Whether you are looking for credit for recertification as a Certified Landscape Professional or interested in increasing your body of knowledge of Green Industry trends, there are more opportunities to participate in online workshops or view online presentations than you may have time to even attempt. Take a look at the list of resources later in this article. You might be able to promote your company as having interest or expertise in these topics, helping you reach customers who may be seeking assistance with very specific needs. Previous issues of our Newsletter, available online, also contain lists of resources.

The NH Association of Conservation Commissions is offering a “Lunch and Learn” series on topics of interests to the green industry, including several on groundwater protection and clean water sources. These are free, and presenters are from the NH DES among other professionals directly involved in clean water and updated information and regulations about water use during our severe drought affecting most of the state. Registration is required to get your zoom log in, but your information is never shared with any other group or business when you register for sessions offered through www.nhacc.org.

UNH Cooperative Extension offers a Face Book Live series of presentations on many topics in the horticulture and agriculture industries. Check out the presentations on pruning, extending growing seasons, safety in the workplace, among others. It’s easy to join their mailing list, and their sessions are, for the most part, free.

Responses to the recent survey distributed show that more than half of the responses included wanting more information on “gardening,” so check out the Fall 2020 Literary Series, if gardening books are up your alley. The series is offered biweekly, and includes garden writers such as Bill Noble and Page Dickey, with an extensive list of authors included. Renny Reynolds is among the distinguished list of authors with his book, Design Inspiration from the Gardens at Hortulus Farm in the series. Free, although registration is required, through info@gardenconservancy.com.

The Garden Conservancy’s website is one you may like to book mark, to check on other webinars offered periodically, outside of this regularly scheduled gardening authors’ series.

Garden Writers International offers many workshops on the business of gardening, and sponsors many webinars (generally around $20) about gardening trends. With a pulse on the greenhouse industries and garden center sales, you may find webinars from this group to be helpful. Sponsored presentations from the large growers and suppliers you know such as Proven Winners, Dramm, Corona Tools, Syngenta, are presented through Garden Writers International also. While some of them may be considered “infomercials,” all are rich with details about research and developments in their respective industries.

Here’s hoping some of these organizations and websites offer you beneficial info to help you grow your business and knowledge base.

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According to the data collected, 60 percent of landscaping companies are seeing revenues exceed pre-COVID expectations and more than 300,000 landscaping jobs lay vacant.

62 percent of lawn care companies report they’ve exceeded revenue projections, followed by 53 percent of landscape maintenance firms and 50 percent of design/build firms.

One of the reasons landscaping companies have easily weathered the COVID-19 storm is the fundamental nature of the landscaping business, says NALP Chief Executive Britt Wood.

“The landscaping business naturally lends itself to this type of crisis,” Wood says. “The way landscapers work means that they just naturally keep their distance from clients and each other. Also, people often use nice spaces to relax and remove stress, and a soothing landscape can help with that.”

Wood stresses that the strength of the landscaping sector in 2020 is ultimately a combination of factors.
People are experiencing their yards, decks, and patios in the middle of the day. Often, for the first time, they’re seeing things they want to tweak or improve. Eighty percent of residential customers have increased spending on these kinds of enhancements in 2020.

Another factor Wood points to are spending habits. Nationwide closures of dining and entertainment venues have opened new opportunities for home improvement projects.

The final factor is one that was unexpected but set up landscapers to thrive for the duration of the crisis. The Department of Homeland Security identified landscapers as “essential employees” in its guidance on critical infrastructure on March 19.

The government deemed essential any businesses that “maintain the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences, businesses, and buildings.” Landscapers’ ability to curb pest infestations and remove problematic flora and fauna qualified them to continue operating as normal.

Garden centers in particular are seeing increased business. Back in the spring, some ran out of plants before they ran out of spring.

Customers have found a renewed purpose in gardening since the beginning of the pandemic People are trying something new in the spaces that they have, whether it is trying vegetable or herb gardening for the first time, purchasing an indoor green plant for a home office … or transforming and adding to landscapes. People are enjoying making their spaces a bit more beautiful and useful.

