryland where the manager had religiously applied fungicides the whole summer and into the fall on a weekly basis. Those boxwoods looked pretty good.

This practice worked, but is this what an IPM approach is about?

If you have to spray something regularly just to keep it alive it begs the question “Is this really worth it?”

Boxwood blight is here, and it will rear its ugly head again next season. The long-range solution is to find the genes that enable boxwood to resist this disease and work into a new line of resistant boxwood plants. This is years off in the future.

Meanwhile, you should really look at whether boxwood is such a good idea or not to be growing or putting into your customer’s landscape.

Not to throw fuel onto an already flaring fire, but we have a new bug entering the picture.

The new kid on the block is the European boxwood tree moth that was found in Ontario, Canada on August 28, 2018. It is called (in Europe) the boxwood tree moth, but in the U.S., people are calling it boxwood moth. Its Latin name is Cydalima perspectalis, and it is in the family Crambidae.

It is from Asia (Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Russian Far East) and showed up in Germany in 2006. It then showed up in Switzerland and the Netherlands in 2007. It was found in Great Britain and France in 2008, and in 2012, it was introduced from Italy to Sochi with the planting stock of Buxus sempervirens. In 2013, it was found new to Denmark at several sites on the island of Sjaelland.

This little, actually pretty moth is working its way across the European continent rapidly. The moth has not made a splash in the Americas, but several specimens were found in Ontario, Canada in late August of 2018. It just a short matter of time until it shows up in the United States.

Boxwoods with defoliation

How Does It Damage Boxwood?

The larvae feed on the leaves and shoots of Buxus species. The young larvae only eat the upper part of the leaf. The leaves are not destroyed completely but appear as “pealed” or shredded almost completely. These pealed leaves eventually die. Older larvae are the most damaging; they massively and completely eat the leaves, sometimes leaving a thin part at the contour and center of the leaf, however. Green ball-shaped frass (caterpillar poop) can usually be seen on host plants.

Every plant has at one or two disease and insect pest. Boxwood just seems to be really good at accumulating a plethora of insect and diseases problems. It might be wise to explore other plants to grow in the nursery that do not give you heartburn. ❦

Boxwood blight cankers on boxwood

Boxwoods with leaf shedding

Stanton A. Gill Extension Specialist, Tenured Faculty (Professor rank) IPM Nursery and Greenhouse Management Central Maryland Research and Education Center University of Maryland Extension, 11975 Homewood Road, Ellicott City, Maryland 21042 Appointment to Extension Specialist (Professor rank), July 1, 1994 Mobile phone: 410-868-9400, Office phone 301-596-9413, Email: Sgill@umd.edu, Web page: www.IPMNET.umd.edu Free State • 47

American Hort

Leading The Way On Immigration Craig J. Regelbrugge

O

n November 15, the National Immigration Forum convened Leading the Way: An American Approach to Immigration. AmericanHort was a co-sponsor and participant in the Washington, DC event, which featured expert panels on immigration from the perspectives of business and the economy, faith, and law enforcement.

Many speakers emphasized that immigration has been, is, and will remain indispensable to America’s vitality. Many lamented the degraded national discourse over the role of immigrants and immigration in American society.

But despite such laments, a hopeful and bipartisan tone was set by the opening speakers, Sens.

James Lankford (R-OK) and Michael Bennet (D-CO).

Though Congress failed this year to address the issue, Lankford noted that when Senate considered four different bills earlier in the year, we in essence saw 80 U.S. senators support some version of a path to citizenship for at least some, and border security measures. This suggests that there was enough common ground to move some kind of compromise forward. But then the courts 48 • Winter 2018

stepped in, averting an immediate DACA crisis. With the pressure to act taken away, the moment of opportunity slipped away as well.

Bennet, when asked what we all can do, advised attendees to double down on efforts to build the broadest possible coalition to press for action. “The fact that you have pastors, and farmers, and law enforcement, and business owners all in the room together building support for reform is powerful,” he said.

Given the results of the recent national election, both Lankford and Bennet expressed hope that divided government has, and can, provide an opening for those willing to try to reach across the political aisle to actually solve problems. Hope springs eternal! ❦ Craig Regelbrugge AmericanHort

“

Join Us at MANTS January 8-11, 2019 | AmericanHort Booth 2324 We go where you go, and we're looking forward to seeing you at MANTS. Mark your calendars and join AmericanHort at the following events.

AmericanHort Member Reception Tuesday Evening, January 8 Pratt Street Ale House Sponsored by OHP Horticultural Research Institute Winter Donor Reception Thursday, January 10, 5-7 PM Baltimore Convention Center *RSVP Only* AmericanHort Advocacy Town Hall Breakfast Meeting Friday, January 11, 7:30-9 AM Baltimore Convention Center

The fact that you have pastors, and farmers, and law enforcement, and business owners all in the room together building support for reform is powerful

”

Maryland Certified Professional Horticulturist Program

Update

Congratulations to our newly-minted Certified Professional Horticulturists after passing the Basic Exam on October 2, 2018: Jessica Ahrweiler Ahrweiler Horticulture Services Meghan Bundick North Harford High School – Student Certification Christa Carignan University of Maryland Extension

Courtney England Cecil County School of Tech – Student Certification Sarah Griffith Parkside High School – Student Certification Molly Harbaugh Frederick Career & Tech Center – Student Certification

Margaret Mitchell Sun Nurseries, Inc. Jayati Sondhi North Harford High School – Student Certification Ethan Sweany North Harford High School – Student Certification Kathy Thornton Adkins Arboretum

Congratulations to our advanced Certified Professional Horticulturists after passing the Specialist – Plant ID Exam on October 2, 2018: Robert Jenkins, Jr. Mary Lewis Blue Water Baltimore Blue Water Baltimore The upcoming date for the Basic Exam is April 16, 2019.

