Proceedings Library

ELANDS NURSERY

Let me start by giving you a bit of information on Elands Nursery. The nursery is owned by the Carter Brothers. Their parents bought the property in approximately 1973 when it was being run as a cut flower farm. Mrs. Carter started growing some plants to sell at a farm stall they owned. The wholesale business grew, and in the early 1990s they also owned five retail outlets in the Eastern Cape.

Seeds can be divided into two types:

• Orthodox seeds which can be stored.
• Recalcitrant seeds which cannot be stored.

ORTHODOX SEEDS

We will start with the germination of orthodox seeds. All orthodox seeds have one or more strategies to delay germination and members of the same genus may use different strategies. Ninety-five percent of the blocking strategies are chemical and 5% are physical, and they need to be removed or inactivated before the seeds will germinate. Methods of overcoming these strategies include the following.

Drying the seeds before storage at room temperature in a dry state inactivates some of the germination inhibitors. Namaqualand daisy seeds require storage for 6 months or longer and Strelitzia seeds require at least 12 months of storage. However, it must be remembered that no seed can be kept in dry storage indefinitely.

Legislation regarding rehabilitation after development is now stricter than ever, and there is an increasing demand for horticultural skills in order to carry out plant rescue and propagation. The ability to propagate species that have never been cultivated before, and on which little or no information is available is increasingly important. In the process, indigenous species of ornamental value may be discovered and introduced to the market.

CONSERVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION

Delosperma virens, a low-growing, almost constantly flowering, mound-forming succulent is an example. It was propagated for coastal development and proved so successful in nursery trials and on the site that it was introduced to the market where it is rapidly becoming popular in both the landscaping and retail markets.

Jefferson’s methodical record-keeping reflects his view of the natural world as a biological laboratory. One of his most enduring legacies was his garden diary, published as Thomas Jefferson?s Garden Book in 1944. This edition includes not only his personal garden book — a "Kalendar" of plantings in his garden, short treatises on soil preparation for grape vines, and meticulous notes on how many "grey snaps" would fill a pint jar — but also extracts from the letters he wrote and received con?cerning gardening, natural history, and landscape design.

Biodiversity is a very "new" word that biologists understand and the rest of us are just beginning to. What does biodiversity mean? Biodiversity is the sum total of all the World’s life forms, organisms, and genes; it is nature’s fail-safe mechanism against extinction. In fact Darwin’s Theory of Evolution can be summarised as "survival of the fittest" and presumes a biodiverse world.

Most of us think of biodiversity in terms of the animals we see and love like the orange-bellied parrot, or plants like the Wollemi pine ignoring insects and microbes that we can’t see that, in fact, provide the habitat for those endangered. But our horticultural heritage is under even greater threat as I will explain. In fact, my central theme is that preserving heirloom vegetables represents a preservation of diversity similar to the conservation of species diversity in the wild. Let me give you a little background to our work.

Diggers Seeds began 30 years ago as cottage gardeners growing foxgloves, hollyhocks, and scarlet runner beans. About 20 years ago we created our first vegetable garden inspired by that great Chateau of Villandry in France. Instead of 20,000 m² ours was just 200 m² , but we were approaching vegetables from a flower gardener’s perspective.

This project was facilitated by Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) in partnership with the nursery industry. It was funded by voluntary contributions from industry. The Australian Government provides matched funding for all HAL R&D activities. Swinburne University also provided me with funding, all of which was greatly appreciated.

True to the IPPS motto "Seek and Share," I am one of six young propagators given the opportunity to join the young propagators tour of the U.S.A. This was a 3-week tour of the United States visiting nurseries, university research stations, and significant gardens in North Carolina, Tennessee, and California. It also included attendance at the IPPS Southern Region conference. The tour allowed us to visit a range of amazing places and meet some true international industry leaders. We have all come back inspired and keen to share what we have learned with our peers.

I am involved in Horticultural Education in Melbourne, and consequently my perspective and observations differ to that of the other participants on the tour.

This paper will be divided into two parts. The first part will look at the various products that can be used to control moss in a production nursery and their effects on controlling moss. The second part will be a phytotoxicity trial on selected plants from the Proteaceae family. By the end of the trial it is hoped that one or more effective moss control chemicals will be found. An effective chemical will be assessed by a 90%+ control coverage. An effective chemical will also be judged on whether it has any phytotoxic effect on the plant.

Moss thrives on moist, fertile, and slightly acidic to acidic soils in shady areas. There are environmental ways of controlling moss such as changing factors to make them less favourable for moss development. Unfortunately most production nurseries have one or multiples of these factors which make very favourable growing conditions for moss, and which they are unable to remove. This makes it hard to control the moss through environmental methods.

Prevention is better than a cure; however trying to prevent moss growing can be a problem.

Members of the geranium family are widely cultivated in Australia, and like the rest of the world, Australians largely confuse the two major genera, Geranium and Pelargonium. The confusion is an old one stemming from the 1753 lumping of both genera by Linnaeus into the single genus Geranium. When pelargoniums were later being introduced to Europe, the wrong name was applied and they were called geraniums (Hibberd, 2003). The confusion between Geranium and Pelargonium is so entrenched that most books on the subject preface their work with lengthy explanations of their use of the terms. Characteristics of three genera commonly cultivated in Australia are given in Table 1.

The Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988) has as its principle objective: "to guarantee that all taxa of Victoria’s flora and fauna?can survive, flourish, and retain their potential for evolutionary development in the wild."

Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation to which Australia is party states that "60% of threatened species (are to be) in accessible ex-situ collections."

The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, as a member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, adopts the guidelines of this organisation in its ex situ plant conservation activities. We are increasingly playing a critical role in threatened species conservation in Victoria.

Unlike many approaches to plant breeding where uniformity is the desideratum, best practice plant breeding for conservation allows for inclusion of maximum genetic variability (e.g., Falk and Holsinger, 1991; Guerrant et al., 2004; Vallee et al., 2004). The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne (RBGM) is involved in a number of species recovery actions for threatened Victorian plant species and in these we aim to maximise genetic representation while restricting source material to individual populations. There are two main thrusts of our native species conservation activities.

I began farming blueberries at Moondarra, in Gippsland Victoria, after meeting with Dr. Ridley Bell from Horticulture Research Institute (HRI) Knoxfield in 1979. The business Moondarra Blueberries is centered on both fruit production and plant propagation. I run the business in partnership with my son Joel.

The commercial blueberry industry in Australia is based around three types of blueberries. The northern highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum) (NH) is a high-chill type and southern highbush (V. darrowi) (SH) and V. asheri (rabbiteye) (RE) are low-chill blueberries.

As a cultivated plant the blueberry is a newcomer. The first selections from the wild were made in the 1920s. One of those wild selections named ‘Rubel’ is still today listed in some blueberry nursery catalogs. The first release of named cultivars of blueberries to Australian growers was from the HRI at Knoxfield in 1979. These consisted of 15 selections grown from imported seed raised at Knoxfield as well as some popular U.S.A. cultivars imported as plants. There have been many other importations since then from both the U.S.A. and New Zealand, mostly southern highbush.

To survive many natural stresses, such as low soil fertility, drought, and temperature extremes, most plant species have over time established a symbiotic partnership with a unique group of soil organisms called mycorrhizal fungi.

This family of beneficial fungi lives in and around the roots of 90% of the earth’s plant species, effectively working as a secondary root system, extending themselves out into the soil. Mycorrhizae extract mineral elements and water from soil for their host plant, and in turn, live off the plant’s sugars. Trees and plants with thriving "mycorrhizal roots" systems are better able to survive in stressful environments.

The name "mycorrhiza" means "fungus root" and this is derived from the close association of the fungi with plant roots. There are four kinds of mycorrhizal fungi: arbuscular, ectomycorrhizal, ericoid, and orchid.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi are one of the more unique groups of fungi as they are largely external in nature. These are the fungi that form a symbiotic relationship with a plant by forming a sheath around the root tip of the plant. The fungus then forms an inward growth of hyphae (fungal cell growth form) which penetrates the plant root structure to facilitate the two way transfer of nutrients and sugars.

Laboratory propagation of plants was first attempted in 1874 by Noel Barnard for the raising of orchids from seed by using a fungus in the medium. Orchids generally cannot be propagated without a symbiotic fungus. This was probably the first method for the in vitro propagation of any plant. In 1884 Lewis Knudson developed an asymbiotic method of growing orchid seed in vitro.

During the 1970s and 1980s there was an explosion of general plant tissue culture laboratories in Australia. Most laboratories grew the same range of carnations, ferns, philodendrons, African violets, syngoniums, roses, kangaroo paws, bulbs, and natives. As far as I can establish, unfortunately none are still in business.