Landscaping professionals work through wet winters in warm climates and, in colder ones, many transition to snow removal services. Time is at a premium right now! Good luck to all of you in filling backorders, completing end-of-season jobs , or preparing for winter.

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I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Peter Kidd in June of this year. We have lost a great one. My deepest sympathy to his family and friends.

I met Peter back in my days at Tuckahoe Turf and knew that this guy was a character. His sense of humor was funny, but made you think. He was witty and had a sly way of making a joke seem serious. You laughed anyhow. He was highly opinionated. If there was a topic to discuss, Peter was all over it and would advise you to think about all aspects of the subject before coming to a conclusion, mostly his conclusion.

Peter gave you 100% all of the time. I always looked forward to hooking up with him, whether it was a jobsite of his or an NHLA event or to have a beer (and we had a few), or just a visit at his house in Bedford, NH. Peter was just fun to hang out with. His landscape knowledge and passion for this industry was unwavering. He was not afraid to share his knowledge with the “competition” because to him, a fellow landscaper was not competing against him, but the best way to teach is through example.

In his many Sidenotes articles, Peter shared numerous ideas and experiences that he had experienced over the years. Peter gave a lot of time to this Association. Peter gave a lot of ideas and insight to this Association. He ran a successful business and instilled a sense of professionalism to the New Hampshire landscape industry. His philosophy was simple – live by the self, die by the self – and was summed up in a paragraph from his Sidenotes column in December, 1984. This is the way he ran his business and what he cared about most.
He wrote, “ Is my picture rising up? It’s extremely important for an employer to get involved. It’s good sense, sound business, and makes the day pleasing. This deal of using up persons, sometimes friends, for dollar motivation is unjustifiable, schizophrenic, down right unbiblical, for live by the self, die by the self. I’m totally aware of the worth of my workmates, I have not fallen victim to the world of concept or the suicidal belief that it’s just my talent or whatever, that makes this ship fly. Do you thank your employees each Friday when the eagle makes manure? I do. And they thank me, and we all head off into the sunset feeling we don’t owe one another anything because we have already given the fair portion. I think it is this kind of straightforwardness that is the source of magic.”

Peter was 37 years old when he wrote that. It is something that still applies today. Make a note of it.

Take care, Peter, our paths will cross again.

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Peter was born in 1947 to R. Richard Kidd and Joan Straw Kidd in Springfield, Illinois. At the age of four, his family, including Martha and James Richard, followed his father’s career as a corporate executive, moving to New Canaan, Connecticut, a commuter town to New York City. It was in New Canaan that Peter came to know life-long friends Gregory Raymond, Hiland M. Hall, and Tim Lovitt.

Excelling as a football player in high school and being nimble of mind, Peter went on to study International Affairs and Political Science at Columbia University in New York. By junior year, Peter realized he had no spiritual equals on campus, deciding to abscond on a Yugoslavian freighter to Morocco, where he joined Hall, Raymond, and Lovitt in Tangier, living through events narrated in his novel, The Moroccan Grail. Peter spent three years in Morocco, working with British historian and occultist Trevor Ravenscroft to rewrite the history of French king, Charlemagne. It was during the writing of this history that Peter met Michel Angela Petersen, Ravenscroft’s daughter, a union that lasted long enough to give birth to daughter Sophia Grace.

Some years later, Peter Kidd married Edna Marie Doucet, with whom he raised three children, Alexander Straw, Matthew Doucet and Ella Kidd, along with Sophia, in Bedford, New Hampshire.

Peter worked for himself, building Landscapes by Peter Kidd, a successful professional practice based upon his love of beauty in design and attention to nature’s cycles of death and rebirth.
Not long after his children grew up and moved out of the house, he moved to Texas to live with his love and life partner, writer Linda Rowland Stone.

Peter was one of the founders of NHLA and became President in 1986. From 1982-84 he was the editor of the NHLA Newsletter and continued as a frequent contributor through 2015.

Peter wrote fiction, reviews, and plays, as well as poetry. Novels include three books: The Raven, The Moroccan Grail, and Murder in Manchester, all to be published posthumously. Two large volumes of poetry include The Human Condition, upcoming 2021, and Bums Rush, a tribute to San Francisco poet, Bob Kaufman. Peter started Igneus Press in 1990, which has published approximately 50 books of poetry and plays.

