Plants Map; Trends; Jobs galore

Hi there!
I’m just (ok, it was last week) back from a NYSNLA board meeting at SUNY Cobleskill. The meeting was great, but the best part about the trip was dinner the night before with students from the Plant Science department. I got to know three different kids with three very different ideas about where they’re going in the green industry, and I hope to keep in touch with them all. This is a recent thing for NYSNLA, having meetings at colleges that offer horticulture and landscaping programs, and it’s been a great success. The next one is scheduled at NCCC during Plantasia.

• Big news from Chris Law at Oriental Garden Supply: After nine years as nursery manager there, he’ll be taking a sales position for the famed Iseli Nursery in Boring, Oregon. If you are not familiar with Iseli, a great way to get a feel for the plants they sell is to have a look at their calendar (their customers get print versions). It is simply stunning. Chris’s territory will include upstate NY, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and northern Virginia. He will continue to live in Rochester. Chris had this to say about the change: “Although I am eager to embrace my new home at Iseli, I have a very heavy heart about leaving OGS. It has been an amazing botanical experience. Especially the people, from the owner to the customers, they have become my best of friends. I will miss them on a daily basis, and wish them all continued success.” Of course, this means OGS will be looking for a new nursery manager. Details on that to follow.

• Here are seven more job openings: three at Regan Landscape and three at Woodstream, and Hort. Associates is looking for a bookkeeper.
• My pals Tracy and Bill Blevins (they were upstate New Yorkers for a while) have a really cool new business idea involving interactive plant tags called Plants Map. Rather than explain it all (I’m not even sure I can…) I’ll send you over to their site so you can read about it. Also, if you take this quick survey you’ll be entered in a drawing to win an iPad at the end of February! I took it and it really was painless.

• Here’s an interesting read: What America’s Forests Looked Like Before Europeans Arrived. Hint: less box elder. I hate box elder. And I can never look at them this time of year without remembering Michael Dirr’s observation that they look like they’re covered in dirty socks. I’m not a huge fan of box elder beetles, either. But did you know you can tap box elder (it is a maple, after all) for syrup? Photo courtesy Miles Away Farm. 

• Ready for some mind-blowingly awesome images? How about these Incredible Award-Winning Aquatic Designs Inspired By Nature? Yes. Just to be clear, you are looking at FISH here. 
  

• Here’s a great garden trends info graphic from the Garden Media Group. Print big, cut up, post around… (Click through for a full-sized version.)
  

Three from the New York Times: 

• “This year, Cartier has innovated once again, applying a new technique of floral marquetry to its watches.” Check out these images!

• Sex in the garden? Helen Yoest helps you get there, with her latest: Plants with Benefits. 
  
•  And Ann Raver’s beautiful story, “Where the Wild Things Are Now,” featuring one of my design heroes, W. Gary Smith. This is why we do what we do, all of us. 

Tagged as: aquaculture, garden media group, Green Profit, help wanted, New York Times, nysnla, SUNY Cobleskill