To start the afternoon, Eric Mitchell, Landscape Lighting Specialist from Northeast Lighting Supply, a division of Northeast Nursery, Inc., introduced the group to concepts of low voltage landscape lighting installation. Eric says that the installer’s job is to turn ideas into reality, meeting the client’s and designer’s objectives and visions with fixtures and zone controls. Participants learned about using light to draw the eye through the landscape, how to choose the best size and number of fixtures to achieve the desired effect, and how to work with shadows to add to the design.

Eric shared many useful tips to aid in installation and maintenance, like leaving at least two feet of extra wire at each fixture to allow for future modifications, and using tree mounts that allow for several years of tree growth. He discussed use of up-lights versus down-lights and the uses for each and he talked about using lenses to achieve different effects. Eric shared practical tips that will save participants from costly or frustrating on-the-job challenges, such as keeping fingerprints off new copper fixtures, avoiding aluminum fixtures that won’t hold up in New England weather, and plugging access holes in transformers to keep wasps from moving in.

Jason Andrews, of Phil Gallo and Associates, LLC, introduced the group to the transformer and controller technologies that are available. He shared practical advice for connecting zone controls to the home’s wifi and troubleshooting common obstacles in connectivity. Participants learned about the relationships between wire gauge, wattage, voltage, and distance, and how to design a system to meet the electrical demands.

In addition to sharing the ‘how-to’ of lighting installation, Eric and Jason talked a lot about the business side of landscape lighting, including how to estimate and plan jobs efficiently, ways of inspiring clients to invest in permanent lighting to get the maximum use and enjoyment from theirs landscape, and how to foster lasting relationships with clients.

Participants worked hands-on to unpack and prepare lighting components for installation on the property. The group built components, ran wiring, installed fixtures, and set up the new transformers to control the zone lighting. Participants came to the class with varying degrees of experience with installation of landscape lighting which created a collaborative dynamic with individuals helping each other through the process and sharing expertise and ideas.

Pam Moreau treated participants to a family-style dinner of lasagna and salad while waiting for the sun to set. With nightfall, the lights were turned on and the team made adjustments to achieve the desired effects with trees and other features lit with up-lights, down-lights, and path lights.

This hands-on skills development format proved to be a successful model with participants leaving with skills and confidence to pursue incorporation of lighting installation in their services. The NHLA education committee invites you to get in touch with us with your ideas for future hands-on skills development classes. If you have ideas for topics, or if there are topics you would like to teach, please get in touch with amy.papineau@unh.edu, NHLA Education Committee Coordinator or mike.barwell@gmail.com, NHLA Education Committee Chair.

— Text and photos by Amy Papineau, NHLA Education Coordinator; Landscape & Greenhouse Horticulture Field Specialist, UNH Extension

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Football field build

Well, I can officially say “getting old sucks.” The last two months I’ve been recovering from having a new knee installed. Come March, I will be having the other knee replaced, as 48 years of kneeling on pavers took its toll.

I have been able to travel and teach a few classes, thank goodness. One of my favorite trips is to Equip Expo and Hardscape North America in Louisville, KY. This event happens every October and this year drew a record breaking 27,000 landscape and hardscape contractors from all 50 states in the U.S. and from 46 countries.

The show is well worth the trip. There are eight education tracks: Tree Care, Pool & Spa, Irrigation, Landscape Lighting, Leadership, Hardscape, Sales & Profitability, and Technology. I instructed the Advanced Level 2 NCMA Class and taught two hardscape seminars: one on paver installation and one on wall installation.

There are over 1000 booths with landscape and hardscape products on display, as well as 30 acres of outdoor booths where you can test drive all kinds of equipment. There is a UTV test track and a drone zone where you can become certified to operate your drone.

One of the highlights for me is the installer competition in which companies from around the country compete for $20,000 in prize money. The competition was fierce this year, and the detail and scope of the 90-minute builds have come a long way over the years. Most of the teams who compete have won their regional contest, which are sponsored by manufacturers. This year’s winner at the Northeast Hardscape Expo (March 20 & 21st at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT) will represent our region at the 2024 HNA competition next October.

