SCHEDULE

8:00 - 9:00 am - Trade Show Registration

8:00 - 10:30 am - VCH Exam

8:30 - 9:00 am - Visit With Vendors

9:00 - 10:00 am - Judson Griggs, The Harvest Group Landscaping Consulting, Keynote Speaker:  "Time Management:  Taking Control of your Life." - How many times during your typical week do you find yourself asking, “Where did the day go?” The day is over, and I didn’t accomplish half of what I wanted to today.”  You are being inundated daily with requests for your time and attention. Emails, texts, meetings, employee problems and requests, client, and project issues and so on. They come at you from all directions.

Does this sound familiar?

• You are working a crazy number of hours each week and getting nowhere.
• Has your business been the same size for too long (as in YEARS)?
• You are stuck doing everything because no one else knows what to do or how to do it.

Maybe you should be asking:

How do I get more of the right things done in the same amount of time, or better yet, in LESS TIME?

Here are the facts:

FACT I – You will never have enough time to get everything done!

FACT II – Your company and career will not grow to its potential until you are able to figure out this time management thing!

We invite you to join us to learn how to manage your time better so you can begin enjoying life again and prosper. In this fast-paced seminar you will be presented with:

• Understanding urgent vs. important tasks.
• How to set and meet goals.
• Determining where you are spending your time.
• Deciding where to best spend your time.
• Identifying the classic time robbers.

In the session you will be presented with tools that you can take with you and use on a daily basis. Things like:

• Time management matrix
• “To Do” lists that work.
• Delegation techniques.
• Time management exercises.
• How to identify the “one thing.”
• Setting up a healthy, daily schedule.

Join Harvester Jud Griggs as he leads you through this face-paced, timely session that will help you re-take control of your professional and personal life.

10:00 - 10:30 am - Visit With Vendors

10:30 am - 11:30 am - Dr. Terence Bradshaw, UVM Horticulture Research and Education Director. "The Evolution of the "Hort Farm"  -  Dr. Bradshaw has been a part of the UVM Horticulture Research and Education Center since he first used the field laboratory to dry compost samples as an undergraduate in 1994. Since 2005, Terry as served as Director of the ‘Hort Farm’. He has also been part of, and now leads, the UVM Fruit program which conducts research and outreach programming for commercial apple and grape rowers in Vermont and the surrounding region. Terry will discuss some of the changes he has seen with the Hort Farm and the larger stakeholder community over the past nearly three decades.

11:30 am - Noon:  VNLA Special Membership Meeting

Noon - 1:00 pm - Lunch

1:00 - 2:00 pm - Auction of plants, tools, and other sundries.  BRING ALONG A DONATION!

2:00 - 2:30 am - Visit With Vendors

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

2:30 - 3:30 pm- Jeff Toomey, Read Custom Soils.  “Engineered Soils Role in Green Infrastructure” -  Jeff will speak about  bioretention/rain garden soils, green roof soils, and other Read Custom Soils products that promote treatment and infiltration of rainwater.

OR

2:30 - 3:30 pm - There will be tours of the Center’s plant collections which include the Cary Garden, the Pollinator Garden, and the Rhododendron and Lilac collections. The City of Burlington also has a tree nursery on-site and there are various on-going research project plots we will be able to visit and learn about.

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

3:30 - 4:30 pm - Marie Ambusk, CEO & Co-Founder of TreesROI.  "Getting to the Root Of It (ROI) ... with Ground Penetrating Radar & INSIGHT™"  - Who says that you can’t be an entrepreneurship in your 70’s?  Who says that if something is complicated, hard and has never been done, that it can’t be done?  I’d like to tell you a little about my story and how things in my life have prepared me to push the limits of science and technology to develop a tool to help us grow better trees!

Yes, I am an unlikely candidate to lead this mission, and yet at TreesROI™ we are developing a tool and methodology to assess the quality of containerized tree root systems, using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) in a novel way. The prototype of our product, INSIGHT™, is not ready for demonstration, but I will tell you our plan and share our preliminary research that I presented at the Landscape Below Ground IV conference, also published by the ISA in 2020 LBGIV book.

Tree root systems are the only things connecting the largest plants on Earth, to the Earth. It is critical for healthy, stable roots to allow urban trees to grow to maturity and maximize all the benefits that are well understood for human health, for ecosystem services, to mitigate effects of our changing climate, for tree infrastructure assets, and for sustainability.  It’s hard to fix what you can’t see … until now …  Join my talk at the 2022 VNLA Summer Meeting and let’s share ideas! I want to know your thoughts and concerns, how this can help your business and the industry.  Our bottom line:  Grow Better Trees with INSIGHT™.

