FANN is proud to announce that we are now a licensed provider of continuing education for Community Association Managers (CAMs). We’ll be working to provide CAMs with classes at the 2017 Native Plant Show.

Many view Florida’s flora as always lush and green, but this garden showcases ephimeral colors and overlooked attributes like form and texture that vary with the season. North Florida is home to many plants that change greatly by blooming, changing foliage color or losing leaves to reveal beautiful skeletons that the low winter light silhouettes. Concentrating plants together distills colors and textures, visually contrasting deciduous plants from their evergreen counterparts.

This design is focused on creative stormwater management and serves as a compelling example that native plants can be used in an urban setting. This 60′ x 85′ courtyard is a feature of a new office complex being constructed in downtown Miami and is designed for office worker enjoyment and relaxation during break times. Doubling as a rain garden, the courtyard also serves as an effective demonstration of storm water control and filtration through the use of native plants.

Florida is known for its variety of beautiful ecosystems, among them its freshwater habitats, which are teeming with wildflower and aquatic species. Most of us view these plants from a distance, either on the shoreline or by a boardwalk. Crystal decided to offer people the chance to be up close and personal with our plants at eye level, with a Lake Jesup kayak launch that features a designed setting of native wildflowers, grasses and aquatics. This "garden" brings visitors through a corridor of plants, all at eye level and within reach — a unique, layered viewing experience.

Established as a national campaign to ensure a healthy future for horticulture, "Seed Your Future" promotes the field and grooms professionals for the industry's new generation. Other programs and fields of study, too, are preparing for the industry's future.

Conservationists hope to boost livelihoods along the poverty-stricken Arizona–Mexico borderlands by repairing habitat for more than 900 species of wild pollinators.

This order establishes a National Invasive Species Council co-chaired by the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Commerce and including representation from all major federal agencies. The order references threats from climate change, calls for the use of innovative technology and science to address the problem of invasive species prevention, eradication and control; and asks federal agencies to refrain from authorizing, funding or implementing actions likely to cause or promote introduction, establishment or spread of invasive species (let’s remember that). This order updates and amends a prior executive order on invasive species and specifically defines invasive species with regard to particular ecosystems as non-native organisms whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm, or harm to human, animal or plant health. Non-native or alien species are defined to be those occurring outside their natural range.

For the past few months, Greenhouse Grower has reported on the necessity of the House of Representatives to address the H-2B Returning Worker Exemption before the end of the year, and AmericanHort’s efforts in highlighting the importance of the issue. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives failed to renew the Returning Worker Exemption, a policy that was enacted on a bipartisan basis a year ago and helps ensure that small and seasonal businesses in the landscape industry and beyond have an adequate workforce for the peak spring season. As a result, AmericanHort says an orderly spring 2017 is now in jeopardy.

On Dec. 13, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is allocating nearly $58 million Section 10007 of the 2014 Farm Bill to support 513 projects with partners in 53 states, territories, and the District of Columbia. These projects aim to prevent the introduction or spread of plant pests and diseases that threaten U.S. agriculture, horticulture, and the environment, and to ensure the availability of a healthy supply of clean planting stock.

FANN is now accepting exhibitor applications for the 2017 Native Plant Show, April 20-21 in Bradenton. This green industry professional event combines vendor exhibits with continuing education seminars for 200+ industry professionals including landscape architects, designers, installers, growers, garden centers and retailers, community association managers, municipal and conservation nonprofit staff and more. Booths starts at just $400 plus FANN membership.

Thirty people joined FANN and our newly launched Native Plant Horticulture Foundation in Sanibel Friday, Dec. 9, for the first ever Native Plant Industry Retreat. In addition to FANN leaders and members, our group included Lisa Roberts, Florida Wildflower Foundation Executive Director, Professor Sandy Wilson and grad student Allison Bechtloff from the University of Florida, and Dick Workman, Coastplan Consulting and Southwest Florida native plant legend. We were also really happy to see members bring their spouses and children.

Members elected our new Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting held Friday, Dec. 9, 2016 at the SCCF Bailey Homestead in Sanibel.

Got a great idea for using native plants in the landscape? Put it in front of sustainable landscape leaders by entering FANN’s 2017 Real Florida Landscapes Design Competition, open to professionals and students. Awards are presented at the Native Plant Show. This is a design only competition, no installation required. Winners receive complimentary FANN membership, free admission to the Native Plant Show, feature article in the Native Plant and Service Directory, a plaque and loads of online accolades. Designs must be 100% Florida native plants appropriate for Central, North or South Florida. You choose the setting (residential garden, office courtyard, development entry, rain garden, roadside, parking lot medians ...).

From the Plant Conservation Alliance: Weed scientists in at least two Midwestern states have been reporting for years that a conservation program meant to provide habitat for pollinating insects is sowing bad seeds -- including seeds of the potentially devastating agricultural weed Palmer amaranth -- along with the good. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois have traced the weed seeds to at least one source: pollinator habitat seed sold by a company in the Midwest. This demonstrates the importance of working with responsible companies who are very careful about where they hand and machine harvest their seed.

Much has been written about cost accounting applied to green industry businesses over the last three decades. If fact, I can remember reading trade journal articles in graduate school addressing this subject, as well as throughout my 29-year tenure in academia, and it’s still one of the most sought-after topics I’m asked to address for presentations and articles today.

There’s a plethora of really good articles (that I’ve included in an abbreviated resource section in the sidebar) that talk about costing principles, so I’m going to forego duplicating these articles and instead talk about the overall approach to cost accounting that I think will prove fruitful for owners and operators of greenhouse firms today.

Did you know some weed seeds can lie dormant in the soil for more than a century and then sprout when conditions are right? A new fact sheet available for free download from the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) dives into the topic of weed seed longevity, as well as how weed seeds travel, when and why they germinate, and ways they can be eliminated.