Arkansas Agriculture
Newsletters
Arkansas Re-leaf
Volume 3, Number 3 -
July 2002
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Jim's Corner • Horticulture
Survey • Plant
Materials Workshop • Arkansas
Green Industry Trade Show and Conference • Product Report • What's Up •
Plant Profile •
Upcoming Events
Jim’s Corner
Information gained during my in-state travels suggests that March (March weather
summary available at the
Arkansas
Weather, National Weather Service) was terrible for our
garden centers but that business rebounded nicely in April and May. Our hope is
that the late spring push means everyone will have a successful year.
For those interested in the University of
Arkansas
Plant Evaluation Program, remember that you can view the plant list and
annual reports on the internet. Also, note that the three trial sites
(University of Arkansas Research and Extension Center - Hope; Cooperative
Extension State Headquarters - Little Rock; Horticulture Farm - University of
Arkansas at Fayetteville) are open to the public. Plants at all three sites are
now labeled. So far the program has been very beneficial in establishing
hardiness ranges for a number of woody plants.
In September 2001, Dr. Steve Vann, Joel Stout and I rated over 650 daylily
cultivars for susceptibility to the new disease, daylily rust. The entire list
will be available by the time you read this newsletter at the Cooperative
Extension Service website:
Daylily Rust (This site is no longer in service)
Horticulture Survey
Dr. Ron Rainey (Extension agricultural economist) and I continue to work on
pursuing funds for a statewide horticulture business survey. While Ron continues
to scour records for information, I continue to work on developing a massive
database of horticulture businesses. Preliminary information from one source
suggests that the florist industry in Arkansas has sales of $195
million and landscape services sales of $175 million. The total for all of
horticulture (i.e., fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, turf) has been estimated at
between $2.1 and $5.4 billion!
Plant Materials Workshop
Dr. Klingaman and I will offer a full-day plant materials workshop for the
ornamental industry on Tuesday, August 6. The program features talks on annuals,
perennials, ornamental grasses, bamboo and shrubs. Terry Howe from PanAmerica
seed will give a keynote presentation on “Growing Tips for Annuals,” and Norman
Winter from Mississippi State University will give a slide show on his
California Pac Trial trip. To make a reservation, call Tomeka Nolen at
501-671-2226.
Arkansas Green
Industry Trade Show and Conference
AGIA’s annual trade show and conference has been set for February 7 and 8, 2003,
in Hot Springs. Clay Parks of Parks Brothers Farms has already put together an
exceptional educational conference including the esteemed plant pathologist Dr.
Ann Chase and nationally recognized expert on plant growth regulators, Dr. James
Barrett.
Product Report
I feel strongly that we need to promote products with a focus on the
environment and that are manufactured in Arkansas. This
product fits that bill exactly.
Davis Rubber Co. in downtown Little Rock is one of the designated handlers
for used rubber tires. Rather than simply burying tires in a landfill, they
are trying to develop useful landscape products. They initially offered
colored rubber chunks in bulk or bag and then branched out into landscape
disks that fit around trees. The rubber chunks have been used for many years
in horse riding arenas, playgrounds, etc.
Roger and Phillip Davis have continued to pursue options for the landscape
and came up with a binder so rubber chunks can be formed into paths and
tree-wells. I am personally most excited about the tree-well option since
this approach offers some unique advantages. First, the nature of the
material means the tree trunk can grow and not be restricted by the standard
rigid metal grates. The poured rubber pad also allows water and air to
penetrate but does not catch trash like loose mulch. Pedestrians will find
the material spongy when they walk on it. You can view an example of the
tree-well application on Scott Street between 2nd and 3rd in downtown Little
Rock.
For more information, contact Davis Rubber Co. at 501-374-2166.
What’s Up?
Interesting websites!
Last December, a group of green industry professionals and government experts
gathered at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis for the Workshop on
Linking Ecology and Horticulture to Prevent Plant Invasions. The experts
explored new ways of fighting unwanted species.
This spring, the group released the “St. Louis Declaration on Invasive Plant
Species,” which includes a proposed "Draft Voluntary Code of Conduct" with specific action items for government
agencies, the public, botanical gardens and arboretums, nursery professionals
and land scape architects.
The group says the voluntary codes are needed because the infiltration of
invasive plants has turned into an onslaught, causing large-scale environmental
damage and economic losses running into the billions of dollars. A second
meeting to further refine the group’s draft voluntary codes is scheduled for
this fall at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
The March/April issue of City Trees includes a number of useful articles on
urban forestry, including “Compaction Tolerant Trees” by Dr. Kim Coder of the
University of Georgia.
