Updated May 6, 2020
Britt Wood, CEO and Andrew Bray, VP, Government Relations of the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) discuss the latest stimulus bill and how companies can ensure they get the federal aid they need, NALP’s coronavirus resources and the challenges the association and the industry will face in the upcoming weeks.
Watch the latest episode here.
Updated April 30, 2020
Marty Grunder applauds the green industry, offers advice
In this newest installment of Landscape Management’s At Home Edition, LM Editor-in-Chief Seth Jones visits with Marty Grunder, president and CEO of Grunder Landscaping Co. and The Grow Group, and monthly LM columnist. Marty tells us about the common characteristic of the companies that are succeeding in the pandemic; what his national network of landscape and lawn care companies are telling him; and why he’s proud of the entire green industry.
Watch the latest episode here.
Updated April 27, 2020
Lawn care company gives back in Colorado
Mary and Eric Infante, co-owners of All American Lawn Services in Evans, Colo., wanted to do something to help during this COVID-19 global pandemic.
“I felt this overwhelming need to give back,” Eric Infante says. “The only way I could think of was donating my services since I’m out there mowing anyway. Why not help?”
Learn how the Infantes are giving back to their community.
Aspire, The Grow Group host April 30 webinar on boosting sales and marketing
Aspire and The Grow Group present “Recharging Your Sales and Marketing Efforts” on Thursday, April 30, at 2 p.m. EST.
The webinar will provide practical strategies and tactics for calibrating sales and marketing efforts
For more information and to register, click here.
Updated April 23, 2020
Landscape Management: At Home Edition, Episode 2
In this episode of Landscape Management: At Home Edition, Scott Kinkead, executive vice president of Minnesota-based Turfco Manufacturing, discusses how the company decided to shut down for a week to make sure their employees were safe; how the company was able to work safely upon reopening; and how efficiency has become more important than ever.
Watch LM: At Home Edition, Episode 2 now.
Back to work in Minnesota for Doehling Landscape Services
Matt Doehling, is glad to be back to work. Doehling, owner of Doehling Landscape Services in Shakopee, Minn., was originally among the businesses classified as a nonessential service in Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s executive order in March. But, as of April 8, landscaping operations were essential businesses so he and his employees could start the season.
While nonessential, he had to lay off his six full-time employees on his 50-50 commercial and residential maintenance operation. He says he wasn’t able to go into the office to process payroll in the strictest reading of the executive order.
Unable to work, Doehling took to an advocacy role. Click here to read more about how he communicated to his clients about his business being labeled nonessential.
Updated April 22, 2020
Crew management game-changer in North Carolina
“We are 100 percent working,” says Michael Hall, owner of ProGreen Turf & Landscape in Newport, N.C. “We haven’t slowed down.”
Hall says this time of year is always busy for his operation, but it seems busier than usual.
ProGreen Turf & Landscape’s provides about half design/build and half maintenance and turf management services to a 60 percent residential, 40 percent commercial clientele.
One of the biggest innovations to come out of COVID-19, Hall says, is how he’s approaching hiring. He’s noticed more applicants for jobs within the last week and not always from a landscaping background. Click here to learn more about Hall’s strategy.
Jeffrey Scott to host new webinar on thriving in a crisis
Jeffrey Scott will host a free webinar on Thursday, April 23 at 2 p.m. EST to help landscape professionals navigate the coronavirus crisis and learn from it.
The webinar is entitled Thriving in a Crisis: 10 Lessons You Should Learn From This Crisis to Keep Your Business Healthy and Thriving.
Nufarm creates Virtual Learning Series
Nufarm launched a new Virtual Learning Series for turf and ornamental professionals in light of the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.
The series features short learning modules on various industry topics, including naturalized areas maintenance and premium weed control for sedges and kyllinga. The modules feature insights from Nufarm’s technical services team: Jason Fausey, Ph.D., Aaron Hathaway and Rick Fletcher.
Updated April 20, 2020
Landscape Management: At Home Edition
Landscape Management Editor-in-Chief Seth Jones is forced to shelter-in-place and his travel schedule has been shut down, but that won’t stop him from interviewing people in the industry.
Conserva Irrigation is surviving — and thriving
For Conserva Irrigation, an irrigation firm with franchises across the U.S., the business is not just surviving — it’s thriving, according to Russ Jundt, founder of the company.
“While it’s been an awkward time where we’ve needed to pivot and be more thoughtful and more prepared, with all the different CDC protocols, our sales for Q1 were up 65 percent year over year and it’s not slowing in April,” Jundt says, adding that the company has been declared an essential business in all of the states where it operates.
