Ellison Chair in International Floriculture
Ellison Chair in International FloricultureTeaching, Research, Extension and Service

An easy way to support America in Bloom

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As many of you are aware, America in Bloom(AIB) promotes nationwide beautification through education and community involvement by encouraging the use of flowers, plants, trees, and other environmental and lifestyle enhancements.

One of the ways that AIB raises funds (besides sponsorships) is to hold an annual raffle. Wouldn’t it feel good to put $5,000; $1,000, or even $500 in your pocket? If you purchase an AIB raffle ticket you just might be one of the lucky cash prize winners! The 2010 raffle generated over $30,000 in funding for America in Bloom.

The raffle will be held during the OFA Short Course. You do not need to be present to win. It’s also easy to participate. Simply buy your raffle tickets online using the secure form.

Now you may be asking…Why should I buy a raffle ticket? Let me answer that by summarizing what AIB participating cities say about the program:

AIB is a quality of life improvement program
…a great concept that can help develop both beautification and economic improvement
… a grassroots program that believes that connecting people and plants is important to everyone’s quality of life
… the propagation of the love of plants and their interaction with our communities
…enhancing cities to make them better places to live
…a program that promotes community health by using horticulture
…a program that builds pride of place for communities and enhances awareness of different facets of the community

AIB is a community improvement program
…an opportunity to make a community more appealing through community involvement
…a challenging experience, but worth the effort to see a cocoon become a butterfly
…a nation wide program that brings a community together to beautify inside and out
…a unique and informative creative concept to highlight your community and improve overall involvement of the neighborhoods …a wonderful shot in our community’s arm; through it we are reborn
…a community effort to beautify and improve your town by getting the residents involved
…an opportunity for communities to identify and build their image
…amazing as it provide the process to get cities and towns moving and working together to improve their communities

AIB is a civic pride and community involvement program
…an organization to promote pride in cities
…a beautification program for each community that nurtures volunteerism
…a way to pull together volunteers to impact the community
…about bringing people together to make our city better
…a community building and enhancement program
…a community beautification organization that promotes civic pride
…a community effort to showcase pride in the community through plants, flowers, trees
…community beautification …a contagious awakening of community pride
…a method for involving the total community in planting pride in our communities
…a community improvement and beautification contest

AIB is an educational and community engagement program
…a very educational program that makes our communities more aware of how beautiful we can make our communities by working together
…a teaching experience to educate rather than criticize
…an incredibly motivating organization that serves as a catalyst for building community pride and participation
…an organization that promotes community pride, passion and education

A source of inspiration
…inspiring and encouraging
…a facilitator of community involvement and inspiration for change and improvement

AIB is a catalyst
…a great resource and motivator to improve our city’s public image as well as sales revenue for downtown businesses
…motivating and inspiring
…rewarding
…a municipal and volunteer self improvement program that brings the community together
…a vehicle to coordinate community improvement
…the contest is a catalyst for action on a continuing basis

AIB is a friendly competition
…disguised as a friendly competition, but serves our community as a unifier for the various non profits, corporations, private citizens for a common goal
…a contest that can be used to generate enthusiasm and education for community wide improvement projects

AIB is a valuable tool
…comprehensive inexpensive survey of a city
…a powerful community building tool
…a program that gives us an annual list of potential problems to address from the judges’ visit

Not convinced yet?  Then I invite you to visit the America in Bloom website to learn more! Or better yet, look for me or any other board member at the OFA Shortcourse and we’d be happy to talk more about how AIB is an important tool for ensuring the relevancy of floriculture in the future!

Discover the Surprising Side of Plants

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America in Bloom has announced the release of a 12-page, full color educational brochure titled, “Discover the Surprising Side of Plants.” Based on research and publications by America in Bloom (AIB) board member Charles Hall, PhD of Texas A&M and others, the brochure summarizes benefits of plants “beyond pretty” for people, communities, neighborhoods, and even offices. Illustrated with photos from many participating America in Bloom towns, the brochure concludes that “quality landscapes are a necessity, not a luxury.”

A PowerPoint presentation based on the brochure is available for teachers to use in their curricula and for others to share in their own presentations.

The brochure will be offered to attendees at the AIB exhibit at the Philadelphia Flower Show, OFA’s Short Course and other venues. AIB sponsors at the gold or higher level are eligible to receive up to 500 complimentary copies.

