Increasing use of sustainable plants in production and landscape design

Increasing use of sustainable plants in production and landscape design

Summary

Sources of low-input and pest resistant plant material, when requested by homeowners or landscape architects and designers, are often unavailable or difficult to locate. We engage Green Industry professionals with our multi-state, interdisciplinary research and extension team in the development of a multi-pronged plan to 1) identify optimal plant material (from both low-input and horticultural aspects), 2) provide a tool to facilitate the location of these optimal plants and 3) educate Green Industry professionals on the feasibility and technical aspects of sustainable landscapes. Our goal is to enhance the likelihood that low-input plants will be specified in landscape design, thereby stimulating and expediting the production and availability of such materials. During the first year of this project nearly 100 plant cultivars have been evaluated for performance, invasive potential, and pest resistance. Betas of new plant selection software have been developed and will be broadly evaluated during 2007. Marketing logos and web sites have been designed to integrate with plant-locator software. Surveys of green industry professionals have been conducted which will better focus educational programming during 2007.

Objectives/Performance Targets

This program will research, develop and deliver a mutually conceived plant information and resource database that will simultaneously encourage the demand, production and ultimate use of low-input, horticulturally-desirable plants in southeastern landscapes. Abundant research has been conducted to identify pest-resistant and other lower-input plants. That information, however, is unsystematically distributed and, therefore, not readily accessible. Additionally, sources of low-input and pest resistant plant material, when requested by homeowners or landscape architects and designers, are often unavailable or difficult to locate. We engage Green Industry professionals with our multi-state, interdisciplinary research and extension team in the development of a multi-pronged plan to 1) identify optimal plant material (from both low-input and horticultural aspects), 2) provide a tool to facilitate the location of these optimal plants and 3) educate Green Industry professionals on the feasibility and technical aspects of sustainable landscapes. Our goal is to enhance the likelihood that low-input plants will be specified in landscape design, thereby stimulating and expediting the production and availability of such materials.

Accomplishments/Milestones

1st quarter: May-June 2006

An official logo for the project was created with the help of a graphic designer at the University of Georgia.
Contract discussions with Garden Soft were initiated to create the PlantMaster: Cooperative Extension edition of their software.
The project and preliminary database structure were presented at the SE Ornamental Entomology meeting in Biloxi, MS.

2nd quarter: July-September 2006

Web designs for the GreenResource website were developed that will host the PlantMaster low input plant database with the assistance of a web designer at UGA. Web addresses for hosting the site were acquired from UGA.
The contract and licensing with Garden Soft were finalized and intellectual property issues were worked out with the University of Georgia legal department.
Design of new database structure with GardenSoft was initiated.
Multi-state project coordinators met at the Southern Nurserymen’s Association meeting in Atlanta, Georgia for review of project goals and progress. Potential additional advisory committee members from Green Industry and academia were identified to test the GreenResource beta and provide feedback.
Additional trade show and other educational venues representing the Green Industry at which to present the database were selected.
North and south Florida landscape performance and fruiting of ten cultivars and a wild-type selection of nandina domestica, a potentially invasive shrub were evaluated.
Resistance to Japanese beetle was evaluated among forty cultivars of crepe myrtle in north Georgia.
Nineteen bermudagrass taxa were evaluated for resistance to bermudagrass mite.
Thirteen St. Augustinegrass cultivars were evaluated for resistance to central Georgia populations of southern chinch bug. Cultivar effects on natural enemy populations were also evaluated.

3rd quarter: October-December 2006

Development and design of the database structure were finalized and engineering of the database was completed.
Green Industry surveys were co-developed with cooperators at University of Tennessee to assess Green Industry perspectives on insect and disease resistant plants. We submitted and received IRB approval to disseminate the survey in GA and TN.
Landscape performance, flowering, and seed viability of 15 Japanese silver grass
cultivars grown in northern and southern Florida were evaluated.

4th quarter: January-March 2007

We presented the PlantMaster database and implications for its use at an Ornamental Entomology Symposium at the Southeastern Branch meeting of the Entomological Society of America in Knoxville, TN.
The effort to populate the database with resistant and low input plant information continued and is ongoing as new research-based data is received.
Two betas of the PlantMaster Cooperative Extension Database were tested and notes for revision were submitted to GardenSoft for incorporation.
TN and GA cooperators developed a 4-pg questionnaire, which was mailed to 1,500 green industry businesses in TN and GA and presented at trade industry educational outreach. Survey data are being compiled for future analyses. Results will describe professional grounds manager belief and perception about how pest- and disease-resistant plants will influence business profitability.
A Master Gardener survey was designed assessing knowledge and perceptions of disease and insect resistant plants and is intended for for distribution in 1st quarter of 2nd project year.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Optimal plant material selection:
In Georgia and Florida nearly 100 plant cultivars have been evaluated for optimal performance, invasive tendencies, and pest resistance. Additional evaluations are on-going with results expected to add to the optimal plant locator software being developed.

Provision of a tool to facilitate the location of optimal plants:
We are currently awaiting the final beta for the testing of the database with advisory panel members and grant cooperators. Development and revision of two betas has already been accomplished. this tool will permit selection of optimal plant material for various landscape uses and integrate directly with software typically used in landscape design.

Educate Green Industry professionals on the feasibility and technical aspects of sustainable landscape design:
Surveys that have been conducted will help direct educational efforts in 2007/2008. Venues for dissemination of new resources have already been planned for 2007 and include the GA/FL Green Industry Update meetings in October.

Collaborators: