Behind the Scenes with Nursery Management magazine

One plant, two plants

As the father of a toddler, I’m quite familiar with the work of beloved children’s author (and possible medical practitioner) Dr. Seuss. Besides being responsible for many inventive rhyming couplets and memorable characters, Dr. Seuss’ admirable imagination has inspired horticulturalists, as well. The worlds he created in his books often featured plants growing in odd shapes and in amazing ways. Several botanical gardens have attempted to harness the surreal quality of Seuss’ dreamscapes.

Brian Ridder of Timber Press, a Portland, Ore. publisher of books on gardening, ornamental and edible horticulture, wrote a fantastic blog post about the idea of a “Dr. Seuss garden” featuring photos from Jake Hobson, a Brit who spent two years working in a Japanese nursery to learn their pruning techniques. Check the post out at Timber Press’ blog site: www.timberpress.com/blog.

It makes me want to pick up a copy of Hobson’s book, “The Art of Creative Pruning.” I would read it in the rain, and I would read it on a train…

— Matt McClellan

Taking it to the next level

Editor Kelli Rodda traveled to Nashville Jan. 31-Feb. 2 to attend Next Level (www.yournextlevel.org), the first event produced jointly by ANLA and OFA since the associations’ merger. This education-packed event was designed to help green-industry owners and managers boost their leadership and business skills. There was a pretty good mix of growers, retailers and landscape firms at this inaugural event. But, I’d like to see more nursery owners at next year’s event. Put it on your calendar – it’s worth the trip.

Some of the takeaways from this year’s Next Level:

• Honor your failures.

• Remember DAB: Drive where you want to go. Accept the results you get. Build the life you want.

• When measuring your company’s progress, make sure the measuring process and data is simple and graphable.

• Marketing is not an expense. When done right, it’s an investment with an obscene rate of return.

Look for more details from the presentations in upcoming issues.

— Kelli Rodda