“This piece is an ideal promotional tool for nurseries and garden centers. We feel so strongly about the benefits of plants to the well-being of people, towns, and even the economy, that we are offering the printed brochure to interested parties at our cost, plus shipping,” says Marvin Miller, AIB’s president.

To download the brochure and related presentation, go to www.americainbloom.org/discover_plants.aspx.

American in Bloom Symposium

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Celebrating 10 years of planting price and prosperity in local communities, it’s only fitting that America in Bloom (AIB) would return to our nation’s capital for its 2011 American in Bloom Symposium & Awards Program. This national conference, which will take place at the Doubletree Hotel Crystal City in Arlington, Va., Oct. 6 to 8, will draw hundreds of community leaders and active citizens from across the United States.

The perfect opportunity to learn and share ideas is the AIB symposium. This year’s program features the best in the field of public horticulture and tourism in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Learn how to grow healthy communities by working with schools on First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move Cities & Towns Initiative.” Build a healthy canopy of trees and incorporate sustainable landscape solutions. Pick up ideas and solutions galore from exhibitors in the Showcase of Innovation and special gardens planted at River Farm.

Experienced AIB civic leaders and mayors will share the benefits they’ve witnessed from AIB participation and why they come back year after year. Many towns use foundations to fund beautification efforts and will share how you can too. The symposium also includes two inspirational keynote speakers: author and television personality Joe Lamp’l and Disney veteran Dennis Snow.

In addition to two solid days of education and tours, the 2011 AIB Awards Program will shine a spotlight on the best efforts from towns participating in this year’s competition. Honorary guests include Edward Avalos, undersecretary of marketing and regulatory programs for USDA, and the White House’s Chief Florist Laura Dowling.

For more information, go to www.americainbloom.org.

We enhance the quality of life…period.

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The plethora of benefits provided by flowers, shrubs, and trees is not common knowledge, let alone ingrained in modern day American culture. Humans often have difficulty in even seeing flowers or plants in their own environment, much less connecting plants to tangible benefits – a phenomenon called plant blindness. For most people, flowers and other plants are a part of the subconscious sector of mental life, perceived as the backdrop, not the main actors in the playing out of our everyday lives.

All industry firms need to emphasize these types of “benefits” messages in the marketing efforts of their individual companies. A new publication that summarizes these benefits is entitled Economic, Environmental, and Health/Well-Being Benefits Associated with Green Industry Products and Services: A Review and was published in the Journal of Environmental Horticulture (Issue 29(2):96-103) thanks to the Horticultural Research Institute. Since previous efforts on the part of the industry to provide a united voice through a generic advertising campaign (e.g. Got Milk) have been met with a less-than-enthusiastic response, firm-level marketing of these benefits may be the best alternative (in the short run) to propagate the quality of life value proposition.

Of course, one industry-wide effort that is already in place that has shown to be quite effective in conveying this message is America in Bloom (AIB). Now in its tenth anniversary, the program has countered early naysayers by effectively not only conveying the industry’s message of beautification, but one of economic development, provision of environmental amenities, and enhancement of health and well-being as well. Almost 200 cities and several million citizens have been exposed to AIB’s message; undoubtedly benefiting the countless local businesses in those trade areas. One such business owner stated publicly at this year’s OFA Short Course that they had experienced an 8 percent increase in business during the period their city had participated in America in Bloom. While this alone is impressive, it is exciting to consider that as AIB continues to expand, even more synergistic benefits will likely result.

There is an old adage that says: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” This latest economic downturn has certainly caused us all to do some things differently than we had been doing them previously. We’re doing more with fewer people and in some cases, fewer resources. But as we move into the future, even more aggressive marketing will be needed to ensure that we are considered as necessities in our consumers’ lives and not mere luxuries. Now is exactly the time to make those strategic marketing investments both as individual firms and through industry-wide efforts.

Buy Your Raffle Ticket Now to Support American in Bloom

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As many of you are aware, America in Bloom (AIB) promotes nationwide beautification through education and community involvement by encouraging the use of flowers, plants, trees, and other environmental and lifestyle enhancements.

One of the ways that AIB raises funds (besides sponsorships) is to hold an annual raffle. Wouldn’t it feel good to put $5,000; $1,000, or even $500 in your pocket? If you purchase an AIB raffle ticket you just might be one of the lucky cash prize winners! The 2010 raffle generated over $30,000 in funding for America in Bloom.

