At Cultivate'22, Ken Fisher, Craig Regelbrugge and Dr. Charlie Hall assessed 2022 and provided projections for what 2023 may bring.

Connecting to the younger generation by informing them that people who work in art, science, technology and business have a place in the horticulture industry.

As time marches on and the current industry leaders get older, eyes are turning to the younger generations rising through the ranks at growing operations across the country. As the chief operating officer at Hoffman Nursery, 32-year-old David Hoffman brings specific goals to the company’s leadership team, which includes his parents John and Jill, who founded the nursery in 1986. Like other young people, both in the industry and outside of it, Hoffman is concerned with sustainability. While Hoffman says that a commitment to sustainability has always been part of the nursery, it’s taken a new form since he’s become a leader at the business, saying that sustainability is “definitely becoming more and more of an opportunity.”

Across the grasses we grow, some varieties are slow to root or root inconsistently. Those crops required more time to finish and had to be sorted before shipping. Our solution is to use a product called a Growcoon. See how they work and why we are using them.

A vast majority of pastures consist of introduced cool-season grasses such as fescues, Kentucky bluegrass, orchardgrass and timothy. Although orchardgrass and timothy can provide exceptional wildlife habitat and grazing potential, native grasses provide great thermal and predatory cover for wildlife, excellent brood rearing habitat for grassland nesting and upland game birds and lots of forage for wildlife and pollinators.

According to the University of Tennessee, to maximize the grazing potential of pastures, 10-35% of the total pasture acres should be converted to native grasses. Examples of common native grasses that thrive in a grazing operation include big bluestem, indiangrass, switchgrass, little bluestem and gamma grass. The best time to graze these species is June through August when optimal biomass is available which will allow cool season pastures to rest and stockpile them for winter and early spring forage. 

Most adults thinking back on their school days likely do not have any memories from the roof of their school building—or if they do, they probably were not supposed to be there. But this could change if schools across the country are upgraded to have green roofs, which create natural spaces that are beneficial to students as well as to the environment and local communities.

Green roofs provide climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits that can protect human health, especially for children. They are a nature-based solution in which vegetation is grown on top of a building. This provides multiple benefits, from reducing building emissions through better temperature regulation to decreasing stormwater runoff and water pollution.

Thoughtful green infrastructure projects, including green roofs and living walls, are one important strategy to provide crucial habitat in cities. Although many specifics vary by region and climate, there are several basic things to consider when designing for biodiversity on green roofs.