Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Oct 8, 2010 University of Idaho Aberdeen Research and Education Center Opening comments and introduction of participants Research reports and project reviews were given (* in the participant list indicates presentation of a report) Discussion of WERA-1013 strategic objectives: members discussed collaborative ideas for obtaining grants for evaluation studies, one of WERA1013's three main focuses. It was suggested that each member check with their state regarding USDA Specialty Crop Initiative Block grants. HRI (Horticulture Research Institute), WSARE (Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education), and NIFA (Organic and Agriculture section has become mandatory), were other possible suggestions for grants for the group. Administrative advisor's report: Bret Hess reminded the group of the NIFA restructure, EPSCOR universities, and formula funds (which must be 25% of Hatch funds for multistate and integrated projects). He also reported the SAES 422 form (annual report) must be submitted within 60 days of the meeting. Bret will forward a digital copy to the membership. It was also decided that each member's presentation report would be published to a digital journal on the WERA1013 website. Committee members should turn in all reports by Nov 10. ProGreen Conference presentations: Jim Klett updated the group on the upcoming ProGreen Conference in Colorado Thursday, Feb 10, 2011. As per the WERA1013 stated education goals, several WERA 1013 members will be presenting on native plants at the conference. Regional publication collaboration: Heidi Kratsch is assembling a regional publication on native plants with a reclamation tie-in. She was seeking volunteers to help with the publication that should be done by Feb 2011. Stephen Love, Jim Klett, Tracy Dougher, Robert Dunn, Laura Smith, and Larry Rupp all volunteered to help with the publication. Sub-committee reports: Proceedings subcommittee: the idea was put forth to form a subcommittee to gather and edit the proceedings (presentation reports). Heidi Kratsch moved and Tracy Dougher seconded. All members were in favor. Stephen Love volunteered to head up the subcommittee. Website subcommittee: a lengthy discussion ensued on the content of the WERA1013 website. Ultimately it was decided that members needed to contribute more content. 1) A sign-up sheet was circulated for members to contribute monthly to the plant descriptions. Tracy Dougher will remind each member of their month of submission. 2) a grower list will be compiled for the website. Education subcommittee: Heidi Kratsch and Tracy Dougher reported that a few members had presented at growers conferences for some of the states in the group. Evaluation standards subcommittee: discussion on this was referred to the opening strategic objectives discussion. Election of officers: Tracy Dougher will step in as Chair for 2011 & 2012. Larry Rupp was elected secretary/chair elect for 2011 & 2012. Planning for 2011 meeting: Jim Klett agreed to host WERA 1013 for 2011 at Colorado State University, Heidi Kratsch volunteered the University of Nevada, Reno for 2012. Meeting adjourned, the group toured the University of Idaho native plants projects. State reports are attached.

Accomplishments: Presented on Native Sod Production at the Wyoming Growers Conference in Casper, WY February 17-19, 2010. Made presentations to local growing groups, the Gallatin Valley Garden Club on Propagation of Perennials and Cashman's Nursery on Native Perennials. Developed an e-journal for publication of our respective findings. Developed a template for introducing new native plants for consideration by the industry. The University of Wyoming's short-term contribution to this effort is hosting the web site (http://www.uwyo.edu/wera1013/). The site has various components, some of which are still under construction, but it has been opened up for general use. Began breeder seed production of superior native plants for purposes of commercialization. Initiated a study to evaluate Idaho fescue for turf applications. Organized a native plant landscaping workshop in conjunction with the Idaho Horticulture Expo. Short-term outcomes: Presentations gave both commercial growers and home gardeners exposure to native plants. Several Montana home gardeners are altering their landscapes to include more native plants to reduce water consumption in their landscape. Morphological and Genetic Variation Among Selected Sphaeralcea: Industry professionals can select a regionally appropriate Sphaeralcea species that is stable genetically to result in increased plant landscape performance and consumer confidence in the native plant production industry. The web site provides information for enhanced production of various native plants in the intermountain west. This will result in reduced losses and costs for commercial growers and increased success in producing these plants. Consumers will also benefit from the web site with increased knowledge of native plants available and their general care requirements. Higher success rate in growing plants on the consumer end will result in decreased costs to them for replacement plants. Outcomes for the University of Idaho native plant domestication project include publicly accessible information on landscaping with native plants and improved access to superior native plant products. Outputs: Montana master gardeners researched information on the habitat and