Scythe Robotics, Longmont, founded in 2018 by Jack Morrison, Isaac Roberts and Davis Foster, is dedicated to providing a sustainable solution to a huge challenge facing the landscape industry. The company’s mowers—aka robots—address workforce issues such as the chronic labor shortage while avoiding contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Scythe’s founders see autonomous mowers reducing the need for humans to operate a mower on landscape maintenance projects—a relatively low-skill task—and free them up for more skilled maintenance tasks that can be performed while the robots are mowing. Landscape maintenance projects can be done in less time with less noise, lower emissions and fewer crew members—less labor.

Autonomous mowing gets more attention
Three years after Scythe caught the attention of ALCC and other members with their ELITE Award submission for Innovation, the company has grown to over 30 employees and wanted to add 10 more by the end of 2021. Scythe announced in June 2021 that the company raised over $18.5 million in venture capital funding allowing it grow and continue to improve the product. Colorado Green spoke with Billy Otteman, marketing director at Scythe.

Westminster High School’s (Westy’s) Landscape Career Pathways program is a full-steam-ahead pipeline to landscape industry jobs thanks to high-energy team teachers Heather Crabtree and Lucas Naeger. For a few years now, they have been attracting students to classes and careers that most Westy students never new existed.

Often lured by the school’s greenhouse, students soon discover horticulture and an array of green industry jobs in horticulture, irrigation, installation, equipment maintenance and more. Their program is growing strong with new work stations to learn industry skills—but what Crabtree and Naeger need most now are industry pros. They need volunteers who can step into classes to demonstrate nuances of specific skills and “share their passion about their careers.” Internship opportunities would be another plus.

“HGTV drove people to want curb appeal and it gave them permission to do projects themselves,” says Black Forest Landscape Design’s owner Dan Lee. For 20 years, what he calls the “cultural phenomenon of HGTV” has powered his business. Up to 75% of the homeowners for whom Lee provides consults and landscape designs do all or part of the work themselves.

Among fellow licensed landscape architects, Lee thrives on a market niche most designers might not consider. But a strong connection exists between him and his clients during and following their projects. They send him photos weekly while work is in progress and even years later. And they are loyal and repeat clients. In 2021, Lee found that about 60% of his clients were returns from people he served during 2002 to 2012 as original clients or their children or parents.

As 2021 was wrapping up, Colorado State University (CSU) revealed “Top Performer” perennials from its trials. During the herbaceous perennial trials—part of CSU’s continuous and tireless research programs that test if plants are suited to Colorado—plants are observed over a three-year period. For the 2021 trials, 126 varieties were planted in 2019. To be rated as a CSU Top Performer, plants have to have had great survival percentages after two winters and three growing seasons, and received excellent ratings throughout the three growing seasons.

“I love bringing the feeling of nature into the spaces people live in,” says Johnny Moore, designer at Tree of Life Landscapes, Mead. Moore created a design with four seasons of immersion and mystery for a client who wanted to remove most of the sod and create perennial gardens more suitable to the Colorado climate.

“Our vision was to create four seasons of interest. Color in the spring, summer and fall and in the winter a lot of texture and different hues of brown. There is a lot of richness and depth to the winter textures that can’t be seen in other seasons. Leaving the seed heads allows the birds some winter food. We are creating more than a garden. It’s an environment for not only us but the other inhabitants.” To Moore’s point, this property has earned National Wildlife Federation habitat certification.

The in person ProGreen EXPO event we've been waiting two years for is almost here. And, that’s not the only good news. For the COVID weary—all of us—know that COVID safety does NOT require proof of vaccination or a negative test result to attend the event. The only requirement for entry to the Colorado Convention Center is wearing a mask or face covering. 

Check out the schedule and notice the new networking events in addition to the classes, several offered in Spanish (ofrecido en español) as well as many with continuing education credits (CEUs). As always, exhibitors will showcase new and innovative equipment and products, and amazing plants. Take advantage of your ALCC member discount and register today at https://www.progreenexpo.com/Register.

Education begins Tuesday, Feb. 1, at 11:15 a.m. and runs until noon Friday and the EXPO opens Wednesday, Feb. 2, at noon and runs during conference hours until noon Friday

“It was shocking to see this fire come down to populated areas--and very sad,” said Scott Natter, general manager, L.I.D. Landscapes, that has served the greater Boulder area many years. He lost a property at a higher elevation several years ago and empathizes with victims of this fire. Tom Sunderland, owner, Native Edge Landscapes, Boulder, had a similar reaction. Sunderland, who lives in the foothills north of Boulder, has evacuated or prepared to evacuate several times. He said, “Living up here, we know what to grab and quickly, but in a suburban neighborhood like Rock Creek, evacuation would never have been on our minds.”

The 2^nd Regular Session of the 73^rd General Assembly convened on January 12^th, 2022. A few of the priorities that were addressed by leadership in both chambers and by the Governor were focusing on affordable housing, funding education, addressing the behavioral health crisis, public safety, and workforce development. With it being an election year, we may not see as many controversial issues this session but there still won’t be a lack of issues that ALCC and other GreenCO members will be engaged on.

At our 50^th birthday in 2012, we were talking about moving from manual typewriters to texting. At our 60th, we are engaged in the unimaginable of 1962—the “virtual” world of offices, meetings and more. And when not being virtual, we are all masked up trying to beat COVID without seeing the smiles or frowns on each other’s faces.

Yet throughout 60 years of evolutions, ALCC has excelled as a grassroots organization grounded in service—both puns intended. Even with 1 to 8 staff guiding the organization, you “grassroots/grounded” volunteers, who share a passion for your careers and service to your industry, have consistently done the critical work.

Since the start of COVID-19, we have seen an increase of cyber threats to the order of 600%, making it more imperative than ever for small- to medium-sized businesses to adhere to basic security controls. This article reinforces my ALCC presentation in May 2021 that pointed out some fundamental steps that every business can take to reduce their likelihood of being impacted by these threats.

Both employees and the businesses can take to help reduce the likelihood of serious breaches. Threat actors know no boundaries nor do they distinguish between small or large businesses. The majority of them are purely after financial gain. This usually comes in the form of fake emails phishing you to click on a link or encouraging you to rapidly move funds to a newly established account. Determining these fake identities and assets is becoming more difficult as the threat actors reuse actual graphics, terms and phrases of real companies.