The next Specialist – Plant ID exam will be held in October of 2019.

CONGRATULATIONS MARYLAND

N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I AT I O N , I N C .

When you have questions, We have answers…

Visit mnlga.org today!

The MNLGA web site is designed for our members and is your single source for the answer to almost any question.

The site offers: ■ Searchable Membership Directory ■ CPH program info, basic & advanced test applications and registration ■ Up-to-date industry calendar from around the Mid-Atlantic region for finding CEUs for pesticide, nutrient management recertifications, and general education in horticulture topics ■ Free State Nursery News issues and archives ■ Root of the Matter e-news issues and archives ■ MaGIC (legislative) updates issues and archives ■ Chesapeake Green - speaker resources - year round ■ Classified ads which members can post and track resumes/responses ■ Business resources ■ CEU forms

Visit today!

Free State • 49

Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association

AFFINITY PROGRAMS Get More Out of Your Membership

SHIPPING PartnerShip

OFFICE SUPPLIES Office Depot

• High use office items discounted up to 85% • Everyday office essentials catalog items discounted up to 70% • Discounted copy, print and binding services • Full line promotional products catalog selection discounted up to 20%

50 • Winter 2018

• Discount shipping program through AmericanHort partnership • Small Package Discounts using FedEx • FedEx Express Discounts including Overnight, 2Day, International Services, and Saver programs as much as 27% • Save on Truckload and Tradeshow Shipments • FedEx Ground and Home Delivery discounts starting at 5% • PartnerShip LTL freight discounts

VEHICLES Commercial Friends and Family Program

• Invoice pricing on all vehicles in stock. Pricing for locates are on a case by case basis.

• Brands include Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ford and Ram. Expanding to other brands soon.

• All incentives that are being offered will be deducted from invoice pricing • Up-fits offered at employee cost • $500 off any negotiated price for used vehicles • Honor all Fleet accounts and if needed can be established with Ford or Chrysler • Discount delivery vehicle program or if qualified, courtesy delivery to local dealer

PLANT LOCATOR

TIRES

Plant and Supply Locator

• All MNLGA members receive 6 months of free unlimited online Plant Booth listings • Free subscription to Plant Locator magazine • After free 6 month period, members will receive: – Ability to keep 5 listings online free for an additional two years – MNLGA members already listing in print will receive equivalent online plant listings – Discounted packages for listings in print and online

TireBuyer.com

FUEL Shell – Fleet Plus Fuel Program

• 15 cents off per gallon on fuel purchases from Shell for 12 months • After 12 months, tier structure rebate program • No minimum gallons required • Built in security and purchase controls • Online account management • Comprehensive reporting • No transaction fees, no card fees, and no report fees

• 5-10% discount on tire purchase • Free shipping on many products • Over 110 warehouses in the US, over 8,500 nationwide installation partners • All other purchases qualify for either free shipping or discounted shipping • Lower shipping rates than industry averages when shipping to a home or business

For full program description, discounts offered, and access to program contact information, log into the MNLGA membership portal on the MNLGA website. Portal access is located on the upper right hand corner of all pages of the website. If you do not recall your access credentials, simply select the link, “Forgot Your Password,” and you will be given instructions on how to proceed.

Free State • 51

New Members We welcome the following into membership in the MNLGA. Full contact information may be found within the member portal of the MNLGA website, www.mnlga.org. We encourage you to reach out to your peer members – they may be a valuable business connection for you.

LandscapeHub Lisa Fiore Chicago, IL 60604 Devon Green, LLC Rosie Smith Baltimore, MD 21210 Central Sod Farms Jack Warpinski Centreville, MD 21617 Baker Environmental Nursery Doug Baker Hoschton, GA 30548 The Soulful Gardener Heather Zindash Gaithersburg, MD 20878 American Plant Food Company Emily O’Gwin Edgewater, MD 21037

Delivering the Confidence You Desire and the Value You Deserve for over 40 years * Our Landscape Distribution Center has an Extensive Selection of Quality Plant Material Available for Pickup or Delivery * Field Grown Material Available for Personal Selection * Potted Liners

Blue Drop Francesca Valente Washington, DC 20003 Uniformed Services University James Earl – Graduate Student Bethesda, MD 20814 D o y o u h a v e COMMENTARY, OPINION, PRESS RELEASE, or an EDUCATIONAL CONTRIBUTION for FREE STATE? Submit contributions to Free State via freestatenews@comcast.net.

Contributions are due April 1, July 1, and November 1. Contribute as you like, or year round.

Questions about Free State, please give us a call at

410-823-8684.

