Story Of A Landscape: Porcelain Pavers Provide Stage For Concrete Water Table Installation

Every business must keep in mind paying the bills. But, occasionally there are also opportunities to strut your skills and show off some new products while helping a good cause.

For Pacific Outdoor Living, based in Sun Valley, California, one of those opportunities is the annual Pasadena Showcase House of Design. Since 1948, the charity has been raising funds to support community music programs, including awards for instrumental music students, as well as introducing younger children to symphonic music.

The 2017 home featured a 7,000+ square-foot English Tudor on two acres with a Hollywood connection. Built by a star of silent films in 1916, it’s served as a set for several movies.

Photo: Pacific Outdoor Living

Terry Morrill, one of Pacific Outdoor Living’s owners, says this year was also the 18th showcase in which his company has participated.

“We’re active in our community, and it’s also for a great cause,” he says. “Plus, it’s a showcase for our products and we get referrals.”

Another advantage is that participants get more freedom in what they design and install because the work and the materials are mostly donated, although the owner must sign off on the work.

For this year’s project, Morrill was assigned an area between the house and the backyard pool that had been done in artificial turf. Pacific Outdoor Living turned it into an outdoor seating and lounging area that just happens to include a 1,400-pound piece of art as its centerpiece.

Photo: Pacific Outdoor Living

After removing a large piece of the artificial turf, Morrill chose to anchor the 1,500-square-foot patio with a porcelain paver product from Mirage USA and its NooN series in honey, offered by Belgard.

“It has a wood-grain look running through it in planks, so it gives the appearance of a wood patio,” he says. “We wanted to put the look of wood out there. It’s a contemporary space for a very traditional house, and this let us showcase it.”

Another advantage: Morrill says they’re very stain-resistant and will age better than regular concrete pavers. Belgard donated the pavers, which are sand-set on four inches of compacted road base topped with an inch of sand and the joints filled with polymeric sands.

Photo: Pacific Outdoor Living

Although the pavers were recognized by Hardscape North America as the winner of this year’s competition for a porcelain — residential job, they merely serve as the stage for a custom-made water table that’s the highlight of this job.

Morrill explains that the concrete table was hand-cast by Santa Cruz, California-based 5 Feet from the Moon and is 15 feet long.

“It was made off-site and we brought it to the home on the casting table,” Morrill says. “We built a pedestal of concrete blocks that it sits on. Then, it was mostly a matter of needing lots of guys. We took it to the site on a Bobcat, with forks holding the whole table, and then about a dozen guys lifted it into place.”

He adds that the site has about a 1.5 percent slope to allow for drainage.

Photo: Pacific Outdoor Living

Morrill explains that the table itself is level, but the precast stream has a slight slope, so the water runs from the far end to a pondless water feature closest to the house. The design is such that the small pondless waterfall appears to flow into a larger pondless water feature on the other side of the patio.

To further enhance the idea of an outdoor room, Pacific Outdoor Living installed a canopy structure with a metal frame and sliding awnings overhead to supply shade as needed. The longer sides of the room are further defined by screens made from a synthetic material by Tidelli Outdoor Living, a Brazilian company with a Southern California outlet.

Tidelli also provided the outdoor lounging furniture for the project.

Photo: Pacific Outdoor Living

“We had to agree on it,” Morrill says. “If the homeowner didn’t like it, we would have let them display what they wanted to display.”

Lighting for the project was provided by Lightcraft Outdoor Environments of Chatsworth, California, and features the company’s new bistro string lights, among others.

“There are probably four lights in the pondless waterfall, and the table has recessed edge lights underneath, so they shine down,” Morrill says. “There are probably two dozen accent lights on the trees and the buildings, as well.”

Planting around the room features a mix of succulents, grasses and flax that he says ties together quite nicely.

Photo: Pacific Outdoor Living

Morrill says the work took between three and four weeks of work to pull together, and utilized several of the company’s specialized four-man crews. Perhaps not surprisingly, his favorite feature, and the one of which he’s most proud is the water table.

“I love the table and how its colors and size fit the space,” he says. “It really helps define that space. And, I love to watch the water coming off it.”

However, he adds projects that are so custom are not only more challenging, but they can also be more time-consuming than working in the average client’s backyard.