The summer period of December to February is the warmest period, but over the last 10 years, the warmer months have been earlier and extending later into autumn. The 2006–7 year saw very warm conditions from early October in late May 2007. The 2007–8 season had very warm temperatures in October to early December, then wet in the middle of December and extreme heat in late December 2007 to middle January 2008. We experienced many days in a row of 35 °C plus, with very low humidity. In the past we would have had 2 days in a row and then a cool change. The warmest part of the day has changed from 2:30 to 4:00 PM to between 4:00 and 5:30 PM. If we are experiencing climate change, I don’t think we can truly know for many years to come. The extended warmer periods, with very little cooler periods in between, are changing how we look at growing advanced trees.

Current Parentage of all Hybrids.

• Brachychiton grandiflorus Guymer
• Brachychiton bidwillii Hook.
• Brachychiton garrawayae (Bailey) Guymer
• Brachychiton velutinosus Kostermans
• Brachychiton acerifolius (Cunn. Ex G. Don) Macarthur
• Brachychiton ×carneus Guymer (B. grandiflorus × B. garrawayae(
• Brachychiton ×roseus Guymer nothosubsp. roseus (B. acerifolius × B. populneus)

The Poor Knights have always featured in my life. In the early 1960s my parents bought a farm on the Tutukaka coast where I grew up with the rest of my family and where I live with my wife and two children today. It just so happens that our farm is the closest point on the main land to the Poor Knights. From where ever you are on the farm they lie right on the horizon dominating the view. My father who had a science degree and knew a lot about marine biology was good friends with many of the early pioneering scuba divers; in particular Bill Palmer and they would spend many evenings discussing Bill?s new finds. We also seemed to have a number of Poor Knights plants in our garden and a specially fenced paddock for a collection of flax snails (Placostylus species) that just so happened to be the same as you would find on the Poor Knights.

When my wife and I started Kingfisher Nursery in the 1970s the demand for container-grown nursery stock in the United Kingdom was increasing with more garden centres developing and the biggest challenge was expanding the nursery fast enough to satisfy the demand. Whilst there was a price premium for better quality plants there was a ready market for most shapes, sizes, and grades of plant. The range of selection offered in the trade was limited compared with today and often plant buyers preferred to stick with their old favourites. Established nurseries were still making the transition from field growing to container production so we as newcomers were on an equal footing with industry legends, some of whom were slow to recognise the future potential of container growing. Garden centre owners were often keen horticulturists, the plant area was larger than the shopping area and their customers were mostly enthusiasts, who gardened all year round.

Modern culture (and particularly design) seems to be heavily concerned with reinventing almost everything. This has been evident in New Zealand gardens, where we have seen a major shift in recent years, especially from a state of heterogeneity towards a more homogeneous industry. There has been a reduction in the range of plants available, and the manner in which these plants are used. As a result, gardens in general within New Zealand are becoming culturally and botanically less diverse.

Rather than enter into further erudite discussion regarding the reasons behind this direction within horticulture, I will just state my position on it right now. I don’t like it. In pursuing the simplicity, unity, and cohesion that modernism values highly, landscape designers are increasingly producing bland, over-simplified "products." Dynamism is under-valued. Detail is surrendered in deference to "clean lines" and surface. Beauty is expressed in relation to a limited range of abstract concepts, rather than felt on a basic visceral level.

Before I retired I was employed as Technical Officer in The Fernery in Pukekura Park, New Plymouth. Part of my job was to look after the very diverse orchid collection that the Fernery is known for. This extensive collection has been assembled over many years by George Fuller and others. This paper will look at some of the background in the development of the terrestrial orchid species Disa uniflora and its hybrids as export cut flower and pot plant crops in New Zealand (N.Z.).

THE PLANTS

Disa is a genus of over 100 species of terrestrial orchids that mainly occur in southern Africa in habitats that range from swamp to seasonally dry areas. Many of the species have small flowers and are of collector value only. They can also be a real challenge to grow ex situ.

Growing plants in containers requires a growing medium that provides acceptable aeration and moisture retention characteristics. Unfortunately, actual measurement of air- and water-holding capacities of nursery potting substrates are rarely attempted. Failure to measure physical properties of substrates is due to lack of appropriate equipment, adequate guidelines for procedures, and inconsistent results when attempted. Furthermore, few professional soil and plant analytical laboratories offer physical properties analyses of container substrates for the same reasons.

Air-filled porosity is a very important physical characteristic of container substrates. Knowing the air-filled porosity of a potting mix provides knowledge useful for choosing containers suitable for a particular substrate, appropriate irrigation application, and nutrient management practices. The objective of this presentation and proceedings article is to describe "home remedy" procedures for measuring air-filled porosity of container substrates that can achieve "reasonably" consistent results.

Significant contributions of this presentation are the guiding principals for premoistening substrate samples and steps to improve procedures used for filling ("packing") porometers test samples.

Since the 1800s bromeliads, particularly those with colourful inflorescences, have been widely grown for the pot plant market. However in more recent times some of the pattern-leaf types have become popular garden plants in warmer parts of New Zealand (NZ). The aim of this paper is to introduce you to the range of foliage patterns and colours that are appearing in N.Z.-bred bromeliads and to give my impressions on the factors affecting these foliage colours both in the nursery and the landscape.

BACKGROUND

The Bromeliaceae family consists of around 2,400 species in some 59 genera with more species being added on a regular basis as they are identified in the wild. While the vast majority of these are native to South America there are a few species found in the southern states of America and one in West Africa.

Having sold the business, which was relocated to Christchurch, we still had the nursery and facilities but very little in the way of plants.

New Zealand is a very small and remote country separated from our nearest neighbours by great distance and vast oceans. We have a unique range of native flora with approximately 2,500 species present on both our mainland and numerous offshore islands. Early Maori brought a few new plants with them for culinary and industrial purposes but it was not until the arrival of European settlers that the number of exotic plant species present in New Zealand increased significantly. The diversity was immense with everything from pasture grasses, stock feeds, fruit, and timber trees to vegetables and ornamental plants introduced especially in the post World War II era. Today botanists acknowledge that some 35,000 to 40,000 exotic species exist here. They have made New Zealand a wealthy country with land-based, primary-industry export receipts earning approximately $20 billion per annum.

Digital imaging has dramatically changed the world of photography and the way it works. Has it all been good? Yes… and No! The good news is we no longer have to worry about film, and the bad news is we no longer have to worry about film. It comes down to a balance between time and money. Film was easy. We took the pictures, sent the film, and received the prints. The cost sometimes made us think twice about taking the shot to the point that most of us allocated a certain amount of film per trip. With digital, it is only necessary to buy once and then just keep shooting. But, we then spend personal time to sort, process, and print. We do, however, only need to print the images we want to print. For all the talk about quality of cameras, megapixels, software, hardware, and other gizmos, we need to understand that photography isn’t really about technology. The photographer does need to have a certain amount of technology knowledge to help determine ways of maximizing output from the equipment but that doesn?t make a great photograph. Photography is really about creatively working with light.

In this time of "New Release," "PBR," and "improved form" plants it is interesting to see the popularity of this, one of the world?s oldest cultivated plants. It seems that much of what we have come to appreciate as being of value in plants originated in the areas surrounding the Mediteranean. Lavender is one of these niceties. The early records of the Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Arabs show regular usage of lavender. It was used as a medicine, a bathing additive, a body perfume, and for a few other weird purposes.

The Romans are credited with giving the name lavender. It is generally believed that the word is a derivation of the latin verb lavareI, which means to bathe. The species first described is Lavandula stoechas from the Stoechades Islands (now called Iles de Hyeres). The Greeks and Romans also referred to lavender as Nard, from the latin Nardus italica, after the Syrian town Naarda.

Lavender made its way into the modern history via the French monks around the start of the 9^th century. Lavender was seen in many of the garden designs of the European gentry and religous orders.

Interspecific hybridisation is the most important source for introducing new characteristics to many ornamental crops. For example, there are over 1500 begonia species, many of which have been hybridised to produce the wide range of taxa we see today. Similarly the current range of summer-flowering Zantedeschia cultivars, with their diverse colours and forms, are based on hybridisation between five species (Funnell, 1993).

Opportunities for interspecific hybridisation may be limited by many barriers but there are a number of strategies available to assist in overcoming these barriers. These breeding barriers include:

• Pollination barriers.
• Embryo abortion.
• Sterile F1 hybrids or lack of introgression due to chromosomal "incompatibilities."
• Albino hybrid plants.
• Hybrid necrosis.