In addition to wiping off equipment (including customers’ controllers), frequent hand washing and using sanitizer, keeping vans and vehicles limited to a one-person capacity and encouraging social distancing practices, the company has implemented other protocols to keep its clients and employees safe. For example, at some locations, technicians’ temperature is taken and recorded before they’re allowed to work.
Koch Turf & Ornamental updates customers on COVID-19 response
Koch Turf & Ornamental has worked with its manufacturing and distribution partners to implement safety measures at its facilities and respects the safety measures of its customers.
Like most companies, Koch Turf has restricted nonessential travel and in-person meetings. Koch Turf continues to serve customers and their businesses through many digital solutions, including video conferencing, email, social media and texting.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Koch Turf had already prepared for the season from raw material and manufacturing perspectives. Production is operating as normal; no interruptions are expected, and all products are currently available for 2020.
Learn more about Koch’s product availability here.
Updated April 15, 2020
Project EverGreen develops healthcare worker initiative
Project EverGreen has formed the GreenCare for Troops Cares for Our Health Care Heroes initiative to provide nurses, paramedics and other front-line health care professionals with complimentary lawn care and basic landscape services.
Current GreenCare for Troops volunteers are asked to nominate front-line healthcare professionals in their community to receive services. Volunteers are encouraged to identify potential recipients through neighborhood groups, school or church groups or social media. The expanded program will run through Oct. 1.
Updated April 14, 2020
Drost Landscape prepares action plan should landscaping be declared essential in Michigan
While landscaping has been declared as a nonessential service in the state of Michigan, the team at Drost Landscape in Petoskey, Mich., is poised to jump back into work and armed with an action plan should the ban on landscaping services be lifted, according to owner Bob Drost.
“This was something we were blindsided by. We had no idea it would be such a pandemic worldwide,” Drost says. “General Manager Dale Drier, our HR person and our lead project manager, they have put things in place so that when the governor does give us the clear to go back to work, practicing social distancing and all the other things, we are prepared.”
He adds that Michigan Landscape and Nursery Association has been hard at work to persuade the state to bring back landscaping as an essential service.
Leaf Burrito relocates to new facility
Leaf Burrito has replanted itself and moved to a new “Burrito Factory” facility in Charlotte, N.C. “As COVID-19 cannot stop the weeds, grass and hedges from growing, we have no choice but to keep on keeping on,” says Leaf Burrito inventor and CEO Marc Mataya. “We’re now actively hiring more staff as we prep for an epic rebound of the market after the country gets COVID under control.”
Leaf Burrito retains its “Made right in the U.S.A.” slogan and is proud to have started in, and devotedly stayed in the USA for its manufacturing.
Updated April 13, 2020
Silver linings at Cherrylake
Cherrylake sees silver linings on the horizon as it expects its maintenance and construction sectors to keep pushing forward, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The central Florida company, which ranked at No. 127 on the 2019 LM150 list, is comprised of an 1,800-acre tree farm, a landscape and irrigation construction division and a landscape maintenance division.
“We’re very fortunate to be considered an essential business in Florida,” says Chloe Gentry, director of organizational development and marketing at Cherrylake. “Our first priority is to make sure our employees and our community stay healthy and safe. Our second priority is to make sure we keep operations and revenue flowing so that we can keep people employed.”
FMC Professional Solutions to accelerate rebate checks for FMC True Champions program
FMC Professional Solutions is accelerating the issue of rebate checks to end users enrolled in the FMC True Champions program.
Lawn care companies and golf course end users who earned a rebate for participating in the 2019 FMC True Champions Program and/or the FMC 2019 Early Order Program will now receive their full rebate checks by May 30. These checks were originally planned to arrive by June 30.
In a direct response to the COVID-19 outbreak, FMC also will extend 90-day terms on all agency stock-keeping units in an effort to help end user customers.
Updated April 10, 2020
Reconfigured in Pennsylvania due to COVID-19
“This is a whole new rollout,” Zech Strauser, president of Strauser Nature’s Helpers in Stroudsburg, Penn., says of the realignment of his crew.
The company provides 75 percent maintenance and 25 percent design/build services to an 80 percent commercial, 20 percent residential clientele.
Strauser shut down his company’s operation for two weeks to configure his team more efficiently. Although his company was considered an essential business, he saw those two weeks as a critical time to take a step back and do a reset.
