Salary & Benefits Survey

Now available for you to fill out and benefit from is GrowerTalks/Green Profit and AmericanHort’s Salary & Benefits Survey, in partnership with Industry Insights, who’ll be collecting and crunching all the data.

We're partnering with AmericanHort again on this decades-old survey to help us provide you a high-level and more useful tool for you. Companies like yours that take the survey can better understand salary and benefit trends, and see how their businesses compare to other survey participants. The survey includes company demographics, staffing and benefits, and salary data on up to 34 different job titles across full-time, part-time and seasonal employees.

But in order for us to provide the best data to you, we need you to participate!

You don’t have to be an AmericanHort member to benefit—all survey respondents will get the full report prepared by Industry Insights. And you don’t have to be a certain-size operation—anyone and everyone can participate! Also, if you’ve participated in taking the survey in previous years, some data will automatically be populated for you, saving you time.

And, of course, key parts of the data will be published in the December issue of GrowerTalks (January for the retail report in Green Profit).

GO HERE to fill out the survey (which is confidentially collected and maintained by Industry Insights’ professional data team and securely stored).

AmericanHort Nursery & Landscape Tour

A two-day, immersive experience has been planned that will bring growers and landscape professionals together to explore shared challenges and opportunities to drive the green industry forward. On September 30 through October 1, AmericanHort will host the aptly named 2025 Nursery & Landscape Tour in Baltimore, Maryland. If you’re in the mid-Atlantic area, you won’t want to miss this.

Several stops are planned, many of which are exclusive opportunities for this tour, including:

• Babikow Greenhouses (Baltimore) – Bedding Plants

• Perennial Farm (Glen Arm) – Perennials, Drone Use

• Manor View Farm Inc. (Monkton) – RFID, Landscape Distribution

• Foxborough Nursery (Street) – Field Plants

• Raemelton Farms (Adamstown) – AI-Powered Farm Digitization

• Ruppert Nurseries (Laytonsville) – Wholesale Trees

• Ruppert Landscape (Laytonsville) – Commercial Landscape Operations

The tour will highlight automation, smart irrigation and sustainable growing strategies, while providing insight into improving crew efficiency, jobsite planning and sourcing. They'll wrap the industries together with landscape selection criteria and how materials are used in the field. Most of all, you'll get a chance to network with mid- to upper-level professionals all across the supply chain.

Spots are limited, so make sure you register HERE. When you find the perfect tour with the perfect name, you know you need to attend.

Connecting With Capitol Hill

More AmericanHort news—and by the way, isn’t it nice that there's so much coming from AmericanHort? That's because they're your voice as a member of the green industry and you want your voice heard. They advocate for you and your business needs with the politicians.

There's a webinar planned for September 24 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Eastern that will get you all the facts and information you want. You may not think about advocacy in your day-to-day, but it does impact everything we do. What’s more exciting, advocating isn’t just for seasoned leaders; it's for everyone who cares about the future of our industry.

September’s Grow Forward webinar will welcome panelists that have just attended the Impact Washington Fly-In Summit. They’ll share first-hand experiences from their time in Washington D.C., when they met with lawmakers, built relationships, and most importantly, champion for the green industry. This webinar will explore why advocacy in Washington is critical and how you can get involved. You'll walk away with the confidence and tools to make your voice heard.

This webinar is for AmericanHort members only. You can find more information and register HERE.

New Commercial Frass Product

In some exciting product news, frass is on the table. Not really, but if you aren't familiar with the term "frass," it's insect poop. Black soldier fly frass, to be specific, is gaining momentum across the globe as a possible substrate amendment.

Oberland Agrisciences in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has released a commercial black soldier fly frass product for use as an organic soil amendment and fertilizer. The product has been certified for organic use in the U.S. and should have a great opportunity for containerized growers. With a 3-3-2 NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) percentage, this material can offset fertilizer requirements and potentially be used as a starter charge in production.