Over the past 30 years I have made innumerable trips to Mexico to collect plants and seed, and find new plants. We have been all across the country, top to bottom, Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, in all climate zones and elevations. Mexico has a wide range of flora. There are plants we think of as Mexican, such as cacti and agaves, but also common plants we do not think of as Mexican such as poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima), zinnias, marigolds (Tagetes species), beans (Phaseolus species), corn (Zea species), many types of orchids, Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa), shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeeana), and many others. There are also plants in Mexico that should be more common here in the American Southwest, like Beschorneria yuccoides, but for unknown reasons are not. Over the years I have been particularly interested in the Mexican orchids, Tillandsias, and Echeveria taxa.

The true firs )Abies sp. Mill.) include over 40 tree species widely scattered throughout the northern hemisphere. Economically, firs remain underdeveloped in the U.S.A. as a landscape plant due to a general reputation for sensitivity to hot, dry, urban conditions and a lack of consistent and replicated evaluation across a broad range of environments and conditions. True firs are preferred as Christmas tree species by U.S.A. consumers due to their natural conical shape, pleasing aroma, stout branch structure, and generally excellent postharvest needle retention. Eastern U.S.A. Christmas tree growers have also been relying upon a very limited selection of fir species including Abies fraseri, A. balsamea, A. balsamea var. phanerolepis, and A. concolor. Unfortunately, all of the aforementioned native firs are extremely vulnerable to Phytophthora root rot and can be very site demanding (Frampton and Benson, 2004; Benson et al., 1998). Anecdotal evidence from garden and arboreta curators, horticulture researchers, and some non-replicated trials indicate that certain Abies species native to the Mediterranean region perform well under adverse conditions in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast U.S.A. (Gutowski and Thomas, 1962(.

I responded, "Well, Chloe, I talked to them about plants."

She then asked, "Do you know anything about plants?"

I allowed that, "perhaps I know a little."

Then she asked, "Did you tell them everything you know?"

I get to speak for only a few minutes; which according to Chloe should be about enough time to tell you everything I know, so here goes.

We are here in Denver for a historic meeting of the combined Western and Eastern Regions. I would like to offer my thanks for the hard work that has gone into putting this meeting together; there has been a great deal of effort and sacrifice and we ought all be grateful.

It has been a real pleasure to have been able to serve the IPPS Eastern Region for these many years, as a committee member, a director, and as a member of the executive board of directors.

The highlight of my time with the International Plant Propagators? Society, however, has been when I have participated in planning and running annual and area meetings — 1997 in Newport, R.I., 2007 in Montreal, and in 2 years our 60th Annual Meeting in Warwick, Rhode Island. Serving as Program Chair or as a member of a local site committee is a lot of work, but seeing all of you here, having a good time and learning — seeking and sharing — together, makes it all worthwhile.

Welcome to Denver. I have a rare plant nursery here in Denver called Timberline Gardens. We have a large collection of both traditional and low-water-requiring plants. We innovate several new plants every year such as Antirrhinum ‘Dulcinea’s Heart’ and Verbena canadensis. ‘Annie’. Our favorite work right now is with our native cacti, agaves, and yuccas. The nursery business has changed so much in the Rocky Mountain Region over the last few decades (mostly for the better)!

GROWING TREES ON THE PRAIRIE

Nurseries grew mostly woody plants in the early 1900s. Denver was a new city on the prairie and growing trees was a tough prospect. Agricultural practices in the 1930s led to the dust bowl era during the great depression. Additionally, extensive bounties on predators lead to a tremendous rabbit population.

The first garden planted at the Mt. Goliath area was designed by Zdenek Zvolanek and funded by the GCD through DBG. The garden and rock work construction was done by USFS, DBG, GCD, and volunteers and completed in July, 1987. After that first slot garden was built, the VOC came in and redefined the trail system around the gardens and established a trailhead for the Pesman trail.

There is an inevitable disconnect between the newcomer and the unfamiliar. The landscape of the "Great American Desert" was deemed hostile and worthless by early nineteenth-century pioneers. Its only potential was to be tamed, "reclaimed," and civilized. Appreciation of native plants, understanding of established ecosys?tems, the inherent value of broad, unspoiled landscapes and all their components — these were matters understood by only a handful of people during that pivotal time when prairies were turned by the plow and city streets laid out in the dust.

Early in Colorado’s history, survival in a harsh land was paramount — there was little room for error. Farming here was a challenge even in good times and in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, settlers learned quickly that different approaches were necessary. During this period in the Mountain West, gardening for pleasure was secondary, at best, a luxury indulged primarily by the wealthy and steeped in the traditions of the East.

Mike Bone: We didn’t have to live there, but there were times working on larger projects that staff members would backpack up and take tents and stay there for a couple days at a time.

1. selection from native populations
2. bulk population
3. controlled crosses

It is critical, as well, that new selections are easy to propagate using economical and reliable methods.

In 1902 Gottleib Haberlandt proposed the idea of growing individual plant cells on artificial medium. While Haberlandt never realized his idea, the 105 years since has seen the concept evolve into a powerful tool utilized throughout the plant sciences. Plant tissue culture broadly refers to growing plant cells, tissues, organs, seeds, or other plant parts in a sterile environment on a nutrient medium. Tissue culture is being used for an increasing range of purposes. Originally used largely for fundamental research to study cell division, plant growth, and biochemistry, the technology has grown and is being widely implemented on a more applied scale. In many cases, protocols have been developed and refined so that they have become a standard and commercially viable practice for propagating many important horticultural crops.

The key to the successful application of tissue culture is the manipulation of media compositions to achieve desired outcomes (Benson, 2000; Gamborg, 2002). By altering media components, tissue can be induced to produce shoots, roots, callus, or somatic embryos or inhibit growth for long-term storage. The most common application of tissue culture is micropropagation, which usually involves growing plants in an agar solidified nutrient media. Micropropagation can facilitate the rapid production and propagation of plant species.

Heather Winokur: We use a germinating mix.

The perennial propagation business has grown tremendously during the last decade and new taxa are being introduced all the time. Because we operate in a competitive market, greenhouse growers are constantly striving to find that special niche that will give them an edge. The number of taxa of perennials, and the techniques to propagate them, are critical areas to sustaining a profit margin in this business. With ever increasing labor and material costs we must be constantly vigilant of ways to minimize costs yet still achieve a high quality product. One critical way to reduce costs is to diminish plant losses. We at Gulley?s continuously experiment with different propagation techniques to attain higher output with lower outlay. Two methods we are now using that have proved successful for us are root cutting propagation of Japanese anemone and propagation by tissue culture, particularly for Echinacea and Geranium.

Propagation by grafting is no exception. Each grafter has a different recipe. There are many recipes, but no true mysteries in grafting plants — just that some procedures are unused or unknown to some propagators, but commonplace among others. There are differences among grafters based on who they learned the art from, where they are geographically located, what materials they have available to them to utilize, and of course, what plants they are working with.

Genetic diversity is a key component of stable agricultural production in a rapidly changing world. The genetic variation found in field crops, fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, other economically important plants, and their wild and weedy relatives is crucial for crop improvement and the development of new agricultural products. This diversity is found both in nature and in traditional agricultural systems. However, both natural plant communities and traditional agriculture face many threats and are being extensively replaced through urbanization, habitat degradation, and the rise of modern agricultural systems that are based on a relatively narrow genetic base.

Throughout the world, plant genebanks have been established to sample and conserve significant components of this genetic diversity and make them readily accessible. This is typically done under controlled conditions, away from natural plant communities or traditional systems, which present both efficiencies of scale and challenges (when optimal growing conditions cannot be easily re-created).

I would like to present the new products introduction processes used by other in?dustries that can be implemented effectively within the nursery industry. Within the nursery industry, most new product introduction programs have been developed over time without following a professional process and lacking clear goals. The processes presently used are not as effective as possible. The economic and business environment that our industry is experiencing requires nurseries to change from hobby/lifestyle nurseries towards professional businesses with processes used in other industries. Most woody plants patented in the United States presently are not on the market (Foley, 2006). One of reasons is due to lack of implementing a professional new products program. Too many nurseries operate their programs in an ad hoc manner. The programs are filled with plants that will never be sold. These nurseries are more aligned to botanic gardens and arboreta; their new product programs a collection of plants. A professional program that introduces plants for people to enjoy in their home and commercial landscapes and is profitable for all involved in the supply chain is a paramount goal.

Little Valley Wholesale Nursery was established in 1979 with 15 acres of field and container stock and a staff of four people. Over the years, it has expanded to encompass 141 acres and a peak-season staff of more than 150 people. The plant palette now includes more than 500 taxa of perennials, 275 taxa of shrubs, and over 130 taxa of trees. The area served by Little Valley’s distribution system includes Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Little Valley’s motto "The Rocky Mountain Standard" expresses the commitment to be the best wholesale plant distributor in the western region. Native plants have been an important part of Little Valley?s plant mix for many years.

