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July 24, 2020

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GARDENCOMM NEWS

Congratulations to Our Silver Winners

GardenComm congratulates the winners of the 2020 Media Awards Silver Medals, a special designation recognizing the top talent in more than 50 competition categories. These winners will now be entered for judging in the Gold Medal Round, where awards will be given for the best of each award class. Gold Medal winners will be announced during the 2020 Virtual Conference during the GardenComm Media Awards and Honors Presentation.

And Congratulations to the GardenComm newly elected officers. Click here.

Our annual conference is going virtual! Join us Aug. 10-13 for four days of networking and education. Check out this video with GardenComm president, Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp, on why you should register.

Thank you to our virtual conference sponsors: Proven Winners, Star Roses and Plants, Botanical Interests and DRAMM. To learn more about sponsorship, email us.

To review the full program, click here.

Support Plant a Row

Support Plant a Row and help make a difference in your community. Click here for more information.

Want to Sponsor a Virtual Conference Session or a Webinar? Let Us Know!

Get your message out to our members through sponsorship. Interested in sharing your content with our members? Contact us at info@gardencomm.org.

#Garden365 Calendar of Promotions Now Available

It’s not just any day. It’s a great day to promote Gardening! In an effort to inspire and support national ‘day of, week of and month of’ celebrations, National Garden Bureau has worked in partnership with GardenComm to create and launch a new web page listing many popular dates. These are fantastic opportunities for garden communicators to promote gardening. The current list is the “best of the best”; there is something that will appeal to just about everyone regardless of age or their level of gardening experience. Use this list to plan for your speaking, blogs, videos, content calendars and social media posts to educate, have fun and inspire gardeners to get out and get their hands in the dirt. In many cases, suggested hashtags are included so feel free to use those to raise the tide of gardening.

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Hollywood^TMHibiscus

Hollywood Hibiscus are natural performers for growers, retailers and gardeners. They are world famous for

Consistently high bud counts

Durable and multi-day lasting flowers

Bacterial leaf spot and white fly resistance

Compact habits

Attracting Pollinators

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Upcoming Events

GardenComm’s 2020 Virtual Conference, Aug 10-13 at 3p – 5p E.T. Daily. Click here for more details.

COVID-19 Resources

PRODUCT SHOWCASES

Endless Blooms. All Season Long.

Make your garden come to life with Sunfinity^� Sunflowers that thrive and bloom continuously all season long.

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Extend time between waterings by up to 4 weeks

With the widest selection of full-blooming varieties, Optimara continues to advance the industry with new plant varieties and innovative growing techniques, constantly refined over years of research and development. We create new, exciting plants and care products which are trend-setting and truly functional. Our effort is to continue offering customers a unique selection of flowers in a beautiful product line.

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HORTICULTURE

Is American Agriculture in for Big Changes?

Greenhouse Grower

With all the news coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a plan announced in late May by the European Commission that went largely overlooked but may well have ramifications for U.S. growers. The plan calls for a transformation of the continent’s agriculture, as organic farming would be increased to 25% by 2030 — up from the current 8% — and reducing the use of pesticides by a whopping 50% and fertilizers by 20%.

The Healthiest Plant That You Never Have to Water

The Orange County Register

The healthiest hibiscus plant I have ever seen is never watered. It flowers heavily nearly all the time and its leaves are always a lush deep green. I know you’re wondering how this can be, so I won’t keep you in suspense. This hibiscus is growing on the edge of an asphalt driveway. Rainwater is no doubt trapped beneath the asphalt and the hibiscus’ roots luxuriate in the constantly moist soil throughout the year. Even during a drought, the plant barely shows any signs of discontent. It will sometimes defoliate, especially after a cold snap, but always returns to its previous glory in due time.

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Begonia BIG^� White Green Leaf

Benary’s most exciting BIG addition: Extremely well branched with short internodes so it’s covered with blooms. Outstanding garden performance lives up to the BIG Begonia name. Earlier to set blooms then perfect mounded habit later in the season. Extremely heat tolerant!