52 • Winter 2018

15601 Manor Rd, Monkton, MD 21111 410-771-4700 fax 410-771-8246 sales@manorview.com

www.manorview.com

Free State • 53

Press Release

Bob Trumbule recognized for achievements in Regulatory Plant Protection September 7, 2018 ANNAPOLIS, MD –The Maryland Department of Agriculture employee Bob Trumbule received the National Plant Board’s Carl E. Carlson Distinguished Achievement Award in Regulatory Plant Protection last month at the National Plant Board’s 2018 Annual Meeting in Cleveland.

“Our department and the agriculture community are fortunate to have such dedicated and knowledgeable personnel like Bob Trumbule,” said Secretary Joe Bartenfelder. “Every day our Plant Protection and Weed Management program works tirelessly to ensure our state’s billion dollar nursery industry remains strong, healthy and safe. Congratulations to Bob for receiving this highly prestigious award. We thank you for everything you do for Maryland agriculture.”

Trumbule has more than 30 years of experience in the department’s Plant Protection and Weed Management program. He has continually worked to protect Maryland agriculture by ensuring nursery stock and nursery facilities are disease and pest free.

The Carl E. Carlson award is given annually to individuals who have shown exemplary work in the field of regulatory plant protection through service and contributions made at the field level. The award also recognizes the recipients’ commitment to upholding the principles of plant protection and quarantine along with the ideals of the National Plant Board in serving citizens and industries.

“I am honored and humbled to receive this national recognition,” said Trumbule. “Thank you to all of my colleagues and peers in the Eastern Chapter of the Horticultural Inspection Society for nominating me for this distinguished award. It means the world to me, and I could not have accomplished this much without the support of my family, friends, mentors, coworkers and professional colleagues.”

Trumbule graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s in Conservation and Resource Development with an emphasis in Botany and Plant Sciences in 1982, and with a master’s in Entomology in 1989. In addition to his official job duties, Trumbule is also a supervisor for the department’s Nursery Inspection Program, the Maryland Ginseng Management Program, and the Weed Biological Control Program.

Trumbule is an active member of the following organizations: • Eastern Chapter of the Horticultural Inspection Society, former President (1998) and Vice President (1997) • Maryland Invasive Species Council, founding member • Entomological Society of America • Maryland Entomological Society • Weed Science Society of America For more information about the department’s Plant Protection and Weed Management program, visit the program’s website. Further details about the National Plant Board’s Carl E. Carlson award are available at nationalplantboard.org/awards/. ###

54 • Winter 2018

2 0 1 9

MANTS

®

THE MASTERPIECE OF TRADE SHOWS™

MANTS MEANS BUSINESS.

For 49 years now, it has been all business at MANTS. It’s the one show where buyers know that they can find all the plants, products and services their business needs. And exhibitors can count on meeting a steady stream of well-qualified current and new customers.

That’s why over 11,000 attendees, representing over 3,600 buying companies and nearly 1,000 exhibiting companies, attended the most recent show. And when the business day is over and it is time to relax, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area offers an incredible variety of attractions and restaurants.

www.mants.com P.O. Box 818 • Brooklandville, MD 21022 410-296-6959 • fax 410-296-8288 @mantsbaltimore #mants2019

@mantsbaltimore

On-line Registration is available 24/7 beginning October 1.

JA N UARY 9 -11 , 2 019

BALTIMORE CONVENTION CENTER Free State • 55

Special Report

Dr. Francis R. Gouin

Five Decades of Preventing and Solving Landscape Problems

Editor’s Note: The following article was provided by Dr. Frank Gouin, before his passing in August, as a continuation of the report he authored for the Summer 2018 Free State. The summer issue contained parts 1 and 2. Parts 3 and 4, follow.

Part III Solving plant problems in the landscape.

Most of problems associated with plants in landscapes can be attributed to not understanding the needs of plants and attempting to achieve perfection. There are probably more plants injured or killed by kindness than from neglect. Over mulching, over fertilizing, overcrowding, root girdling, and planting too deep are the most common problems, other than soil compaction, I have witnessed over the years. Improper selection of plants, poor pruning practices, and failure to remove

56 • Winter 2018

tags are some of lesser causes for poor plant performance or losses.

Too Mulch of a Good Thing Over mulching is the number one cause for decline or loss of plants.

The roots of plants need oxygen and “PHD” mulching (piled higher and deeper) excludes oxygen from entering the soil, thus suffocating roots. A frequent application of mulch makes the landscape look neat and tidy and promotes frequent mulching whether or not it is needed. Shallow rooted species such as boxwood and members of the ericaceous family are the first to be affected, followed by hollies, yews and spruce.

The piling of mulch high around stems of trees is also detrimental. The mulched portion of the stem does not enlarge as rapidly as the stem above

the mulch. Remove the mulch from around trees that have been mulched excessively and you will notice a difference in stem diameter.

It is not uncommon to see young trees that have been over mulched break at the ground line during heavy winds.

Mounding mulch around trees and shrubs with smooth bark also makes conditions favorable for clear-winged wasps to inject their eggs into the soft bark. Upon hatching, the larvae tunnel under the bark girdling the phloem cells.

I have often cut out active larvae from infected dying young maple, linden, and ash trees.