As the landscape and hardscape season winds down it’s time to take a break, catch up with the family, take in a few free seminars, and plan for next year. I hope to see you at an event soon!

— by Bill Gardocki,, past president of NHLA (1994 & 1995) Bill is now a hardscape educator.

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Our 2nd Annual Field Day was a success! We saw roughly 40% growth in attendee registration and 20% or so growth in vendor support. It’s certainly rewarding to see this event grow. It was nice to have numerous conversations with owners, team members, and vendors throughout the day, sharing our current approach to growing the Association. I think the time is ripe for big steps forward! Be sure to check out the full write-up on the event (pages 16,17,19) and if you missed it this year, make sure you attend next year!

Our new website has gone live, and we are working to make final edits and tweaks. The new site is the first step towards updating our approach on how we as an Association communicate our to our members and prospective members. We’re working diligently to being to have a presence on various social media platforms to enhance our reach to the green industry.

Our November Dinner Meeting is scheduled for Thursday the 9th. Jason Andrews, the president at Gallo & Associates will lead a talk on improving your sales skills and techniques. I see a great deal of value in this event. Most of us, me included, entered the landscaping industry without any formal sales training. Whether you sell work for yourself to do or for a team of people under you, it’s important to have the skills to effectively do so. Be sure to check out the event details on our website and register as seating will be limited.

As I write these notes today, it’s another rainy day. We have had an abundance of rain this season. And I am sure it’s been tremendously difficult to keep a consistent and caught up schedule. That’s a good reminder to check your service agreements/contracts with your clients that clearly indicate what you are and aren’t responsible for when it comes to weather-related issues. For example, new lawn installation washout from heavy rains, a lawn not coming in due to too much rain, or polymeric sand not setting and activating because of rain after applying. Our industry is extremely dynamic. We use the phrase “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it,” and that couldn’t be truer about all of you in the Green Industry.

Here’s to a sunny, dry fall to allow all of us to wrap the season up strong!

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It was a record-breaking year for our Annual NHLA Golf Tournament! Registration filled up in less than two weeks. Between vendors and raffles, this year was our highest earning year to date. These funds will continue to be used toward increasing our Association’s offerings and bringing more value to all of you.

A very special thanks to both Jim and Pam Moreau for their continued efforts in organizing the tournament! This event was made possible by great vendor sponsors. See your September Newsletter for a list of sponsors.

Next on our event calendar will be our Second Annual NHLA Field Day held at the Belknap County Fairgrounds on September 20. This year we expect to offer more value through credits and training, access to more vendors, and in-field training opportunities. I’m looking forward to seeing this event continue to grow and provide more value to our membership!

August marks the middle of the green season here in NH. It’s certainly, a good time to evaluate how you and your team are performing so far this season, allowing for changes to be made for the second half of the season.

Understanding your numbers is essential regardless of your company size. We are currently working towards providing insight into building budgets through calculating overhead and direct costs and aligning them with target margins to yield the results you deserve. The average net profit margin for landscape firms across the country is a mere 5%. This is a lot of effort for a little return. Doubling this into 10% + is very doable with the right knowledge. Keep an eye out for events and resources in the next calendar year geared to improving your companies’ margins.

Cheers to the second half of the season!

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Leslie Herd at Riverside Gardens is as lively as a sprig of willow, as vibrant as the Monarda covering her property, and is a boundless source of sage advice for growing and maintaining native plant gardens. A former organic farmer with experience growing, selling, and teaching others, she has set her roots down in Dover, NH, and since 2017 has transformed Riverside Gardens into a mecca of flora and fauna.

We met on an overcast Friday morning at Riverside Gardens. She wore a dark blue hat from Prairie Moon nursery to match her canvas shorts and wry smile. She started talking at once. Showing me the plants intended for the “western meadow” garden, a small plot created by reclaiming land from the invasive Oriental Bittersweet Vine, she talked me through the process of overwintering seeds like Milkweed before transitioning them into full sun growing conditions.

