Friday Education – February 3, 2023

BELOW IS THE 2023 INFO. 2024 INFO COMING SOON!

 

Landscape Architects – The entire program has been submitted to LA CES for CEU’s.

Program is subject to change. Please check the website, mobile app or on site signage for updates.

8:00 AM – 9:15 AM

Landscaping Main Street

Nina Koziol, The Landscape Contractor magazine
Additional Presenters: Dan Biernacki, Ted’s Greenhouse, Greg Stack, Ted’s Greenhouse
Room: Euphoria
The hanging baskets and planters along downtown Tinley Park’s historic district burst with non-stop color from spring through fall. Discover the unique challenges and rewards of working with local municipalities, from bids and budgets to plant selection and maintenance.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

Spring Clean Your Website for Higher Sales

Katie Elzer-Peters, The Garden of Words, LLC
Room: Nirvana A
Two to five seconds. That’s all the time your potential customers will give you when they go to your website. The site should load within two seconds and they need to be able to locate the answer to their first question within five seconds. Otherwise, they’re out. Does your website get the job done? Find out which areas and features of your website are most important in 2023, which questions to ask yourself before embarking on a website refresh, and get details on finally adding online bill paying to your site.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

Beyond the Shade: The Science and Business of Arboriculture

Steve Lane, Great Lakes Urban Forestry
Room: Nirvana BC
Let’s face it, trees are complicated! With over 100 different species in our region, being an arborist is more like being a veterinarian than being a doctor. And aside from the standard pests and diseases we have to deal with in our area, sometimes our own actions might be at fault for decline of trees as well. Join Steve as we take a deeper look at demystifying trees, arboriculture, and the benefits trees provide beyond just aesthetics. How we can maintain these benefits for our clients by properly diagnosing and providing the right services for the correct diagnosis will be a primary focus. We’ll also take a look at the ecology of trees, and how choosing the right tree for the right site will have tremendous benefits for the trees, as well as your business! This wide-ranging topic will give you a better appreciation for trees in the landscape, and how you can start to think about them on a deeper level in your planning and maintenance services.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

This session has been approved by ISA for 1.25 CEU’s

American Roots

Nick McCollough,  McCollough’s Landscape & Nursery, LLC
Room: Utopia AB
Follow the journey across the US and take a closer look at gardens that designer Nick McCullough captured on his quest to celebrate the American garden in his new book AMERICAN ROOTS (Timber Press). You will explore a selection of gardens created by 20 creative gardeners across our vast land from Big Sur, California to the shores of Rhode Island. Gain inspiration, planting tips, and an expanded notion of what an American garden is.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

Know Your Natives on a First Name Basis

Elliott Duemler, Taylor Creek Restoration
Room: Utopia CD
Landscape design has shifted to designing based on plant communities and how plants interact with each other. This session will focus on species that work well as the filler/groundcover species, with a heavy emphasis on our native sedges well adapted for a designed plant community. Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of what native ground cover species work well in a plant community-based design, and which species are generalist or specialist and any issues to be aware with these plants.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

9:45 AM – 11:00 AM

Creating a Marketing and Sales Conversion Machine

Chris Darnell, The Harvest Group
Room: Euphoria
Chris will discuss the framework that will drive marketing processes and turn them into conversions. You will learn functions of how to connect marketing and sales and the tools used to support them.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

Tropical Plants and How to Love Them

Marianne Willburn, Author
Room: Nirvana A
If you’re searching for plants that will add exciting accents to a hot and tired summer garden, last right up through the first hard freeze, and make you look like a horticultural rock star, look no further than tropicals. Using five memorable categories and a host of design tips from her new book, Marianne will focus on some spectacular examples that are easy to grow and much easier than you think to overwinter.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

Practicing New Naturalism: Site-Specific Plantings in Public and Private Places

Kelly Norris, Gardens by Kelly
Room: Nirvana BC
In recent years, the shift towards ecologically driven landscapes has created new opportunities and challenges, often accompanied by big questions for how we do business and engage with our audiences. How do we sell customers and stakeholders on wilder landscapes? How do we shift the narrative of the landscape design and build professions from construction and maintenance to cultivation and stewardship? How do we cultivate new practices and knowledge that can transform our industry’s relevance and purpose? Join planting designer, artist and thought leader Kelly Norris for this vibrant exploration of recent and future work at the intersections of horticulture and ecology. His presentation will emphasize the pitch for each commission and the relative success or progress of each project to date with a preview of new developments in the seasons ahead.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

How to Identify Healthy and Diseased Roots in Nursery Stock and Landscape Plants and Ways to Manage Them

Stephanie Adams, The Morton Arboretum
Room: Utopia AB
This presentation will include photos and descriptions of healthy root systems and diseased root systems.  It will include diseases caused by true fungi (Rhizoctonia and Fusarium) and oomycetes (Phytophthora, Pythium, and Phytopythium (aka water molds).  Regulatory, mechanical, cultural, biological, and chemical integrated Pest Management (IPM) options will also be presented.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

This session has been approved by ISA for 1.25 CEU’s

Designing Native Seed Mixes for Success

Jason Fritz, Stantec 
Room: Utopia CD
Native seed mixes can be tricky. You want to get good coverage without breaking the bank, but how much of each species do you need? During this session, Jason Fritz will share 20 years of insights on native seed and teach you how to design a robust, native seed mix that is not only appropriate for the site, but also delivers value for your client. You’ll learn what makes for a good mix design, where to find references for species selection, how to calculate application rates, and how to identify site-specific conditions that may affect your final design.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

11:30 AM – 12:45 PM

Root Wrestling: Happy Roots, Happy Shoots

Daniel Miraval, Green Extraction Technologies LLC
Additional Presenters: Brianna White, Emerald Tree Care
Room: Euphoria
Mitigating root defects early on leads to long-term survivability. Pneumatic soil excavation is proactive plant healthcare. From nursery harvest, planting depth, to compacted soils, to girdling roots – a vast majority of a tree’s stressors start below ground. By implementing critical root zone therapy by use of supersonic air technology, alleviating those stressors is the first step of improving installation techniques.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

This session has been approved by ISA for 1.25 CEU’s

Marketing to Attract Your A-Client

Vanessa McQuade, Intrigue Media
Additional Presenter: Rob Murray, Intrigue Media
Room: Utopia CD
Are you tired of not getting enough of the right leads? This session will walk you through the tools to attract more Awesome Clients – the ones you love working with, understand your value, and refer you to other A-Clients. Discover how to tailor your marketing to attract them, techniques to use to qualify them, and how to keep them as long-lasting clients that will help grow your business.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

Using Native Plants for Beauty, Cost Savings and Stormwater Management

Bill Bedrossian, Bedrock Earthscapes, LLC
Room: Nirvana BC
Join Bill as he explores why using native plants should be part of your business. Attendees will review how native plants can be used in the built environment and then learn how they are installed and maintained. More importantly, how do you convert traditional landscape areas into native areas and not lose money!

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

Personal Observations on Plant Bloom Times Over a Career

Ed Hedborn, The Morton Arboretum
Room: Utopia AB
Plant blooms offer more than being pretty focal points in our landscapes. They can give us information about changing weather and climate patterns. Observations of plants and when they bloom can tell us a lot about how our environment is changing. In this session, we will cover some of the observations of plant bloom times, what they have taught Ed, and some of the questions raised by those observations over Ed’s 45 year career at The Morton Arboretum.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s

This session has been approved by ISA for 1.25 CEU’s

Planting a New Paradigm

Jeff Lorenz, Refugia Ltd.
Room: Utopia CD
The World Wildlife Federation’s 2022 Living Planet Report confirmed what many of us with our hands in the dirt already knew – wildlife populations have experienced average decline of nearly 70% since 1970, with a chilling 10% occurring in the last 4 years. Loss and fragmentation of habitat is the driver of biodiversity loss globally. The good news? Homeowners and businesses are eager to reverse this trend by making their properties sustainable, functional and resilient. Join Jeff Lorenz of Refugia Design to hear how Refugia is shifting traditional industry norms with great success. In the ‘Garden Capital’ of the US, nurseries, growers, designers, and architects have bounced to the forefront of the ecological landscape movement, creating the opportunity to take native plants and landscapes from a trend to a new paradigm. Join Jeff to explore innovative methodologies from a practitioner and small business owner’s point of view; using real data, tips and talking points for landscapers and implementers seeking to make the shift towards ecological design-build.

This session has been approved by LA CES for 1.25 CEU’s.

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