Golden Horseshoe this week: January 19, 2011

Golden Horseshoe Chapter this week
Add the Golden Horseshoe Chapter page and the LO events calendar to your bookmarks

Networking Dinner, Feb. 1
Join
the Waterloo Chapter for a networking dinner with Jeffrey Scott, an internationally-known
author and consultant to the green industry. The event
starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Charcoal Steak House, 92980 King Street
East, Kitchener. During dinner you will enjoy getting to know other
like-minded contractors, hearing and sharing success stories and gaining
inspiration. In addition, Jeffrey Scott will give each attendee a
complimentary copy of his new book on peer groups, entitled The Leader’s Edge.
Cost is $85 per person and space is limited to the first 20 landscape
businesses who sign up. For more information, contact Dave Wright at
519-465-4845, or davew@wright.on.ca or pay online.

Golden Horseshoe Chapter meeting, Feb. 24
Join
the Golden Horseshoe Chapter on Thurs., Feb. 24 from 10 – 2 p.m. This
lunch meeting will feature the Ontario Regional Common Grounds
Association that will present information on locates. Watch horttrades.com for updates, including the location of the meeting. Contact Helen Hassard at Helen@landscapeontario.com for more
information.

LO this week

Goodbye to industry pioneer Howard Stensson

After a brief illness, Howard Herman Stensson passed away in his sleep on Jan. 16, at the age of 98. He re-joined the family business, Sheridan Nurseries, in 1964 and served
as president from 1972 until his retirement at the age of 80 in 1993. Friends may call at the Turner & Porter “Peel” Chapel, 2180
Hurontario St., Mississauga (Hwy. 10, N. of QEW), on Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. and Friday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Maple Grove United Church, 346 Maple Grove Dr., Oakville, on
Sat., Jan. 22, at 1 p.m. See more information on the horttrades.com website.

Humber College, in
partnership with Landscape Ontario
and the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association, is offering a green industry business management course, based on the six required modules to achieve CLP certification. The course will be offered in a
flexible delivery format involving in-class and online learning activities. In-class sessions are scheduled for three Saturdays, starting Jan. 22, and continuing Feb 5 and 19. A review session will be held on Feb 26.
Participants may write the CLP exam following the review session. Registration and information can be found by going to the
Humber College website.

Professional development seminars
Landscape Design: An Introduction Jan. 25
Chiseled in Stone-Intro Jan. 26
Estimating to Win Jan. 27
Quit hoping for Profit: Plan on it Jan. 31
Chiseled
in Stone-Inter Jan. 31
Keep
your Engines Running Jan. 31
The
Hardy Woody Plant Jan. 31
Plant
Doctor in the House Jan. 31

Trees and Shrubs: Establishment & Maintenance from the Ground Up Feb. 2

Getting Started in Concrete Feb. 3

Intro to Grading/Drainage & Other Practical Calculations Feb. 3

Ultimate Supervisors: A Foreman’s Guide to Productivity & Profit Feb. 3

Retaining Walls from the Ground Up Feb. 4

How to Utilize Dynascape Feb. 4

To register or get more information, click seminars.

Green Infrastructure Ontario survey
Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition questionnaire is part of an effort to
gauge green infrastructure challenges and opportunities in communities across Ontario. Through a
survey, the group, of which Landscape Ontario
is a partner, hopes to learn what’s
working, barriers faced, and what needs to change. Results will be presented at community
workshops and incorporated into a public report, scheduled for release in fall
2011. The questionnaire takes ten minutes or less to complete, and is submitted
anonymously. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 4.

Try your luck in the Ontario Horticultural Trade Foundation raffle, and help support your industry. Tickets are $20 each; first prize is $5,000, second is $1,000 and third is $500. Only 1,000 tickets were printed. The draw will take place at
Industry Night at Canada Blooms on Thurs., Mar. 17. All proceeds to
go to scholarships and research projects. Contact Kathleen Pugliese to purchase tickets.

Earn money by taking free safety training program
SCIP is a free training program created by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) that promotes workplace safety, with opportunities coming up in London, Milton and Ottawa. This group focuses on landscaping and related services in partnership with Landscape Ontario. Participating companies receive a one-time fixed five per cent rebate on their firm’s WSIB insurance premiums. To find out more about the program, check out the flyer. Complete and submit SCIP firm application form to Carol Divitkos by Jan. 21, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, 200 Front Street West, 11th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5V 3J1, by fax – 416-344-3493, telephone 1-800-663-6639, ext. 3431, or carol_divitkos@wsib.on.ca.

Growers’ Group Short Course, Feb. 9
The annual LO Growers Group Short Course will take place at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington. The program will focus on important production
issues, including weed management, effective IPM strategies and lots of
research updates. This year’s featured speaker is Charles Gilliam from
Auburn University. Pre-registration price is $65 for LO members, $75 for
potential members and $25 for students. On-site registration is $90.
Online registration is available here.

Building your Prosperity seminar, Feb. 17
The introductory Prosperity Partnership seminar will get you started on to the road of success. The next program is scheduled for Landscape Ontario home office at 7856 Fifth Line South, Milton. It is intended to help green industry members clarify what they excel at and what components of their business need attention and improvement. A seminar workbook will be provided. Take this online survey, to measure your strengths and weaknesses in the six Prosperity pillars. Click here for more information, or to register.

Professional organic horticulture course
An
intensive two-week course, Feb. 7 to 18, at Humber College, North Campus, Toronto, is
being offered on organic horticultural practices. Directed at educators
and landscape professionals, the course is offered
by Gaia College, in partnership with Humber College. Participants will
have the opportunity to write the SOUL organic certification exam at the
completion of the program. Registration instructions may be found here.

Ontario Turfgrass Symposium, Feb. 23-24
Rozanski Hall, University of Guelph, is the site for the 20th annual Ontario Turfgrass Symposium. Speakers from both industry and academia will provide information pertaining to the symposium’s theme, ‘On the Cutting Edge.’ Sports and recreation staff, lawn care, golf course workers and nursery sod growers will benefit from the many sessions, including pest and disease controls to safety and liability issues in turf environments. Registration for the symposium is available at Symposium, or call 519-767-5000 for more information.

Lighting Symposium, Feb. 24
At this year’s Landscape Lighting Symposium, internationally-known designer Jan Moyer will speak
on LEDs, and George Gruel will address how to
properly shoot photographs of night lighting projects. Last year, the symposium sold out, so it has moved to the larger Grand Chalet venue in Milton. Hurry and register today! Click here to view flyer.

Survive and thrive in today’s market, Mar. 2

Monroe Porter, internationally-known business strategy speaker is coming to Landscape Ontario! Learn to survive and thrive in today’s market in this program that demonstrates how to establish goals and strategies to keep pace with the lightning-fast changes in the green industry. Porter will discuss how to combat shrinking margins, realistic budgeting, profitable pricing structures, how to identify winning jobs and more. This seminar takes place on Mar. 2, 1 to 4 p.m., at the LO home office. Cost is $60 for LO members, and $96 for non-members. For more information, see the flyer. Space is limited to 15: register today at the LO seminar page.