Photo: Pacific Outdoor Living

“Plus, you must have special situations to use something like the table,” Morrill says. “Just how functional this is going to be for the homeowner is a different question. It’s hard to combine a piece of art with something that’s completely functional.”

The use of the porcelain pavers is another story, though.

“We’ve done several jobs with them since we did this,” Morrill says. “They’re a really good look, and they’re going to stay looking new for a long time.”

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Peer Group Participation Leads To Lasting Friendships

Ryan and Benton Foret, brothers who own and operate The Foret Group in Thibodaux, Louisiana, participate in a peer group facilitated by consultant Marty Grunder. Benton, company founder and the older of the two brothers by four years, runs his company’s contracting division while Ryan runs its green division.

“One of the things we appreciate the most about our group is the friendships that we have formed,” says Ryan. “We have gotten to be very close to some of the longer-term members along with their wives and their kids. We’ve really developed some life-long friendships.”

Being invited to visit different members’ facilities over the years, while offering great educational benefits, has also strengthened these friendships, Ryan continues.

“Fellow members give us the keys to their businesses and let us go in and look for things that can help us do things better, safer and more efficiently,” he says.

In March 2018, the Forets will be opening their facility, located about 50 miles southwest of New Orleans, to other group members — the second time they have done so. “We’re excited about showing them the changes we have made over the years and how are business has grown,” Ryan adds.

Adds consultant and peer group facilitator Jeffrey Scott: “As a business owner, it can get very lonely at the top.”

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How Contractors Prepare For Unknown Winter Challenges

One of the trickiest aspects of snow removal is dealing with the unknown. Winter is coming on fast, but snow — how high, how often, how extensive — is often a question. How to prepare for the colder months, and for a season that may not dump that much of that cold, white stuff, keeps owners of snow removal companies on their toes year-round. It has to.

The key is to prepare. Make sure you have a workforce you can not only call on but count on. Have enough salt. Price your services reasonably and don’t lose money. Use the latest equipment. And live up to your contracts, particularly the commercial customers whose parking lots are your bread and butter.

Sean Bishop, the president of Ground Effects Landscape Design & Construction, the firm he runs in Carver, Massachusetts, a town midway between Boston and Providence, R.I. Ground Effects services communities from Boston to Cape Cod.

“The secret to snow is really do as much preparation before the snow season as you can,” Bishop says. “Learn from experience and other business owners and don’t overcommit your resources.

“I see a lot of companies try to take on a ton of work with limited resources; then we get a big, long-duration storm and they have a lot of problems. Never a good idea.”

Since he launched Ground Effects in 1995, it has added equipment and grown into a $3 million firm in which snow management represents about 20 percent of revenue. Balance is a key notion for Bishop.

When planning for a snow season, Bishop says he tries to account for the following:

• Balanced account portfolio of seasonal flat-rate clients based on a high and low average and a client mix of private, commercial and municipal work. “This way we can make sure our operational costs are covered no matter what comes with the season — snow or not.”
• Make sure you have good liability insurance; shop it to agents every season to get the best rates.
• Pre-buy salt and ice melt early, basing need on seasonal averages, and always have extra supply if needed in a bad season.
• Always plan for worst-case situations.
• Build relationships with other companies for backup if needed. “We all need friends in this business.”
• Keep a supply of parts for emergency repairs.
• Train crews while weather is good so they learn the routes before a storm comes. Retrain every year.
• If you plan and rehearse enough, when the big snow comes, it’s less of a challenge to deal with.
• Don’t take on more than you can do in a 12-hour window. Never overcommit your resources. Clients have expectations that their property will be ready for business as soon as the snow stops. “We work to get all sites open by a certain time window. We know we can handle X amount of work in that window with the resources we have. If we stay in that time frame, we know our clients can be done in a reasonable amount of time. If you stick to that you will have happy clients.”

The work is hard but rewarding, suggests Bishop, who can’t overemphasize the importance of fair pricing. “Snow management is tough, dangerous work,” he says. “You are up for days, you spend a lot of money on staff, equipment and resources, and you deal with demanding clients and very expensive insurance costs. Charge what you need to cover costs and make a reasonable profit. Too many people in this business are losing money. Think about it: Do you really want to be the low bidder on every job you take on? That means all your competitors would have made more money than you. Me, I prefer to negotiate a fair price for the services we provide and take care of my clients.”

