season-after-season-header

2014 Student Career Days with PLANET and Corona Tools

Posted by Chris Sabbarese on Wed, Mar, 19, 2014 @ 09:03 AM

Corona Tools Landscapechat

The rising generation of landscape professionals and gardeners are getting their fair share of attention from such varied sources as the Facebook Group ‘Emergent: A Group  for  Growing Professionals’ and Dee Nash’s new book,  20/30-Something Garden Guide. But the “Olympics of Landscaping” for the past 38 years has been Student Career Days organized by PLANET, the national trade association representing landscape professionals.

Student Career Days (SCD) comprise the “National Collegiate Landscape Competition", a career recruitment event for college students studying horticulture and landscaping. This year, the University of Colorado will host SCD on March 23-24, 2014

To celebrate the three year milestone for #Landscapechat, the live tweetup has been scheduled for Friday, March 21 chat at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET at SCD. Students and the industry can learm more about SCD during the chat, a valued resource that brings students and companies together to build a strong industry for the future. Students who add Landscape Industry Certified to their resumes demonstrate added value that employeers want. 

You're Invited to Tweet 

The live chat begins on a special day and time: Friday, March 21, 2014 at 10 a.m. PDT / 1 p.m. EDT, where we come together with green industry experts and fellow landscaping peeps each week to discuss all things related to landscape, since 2011.  

Join @CoronaTools and #landscapechat co-partner, Lisa Schaumann, PLANET Director of Public Relations @PLANET2005 for this week's topic: Student Career Days.

Discussion Overview 

studentcareerdaysPLANET CareerFair 200x200

There are five key takeaways that will be covered during the live chat: 

  • What is SCD?  Student Career Days (SCD) is the “National Collegiate Landscape Competition", a career recruitment event for college students studying horticulture and landscaping. This year, the University of Colorado will host SCD on March 23-24, 2014.  The Twitter hashtag for the event is #PLANETSCD for up to the minute information. A Photo Album shows many aspects of the event from past years. 
  • What are some of the events that take place?  There are three key elements for students to participate in at Student Career Days:
Educational Sessions and Workshops:

The leaders in the green industry will be presenting workshops and PLANET CDS sessions for students and faculty on topics you might not otherwise have the chance to learn about. By participating in the workshops, PLANET Career Development Series sessions, and the tour, you will be exposed to the latest information available on topics such as irrigation, arboriculture, estimating, and leadership skills 

Attend the Largest Career Fair in the Industry:

We have nearly 75 companies from all over the country participating in our Career Fair! They are all looking for qualified employees for full-time positions and internships. Students and faculty should take this opportunity to meet as many companies as possible, and make those all important connections. Students should come prepared with resumes and be ready to interview on the spot.

Compete Against Your Peers in 28 Events:

    Student Career Days features a series of competitive events designed to challenge students based on current industry standards. Each competition is coordinated by green industry companies — they design the competition, they set it up, and they judge it — so the competitions are as true-to-life as it gets. See how you compare amongst students from across the country!

    • How do students get jobs through SCD? 

    Interaction between competitive landscaping events and Sponsors, plus a Career Fair with more than 75 companies actively recruiting  

    • Why is it important for the industry to support students? 

    Lawn, landscape, tree care, and irrigation companies struggle with a shortage of well-educated potential employees. Because of that shortage, nearly 100 percent of students graduating from college horticulture and landscape programs have jobs offers. Student Career Days brings students and companies together to build a strong industry for the future. Student Career Days is sponsored at the Platinum level by STIHL, Inc.

    • Do students get scholarships at Student Career Days? 

    The annual event also includes the awarding of tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships presented each year by the PLANET Academic Excellence Foundation (PLANET AEF).

    Join the Conversation

    Don’t miss out on this exciting topic as we welcome PLANET to the #Landscapechat community! Just sign into #landscapechat Nurph with your Twitter ID and you can follow the conversation and share with the community. It will automatically add the hashtag to all your tweets too.

    If you do miss the chat, you can still access the complete replay on Nurph or on our Storify transcript; both are available 24/7 following the Live Chat, which will include all the information and links shared during the discussion.

    Come join us for this organic topic to learn more and chat live on #Landscapechat!

     

    Topics: Corona Tools, #Landscapechat, PLANET, SCD, Student Career Days

    Going Organic in the Garden and Landscape is Easier Than You Think

    Posted by Chris Sabbarese on Wed, Mar, 12, 2014 @ 11:03 AM

     

    Corona Tools #landscapechatEveryday new gardeners put spade to ground to begin their lifelong journey with Mother Earth. Myriad questions besiege these newbies.  The hope of bountiful harvests vie with the 'quick fixes' promised by chemical pesticides. How would you advise them?