Not all Mulches are Alike Today’s definition of mulch is anything that has been ground and bagged. I remember many years ago driving the country roads towards Norfolk, VA to present lectures. There was a large sign, advertising a mulch company. I stopped to see the operation and the products they were producing.

All I saw was big piles of wood-

“

Mounding mulch around trees and shrubs with smooth bark also makes conditions favorable for clear-winged wasps to inject their eggs into the soft bark. I have often cut out active larvae from infected dying young maple, linden, and ash trees.

”

chips and a smaller pile of bark. In between the two piles, they mixed them together and made windrows.

There was an old fire truck nearby spraying water on the piles. I was informed they were manufacturing bark mulch. It appeared they were blending 1-part bark with 3 to 4 parts wood-chips. After aging for a year, the mixture was sold as bark mulch. I saw brown piles at the far end of the lot, being loaded on to trucks.

While traveling through New Jersey to present lectures, I stopped at a facility that was

crushing wood from old buildings.

The wood was first crushed to loosen bolts, nails and screws and then ground. They also crushed and ground pallets. The crushed wood was then dumped into a tumbler and treated with “Baker”dyes. I have often wondered how much of that wood contained lead paint and hard pesticides. Those mulches contain high levels of cellulose and hemi-cellulose, a carbon for microorganisms to digest.

I discourage the use of un-composted wood waste as mulch because it causes severe nitrogen deficiencies to shallow rooted species. During the composting process, cellulose and hemi-cellulose are digested and only lignins remain. Since lignins resist further decomposition, its presence on the soil does not promote microbial activity; the roots of plants do not have to compete with soil microbes for nitrogen. Mixing bark with wood

chips and allowing it to age only results in the transfer of color from the bark to the wood chips. It does not remove the cellulose and hemicellulose. Un-composted wood waste should only be used near deep rooted species and in utility areas where it will control weeds by starving them.

Many home gardeners prefer double shredded hardwood bark mulch because it is dark colored. One of the problems with hardwood bark is it contains moderate to high levels of manganese. Since hardwood bark is high in hemi-cellulose and low in lignins, when it decomposes, it leaves a residue of manganese in the soil. Since manganese is not readily leached, repeated application of hardwood bark mulch over an 8 to 10-year period results in an accumulation of manganese in the soil. High levels of manganese in soils inhibits absorption of iron by roots and is toxic to roots. Iron is essential for (continued on page 58) Free State • 57

(continued from page 57)

the synthesis of chlorophyll.

Then there are those who prefer using marble chips as mulch.

Marble chips are safe to use around yews, junipers, pine, etc. but not around species that grow in acid soils. Marble chips and blue stone are mostly calcium in nature and when used as a mulch cause an increase in pH. It should also be known that some crushed blue stone contains nickel, which is toxic to most ornamentals. I investigated three incidences where the use of bluestone mulch caused extensive and permanent damage to plants.

Over Fertilizing There should be no substitute for soil testing by a reputable soil testing laboratory. Horticulture is a science and the nutrient needs of plants are known. One should never make a fertilizer recommendation without soil test results. When plants are not growing well, the natural tendency is to apply more fertilizer. I have soil test results with phosphorus levels so high that calcium and trace elements were being bound.

In those same soil test results sulfur, boron and zinc deficiency.

Since EPA has cleaned the air of sulfur dioxide, sulfur deficiency in soils has become more common.

Although boron levels only need be 2 lbs. per acre, a deficiency in boron reduces and prevents translocation of sugars in plants.

Boron is not a contaminant in commercial fertilizers, therefore it must be applied as borax or by using organic sources such as biosolids compost. Most fruit growers must apply boron in their

58 • Winter 2018

spray to prevent internal corking in fruit. Boron deficiency is more common than you think.

Maryland has a law that prevents growers from applying phosphorus fertilizers, if soils contain adequate levels to produce a crop. This same law should apply to home horticulture. It is a well-known fact that high levels of phosphorus in the soil inhibits the development of mycorrhiza organisms in soils.

The symbiotic relationship of mycorrhiza with roots is highly beneficial to woody plants in landscapes. It makes the plants more drought tolerant and better scavengers for nutrients and water.

It is important to know that species like azaleas, rhododendrons, mountain laurel, leucothoe, etc. can only absorb nitrogen in the ammonium form.

Fertilizing them with a nitrate fertilizer will cause them to stop growing and set bud. If the nitrate fertilizer is applied in late summer or fall it often causes flower buds to blast. One of reasons why these species perform best in acid is because when the pH is 5 and below, nitrogen remains in the ammonium form. Increasing the pH of soil above 5.5 promotes the conversion of ammonium to nitrate.

Planting Practices Planting practices have changed dramatically since I first arrived in Maryland in 1962. When I started my career at the University of Maryland, 85% of ornamental plants sold were either hand dug, balled and burlapped (B&B) or bare rooted. By the time I retired in 1995, 85% or plants were either container grown and/or in root

control bags. Most field grown plants are dug by machine. These changes in cultural practices require changes in planting practices. Since many plants grown in containers develop a dense mat of roots, along the outer edge of the root ball, it is necessary to disrupt those outer roots to promote rapid establishment. It also prevents root girdling of the stem as the plants mature. There are many who ignore circling roots of container grown plants and wonder why plants are slow establishing or die. I was involved in a lawsuit case where a street planting of flowering cherry trees started dying 7 years after being planted. When the dead trees were lifted from the ground, it was evident they had been grown in 3-gallon containers.

