- Sadly, we have lost another upstate ny green industry icon. As those who knew him probably have heard, Dick Oakleaf died last week. Here is a link to his obituary.
- Via @13WHAM: Freshwise Farms, a project of Rochester’s Foodlink, has shut down.
- At every garden show, there is an “it” item it seems no one can leave without. Special dog hair brooms? Pussy willows? Shepherd’s crooks? At CNY in Bloom this year there was a refreshing new must-have item: hellebores! Yes, an actual plant. Green’s Garden & Nursery filled their whole booth with nothing but, and they were a runaway hit. According to Allan Armitage, (and Dave Green, apparently) the time is right for a hellebore revolution, in fact.
Loved this image in the Democrat and Chronicle earlier this week. Check out Dowd’s blog here.
Winter Aconite, George Eastman House, Rochester, by Shawn Dowd
- America in Bloom is considering a consumer Facebook photo contest with retailer involvement. (Via Grower Talks.)
- “Is YouTube worth my time and effort?” If you have asked yourself this question, read this piece in Green Profit from Danielle Ernest at Proven Winners. YouTube is a social media outlet that requires a lot of time and maintenance. If you enjoy it and/or you are a larger company, my take would be, yes it is. For a smaller retailer trying to navigate a large social media world? Maybe less of a priority.
- Also from Green Profit, Bill McCurry on decision fatigue in retail. Simply put, our brains can only make so many decisions in any given time period, and when those decisions are used up (and if we don’t refuel with glucose and/or rest), we have a tendency to simply walk away—to not make a decision at all. There is a lot more written on this and related matters, including the new book “Willpower” by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney, worth checking out. Here is a New York Times article by one of the authors.
- Green Profit just full of good stuff! Last link from them: Ellen Wells’s latest Buzz e-newsletter talks about Pinterest (and are you on Pinterest?), and combatting a practice known as “showrooming,” wherein customers browse in your store but buy online for less, often with the help of smart phones and bar- or QR-code scanning apps.
- The Plantasia show is hosting a cool contest this year: The Great Garden Grab. Contestants enter in advance, and at the end of the show have four minutes (it’s sponsored by Buffalo’s Channel 4) to “grab” as much as they can of a variety of selected items.
- In Rochester, flowers are now a Community Supported Agriculture option. (Via the D and C.)
- A landscape architect wants to put the “forest” back in Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery. Also, there is a movement to restore the six-lane Kensington Expressway back to its original form, Humbolt Parkway, which instead boasted six rows of fully-grown trees, a component of Olmsted’s “emerald necklace” park system. The project, if carried out the way it’s envisioned, could cost 465 million dollars. Here’s the scoop, plus seven pages of commentary. Both stories are from the Buffalo News.
- From American Nurseryman, a handy PDF guide to ash alternatives.
- Bizarre and sad: via @chris_heiler and @lawnlandscape: “Florida’s Oldest Tree Burned Down By Woman Smoking Meth Beneath It.”
An interesting chart of vegetable flavor families via @batesnursery:
Vegetable Flavor Families
- This is great news (from the AHS website): “The AHS has received a $30,000 grant from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust to help fund the digitization of the Society’s historic archive of periodicals, which spans nearly 90 years.This project will enable the AHS to make the full contents of every issue available online, and best of all, searchable.” And speaking of which, it appears that anyone, even non-members, can read The American Gardener online. Still, it’s cheap and worthwhile to become a member—and get the print version.
- If you are a local pro gardener or master or seasoned amateur and want to lead tours at GardenScape, email [email protected].
- Green Drinks Rochester is this Thursday at Stantec. Details are here.
Thanks so much for reading!
—Jane
Another informative blog!
I’ve added hellebores to my garden over the last few years. I find the “must haves” at the Philadelphia Flower Show. This year I bought Pink Frost and Emma. They’re beautiful!
With regards to social media, did you hear about HGTV at SXSW?
Hi Donna! Thank you.
Um…I guess I have not. I mean, I know HGTV is coming out with a plant line, but haven’t heard anything about SXSW. Curious. What’s the scoop?