Peter is survived by his life partner, Linda Stone, and her three children, whom he loved as his own: Philip Brec Stone, Stacy Deon Tucker, and Sarah Alyson Stone; his sons Alexander and Matthew, daughters Sophia and Ella; and sister, Martha Kidd-Cyr.

On Landscape Design
— by Peter Kidd

Leon’s right
at most, an index card is needed, for estimates
in terms of script
an idea one can’t remember
isn’t an idea worth reproducing
on an even larger scale …
and yet, the paradox
the prophet’s cool breath
the letter of the law
a concept
and I, too, dabble
sketch and draw maps
to treasures
wishing I had increased vision …

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The situation about pollinators is not just the stuff of a handful of observant farmers or shared through a network of academic researchers nowadays. The situation about pollinators is reaching every one of us, through social media, ordinary journalism, and professional spotlight and reference articles. How best to share that information with customers is another question.

For all of the information available, NHLA hopes members are considered a major “go to” for professional advice and for clarifying difficult topics. Pollinator-friendly neighborhoods are all the rage in many states and in many parts of our state. Agriculture depends on healthy environments for proper and prolific pollinator to take place. And, customer questions can be answered without any political bias or complicated answers. Your customers can research their interest in pollinator-friendly yards and gardens, and you can take it from there.

While some customers may have a zero tolerance for dandelions in their yards, it’s a great time to have a discussion about how to go about getting rid of the dandelions – or not. Explaining to your customers about the benefits they bring and a bit about their life cycles, can help your work load as well as the pollinators’ populations. Learn what you can about pollinators from the sources available to us, listed in the article in this issue of our Newsletter. It’s not a simple discussion and there’s not one right or wrong answer. The key is in educating your clients and understanding the role pollinators play in our ecosystem, not just our yards.

We are fortunate to have garden centers, commercial and wholesale growers and colleagues in the green industry keeping informed – our task is to make sure authentic and helpful information is in the hands of our homeowners and land stewards. With these three resources, you might find the help you need to do that: First, the United States Department of Agriculture (usda.gov) is a solid place to start. It’s as simple as from the home page of the USDA, just use the search box, enter “pollinators” and take off! The listings there will include so many topics, you will benefit from taking the time to scroll the list and see what you are really looking for. Articles and entries from myriad organizations are listed, including some you may not have thought of such as “Bats as Pollinators,” “Moths are Pollinators, Too,” and “Know Your Native Pollinators,” just three of the many screen’s worth of information contained there.

Entering “Pollinators in New Hampshire” will yield you even more specific information (listing many projects from our own UNH) and one that is of strong interest, “Native Shrubs and Trees for Pollinator Conservation in New Hampshire.” Using sites such as these, under the umbrella of your USDA search, will mean you have vetted information from a variety of resources, and from there, you can become more involved with your questions for your plant source professionals.

The second of three sources to consider is the Xerces Society. In 2021, the Xerces Society, headquartered in Oregon, celebrates its 50th Anniversary as a well-respected environmental society “focusing on the conservation of invertebrates considered to be essential to biological diversity and ecosystem health.” The name of this organization was taken to honor the extinct California butterfly, the Xerces blue butterfly. From growing milkweed, to rethinking pesticide use, the Xerces Society is science-based and relies on research projects from many sources to keep informed and share that information with as many people, from as many perspectives as possible. Their website (xerces.org) is an easy-to-search site, which includes a lot of information you might like to share on your websites, or with your clients. One example that might be of particular interest is their download available to you about Firefly Habitat and Protection. Fireflies are a summer symbol of relaxing evenings for many of us, and offer a lot of intrigue and even entertainment for people to watch and feel their healthy garden environment come alive at night. From this, to very practical information on native plants, the Xerces Society is also offering a lengthy series of webinars (free, but registration is required). You may want to check out the Xerces website, and follow clicks to the various webinars listed. This organization is highly recommended because the webinars are not a means to collect your e-mail address and then pepper you with membership solicitations or offers to purchase related merchandise by supporting commercial venues.

