Professional Grounds Management Society President Adam Newhart City of Gaithersburg 301-258-6370 Vice President: Eric Wenger Complete Plant Health Care, Inc. 301-948-5069 Treasurer: Doug McDaniel Grounds Management & Landscaping, Inc. 301-249-1200 Secretary: Christopher Erb Erb s Tree Care, LLC Ace Tree Movers, Inc. 301-442-3153 chriserb88@gmail.com Chair and Newsletter Editor: Michael Gildea Chevy Chase Club 240-395-2101 mikeg@chevychaseclub.org At Large: Amanda Lee Laudwein University of Maryland Extension 301-590-2840 laudwein@umd.edu At Large: Ken Ingram University of Maryland (301) 405-0499 kingram@umd.edu At Large: Marie Rojas Borders and Butterflies, Inc. hortlady@aol.com Term Expires 2013 At Large: Mark Scafide City of Gaithersburg 301-258-6370 mscafide@gaithersburgmd.gov At Large: Shawn Siefers The Care of Trees ssiefers@thecareoftrees.com Term Expires 2013 DC BRANCH, INC. Volume XXIV No. 7 Volume XXVIII, No.7 http://www.pgms.org/branchdc August May 2013 2006 The mission of the Professional Grounds Management Society D.C. Branch is to foster integrity and excellence in grounds management by promoting professional development through education programs, networking, President s community service and fellowship. Message President s Message April Meeting Re-Cap Our April PGMS meeting took us to Catholic University. Our host, Chris Vetick, Assistant Director of Grounds, gave a great presentation titled, Developing Sustainable Site Maintenance Initiatives. Throughout the presentation and following the presentation Chris engaged the audience on many topics including what sustainable site maintenance initiatives other people are using on their sites and the challenges and success s they are finding with those initiatives. Chris and his staff are doing an incredible job of making the grounds of Catholic into a very welcoming place for Students, Faculty, Alumni and Visitors! Chris oversees a staff of 15 people for the 150 acre campus and attests that it is a work of pleasure! Catholic University has really benefited from the relationship they have developed with Casey Trees and look forward to continuing that relationship into developing greater tree canopy coverage. Thank you again goes to Chris Vetick and his staff for securing three sponsors for this meeting. On behalf of the branch, I would like to extend a thank you to Shemin s Nursery Supply, Turf & Dirt and ArborCare for making this meeting possible! Our scholarship raffle also benefited from the 50/50 raffle we had at the end of the meeting. Karen Walter won the raffle and donated the money back to the DC Branch scholarship fund. Thank you Karen for your generosity and increasing our fund by $104! 2014 Meeting Sites Chris has also volunteered to host us in 2014 at Catholic. Next year s meeting will be a campus walk detailing the areas Catholic has committed to their sustainable site initiatives and we look forward to taking a tour through the beautiful grounds in our nation s capitol. We are well on our way to getting commitments for meeting sites in 2014! If you wish to host a meeting next year or know of a place in the DMV area that you would like to visit please let myself or Eric Wenger know and we will be happy to put you on the schedule. University of Maryland AGNR Circle of Friends Award On Tuesday, April 16 th Eric Wenger and I had the great honor of accepting the Circle of Friends award presented to the DC Branch by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources! We were joined by many other DC PGMS members in support of this award in showing our gratitude. The Circle of Friends recognizes off campus partners that help make the AGNR College successful for students and faculty. A full awards recap will occur at our May meeting PLANET/PGMS Day of Renewal and Remembrance Update More details have come together this past week about the Monday, July 22 nd Day of Renewal and Remembrance event at Arlington National Cemetery. This will be the first time PGMS will be involved with this great event. We will be looking for about seven volunteers from our branch that wish to participate. Volunteers will be taken on a first come first serve basis. National PGMS President, John Van Etten, has spearheaded this partnership with PLANET and along with John a few others from the National Board will be participating. More details will follow at our May meeting. 2 nd Quarter Board Meeting Our next board meeting will be held on April 25 th. A full re-cap of the board meeting will take place at our May 2 nd Meeting Next Meeting: Mt. Vernon, Thursday, May 2 nd @ 6:30 Dean Norton, Mt. Vernon Grounds Manager, will host our May meeting! Dean is a fantastic host and such a great representative of Mt. Vernon. If you have never been to Mt. Vernon for a PGMS meeting, please make every effort possible to join us! Meeting at the house and grounds of the nation s first President is amazing enough but to get a private guided tour after hours along the banks of the Potomac makes for a very memorable experience. I hope to see a record breaking crowd in two weeks. Let s hope this great weather continues! -ADAM NEWHART Meeting: Location: Host: Sponsors: Thursday, May 2, 2013 at 6:00 pm. George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway Mount Vernon, Virginia 22309 Dean Norton Bartlett Tree Experts Northern Virginia and Montgomery County Maryland Offices
Eric Wenger, Adam Newhart and Michael Walsh all seated with the awards presented at the IAA banquet. Stephanie Destefano and Ken Ingram at the IAA Awards Banquet. Chris Vetick Assistant Director of Facilities Maintenance and Operations for Catholic University was our April meeting host. Another gorgeous part of the Catholic University campus we were fortunate to visit at our April meeting.