Beyond the raised bed nursery, a row of St. John’s Wort sat heavily laden with bees. When I expressed my love for a similar species that grows by the road, she agreed, gesturing at the colorful row and saying, “they’re great, the bees love them and the deer don’t eat them.” For the next hour, Leslie took me through the trials, tribulations, and payback of growing native plants. A process that, she says, is starting to give back.

Many of her plants are grown from seed (1), from plugs (2), from pots (3), and still more from bare-root saplings. (4) “I love these saplings,” she explained, tending to a group of ankle-high Fragrant Sumac, “you buy them and they’re this high (about 6-8″ typically), and after spring, they’re this big (14-16″ high). And they cost about $1.50.” That is bang for your buck. A group of Scotch Pine, now 6-8′ high, planted during the pandemic, stage the area she would like to make into an enclosed space for her grandchildren. “The woman next door wants the central plant, and so she’ll have it,” Leslie said. That is the kind of person she is, not surprisingly. More nuanced is the rate at which the garden’s fruits and vegetables are growing.

Now retired, Leslie and her husband Ken sell plants, honey, fruits, and vegetables at their farmstand. The long grass, healthy soil, and steady flow of bees help the veggies grow faster, naturally. Adding compost5 to her plant beds each year, keeping clover in the paths between rows, and using waterflow to her advantage is all part of a low-maintenance, highly productive garden. Winding mowed paths lead guests from one plot to the next. The couple’s cooperative dynamic is evident in the self-engineered watering system they have designed.

Situated on a rolling hill adjacent to the Cocheco River, Leslie and Ken use the topography to their advantage. On the side of the greenhouse are white plastic gutters used to collect rainwater. Those lead to two 300-gallon water tanks which feed the blueberry bushes through drip irrigation. A half inch of rain is 500 gallons, says Ken, based on the footprint of the greenhouse. Solar panels power the 1/8 hp drip irrigation pump. They occasionally clear the gutters, one of the many jobs they’ve agreed to do together. Both independently minded, they realized the need to work together and so conceived of the idea for “Team Tuesday’s” to be the day they collaborate on projects. Others are invited to join Riverside Gardens through one of the many workshops they host each year.

Leslie has found a balance between dealing with the challenges posed by rabbits, deer, groundhogs, and birds – and getting to a place where she can relax and watch nature unfold. Ken shares her sympathies. A lifelong engineer, he pointed to Thistle in the middle of the greenhouse entryway, saying, “Random mercy on volunteer plants,” with a grin. Leslie has elected to keep Thistle “for the Chickadees who favor the spines to build their nests.” Ken and Leslie cleared away European Buckthorn at the base of large oaks to create space for native groundcovers in which caterpillar species can pupate. Now they can see the stone wall bordering their property as well as the foraging birds that visit it. That’s a win-win.

1 Wild Seed Project, No. Yarmouth, ME
2 Prairie Moon Nursery, Winona, MN
3 Van Berkum Nursery, Deerfield, NH
4 NH State Nursery, Boscawen, NH
5 FEDCO, Clinton, ME

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On the most basic level. Be on time. Growing up I was always told if you aren’t early, you’re late…

Showing intent is a key factor in growing your career. We expect our team members to be on time daily. So much so that we put the managers, and crew leaders in the position each morning to be on time, and ready to roll out so that their crew members can start their day on time. This discipline starts at the top and must roll down.

The deeper meaning to this pillar boils down to respecting those who work with you. Honoring a commitment can and should be easily translated into – respecting others’ time.

When a team large or small works together daily, being mindful of each member’s time is very important. In our business, and in any, each role is just as important as the other; owner, divisional manager, foreman, crew leader, crew member. Each person on our team has a set grouping of duties and responsibilities that need to be executed in harmony with each other. Making sure that you provide the opportunity for your teammates to do so by honoring your commitments to them makes this possible.