Good pay for hard work

Pay your workers well and you’ll do well, suggests Daryl Macdonald, president/owner of Valley Enterprises Ltd. in suburban Vancouver, British Columbia. That means paying them handsomely even during a season of sparse snowfall. An hourly rate of $50 — based on a base rate of $25 an hour — makes for loyalty.

“Snow is the hardest business to run because you never know what to expect from Mother Nature,” he says. “Here in Vancouver we went from two years with no snow and 15 de-icings to a 30-year record snowfall with cold temperatures and our first salt shortage – which also lasted for days for almost three months straight. We definitely had our challenges this last year, but we managed to get through it.”

Staffing is hard to manage, especially securing trained operators, Macdonald says. “What we do is hire people who have no work in winter like pavers and roofers; anyone who has no work due to the snow is who we try to hire as paid on-call. I can’t guarantee them any cash, but what we do is we pay people really well — double the Industry standard in our area. We pay our operators combined wage plus bonus of $50 per hour.

“We pay our employees and top (the rate) up to $50 an hour, which is a $25-an-hour bonus,” he says. “We just hired them for the season but we also hired some per event. That depends on our needs.”

If good wages are critical, so are equipment and supplies.

“Ten years ago, we went to our first Snow and Ice Management Association show and learned about snow pushers for a skid steer,” Macdonald says. “This gives us the competitive advantage in our area because no one in our area knew anything about the snow pusher, so we can charge the same and get done faster. Technology has also changed in the pusher industry as there now are sectionals and ones that angle and quad directions, which also will give better efficiency.”

As for salt, Valley Enterprises always has it on hand. It has to take care of that itself, because local suppliers aren’t always open at convenient hours.

Daryl Macdonald of Valley Enterprises pays his employees up to $50 per hour to ensure they will be ready when the snow flies.

“You have to stock up ahead of time at your locations and watch your par levels,” says Macdonald. “This year we built a salt compound to hold 150 tons of salt so we always have some on hand. Also, I keep enough salt in to cover three snow de-icing events as an emergency supply.”

Valley Enterprises is about 15 years old and has four employees, making it one of the bigger snow contractors in the area.

This past season was dramatic. “2016-2017 was a 30-year winter record for our area,” Macdonald recalls. “It was so chaotic people were fighting over free pail salt at our local fire stations, and as soon as they dumped it people were stealing it. They also had to hire security guards to protect the salt so that no one would steal it overnight until 9 a.m. pickup.”

Visit PlowSite.com for more forums on equipment, business management and technical information. Join the conversation in the largest community of snow and ice business professionals.

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Power Up Your Company With A Peer Group

If experience is the best teacher then Ben Carruthers might rightly be considered one of the deans of The University of Landscape — certainly no less than a distinguished professor given his experience. Carruthers, however, harbors no such pretensions even though he’s approaching his 40th year as the owner of a major Dallas-area landscape company.

The way he sees it he’s still got a lot more to learn about owning and running a landscape company. For that reason, Carruthers, owner of Carruthers Landscape Management, participates in a peer group facilitated by long-time lawn care and landscape business owner Fred Haskett.

“I appreciate that the other owners in our group see things through different eyes, and there are a lot of things that they do better than I do,” says Carruthers, whose approximately 100 employees service commercial properties from two locations throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro market.

“The Dallas market has always been a shark tank. But when I got in it they (competitors) started heating it up and now it’s boiling,” he adds in his friendly and deliberate north Texas drawl. He credits participation in his group as leading to significant improvements in his company — a revised handbook, more efficient onboarding processes, improved training, etc.

“We made a lot of changes to our company this year, and we’ll make an equal number next year,” he continues.

Carruthers is one of several hundred green industry business owners now participating in peer groups, learning and sharing what’s worked and not worked for them with other owners in small confidential groups.

His facilitator, Haskett, in his relatively new role with The Harvest Group, is the most recent industry expert to begin developing peer groups. Other popular industry consultants busy developing and facilitating peer groups include Bruce Wilson, Jeffrey Scott and Marty Grunder.

