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Ficaria verna in North Carolina

from Nursery & Landscape Notes Fall 2021

by North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association

from Nursery & Landscape Notes Fall 2021, page 10

Article from: Nursery & Landscape Notes Fall 2021

Tim Johnson Landscaping

Efforts Underway to Eradicate Invasive Ficaria verna

in North Carolina

By Grant Smith, Hannah Maness, Shelby Williford and Tim Jiang

College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University

Ficaria verna, colloquially known as the fig buttercup, is an invasive perennial species that has spread through the northeastern United States in recent years. Originally native to Europe, Africa and Asia, this winterspring menace was reportedly first spotted in North Carolina in Asheville in 2011. Less than two years later, it was reportedly seen in Greenville, S.C. Ficaria verna poses a considerable threat to native plant species, threatening to outcompete and displace them if allowed to spread unchecked.

period is in early March, avoiding commercial pesticide and herbicide use is recommended, in order to preserve other flora and fauna species that might be caught in the crossfire.

Steps have been taken by the city of Raleigh and the North Carolina Invasive Plant Council (NC-IPC) to locate and control the species in Wake, Durham, Orange and Chatham counties. Efforts are being coordinated by Leigh Bragassa, an invasive program coordinator with the city of Raleigh’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department. If found in parks or public lands, contact Leigh at leigh.bragassa@raleighnc.gov for effective removal.

The iNaturalist.org website, which is free and easy to use, is playing a part in current local citizen science efforts to locate and eradicate this invasive species. Local efforts can help prevent outbreaks and protect our native perennials and spring plants. The NC-IPC has a map of Ficaria verna sightings in the Triangle, with data from citizens who upload their findings to https://bit.ly/3jzlCTm.

Reedy Creek, Wake County, N.C. (March 2020)

Photo: Rob Emens, North Carolina Invasive Plant Council

Visually similar to the native marsh marigold, Ficaria verna is much less innocuous. Key differences lie in the fig buttercup’s petals, tubers and matting tendencies, which the marsh marigold does not feature. Currently unregulated by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, this non-native species threatens to edge out our native perennials and spring plants. A brief list of at-risk flora includes bloodroot, wild ginger, spring beauty, harbinger-of-spring, twinleaf, squirrel-corn, trout lily, trillium and Virginia bluebells.

Please do not plant this invasive species, which spreads quickly through hydra-like bulblets and tubers throughout waterways. Removing them by hand can also further facilitate their spread, as even the most cautious removal projects end up fruitless by the next year. While their flowering

Are You By Kim Oswalt Making These Scheduling Mistakes?

Scheduling. It’s probably one of the hardest things you do as the manager of a growing lawn care or landscaping company.

There’s just so much to consider, and the pieces you have to work with are always moving. Even if you’re fortunate enough to have wonderful, reliable crew members and a regular client base, there’s still plenty that can go wrong. Bad weather. Illness. Traffic delays. These issues are outside your control, but they can have a serious impact on your ability to succeed—especially if you’re not prepared.

While scheduling is a crucial piece in the backbone of your business, many business owners regularly make mistakes that drain resources, upset clients and employees, and hinder progress.

As you create schedules for your crews, try to watch out for these common mistakes: 1. Forgetting to leave space for seasonal services 2. Using inefficient routes 3. Sending crews into the field without the right equipment 4. Packing schedules too tightly 5. Interrupting crews with messages that can wait

Avoiding these five mistakes can go a long way toward building a strong foundation for your lawn care company. If you want to make things even easier, consider using a cloud-based scheduling software solution like Crew Control.

Crew Control allows you to easily create and adjust schedules, automatically optimize routes, attach notes and photos to jobs, accept payments online, and report on your company’s efficiency and profitability. The drag-and-drop scheduler lets you move jobs around quickly in whatever view works best for you (including calendar and map views). Once you share a day’s schedule with your crew members, it will automatically show up on their mobile devices. They can then easily access the schedule (which is updated in real time) from their phones or tablets, checking in and out of work tickets with the touch of a button. When crews check in to a job, you’ll see it change color on the schedule. And when they check out, the job will be marked as complete.