The raffle will be held on Monday, July 11, 2011 during the OFA Short Course. You do not need to be present to win. It’s also easy to participate. Simply buy your raffle tickets online using the secure form.

Now you may be asking…Why should I buy a raffle ticket? Let me answer that by summarizing what AIB participating cities say about the program:

AIB is a quality of life improvement program
…a great concept that can help develop both beautification and economic improvement
… a grassroots program that believes that connecting people and plants is important to everyone’s quality of life
… the propagation of the love of plants and their interaction with our communities
…enhancing cities to make them better places to live
…a program that promotes community health by using horticulture
…a program that builds pride of place for communities and enhances awareness of different facets of the community

AIB is a community improvement program
…an opportunity to make a community more appealing through community involvement
…a challenging experience, but worth the effort to see a cocoon become a butterfly
…a nation wide program that brings a community together to beautify inside and out
…a unique and informative creative concept to highlight your community and improve overall involvement of the neighborhoods …a wonderful shot in our community’s arm; through it we are reborn
…a community effort to beautify and improve your town by getting the residents involved
…an opportunity for communities to identify and build their image
…amazing as it provide the process to get cities and towns moving and working together to improve their communities

AIB is a civic pride and community involvement program
…an organization to promote pride in cities
…a beautification program for each community that nurtures volunteerism
…a way to pull together volunteers to impact the community
…about bringing people together to make our city better
…a community building and enhancement program
…a community beautification organization that promotes civic pride
…a community effort to showcase pride in the community through plants, flowers, trees
…community beautification …a contagious awakening of community pride
…a method for involving the total community in planting pride in our communities
…a community improvement and beautification contest

AIB is an educational and community engagement program
…a very educational program that makes our communities more aware of how beautiful we can make our communities by working together
…a teaching experience to educate rather than criticize
…an incredibly motivating organization that serves as a catalyst for building community pride and participation
…an organization that promotes community pride, passion and education

A source of inspiration
…inspiring and encouraging
…a facilitator of community involvement and inspiration for change and improvement

AIB is a catalyst
…a great resource and motivator to improve our city’s public image as well as sales revenue for downtown businesses
…motivating and inspiring
…rewarding
…a municipal and volunteer self improvement program that brings the community together
…a vehicle to coordinate community improvement
…the contest is a catalyst for action on a continuing basis

AIB is a friendly competition
…disguised as a friendly competition, but serves our community as a unifier for the various non profits, corporations, private citizens for a common goal
…a contest that can be used to generate enthusiasm and education for community wide improvement projects

AIB is a valuable tool
…comprehensive inexpensive survey of a city
…a powerful community building tool
…a program that gives us an annual list of potential problems to address from the judges’ visit

Not convinced yet?  Then I invite you to visit the America in Bloom website to learn more! Or better yet, look for me or any other board member at the OFA Shortcourse and we’d be happy to talk more about how AIB is an important tool for ensuring the relevancy of floriculture in the future!

America in Bloom receives award

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America in Bloom has been named to the 2010 Associations Advance America Honor Roll, a national awards program sponsored by the American Society of Association Executives & The Center for Association Leadership in Washington, D.C.

The prestigious awards program recognizes associations that propel America forward – with innovative projects in education, skills training, standards setting, business and social innovation, knowledge creation, citizenship, and community service. Although association activities have a powerful impact on everyday life, they often go unnoticed by the general public.

“America in Bloom’s program truly embodies the spirit of the Associations Advance America campaign. It is an honor and an inspiration to showcase this activity as an example of the many contributions associations are making to advance American society,” remarked Associations Advance America Committee Chair Ping Wei.

If folks in the industry would like to support AIB financially, now is the time to do it. Between now and the OFA Shortcourse, AIB is conducting one of their main fundraising events of the year — the AIB Raffle. Proceeds from the raffle and other fundraising events help America in Bloom fund numerous projects for communities and their citizens such as—webinars on plant varieties that perform well in the landscape, an annual educational symposium, and community awards.

Wouldn’t it feel good to put $5,000; $1,000, or even $500 in your pocket? If you purchase an AIB raffle ticket you just might be one of the lucky cash prize winners! The 2009 raffle generated over $30,000 in funding for America in Bloom. Buy your raffle tickets online using their secure form today!