The third source to consider is the North American Butterfly Association. NABA is on this list, to round out the perspective offered through the USDA, and the Xerces Society with this smaller organization. On naba.org, you can find a link to their information on how to certify a garden as “Certified Butterfly Habitat.” This is a straightforward, easy to assess flow chart where a property owner could be proud to show they have worked (worked with you!) to develop an area of their yard which is butterfly-friendly and worth sharing with the passes-by as such. There are quite a few resources available through the NABA, and you might find this to be a resource to share with clients, on your website, or in your social media, to have readership recognize you as a landscaper who understands the importance of caring for the natural environment, while enhancing it the ways a property owner would like to see for the uses they have in mind.

While there are many, many more resources to suggest, these three offer such depth and variety that starting with them will give you ways to enhance your professional approach to questions about pollinators and what your company is doing to help the situation we are reading so much about and seeing so much about in digital, print and video or television sources.

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Spotted Lanternfly

Just when you thought it was safe…and just when you thought we had a grasp of the life cycle and IPM needed to understand the Emerald Ash Borer or the Asian Longhorn Beetle, along comes the Spotted Lanternfly!

The Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) has come to the US from China, India, and Vietnam. Discovered in Bucks County, PA, six years ago, this invasive is mobile and voracious. “A planthopper” insect, it’s destruction is swift and predictable. The piercing-sucking mouthparts attack the host plants, and while feeding secrete a sugary by-product which can cover and smother a plant it has attacked.
There are many problems caused by the infestation of the Spotted Lanternfly, including the way an ornamental plant or shade tree can be covered with that sugary substance which attracts many stinging insects, too.
A sooty mold is additional evidence of its destructive path. Hosts for the invasive insect include the Tree of Heaven, which is lining highways and roadways to New England from Pennsylvania. (Planthopper’s dream come true!) Fruits such as apples, peaches, and grapes are affected as are birch, maple, and dogwood trees.

Fact Sheets from the UMass Extension provide photos of the pest in each of its life stages. (ag.umass.edu/landscape/fact-sheets/spotted-lanternfly) We are fortunate to have first-hand, experienced professionals coming to our March 20 UNHCE/NHLA Spring Conference who will be able to offer information on the Spotted Lanternfly and other invasives we need to know about, from the NH Invasive Species Committee (ISC).

The ISC is a committee of eleven volunteers, appointed to meet on a regular basis, to discuss and analyze threats posed by land-based plants, insects, and fungi and their negative effects on our state’s quality of agriculture and recreational lands. Doug Cygan, the Chairman of the ISC and Coordinator of the project to educate the general public and municipal departments and the highway department about the plants identified, will be on hand March 20 with display material and handouts for attendees to help spread the information about the identified invasives. Doug will be accompanied by Denyce Gagne, of NH Fish and Game, also involved in the ISC outreach and education programming. We are glad to have Andrew Mauch, Millican Nurseries, as the horticultural representative to the committee, attending this conference, too! Please take time to check out the information, and feel free to ask any further questions you have as you speak with Doug, Denyce, or Andrew during the conference.

This is information you can share with your clients, too! Don’t forget the outbreak and infestation of the Asian Longhorn Beetle in August of 2008 was first noticed and reported by a homeowner in Worcester, MA. It takes the strong outreach and education provided by our Invasive Species Committee along with our Cooperative Extension, to help share this type of valuable information and help you vet what you may read about on the internet or hear about from a client.

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Good landscape design is not a matter of going to the local big box store picking out a bunch of plants and sticking them in the ground, then sitting back and being satisfied that there are finally shrubs and trees in the yard. Good landscape design takes into consideration how all the elements — plants, hardscape, lighting, pedestrian and vehicular access — all work together. Good landscape design considers the environmental elements such as wind direction, snow, rain, sun direction. Good landscape design takes into consideration all the senses such as smell, sight, sound, touch, and even taste.