Native plants are ideal for low-input sustainable landscapes. The Denver Metro area receives 8–15 inches of rain per year; in contrast, many eastern cities receive 50 or even 60 in of annual precipitation. Colorado has a rapidly expanding population that threatens to deplete the water supply within a few decades.

What are the Plains and where are they? Historically the "Great Plains" / "The Great American Desert" ran roughly along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains east to the mixed deciduous forests and tall grass prairies (the interior lowlands). If we use this to define the Great Plains it would include Northern Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, north into Canada as the heart and eastern Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana as the western edge and the Missouri valley as the eastern edge (some include Western Iowa and Minnesota).

The diverse topography and climatic conditions lend to the diversity of plant life that can be found on the Great Plains from near desert plants to wetland species. Though nearly all of the eastern tall grass and mixed grass prairies have been lost to farm land and invading trees and the few remnants that still exist are still at risk. Fortunately much of the western short grass prairies have been left relatively intact due to their low rainfall and poor soils. Tall grass and short grass prairies just by their name lend themselves to the perception that the primary plants found on the plains consisted of mostly grasses which was far from true.

The katsuratree, Cercidiphyllum Sieb. & Zucc., introduced from Eastern Asia in 1865 is native to regions of Japan and China (The Garden Club of America, 1984). It has been debated that the genus includes two separate species. Krüssman (1984) identifies two species, C. japonicum and C. magnificum Nakai. In the U.S.A., you typically only find C. japonicum being sold in the nursery trade whereas C. magnificum is available as a variety of the genus. The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs (Hillier Nurseries, 1996) list two individual varieties with their respective author citations for Cercidiphyllum. Hillier includes C. japonicum var. magnificum Nakia (see C. magnificum) that is native to Japan and differs from C. japonicum in leaf size and shape as well as having a smoother bark. The other noted variety, C. japonicum var. sinense Rehd. & Wils., is an introduction from China by E. H. Wilson in 1907 and has a more "tree-like" growth habit with a single leader rather than multiple trunks. Cercidiphyllum selections, origins, and descriptions can be found in Table 1.

Four components make up this puzzle: media, fertilizer, water, and plant species.

If bark is added to a soil mix which in our industry is the norm, the source of the bark and its age will influence how fertilizer reacts with the plant.

The interest in the incorporation of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in horticulture is increasing. It is constantly being reported that inoculating plants with AM fungi improves the growth of seedlings and cuttings (Carpio et al., 2003; Druege et al., 2006), increases plants’ tolerance to water and salt stress (Auge, 2001; Cantrell and Linderman, 2001), increases resistance to root pathogens (Azcon-Aguilar et al., 2002), and promotes earlier flowering and fruiting (Sohn et al., 2003). In addition, mycorrhizal plants seem to be less sensitive to transplanting shock and can be produced with a smaller amount of fertilizers and pesticides than nonmycorrhizal plants (Carpio et al., 2005; Gaur et al., 2000). However, it is also known that horticultural practices influence mycorrhizal colonization. Soilless mixes components, pesticides, and fertilizers affect the infectivity and effectiveness of AM fungi (Larsen et al., 2007) and the benefits of the symbiosis are related to specific plant-AM fungi-growing media combin(Lovato et al., 1995).

In 2008, the first total-release fungicide product was registered by Whitmire Micro-Gen — Fungaflor TR. The active ingredient is imazilil, which belongs to the sterol inhibitor class of fungicides (for example Eagle, Banner MAXX, Strike and Terraguard). The labeled sites are greenhouses on a wide range of plants from bedding plants, to cut flowers, to flowering hanging baskets and foliage plants (Table 1). The target diseases include Alternaria leaf spot, Botrytis blight and leaf spot, downy and powdery mildews, and rust diseases (Table 1). The use rates are given in cans per 3000, 1500, and 1000 square feet and the re-entry interval (REI) is 24 h.

Issues surrounding water and fertilizer usage continue to be of critical importance to the nursery and greenhouse industries. Issues related to irrigation water discharge has become a major environmental concern. In 1996, Environment Canada listed the agriculture sector as one of the five main water users in Canada (Environ?ment Canada, 2005a). This sector accounted for 9% of total water usage with 85% of it for irrigation (Environment Canada, 2005a). The nursery and greenhouse industries are major contributors to the release of irrigation water laden with residues of nutrients and pesticides, which may cause environmental damage including groundwater pollution. Legislative and economic pressures have lead to a gradual shift towards closed-loop irrigation systems. These systems collect and re-use irrigation water which lead to greater labour and energy savings as well as reducing the environmental impact. There are still several problematic issues which growers must face when adopting this technology. The first and foremost concern of growers is the potential for disease propagation and spread in these closed-loop systems. In a survey on the status of nutrient solution recirculation in Ontario, Richard et al. (2006) found that 33% of growers using recirculating systems listed disease management as a major problem.

The SHIP is an initiative to create a web-based storage of high-resolution digital images documenting the morphology of woody plant seeds and selected fruit structures. Headquartered at the Dana Greenhouse in Boston, Massachusetts, SHIP supports the work of educators and professionals in horticulture and the botanical sciences, particularly in conservation research and management of rare and endangered species. These digitized images of seeds offer an important new aid for teaching seed identification and serve as a resource for nurserymen, horticulturists, botanical curators, taxonomists, ecologists, and the public. However, one could say SHIP really began with Al Fordham, propagator at the Arnold Arboretum, and his development of the seed herbarium at the Dana Greenhouse close to 50 years ago. This collection includes newly acquired seed, rare and endangered seed as well as historic seed collections of woody plants and shrubs.

Northwest-native plants have always been a part of the Lawyer Nursery product line. Legend has it that the first crop that David Lawyer produced was a crop of Amelanchier alnifolia seedlings which came from seed that he collected in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. Now 50 years later, Lawyer Nursery continues to grow A. alnifolia and many of its cultivars in addition to over 500 species of woody plants grown at three different sites in the Northwest.

Cornflower Farms is a wholesale California native plant nursery. It was started in 1981 by Ann Chandler who was at odds with her then boss for propagating California natives. What started in a garage is now on 7 acres, producing over a million plants each year. Besides natives, Cornflower Farms also grows water-wise Medi?terranean ornamentals for a growing xeroscaping market in California.

A large part of our business is growing for revegetaion purposes. We work with developers, government agencies, parks, and landscapers on many different types of restoration projects ranging from riparian mitigation to coastal restoration or rare plant salvaging. We?ve grown plants for Glacier Point, Yosemite, and for reten?tion ponds for the local utility company.

But, since this is "Propagation with an Altitude," this talk will lightly touch on how we propagate several high elevation species that are always in demand.

Neal Funston: Starts out hot and then cools off.

My comments are anchored around woody ornamental seeds of the temperate region, particularly the deciduous taxa that we have 25 years of experience with, including 140 genera and hundreds of species — primarily of Asian and North American origin.

As propagators of woody and perennial seeds, our goal is a crop that germinates:

• Predictably
• Uniformly
• In high percentage
• At lower cost in labor, space, materials, and frustration than before

The title of my talk is germination techniques, but with only 20 min available, my sense is that to get great germination, we really need to focus on seed preparation strategies. Hopefully that will interest the most people here, especially the younger propagators among us.

So, what specific techniques can we focus on that may help you germinate woody seeds more effectively? I will focus on four key items and give some examples.

Successful micropropagation is dependent upon a well-trained staff, employing a repeatable protocol, to produce consistent results with the finished product. Micropropagation techniques continue to evolve as new ideas are explored and new products are incorporated into the process.

ESTABLISHMENT IN VITRO

Before micropropagation can begin plants must first be successfully initiated into culture. The traditional sterilization protocol at Briggs was a 3-step process of first rinsing the explants in a soapy water solution, followed by a 10% Clorox (active ingredient NaOCl) treatment, finishing with a 1% Clorox rinse to remove the stronger Clorox solution prior to placing the plant piece into culture. At Briggs Nursery we often encountered plant tissue damage and death when using the Clorox solution. We wanted to find a gentler and more reliable method for surface sterilizing plants for tissue culture.

Mark Krautmann: Fungicides can be used, but I?ve always resisted that since you?re not treating the problem, you?re really only treating the symptoms. The leaf mold we had sort of inoculates the seed batch much like it would be protected in nature.

Elwin Orton: Milled sphagnum moss contains ingredients that can control mold in stratified seed.

Fifteen years ago, in 1993, Sempervirens Botanical Company was founded with a focus on producing liners of herbaceous perennials. The first plant that was propagated happened to be the tender perennial grass, Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’ or purple fountain grass. In the years since, ornamental grass liners have become the mainstay of our production. The growth in popularity of these plants has come with the awareness of their structural beauty, seasonal interest, and relative ease of culture. I would like to describe the production methods that we use at Sempervirens and highlight a few of the noteworthy grasses, rushes, and sedges that we grow.

