|
383 Coal Hollow
Road
Christiansburg, VA 24073-6721
540-382-0943
1-800-476-0055
Fax: 540-382-2716
Email:
info@vnla.org
Website: www.vnla.org
For immediate release
PRESS RELEASE
 Plant Introduction Program Funded
The Virginia Nursery & Landscape
Association’s Horticultural Research Foundation (VNLA) has received a $271,000
grant from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization
Commission for a new Virginia Ornamental Plant Evaluation and Introduction
Program. Other partners in the program are Virginia Tech, Lewis Ginter Botanical
Gardens, the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research and the Norfolk
Botanical Gardens. The program will run for two years, ending in October 2006.
With matching funds and contributions, total project cost is estimated at over
$526,000.
The project will develop new and
under-used varieties of ornamental plants adapted to regional landscapes in
Virginia. The project will create production and marketing infrastructure and
research-based technical and educational information. The program is expected to
boost ornamental horticulture output in the tobacco regions of Virginia. It also
is expected to create new jobs and opportunities for agricultural entrepreneurs
and to provide profitable alternative agricultural businesses to tobacco
production. Expanded nursery production and increased sales in both the
wholesale and retail markets are anticipated.
The program will establish both
ornamental plant demonstration sites and propagation and production
research/demonstration sites. All sites are located in the tobacco growing
regions in Southside and Southwest Virginia. The sites are Southwest Virginia
AREC, Glade Spring, Washington
County; Reynold’s Homestead
FRRC, Critz, Patrick
County; Clayton Nature Study
Center of Lynchburg College in Bedford County; and the
Paul C. Edmunds, Jr. Memorial Garden in Halifax County. Local volunteer labor,
including teams of Master Gardeners will be used for many of the maintenance
tasks. Field days and other education programs will be targeted to community
leaders, homeowners, and prospective entrepreneurs.
The Virginia Ornamental Plant
Evaluation and Introduction Program has selected Dr. Rumen Conev as Director of
the program. Conev has extensive experience in horticulture with an emphasis on
introduction and evaluation of woody plants. He has developed 23 projects
related to plant introduction/evaluation in Canada, Bulgaria, Japan, Israel,
Switzerland, and Spain. He has over 20 years of experience in plant
introduction. Conev has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from the Agricultural
University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
As a research horticulturist,
Conev’s special interest is in germplasm evaluation, plant-environment
interactions with an emphasis on plant adaptation potential. In addition to his
academic and research qualifications, Conev has experience in providing
seminars, workshops, writing articles and organizing promotional events.
VNLA Executive Director Jeff Miller,
said “Conev is well qualified to direct the new program and brings many years of
experience in plant introduction to the project. We look forward to his
leadership on this new program that is so important to the Green Industry in
Virginia.” Conev will be located at
the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville.
The direct economic impacts of the
green industry in Virginia totaled more than $2 billion in 2002. The
landscape/nursery industry is the fastest growing agricultural industry in the
Commonwealth. With the Ornamental Plant
Evaluation and Introduction Program, industry leaders and their public and
private partners hope to increase the visibility and economic impact of
ornamental horticulture further in Virginia.
Virginia Nursery & Landscape
Association is a non-profit organization that serves and promotes Virginia’s
nursery and landscape industry and is the leading horticulture organization
within the Commonwealth’s agriculture community. Through its Horticulture
Research Foundation it funds $20-25,000 in research projects each year and
offers awards two college scholarships to Virginia college students. VNLA
publishes a 96-page bimonthly newsletter and an annual listing of growers in
Guide to Virginia Growers.
| 