Finally, good landscape design considers the functions of all the landscape elements installed around a building. Do the plants block wind or provide shade to reduce heating and cooling costs? Are the colors of plants and hardscape elements in harmony with each other? Is the lighting soft and inviting? Is the scale of each of the landscape elements in good relation to the structure and space that is being landscaped? Have you used plants that reduce the necessity of artificial irrigation? Have you managed to reduce the storm water runoff by installing rain gardens or bio-swales? Have you installed landscape materials that, in the long run, will reduce our carbon foot print in the environment, such as plants that need little to no pruning and reduce the lawn area to reduce the need for excess amounts of mowing?

Here are some facts from the Arbor Day Foundation (www.arborday.org/trees/benefits.cfm) about trees alone and their effect on the landscape environment:

• The net cooling effect of a young healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day. – U.S. Department of Agriculture
• If you plant a tree today on the west side of a building, in 5 years your energy bills should be 3% less, in 15 years the savings will be nearly 12%. – Dr. E. Gregory McPherson, Center of Urban Forest Research.
• In one study, 83% of realtors believe that mature trees have a “strong or moderate impact” on the salability of home listed under $150,000 on homes over $250,000 increases to 98%. – Arbor National Mortgage & American Forests.
• Good landscaping, especially with trees, can increase the property values as much as 20%. – Management informational services/ICMA

So how do we get good landscape/environmental design? One way is to attend educational programs such as those provided by NHLA. A second way is to take time to learn good techniques in a more academic way by taking continuing education classes at institutions like NHTI, Concord’s Community College.

NHTI provides two avenues of learning, one through an Associate Degree in Landscape and Environmental Design and the other through the Landscape Design Certificate. Such programs are designed to help employees and employers of the Green Industry to keep up with the latest trends and to train students to create good landscape designs that increase the value of property as well as consider the environmental effects of the design. The Landscape Design Certificate Program provides entry-level skills for those entering into or those who are already in the field of landscape design. The Certificate Program is for landscapers, florists/nursery growers, architects, and anyone interested in the broader range of knowledge of landscape/environmental site design.

The Associates Degree in Landscape and Environmental Design has been developed to accommodate a demand locally and globally for educated trained landscape/environmental design professionals. The Associates Degree program is for students interested in pursuing an education and or career related to the natural environment such as landscape management and design, wetland science, landscape architecture, urban planning, environmental technology, or environmental conservation. (Most all credits in this program are transferable to 4- and 5-year landscape architecture and landscape design programs.)
The Landscape Design Certificate Program offers eight classes that run from plant identification, basic landscape drawing techniques, to grading and construction methods.

The Landscape/Environmental Associates Degree Program offers 21 classes from environmental biology, to plant identification, design labs, construction materials, computer aided design, and much more. The whole range of classes can be seen at www.nhti.edu/academics.

The NHTI Environmental/Landscape Design Program is the only design program offered in the State of New Hampshire. The future of good landscape design is in the hands of well-trained landscape professionals.

In conclusion, Bill Russell in his book, Russell Rules, 11 lessons on Leadership from the Twentieth Century’s Greatest Winner states, in Chapter 6 on “Craftsmanship,” “learning should be a daily experience and a lifetime mission. Michelangelo stated, “I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have.” If Michelangelo felt that way, then we as designers of the landscape and the environment should always strive for our best because anything else should not be enough.

Let us all try to fine some way to support the educational programs that NHLA and our institutions of higher education, such as the New Hampshire Technical Institute, Concord’s Community College, offer, to continue to provide quality professional services to your customers.
Remember, if you lap the lolli-pop of mediocrity you will be a sucker for the rest of your life.
Mediocre work is no longer acceptable in the landscape profession.

— Bob Pollock has been a licensed landscape architect since 1974. Spanning 34 years he was a landscape architect/planner for the cities of Fitchburg and Leominster, MA and Concord, NH. In 1977 he established the Granite State Landscape Architects (GSLA) and started, what is now, the Environmental Design Certificate program at NHTI in 1980 (now an Associates Degree offering). He founded and led Pollock Land Planning LLC 2006-2012. Now semi-retired, he is still active with GSLA as their Advocacy Chairman. In 2012 he was recognized by GSLA and the Governor of New Hampshire for 40 years of service to landscape architecture in the State of New Hampshire.

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