You will find Sempervirens Botanical Company situated on 2 acres of land in Torrance, California, a suburban community of the sprawling Los Angeles area. We are 15 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, California, and 5 miles from the Pacific Coast. The nursery resides on land leased from the regional electric utility company. Favorable climatic conditions allow us to produce material year round. Our facilities consist of 8800 square feet of poly-covered Quonset-type greenhouses, with the rest of the acreage composed of open liner and containerized stock beds.

I think many of you went to Mt. Goliath on the tour and saw the bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata). They seem to be a hobby with me. I will show slides of this pine with emphasis on how they live and how they struggle. There is a little story about a bird that I need to tell. The Clark?s nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) eats the seeds of most pines. This bird is active right now. They go out and collect the pine seeds and plant them in an open hillside in groups of 1 to 10 in the fall. The birds then come back and feed on the seeds later. It seems impossible to me that they can do that. However, there was a researcher who saw them planting these seeds, so he and a friend put numerous stumps in the area and left. Sure enough, the birds came back and landed on the stumps and eat the seeds.

The alpine areas of Colorado are found at elevations above 11,500 to 12,000 ft. The vegetation found in these alpine zones is full of species that have ornamental characteristics and garden-worthy growth habits that merit their cultivation at lower elevations. For the last 20 years I’ve experimented with growing some of these species at my nursery (Laporte Avenue Nursery) in Fort Collins, Colorado (elevation 5,300 ft.)

PROPAGATION METHODS

Of the 20 or so species (with every species comes its own propagation and cultivation story) that I’ve had luck with, all have started with seed collected in the fall from alpine areas some 20 years ago. Now all sexual and asexual propagating material originates from our nursery. Sexual propagation starts with seed that is dried for a short period (1–4 weeks) and then seeded in late fall-early winter in 4-inch pots filled with a well-drained medium [peat, perlite, and sand, (7 : 10 : 3, by vol.)] and top-dressed with small granite grit.

Twenty-five years ago, University of British Columbia (UBC) Botanical Garden embarked on a program of plant introductions, drawing primarily on its significant collections of Mediterranean and alpine plants. The garden partnered with local nurseries to help propagate and distribute a huge range of plants to as wide an audience as possible. Garden staff also beat the bushes locally and around the world, identifying interesting local cultivars, and bringing them to Vancouver to propagate and distribute.

A group of Japanese nurserymen helped arrange our trip, and we in turn do the same for them when they visit the southeastern United States.

Some evidence points to the earliest of the plant world?s beginnings on that continent. The largest concentration of the world?s population have lived in the middle of Asia and have had a great deal of influence in selection and domesticating seed plants that probably originated and began their evolution there some 35 to 50 million years ago. During the Ice Ages, which began some 2 million years ago and created the glaciers, it greatly influenced the plants in far western and eastern China, causing many species to become re-adapted to much colder conditions, giving us a broader palette of plants that have the ability to grow in colder regions of North America. Some of those hardier strains probably started coming via the frozen Ber?ing Straits with the predecessors of the American Indian.

Catalpa taxa are generally regarded as hardy, urban-tolerant trees, beautiful in flower and foliage, yet messy in fruit and susceptible to diseases. This dichotomy represents a challenge for plant breeders wishing to broaden the palette of available, low-maintenance, urban-adapted trees. The broad adaptability of catalpa, both in hardiness and abiotic stress tolerances, provides ample opportunity to develop novel cultivars for the urban landscape. The opportunity to develop improved forms of catalpa presented itself during the course of my doctoral research investigating the reproductive biology, ploidy manipulation, and fertility restoration in the bigeneric hybrid ×Chitalpa (Catalpa bignonioides × Chilopsis linearis) while at North Carolina State University (NCSU) under the direction of Dr. Thomas G. Ranney (Olsen et al., 2006b). It was quickly realized that to breed improved ×Chitalpa cultivars, the ideal catalpa must first be identified and developed. In 2006, this project became a collaborative effort between NCSU and the U.S. National Arboretum (USNA).

There are countless ways of propagating Acer palmatum cultivars. Bench grafting is probably the most common method, but field budding and even softwood cutting propagation is possible. Softwood cutting propagation of dwarf cultivars is often preferred by bonsai growers. This talk will focus on the method we use at J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. — summer veneer bench grafting.

ROOTSTOCK PRODUCTION

We grow our own rootstocks from seed that we pick locally. While seed can be picked at any time from September onwards we prefer to pick in late September and early October just as the seed is beginning to turn from green to brown.

Picking seed does not save us a great deal of money over buying seed, but it gives us much better control over the subsequent quality and viability of the seed. We can often pick as many as half a million seeds from one tree. After picking, the seed is allowed to dry in a cool barn for a few weeks. It is then bagged up and stored dry in a cooler until December.

Bob Geneve: In addition the grafting work you mention, work with grafting in apple has shown the further you can get the meristem from the root system the sooner you are going to get the maturation change. So it is not really a chronical thing.

Voice: What about bending?

Bob Geneve: I was going to mention that. In the fruit industry it has been shown that bending branches works. There is something about the horizontal orientation that accelerates flowering. You have to remember that in apple you are already using wood that has gone through the maturation phase and it is already programmed in.

The seedling rootstock was produced from seed harvested in September 1984, from a symmetrical, globe-headed tree in Davis, California. The seed was coldstored under moist conditions over winter (1984–85) and sown in spring 1985. It germinated by May 1985 and thereafter the seedlings were container-grown, lastly in so-called tube containers (6 in. diameter × 36 in. depth).

• Agapanthus ‘Blue Yonder’
• Agapanthus ‘Summer Skies’
• Alnus × spaethii
• Camassia quamash ‘Midnight Mystique’
• Celastrus scandens ‘Bailumn’, Autumn Revolution^™ bittersweet
• Cercidiphyllum japonicum ‘Rotfuchs’ (syn. ‘Red Fox’)
• Cotinus coggygria ‘Black Velvet’
• Cotinus coggygria ‘Daydream’
• Eryngium ‘Big Blue’ (PPAF)
• Gillenia (syn. Porteranthus) trifoliatus ‘Pink Profusion’
• Kalmia latifolia ‘Show Time’
• Kalmia latifolia ‘Starburst’
• Leonotis menthifolia ‘Savannah Sunset’
• Lonicera × brownii ‘Bailelle’, Honeybelle^™ honeysuckle
• Pinus strobus ‘Little Giant’
• Rudbeckia grandiflora ‘Sundance’
• Scabiosa columbaria subsp. ochroleuca ‘Moon Dance’
• Scabiosa lachnophylla ‘Blue Horizon’
• Syringa reticulata ‘Bailnce’, Snowdance^™ Japanese tree lilac
• Syringa reticulata subsp. pekinensis ‘Zhang Zhiming’, Beijing Gold® Peking lilac
• Ulmus × hollandica ‘Dampieri Aurea’ (syn. ‘Wredei’)
• Vernonia lettermannii ‘Iron Butterfly’
• Viburnum ‘Nantucket’ (NA 69852; PI 651840)
• Wisteria sinensis ‘Pearl Drops’

The family Pinaceae is made up of 11 genera of which eight are temperate and three are tropical to subtropical (Griffiths, 1994). In the Eastern portions of North America the genera, Pinus, Psuedotsuga, Tsuga, Abies, Picea, and Cedrus are most often encountered. For many of these genera grafting is a common method of propagation, particularly of exotic or unique forms. The rooting of members of the Pinaceae is limited and often occurs on not only a species-specific basis but also is restricted by taxa influences as well.

For the genus Pinus grafting requires an understanding of the variations in the pine grouping.

Opuntia humifusa (Raf.(, eastern prickly pear, is a wide-spread species occurring from Ontario south to Florida and west to the Eastern front range of the Rocky Mountains with the exception of Wyoming. It also occurs along the Great Lake States and goes north to Minnesota and South Dakota (United States Department of Agriculture: Natural Resources Conservation Service). Opuntia humifusa is one of the hardiest of the North American cacti and it is largely considered to have the widest spread of the Eastern U.S.A. cacti. Understandably there should be at least some regional variations.

In the commercial nursery trade at least in the Northeastern U.S.A. and Canada the more north eastern ecotype is most prevalent and could be reasonably considered here for the purposes of expediency, the New Jersey strain. From outward appearances there is very little variation of the natural form from New Jersey to those found further North.

