How Will You Know When Bagworms Are Dead on Your Evergreen Bushes

The Professional Landcare Association (PLANET) and the American Nursery & Landscape Association appear last week that the two associations' boards of directors have unanimously agreed to sign a letter of intent to merge when the organizations meet for legislative events in Washington, D.C. next month.

With just 6 months under its chugalug since the merger of the Associated Mural Contractors of America and the Professional Landcare Association formed PLANET, Lawn & Mural interviewed PLANET President Dan Foley to learn more about the timing and next steps involved in this new level of expansion. Moreover, ANLA President Peter Orum shares his thoughts on the merger and the potential benefits he sees it bringing to the industry at large.

MOVING FAST? Currently representing 4,000 member firms, the formation of PLANET was finalized on Jan. 1, 2005 – just six brusk months agone. Only the quick timeframe in which this second merger has been approached isn't a bad thing, Foley says. "When ALCA and PLCAA came together, the goal there was to showtime building one stiff voice for the industry," Foley says. "In one case the formation of PLANET was crystallized and confirmed, we wanted to notify other associations well-nigh what we were doing and to let them know the door was open to them, likewise. Our goal isn't and wasn't to initiate a big scroll-up; rather, we desire to recognize the respect we have for all of these other great associations and invite them to participate in this goal of creating an ultimate association."

Foley says ANLA responded to that invitation well-nigh seven months ago, which started the ball rolling on partnerships between the organizations. "ANLA responded in several ways in terms of partnerships and, from there, beginning discussions about the possibility of merging," he says. "We've worked together on the H-2B Coalition, aligned our Legislative Days and then they're held simultaneously in July, and we institute a lot of other means to work better together to benefit our members. We actually wanted to be open up-minded to all options."

Orum agrees that political activity has been a great starting point for the two organizations, with combined educational opportunities a dandy benefit to members, should the merger go through.

"Upwards until less than 10 years agone, ANLA was probably more reactive than proactive in the political arena – when a bad law came out, we'd do something to get it changed, but we wouldn't programme ahead or anticipate hereafter challenges," Orum says. "Since then, we've become very politically engaged and worked closely with the PLANET legacy associations to help in their efforts as well. With ANLA strong in the political earth and PLANET very strong in pedagogy, certification and member services, we run across that every bit a very expert marriage."

JOINING FORCES. According to Foley, one of the biggest benefits of creating PLANET was seeing membership from the mural and lawn intendance sides of the manufacture come up together and mesh and then quickly. "In the few months I've been fortunate enough to work with folks with a backyard intendance specialty, information technology's amazing to find out how alike we really are and how much we tin learn from each other at the same time," he says. "As ANLA and PLANET research the merger opportunity, information technology will be fun to scout it evolves because people from both sides of the room will come together and integrate much more chop-chop than you lot'd expect."

Moving on from blending lawn care and landscaping to bringing the "Landcare Network" and wholesale grower/retail markets together is the side by side logical pace, Foley and Orum say. The groups, they advise, are true extensions of one another and will make an excellent alloy.

"Mostly, throughout the manufacture, at that place's a very good relationship between growers and landscapers," Orum says. "Nosotros're really office of the same family unit. Within our arrangement at present, ANLA has divisions – retail, grower, landscape, etc. – and equally a like-minded organization, so does PLANET – pattern/build, maintenance, interior, etc. In coming together, nosotros feel we can develop these divisions a footling bit more than and create a lot of opportunities for education between each group. I'1000 certain there will exist a lot of joint events where growers can drop in on landscaping sessions and find out how that side of the business really works, or landscapers tin have a await at the retail section and consider that aspect of the business."

Foley agrees that member communication to benefit the industry is an advantage to creating an even larger organisation. "The green goods that are grown by ANLA members are really a key part of PLANET members' businesses," Foley says. "Getting these 2 groups together is only going to help the communication between them on a lot of different levels. When you wait back at ALCA, of which my company was a fellow member for and so long, there was a clear illustration between contractor members and supplier members – and information technology'southward not only to become more than sales. When yous have a look at how much interaction the suppliers and contractors take, and how they can share their insights into the how end users of landscape products work, information technology's a win-win situation."

MERGER TRENDS? As ANLA and PLANET prepare to sign a letter of intent to merge adjacent month, many industry professionals may be wondering if association mergers will become an annual trend. Foley assures, information technology's a long process that's not likely to go a  quick habit.

"It will take a long time to go through some other historic merger, with several task forcefulness meetings as we investigate the merger possibilities," he says, noting that leadership from both associations have come together to create a task force overseeing the outset phase of evaluation. "One affair I remember everyone involved in the ALCA/PLCAA merger learned was that getting a core group together to expose all the issues creates a great forum for word. Even if yous don't resolve everything right away, it's out on the tabular array for consideration and we're not merely doing everything on the fly."

Foley says he besides learned that having a predetermined launch date for a new association could printing long-term strategies into a short-term calendar. He notes that setting the January. i launch engagement for PLANET, though successful, was an aggressive goal and that benchmarking and tactical planning will be primal during a PLANET/ANLA merge.

Orum says early outlook is promising for a successful merger. "Then far, the planning and talks have been very positive – it has non been piece of cake, but it's been heady and there has been practiced spirit from both sides," he says. "As more news and information about the talks gets out and this is discussed by membership, I hope they'll wait on it the aforementioned way. You never like to see something that yous knew, something that was comfy, go away – that's a natural feeling. Only if we're going to get somewhere in the future, we have to recognize that we tin can't just hang onto the way things used to be. We have to brand some changes and we have a smashing opportunity to do that now."

Indeed, membership back up is going to be key to this projection. Foley says he'southward spoken with manufacture friends who are very supportive and that he looks frontwards to hearing what other PLANET and ANLA members think.

"Our kickoff priority is to proceed our middle on the ball with the membership during the whole procedure and non motion into anything too speedily," Foley says. "We're going to work difficult to keep people updated on each footstep of the process. At this point, we oasis't created any plans to begin subsequent merger talks with other industry associations, though our clear intent remains to build one strong voice for the manufacture and the door is open for anyone that wants to be aligned with us in that respect."

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Source: https://www.lawnandlandscape.com/article/check-evergreens-in-early-june-to-see-if-bagworms-survived-winter-/

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