New Director for Cornell Plantations; Monarch population shrinking; more

Hello, all! Happy Friday to you.

Some sad news out of the Rochester area this week. We lost two green industry friends, Ralph Genrich and Mike McNulty, both unexpectedly and Mike on the job. The two will be missed by many. Please be careful!
Working away on the Upstate Gardeners’ Journal SPRING issue this week. Hit “reply” if you want to advertise or get more info here.
Really interesting piece from Slate: Farm vs. garden: The definition depends on whether you ask the USDA or the Waldorf Astoria.
If you have a minute (or six, to be more accurate), watch this slide show of winning images from the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition.
From Today’s Garden Center: Consumers: Luck, Not Knowledge Or Expertise, Determines If Plants Live Or Die. This is a tough one, because luck does play a role, but of course experience is key. Point is, we don’t want gardeners thinking that if they don’t succeed the first time around, they’re just not blessed with green thumbs.
At this point merely a curiosity, but I am sure there are applications down the road: Brilliant 3D Grass Printer Can Print a Garden in Any Shape You Can Imagine.

Ellen Wells from Green Profit was in Rochester for Ed Day and followed up with a little love for GFLNLA (and me…aww)! Thanks Ellen!
Speaking of the Fabulous Ms. Wells, Here’s a cool new e-newsletter from her company, Ball Horticulture: Welcome to Perennial Pulse.
Remember the zombie garden gnomes? Here they are in the snow.

I don’t really understand this article. He makes it sound like we no longer have forbs, and that the dainty mammoths ate only the flowers of said forbs, not the vegetative parts of the plants. Maybe you can make better sense of this. Woolly Mammoths’ Taste for Flowers Their Undoing? from NPR.
Cornell Plantations has a new Director, Christopher P Dunn, PhD. And he’s from Hawaii. This poor guy must be really questioning his sanity right about now, wouldn’t you say? Welcome, Dr. Dunn!

And we’ll end things with a couple of stories from the Times:
-Sad, scary, and all things bad: Migration of Monarch Butterflies Shrinks Again Under Inhospitable Conditions.
-And on a more cheerful note: Retailers will want to check out this story and slide show, Planters, Best Supporting Actors.