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The Influencers of Pandemic Gardening

Engadget

To the untrained eye, Kevin Espiritu’s garden is an overflowing hodgepodge of containers: stackable planters growing beans, herbs in traditionally narrow windowsill planters and a variety of trellises inside canvas grow bags. The front yard is packed tightly with raised vegetable beds made from sheets of corrugated metal, and a loquat tree sits in the corner, heavy with fruit.

JOURNALISM

Democracy, Accountability and Empowerment: The Case for Journalism as a Gen-Ed Course

Poynter

Recent racist incidents and police violence have been caught on video, uploaded to social media and viewed millions of times, sparking protests and outrage and accelerating diversity agendas at colleges and universities.In most of those incidents, the photographer was not a reporter but a bystander or victim of abuse themselves.

How Objectivity in Journalism Became a Matter of Opinion

Economist

Have you heard the news? It’s about the news. As correspondents covered the widespread protests on the streets of America in recent months, many were engaged in a parallel protest of their own—against their employers. On private Slack channels, public Twitter feeds and in op-ed columns, journalists revolted. Editors apologised, promised change and in some cases were sacked, their downfall promptly written up in their own papers.

Race and the Newsroom: What Seven Research Studies Say

Nieman Lab

In recent weeks, hundreds of journalists have turned to Twitter to chronicle their experiences with overt and covert racism in newsrooms. The message is clear: whether national outlets or hyper-local brands, journalism has a race problem.About three-quarters of newsroom employees are non-Hispanic white, compared with about two-thirds of all U.S. workers, according to a 2018 analysis from the Pew Research Center.

BUSINESS

16 Ways Small Businesses Can Tackle Financial Risk Management

Forbes

Risk management is at the core of financial planning for businesses—especially small businesses. As the recent pandemic and economic shutdown have shown, it’s important to prepare for both expected risks and surprises.Small businesses need to get a better grasp of financial risk management to navigate current market uncertainty and prepare for the post-pandemic future. To help, 16 experts from Forbes Finance Council share valuable tips to help you get a handle on future risk management, as well as important financial risk-management strategies to adopt right now.

How Small Businesses Have Dealt with the Crisis

Economist

As a special-operations pilot in the American air force, Joe Shamess was used to handling some tricky situations. But the sudden arrival of the coronavirus pandemic this year meant he faced an unexpected challenge. Together with another pilot, Brian Steorts, Mr Shamess had founded Flags of Valor, a company that focused on employing veterans to make products such as flags and gifts for employee-recognition programmes.

Small Businesses Brace for Prolonged Crisis, Short on Cash and Customers

The Wall Street Journal

Chris Mittelstaedt successfully navigated his San Francisco Bay Area fruit and snack delivery business through the dot-com bust, the 2008 financial crisis and the first few months of the economic ravages of the coronavirus pandemic.But, along with many of America’s small-business owners, his hopes for a quick economic recovery have been dashed. Surging Covid-19 cases in many parts of the country and fears of additional outbreaks are forcing him to face a longer-term financial crisis.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Will TikTok Be Banned In The US? It May Depend On Who Owns It

NPR

TikTok is contemplating ways to distance itself from its Chinese parent company as threats from Washington grow louder.Congress this week advanced legislation to block federal employees from using TikTok on government-issued devices. The Trump administration is considering ways to push the video-sharing app, beloved by teens and 20-somethings, out of the U.S. altogether.

Young Voters May Be Better Prepared For Misinformation Campaigns On Social Media

Forbes

It would be wrong to suggest that 2020 is the year of social media's influence on elections. It was used successfully by then candidate Barrack Obama in 2008 and even more so by then candidate Donald J. Trump in 2016. It will likely be used by both President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden – as well as candidates in races at all levels – this year.

Facebook Aims for Zoom by Letting Users Live Broadcast Large Video Meetings

CNBC

Facebook on Thursday announced a new feature that will allow users to live broadcast video calls with up to 50 participants. The feature allows users to stream video calls made using the company’s Messenger Rooms product, combining it with its Facebook Live livestreaming product. This will make it possible for large audiences to tune in and watch group video calls in real time.

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