September is back to school time, and that means renewed opportunity to support the young people who are electing to pursue careers in horticulture. I continue to hear from growers of all sizes, from all over the country, that there just are not enough qualified graduates of two- or four-year horticulture programs. We also need to be active in promoting careers in horticulture to those who are not aware of the opportunities available.

As researchers nationwide try to get college students to eat healthier foods, they’re finding that gardening may lead to a lasting habit of eating more fruits and vegetables.

That’s a recent conclusion from the "Get Fruved" project. "Get Fruved," an acronym for "Get Your Fruits and Vegetables," is a $4.9 million collaborative project among eight American universities, including the University of Florida. At UF, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is leading the campus study. One of the first steps of the project is to better understand what factors predict and influence the health behaviors of college and high school students.

The University of Florida IFAS Extension (UF) is set to offer a new online course in course disease management. This course is designed for growers with some experience and training in the U.S. and other countries.

It’s a bad time to be a bromeliad in South Florida.

The popular landscaping plants, prized for their colorful leathery leaves and hearty disposition, are cursed with a nasty reputation for haboring hoardes of Zika-carrying mosquitoes. Mosquito control and public health officials are ripping them out of public areas and urging people to ban them for their backyards. Public works project designers are reworking plans so they are bromeliad free.

While many states have stunning displays of spring flowers, Florida’s mild climate provides for a spectacular showcase of native flowers and grasses in the fall. With a slight drop in the temperature, October is the month when many Floridians escape the confines of their air-conditioned homes to visit parks and preserves or to work in their gardens.

More than 50 non-partisan organizations in the U.S., including the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), representing 10 million design professionals, engineers, and scientists have asked presidential candidates Hillary Clinton (Democrat), Jill Stein (Green), and Donald Trump (Republican) 20 questions related to science and research, climate change and the environment. These questions were asked by ScienceDebate.org, which crowd-sourced the questions from its supporting organizations. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has not yet responded to the questions.

On June 21, 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) finally released permanent rules for the non-hobbyist (commercial) use of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS). The rules, referred to as Part 107, cover a broad spectrum of commercial uses for drones (weighing less than 55 pounds at take-off) including "crop monitoring & inspection."

THANK YOUs!
Plants for our Landscape Show booth display! Thank you Flatwood Natives Nursery, Green Isle Gardens Nursery, Green Seasons Nursery, McKeithen Growers, Perkins Nursery and Sebastian River Tree Farm for making us look beautiful at the 2016 Landscape Show in Orlando. We featured trees for bees and other wildlife as highlighted in our new Native Plant & Service Directory and also many native wildflowers.

FANN had a blast at the 2016 Landscape Show in Orlando Sept 14-16, 2016 AND we made a big impact. We recruited a few new members, renewed some who had lapsed, interacted with 250 middle and high school students and for the first time ever, gave them a "Native Plant Careers" flyer to take home, sponsored an awesome pollinator workshop, and distributed about 700 copies of our new Native Plant & Service Directory and 300 bee tattoos.

Have you partnered up with your local FNPS chapter to celebrate Florida Native Plant Month? This is a great opportunity to offer customers a special incentive during the month of October. Our conservation partner Florida Native Plant Society is once again celebrating Florida Native Plant Month for entire the month of October 2016.

FANN members Reliable Peat and J&R Nursery are supporting the October 4, 2016 Putt Putt Golf Tournament hosted by the FNGLA Lake Region Chapter at the Family Fun Center, 4825 S Florida Ave, Lakeland.

You have a solid customer base, now you’re looking to expand it. These six tips from the online article "Want to Grow Your Business? Here Are 8 Creative Ways to Get More Customers," on BPlans.com. can help you catch the attention of new customers and grow your business.

While untold numbers of green businesses are saving money by moving POS systems to the cloud, IT experts say these businesses need to ensure their cloud contracts include ironclad security protections—or they’ll suffer an uncertain future.

Unfortunately, getting those protections can be more difficult than you might expect, given that many cloud services providers are reluctant to put security assurances in writing. Not surprisingly, the cat-and-mouse game between user and cloud provider is taking a toll. Many businesses are simply delaying a move to the cloud due to their concerns over security, according to a recent study released by Bitglass, a cloud security firm.

The construction of new buildings is a given — but their styles and forms are not. Design sensibilities are constantly changing, and the green industry is rapidly taking notice of one trend in particular: green roofs.

Elevated gardening is not a new concept. People have been planting gardens on rooftops for decades, but the practicality and appeal of green roofs, which function similarly to a yard planted into the roof of a building, are catching on with architects, landscapers, urban planners, homeowners and more.

Nursery and greenhouse workers are no. 5 on Business Insider's list.