Another Tuesday has arrived, FutureScape is a mere 15 days away and hopes of an Indian summer have long faded.

So while rain lashes down and I’m regretting not having a stable rain mac, let us look longingly abroad.

First of all we head over to the USA and a merger involving artificial intelligence…

Expansion for ScottsMiracle-Gro

The ScottsMiracle-Gro Company and Google Cloud today announced a new collaboration to help transform its customer experience using generative AI.

As part of the partnership, ScottsMiracle-Gro introduced an AI agent built on Google Cloud Vertex AI which functions as a ‘gardening sommelier’ and provides highly tailored gardening advice and product recommendations.

It is currently being tested in an internal pilot program, but there are plans to roll it out to its team of field sales associates next month.

The company intends to introduce the app directly to consumers through a variety of channels at a later date, after further development.

“At ScottsMiracle-Gro, we want to offer our retail partners and consumers the best lawn and garden products coupled with the best advice,” says Emily Wahl, vice president, information technology, ScottsMiracle-Gro.

“Google’s powerful gen AI solutions provide us with an incredible opportunity to reinvent how people engage with our brands and learn about our products.

“In short, Google Cloud delivers a real competitive advantage for us.”

Now we head back to Europe and Italy in particular, where Kubota have been welcoming people in from the rain.

Open door delights despite downpour

Kubota Gianni Ferrari opened the doors to its facility in Reggiolo, Italy for members of the press.

With the experience and support of Kubota globally, it allowed the company to show off how it has embraced the best of the Japanese Kaizen approach to processes and manufacturing, which was evident in the slick and streamlined approach to production visible during the factory tour.

The press were also able to learn more about the current and ongoing developments within the product range such as the ‘conversion’ of the PG XPRO into the Kubota FC3-261, and the FC4-501 which has become one of the most powerful and comfortable mowers on the market.

While the unprecedented rainfall from Storm Boris ended hopes of seeing the range in action, spirits were not dampened as everyone enjoyed gaining an insight into the approach as well as and the company ethos from speakers including Kosuke Ota, vice president of Kubota Gianni Ferrari.

Further presentations were also delivered by Henry Bredin, general manager and Matt Wilson, groundcare product manager, of Kubota (UK).

Wilson says: “All of us at Kubota are incredibly excited about the bright future we have with the FC range.

“We’d like to extend a massive thank you to the team in Italy for being such fantastic hosts, and to all of those who attended.”

Anyway, now we head to Philippines for what is comfortably the most eyebrow-raising story of the bunch.

Nature reserve entrenched in misinformation battle

Masungi Georeserve is fighting off a series of attacks upon it, which are aiming to spread misinformation about the reserve.

It has gained international attention for its efforts to fight climate change, but faces pressure closer to home through illegal loggers, land grabbers, and quarrying companies.

Speaking to the BBC, Billie Dumaliang from the Masungi Georeserve Foundation says: “We’ve seen misleading information, trying to manufacture dissent against work that we do as environment defenders.”

The accounts were on Facebook, which were taken down following enquiries made by the BBC about them, and all defended a recent government proposal and criticised those who spoke critically of the proposed policy.

The proposal was from The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which suggested cancelling the 2017 contract which gave the Masungi Georeserve Foundation control over the majority of the lands for reforestation purposes.

Back to America now, where a horticultural conservatory has discovered a lifeline.

Domes no longer doomed as plan emerges

The Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory in Milwaukee, known as the Domes, had faced an uncertain future, with demolition even being mooted, yet a new plan seems to have saved it.

A partnership agreement between Milwaukee County and Friends of the Domes will provide the care for them and ensure their survival. This would include renovation works on the Domes and expanding the visitor experience.

The total cost for the project is estimated to be $134 million, and sources for that money include an investment from Milwaukee County of about $30 million, which is proposed as allocations $5 million over six years among other sources including private philanthropy.

It is evident the county itself does not want the Domes to go, as it would assist with nominating them for the National Register of Historic Places, which in turn would allow them to claim historic tax credits.

It is also estimated that any demolition would be costly, as high as $11.4 million.

Now for the quirky end to the look around, whereby we look at a contest surrounding tile whipping.

Wippen up a greener society

The fourth annual Tegelwippen contest has entered its final month, where the Dutch are encouraged to remove tiles and put in plants and greenery instead.

Literally translated as ‘tile whipping’ members of the public can submit pictures of their work to win the title of ‘Whipper of the Month’, with an overall winner announced at the end of October.

During this time, local authorities will remove any tiles for free and so far the initiative has seen 11 million tiles removed.

The light-hearted contest has even seen the emergence of a lot of ‘facade gardens’ where by tiles surrounding a home and next to the street are removed and a very small garden installed.

These in turn have practical benefits, helping with water run off and keeping homes cool in the heat.