News

America in Bloom 2011 award winners announced
Winners of the 2011 America in Bloom national awards were announced at the organization's annual program held in the Washington, D.C., area on Oct. 6-8.

"Quality of life is an important element in promoting a city and is an important factor in its economic prosperity. We know that beauty is one of the factors that tie people to a community, and congratulate not only the winners, but all the participants on their efforts," said awards program Chairperson Jack Clasen.

Each participating town was judged on eight criteria: tidiness, community involvement, environmental awareness, heritage, urban forestry, landscape, floral displays, and turf and groundcovers across three sectors: municipal, residential and commercial.

Specially trained judges visited towns of similar populations and spent two days touring each town, meeting municipal officials, residents and volunteers.

Population category winners:
Sackets Harbor, N.Y. — Under 4,000 population
Gallipolis, Ohio — 4,001 – 10,000 population
Bexley, Ohio — 10,001 – 15,000 population
Arroyo Grande, Calif. — 15,001 – 25,000 population
Holland, Mich. -—25,001 – 50,000 population
Fayetteville, Ark. — Over 50,000 population
 

NRF predicts an average holiday sales season
According to the latest report from National Retail Federation, the 2011 holiday season can be summed up in one word: average. On the heels of a holiday season that outperformed most analysts' expectations, holiday retail sales for 2011 are expected to increase 2.8 percent to $465.6 billion. While that growth is far lower than the 5.2 percent increase retailers experienced last year, it is slightly higher than the 10-year average holiday sales increase of 2.6 percent.

"Retailers are optimistic that a combination of strong promotions and lean inventory levels will help them address consumer caution this holiday season," said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. "While businesses remain concerned over the viability of the economic recovery, there is no doubt that the retail industry is in a better position this year to handle consumer uncertainty than it was in 2008 and 2009."

Retailers will ramp up hiring over the next several weeks as they prepare for increased sales and traffic in their stores this holiday season. According to NRF, retailers are expected to add 480,000 to 500,000 seasonal positions over the next several months.
 

SePro restricts Hachi-Hachi use
SePRO is voluntarily restricting the use of Hachi-Hachi insecticide on poinsettias with bracts in color. The Hachi-Hachi label lists poinsettia as an approved crop for application based on trials on a limited number of poinsettia cultivars, with bracts not in color. The move is based on new findings from trials SePRO initiated with university researchers showing sensitivities of some colored bracts of poinsettia cultivars at labeled rates of Hachi-Hachi. A label change cannot be made in time to properly distribute this message to growers, but the company is working to get the information to growers, SePRO distributors, university extension agents and other industry personnel.