valentines flowers 2012 - 2012 Workers Comp Rates for the Florida Landscaping Industry

ORLANDO, Fla (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Effective January 1, 2012, Florida workers' compensation policies will use new rates for businesses in the landscaping industry. For the second consecutive year, the new rates are higher for landscapers, tree trimmers, and lawn care companies. If your business is experiencing higher insurance premiums, contact the insurance professionals at BearWise Landscapers for comparative quotes and cost saving measures.

Businesses in the landscaping industry primarily use the following classification codes to compute the workers comp premium associated with the payroll of their employees. The new rates are listed with each classification code.

9102 Class Code (rate:4.11) - This classification code is assigned to employees that maintain lawns and gardens. This is your standard landscape maintenance and lawn care classification and it is used by most businesses in the landscaping industry to rate their workers' compensation premiums. It is officially titled 'Parks NOC' and the 2011 rate for it was 3.47 percent. This new rate results in an 18% premium increase over that 2011 rate. Visit the BearWise Landscapers website for more information about class code 9102.

0042 Class Code (rate:7.48) - This classification is applied to employees that are involved in the installation of landscapes. These landscaping operations involve laying sod, planting trees, shrubs, and valentines flowers 2012, and general gardening activities. This classification cannot be used in Florida with employees classified as 9102 unless the operations are conducted by separate work crews. The rate in 2011 was 7.14 and this link provides information on using class codes 0042 and 9102 on the same policy.

0106 Class Code (rate:16.11) - This classification code is used for tree trimmers and specifically it is used for those employees or businesses whose operations involve leaving the ground to trim trees. When ladders, bucket trucks, and any other equipment assists employees to get their feet off the ground to prune or trim trees, then this classification is applied instead of the previous landscaping class codes. It also includes the chipping and cleanup activities associated with tree trimming. The 2011 rate was 14.62 percent.

5183 Class Code (rate:5.31) - This classification code is applied to employees of landscaping businesses that engage in the installation or repair of underground lawn sprinkler systems. The rate in 2011 was 4.82 percent.

0005 Class Code (rate:4.99) - This classification is applied to employees that operate a landscape nursery, and the 2011 rate was 4.60 percent.

8810 Class Code (rate:0.27) - 8810 is applied to the clerical office employees of landscaping businesses that do not engage in landscape services. The 2011 rate for this class code was 0.25 percent.

8742 Class Code (rate:0.53) - This classification is used for salespeople employed by landscape companies. These employees also may not engage in landscape services to be rated in this lower classification. The 2011 rate was 0.49 percent.

The workers' compensation rates will be applied to all new and renewal policies that are issued January 1st, 2012 and later. The previous rates will be used on current policies until a renewal policy is issued. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) is the ratemaking organization that files workers' compensation rates for all carriers in Florida.

For more information regarding workers' compensation insurance or the other unique insurance needs of businesses in the landscaping industry, please contact BearWise Landscapers. There are many other factors that impact the final workers' compensation premium of a business, such as claims history (experience modification factor), dividend plans, deductibles, limits of insurance, and others. If your landscaping business is interested in receiving comparative insurance quotes on your workers comp renewal or other insurance products, please call Drew Roberts, CPCU, ARM at 866-296-2327 or complete the short online quote request form at www.BearWiseLandscapers.com .

About Black Bear Insurance Agency, Inc.

Black Bear Insurance Agency is located north of Orlando in Longwood, Florida. As an independent agency, the insurance agents at Black Bear have access to multiple insurance carriers. The agency specializes in handling commercial insurance programs for Florida businesses and develops specialized programs for specific groups of business, such as the landscaping industry. For more information, visit www.BlackBearAgency.com .

About BearWise Landscapers valentines flowers 2012

BearWise Landscapers is a division of Black Bear Insurance Agency. The insurance agents at BearWise Landscapers specialize in the unique insurance needs of lawn maintenance, tree trimming, and landscape installation businesses in Florida. For more information and for comparative insurance quotes,

SOURCE: BearWise Landscapers



     
        Black Bear Insurance Agency, BearWise Landscapers Division
        Drew Roberts, 407-774-2327 Ext. 3917
        or
        Dawn Bennett, 407-774-2327 Ext. 3852
     


Copyright Business Wire 2011

valentines flowers 2012 - Cal Poly volunteers working to complete flower decoration on 2012 Rose Parade Float

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, in conjunction with Cal Poly Pomona, will have a float in the parade again this year, titled "To the Rescue!"

Wednesday, KSBY caught up with organizers who have been working around the clock since Monday to gluevalentines flowers 2012 on the float.

Cal Poly has taken home awards for the past three years and the team hopes this year is no different. Volunteers are trying out some groundbreaking techniques, like whole wheat kitty litter for texture on the skyscraper, brown rice and flour comic murals, even cranberry annatto bricks for the train station.

"I'd say we're about 30 percent done with the float, and it's day three, so I think we're on schedule," said Kathryn Bohn, one of the float chairs.

"Ask again in a few days and I will let you know," chuckled Paulina Trujillo, another float chair.

The float will also be certified "California Grown," meaning 85 percent of the decorations come from California. And like in years past, some valentines flowers 2012 are even grown at Cal Poly.

valentines flowers 2012 - Additional gifts to give out

Santa Claus is exhausted. He was extraordinarily busy Saturday night and early this morning delivering gifts near and far. So, he's kicking back today with some green tea and has his feet up.

You all know if you were naughty or nice and the rest of us here at the Pole are hoping all is well.