On the other side of honoring the commitments, we need to also be understanding that although our team member may have had good intentions of honoring their commitments to you or the team, sometimes things outside of our control get in the way whether it be work or home related. Cutting others a break is also a good quality to have.

All ten of our Pillars of Culture are imperative to the success of our operation. They all relate to being a good person in and out of the workplace. We value the time of our team. We know that they all have personal lives filled with spouses, kids, parents, family, and friends. Allowing them the opportunity to honor their commitments to those outside of work is also at the top of our list. Happy people produce high quality work.

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Nothing like being put in your place to humble you right? At least that’s how I have always felt…
To look deeper into this Pillar, I think its best to look at it from two vantage points: employee and employer.
As an employee, one of the best qualities you can have is showing that you value the team’s success over your own. Ironically, when you do this, you show just how valuable you are to the team and often move quickly up the ladder. This characteristic makes you respected by your team and creates trust in your ability to support them.

As an owner, it is nearly essential to check your ego at the door. Each role in your company is equally as important as the other. All roles need to be carried out simultaneously to allow for success. You will find that the most successful companies in the Green Industry and beyond have owners who respect their teams and hold them at the highest regard.
When you have a team of people who are more concerned about the team’s success rather than their own, you get the most out of that team, and ironically the team members benefit more than you could imagine!

— by Bill Gardocki, past president of NHLA (1994 & 1995), now a hardscape educator.

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Mid-Summer slump…
Speaking from my personal experience in the landscape industry, August tends to be a slower time.

For those of you on the landscape maintenance side of things, spring clean-ups, mulch, and flowers are done, and you’re finishing up the last of your summer pruning and settled into weekly mowing and bed maintenance. Commercially speaking, enhancements tend to see a slump unless you were able to push some of that work off to this time of year.

On the installation side of things, hopefully your schedule is booked from the busy spring inflow, but sales during the month of August tend to be a bit slower due to a few factors. One main component is that your clients are taking their summer vacations and spending time with the kids while they are off on school break.

Maybe you would like to follow suit and use this month to relax and regroup. Or maybe, you are like me and like to use this time to catch up and reengage in things you didn’t have time for during the busy season.

From a sales perspective, it’s a perfect time to start talking about fall services with your clients as well as snow and ice sales, and from a production side, it’s a solid time to start going through the winter equipment.

It is also a good time to map out your fall and winter, look into the different educational resources available through NHLA to continue to further your knowledge in the Green Industry. Our events page on our website always has the latest schedule.

I hope that you all do take some time to recharge before the fall rush.

The post President’s Notes: August 2023 appeared first on New Hampshire Landscape Association (NHLA).

Some may say this is an easy pillar to adhere to on the surface. Staying consistent to always do the right thing pays major dividends to both your clients and the team you have supporting them.

A big contributing factor to North Point Outdoors’ growth over the last decade has been that we always make right by the client, even if it is to our detriment. We know that losing margin on a job but making sure the client is happy, will continue to maintain our client base and help growth efforts.

Internally, we operate under this pillar to keep ourselves true and accountable to our teammates. This aligns our culture in the field and in the office: that we do not cut corners. We do not overlook things. On purpose. Which highlights the most important component of this pillar, which is to own up to your mistake, and make it right.

We aren’t perfect. But we can be perfectly imperfect. On an interpersonal communication level, owning up to a mistake and apologizing can be one of the most influential trust-building scenarios to occur. When you are able to take responsibility for a mistake you made to your teammates, they know you have their best interest in mind.

Likewise, when you or your team makes a mistake at a property, notifying the client prior to their being aware of it will only make it easier for you to navigate. If you promote a company culture that owns up to its mistakes and has a process in place for information to flow, you will always be out in front of the client.

Do the right thing always, and when you don’t, be sure to own up to it and move forward.

— by Andrew Pelkey, NHLA President

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