2011 Spring Edition

Message from the President

Dear NYSNLA Members:
Spring is a great time to focus on our businesses’ growth, as well as on the future growth of NYSNLA. I encourage you to ask questions and promote the association while you’re doing business with contacts in your region. Brag about the support, educational opportunities and benefits of doing business with members of our industry. This is a perfect season to attract new members. We are the positive influence that new business owners need as a blueprint for growth and correct information in the green industry.

NYSNLA’s strength depends on the recruitment of new members and the involvement of our current members. We will accomplish tremendous things for our businesses and our industry if we all dig in and work together.

In partnership,

David Dailey, Jr., CNLP
President

Thank You for Your Membership in 2011

Thank you to members who have recently joined NYSNLA, and many thanks to those who renewed their memberships. We appreciate your support.

Welcome New Members:

If you haven’t yet renewed your membership, do so today or click here for a 2011 Membership Application.

Do Business with a Member!

Doing business with another NYSNLA member enables you to support progressive green industry businesses that are investing in the future of our industry, and also encourages those who aren’t yet members to join you in NYSNLA.

Look up a NYSNLA member anytime using the Member Search tab at www.nysnla.com.

Create Your Own Opportunities at the 2011 Leadership Forum

Join NYSNLA this Fall for the 2011 Leadership Forum, Wednesday, November 2—Thursday, November 3, at the newly renovated Plantations at Cornell in Ithaca.

This year’s event, Creating Growth Opportunities, offers you a wonderful opportunity to experience the new Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center on The Plantations at Cornell University and learn best practices in growing a successful business. The program will be geared to owners and staff focusing on improving customer service, sales and communication skills, and on building relationships with other green industry professionals from across the state.

Sessions:

• How to Create Customers for Life…in 30 Seconds or Less – Rich Gallagher of Point of Contact
• New and Forgotten Pest Resistant Trees and Shrubs for New York – Dr. Nina Bassuk, Professor, Horticulture Department and Program Leader of the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell University
• The Go Green Movement: How Do New Initiatives Affect the Greenest Industry? – Dr. Jennifer Grant, Asst. Director & Community IPM Coordinator, Cornell University
• A Guided Tour of The Plantations

Special Events:

Kathryn Boor, Cornell’s Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences, will be our featured speaker at Lunch. This is an extraordinary opportunity to hear about Kathryn’s new role as Dean. Her message will focus on the importance of Cornell’s partnership with the horticulture industry in New York State.

Sponsorships are available! Consider the opportunity to have your company’s name on this year's Leadership Forum materials. There are many levels of sponsorship that offer an effective means of delivering your company’s message. Click here for a sponsorship brochure. You can call Mike or Jaime at Association headquarters for information on tailoring a sponsorship to meet your needs.

Calling All Bidders!

The Nurserymen’s Foundation Auction will be held at the Leadership Forum's Annual Reception at the Moakley House at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course on the Cornell campus. We need your help! Donated auction items raise money to support educational scholarships for nursery and landscape professionals. Please be generous and creative with your donations. Everyone will benefit…and maybe you can win a real treasure for a great cause!

This Month's Supporter Profile

Unilock, a family-owned and -operated business, introduced the paving stone to North America in 1972. Backed by family values and a commitment to quality and innovation, Unilock has grown to become the premier manufacturer of paving stones and retaining walls. Traveling the globe in search of new inspirations, Unilock strives to stay in touch with the illuminating world of fashion, design and manufacturing techniques to ensure that its products continually reflect the evolving needs and styles of its customers.

For over 30 years, Unilock has grown its business solely on the demands of the landscape industry, and has brought more new products to the market than anyone else. For those looking to create a unique outdoor living space, Unilock offers the essential elements of design with the most innovative products found anywhere in North America. And because we’re a business backed by family values and integrity, you’ll be glad you chose Unilock as your partner in design.

For a complete listing of products, visit www.unilock.com.

