London this week: July 27, 2011

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

Survey to help college with programs

Conestoga College is redesigning its existing horticulture program. With
the intent to develop a program that is industry-driven and responsive
to the needs of the sector, the college is conducting a survey of
industry professionals. The survey may be found at Conestoga. If you have any
questions, contact Joyce Irving at jirving@conestogac.on.ca.

London Chapter Golf Tournament, Sept. 9

Treat yourself to a great day on the links, support your association and
take a well-deserved break. The format is best ball scramble. Cost is
$125 per golfer, which includes golf, cart, lunch, dinner and prizes.
Dinner-only is available for $35. For further information, go to London golf.

Are you Landscape Industry Certified?

A Landscape Industry Certified test will be held at St. Clair College this fall. Sept. 30 will be the Technician Practical Test and all Certification designation written tests will be on Oct. 1. To register click here, or for more information contact Rachel Cerelli. To help prepare candidates for the test, Landscape Industry Certified pre-test day orientation will be held Sept. 9 at St.Clair College. RSVP to Rachel Cerelli.

Fanshawe College hosts written Certification test
There will be a written test for all Landscape Industry Certified designations at Fanshawe College on Nov. 5. Technicians, this was created to compliment your out-of-town practical exam that was held in Milton on July 22, and on Oct. 24, or at St. Clair College on Sept. 30. Click here for more information or to register, or contact Rachel Cerellli.

LO this week

Members asked for input into green industry’s human resources problem

Ontario’s green industry will experience a shortfall of 87,000 workers in the next 10 years. We need your knowledge and experience to address recruitment and retention challenges in our industry. Attend one of four facilitated sessions across Ontario to ensure the success of Ontario’s green industry in the next decade. Click here for locations, dates, times and register today!

Smart about Salt essentials training dates
Take a one-day explanatory course on this innovative winter salt management program. Program covers risk management and record keeping, salt science, rates and calibration, materials and tactics, weather principles, storage and handling, and more. Two dates are offered this fall, Tues. Aug. 30 at Landscape Ontario home office in Milton and Wed., Sept. 28 at Waterloo Region Op’s Centre, 100 Maple Grove Rd., Cambridge.

Trial garden open house, Aug. 12
This year’s trial garden open house for the horticultural professionals will take place on the morning of Fri., Aug. 12. The
speaker program this year will follow-up on the horticultural soil talk
from last year with a research and experiential perspective on
microbial soil additives (for example: mycorrhizae). This program will
be of interest to those planting both herbaceous and woody plants.

Tours of the trial garden will immediately follow the speaker program.
Voting on your favourites will take place again. The afternoon
program will continue at the Guelph Trial Garden at the Guelph Turfgrass
Institute. Updates on turf research will take place at the Guelph site,
as well.

The public will be invited to the LO gardens on Sat.,
Aug. 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Guelph trials will be open to the
public on Wed., Aug. 17, from noon until 8 p.m.

To find out more about sponsorship opportunities available with the trial garden, contact Rodger Tschanz at rtschanz@uoguelph.ca or Kathleen Pugliese at kathleenp@landscapeontario.com.

Advanced Green Roof Maintenance seminar, Aug 26

Created
to assist designers, contractors and facility managers with an
important, but often overlooked aspect of green roofs: maintenance. The
seminar examines design phase considerations; best practices for
planning, budgeting, and implementing maintenance procedures; and
approaches for rehabilitating green roofs that have been subject to
maintenance neglect. The seminar will take place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
at LO home office in Milton. Participants will receive a 100-page manual
with detailed case studies. Lunch is not included. Price for LO members
is $249, and for non-members it is $299. To find out more about the
seminar go to green roofs.

Support Legacy Garden at School of Horticulture
Donations and in-kind contributions are being sought to help create a garden at the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture that will be a tribute to all those working in the horticulture industry. The garden plan’s official unveiling takes place at the OPA/NPC School of Horticulture 75th anniversary celebrations from August 19-21 at the School of Horticulture in Niagara Falls. More information available here.

LO wage survey needs your input
How do your pay rates compare to other Ontario green industry companies? Take LO’s wage survey to enter your pay rates, and see the 2011 averages for a range of horticultural specialties. Information may
be used for benchmarking, and also
helps in promoting the industry as a career choice. The surveys are
completely confidential; only aggregate numbers are reported. Click here to take part in the survey, and view the results here.

Green for Life Community Award: Enter your project

If you have taken part in a project to green your community, then showcase
your efforts in the Landscape Ontario Green for Life Community Award.
The winner of the award will be announced at Expo 2011 in conjunction
with the Communities in Blooms – Ontario ceremony on Thurs., Oct. 20.
For more information, or to register go to
Green for Life Award.

Argos offer discount to LO members
The Toronto Argonauts have created a discount offer for Landscape
Ontario members. Various price levels are available. To see more info on
the program, or to order ticks go to
Argonauts.

New Interior Technician Training Manual

A new manual for interior technicians has been written, and will be a
recommended study guide for the Landscape Industry Certified Interior
Technician (formerly CLT-I) exam. In order to secure the additional
funding to complete production of this new manual, PLANET’s Interior
Specialty Group and Landscape Ontario are seeking a show of support for
this definitive training manual for the Interior Plantscape industry. We
need your help. Please indicate your support for the production of a
new training manual for interior technicians by signing this
letter.