“Tolerant species were selected for their effectiveness in reacting to
mechanical damage quickly, in surviving anaerobic soil conditions and in
adjusting their root systems to new conditions,” writes Coder. The full text of
Coder's article, including a list of more than 40 compaction-tolerant trees, is
now available online at
City Trees:
Compaction Tolerant Trees
Before you send your crews out for the day, take advantage of a great free
resource from the National Weather Service (NWS). On the NWS home page, an
interactive map of the United States shows where there are hazardous weather
and flood warnings. By clicking on your state, you can drill down to maps and
advisories at the county and city level. To go directly to weather alerts for
your locality, you can also fill in your city and state in the search box on
the NOAA - National Weather Service
Home Page. For several years I have used
the North Little Rock NOAA site to gain information on current and past weather
data. Check out
National Weather Service - Little Rock, Arkansas - Climate Data.
Greenhouse structure and equipment manufacturer/supplier Nexus Corp. formed a
new division,
Garden Center Images.
GCI will focus on helping garden center owners upgrade existing locations.
Products and services include interior/exterior displays, layout/design
services and seasonal structures.
Toro offers free sprayer calibration software on their
Golf
Course Management web site.
Plant Profile
Adina rubella Hance
Dr. Jon T. Lindstrom
Assistant Professor, Univ. of Ark. Dept. of Horticulture
 The four top-selling shrubs in northwest Arkansas have got
to be heavenly bamboo
(Nandina domestica cultivars), japanese holly (Ilex crenata cultivars),
boxwood (Buxus sempervirens and B. microphylla cultivars) and azaleas
(Rhododendron cultivars). If I want to take a nap in the afternoon and don’t
feel sleepy, I’ll go look at a landscape, and there are plenty, where this
is the palette of shrubs in use. Yawn, I’m feeling tired already.
In the interests of adding some novelty to the landscape please try the
following plant; I don’t need to sleep all the time. Adina rubella, the
chinese buttonbush, is the Asiatic relation of our native buttonbush (Cephalanthus
occidentalis). Native to China (obviously), this species is a member of a
small genus of approximately 25 species in the Rubiaceae family. The only
other member of the genus I have grown is A. pilulifera, a tender, evergreen
species.
On the chinese buttonbush, in mid to late summer and continuing to frost,
small, pinkish-white spheres of flowers appear on the tips of the new
growth. The flowers are small and not noticeable at a distance but when seen
close-up resemble the spherical satellites so common in 1960s science
fiction movies. They draw a smile from all those who see them.
I’d grow the chinese buttonbush for its foliage alone. It is glossy,
fine-textured, medium to dark green in color. The new growth is a
contrasting red throughout the summer. On our plant in Fayetteville, the
growth habit is upright and arching to spreading. Like chaste tree or
butterfly bush, cold winters will kill the plant to the ground, but growth
resumes from the base of the plant in the spring and flowers appear on new
growth. All that cold weather does is limit the final height of the plant;
our plant is 2.5 feet tall. Where winter are less severe, plants may reach 8
feet.
 The
chinese buttonbush can be used both in sun or part shade. Our plant is in
full sun and has not suffered from this exposure. The native
buttonbush grows well in wet sites, but the chinese buttonbush prefers a
better-drained soil. It may even be worth experimenting with this plant in
dry shade. So far, no pests and diseases seem to have taken a liking to this
plant.
For those wanting more chinese buttonbush, it is easy to propagate from
cuttings taken in mid-summer and treated with a 1:10 dilution of Dip and
Grow®. Cuttings placed under intermittent mist root in 2 to 3 weeks, then
continue to grow once removed from the mist bed. Rooted cuttings should be
overwintered with some protection the first winter before being planted out
into their permanent location the following spring.
Upcoming Events July 7-13: 20th
Perennial Plant Symposium,
Hyatt Regency O’Hare, Rosemont, IL. Contact: PPA, 614-771-8431; e-mail,
ppa@perennialplant.org.July 13-17: Ohio Florists’ Association Short Course, Greater Columbus
Convention Center, Columbus, OH. Contact OFA, 614-487-1117.
August 1-4: SNA 2002 -
Southern Nursery
Association Researcher's Conference World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA. Contact: SNA, 770-953-3311
August 6: Plant Materials Workshop. University of Arkansas Cooperative
Extension Headquarters in Little Rock. For reservations and details, call
501-671-2226.
August 16-18:
The Nursery/Landscape Expo. George Brown Convention Center, Houston.
Contact 1-800-880-0343 or
Oct. 4-5:
Tennessee Nursery Association (MTNA)
Horticultural Trade Show.
McMinnville Civic Center, McMinnville, TN.
Contact: 931-668-7322.
By: Jim Robbins, Extension Specialist -
Ornamental Horticulture
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