2011 Partners and Supporters

We thank our corporate partners and supporters who invest in the mission and values that NYSNLA represents. With their support, the Association continues to serve the needs of its members.

Your sponsorships are always welcome and are a positive way to support your industry and showcase your products and services to fellow NYSNLA members. Please contact us at info@nysnla.com for further sponsorship information.

Partners
The Flanders Group
Milton CAT

Platinum
Belgard Hardscapes/Manufactured by Oldcastle Domine
Preferred Seed Co., Inc.
Unilock, Inc.

Gold
Bristol’s Farm Market & Garden
Clifton Recycling, Inc.

Silver
Association Development Group Inc.
Atlantic Nurseries/Landscape by Atlantic Nurseries
Atlantic Nursery & Garden Shop Inc.
Batavia Turf
Birchcrest Tree & Landscape Inc.
Farm Family Insurance Company Region 4
Fuschetto & Son Nursery, Inc.
J. Ratto Landscapes, Ltd.
Landscapes East Inc.
Michael Grimm Services, Inc.
Northridge Nursery and Garden Center
Patrick Manley, Inc.
Rare Earth Nursery
Steven Dubner Landscaping, Inc.
Watson Farms, LLC
WeCare Organics

Bronze
Admar Supply Company
Cazenovia Equipment Co., Inc.
Hadley’s L.L.C. - Landscape Design & Services
Jansen Nursery LLC
Jessica Richer, RealtyUSA
K&K Mason - Stone Supply
Metamorphosis Landscape Design Ltd.
Plant Health Care, Inc.
RealTree Landscapes I, LLC
The Evans Agency
Turf Tamerz, Inc.

2011 Arbor Day Celebration

NYSNLA would like to congratulate Alexis Alvey of Commack for submitting Beneath the Beech, the winning artwork for the 2011 State Arbor Day Poster. We want to thank all of the artists who submitted their work. We appreciate your creativity.

NYSNLA will be participating in the State Arbor Day Celebration on Thursday, April 28 at Capitol Park in Albany. Everyone is invited to join us for this inspiring event.

Arbor Day is April 29th. NYSNLA has a complete toolbox to promote tree planting to your customers and community. Go to the Arbor Day tab on our website, www.nysnla.com, to access the Arbor Day history, a certificate for participants, a ‘fill in the blank’ proclamation for a public official to use, ready-to-use discount coupons to present to your customers, and information to distribute on planting: ‘Right tree, right place’.

Arbor Day posters and bookmarks will be available through your regional or Association headquarters soon.

Members in the News

CONGRATULATIONS to NYSNLA Past President and Hall of Fame inductee Heinrich Fischer, CNLP of Sundown Designs-NY, LLC, Fairport and John Niggli, CNLP, of Lightscaping by Niggli Associates, Rochester for being recognized as graduates of the first class of Certified Outdoor Lighting Designers (COLD) at the annual meeting of the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals (AOLP) in February.

The COLD program is an advanced level of specialized training in landscape lighting design. It is the only certification program of its kind currently being offered in the industry. Participants spend four years in the program developing their lighting expertise and building on a series of fundamental principles that are universally acknowledged to form the basis of “good and responsible” lighting design. During the program, lighting designers engage in peer group studies, in-depth project observation, professional seminars and personal growth projects in order to analyze and improve their work.

The program’s primary goal is to promote design excellence while allowing for the development of an individual’s own lighting design style.

During the conference, John Niggli was elected by the members to serve as a Director of the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals.

Nice job, Heinrich and John!

First Call for NYS FAIR Volunteers

It’s a long NYSNLA tradition to exhibit at the Great New York State Fair. This year’s NYS Fair is scheduled for August 25–September 5, 2011 at the NYS Fairgrounds in Syracuse. The NYSNLA booth is a place where the general public can interact with green industry professionals to learn about our industry, as well as a place where you can showcase your talent and expertise.

