April 2011
T h e O f f i c i a l P u b l i c at i o n o f t h e T e xa s N u r s e ry & L a n d s c a p e A s s o c i at i o n
Southern Living
Plant Collection
Several new additions for spring
2011 featured at Fort Worth
Botanic Gardens
Pag e 6
Hill Country
Water Gardens
Sells Splash
Landscaping
for the
Cure
Profitable strategies for
garden retailers
Pag e 14
P lu s :
8 Thriving in a Low Bid Market
31 Notes from SFA Gardens
25 Certification Bragging Wall
pag e 11
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April 2011
F EAT U RES
6
11
6
Southern Living Plant Collection
8
Thriving in a Low Bid Market
11
Landscaping for the Cure
14
Hill Country Water Gardens Sells Splash
In support of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden’s efforts to educate
the public on horticulture and the environment, the Southern Living
Plant Collection contributed several plant varieties, including new
additions for spring 2011.
Getting your phone to ring is just one step in building a successful
business. What you say as you answer the phone, what you don’t say,
and the order in which you say it matter immensely. How you convert
a lead is a science just as predictable as proper soil preparation. by
Tony Bass
For the most part, the general public doesn’t recognize the benefits of
plants, and thus far the Green Industry hasn’t done a terribly good
job of telling them, which is all the more reason that philanthropy
efforts can transform a business—and a community. by David Fried
TNLA member, Steve Kainer, shares his strategies for making
fountains, statuary, and garden art a profitable category for garden
retailers. by Richard Jones
C o lu m n s
21
21
23
25
27
29
31
33
IPM Spider Mites by Scott Ludwig, Ph.D
Marketing The Language of Facebook by Constant Contact
Certification Worth Bragging About by Michael Brown, TCLP, CPTM, CLIAM, CSRWI, LI, LPCA
Tradeshow Tips So You Want Good Results? by Adam Baggs & Emma Swales
Capitol Perspective Legislative Update by Jim Reaves
Notes From SFA Gardens Adventuresome Horticulture by David Creech
Water Words Promote Water Saving Products by Jeff Carowitz
Departments
Texas Nursery & Landscape Association
7730 South IH-35
Austin, TX 78745-6698
phone: 512.280.5182 or 800.880.0343
fax: 512.280.3012
email: info@tnlaonline .org
19 Newsbites
32 Newly Certified
36 New Members
36 Classified Ads
36 Advertisers Index
37 Calendar of Events
Stay Connected!
www.tnlaonline.org
Co v e r p h oto : P r i d e o f B a r b a d o s ,
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© Terie LaField
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T N LA G r e e n
by D av i d K a s s i n
Fried
Landscaping
for the
2007 was a rough
year for the
LaField family.
It all started two
years earlier when
Terie’s father, John
Graham, was diagnosed with cancer.
He wound up on the same floor of the
oncology ward as his sister in law, Patty,
who was dealing with her second bout
with the disease.
Cure
John and Patty were only two of the
six relatives Terie lost in 2007. The
family spent the year going from one
funeral to the next. But amid all of
it was a hidden blessing - one that
completely transformed LaField Lawn
and Landscape, and would provide hope
to thousands.
care of it for him. They even put in
a butterfly garden, and he would sit
outside watching the birds and the
butterflies for hours on end.
Hope Grows
Then a strange thing happened.
As John went through his treatment,
there came a point when he could no
longer maintain the yard he’d taken
such pride in before. Fortunately, as
the owners of a lawn and landscape
company, LaField had no trouble taking
Left and right, the LaField’s began
stumbling upon cancer patients. So they
decided to start performing various
services for them at no cost, touching
people’s lives forever. Someone let them
(continued on page 12)
by D av i d K a s s i n F r i e d
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T N LA G r e e n
Texas Healing Gardens
tDell’s Children Hospital
(2008-2009 TEIL Winner)
Amarillo - Northwest Texas
Healthcare System
Austin Child Guidance Center
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
tScott & White Healthcare
Round Rock
tree with pink shading. In the design,
the pink represents hope, which is
“growing” into the tree - the idea being
that curing cancer is ever more possible.