Several research programs have explored frass as a potential research outlet. I was part of a team that published a paper on using frass to reduce fertilizer requirement in floriculture production (you can check out that paper HERE). Basically, like any form of manure, the material has high nutritional values. I'm working some more colleagues on exploring frass as a substrate component that helps reduce peat requirements, as well as fertilizer requirements. Hopefully, I'll have some updates for you on our project in the coming months. With the onset of industrial insect rearing, this is something we should continue to explore.

The Landscape Show Recap

If you recall from my last newsletter, I had quite the week planned for last week. Aside from an unfortunate delay in Atlanta airport that had me arriving in Orlando at 3:00 a.m., everything went smoothly.

I started off the week at the Farwest Show, where I was able to visit with several growers and briefly chat about research and some upcoming ideas. I also got to have a nice dinner with my buddy Lloyd Nackley, who I recruited to give a more in-depth recap of Farwest (see that below). Once I arrived, I had a few hours to kill before dinner (time change is great going West). So instead of going directly to the hotel and working, I thought, “I’m in Oregon, I should see some nature.” So I took a quick detour and got to hike a mountain waterfall—not something I get to do too often in Florida.

ZigZag Falls is great and it only took about 20 minutes to get to the highlights. What a cool place.

Lloyd and I presented some research we had on substrate temperature collaboration, and I was immediately off to the airport to attend The Landscape Show. The Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association (FNGLA) hosts this show annually in Orlando, Florida. Over 7,000 people come to visit with more than 400 businesses from Florida and the rest of the country.

While most shows are geared towards the grower, this one is focused on supporting landscape professionals. A very unique and exciting meeting, where we get to see all the plant material and products displayed. A true opportunity to grow your game.

Even more exciting, this show came on the heels of the recently released economic impact report for Florida’s green industry. A whopping $42 billion in economic impact was generated by Florida’s green industry. Now, I understand Florida is a huge state, but that number should stop anyone in their tracks and let you know just how important our industry is to this country’s economy. (I’ll talk more about this report in a future article.)

I started the show with a National Horticulture Foundation (NHF) luncheon. For those of you not familiar with NHF, it's a foundation that comes from Florida growers and was developed to generate money for research and scholarships in ornamental horticulture. While it's managed in Florida, it's open to researchers and students across the country interested in improving the green industry. Check out their website for more information HERE.

Anyways, this luncheon paired industry members with researchers in small, moderated groups to explore critical topics and research to propel the industry forward—an exciting concept that I really think will become fruitful in the future.

I ran from that luncheon to my presentation on soils and substrates. It can be hit or miss with landscape professionals interested in substrate science and production, but I was thrilled to have a packed house. It really seems that everybody loves substrate science.

Overall, the show was a fantastic hit.

“This event gathers professionals and industry leaders driving growth in Florida’s nursery and landscape industry,” said Tal Coley, CEO of FNGLA. “Florida’s landscape sector stands ready to meet future challenges and drive innovation that benefits businesses alike.”

Walking through the show, I absolutely agree. The innovation, technology and, most of all, really cool and beautiful plants, were evident. The thing that always stands out to me at this show is the sheer size and quality of plants, especially the trees. Very impressive. I actually have some special exciting things I wanted to include, but this article is getting long and I will roll those out over time.

One thing I really like from the show and want to highlight now are the Cool Products Awards. This can be plants or products and everything in between. This year, 15 different products received an award:

• Abiu Fruit (Pine Island Nursery)

• Aglaonema Pink Beauty (Acosta Farms, LLC)

• Bandit Chipper (Company Wrench)

• Bauhinia monandra (Sunscape Landscape Nursery, Inc.)

• Decorative Fence (Boulder Designs/Border Magic)

• Leguan 265 Man Lift (Alta Equipment Florida)

• Mussaenda (Greendale Nursery, Inc.)

• Pemba Palm (PalmCo, Inc.)

• Planter (Epic Stoneworks, Inc.)

• Queensland Bottle Tree (MB Palms)

• Reclinata (Griffin Trees, Inc.)

• Rock Tower Garden Accent (Wensign Enterprises LLC)

• Silver Thicket (Garden Industries)

• Stone Bond (Fiberglass Coatings)

• Green Malayan Coconut Palm (triple; 305 Farm South, Inc.)

