By Charlie Hall, AIB President

Having spent the last four days at Cultivate 2015, the largest horticultural trade show in the U.S., I am reminded once again of the vastness of the horticultural industry. Among the talks I gave, I had the opportunity to address a group of 58 international college-aged students that were here in the U.S. on internships sponsored by the Ohio Program. It was a great interchange about horticulture around the world, and I was encouraged by the passion and enthusiasm these young folks had for plants.

In our exchange, I was struck by the fact that many countries are like the U.S. in that plant blindness is an issue. Other countries, however, had a deep appreciation for the role that plants plant in our everyday lives and the enjoyment of natural settings seemed to be a more integral part of their everyday routines of living.

I then pondered the role that America in Bloom plays in helping ensure that communities continue to embrace the wonderment and beauty associated with landscape beautification. Research continues to cross my desk almost weekly regarding yet another study touting the benefits of being surrounded by enhanced landscapes.

For example, a recent study measured dynamic stress responses using ambulatory heart rate monitoring as participants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania walked past vacant lots before and after a greening remediation treatment of randomly selected lots. The researchers found that being in view of a greened vacant lot decreased heart rate significantly more than did being in view of a non-greened vacant lot or not in view of any vacant lot. Remediating neighborhood blight may reduce stress and improve health.

Another study observed yard maintenance of residential properties located near a produce garden, compared with those near an undeveloped vacant lot while controlling for residents’ neighborhood perceptions and census demographic data. Their results, supporting the greening hypothesis, indicated that residential lots located near produce gardens were better maintained than parcels near undeveloped vacant lots. These implications support policies and programs that include greening initiatives as part of community development strategies (such as AIB!).

One more study, and then I’ll move on. I was intrigued by yet another study that validated the correlation between exposure to green space and cognitive development in primary schoolchildren. They observed enhanced working memory and and a reduction in inattentiveness associated with and increased level of greenness within and surrounding school boundaries (including green spaces surrounding their home, commuting route, and school).

When I related these and other plant and beautification-related benefits to the college students, they were ready to go back and start beautification efforts in their own countries. Imagine that, an army of young, enthusiastic horticulturists ready to beautify the world. I felt a bit like Billy Graham sending them out to their mission field!

I also had a chance to tell our America in Bloom story in the general session at Cultivate and share one of our YouTube videos from our contest (which received an ovation by the way). In the media-filled world we live in, those videos are a gold mine! I love telling our story but I can’t hold a candle to all of you at the grass roots level bragging about your communities! I am so very proud of all of you who have contributed videos to the contest – they really are effective storytelling tools!

As I am writing this, our judges are wrapping up another season of the national awards judging and I would be remiss if I didn’t give a quick shout-out and thank you to all of them. We couldn’t do it without you and we sure are lucky to have Jack Clasen providing leadership on the awards program committee. Good job all around folks!

Lastly, I am fired up about this year’s AIB Symposium. Kay Moss Warner and the local committee in Holland, MI have developed a stellar program for the symposium and trust me, you do not want to miss this one! It is going to be fun, educational, and motivating. Hope to see you there!