(continued from page 11)
know about a family that had a two
year-old girl with a rare neuroblastoma
in stage three. When she and her father
flew to New York for surgery, they came
home a few weeks later to a perfectly
manicured lawn.
Shortly after that, the son of someone
Terie knew was diagnosed with leukemia.
So in the early evening at a time when
they knew no one was home, Terie and
her crew snuck onto their front yard and
set up Christmas lights. The next time
she ran into the boy’s mom, the mom
shared about this amazing miracle, and
how her son thought it must have been
a “yard angel” who came to visit them.
After Christmas was over, they came
back when no one was around and took
the lights down. To this day, the family
doesn’t know who to thank.
That boy passed away this past
Thanksgiving, but the girl survived—an
extremely rare occurrence for this form
of cancer. But the hope and the joy
Terie brought to both, and to all the
other families they’ve helped in similar
ways, has been a humbling, emotional
experience to everyone in the company.
They call this initiative Hope Grows,
which is represented by a logo of a
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Tied to Hope Grows is the Honor Tree
program, started in the final few months
of John Graham’s life. To honor cancer
victims and their survivors, LaField
donates a portion of every tree they
plant to San Antonio’s START Center,
a cancer treatment and therapy facility,
and the world’s largest clinic for Phase I
clinical trials. Terie sees this as a way to
use her company’s gifts and talents not
only to bring hope, but to raise money to
conquer cancer. “We don’t want to fight
it,” Terie says, “We want to win.”
A Growing Vision
This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms
of the philanthropy efforts LaField has
been participating in. And the attention
it’s brought them has been somewhat
overwhelming. Most of the people
who work in the Green Industry are
well aware of the many benefits of
beautiful landscapes—faster recovery
times, reduced stress and anxiety, less
pain, and an overall improvement in the
palliative experience being just a few of
the concrete measures that could best
be summed as “plants makes you feel
better, faster.” The world’s best hospitals
all have “healing gardens” of one kind
or another, and in recent years, the
benefits of plants have been supported
not just by anecdotal evidence, but
through empirical research, too.
Some of that research is nothing short
of astounding: Pothos plants absorb
radiation; lingering paths stimulate brain
activity; different textures and sounds
help stroke patients recover their lost
senses; landscapes reduce violence, and
they increase people’s lifespans. The list
goes on and on.
For the most part, the general public
doesn’t recognize these factors, and thus
far the Green Industry hasn’t done a
terribly good job of telling them, which
John Graham with his fully-restored ‘52
Chevy truck. While he is no longer with us,
his example of craftsmanship lives on.
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T N LA G r e e n
The Hope Bug
LaField Landscape’s new company vehicle is a VW Beetle, which
they’ve named the Hope Bug. Since the company stresses native
plants and wildlife, the
custom paint job
features lizards, frogs,
and native plants,
all designed to be as
realistic as possible.
Every person they help
through Hope Grows
will get to pick out a
Texas butterfly and add
their name to its wing.
Power of Plants
Responses from 143 garden users
at four San Francisco Bay Area
hospitals
How do you feel after
spending time in the garden?
79% More relaxed, calmer
25% Refreshed, stronger
22% Able to think/cope
is all the more reason that these sorts
of philanthropy efforts can transform a
business—and a community.
Terie’s long-term goal is to fulfill a vision
she promised to her father: to have a
horse ranch with cabins, walking trails,
streams, and ponds where patients
could recover in a serene environment.
Oncologists and pastors could make day
trips out to the area, so people could
be treated in a completely nurturing
environment.
