The Guide to Interior Landscape Specifications, 5th Edition, ALCA (PLANET)

Although this drawing depicts how many interior landscapers have been installing interior foliage plants for years, it contains one significant ommission.  It does not depict how to keep plants from sinking into the planters as the well-drained soilless media used in them compacts and decomposes.

It’s springtime, and all the new installations I’m traveling to inspect  look great, with planters full of soilless medium and brand new plants.  However, without a method of preventing the plants from sinking, they AND the soilless medium will be 6" below the planter rim within a year, as in the photo below.  This palm tree has a 14" liner wrapped around its trunks, 4" sticking above the medium, and 10" below the soil, which has sunken beneath the plants.  Duration of installation, 2 years.   

Since exterior landscapers have faced this problem for more years than we’ve been operating indoors, they have devised a method of preventing this problem by using proper planting methods (see previous post).  We can do likewise, so stay tuned for the solution.

Above are photos depicting the proper steps given to exterior landscapers for plant installation.  Simple and direct, the instructions can be followed even without wording as long as the installation person can look at the pictures.  Proper Interior planting is no different, other than we use soilless medium in our interior settings.  What one major flaw could we eliminate in our installations that would give interior plantscape designs a much better chance of survival?  

According to Leah Carlson,
Employee Benefit News

"Corporate investment in employee training has remained constant, while technology use in training programs has grown, partly due to the expanding size and scope of some businesses.

That’s the main message from the American Society for Training & Development’s latest report. The organization’s survey of 344 employers yielded these key findings:

• Technology-based programs were expected to account for 29.4% of employee training last year, up from 23.6% the previous year.
• Employers expected to spend about $812 per employee on training last year, which is similar to previous years.
• Employers expected to provide about 30 hours of training per employee last year, up from 26 the previous year.
• Management, IT and business practices were among the most common training topics last year.

A recent EBN Quickpoll garnered similar results. About 32% of respondents said they use technology very often to deliver training programs, while 38% said they use it sometimes, and 30% said they don’t use it.

Brenda Sugrue, ASTD’s senior director of research explains, “Investing in employee learning continues to be a priority for business leaders. Organizations are linking learning to performance and the bottom line, and they understand the relationship between creating a skilled workforce and achieving enterprise-wide success. … The perceived and demonstrated value of training is increasing.”

Dr. Linus Pauling, American theoretical chemist and biologist 1901-94

If you have ever been challenged for a time and cost effective means to relase "Crypts" into large interiorscape plantings, try this: Find a long bamboo or wooden pole with an approximate diameter of three-sixteenths to one-quarter-inch; insert one end of the pole through the pre-manufactured hole in the Green Methods (@ greenmethods.com)  jar lids and into the jar of beetles, being careful not to injure any of them.  The beetles will climb up the pole to the other end, which should be tucked into the target plant or tree’s foliage. 

If it’s not too hot, they may fly off the pole, but should still make it to the foliage — eventually.  Everyone I’ve told of this technique and encouraged  to try it has reported excellent results. I now suggest this dispersal method to everyone.  Now, isn’t this fun?

Last advisory: don’t wear white (or yellow) clothing when you’re releasing C. montrouzieri. They are attracted to white and light colors and may find YOU irresistible.  To avoid catching the beneficial beetles on any yellow sticky traps you may be using, remove traps from the site temporarily.

Tacca chantrieri

Now here’s an exotic flower from TPIE 2007.  As Barb Helfman and I toured the ever expanding show, we both agreed the purplish-black, whiskered "Bat Flower" was one of the more interesting that could be added to a BLOOMING PLANT program.  The Tacca leaves resemble a Spathiphyllum at first glance, but this plant is unrelated, first being given its own class botanically, the Taccaceae, and more recently being added to the yam family, Dioscoreaceae. 

Although the flowers must be staked, like orchids, to remain upright, they will last several months with adequate water and light.  I recommend trying them on Sippers subirrigation pegs to avoid premature wilting.  Currently they are available from sales@greendalenursery.com.  And please let me know what you think!