The proliferation of peer-to-peer networks is one of the landscape industry’s most significant trends … not that it’s a particularly new trend. Wilson and his former partner entrepreneur Tom Oyler started the first industry peer group about 15 years ago. Wilson of Bruce Wilson & Co. now facilitates eight peer groups, which include three “legacy” groups and five in partnership with the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP).

Today, there are at least 20 landscape groups and one group headed by Scott composed of irrigation company owners. New groups are being formed regularly. These alliances consist of non-competing owners representing companies of somewhat similar size and service makeup. Groups can have as few as four or five member companies and as many as 12. Most facilitators, however, like to keep them to about six owners.

“When there are too many people and too many business models in the group, they don’t click, they don’t come together and there are too many people talking about too many different topics,” says Haskett.

Building openness and trust

The goal of these groups is to get members to “open the doors” of their operations to each other and to freely share their experiences as owners — employee issues (hiring, firing, motivation), marketing/sales, operations, financials and so forth. For this reason, members are required to sign non-disclosure agreements, shares Wilson.

“Members engage with each other on a regular basis to build trust and create lasting, business-building relationships in a confidential setting,” he adds.

Peer groups are basically self-governing. Members decide where they’re going to meet and when, what they’re going to discuss and ultimately — with input from their facilitator — who can become a member. Most peer groups meet face-to-face twice annually along with scheduling teleconferences at regular intervals.

Peer groups rely upon facilitators to administer them. The role of facilitators may vary slightly from group to group, but apart from helping determine the group’s makeup and scheduling meetings and teleconferences, their main role is to keep discussions among members on point and constructive.

So, at what point in a company’s size and development should an owner investigate joining a peer group? The answer is different for every owner and every company.

The company owners Turf interviewed for this report say that eventually their companies developed to a certain size and complexity where they struggled to maintain control and profitability. Trying to keep their firms moving in the right direction was exhausting them. They realized they needed help.

While owners of companies with annual revenues of $500,000 or less may join and successfully participate in a peer group, the majority join because their companies have reached $1-million-plus and they can’t manage them effectively on their own. Companies in the $2-million to $8-million range seem to make up the majority of group members in today’s peer-to-peer alliances.

Seth Kehne joined a Jeffrey Scott group about five years ago. Kehne’s company was doing about $1.7 million a year then.

“At the time, I was doing all of the day-to-day work,” he recalls. “This year we’re going to be doing about $5 million and none of my job description is day-to-day,” which, in large part, he credits to what he learned and implemented from his peer group participation.

Peer group a good fit for you?

This, of course, leads to the question — what type of owner excels as a peer group member? Company size is not an accurate predictor of success. Owner temperament and a willingness to listen and contribute are better indicators.

“Members of a peer group must connect emotionally. They must like each other because they’re going to dig deep into their companies and they’re going to share,” says consultant Haskett.

Facilitators and peer group members vet prospects and must agree before letting new members join their group. New members, replacing those that have left for a variety of reasons, are always welcome because they bring new ideas to the discussions.

“There are large companies that would make terrible members and small companies that make awesome members,” says Scott, who adds that it generally takes new members of a group “a couple of meetings to figure out ‘the rhythm’ of what’s going on.”

“A lot of the success of a peer group is getting the right people in the first place,” adds Kehne.

“Members must also hold each other accountable,” says Haskett. “When somebody in the group says for the third meeting or conference call in a row, ‘I haven’t gotten around to it yet.’ The other members get on them for it. We call it ‘care-frontation,'” says Haskett.

“You don’t want to show up at the next meeting without having fixed or least showing that you’re working on the problem you identified to the group the last time you were together. The accountability aspect is really important. Peer pressure can be an effective way of getting someone to take action,” says Kehne.

Mike Schimmel, president of Bella Terra Landscapes in Lincoln, Delaware, adds: “When you say you are going to do something to improve your company and you don’t do it, then the other members look at you like you just don’t care. There is an elevated sense of doing.”

Cost worth the benefits?

The first question anyone considering joining a group might ask is: What will it cost me in terms of time and money?

Owners often view the cost of joining a group as an expense rather than.  as an investment in their businesses. That’s skewed thinking, say peer group members Turf interviewed. They say that the benefits of participating in terms of improving their businesses and forming alliances far outweigh the costs.