OR

3:30 - 4:30 pm - There will be tours of the Center’s plant collections which include the Cary Garden, the Pollinator Garden, and the Rhododendron and Lilac collections. The City of Burlington also has a tree nursery on-site and there are various on-going research project plots we will be able to visit and learn about.

SPEAKER PROFILES

Jud Griggs has had the good fortune of working with some of the best Design/Build companies in the country over his long career in the Green Industry. Starting with Lied’s in Wisconsin, Jud worked with Tom Lied, one of the founding members of ALCA (Now NALP). Then Jud moved to Naples, Florida to manage the operations of Smallwood Landscape; one of the preeminent design/build companies in Florida. From there, Jud joined Lambert’s in Dallas to work with Paul Fields to manage operations and then lead the company’s Sales and Marketing efforts. Each of these companies were in the lawn and landscape Top 100 list when Jud worked there.

Through those experiences, Jud has been able to work in remarkably diverse markets across the country. He understands what it takes to be successful in the Design/Build arena. More importantly, he knows what mistakes and pitfalls to avoid. Jud served as President of ALCA (now NALP) in 1997. That experience taught Jud how to lead a diverse organization of business owners to attain many successes.

With over 40 years of experience in Design/Build, Jud consults with companies across the country to help them improve their operations as well as Sales and Marketing processes. Working with Jim Paluch at JP Horizons for two years exposed Jud to the intricacies of consulting with companies guiding them through the challenges of everyday business and helping them attain their goals. His ability to observe and assess a company and then offer solid solutions and ideas to help a company take the next step in their growth is invaluable. Speaking on topics ranging from customer service, sales, and sales management, Strategic planning, and budgeting, makes Jud a sought-after speaker as well.

Dr. Terence (Terry) Bradshaw is the Assistant Professor of Specialty Crops Production and Director of the UVM Horticulture Research and Education Center.  He has worked his entire career- nay, life- in Vermont agriculture. Raised on a multi-generation Central Vermont dairy farm, he is a first-generation University graduate. His career arc has traveled from cowshit-shoveler to garbageman to commercial fruit grower to agricultural research assistant.  Currently Terry's research and outreach program is designed to address sustainability issues in the specialty crop industries in Vermont, particularly apples and grapes. Specific program areas include: technical support to address horticultural and pest management needs of Vermont fruit growers; assessment of organic fruit production systems; grape cultivar evaluation; assessment of apple production systems for hard cider markets; and alternative fertilization programs in vegetable production.

 

 

Marie Ambusk retired (2011) from GE Healthcare (IDX) after a 40-year Finance career. She was inspired to fix a global problem that causes unnecessary failure of young trees; the painful lesson she learned years before was her introduction to the term: root collar disorder. Since then, her path turned to study how trees grow; why they die; and to understand what we could possibly do to influence their ability to grow to maturity. In 2006, Marie became a Certified Master Gardener; in 2007, she became a Certified VT SOUL Tree Steward and started TREEage, a volunteer outreach project with the mission to “promote best maintenance practices for urban trees”. While she remains the project leader today, her ongoing research efforts and resolve has developed into a full-time commitment, strengthened her purpose, and ultimately led to an innovative method to use noninvasive Ground Penetrating Radar to help solve the problem. Marie started TreesROI™ in 2012 believing that “any problem can be solved with science, technology, persistence, a lot of hard work, and a little luck.”

Jeff Toomey is the Northern New England sales representative for the Read Custom Soils. Toomey joined the team in 2018 as a part-time sales representative for the northern New England region responsible for introducing the company’s soil solutions to the area. Toomey was named the full-time sales representative for the region in 2021.

Jeff’s prior experience included owning and operating Toomey Landscape in Exeter, NH for over 25 years. Toomey holds an Associate of Science degree from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture and a Bachelor of Science degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Jeff plays an active role in the industry as a member of the New Hampshire Landscape Association, Maine Landscape and Nurseryman Association, Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association, New England Park Association, Vermont Recreation and Park Association, Maine Recreation and Park Association, New Hampshire Recreation and Parks Association, Golf Course Superintendents Association of New England, New Hampshire Golf Course Superintendents Association, Maine Golf Course Superintendents Association, and the Vermont Golf Course Superintendents Association.  Jeff makes his home in Exeter, NH with his wife Jana, and daughter.