PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

DOMENIC LAURIA Vizmeg Landscape, Inc.

When it comes to improving something – be it our company, or ourselves – leadership, communication, strategy, innovation, and productivity are all topics that we tend to gravitate towards. Yet, when it comes to discussing the importance of maintaining focus in one’s life, we rarely talk about it. Why is ‘focus’ never thought about in the same category as some of these other topics? I’d make the argument that it’s because ‘focus’ is one of, if not the, hardest things to work on because we all love our distractions!

The Huntington Post recently defined focus as: “the ability to pay attention to things that help, while avoiding the distractions that hurt, our work efforts.” Unfortunately, most of us tend to pay more attention to the things that hurt our work efforts. Examples of these include; social media, cell phones, emails, and coworkers – just to name a few.

As you may have noticed, in my first two articles I have written a good amount about two of my favorite influencers, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Prior to becoming great friends, these two titans knew of each other, yet thought they had very little in common. This was until Gates’ father invited Warren to a summer get together and the two had the opportunity to talk.

During the meeting, Buffet openly admitted he knew absolutely nothing about technology (Fun Fact: He still uses a flip phone to this day). He says this to Gates, who at the time is the world leader in technological services. Yet they sit down, start talking, and realize they have a lot more in common than either of them thought. And, what was one of those core common denominators? They both attribute their successes to their abilities to maintain focus. Without focus, every time our minds wander away from our work, we are wasting time. As I spoke about in the February article, time is the most precious resource in the world. It is the one thing that is not re-creatable; that we can’t buy more of. So, it goes without saying, that without placing an emphasis on our abilities to focus that we are wasting our most precious resource.

Many of us try not to waste time by multi-tasking and trying to do multiple things at once. Scientific research has shown that there is actually no such thing as multi-tasking (although my mother and wife will fight me on this). Instead of multitasking, our brains are just switching back and forth between two separate tasks. In fact, studies have shown that “multitasking” can result in a productivity loss of up to 40 percent. Productivity does not come from an app, or using a cell phone and tablet at the same time. Instead, true productivity comes from focusing on one individual task, giving it the attention it deserves, completing it, and then moving onto the next one.

COVER: Landscape Ohio! Honor Award winner, in the category of Specialty Gardens, #1 Landscaping.

3 5 8 14 18 24 28 32 34 35 PRESIDENT’S COLUMN What’s Your Focus? WELCOME NEW MEMBERS PERENNIAL FOCUS The Relationship between Perennial Garden Design & Maintenance FISCAL FITNESS The SECURE Act FOR SAFETY SAKE 4 Steps to Creating a Preventative Safety Culture PLANT OF THE MONTH Buddleia davidii: Butterfly-bush FEATURE ARTICLE What is Smart Irrigation? UPDATES Driving Rules Delayed DIRECTIONS ADVERTISING INDEX FEATURES

OHIO’S PROFESSIONAL GREEN INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

OHIO LANDSCAPE ASSOCIATION 9240 Broadview Road Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147 Phone: 440.717.0002, or 1.800.335.6521 Fax: 440.717.0004 Web: www.ohiolandscapers.org and www.myohiolandscape.com

DESIGNER / EDITOR Rick Doll, Jr.

REGULAR WRITERS Adam Capiccioni, Ohio CAT Michael J. Donnellan, King Financial, Inc. Dr. Jim Funai, PhD., Cuyahoga Community College Shelley Funai, Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens Sandy Munley, Ohio Landscape Association Bobbie Schwartz, FAPLD, Bobbie’s Green Thumb

ADVERTISING INFORMATION Submission deadline: 10th of the month, prior to the month of publication. For advertising rates and ad specs, please call 440.717.0002, 1.800.335.6521, or email Rick Doll Jr. at rick@ohiolandscapers.org.

DISCLAIMER The Ohio Landscape Association, its board of directors, staff and the editor of The Growing Concern neither endorse any product(s) or attests to the validity of any statements made about products mentioned in this, past or subsequent issues of this publication. Similarly, the opinions expressed in The Growing Concern are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Ohio Landscape Association.

OFFICERS President Domenic Lauria

President – Elect Dr. James Funai, PhD.

Treasurer Brian Maurer, LIC

Immediate Past President Adam Capiccioni

DIRECTORS Keith Clapper Ryan Drake Stephanie Gray, LIC Cameron Maneri Rob Morel Joshua Way OLA STAFF Executive Director Sandy Munley

Communications & Events Manager Rick Doll, Jr.