“For us the decision to join a peer group was a no-brainer,” says Kehne in Knoxville. “The opportunity cost away from work is the one I had to think twice about. The majority of people I’ve gotten to know in my group say the return they get is much more than they spend in time and money.”

Jeffrey Scott says the members of his groups regularly improve profitability by 27 percent after their first year.

“I wouldn’t let financial considerations dissuade anyone from joining a peer group,” adds Schimmel, who is finishing in his first full year in Haskett’s Harvest Group.

All of the peer groups identified by Turf magazine require members to pay for their own travel to attend two face-to-face gatherings with fellow members annually. Apart from the cost of airfares and hotels, members pay facilitators for their services, too. Depending upon factors such as face-to-face meetings, conference calls, one-on-ones with their facilitators, etc., fees can range from $3,000 to $9,000 annually per member.

Several facilitators base their fee structure upon the size of the companies in the group, with companies in the $500,000- to $2-million range, for example, paying less than groups composed of companies in the $5-million-plus category. Others, such as consultant Jeffrey Scott, charge the same fee regardless of company size. Scott, 10 years as a facilitator, maintains one of the largest network of peer groups, seven for landscapers, one for irrigation pros.

Then there’s the time away from their companies. Participation in a peer group requires members to be away from their businesses for face-to-face get-togethers two to three days twice a year.

Generally, these meetings follow a well-established pattern.

Group members, including their facilitator, generally meet for a casual dinner the evening before beginning the official working/sharing meeting the following morning. They may work the entire day in the agreed upon location. Or, after lunch that first day they may tour one of the member company’s facilities. Later that same afternoon or early evening, after owners have had a chance to wind down a bit, everyone reconvenes for some sort of recreational event.

In most cases, group members meet again the morning of the second day for more sharing of issues and topics — often financials or personnel matters. Most peer groups break up by noon the second day when everyone heads back to their businesses or homes.

Once they return to their businesses, it’s time to implement some of the ideas they received within their group.

“When we first started it was like drinking from a fire hose but now it’s like drinking from a high-powered faucet,” says Kehne. “I came back from my first meeting with five things to do. But now, years later, even if the group can help me do one thing better it can save my company thousands of dollars a year.”

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Learning How To Build A Dream Leadership Team With Jeffrey Scott

Economic indicators point to strong consumer demand for green industry services again in 2018. But even in strong markets and operating in favorable economic conditions, unforeseen events can dramatically rock your landscape company’s revenues and damage its profitability.

For example, you can lose one of your cornerstone accounts to a competitor. (Is it wise to have so much of your anticipated revenue tied up in a single account or two?) Or, one of your key leaders may leave your company. Worse yet, you, the owner, could get sidelined with an injury or illness.

Be honest with yourself: How likely, in the event of any of these disasters, is it that the other leaders on your team can come together to continue to move your company forward?

Business consultant and author Jeffrey Scott, in a recent webinar, offered excellent insights on building a dream leadership team, a team that will drive your company to greater levels of profitability or, should the unexpected happen, help you overcome serious challenges your company may face going forward.

“Chaos happens. Mentally you have to be prepared for it; and, leadership-wise, you have to be build a team that can handle these ups and downs,” Scott says. Eventually all companies get hit with unforeseen setbacks from time to time, he says. This is especially true for landscape companies, due to the weather-dependent nature of their services and the incredibly competitive environment in which they must operate.

Different personalities, different strengths

For starters, Scott shared that companies need leaders possessing different, but complimentary strengths. One of the tools he suggested owners use to gain insights into leader candidates’ tendencies and traits is personality testing. “These profiles help you understand what motivates a person. Everyone is motivated differently,” Scott says.

He added that great leadership teams often feature individuals characterized by the “Four I’s,” the four personality traits that, in large part, determine the overall strength of a team.

