24th Annual Golf Outing & Scholarship Fundraiser

Published on by wmnlaadmin Category: Golf Outing, What's New

Friday, September 15, 2023

Three Fires Golf Club

6045 136th Ave.  Holland, MI 49424

Open to all WMNLA members, employees, customers, vendors & family. Sign up individually or as teams of 2, 3, or 4. We’ll partner individuals to make foursomes.

Registration includes 18 holes of Golf, Cart and Luncheon

Outing Schedule:

  • 8:30am Registration
  • 9:00am Shotgun Start
  • 12:30pm (or end of round) Luncheon with Catering from Hog Wild BBQ & Raffle

We hope to see you there! However, if you are not able to attend and would like to donate a prize for the raffle, a monetary donation to the Scholarship Fund, or Sponsor a Tee or the Luncheon, we would greatly appreciate it! Please contact Becky at (517) 381-0437 or Becky@MNLA,org for more details or with any questions!

*Please note: Three Fires Golf Club is in a Dry Township and therefore alcohol will not be available for purchase on the premises. However, you are permitted to bring your own.

Registration: $300.00/foursome  $75.00/person

March Garden Day 2021 – Virtual

Published on by Kelly Stehouwer Category: March Garden Day, What's New

March Garden Day: A Celebration of Gardening!

Sponsored by the West Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association

Saturday, March 13, 2021

March Garden Day 2021 Virtual

This year will look much different than the typical March Garden Day, but we are excited to offer a great round of speakers and an online auction for fundraising!  We rounded up the speakers that we weren’t able to offer back in 2020 and will be offering them on the Zoom platform for a very reasonable $30 fee.  Upon completion of your online registration, you’ll get links to sign up for each of the individual talks.  There aren’t very long breaks for the show so that we can offer all the speakers to all in attendance.  Since you’ll be watching from the comfort of your own home, you can eat or take a break whenever you like.  We are planning to offer recordings to all who register online so that viewers can go back to hear things they might have missed or focus on topics that were of particular interest.

8:45am – Welcome, Session 1

“Undervalued Native Plants” with Matthew Ross. Matthew Ross is the Director of Continuing Education at Longwood Gardens. Matthew will share his insight into the lesser known and grown native plants from spring ephemerals, to marginal plants to vibrant colored fall favorites. Learn about the importance of finding these plants in the wild to better understand their niche within the ecosystem and ultimately what types of conditions they prefer.

10:00am – Session 2

“Shade Perennials: What Kind of Shade do You Have” with Barb Bolgoyen.
Barb has been working in the West Michigan green industry for almost 40 years. She is a passionate, self-proclaimed ‘Plant Geek ’currently working for the leading wholesale perennial grower right here in our backyards of Zeeland, Michigan. Join Barb as she will showcase some excellent perennials, including some new and under-used plants that thrive in many types of shade gardens.

Snapshots: A Taste of Short & Sweet Possibilities

“What about Bulbs” with Ryan Stehouwer, Vandenberg Horticulture – 11:00 – 11:25am

“A Tale of Dwarf Conifers: Little Known Secrets”, with Paul Surian, Co-owner and Head Propagator for Blue Horizon Nursery & Gardens, Grand Junction, MI – 11:30-11:55am

“New and Unusual Vegetables for the Home Garden” with Gregory Dunn, owner of Blackbird Farm, Coopersville, MI – 12:00-12:25pm

“Understanding Ground Water in Ottawa County”, with Paul Sachs Director of Planning and Performance Improvement for Ottawa County, MI – 12:30-12:55pm

House Plant Talk Sponsored by Jonker’s Gardens – 1:00 – 1:25pm

1:30pm – Online Auction Closes

1:45pm – Session 3:

“Lessons from Great Gardens” with Matthew Ross. Matthew is a passionate advocate for public gardens with a special affinity for the underappreciated and unheralded gardens. Matthew will present some of his favorite gardens with ideas and concepts that can be used in your own home garden setting. Learn the tips and techniques behind some of the most elaborate and intricate garden displays and the intentional re-creation of nature that span the full regiment of garden themes.