Rose rosette disease (RRD) was first reported in Manitoba, Canada, and Wyoming in the 1940s on Rosa multiflora (RMF) (Hartzler, 2003; Lehman, 1999). It was not until the mid 1960s that it was further noticed in parts of the Midwest, particularly Nebraska. Further investigations of the appearance of this disease showed that by 1999 the disease had progressed to Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and an isolated outbreak in California. Although RRD and its natural vector are of North American origin (Lehman, 1999) in most cases RRD particularly affects R. multilora (RMF). However in the more recent years it has begun to be problematic on other roses as well especially those with Asian origin. As of this writing, RRD has been found to attack hybrid tea roses, floribundas, grandifloras, and old fashioned cultivars.

There are several reasons why ornamental growers should control liverwort (Marchantia sp.) in nursery crops. Liverwort reduces the marketability of the crop, lowers crop quality further by harboring insects, such as whiteflies and thrips and other pests such as mites, slugs and snails, and/or diseases. The growth of liverwort is not desirable as it costs money to remove and thereby reduces the profit per pot.

The following experiments evaluated two techniques for pre-emergent and one post-emergent control for liverwort. The experiments included walnut shells, bio discs, and acetic acid.

Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia Bartr.) is a native ornamental shrub that has become increasingly popular in recent years. Oakleaf hydrangea is a large shrub growing 6–8 ft or taller and 6 ft or more wide. The inflorescences are exceptionally showy, with creamy-white sepals occurring in panicles up to 12 inches long in the summer. Leaves are large and coarse, turning striking, deep shades of red in the fall.

Hydrangea cultivars are commercially propagated by tissue culture and by cuttings. Tissue culture commonly utilizes auxin and cytokinin in the medium to stimulate and control root and branch development of the cultures. Habituation is a condition that occurs when plant cultures continue to respond to a hormone, often cytokinin, which is no longer supplied. This phenomenon usually occurs after extended exposure to the hormone during tissue culture (Hartmann et al., 1997). Some possible mechanisms for habituation are overproduction of cytokinin (Sun et al., 2003), and increased levels of the cytokinin receptor CRE1 (Pischke et al., 2006).

The common name "restio" refers to members of the family, Restionaceae, a South?ern Hemisphere family with its center of diversity in the Western Cape of South Africa where there are probably well over 350 species found, many yet to be recognized. (Expect future taxonomic changes.) Plants have a similar organization to bamboo consisting of a network of subsoil rhizomes giving rise to aerial culms showing varied degrees of branching and a fibrous root system. The rhizomes may be tightly clumping, loosely clumping, to running widely. Several species show annual branch production at the nodes as in Chusquea among bamboos. Leaves are reduced to scales and bracts with stems performing the photosynthetic function. The Restionaceae is the most tightly linked with the Cape vegetation type known as Fynbos (pronounced: Fane-Boss) an open, fire-dependent shrubland like California’s chaparral but with much greater plant diversity. Still, restios are found over a wide environmental and ecological range.

Since early times plant growers knew that plants naturally produce new roots when propagating from cuttings. L.H. Bailey’s 1896 The Nursery Book listed hundreds of plants that can be propagated by natural methods. By the 1930s scientists identified the natural plant growth regulator, produced in leaves that enhance root formation and other functions. Once they identified this regulator, the scientists synthesized other compounds better than the natural one. They called the rooting hormones "auxins." The auxins were found useful to induce new roots when applied to plants as dry-dip rooting hormone powders and rooting solutions.

Plants will try to make new roots at a wound, such as a basal cut. Logically, to propagate a plant from cuttings, an application of the rooting hormone to the basal end is a good method. In fact, the plant produces its own rooting hormone in the leaf and translocates it, in an aqueous carrier, to the rooting site. Applied through the stomata, minute openings in the leaf, the plant can take up water-based rooting hormone solutions. The plant can move applied and natural rooting hormones through its cells to the rooting site to induce root formation.

We begin with preparation of our stock material, which consists simply of young 5-gal plants, either shifted up the same season from 1-gal containers or planted the previous season from deep 4-inch pots.

Trichostema lanatum, commonly known as woolly blue curls in the Lamiaceae family, is a woody evergreen shrub native to California. It is found in the chaparral on dry slopes along the coast from San Benito and Monterey counties south to San Diego County and inland as far as Mint Canyon and the Santa Ana Mountains. It’s an erect aromatic shrub that is highly prized as an ornamental and valued for its drought tolerance. Research shows most propagation is vegetative taken from recently matured shoots. I have observed over many years that the plants produce a large quantity of seed so why are so few plants being sexually reproduced?

Between the ages of 8 and 18, I started forming a list of horticultural problems that I wanted answers to when I went to college. The list was over 100 items long when I stepped foot on the Wisconsin Madison campus to begin my horticultural studies. The first thing on the list was that there HAD to be a better way to weed than by hand! My daughter suspects that this was on my mental list by the end of the day at age 8!

Bigtooth, or canyon, maple (Acer grandidentatum, syn. A. saccharum subsp. grandidentatum) is a native western tree with great potential for use in low-water, sustainable landscaping. Our goal is to select and propagate exceptional clones for such use. The challenges are locating high-quality specimens, establishing them as clones, and evaluating their potential for both production and landscaping.

LOCATING, SELECTING, AND ESTABLISHING POTENTIAL TREE SPECIMENS

In order to increase the size of the selection pool, we are using aerial images to survey a large geographical area by selecting for red fall color. We have photographed images as red-green-blue (RGB) composite and true color images, in addition to images found on Google Earth^®.

Sampled roofs included a range of media depths (3–13 inches(, year of establishment (2002–2006), plant community types, and building settings. Plant community data including surface coverage, weed and moss surface coverage, and dominant species were correlated with nutrient content data to develop a set of standard values for test results. For example, to improve plant surface coverage while discouraging moss and weed growth and reducing nutrient-rich runoff, total nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) content of the SME should be between 1.5 and 3.0 ppm. As a result of this study, a green roof can be tested on an annual basis to determine the need for additional fertilizer. By limiting fertilizer applications to that which is required, excess nutrient runoff can be reduced while making a green roof "greener" by optimizing plant growth. Also, the ability to evaluate the nutrient content of a problem roof to eliminate or confirm plant nutrient status as the source of the problem is now possible.

Invasive plant species are considered threats to the biodiversity of natural areas and some estimates suggest that they make up 8% to 47% of the plants in each state. Invasive plants can displace natives and reduce biodiversity of nonmanaged or low-managed landscapes by escaping cultivation through the production of large quantities of highly viable seed capable of germination and remaining viable in the seed bank for years. Trees present a greater challenge in that their mature size provides a greater dispersal pattern and the larger the tree the higher the seed yield (Dieringer, 1991; Ollerton and Lack, 1998).

Norway maple (Acer platanoides) is a horticulturally well developed shade tree species with numerous cultivars and hybrids selected for leaf color and character, tree form, and size that has been identified as potentially invasive.

Red oak (Quercus rubra), littleleaf linden Shamrock^® (Tilia cordata), and Kentucky coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioica) are trees currently produced by the nursery industry. However, training these tree species to have a high quality canopy can be challenging. Nursery producers have identified species-specific challenges to developing ideal canopy characteristics and branch structure. For example, growers often experience difficulty developing well spaced branches on red oaks. Oaks have multiple lateral buds immediately subtending the terminal bud, which develop into clusters of branches. These branch clusters alternate with unbranched sections of the central leader. On lindens, the primary branches are often a mix of very short, somewhat stunted branches and very long, vigorous branches which create an unbalanced, asymmetrical appearance. Coffeetree is a particularly challenging spe?cies because few branches develop on young trees in production, making it difficult to develop a full canopy.

After many false starts, a wide variety of California native plants have finally begun to join the horticultural mainstream. Their most striking successes have involved specific cultivars, propagated by vegetative means (mostly cuttings). However, seed propagation is still a desirable and economical means of propagating many species and seed strains for ornamental use and, of course, indispensable in propagating for site restoration and revegetation. Success with native seeds involves attention to climate and habitat for each species, unique plant and seed features, and those of the grower’s own location.

Generally speaking, lowland and middle-elevation natives are adapted to a cycle of moist, cool winters and early springs, warm dry summers and early falls. Many natives of these regions require cool, but not necessarily freezing, temperatures to germinate at high levels. In some cases, active growth is also limited to the cool season.

The purpose of this experiment was to see how some of the heirloom cultivars would perform in our hydroponic tomato setup and, more importantly, to see if the grafts would take more quickly in our hoophouse than normal.

For several years now, I have been growing and observing various specimens of Arisaema in both my own garden, as well as in the landscapes and perennial borders of clients. I have compiled a list of selected species, based on my qualitative observations, cultural requirements, and propagation methods. My summation follows.

CULTURE CONDITIONS,/P>

Plants belonging to the genus Arisaema, have long been popular with gardeners. Here in the upper Midwest of the U.S.A. A. triphyllum, jack in the pulpit, and A. dracontium, the green dragon, are the best known members of the genus. They both inhabit garden and woodland here. Other members of this genus have quite spectacular spathe and spadix, the flowering structure, which merit the attention of both the propagator and the gardener.