    Expert gardeners and landscapers employing organic practices as the status quo still may not be aware of new findings and promising research. Just last week I met with some of the  folks Rodale Institute and was surprised when Coach Smallwood told me I could dumpster dive my neighbors’ grass clippings that use chemicals and add them to my compost without introducing chemicals into my garden! There are definitely myths that even the most experienced gardeners apparently don't know about growing organic.    

    The twofold goal of this week's #Landscapechat is: first, to supply the reasons behind why every new gardener should grow organic, and second, to provide interesting news, facts, research and articles to supply organic information for those expert gardeners and landscapers who want the latest trends and information.  

    You're Invited to Tweet 

    Join @CoronaTools and #landscapechat co-partner, Aaron Kinsman, media relations specialist @RodaleInstitute for this week's topic: Organic Gardening for Garden + Landscape. The live chat begins March 12, 2014 at 11 a.m. PDT / 2 p.m. EDT, where we come together with green industry experts and fellow landscaping peeps each week to discuss all things related to landscape, since 2011.   

    Discussion Overview 

    Corona Tools veggie shearThere are five key takeaways that will be covered during the live chat: 

    Common myths about growing organic (too expensive, smaller yields, hard to control pests)

    Getting Started - What does it take to make a garden organic? How to find organic seeds, testing the soil, buying soil and amendments and more

    Why should people grow their own produce organically? Studies relating to health, GMOs, success

    Planning and Planting – Organic Practices including companion planting, rotating crops, raised beds vs. in-ground, till or no till

    Compost and Mulch – Composting Tips and Cautions

    Organic Pest Management – grow thriving, productive gardens without the need for toxic chemicals

    Join the Conversation

    Don’t miss out on this exciting topic as we welcome the Rodale Institute’s Research department  http://rodaleinstitute.org/our-work/research/ to the #landscapechat community! Just sign into #landscapechat Nurph with your Twitter ID and you can follow the conversation and share with the community. It will automatically add the hashtag to all your tweets too.

    If you do miss the chat, you can still access the complete replay on Nurph or on our Storify transcript; both are available 24/7 following the Live Chat, which will include all the information and links shared during the discussion.

    Come join us for this organic topic to learn more and chat live on #Landscapechat!

     

    Topics: Corona Tools, #Landscapechat, Organic garden, organic landscape, Rodale Institute

    Study Reveals 5 Things Know to Grow Your Landscape Business

    Posted by Chris Sabbarese on Tue, Mar, 04, 2014 @ 19:03 PM

    LawnAndLandscapeCover 3 5 14Small

    One of the bread and butter components of our industry is the landscape maintenance company, generally divided into those that service residential properties and those with commercial clients. In 2013 Lawn and Landscape Magazine surveyed residential homeowners about their landscaping decisions. This year Lawn and Landscape  partnered with Sygenta to survey commercial property managers about their attitudes toward landscapers. The happy result is the February cover story, 2014 Grow the Market 2 study, providing hard data from property managers about their lawn and landscape decisions.    

    You're Invited to Tweet 

    Join @CoronaTools and #landscapechat co-partner, Brian Horn, Managing Editor of Lawn and Landscape Magazine @lawnandlandscape for this week's topic, a major study of Property Managers' attitudes about landscaping and lawn care, Grow the Market 2 Survey. The live chat begins March 5, 2014 at 11 a.m. PST / 2 p.m. EST, were we come together with green industry experts and fellow landscape tweeps each week to discuss all things related to landscape, since 2011.

    Discussion Overview 

     There are five key takeaways that will be covered during the live chat. 

    • Hiring Decisions Far and away, quality of work and staying on budget are the most important things to the average property manager when it comes to hiring a landscaper. Price comes in tied for fifth on the list of top reasons.
    • What's Important; What's Not Green services and certifications come in dead last, with just 2 percent of property managers choosing those as the top reasons to hire a company.
    • Service with a Smile Almost three-quarters of respondents cited problems with services or improperly completed jobs as the most common reason they fired a landscape contractor.
    • Doing Business with a Business High prices came in near the bottom of the list, with just 4 percent of property managers saying it was why they often changed landscapers.
    • Property by the Numbers 60 percent of our respondents spend more than $20,000 a year on their entire landscape, and almost half of them say that budget has increased since 2011. 

    Join the Conversation 

    Don’t miss out on this exciting topic and join the conversation via Twitter. Just sign into #landscapechat with your Twitter ID and you can follow the conversation and share with the community. Be sure to add the hastag to all your tweets or join us on the landscapechat Nurph channel that adds it for you and provides 24/7 access to past chat replays!

    If you do miss the live event, you can still access the Storify recap, accessible 24/7 that will be posted following the live chat. The transcript includes all the information and links shared during the discussion. 

    Topics: Corona Tools, #Landscapechat, Lawn and Landscape

    Recent Posts

    Posts by Topic

    see all