Attendance will qualify for Education Credits toward Master Gardener Re-Certification

March Garden Day is sponsored by the West Michigan Nursery & Landscape Association, a local non-profit organization of gardening and landscape professionals. Proceeds from this event help fund the WMNLA Scholarship and Community Grant Programs.

Ottawa County Water Assessment & Survey

Published on by Kelly Stehouwer Category: What's New

Ottawa County is currently experiencing declining levels of groundwater and rising levels of chlorides within the bedrock aquifer.

As part of its campaign to address these issues, the County is partnering with the West Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association (WMNLA) and other organizations to implement a regionalized training and credentialing program for nursery, landscape, and irrigation professionals that focuses on practices and techniques designed to reduce water consumption in planned landscapes. Additional program benefits will likely include certification of endorsement by the County to help promote the water-conscious efforts of program participants along with other promotional opportunities.

The following anonymous survey is intended to help the County and its partners develop this training program in a way that will be most useful to you, our local nursery, landscape, and irrigation professionals. Your participation and feedback will be used to create an effective, impactful, and mutually beneficial program.

 

Paul Sachs  |  Director

Department of Planning and Performance Improvement
12220 Fillmore Street, Room 260 |  West Olive, MI 49460
P 616-738-4852  |  www.miOttawa.org

 

 

Landscape, Lawncare & Greenhouse Restrictions Lifted

Published on by Kelly Stehouwer Category: What's New

Some great news!

Effective immediately, the new executive order (2020-59) enacted by Governor Whitmer this afternoon replaces the most recent executive order (2020-42) which allows for Landscaping, Lawncare and Nursery companies to get back to work provided they follow strict social distancing rules and PPE protocol.

As we all rush to get back to work, it will be very important that each of us clearly communicate a work plan for keeping our teammates, customers and the public at large safe. With that in mind, I have heard from a number of businesses who have enacted strong new work protocol and thought I would share the good work practices I have been hearing about.

*Provide face mask or cloth face covering for each employee for use while inside buildings, or shared vehicle (required under new executive order).

*Check temperature of each employee at the start of each day (touchless, instant read thermometers are readily available online).

*1 person per vehicle if at all possible; face covering for each occupant if 2 people in one vehicle; 3 people per vehicle NOT allowed.

*Every vehicle to be disinfected at the end of each day.

*Avoid sharing tools if possible; all shared tools are to be sanitized with new user.

*Use disposable gloves for fueling.

*Stagger start times as possible to limit the amount of people in a building at one time.

*When on a client’s property, do not sit on patio chairs, benches, ect.

*Use minimal touch procedure to leave door hangers.

*Call customer upon arrival, do not go to door.

This is NOT a comprehensive list but they are all easy ways for us to protect ourselves as we go about our work. I have also attached a few lists recently sent out by the MNLA that lay out good work practices targeted at Landscape contractors, Lawncare contractors and Garden Center/Nurseries.

Stay safe,

Keith Hogan

WMNLA board president

Arborist at Bartlett Tree Experts

ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified

ISA Certified Arborist MI 4198A

Bartlett Tree Experts – Grand Rapids/Lakeshore Office

Safety_protocols_Lawncare Manage       Safety_protocols_Garden Center         Safety_ProtocolS_Landscape_Contractor

March Garden Day Cancelled

Published on by Kelly Stehouwer Category: Uncategorized

Due to the current recommendations from the state government and concern for the health and safety for attendees, I regret to inform you that the WMNLA board has decided to cancel March Garden Day this coming weekend,

We ask for your patience as we work to issue refunds and work on alternative plants. We are unsure at this point if the event will be rescheduled for another date later this year. Please stay tuned.

Best regards,

Keith Hogan

WMNLA President