For plants grown in root control bags, the complete removal of bags is essential. There have been numerous instances where the bags were only partially removed or only slits cut into the bags. Trees started tipping, following periods of heavy wind, after planting.

With regards to mechanically dug B&B trees and shrubs, it has become necessary to train staff to carefully remove the top layer of soil, from the root ball, to determine the original planting depth. Planting too deep is often the cause of death to young B&B plants. When trees were hand dug, workers always removed the top layer of soil from around the stems.

In planting trees and large shrubs, the flare where the stem enters the ground should always above grade.

Adopting the practices of

allowing the upper 10% of the root ball to stand above grade will eliminate the problem of planting too deep.

Back-filling My research in the blending of compost with back-fill has always demonstrated beneficial effects.

However, my results have always demonstrated the amount of compost added to the back-fill should not exceed 1/3 by volume.

I never measured differences between 1/3 and 1/4 by volume of compost to existing soil. Also, when amending the back-fill soil with compost, one should never add commercial fertilizers.

Manufacturing Your Own Top Soil It bothers me when I see contractors scraping away existing soil so they can replace it with imported top soil. Especially when one considers the problems associated with importing top soil. I have converted sub-soils in abandoned gravel pits into productive soils with compost.

The benefits of making your own top soil with existing soil include avoiding importing problems such as having to match soil texture, introduction of foreign materials including weeds, soil-born diseases and pesticides.

Incorporating 4 to 6 cubic yards of compost per 1,000 sq. ft. when amending heavy soils and 6 to 8 cubic yards of compost when amending sandy soils will provide outstanding results. Depending on the existing pH of the soil, the addition of lime may be required.

However, it is best to delay testing the soil for 3 to 4 weeks

after blending in order to obtain a true measurement of pH. The waiting period can be shortened by placing moistened samples in plastic bags and storing them at room temperature for 10 days before submitting them for testing.

Part IV Satisfying the nutritional needs of ornamentals.

The nursery and landscape contracting industries are the only two horticultural industries that grow and maintain hundreds of species of plants, many with different nutritional needs.

Satisfying the minimal nutritional needs of all of species, growing within feet of each other, is a frequent problem. Home gardeners, landscape designers and landscape architects like to mix species in plantings to achieve desired effects. Unless soils are properly prepared in advance of planting, the results can be disastrous, especially if acid

loving plants are planted in close proximity to plants that prefer a near neutral soil pH. To assure success, it is important to understand the multiple virtues of organic matter and have a good understanding of pH. The chemical and physical properties of organic matter have a dramatic effect on the availability of nutrients and it increases the cation exchange capacity (C.E.C.). It is also important to know how sulfur can be used to change the pH of soils.

Increasing Nutrient Availability with Organic Matter.

Increasing the organic matter concentration of soils up to 8%, increases the availability of iron, zinc and copper at higher pH’s. It is well recognized that ericaceous species grow at their best in soils with a pH between 4.5 and 5.0. This is because iron, zinc and copper are readily available in those pH’s and most of the nitrogen in the soil remains in (continued on page 60)

Free State • 59

(continued from page 59)

the ammonium form. However, by increasing the organic matter concentration to 8% and above, soils are capable of providing adequate levels of iron, zinc and copper. Soils, with high concentrations of organic matter generate sufficient humic and fulvic acids, making iron, zinc, copper and ammonium available at pH’s of 5.5 and slightly above. The higher pH also allows other species to be grown in the same soils. Adding additional organic matter to soils, using compost and pine fines, allows for a greater diversity of plant species to grow together.

As organic matter decomposes, both humic and fulvic acids are released as well as ammonium nitrogen. Ammonium nitrogen is the first form of nitrogen released in the degradation or organic matter. Although there is a gradual conversion of ammonium to nitrate nitrogen at higher pH’s, there remains sufficient ammonium to satisfy the growing needs of ericaceous species. Also, most species of perennials, except ericaceous species can absorb both ammonium and nitrate nitrogen. However, it is important to know that nitrate nitrogen, in high concentrations, is toxic to ericaceous species.

Raising and Lowering pH Adding lime to soils raises pH. The amount of lime needed to raise pH depends on the texture of the soil and the type of liming material being applied. A sandy loam or loamy sand requires considerably less lime to raise pH than silt or clay loams. The levels of oxides in the lime also determine 60 • Winter 2018

the amount of lime needed to raise pH. The amount of carbonates in the lime determines how long the effects of liming will last. Never recommend using hydrated lime for use on ornamental plants because it raises the pH to quickly and its effect are short lasting.

Agricultural grade limestones contain both carbonates and oxides and the percent oxide determines the amount lime needed to raise the pH. The liming material with the greatest amount of oxide will cause a greatest and fastest increase in pH. The particle size of lime also has lasting quality. A course liming material will have a longer lasting effect than a pulverized material.

However, in soils with excess levels of phosphorus, coarse lime particles are not as effective in maintaining pH due to the nutrient binding properties of phosphorus.