A really neat idea to combine different products and highlight all of the exciting work that we see from the industry.

Farwest Recap With Dr. Nackley

While I traveled to Farwest this year, I had to leave before all the fun kicked off so I could get to The Landscape Show. Dr. Lloyd Nackley of Oregon State University gave me a rundown of the show:

Coming Back from Farwest 2025

Every August, the Oregon Convention Center transforms into the heart of the nursery industry for the Farwest Show, billed as the biggest and greenest trade show in the West. This year didn't disappoint. From the tours to the show floor, it was a week packed with connections, innovations and some of the best plants I’ve seen all year.

The show technically starts Wednesday, but for many of us the fun kicks off on Tuesday with the nursery tours. I had the privilege of hosting the Automation Tour this year, and wow, it was a highlight.

At GK Machine, we saw the Canopii fully automated vegetable greenhouse kit, along with endless custom-build options inside their brand-new 4-acre manufacturing facility. Brentano’s Tree Farm gave us an honest look at how technology can support an aging workforce—something many in our industry are grappling with. Woodburn Nursery & Azaleas blew us away with consistency and quality at scale, while Bountiful Farms showcased the craftsmanship that comes with custom-designed integration. I walked away from that day convinced more than ever that automation isn’t just the future—it’s already reshaping the nursery industry today.

Of course, Farwest isn’t just about automation. The other tours delivered their own magic. The Wholesale Grower Tour gave attendees a peek at some of the best tree and shrub producers in the Mount Hood region, from propagation to grafting. The Retail Tour was equally impressive, featuring Durant at Red Ridge Farms (and some incredible olive oil tastings), The Garden Corner with its jaw-dropping baskets and the always-impressive Portland Nursery. Together, these tours set the tone for a week that’s all about seeing the best of what Oregon nurseries have to offer.

Back on the show floor, the energy was a party atmosphere, a gathering of old friends and NexGen nursery folks. Attendance was strong and vendors from across the country brought their A-game. One of the most memorable displays came from the Van Belle team—who, legend has it, forgot to pack clothes on the way down from Canada. Bathrobes and all, they leaned into the joke while showcasing their stripped-down, reduced-plastic packing and top-notch rooting quality. I’m already looking forward to visiting them again during the Western IPPS meeting in a few weeks.

A major new addition this year was the Climate Summit, organized by the Oregon Association of Nurseries. If your business model depends on the weather (and let’s face it, all of ours do), you need to be thinking about heatwaves, cold snaps and resilience. It was inspiring to see growers, scientists and industry leaders come together for real conversations about adaptation and sustainability.

And, of course, no Farwest would be complete without the New Varieties Showcase. The judges gave Glow Sticks Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) the Best in Show award, and after seeing those electric yellow flower spikelets in person, I get it. The plant was discovered by Jeremy Schmidt and introduced by Bristol Briar. It's available from Briggs Nursery.

The People’s Choice Best in Show went to Alpenglow Hybrid Maple (Acer × pseudosieboldianum), bred right here in Oregon by Paul Halladin and introduced by Iseli Nursery. The maple’s shifting colors—from merlot in spring to blazing orange in fall—made it a crowd favorite.

Three additional Awards of Merit went to Summerina Firana Black-Eyed Susan (a massive-flowered echibeckia), a petite, but prolific, Hydrangea paniculata, and Daphne Perfume Princess White (pictured below), which promises intoxicating fragrance and impressive durability. Each one adds something unique to the palette of plants heading into the marketplace.

Walking away from Farwest 2025, I’m struck by how much this show reflects the state of our industry. Innovation in automation, creativity in marketing, science forward and excitement for new plants—all of it was on full display. To me, that’s what makes Farwest so special: it’s not just a trade show, it’s a snapshot of where we’re headed.

See you all next year—same time, same place.

—Dr. Lloyd Nackley, Oregon State University

Think big,

Jeb Fields
Editor-at-Large
Nursery & Landscape Insider

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