Upcoming Green Industry Events Green Industry Field Day July 18, 2013 American University, Washington, DC For information visit http://greenindustryseminar.org/ PGMS Regional Seminar and Site Visitation August 5 to 7 Philadelphia Marriot West, Philadelphia, PA For information visit: http://www.pgms.org/ Save the Date: Day of Service with PLANET Arlington National Cemetery July 22, 2013 More information to Follow PGMS DC Branch Family Picnic Sunday, September 8, 2013 Rojas Family Farm, Beallsville, MD PGMS School of Grounds Management and GIE +Expo October 23 to 26, 2013 Galt House Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky For information visit: http://www.pgms.org/
Important Links: PGMS DC Branch www.pgms.org/branchdc/index.htm DC Cooperative Extension www.udc.edu/cooperative_extension/coop_ext.htm University of Maryland Extension http://extension.umd.edu/ VA Cooperative Extension www.ext.vt.edu/ IPM Net http://ipmnet.umd.edu/ www.greenindustryseminar.org
WANT TO SAVE GAS? Or just like the company of a carpool? Contact Amanda Laudwein a week before the meeting to make arrangements: laudwein@umd.edu or 301-590-2840 or 301-384-3797 Have anything you want to announce to fellow PGMS DC Branch members? Have a special remembrance of one of our past meetings? How about a special picture? We d love to share through our monthly newsletter for you! Contact our Editor Michael Gildea (see front page for contact information!)
PGMS DC Branch Meeting Thursday, May 2, 2013 at 6:00 pm. George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway Mount Vernon, Virginia 22309 Host: Dean Norton Sponsors: Bartlett Tree Experts Northern Virginia and Montgomery County Maryland Offices Once at Mount Vernon enter through the Hearst Gate on the northeast side of the circle. Turn right and proceed to the Anne Pamela Cunningham Building to park. Directions to George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens Driving Directions Many GPS units do not show Mount Vernon properly. Please visit Google Maps to plan your route of arrival thttp://maps.google.com. Under Search the Map, enter: 38.711073,-77.086757 and hit Search Maps. That should take you directly to Mount Vernon's coordinates, where you can get directions to and from the Estate. Directions From Washington, D.C. /Memorial Bridge Cross the Memorial Bridge, heading toward Arlington National Cemetery. While you are on the bridge, get in the center lane. At the circle on the Virginia side, go to the right, following the sign George Washington Parkway (do not head to Arlington Cemetery). Just after the circle, take the left hand exit, marked Parkway South/Alexandria/Mount Vernon. Once on the Parkway, follow the signs to National Airport and continue south, through Alexandria. The Parkway is renamed Washington Street in Alexandria. Mount Vernon is eight miles south of Alexandria, located at the large traffic circle at the end of Parkway. Directions From Washington, D.C. /14th St Bridge Cross the Fourteenth Street Bridge, heading to Virginia. While on the bridge, move to the far right lane. Take the second exit on the right, which is marked National Airport/Mount Vernon. Once on the Parkway, follow the signs to National Airport and continue south, through Alexandria. The Parkway is renamed Washington Street in downtown Alexandria. Mount Vernon is eight miles south of Alexandria, at the large traffic circle at the end of Parkway. Directions From the North (Frederick, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Bethesda) Travel south on Interstate 270 to Interstate 495 (the Beltway). Follow the beltway south to Virginia. As you cross the American Legion Bridge over the Potomac River, get in the right lane. Take the first exit in Virginia, marked George Washington Memorial Parkway. Follow the George Washington Parkway south for about 30 miles, which takes you directly to Mount Vernon. The Parkway is renamed Washington Street in Alexandria, and Mount Vernon is eight miles south of Alexandria, at the large traffic circle at the end of the Parkway.
Landscape Technology Program Montgomery College Germantown Campus Evening classes that meet once a week Affordable tuition Practical, hands-on training Instruction by industry experts For information, contact Stephen Dubik 240-567-7803 Steve.Dubik@montgomerycollege.edu
Professional Grounds Management Society Washington, D.C. Branch 2013 Meeting Sites May 2nd Location: George Washington s Estate at Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon VA Sponsor: Bartlett Tree Experts, Northern Virginia and Maryland Branches June 6 th Location: Green Spring Gardens, Alexandria, VA Sponsor: Helena Chemical Company July 18 th Summer Field Day (Trade Show and Seminar all day event) Location: American University, Washington, D.C. August 1 st Location: Glenstone Museum Potomac, MD Sponsor: Bartlett Tree Experts September 5 th Location: Smithsonian Institute Sponsor: The Care of Trees October 3 rd Location: Raemelton Farm, Adamstown, MD Sponsor: Needed November 7 th Location: University of Maryland Student Chapter Sponsor: Ruppert Nurseries Please RSVP to our meetings and let us know if you are bringing guests. In an effort to plan the food and beverages for our meetings we would like to have an idea of how many members and guests will be attending. Please RSVP to our Branch President, Adam Newhart at anewhart@gaithersburgmd.gov
Professional Grounds Management Society DC BRANCH NEWS 1708 Grandads Lane Silver Spring, MD 20905