President’s Letter by Sanford Stein

Are we in the middle of our busy season? Talk
amongst plant industry folk is that, overall, business is
substantially off any year in recent memory. I know it is
for us here at The Jungle Nursery, Inc., and according
to prognosticators, things are not expected to improve
economically at least until after the next national election.
Personally; I am quite busy, as are many of your
Miami-Dade Chapter Board of Directors members,
working hard for the industry as a whole. I want you to
know that you have one very great group of people volunteering
their time and energies to local FNGLA
needs. The intent of this president’s letter then, is to
give you the “up to date scoop” on just where your
chapter Board of Directors have recently been focusing
their energies.

Allyson Humphries of Larry’s Cap Rock and
Stone, Sylvia Gordon of Landscapes by Sylvia Gordon,
June Ward of Emerald Forest and I just organized and
hosted a membership drive, by invitation only, for nonmember
Landscape Architects and Contractors at The
Kampong in Coconut Grove on the 17th of April. The
lure was the captivating tour of this historic site, once
the home of David Fairchild (of Fairchild Tropical Botanical
Gardens fame), and was led by its current Director,
Professor David Lee. But the real intent of the
meeting was to further “bridge-building” between the
nursery and landscape segments of our collective industry.
In our evening’s message, we shared our position
that the outdoor ornamental industry’s success as a
whole was dependent on nurserymen and those doing
landscape design, installation and maintenance communicating
and sharing ideas. Historically, there has
been a substantial disconnect between these segments.
Nurseries have grown landscape material in
various sizes, usually trying to “estimate” what landscaper
designers and contractors might use. Landscape
Architects and Designers, for their part, specify
landscape material for their designs which may or may
not be available. Also, new plant material is introduced
to the industry all the time, but non-FNGLA member
Landscape Architects and Contractors may lack access
to this information. So Jennifer Nelis and Jessica
Schaaf from state FNGLA staff came down, and along
with Harold Jenkins, of Jenkins Landscape out of Palm
Beach County, and our current Professional Landscape
Certification Committee chair person, helped us educate
this audience as to the benefits of being a part of our
powerful state organization. The meeting was well attended
and follow-ups are now underway to sign up new
Landscape Architect and Contractor members.
Your Miami-Dade FNGLA Chapter Board of Directors
has just approved the printing of our own policy
booklet filled with the most pertinent political issues facing
our local landscape and nursery industry and our
positions on each of these. Thanks go out to Jorge
Abreu of West Kendall Nursery, Erik Tietig of Pine Island
Nursery and Ivonne Alexander of Happy Days
Nursery for their time and energies helping me compile,
edit and write the content of this important booklet. And
thanks must also go to Marcelo Siqueira, of Altria Labs,
for having conducted the membership survey which led
to the development of this booklet. “The Miami-Dade
Chapter FNGLA Nursery and Landscape Industry’s Positions
on State and Local Issues” will be used to educate
local, state, and federal government officials as to
the concerns of our industry. With the positions clearly
stated in this booklet, we can now carry our message to
our government representatives and safeguard our industry’s
best interests and hopefully our futures, with
regard to preventing or changing regulations that create
greater burdens on an industry already reeling from the
multiple pressures we must deal with everyday.
I also am very proud to share your Miami-Dade
FNGLA board of directors’ decision to take a portion of
our Chapter’s substantial savings and establish an endowment
for horticultural research at TREC (Tropical
Research Education Center) here in The Redland. A
portion of the interest earned each year will aid the facility
in conducting research specific to our industry. This
research is guided by the TREC Advisory Committee,
currently lead by your immediate past president, Erik
“who’s a daddy” Tietig. Input from the industry will help
guide this committee to just where research needs to be
focused. Our hope is that through continued fundraisers
the dollars in this endowment will continue to
grow, channeling ever-increasing revenues into this
very worthwhile cause. If you have any ideas for
needed research please do not hesitate to share them
with Erik or any of your Chapter Board of Director
members.

Finally, just because many of you are not aware
of the month to month work carried on by some very
important Directors, I feel it would be unjust to not mention
them here. Jane Spurling, our Chapter Secretary,
shows up to nearly every event our Chapter puts on,
interviewing people, taking notes, and then writing
blurbs for the Nursery Report. She also takes the minutes
for every Board of Directors meeting and then puts
them together for review by the rest of the Board. This
is a thankless job, but hugely important. Please thank
Jane when you see her.

Lisa Greer, our Chapter Treasurer, has put
countless hours into improving the quality of our accounting,
and this year created a budget for our Chapter
all by herself. Steve Leonard, of Sturon Nursery and
a current Director as well, has provided timely and
helpful feedback to all decision-making in our Chapter
on top of the many hours he has put into volunteering
on the HPX Committee. Doug Miller as always does an
outstanding job organizing our dinner meetings and
getting them sponsored to save attendees from needing
to pay themselves. And lastly, Ivonne Alexander, as
busy as she is, involved in every committee known to
mankind, nevertheless has been available as well with
sage advice for everyone on your Board.
As lethargic as sales have been in our industry,
you have a Chapter Board of Directors who never stop
working for the best interests of our industry. The work
never ends, and many great minds and hearts do the
next right thing that calls for their attention. Thank your
Chapter Board of Director members when you see
them. I am thanking them right here.