It is not possible to consider expanding the range of tender or exotic plants that could be made available to gardeners without first exploring the factors that influence the range.

Weather and climate are, of course, primarily responsible: with weather being the physical conditions prevailing over a certain area at a given time and climate being the average of those conditions over a longer period. Climate determines what plants we can grow and how well we can grow them.

At Trelissick the winter minimum temperature is rising faster than winter maximum. In summer, it is maximum temperatures that are rising most quickly. There are heated discussions about climate change but in my experience based on one garden over 30 years it has been and still is taking place.

Historically, some new plant introductions have failed to live up to their promise so have given wholesale growers and retailers a bad reputation and lost them large sums of money. Invariably such failure has resulted from lack of trialling before commercial launch. New plant introductions have often been added to nurseries’ ranges on the hunch of the owner or member of the sales team, without consultation with customers or sufficient testing of the plant either through the production system or for its garden or landscape performance.

The nursery is a member of Proven Winners, a global co-operation between nurseries which have agreed to pool resources in order to bring some of the best new plants to the ornamentals market.

Proven Winners began in the early 1990s, beginning in the U.S.A. from a European idea. The original concept was to take some of the new plants appearing at that time and present them in a new way, for example in baskets or as mixtures. Although common now, such ideas were not really being pursued by the large seed companies, which were ignoring the potential of vegetatively propagated plants. The organisation was really the start of the "patio plants" movement.

The Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) was discovered within the Wollemi National Park, a virtually untouched wilderness area of 361,000 ha in the Blue Mountains, 200 km north west of Sydney Australia. It was found on 10 Sept. 1994, when a park ranger was exploring the deep canyons in the park. Wollemi is an Australian Ab?original word which means "stop, and look around you." The ranger, David Noble, knew most of the tree species in the Park and he must have followed this Aboriginal saying when he stumbled across a grove of enormous trees unlike any that he had seen before. When I spoke to him on his visit to the U.K. in April 2006, he said it was a very strange sensation being in that canyon and even then, it evoked feelings and thoughts of the fairly recent film of that time, Jurassic Park.

Noble collected a section of foliage to show his colleagues at the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. It was soon established that the tree belonged to the Araucariaceae, the same family as the monkey puzzle, Norfolk Island pine, and less well known trees such as the hoop, bunya, and kauri pines. Further investigation, including help from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, revealed that this was, in fact, a completely new genus of tree. It was named for the place where it was found and its discoverer.

There is an increasing trend among professional ornamentals growers to buy in growing media rather than to home mix. As labour costs represent ever-higher proportions of the overall nursery budget this is regarded as a sensible option for many growers. However, a trend observed by suppliers of growing media is that growers are inevitably less well-informed than they used to be about the ingredients they use and the various factors affecting the choice of ingredients. This paper explains some of the issues facing the growing media industry today and aims to help grow?ers understand the growing media options available to them.

GOVERNMENT STANCE ON GROWING MEDIA

The U.K. government is committed to reduce peat use under its Biodiversity Action Programme. The 2005 target of 40% of total market requirements for soil improvers and growing media to be supplied by non-peat materials was exceeded in that year. The target for 2010 was set at 90%.

The author’s interest in alternative natural crop protection resources to replace chemical pesticides was sparked by a 1996 visit to Tree of Life Nursery in Cali?fornia to meet former IPPS International President Mike Evans and his business partner Geoff Bohn. This was followed-up by working with Dr. Tim Pettitt at the Efford Experimental Station in the U.K. on slow sand filters (SSFs) (1997 to 2004) and visits to Holland and Belgium to look into additives for SSFs; and a 2001 visit to compost tea ingredient supplier Van Iersel in Holland to see the first compost tea "brewing machine" (Compost Tea X-Tractor(.

Since 2001 the use of compost tea to treat nursery stock and other crops has risen in Belgium, Holland, and the U.K. as a result of decreasing availability of chemical plant protection products and legislation on the amount of run-off containing chemicals that can be allowed to enter ground water and watercourses.

The main aim of this study was to find reasons behind the "Vulnerable" conservation status of G. multifolia, to look at ways of re-introducing it into its natural habitat and to investigate why G. villosa is not threatened while growing in the same area.

Comparative specialized bulb propagation techniques were tested over one growing season on these two species. Gethyllis mutifolia was successfully propagated using these techniques compared with poor results from G. villosa. However, both species were successfully propagated by division of bulblets. This research formed part of a complete environmental impact, propagation, and cultivation study, which was an attempt to establish proven propagation and cultiva?tion techniques to ensure the existence of the species and to create platforms for future research.

The biggest problem our industry faces, especially critical in the current financial climate, is that we don?t understand our costs and don?t know how to value our products and sell them for a reasonable return on our investment. If we as nursery owners or directors could get this right everything else would fall into place, as:

• We would have enough money to pay our staff a living wage and more so they could make a proper career out of the job, buy a home, plan for retirement, have nice holidays like their family and friends have, and do all the other things trained professional people now expect.
• We would be able to attract the best staff and keep them, with excellent benefits, pensions, etc., thus making our own lives so much easier and less stressful, and enabling us to put our energies into growing our businesses. Too many nurseries depend on one or two key staff with the rest of the workforce being relatively unskilled.
• We would have the money to invest in the equipment and tools to do the job better and create a more enjoyable workplace producing better crops, resulting in workplaces we and our staff are proud of.

The use of horticultural techniques to produce plants used for environmental restoration has been significantly overlooked. It seems that ecologists are generally not aware of the horticultural industry and of what horticulture may have to offer to assist in restoration projects. In this sense, such projects could offer a valuable new potential market for IPPS members.

This paper looks at two projects in which the author became involved and at some of the propagation and plant production challenges that had to be overcome.

BRECON BEACONS PROJECT

The first large-scale project that Micropropagation Services became involved in was the restoration of a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the Brecon Beacons mountains in Wales.

The historic gardens of Cornwall contain a unique heritage of plant species introduced from the mid 1800s onwards by plant hunters such as Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and Frank Kingdon Ward. Cornwall’s mild climate was ideal, enabling plants such as rhododendrons, magnolias, and camellias to be grown outside and these have now become the mainstay of Cornish gardens. Recently these historically important introductions and subsequent hybrids have become threatened by the fungal diseases Phytophthora ramorum and P. kernoviae. As these diseases are currently regarded as non-endemic any infected material has to be destroyed (Defra, 2008). The Rare Species Laboratory of Duchy College has responded to the phytophthora problem by proposing to clone rare plants at risk from infection to prevent permanent loss of this historically and botanically important material. The plants initially most at risk from infection were rhododendrons.

This paper results from a period of study in Chile that was part funded by the IPPS GB&I Mary Helliar Travel Scholarship and undertaken as part of the author?s Royal Botanic Garden (RBG) Kew Diploma course. The author spent 21 days with the Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA) () in Chile studying ex situ plant conservation. The study was conducted partly at the INIA base and Seed Bank in La Vicuna and in the Altiplano region in northern Chile.

The seed bank includes a nursery which is used to bulk up stocks of target species as part of a conservation project funded by the mining company Rio Tinto and supported by RBG Kew. The author worked as a volunteer at the nursery to gain experience of the horticultural methods, equipment, and resources being used and assisted the project?s research team in field work in the Altiplano region.

Japanese cedar [Cryptomeria japonica (L. fil.) D. Don] is one of the most important timber tree species in Japan. More than 10% of the Japanese population is suffering from Japanese cedar allergies and this is a serious problem in Japan (Goto et al., 2004). In order to reduce pollen production, plus trees with reduced male flowers or no-pollen tree have been selected. ‘Soushun’ is one of the male sterile Japanese cedar lines. There is no pollen in their male flowers. ‘Soushun’ is the most desirable line to reduce pollen production and is in high demand for new forestation. In general, Japanese cedar is clonally propagated by cutting, but cutting production is time consuming and it is difficult to establish a short-term propagation routine. In contrast, the micropropagation (tissue culture) technique needs smaller explants than the traditional methods and thus enables faster propagation. We are developing a micropropagation method for the male sterile Japanese cedar. In our method, we established sterilized rooted plants as the sterile scion stocks. They grow under in vitro conditions and the shoots obtained from them are rooted on agar medium. Rooted shoots are acclimatized in a greenhouse. Shoots are obtained from stock continuously in a 3–4 month cycle.

Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) is one of the fruit trees whose micropropagules are difficult to acclimatize (Tao and Sugiura, 1992).