Lowering pH is not as simple as raising pH. Most believe that adding sulfur to soils will automatically lower pH. It is important to understand that sulfur is inert. If you mix sulfur with water and measure pH, the pH meter will only measure the pH of the water. To lower pH, sulfur must be digested by the bacteria Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. This does not occur unless the soil has a pH of 6.8 or below. If the pH of the soil, being amended with sulfur, is above 6.8, T. ferrooxidans the change in pH will either be very slow or no change will occur.

It requires one pound of sulfur to neutralize one pound of calcium.

Therefore, to lower the pH of soils using sulfur, it is important to know the amount of calcium present so as not to neutralize all of the

calcium. Changing the pH of soils with a pH of 8.5 and above, is a very slow process.

It is not uncommon to read soil test reports with pH’s of 7.0 and above with low to trace levels of sulfur. Since EPA has been diligently cleaning the air we breathe, sulfur is becoming deficient in many soils. Plant roots can extract sulfur from the soil by direct root contact and the exchange of hydrogen ions.

However, this exchange does not result in the formation of sulfuric acid in sufficient amounts to affect pH. Soils with pH’s above 6.8 can be lowered chemically and/or physically. To lower the pH of soils with 8% or more organic matter, amend with either iron sulfate or aluminum sulfate. I prefer using iron sulfate because excessive use of aluminum sulfate kills plants.

Aluminum is toxic to plants and symptoms of aluminum toxicity are often confused with drought damage. Shallow rooted species are frequently killed with aluminum sulfate.

High organic soil containing moderate to high levels of sulfur: I recommend using iron sulfate at 5 lbs. for every 0.3 pH unit per 1,000 sq. ft. If the sulfur concentration in the soil samples are low, I will recommend adding 10 lbs. of sulfur per 1,000 sq. ft. I have never recommended adding more than 15 lbs. of iron sulfate per 1,000 sq. ft. even in soil with pH of 8.0 or higher to stimulate T. ferrooxidans into action.

Soils low in organic matter and low in sulfur: For soil with a pH of 8 or below and low in sulfur, I recommend amending with 10

lbs. of sulfur and pine fines at the rate of 4 to 5 cubic yards per 1,000 sq. ft. If the soils are high in sulfur, I only amend with the pine fines. It is important to recognize that sulfur is an essential plant nutrient. When adjusting soils with a pH above 8.0, it is important to apply additional sulfur based on the calcium concentration. Pine fines are preferred over peat moss because they have a pH of 4.0 and below and contain mostly lignins which will persist.

Cation Exchange Capacity (C.E.C.) Cation exchange capacity is a measurement of a soil’s ability to retain nutrients and make them available. The higher the C.E.C. the better. Sandy loams and loamy sands have low C.E.C. while silt and clay loams have high C.E. C. The addition of both organic matter and limestone to sandy loam and loamy sands significantly improves the C.E.C. and water holding capacity.

Since these types of soils are recognized as being well drained, increasing the C.E.C. and water holding capacity significantly increases their productivity. Now that “Bloom” is available, I strongly recommend using it in combination with compost in order to increase the C.E.C. “Bloom” has a C.E.C. of 48.

that is often over-looked in soils with low C.E.C. is boron.

Boron deficiency symptoms on ornamentals are not easily recognized because it is responsible for the translocation of plant metabolites. The most common symptom is stunted, yellowing growth and small leaves in soils where all other nutrients are at optimum levels. I have often seen this deficiency on shallow rooted species such as ericaceous species, boxwood, and Japanese hollies. Shallow rooted species are the most susceptible. There are agricultural grade sources of boron, such as Solu-bor, the most convenient source is borax. Borax and Solu-bor both contains 10% boron. The maximum rate of boron required by most ornamental plants is 2 lbs./ acre. This calculates to approximately 4.5 lbs./1,000 sq. ft. if there is no boron present.

I generally do not recommend applying more than 3 lbs. of

borax per 1,000 sq. ft. To apply such a small quantity uniformly I recommend mixing the borax with 5 lbs. of playground sand.

Iron Deficiency or Manganese Toxicity?

Identifying nutrient deficiencies by visible foliage symptoms, can be difficult especially with members of the ericaceous species. Interveinal chlorosis on new growth of young leaves is often attributed to iron deficiency. The most common recommendation is to spray the foliage and drench the soil with iron sulfate or spray the foliage with chelated iron. In some instances, this provides some improvement in plant growth.

In other instances, it is only a temporary fix and repeated treatments are necessary.

If repeated treatments are necessary, it should be an indication that soil testing is necessary to identify the cause. (continued on page 62)

Boron Deficiencies The one deficiency Free State • 61

“ (continued from page 61)

When taking soil samples near shallow rooted species, it is important to first remove the mulch and collect most of the samples between the trunk and the drip line of the shrubs. Soil samples should be taken at a depth no greater than 3” where 90% of the roots are located. It is also important to have a complete analysis made of the soil including soluble salts.

If the pH of the soil is above 5.5 and percent organic matter is less than 3%, pH could be a factor.

Amending the soil with iron sulfate in this case should adequately correct the problem. However, if the manganese concentration in the soil is greater than the iron concentration, the problem is most likely manganese toxicity. When manganese concentration in soils exceeds iron, manganese inhibits iron uptake by the roots. For years I blamed manganese toxicity only when manganese concentrated

62 • Winter 2018

exceeded the total amount of iron, copper and zinc. In recent years I have observed symptoms begin to appear when manganese levels equal or slightly exceed levels greater than iron levels in the soil.