1. Insulator: This is an individual that likes to work in a silo and is not particularly suited personality wise to managing or nurturing. They might be a great technologist or sales person, but not often a good candidate for a top leadership or manager role.
2. Inspirator: Scott describes this person is a self-starter and constant learner. They’re emotionally intelligent, self-confident and they enjoy mentoring.
3. Integrator: This is the leader that’s able to “see the big picture and connect the linkages” in your company, Scott says. They understand how the whole company connects as a whole, from administration to sales, to operations and finally to customer service and to client wins.
4. Innovator: The innovator is a risk taker, the person on your team most likely to challenge both themselves and others on your team, and help develop and bring new ideas to fruition, Scott says. Also, this is usually the leader that helps your company stay true to its underlying character and mission.

Because of a gap in your leadership team, do you feel pressure to rapidly advance somebody already working for you, perhaps a great field technician, sales person or even a good manager?

Think it through carefully before going down that path. Be careful before promising a career path to a leadership role for even a loyal and competent employee or manager. “Leadership and management are not the same thing,” Scott cautioned. That’s not to say that the employee you’re considering can’t become or can’t be groomed to be a good leader. It happens. Sometimes.

Career tree vs. the career path

Often, however, establishing a career path for one of your employees — for example, from laborer to crew chief to production manager to sales person, etc. – is unwise, Scott says, referencing the so-called “Peter Principle,” popularized by educator Laurence J. Peter a half century ago. His management theory, in a nutshell says an employee only stops being promoted once they rise to the level of their incompetence.

“Sometimes a person is better off moving sideways in your org. chart,” Scott says. In other words, creating a career tree rather than a career path is more often the better option for keeping a good employee engaged and improving your company’s performance.

“You want to show them a career tree with multiple career paths that are based on your company’s vision, on how your company is going to develop over the next three years and 10 years. Using a career tree allows you to make tactical decisions with this person to help you find a best fit for them,” Scott says.

Scott added that bringing in “young blood … someone with new ideas, new connections and someone with a real understanding of new technology,” can be a smart move to re-energize your team.

Three keys to engage your team

Regardless of the makeup of your leadership team, Scott emphasized three key elements to keep it engaged and moving forward:

• Nurture cohesive conflict: One of your responsibilities as an owner is to create “cohesive conflict” within your leadership team, and then make sure that it’s maintained respectfully and in a manner “that raises everybody up,” Scott says. Maintain communication channels from the bottom up in a culture of honesty, and in an atmosphere where it’s safe for team members to say what they’re thinking.
• Select and measure meaningful metrics: Leaders help decide which metrics to measure. Every leader should have metrics that, by achieving them, help others within company and moves your company to achieving its broader goals. “Some companies have too few metrics and some have too many,” Scott says.
• Be open to bold breakthroughs: Encourage leadership team members to “keep their head above the ditch” so they can identify key industry trends, consider new technologies and monitor client preferences, etc. “Great ideas can come from anywhere,” Scott says.

Every new season brings with it new opportunities as well as new challenges — sometimes big, unexpected, unwelcome challenges. If you put together and maintain a core of trustworthy, talented leaders you can go home after each workday confident that your company will prosper regardless.

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5 Stubborn Weeds That Resemble Wildflowers

They’ll emerge when you least expect it, or maybe right on time. Perennial and annual weeds in the landscape can cost in resources consumed, hours logged and plant quality reduced. Getting ahead of them — or stopping them in their tracks — saves not only all of the above, but it gives you peace of mind. The first step? Identification. Here, American Nurseryman Magazine highlighted a few wickedly stubborn weeds that look like wildflowers.

Photo: iStock | Watcha | Ian_Redding

1. Plantago major

Among the most common and persistent of perennial landscape weeds is Plantago major, the broadleaf plantain — no, not the banana relative. It’s easily recognized by its basal rosette of leaves that are generally smooth and broadly to narrowly oval, bearing a resemblance to those of spinach. There’s no visible above-ground stem, so the low-lying weed can be somewhat difficult to pluck if hand-weeding is attempted. A short taproot is present, but unless the entire root is pulled, this perennial will spring back up in no time.

If left to develop, leafless stalks emerge to bear long, dense, cylinder-shaped flowering and fruiting spikes; the single flowers are tiny and inconspicuous, and the equally small fruiting capsules yield a plethora of narrowly oval, brown seeds.