known growth habits of Montana native plants. They are producing plant labels for the experimentation/demonstration garden on native perennials. Out of four prevalent Sphaeralcea in Utah, only three are distinct. S. coccinea is genetically stable as a species as determined by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. S. munroana and S. parvifolia are ecotypes of a single species. S. grossulariifolia either has not yet completely speciated, or alternatively, represents cross-hybridization between the other two. Annual reports of the WERA-1013 committee are accessible on the web site. The site also provides, or will provide, information and publications available on growing and using various native plants. Activities: Worked with a sod grower on an experiment evaluating the composition and feasibility of native grass sod. Planting beds were established for experiments evaluating the water use of several native Montana perennials for the home landscape. This experiment is a part of the evaluation goal of WERA 1013. Master Gardeners were involved in the establishment of the native perennial beds and initial collection of plant data. Mentioned the usefulness of selected native plant species in helping to achieve landscape water efficiency in the Introduction to Horticulture class taught for USU and in master gardener trainings at USU and now at UNCE. Activities of the web site sub-committee are ongoing as the site needs consistent updating and maintenance. We are able to do this with the assistance of Randy Anderson, the UW College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Communications and Technology web site coordinator. Work at Utah State University is primarily focused on identifying and clonally propagating unique specimens of native plants with potential for use as water conserving landscape plants. Key programs have focused on selection and asexual propagation of Acer grandidentatum and development of seed-propagated Epilobium canum as a landscape perennial. Within our own work we have reached a milestone in developing a means of propagating bigtooth maple by cuttings. Milestones: The WERA 1013 website went live and initial information for the site was gathered. The site currently lists members of the WERA1013 committee, as well as industry and federal partners. A native plant list has been started with some containing plant descriptions and production information; most simply have a photo and Latin name. A grower list has been added and links to other pertinent web sites will be added as time goes on. We developed a speaker's bureau for our project, and we all are working on securing speaking engagements for our members in our respective states. Several of us have been asked to present or have presented at various state nursery and landscape association meetings. These workshops and seminars are specifically designed to educate the public to the value and use of native plants.

Beddes, T. and H.A. Kratsch. 2010. Nodulation of Seaside Alder Topdressed with Controlled-release Fertilizer. HortTechnology 20(4): 740-745. Boyer, N.Z. and W.R. Graves. 2009. NAA is more effective than IBA for rooting stem cuttings of two Nyssa spp. Journal of Environmental Horticulture 27:183-187. Broderick, S.R., M.R. Stevens, B. Geary, S.L. Love, E.N. Jellen, R.B. Dockter, S.L. Daley and D.T. Lindgren. 2010. A survey of Penstemons genome size. Genome (In Press). Lenahan, O.M., W.R. Graves, and R. Arora. 2010. Cold hardiness and deacclimation of Styrax americanus from three provenances. HortScience:in press. Love, S.L. and T. Salaiz. 2009. Selectable variation among species and accessions of plants included in the Idaho Native Plant Domestication Project. Report of the Native Plants Cooperative 1:7-9. Love, S.L. 2010. Penstemon spotlight  Penstemon albomarginatus. Bulletin of the American Penstemon Society 69:2-4. Peterson, B.J. and W.R. Graves. 2009. Variation in development and ?response to root-zone pH among seedlings of Dirca palustris (Thymelaeaceae) from three provenances. HortScience 44:1319-1322. Peterson, B.J., Graves, W.R., and J. Sharma. 2009. Color of pubescence on bud scales conflicts with keys for identifying species of Dirca (Thymelaeaceae). Rhodora 111:126-130. Richards, M.R. 2010. Selecting and Propagating Clones of Bigtooth Maple (Acer grandidentatum Nutt.). Thesis. Utah State University. Rupp, L.A., W. A. Varga, and D. Anderson. 2010. Selection and Vegetative Propagation of Native Woody Plants for Water-Wise Landscaping. Proceedings of the 16th Wildand Shrub Symposium. May 2010, Utah State University. (in press) Rupp, L.A. and W. A. Varga. 2010. Locating, Documenting, and Collecting Clones of Native Utah Plants. Annual Report to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. Rupp, L.A. and D. Anderson. 2010. Propagating Superior Clones of Native Utah Plants for Use in the Landscape Industry. Annual Report to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. Stevens, M.R., B. Geary, S.R. Broderick, B.J. Ewell, R.B. Dockter, M.A. Mendenhall, S.L. Daley, J.D. Daley, T.J. Mock and S.L. Love. 2009. Understanding Penstemon diversity in an effort to initiate a breeding program within the genus for urban landscapes of the Intermountain West. Report of the Native Plants Cooperative 1:4-6. Stott, L., L. Rew, and T.A.O. Dougher. 2010. Native Multispecies Sod: An Alternative Rehabilitation Method for Disturbed Lands. Restoration Ecology. 18(5):742. WERA 1013 website www.uwyo.edu/wera1013