But there's a second list laying around here for local sports fans. Some of what is requested is too big to fit in the sleigh, so the union members here are trying to dole things out as 2012 goes on.

For Berkshire County football fans, we see on the list not one, but two turf football facilities.

The long-planned renovations to Weston Field at Williams College have been on Santa's list for a long time.

It keeps getting pushed back on Santa's to-do list, and that seems to put head coach Aaron Kelton's football team a bit behind the 8-ball. Practice this past fall was interesting as the team kept hopping from field to field after the practice field was flooded in the wake of the Hurricane.

A nice turf field, new track, lights and seating will keep the Ephs in the thick of things in NESCAC. The football team will have a field to practice and play on, and it could be used for a neutral site Berkshire County championship game.

Speaking of Berkshire County sites, this new request for a turf football, soccer, lacrosse field in Pittsfield just caught our eyes.

An idea whose time has more than come,

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such a facility would allow the three city high schools to play on turf, along with soccer and lacrosse teams. It would also keep Berkshire County football playoff teams from traveling to places like Orange just to participate in a first-round tournament game.
On the subject of lacrosse, there was something on the second list about the Berkshire County League being out-of-the-box successful in year one.

Santa told us that getting the league organized and operational was a huge gift to the lacrosse players of the county.

For our friends in the Baseball Writers Association of America, you've already received your gift in new Red Sox manager valentines flowers 2012.

Valentine will be the gift that keeps on giving. He has never met a microphone or digital recorder that he doesn't like. Bobby V may not be everyone's cup of tea, especially after Terry Francona, but he will never be boring.

Buckle your seatbelts at Fenway Park my friends, it's going to be a very interesting ride this summer.

University of Massachusetts basketball coach Derek Kellogg has received an early gift in a 10-3 pre-Christmas record. This past week's win over Davidson at home, days after Davidson beat Kansas, ranks as the most impressive win of the 2011-12 season. Beating winless Towson doesn't cut it for Santa.

With 17 regular-season games left, if Kellogg's Minutemen can basically play 1-over .500 basketball the rest of the way and not blow out in the Atlantic 10 tournament, a second gift will be coming UMass' way in the form of Kellogg's first postseason tournament bid.

Santa wasn't sure if it would be an NCAA or NIT bid. If the team does what it is supposed to do, one of them will be in a March gift box.

It's time for the hardworking members of Santa's troupe to take a break, so I'll be back in this spot in two weeks.

And for all of you, we hope you have a most joyous valentines flowers 2012 season and a Happy New Year.

Valentines Flowers 2012 - New, field-tested plants set for release in 2012

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Tidings of "new and improved, drought-tolerant, easy-maintenance, high-yield, long-blooming, and foolproof plants" arrive in my inbox from all parts of the country. But experience taught me long ago to focus on plants that are field-tested for several years in local conditions before being released to the retail market.

Lucky for us, two of our most esteemed local growers are happy to share their glad tidings about the new plants they've been developing locally for release in 2012.

Denny Werner - former director of the JC Raulston Arboretum and now a professor at N.C. State University, researcher and breeder of perennials, woody ornamentals and peach trees - said that his newest butterfly bushes will be in retail stores this spring.

Fans of Werner's "Blue Chip" butterfly bush, released a couple of years ago, will have the opportunity to attract even more precious pollinators by planting his latest buddleja (the proper spelling of what I've been calling buddleia all these years). Look for "Ice Chip" with its low, spreading growth habit and snowy valentines flowers 2012, "Miss Molly" with dense growth and rosy flowers, and "Purple Haze" with long, pendulous flowers in a dusky lavender.

Werner is also responsible for two luscious new redbud trees. "Merlot" has wine-colored, heart-shaped leaves and "Ruby Falls" has similarly colored leaves and a weeping form reminiscent of Merlot spilling down a tower of wine goblets.

Tony Avent, avid plant collector, breeder and owner of Plant Delights Nursery in Juniper Level, recommends several new perennials:

 A native pokeberry or Phytolacca americana called "Sunny Side Up," which has red stalks, bright yellow leaves and purple summer berries, reaches about 5 to 6 feet tall and does best in full sun.

 For elephant ear aficionados, there's Colocasia esculenta "Black Coral." A showstopper, it has glossy black leaves and forms a clump about 4 feet high.

 A new selection of Agave lophantha called "Splendida" would be a great addition to rock gardens, as it forms a foot tall by 20-inch wide rosette of green leaves with a wide, central yellow stripe.

 Two Epimediums: "Pretty in Pink," which has mottled red and green foliage topped with sprays of bicolored valentines flowers 2012 in the spring, and "Sunny and Share" with small green leaves flecked with bronze and short flower spikes laden with small yellow bells. Avent said "Sunny and Share" begins flowering in early April and continues through midsummer, making it the longest-flowering epimedium he grows. It tops out at about 14 inches and forms a 4-foot wide, thick evergreen patch in about five years.

 A beautiful new Baptisia called "Dutch Chocolate" has rich, chocolaty purple blooms. And, a native to the Florida panhandle, Clinopodium coccineum "Amber Blush," which has adapted well to our climate, forms a clump of woody stems with narrow green leaves topped in late summer with tubular yellow flowers blushed with orange. A highly mottled cast iron plant that doubles as a houseplant north of hardiness zone 7b called Aspidistra elatior "Spek-tacular" surprisingly produces eerie-looking deep pink flowers.

When in doubt about new plant introductions, stick with ones developed through local research and development. And don't forget that expert advice is available at your nearest locally owned garden center. Just ask for the resident horticulture professional.

Happy gardening in the new year!

Stein: moonstepper@juno.com