The problem is most common where repeated applications of double-shredded hardwood bark have been made. Hardwood bark contains a considerable amount of manganese, that is released as the bark undergoes decomposition.

Since hardwood barks only contain approximately 40% lignins, as the cellulose and hemi-cellulose decomposes, manganese is released and becomes part of the soil complex. Since manganese does not leach easily, it accumulates in the upper couple inches of soil where most roots of shallow rooted species feed.

The bark from coniferous trees also contain some manganese but they also contain poly-flavonoids.

Poly-flavonoids make iron available

When taking soil samples near shallow rooted species, it is important to first remove the mulch and collect most of the samples between the trunk and the drip line of the shrubs.

”

to the roots of plants even soils with a high pH. I did limited studies with Rayplex iron in the early 80’s. However, when Rayplex iron was applied to soils with twice the amount of manganese than iron, manganese inhibited iron uptake by the roots. To avoid the accumulation of manganese in soils around shallow rooted species, mulch with a high-quality pine bark.

A high-quality pine bark mulch with less than 10% cellulose contains 60% to 80% lignins. Lignins resist decomposition, making them last longer as a mulch. ❦ Francis R. Gouin Professor Emeritus University of Maryland College Park, MD

®

®

Bloom is a soil builder with nutrients. Available at DC Water or Homestead Horticultural Supply.

Contact bloom@bloomsoil.com or call (202) 765-3292 for details.

bloomsoil.com

Visit us at MANTS in booth 2738!

PRODUCT OF

Free State • 63

2019 Industry EVE JANUARY January 7-10, 2019 Advanced IPM PHC Short Course Location: University of MD, College Park Contact: Amy Yaich, 301-405-3911 umdentomology@umd.com https://landscapeipmphc.weebly.com/

January 9-11, 2019 MANTS - Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show Location: Baltimore Convention Center Contact: MANTS Office, 410-296-6959 info@mants.com • www.mants.com

January 15-17, 2019 Mid-Atlantic Horticulture Short Course Location: Founder’s Inn, Virginia Beach, VA Contact: Gladys Espinosa, 757-523-4734 info@vahort.org https://mahsc.org/index.html

January 16, 2019 Transferring the Farm to the Next Generation Workshop Series – Central MD

January 23, 2019 Agricultural Conservation Leasing Workshop – Western Maryland Location: Frederick County Extension Office Contact: Nancy Nunn, 410-827-8056 nnunn@umd.edu

January 28, 2019 Agricultural Conservation Leasing Workshop – Central Maryland

Location: Howard County Fairgrounds Contact: Paul Goeringer lgoering@umd.edu

Location: Baltimore County Agriculture Center Contact: Nancy Nunn, 410-827-8056 nnunn@umd.edu

January 17, 2019 Agricultural Conservation Leasing Workshop – Southern Maryland

January 30, 2019 Investing in Your Farm’s Future Workshop – Mid Shore

Location: Charles County Soil Conservation District Contact: Nancy Nunn, 410-827-8056 nnunn@umd.edu

January 22-23, 2019 MAA Winter Conference Location: Turf Valley Resort, Ellicott City, MD Contact: Danielle Bauer, 443-262-8491 office@mdarborist.com • www.mdarborist.com

64 • Winter 2018

Location: Chesapeake College, Wye Mills, MD Contact: Paul Goeringer lgoering@umd.edu

January 31, 2019 Investing in Your Farm’s Future Workshop – Southern MD Location: PG County’s Soil Conservation District Office Contact: Paul Goeringer lgoering@umd.edu

ENTS Calendar FEBRUARY February 6, 2019 Eastern Shore Pest Management Conference Location: Fountains Conf. Center, Salisbury, MD Contact: Ginny Rosenkranz, 410-749-6141 rosnkrnz@umd.edu

SEPTEMBER September 16-18, 2019 Impact Washington Summit Location: Washington DC Contact: American Hort Office, 202-789-2900 www.americanhort.org

February 20-21, 2019 Chesapeake Green Location: Maritime Institute Contact: MNLGA Office, 410-823-8684 office@mnlga.org • www.mnlga.org

OCTOBER October 1, 2019 CPH – Basic Exam

APRIL April 13, 2019 Maryland Arborist Day Location: Adkins Arboretum, Ridgely, MD Contact: Danielle Bauer, 443-262-8491 office@mdarborist.org • www.mdarborist.com

Location: MDA in Annapolis Contact: MNLGA Office, 410-823-8684 office@mnlga.org • www.mnlga.org

October 1, 2019 CPH – Specialist Exam – Plant ID Location: MDA in Annapolis Contact: MNLGA Office, 410-823-8684 office@mnlga.org • www.mnlga.org

April 16, 2019 CPH – Basic Exam Location: MDA in Annapolis Contact: MNLGA Office, 410-823-8684 office@mnlga.org • www.mnlga.org

Free State • 65

Directory of Advertisers Firm Name

Page

Angelica Nurseries, Inc.

