FANN has signed on as a sponsor of a special edition show in Season 7 of "how to Do florida with Chad Crawford," a TV series that focuses on the best in Florida living. FANN will support a half-hour special edition focused on a front yard makeover using Florida native plants. FANN members will provide the plants and landscape design, showing Floridians how native plants can be used to create a beautiful, low maintenance sustainable landscape. Season 7 will premiere in June 2016 on select broadcast stations in Florida and in October 2016-October 2017 on the Fox Sports Sun Network.

While landscape architects, arborists, and park advocates, and an increasing number of mayors, planners, and public health officials, understand the presence of nearby nature in cities to be central to human health and well-being, the public seems to think of tree-lined streets, trails, and parks as "nice, but not necessary, add-ons," according to a new report commissioned by the TKF Foundation and conducted by the FrameWorks Institute, a non-partisan research organization.

The report shows wide gaps in understanding between members of the public and experts on the health benefits of nature, the value of daily exposure to nature, how landscape design can enhance nature’s health and social benefits, and how the presence of green space and trees can boost neighborhood and, by extension, community connections.

Our colleagues in Big Ag are excited about the recent passage of "comprehensive" water policy but we’ve got our doubts. And we respect the voice of former Governor Bob Graham, not in political office and not confined by special interests. Let’s hope the significant weaknesses in this legislation can be fixed.

In mid-January, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed S. 659, the Bipartisan Sportsmen's Act of 2015. During the mark-up, Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and Tom Carper (D-DE) offered an amendment to clarify that Clean Water Act permits are not needed for certain pesticide applications. The amendment was adopted by a 12-8 vote. The bill later passed by the committee by the same margin.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has just released its plan for strategically deploying over $58 million in special Farm Bill funding to protect agriculture and horticulture from plant pests and diseases. The funds are provided via the 2014 Farm Bill’s Horticulture title, a key legislative priority for AmericanHort.

Welcome Bill Weeks of Exotic Natives Nursery from Burnsville, North Carolina, who joined to exhibit and hopefully sell his native azaleas at the 2016 Native Plant Show. Bill has field grown Rhododendron austrinum, serrulatum and canescens from 3-8′ tall.

FANN member (and board member) Tom Heitzman of Sweet Bay Nursery in Parrish participated with his local Manasota FNGLA Chapter to create the world’s largest dish garden for a display at the Florida State Fair. And guess what? It’s ALL native! We don’t know how Tom found the time to do this but we’re glad he did. The state fair attracts thousands of visitors and this is a fun way to learn about Florida’s native plants.

Willis Linn Jepson encountered a squat shrub while he was collecting botanical specimens on California’s Mount Tamalpais in the fall of 1936. He trimmed off a few branches and jotted down the location along the ridge trail where the manzanita grew, 2,255 feet above sea level.

The desiccated specimen is now part of an herbarium here that’s named for the famed botanist. It was among hundreds of thousands of specimens of thousands of different species that were used recently to track the movement of plant species up the state’s many hills.

California could run out of water by next year, according to a NASA water scientist, and other areas are threatened by shortages. It’s a scary thought — and one that hits close to home for horticultural producers who rely heavily on the commodity.

To fully comprehend the current water situation in the United States, it’s important to understand how we got here. As Texas A&M Water Economist Dr. Ron Griffin puts it, "We have the tendency to point to drought as the problem, when the real problem is us."

Good greenhouse sanitation reduces the potential for insect and disease problems to establish within crops. Sanitation covers many activities, including isolating incoming plant material, scouting, glove and apron changes and use of sanitation products. Use of sanitation products is critically important to prevent spread of some diseases and fully eradicate some pathogens. Griffin offers many sanitation products, including cleaners/detergents and true sanitizers.

Register now for the 4th Annual Native Plant Show in Kissimmee.

This year’s show offers 20+ hours of continuing education and professional development, including those hard-to-get laws & rules and advanced building codes that landscape architects need.

This is a wholesale trade show featuring native landscape plants and select green products for the landscape industry. Growers from throughout Florida and the Southeastern U.S. are invited to exhibit native plants. Attendees include landscape architects, designers, installers, maintenance professionals, municipalities, arborists and other professionals interested in sustainable landscaping.

Exhibitors include native plant growers and select green goods and services.

Continuing education courses will be offered for landscape architects, designers, contractors, inspectors and arborists — ASLA, APLD, FNGLA, ISA.

For more information and to register, go to http://www.nativeplantshow.com/schedule/.