The feijoa [Acca sellowiana (syn. Feijoa sellowiana)] is an evergreen shrub originating from South America and belonging to the Myrtaceae. Although feijoas are widely cultivated in New Zealand as garden fruit trees, they have not been popular in Japan yet. Cultivation problems include slow growth and propagation difficul?ties. In this study, we investigated to identify the factors affecting the efficiency of cutting propagation.

In order to find optimal conditions for in vitro flower formation we screened for suitable flowers in Experiment 1 and examined the effects of day length and medium concentration on flower formation in Experiment 2.

Japanese peaches, Prunus persica (syn. Amygdalus persica) cultivars, which were introduced from China about 2000 years ago are distributed in Japan from Aomori to Okinawa prefectures. We investigated vegetative bud break, flowering, and new root growth periods of these Japanese peaches for rootstock breeding.

Primrose (Primula sieboldii E. Morr.) has been a popular floricultural crop in Japan and we have enjoyed it from the Edo era, about 300 years ago. As primrose is a typical allogamous plant (reproducing by cross fertilization), it is not very difficult to breed new cultivars that have flower color and shape variations. In fact, there were a vast number of horticultural cultivars at the end of Edo era. It is believed that the horticultural primrose cultivar ‘Nankin Kozakura’ is one of the oldest that was developed about 300 years ago (Fig. 1). However, many cultivars have been lost through time because of events such as wars.

Plant lover preferences for ornamental plants changes continually and nurseryman have to breed new plants to meet changing consumer needs. The shortening of propagation process of new plants from development to sale is an important factor to boost consumption of nursery plants. In this respect, tissue culture is a powerful tool for the quick propagation of new plants. Because of this advantage it is important to strengthen the environment for the usage of tissue culture by nurseryman. The private enterprises in Hokkaido, Japan, established a contract clonal-propagation system for ornamental trees. This specialized system for propagating a wide range but in small quantities encourages breeding by nurseryman.

Plants do not waste water, rather people waste water on plants. Water-use efficiency during droughts and water shortages has less to do with plant selections than it does with planting design, installation, and maintenance. The key to a thriving "Green Industry" during resource scarcity lies in the successful education of the government leaders who have to respond to crises. Those who have been through water shortages and restrictions know this all too well. Those who have not — will!

Much of the U.S. Southeast, including Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, and Virginia, have been in the midst of a historic drought since the winter of 2006. This has been one of the most intense, extensive, and persistent droughts in the U.S. Southeast since modern day record keeping began. While the magnitude and extent of the drought has improved notably in 2008, persistent areas of severe drought continue in many areas.

Limited water resources and increased demand for water have resulted in the need for water conservation. Alternative water sources such as reclaimed water offer some relief from the limitations of inadequate water resources. Reclaimed water may serve as the sole source of irrigation water or may supplement other water sources. Fortunately, reclaimed water costs about one-half that of potable water, although additional connection and service fees may apply.

What is Reclaimed Water? Reclaimed water is processed from municipal sewage wastewater and should not be confused with capture and reuse of irrigation water, black water, or gray water.

During the past several years it has become increasingly important to utilize recycled irrigation water in nursery production. Many states within the southeastern United States experienced significant water shortages due to the drought of 2007. Local mandates and water restrictions will undoubtedly require nurseries to continue to conserve water. Increased dependence on recycled water has exacerbated the problem of crop losses due to outbreaks of waterborne pathogens, frequently Phytophthora or Pythium species. As a result, more nurseries are currently sanitizing or planning to sanitize their recycled water in an effort to minimize the risk of disease epidemics. It is important to follow relatively recently developed protocol to achieve the desired level of prevention.

An invasive plant is defined as a plant that is non-native (or alien) to the ecosys?tem under consideration and whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health (National Invasive Species Council, 2001). One estimate of U.S.A. annual losses due to invasive plants exceeds $34 billion (Pimentel et al., 2005). No one disputes that invasive plants damage our natural areas and extract a huge cost in terms of management and loss of resources. However, disagreements arise over which plants are invasive and where they are invasive. Many lists of invasive plants have been compiled by government agencies or environmental groups such as "exotic pest plant councils" [a compilation of lists for the southeastern U.S.A. is available at ()]. Most lists include plants currently produced by the nursery industry.

New plant introductions have fueled the commercial nursery industry since its con?ception. A constant search for new and improved selections has captivated many enthusiasts and sent them to the far corners of the world in search of the next spectacular find, or to be in awe of the glory of a floral display in a plant?s native land. This passion will continue to send many of us abroad in the years to come and, as we do, we need to keep a primary objective in mind. How can we responsibly search for new plants in other countries, and more importantly, bring them back to the United States of America with confidence that our efforts to share a piece of beauty is not transformed into the next invasive plant.

Mycorrhiza means "fungus roots," which is a symbiotic association between specific fungi and the fine, young roots of higher plants. The majority of plants, strictly speaking, do not have roots, rather they form mycorrhiza. There are seven principle types of mycorrhiza. The two most important mycorrhizas are the endomycorrhiza and ectomycorrhiza. Endomycorrhiza typically colonize herbaceous plants, shrubs, many ornamental, fruit and nut trees, vegetables and agronomic crops, and turf grasses. More than 85% of higher plants form endomycorrhizal associations. The ecotomycorrhiza form associations with conifers, pines, and hardwoods such as birch, beech, eucalyptus, fir, oak, willow, and magnolia. Ectomycorrhiza colonize around 10% of higher plants. Some plants, such as eucalyptus will form both endo- and ectomycorrhizal associations.

There are a few basic principles to consider when dealing with vertebrate pests. The first is to recognize the difference between an animal’s habitat and its habit. The area that provides an animal with all of its basic survival needs such as food, water, shelter, and space is known as habitat. Habit refers to the behavior of an individual animal or species. The second principle to consider is that there are many management options. These options fall into two basic categories: lethal and nonlethal. Lethal methods result in the death of the animal. Nonlethal methods spare the animal’s life.

How deep are the roots? This question is important both in container production and in the landscape. Deep planting of trees can cause severe root defects including buried root flare, circling roots, and stem girdling roots (Gilman et al., 2008). Dr. Dan Milbocker of the Virginia Tech Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Center conducted research on growing trees using bottomless low-profile containers (Milbocker, 1987). The shallow, broad containers produced roots that did not circle (Appleton, 1993). A question is: can deep planting of tree liners be prevented at the planting stage by producing liners with a shallow, wide root mass? Instead of using the traditional method of planting liners into a hole, we wanted to grow them placed on top of the substrate. Without regard for the economics, we tested the production of tree liners in shallow aluminum pie plates. In our experiment, we observed root development of liners produced in pie plates of varying diameter, depth, and drainage. We observed root development from the varying diameter, depth, and drainage treatments of the pie plates.

Production of native plant species for ecological restoration is a growth segment of the nursery industry and offers a tremendous opportunity to utilize the expertise of plant propagators. For the producer of a native species of high interest and potential demand for which no formal production protocol has been published or is known the choice of beginning with seed or cuttings is of great importance. Basic to the production of native species is the development of seed or cutting propagation methods that respect the ecological and genetic integrity of native populations, maximize production potential of a given species and minimize the time to pro?duction all at minimal production costs. With this in mind the propagator must have a basic understanding of seed dormancy and vegetative propagation when in pursuit of economical seed and cutting propagation protocols. This paper outlines seed dormancy mechanisms and a basic approach to investigating the use of stem cutting propagation for wild-collected plant species with potential for inclusion in the wildflower industry. This information is provided to assist the propagator in designing small-scale seed and stem cutting propagation trials for development of seed or cutting protocols of wild-collected wildflowers.

Several methods have been developed for capturing digital images during seed germination (Dell’Aquila et al., 2000; Geneve and Kester, 2001; Sako et al., 2001). Flatbed scanners are an inexpensive alternative to video and still cameras that provides consistent lighting and the ability to capture usable images from very small seeds (Geneve and Kester, 2001). Recently, we developed a nondestructive system for capturing sequential digital images over time that provides additional precision and insight concerning aspects of seed germination and dormancy (Geneve et al., 2006).

In this study, captured sequential digital images were used to evaluate seed dormancy release in two woody legume species with different dormancy types. Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos L.) seeds have physical dormancy and require scarification to allow imbibition. Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis L.) seeds have physiological dormancy and require chilling stratification. In this case, seedling growth over time in excised embryos was used as an indicator of release from dormancy following chilling.

A primary focus of this talk is to enhance your fiscal responsibility. Small- to medium-sized nursery growers and other business owners lose millions of dollars each year. Most of you are plant propagators: plant grower’s first and secondly business owners. You first start a nursery and quickly discover the need to learn how to manage it. You become a risk taker linking your health, wealth, and well being to a decision to make it on your own — ready or not! It is generally assumed that if you wait until you are fully educated and financed (i.e., fully prepared); the opportunity to start a business will bypass you.