H. Bruce Hellerick

H. Bruce Hellerick, Senior Horticultural Specialist with the Brickman Group, will be giving a presentation called ‘Greening Your Landscape’ at NJ Plants.

Bruce started his career with www.BrickmanGroup.com]Brickman in 1995 as Regional Horticulture Specialist and in 2003 he was promoted to Senior Horticulture Specialist. As part of his duties he works with Brickman employees, clients and vendors to continually improve horticultural practices and techniques. He is also the company’s national contact for pesticide vendors and fall bulb purchases and has consulted on horticultural problem across the county.

During his tenure Bruce has developed a multitude of educational programs and horticultural process that are now considered standard practice within the company. Some of his credits include:
• Co-Author of Brickman University: Horticulture Training Program
• Brickman Pruning Manual in English & Spanish
• Super (Superintendent/Supervisor) Learning Program for New Employees
• Welcome to Brickman: New Employee Orientation Program
• Authored the company’s Seasonal Color Process Manual, Turf Process Manual and Landscape Site Analysis & Documentation Program.

Read his complete bio and course description here: http://www.njplantshow.com/page/speakers/Bruce_Hellerick

Dave Hessong

David Hessong is a snow consultant with EDC Professionals.  Dave Hessong has over 35 years of snow plowing experience and is considered an expert in snow plowing logistics. He was Field Manager responsible for all 14 competition venues, plus the Rice Eccles Stadium, home of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Games. He was Snow Clearing, Cleaning & Waste Manager at Whistler Olympic Park For the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. Dave now works as a consultant with EDC Professionals, which provides tools, information and training to green and white professionals.

David has been a speaker for many organization around the country on the logistics of snow removal, most notably with the Snow and Ice Management Association.

See a list of vendors at the show: http://www.njplantshow.com/page/exhibitorlist

It is easy to register yourself or multiple people from your company online at the NJ Plants show page, www.njplantshow.com.  For years this show, like so many others in the industry that offer quality education, have had two admission rates, one for the show only, and one for the educational sessions and keynote speakers.

This year there will be NO PREMIUM CHARGE for access to any aspect of the NJ Plants Nursery, Landscape, and Garden Center Trade Show in Edison, NJ.  The affordably priced trade show ticket of $30 gets you access to the entire show, including speakers like Paver Pete and Judy Sharpton, Rutgers pesticide classes, hands on talks on the trade show floor, and the over 300 booth exhibition floor!

Here is the info:

Register: https://cliptix.com/clients/njplants/buytickets.cfm?evtid=44&etsid=48

Lodging Info: http://www.njplantshow.com/page/hotel

Directions: http://www.njplantshow.com/page/Directions

Paver Pete

Peter M. Baloglou, better known as “Paver Pete”, has15 plus years in the industry, has authored numerous articles and has appeared as a leading hardscape expert on more than 25 national and local television and radio programs including “Hometime”.

Pete has a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Maryland and has gone through extensive Vander Kooi estimating and job costing training. Pete is a certified instructor for both the National Concrete Masonry Association (Segmental Retaining Wall – SRW -installation) and the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute. Additionally, he has served as a committee member for “Education and Training” and “Construction” for these industry organizations.

Pete is the Director of Education and Information as well as Regional Sales Director with Techo-Bloc Corporation.  He is know for is outgoing, informative, and intense classroom presentation.  This is a must see for anyone in the landscape or paver business.

See the full schedule of classes here: http://www.njplantshow.com/page/2012_NJ_Plants_Education

As has been the case for years, Rutgers Cooperative extension will be hosting its Central Jersey Turf and Ornamental Institute.  This year the program has been modified to allow attendees of the conference more flexibity to attend sessions outside of the credit class and still get the credits they need.  Talks begin at 8am on both days.

Credits approved both New Jersey and New York!  In New Jersey credits will be available in the following categories: CORE, 3A, 3B, 6B, and 13.  In New York they will be available in CORE, 3A, 3B, and 25.

See the complete class schedule and credit offerings here: http://www.njplantshow.com/page/rutgerspesticide

We are very excited to have the Independent Garden Center Show’s highest rated speaker in 2011 speaking at NJ Plants this year.  Judy

Judy Sharpton

Sharpton is a garden center design and renovation specialist with 35 year’s experience in advertising and promotion and the owner of Growing Places Marketing.

Since 1995, Growing Places Marketing has specialized in on-site consultations and group programs focused on store design, renovation and branding exclusively for independent garden centers and farm markets, with a special focus on limited-market stores.

In addition, Judy provides program content focused on store development, store branding and product placement to trade groups and suppliers through Growing Places’ Store School™.

Judy currently partners with Ball Publishing’s retail magazine, Green Profit, on a monthly column on store development titled Retail Ready™.

Judy has earned LEED Green Associate accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council and is a member of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA).
Judy is a avid gardener with a special interest in native plants, organic vegetable gardening and photography of all gardens, wild and tame. She is currently developing her last garden overlooking 65 acres of salt marsh near Savannah, GA.

See here program descriptions here: http://www.njplantshow.com/page/speakers/Judy_Sharpton

There are a lot of obstacles to growing a successful business in the green industry, but few are as cumbersome as the challenge of findinga keeping good labor. With the federal government on the verge of making E-Verify mandatory while simultaneously dismantling the H2A and H2B programs, there are a lot of questions as to where qualified labor is going to come from in the coming years.

These waters continue to be difficult to navigate. The best advice to any employer who utilizes a seasonal work force is to stay informed as regulations and laws change. One of the leaders working for the green industry on this issue is Craig Reggelbrugge, Vice-President of Government Relations for the American Nursery and Landscape Association. Craig is at the forefront of all these labor issues in Washington, and also serves as Co-Chair for ACIR (Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform).

If you are concerned about the future of labor issues in the landscape or nursery industry, come see Craig on January 24, 2012. He will be presenting right after lunch and will be available to answer all your questions.

Register to attend NJ Plants

Centaurus 6 Intelli-Fiber Optic Fixture

While cruising on one of the NJ Plants exhibitors website, I came across this information about landscape lighting using fiber optics at Unique Lighting Systems website.  This is pretty cool stuff!

Check it out at here.

Scag Power Equipment

Top landscaping equipments makers will be well represented at NJ Plants in January.

For landscape maintenance crews and public works departments, there will be dealers representing the leading names in mowers, including Storr Tractor for TORO products, Precision Work Inc. for Walker mowers, Roork’s Farm Supplies for BadBoy mowers and Kubota tractors and KPM Exceptional for Scag mowing equipment & Sno-Way snow plows and accessories – everything needed to deal with winter’s worst.

For more info visit – www.NJPlantShow.com