We are looking for volunteers to help clean up the Gardens and work the NYSNLA booth. Your time and effort would be greatly appreciated. Mark your calendars now for the great NYS Fair. More details on volunteering will be sent out soon.

Legislative News

H-2B Program Rewrite Underway

By Craig Regelbrugge, ANLA

As ANLA has warned, the Department of Labor, bowing to labor union pressure, is rewriting the H-2B temporary and seasonal nonagricultural worker program. Proposed changes are described in a 78 page notice published in the March 18, 2011 Federal Register. The publication comes one year and three days after DOL published new rules for use of the H-2A agricultural program. The changes to H-2A, coupled with bureaucratic delays and arbitrary application denials, have severely damaged that program.

“The great irony is that one arm of the Obama administration is conducting a record number of random immigration compliance audits of employers, while another is busily at work destroying the only legal-labor programs available to seasonal and agricultural employers,” said Craig Regelbrugge, ANLA vice president for government relations. “In doing so, Obama’s DOL is jeopardizing the jobs of thousands of Americans employed in farm, seasonal, and green industry businesses, and in the surrounding economy from which these businesses buy products and services,” Regelbrugge added.

A copy of the proposed rule can be found here. ANLA is carefully reviewing and will comment on it. Comments are due on or before May 17.

Manager’s Corner

Money-Saving Insurance Tips Presented By:

Five Steps To Setting Safety Goals
By: Linda Rees-Murray, NYSNLA Insurance Program Manager, The Flanders Group

If you can't define it, you can't measure it. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. If you can't manage it, you leave it to chance. Safety is not something employers can afford to leave to chance. Take these simple steps to insure success with your safety program.

Step 1: Make sure your goals are SMART
S
Specific
M
Measurable
A
Achievable
R
Realistic
T
Time Bound

Step 2: Establish benchmarks and track success over time
So how safety goals should be measured? There's no one easy answer, but likely the best safety measurement is a company's accident incidence level-tallied through a formula that counts every accident requiring medical attention. The incidence level is calculated by multiplying a company's accidents by 200,000 and then dividing that by total company employee work hours.

Step 3: Reasonable, yet challenging, goals should be set. Typical safety goals may include:

• Achieving a reduction in lost-time injuries over a certain time period
• Regular and active participation in a safety committee
• Reaching monthly, quarterly, or yearly accident free time periods
• Developing an action plan to eliminate a hazard
• Conducting regular safety audits or/or safety training presentations
• Achieving or improving results on a safety inspection
• Documenting and reporting unsafe conditions from employees

Step 4: To focus results on Workers Compensation costs, you need to know your Loss Ratio (the ratio of losses paid out versus premiums paid in). There are two ways to keep your Loss Ratio low:

1. Decrease the FREQUENCY of accidents, and
2. Decrease the SEVERITY of an injury when it occurs.

Step 5: Develop, publish, and disseminate goals to all employees on a regular basis.

For assistance with setting SMART safety goals, please contact Linda Rees-Murray at 800-462-6435. For more information, contact The Flanders Group – NYS Nursery Landscape Association Insurance Program Manager at 800-462-6435 or on the web at www.flandersgroup.com.

Milton CAT LANDSCAPER’S TOOL BOX

Some proven tools that will help you cut down on waste and improve efficiency.

Short-term equipment and work tool rental.

Short-term rental is a cost-effective, convenient and flexible solution to the needs of today’s busy landscapers, and the Milton CAT Rental Alliance makes it easy. Rental Alliance members are independently owned and operated rental stores that understand the landscape business, and carry top of the line CAT machinery and work tools.

Completing jobs on time and on budget even when things turned out differently than planned; being first to grab new business and saying “yes” to customers’ requests even when they require equipment you don’t currently own…it’s all within your reach with the Milton CAT Rental Alliance network.

Visit www.rentmachines.com today for a list of Alliance Members in your area.