Photo: iStock | pazzy774 | PaulReevesPhotography

2. Lotus corniculatus

The semi-erect stems of Lotus corniculatus (birdsfoot trefoil) spread up to 3 feet long, growing from a rugged, dense crown. This tangle of a perennial plant forms a sturdy mat from stolons and rhizomes. Alternate, compound foliage is composed of five oval to rounded, smooth margined leaves; on each compound leaf, there are three larger leaflets at the terminal and two smaller leaflets near the stem.

Bright yellow to golden yellow, pea-like flowers, which sometimes are delicately streaked with red, gather in flat-topped clusters at the ends of long stalks. Fruit comprises several cylinder-shaped pods that are formed in the shape of a bird’s foot. Each capsule holds several oval to round, shiny, dark olive to black seeds.

Photo: iStock | slur

3. Rumex crispus

The elongated, narrow leaves of Rumex crispus (curly dock) form a low-growing rosette; each leaf emerges somewhat oval to rounded and then stretches to form a lance-shaped leaf that sports wavy margins.

The perennial plant bolts prior to flowering, unbranched — and it can reach 3 to 4 feet in height.

Clusters of small, greenish flowers bloom on the upper stems, maturing to a deep, reddish brown. A single seed is enclosed in a shiny, reddish brown, three-sided fruit. Smooth, erect stems have multiple branches and may reach up to 12 inches tall.

Photo: iStock | dadalla | Whiteway

4. Senecio vulgaris

Although it’s an annual, Senecio vulgaris (common groundsel) is capable of producing multiple generations each year, making control rather like a game of whack-a-mole. Variably shaped leaves emerge in alternate arrangement and can be sparsely hairy to smooth, with margins that appear smooth to slightly wavy. Older leaves bear deep, irregular lobes and coarsely toothed margins.

Clusters of several yellow, cylinder- to cone-shaped flower heads appear at the ends of stems, opening to reveal small, rayed, golden yellow, daisy-like flowers. At maturity, a puffball-shaped seedhead develops — somewhat resembling that of a dandelion — and each small seed is then windborne.

Photo: iStock | gubernat | sjallenphotography

5. Convolvulus arvensis

This lovely plant is proof that some of the worst thugs are among the loveliest in appearance. Convolvulus arvensis (field bindweed; morning glory) is a twining, creeping perennial vine that invades and doesn’t let go. It climbs, it creeps, it trails up to 6 feet or more, and slender stems break easily, making removal difficult.

Alternate, arrowhead — to spade-shaped leaves grow to about 1 to 2 inches long.

The easily identified, funnel-shaped, morning glory flowers generally are white but may blush slightly pink; each flower has two leafy brackets about 1 inch below the flower base. Fruit appears as egg-shaped capsules containing small gray, brown or black seeds.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in American Nurseryman Magazine.

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Small Business Optimism On The Rise For 2018

Small businesses are feeling pretty good already this year, according to Turf‘s surveys, as well as general small business surveys. More than 60 percent of landscape professionals are planning on raising prices this year in mowing and maintenance services.

And according to the Capitol One Small Business Growth Index, 60 percent of small business owners feel that current business conditions are good or excellent, indicating that optimism is at peak level.

In fact, “small business owners are exuberant about the economy,” says Juanita Duggan, president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), publishers of their own Small Business Optimism Index. “We haven’t seen this kind of optimism in 34 years, and we’ve seen it only once in the 44 years that NFIB has been conducting research.”

What’s behind all this optimism?

Capitol One survey respondents point to rising consumer optimism being a nice boost to small business optimism.

Second, job creation plans increased by small businesses, NFIB says, meaning the labor market is showing signs of improvement. And the number of small business owners who said it’s a good time to expand also increased. “Hiring plans soared, primarily in construction, manufacturing and professional services,” says NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg.

Finding qualified workers has been a persistent problem for landscape businesses and small businesses alike. At the end of 2017, it was the second most important problem facing small business owners, according to NFIB research; only taxes polled higher. Nearly half (45 percent) of small businesses answering the Capital One survey also list taxes as their top small business concern.

If tax relief happens, Duggan says “2018 is shaping up to be a great year for small businesses, workers and the economy.”

What do you think? What are your expectations for 2018? Let us know by sending a note to nwisniewski@grandviewmedia.com.

The post Small Business Optimism On The Rise For 2018 appeared first on Turf.

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