Outside Back Cover

Babikow Greenhouses

Inside Front Cover

Firm Name

Page

Homestead Gardens Horticultural Supply

18

Manor View Farm

52

Bloom 63 MANTS Braun Horticulture

31

MD Ag Ed Foundation

Cam Too Camelia

31

MNLGA Affinity Program

Cavano's Perennials

9

Chesapeake Green Symposium

32

MNLGA On-Line OHP

39 & 59 32 50-51 49 1

CPH 30

Pender Nursery

17

Foxborough Nursery

The Perennial Farm

45

Inside Back Cover

Gregory J. Cannizzaro Graphic Design

33

Walnut Springs

53

Holly Hill Farms

26

Waverly Farm

40

G R E G O R Y J.

cannizzaro

Graphic Design

MARYLAND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION

66 • Winter 2018

MARYLAND

N URSERY, L ANDSCAPE AND G REENHOUSE A S S O C I AT I O N , I N C .

Mission Statement The purpose of the Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association is to promote the use of ornamental plants, products, and services. The association supports all constituent groups of the horticulture industry including landscape, garden centers, interiorscape, grounds maintenance, nursery, greenhouse, and arboriculture. The association communicates the role of the horticulture industry in improving people’s quality of life.

Specific Goals Promote professionalism through education programs for members and the public and by encouraging enrollment in educational institutions.

Monitor state and local laws relating to horticulture industry.

Participate actively in legislative and regulatory processes.

Promote the use of environmentally sound practices in the horticulture industry.

Monitor and communicate to members developments in allied industries including agritechnology.

Support donations of plant products and services to state and community programs.

Support research relevant to the horticulture industry.

Participate in Maryland agricultural organizations.

6 1 2 3 4 5 6

Good Reasons Your Company Should Advertise in the MNLGA’s Free State Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse News Free State News is seen by members of Maryland’s Nursery, Landscaping, Greenhouse, Garden Center and Allied Industries and is the leading publication for members of the MNLGA

Free State News enhances your ad with important industry specific content that is educational and informative. And, the digital version gives readers direct access to your website

Free State News helps promote your company and product while providing direct access to readers in Maryland’s Green Industries

Articles are contributed by highly regarded members of the industry, many of whom have a lifetime of knowledge and are frequently published

Free State News is a cost-effective way to help keep your name out in front of the membership and your potential customers

Free State News helps support the association in its endeavors on behalf of the green industry in the state of Maryland

For more information on advertising in the Free State Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse News contact Kelly Finney at MNLGA at 410-823-8684 or e-mail freestate@mnlga.org

Free State • 67

Chairs and Committees Education Ted Carter – Co-Chair Ronda Roemmelt – Co-Chair Angela Burke Dave Clement Hank Doong Stanton Gill Pete Gilmore Brett Karp Mary Kay Malinoski John Murphy Karen Rane Andrew Ristvey Ginny Rosenkranz Brent Rutley Chuck Schuster Nominating Mark Dougherty – Chair Richard J. Watson Finance and Planning Carrie Engel – Chair Jessica Todd Larry Hemming John Murphy Link/Shanks Scholarship Mark Dougherty – Chair MANTS Jan S. Carter Bernard E Kohl, Jr. William A. M. Verbrugge Membership Committee Rich Poulin Greg Stacho Awards - Professional Achievement, Carville M. Akehurst Michael Marshall– Co-Chair Kevin Clark - Co-Chair

Legislative/MaGIC James R. McWilliams– Chair Mark Schlossberg Alan Jones Bernie Kohl ALL OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS CPH George Mayo - Chair Steve Black Shelley Hicks Cindy King Andrew Ristvey Martha Simon-Pindale Bob Trumbule Gaye Williams

Scholarship Bernie Kohl, Jr. – Chair Hank Doong Leslie Hunter-Cario Jessica Todd George Mayo Mary Claire Walker Economic Survey Steve Black Larry Hemming Bernie Kohl George Mayo John Murphy Jessica Todd Dr. John Lea-Cox Kimberly Rice Dr. Andrew Ristvey Historian George Mayo – Chair

ADVISORS TO THE BOARD Kimberly Rice MD Department of Agriculture Dr. John Lea-Cox University of Maryland

ADVISORS TO OTHERS CCLC – Ches. Bay Professional Landscape Certification (CBPL) Kody Cario Invasive Plant Advisory Committee Brent Cassell Leslie Hunter Cario Kelli McGaw LEAD Maryland Vanessa Finney Maryland Agriculture Commission Ray Greenstreet Vanessa Finney (at-large) Maryland Farm Bureau Larry Hemming Vanessa Finney

MAEF George Mayo Maryland Invasive Species Council (MISC) John Peter Thompson MDA Nutrient Management Advisory Committee Signe Hanson University of Maryland – Dean’s Global Leadership Council Vanessa Finney Young Farmers Advisory Council Jessica Todd

Every member of every committee listed above is an individual who volunteers their time in support for the MNLGA and it is with the utmost gratitude and appreciation that we thank you for your selfless endeavors.

If your name is not listed above, please consider following the example of those who are. Contact Vanessa at 410-823-8684 with your interest.

68 • Winter 2018

3611 MILLER RD • STREET, MD 21154 p. 410.836.7023 f. 410-452-5131

View photos and plant information: www.foxboroughnursery.com

Foxborough Nursery