President’s Message: Summer 2022

Here is hoping some of you got some rain in the last couple of weeks. I, for one, have had very little, and the agricultural crop harvest looks to be an early one and to see the stress of a dry summer on our trees. It does seem that the last few years have led to a late fall harvest of our trees. It would be nice to get a few early touches of frost and some nice fall weather to compensate for our heat. Fall is for planting trees, and I think we will have a productive end of the season. Water your conifers well this winter, as we don't need a repeat of last winter's evergreen losses. In my travels, we are in a conifer and columnar world. It seems we have forgotten the canopy of a large shade tree over the house instead of the columnar tree on a smaller lot, but that is the world in which we live. Don't expect the availability of evergreens to get better any time soon, and prices will continue to increase as the demand is strong and the supply is low.

Evergreens have long been undervalued. I am glad our growers are getting a little more money for these crops that take a long time to get to size.

Please take time to visit the NNLA website for the new offerings we have. We are looking for further input and opinions on the board and committees, and for any speakers or topics you want to hear, let's get them here to educate us.

I am looking forward to a great event at Henry Doorly Zoo for the summer field day and the Winter conference again at Innovation Campus at UNL in January. The Scarlet Hotel is now open, and in partnership with NNLA for the event, I had the luxury of touring that venue a few weeks ago; I know you will enjoy your stay there. Shuttles to the Haymarket are available, and we will have opportunities to visit the hotel's social areas too.

I hope you consider working on the NNLA board moving forward. We want new ideas and let's do everything we can to move horticulture and the green industry forward for the future.

Sincerely,

Jason Kuehl, NCNLP