Beyond that, she wants to inspire other
Green Industry businesses in a similar
direction. “So many companies around
the world are raising money for cancer. It
would be so cool for them to say, ‘I take
care of the people in New Braunfels,’
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or ‘I take care of the people in The
Woodlands.’” All it really takes is adding
one lawn to a couple of routes per week
for patients and families who are in crisis.
“Maybe it’s not cancer, but some other
passion,” Terie says. “Either way,
companies like ours have unique talents
that can be put to good use.”
Hidden Blessings
Terie doesn’t believe in coincidences, but
rather that the hand of God is in all she
does. Recently she was out shopping for a
friend, and she went into a Vera Bradley
store—not a place she typically ends up.
She noticed they had a cancer foundation,
and through a series of conversations
found herself talking to a 21-year
T e xa s N u r s e ry & L a n d s c a p e A s s o c i at i o n
19%Feel better, more positive
6%Spiritual connection
5% No change of mood
What is it about the garden
that helps you feel better?
59% Trees, plants, nature
58%Smells, sounds, fresh air
50% Place to be alone or
with friend
26% Views, sub-areas, textures
17% Practical features,
benches, etc
8% Don’t know
Source: Cooper Marcus, C and M.
Barnes, 1995
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TNLA Green
(Landscaping for the Cure
continued from page 13)
survivor of that same neuroblastoma as
the two year-old they’d helped. To meet
another survivor of that rare form of
cancer was extremely rare.
Through this
experience, Terie
donated a
tree to Vera
Bradley, which
they raffled
off for charity.
The winner
chose to have
it planted at the
START Center—
without knowing Terie or her growing
association with that facility. That tree was
planted earlier this year.
additional resources
2011 is a good year for the LaField
family. m
(Marketing continued from page 23)
establishment or attending their event.
(Note: this feature can be blocked in
your settings).
Privacy Settings Facebook has a
myriad of privacy settings that you
can use to control who sees what. It’s
good to keep an eye on any changes to
Facebook’s Terms of Service since they
change the range of settings and their
defaults from time to time .
uHealing Gardens Nurture the Spirit
uTherapeutic Landscapes Network
uHealth & Wellbeing Benefits
of Plants
uAmerican Horticulture Therapy
Association (definitions)
uTherapeutic Benefits and Design
Recommendations
uSan Antonio’s START Center
areas of content. Customers can
add additional tabs using pre-built
applications or by building their own.
contact with them and the person does
not get notice that you have done so.
Tag You can tag friends in pictures,
places, videos, and in text, which places
a link from the item to their profile.
Tagging a person’s face in one of your
own photos will allow that person’s
friends to see your photo, depending on
the tagged person’s privacy settings.
Unfriending When you “unfriend”
someone, you are disconnecting your
Share Sharing is synonymous with
posting or publishing. The share feature
is what makes publishing content to
Facebook so powerful. By sharing great
content, you can encourage your friends
and fans to syndicate your message,
creating a powerful network effect.
Tabs Along the top of a Facebook
The LaField team at the START Center in San Antonio,
standing alongside the newly planted tree. (l-r) Rick LaField,
Otto Garza, Terie LaField, Modesto Ayala, Wesley Hearn
0411green.indd 28
Wall This is your own profile page and
the updates it contains. People can
write updates on your wall that are
viewable by all your friends.
Wall to Wall Think of it as being able
to eavesdrop on a public conversation;
writing on someone else’s wall means
that anyone you’re connected to can
read what you wrote. m
additional resources
uHow to Create A Facebook Page
uFacebook Instructions
uAdd Cool Apps to Your
Facebook Page
uBuilding a Stellar Facebook Page
uAdd a “Like” button to Your Website
uMake the Most of Your Wall Posts
uAppbistro tabs for Your
Company Facebook Page
profile or page, tabs separate out
28
uLaField Lawn & Landscape
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T e x a s N u r s e r y & L an d s c a p e A s s o c i a t i o n
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April 2011
4/6/11 9:13:44 AM