		January 26, 2007 TPIE TIMES TPIE – The Only National Tropical Plant Show Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition (TPIE) January 17 – 19, 2008 Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA TPIE 2007 CELEBRATES A FRESH FOLIAGE ATTITUDE More than 8000 industry professionals are starting off 2007 with a Fresh Foliage Attitude after attending TPIE in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. TPIE showed the foliage industry is back in full form despite visits by damaging hurricanes to some of Florida’s major foliage production areas in 2004 and 2005. Not only have plant supplies been restocked, but several companies were showing off entirely new varieties of plants, new packaging and merchandising ideas, as well as inventive foliage decorating concepts to catch the eye of consumers. Fresh ideas abounded at TPIE! Click Here to see 2007 TPIE Booth Award winners. As if thousands of spectacular tropical plants weren’t enough, here are some other things you might have seen at TPIE: live tropical birds greeting attendees; tropical shirts as the preferred attire; broken pots used very effectively as the architectural feature in a container garden; a tiki bar serving education rather than drinks; walking palm trees and crab races; outside seating by the sailfish fountain in 80 degree weather; a session with “smelly” (aka fragrant) plants, cruise ships docked by the convention center and yachts docked by the hotels; TPIE souvenir poster suitable for framing; and even a pair of tropical plant boots! Click Here to see a photo recap of TPIE 2007. “IN MY OPINION” – CLICK HERE to read TPIE’s guest blog by Lloyd Singleton, Landscape Manager of The Breakers Resort in Palm Beach, FL. Read his words to learn the connection between the letter L, TPIE and sustainability. Lloyd’s challenge to the industry involves another L word – Leadership. TROPICAL PLANT SHIRT WINNERS Thanks to everyone who took part in our Tropical Plant Shirt Day drawing on Thursday, the opening day of the show. Anyone wearing a tropical shirt could enter a drawing for prizes. Congrats to this year’s winners: Doddie Raines, Oglesby Plants International; Janice Brooks, Four B’s Nursery; Jack Jackson, Oroville Flower Shop; and Madge Bellinger, Wekiwa Gardens. Thanks to everyone who attended TPIE 2007 and made it such a terrific experience! Mark your calendar now to attend TPIE, January 17-19, 2008 and be ready to discover the expected and the unexpected in the world of tropical plants!
		TPIE© 2007 is sponsored by the Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association (FNGLA). Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association (FNGLA) 1533 Park Center Drive - Orlando. FL 32835-5705. Phone: 407.295.7994 - E-Mail: info@fngla.org All Rights Reserved.

January 26, 2007

TPIE TIMES
TPIE – The Only National Tropical Plant Show
Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition (TPIE)
January 17 – 19, 2008
Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

TPIE 2007 CELEBRATES A FRESH FOLIAGE ATTITUDE
More than 8000 industry professionals are starting off 2007 with a Fresh Foliage Attitude after attending TPIE in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. TPIE showed the foliage industry is back in full form despite visits by damaging hurricanes to some of Florida’s major foliage production areas in 2004 and 2005. Not only have plant supplies been restocked, but several companies were showing off entirely new varieties of plants, new packaging and merchandising ideas, as well as inventive foliage decorating concepts to catch the eye of consumers. Fresh ideas abounded at TPIE!
Click Here to see 2007 TPIE Booth Award winners.

As if thousands of spectacular tropical plants weren’t enough, here are some other things you might have seen at TPIE: live tropical birds greeting attendees; tropical shirts as the preferred attire; broken pots used very effectively as the architectural feature in a container garden; a tiki bar serving education rather than drinks; walking palm trees and crab races; outside seating by the sailfish fountain in 80 degree weather; a session with “smelly” (aka fragrant) plants, cruise ships docked by the convention center and yachts docked by the hotels; TPIE souvenir poster suitable for framing; and even a pair of tropical plant boots!
Click Here to see a photo recap of TPIE 2007.

“IN MY OPINION” – CLICK HERE to read TPIE’s guest blog by Lloyd Singleton, Landscape Manager of The Breakers Resort in Palm Beach, FL. Read his words to learn the connection between the letter L, TPIE and sustainability. Lloyd’s challenge to the industry involves another L word – Leadership.

TROPICAL PLANT SHIRT WINNERS
Thanks to everyone who took part in our Tropical Plant Shirt Day drawing on Thursday, the opening day of the show. Anyone wearing a tropical shirt could enter a drawing for prizes. Congrats to this year’s winners: Doddie Raines, Oglesby Plants International; Janice Brooks, Four B’s Nursery; Jack Jackson, Oroville Flower Shop; and Madge Bellinger, Wekiwa Gardens.

Thanks to everyone who attended TPIE 2007 and made it such a terrific experience! Mark your calendar now to attend TPIE, January 17-19, 2008 and be ready to discover the expected and the unexpected in the world of tropical plants!

The topic?  Mealybug and its beneficial predator Cryptolaemus, complete from "Hot Times for Mealybug in the Night." on my web page.  Ah-h-h, the marvel of modern technology!

Drop me a comment and I’ll be happy to fill you in on all the good stuff I saw at the show.

Cheers!

If you want things to stay as they are, things will have to change."

~Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (Italian writer, 1896-1957)

The 2007 Tropical Plant Industry Exposition starts tomorrow at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Not only is the timing a shot in the arm after the big, holiday push, but tropical plants and sunshine are a big boost to my creativity in the middle of winter.

Let’s see what new plants are available this year, and maybe a few new twists on old, familiar favorites.  New equipment?  Containers?  Everything a plantscaper needs to kick start the business into the new year.

I will be speaking on "The Fundamentals–what every technician should know" on Friday morning from 9:00-11:00 AM, and I hope to see many of my old friends there, as well as meeting many new ones.  Come up to me and tell me you saw my invitation on this web site, and collect a fantastic prize.  I hope to see you there!