Call the Milton CAT location nearest you for sales rentals, or more information on new or used machines and landscaper’s tools.

• Clifton Park (518) 877-8000
• Batavia (585) 815-6260
• Syracuse (315) 476-9981
• Binghamton (607) 772-6500

Get More from Your Membership: Enroll Your Business with Energy Plus®!

Start earning Cash Back just by paying the electricity bill! NYSNLA has made choosing an electricity supplier easy by making a custom electricity program available to members through a partnership with Energy Plus®. You can enroll your business with Energy Plus® to receive Cash Back on your electricity supply charges each year, an Activation Bonus just for signing up, and eligibility for sales-tax waivers!

As a NYSNLA member, you can receive a sales-tax waiver of up to 9.75% on the delivery portion of your bill each month AND a $50 Activation Bonus when you sign up your business. You’ll also receive an automatic 3% Cash Back rebate on your electricity supply charges every year. You can even enroll your home for a $25 Activation Bonus and earn a Cash Back rebate of 2%.

Best of all, you can try Energy Plus® risk-free. There are no changes to your service—your utility company will continue to deliver your electricity, mail your bill, read your meter, and handle any power outages. There are no sign-up fees, cancellation fees, or long-term commitments. To be eligible, you simply need an address within the Energy Plus® service area, which covers all of New York State, except for areas covered by the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), due to limited eligibility for choice programs in the LIPA region.

Enroll Your Business Today!
CLICK HERE
Or call Energy Plus® at 877-770-3372 and mention Offer Code “NLA-0148.”

Announcing Beetle Busters: A Real-World Environmental Science Program from the USDA

Order Your FREE Copy at BeetleBustersKit.com

Beetle Busters is the newest educational component of the USDA’s ongoing effort to eradicate the invasive Asian longhorned beetle in at-risk communities across the United States.

The Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) national-use curriculum is now available for use by educators with upper elementary, middle and high school classrooms, as well as after-school/summer programs. Educators can order their free copy of the curriculum kit via the link provided. The kit will contain the “Educator’s Guide to Stopping the Asian Longhorned Beetle”, an identification poster, identification cards and bookmarks. The files may also be downloaded from the www.BeetleBusters.info site. At this time, APHIS is not stocking hard copies for its own use but is allowing educators to request copies; all components, however, are available as downloads. Please help spread the word about this new resource.

5 Key Steps to Aligning Around the Customer

from Retail Customer Experience

Retail executives today commonly describe their organizations as customer-centric. Most have probably even witnessed that big "our customers come first" announcement, where the CEO proclaims a new era of customer-centric strategy. However, as customers, we often experience the opposite, with gaps in product or service needs, hidden fees, misleading or irrelevant offers and poor customer service. More

America In Bloom Launches Communities in 2011 Program

from Greenhouse Grower

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of America in Bloom, citizens in more than 20 towns across America are working on local revitalization programs as they prepare for visits from America in Bloom (AIB) judges. These towns are planting, cleaning and doing everything they can to be in the running to be named the best blooming, most livable town in America. More

The New Great American Lawn

Once upon a time, long, long ago, far, far away, in an America that was much simpler than today, there lived lawn - lawn of every size and description. These lawns were spread out over the suburban landscape like a diverse living carpet and were tended for their utility and beauty, much like today, but with one big difference. One thing all of these lawns had in common, no matter where they occurred: they were composed of all sorts of plants, not just grass. Click here to read entire article

Business Opportunity

Landscaping Business for Sale

After 30 years in the business in Bethlehem, NY, this turnkey operation is looking for new owners. Included are the book of business, all plant and hardscape inventory, and equipment. The real estate is for sale separately and includes a single family residence, 5.8 acres of land, a barn, and two shed buildings.

If you are interested, please contact Jessica L. Richer, Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker, at (518) 364-7406 or at jricher@realtyusa.com.

Click here for more information on the business and property.

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