Get to know Jaclyn Workentine

Photo courtesy of
Walters Gardens

NM: How did you get started in the horticulture industry?

JW: Growing up I always loved all aspects of biology. When it came time to pick a major for college, I knew exactly what I wanted to study. I majored in biology with a minor in marine and freshwater sciences at Lake Superior State University. Originally, I was thinking I wanted to be a marine biologist, and I took my first botany class the same semester that I took ichthyology. I fell in love with plants that semester, so it became pretty clear to me that I wanted to work with plants for my career.

From there, I jumped at every opportunity I could to work in a greenhouse. I worked at the college greenhouse during the school year and the greenhouse owned by the city of Holland, Michigan during the summers. Then after I graduated, I started working at Walters Gardens. At Walters, I began my career as a scanner and processor, then worked my way up through line leader, quality control, grower tech, section grower and now up to lead grower.

NM: What do you do as lead grower at Walters Gardens?

JW: Currently I manage the finishing and holding areas for plug production as well as the internship program, the contract growers and shipping quality. I’m really passionate about quality control and ensuring that our customers get the best product that we can provide. As a grower, my job is pretty much centered around how to create and maintain exceptional products for our customers, and I try to carry those high standards of quality through everything I do at Walters Gardens.

NM: Can you elaborate on the quality control practices that you’ve established?

JW: I created a shipping quality technician position and trained that employee to look for different quality issues within shipping. Also, I do bi-weekly visits with our contract growers and basically run through all the crops they have and tell them different issues I’m seeing or different things that could be improved upon, as well as going through a lot of the different quality aspects with both of our Walters Gardens’ employees and our contract growers [so they] know what we expect to send out the door.

NM: How were you able to advance from grower technician to lead grower in under a year?

JW: I’d already had three years of experience with the company, and I wanted to get into a growing position. So, I actually applied for one and interviewed for one. I didn’t have any of the grower experience, so they started me as a grower technician, like a trial run essentially. From there I used all my past knowledge that I’ve had with the company, applied it to being a grower and added all those grower facets into what I already knew. So, I didn’t have to start completely from scratch, which I believe gave me a big leg up in being able to advance.

NM: What is your favorite part of your job?

JW: I really enjoy the people I work with. There’s so many different departments at Walters Gardens that everything pretty much feels like a collaboration. Everyone is always super helpful, and I’m never afraid to ask for clarification or additional information. I’m passionate about quality control, and I have that eye for detail and quite often finding quality issues feels almost like a “Where’s Waldo?” game. So, I love looking for anomalies.

NM: When you’re not working, what are some of your hobbies?

JW: I enjoy cooking, gardening, reading, crafting projects and then hanging out with friends and family. I am a certified floral designer, so I love creating floral arrangements – centerpieces for my house, arrangements for friends and family and even the occasional wedding bouquet. My husband and I have two dogs and we enjoy taking them on adventures to Lake Michigan where they can swim and play in the sand. I have a big perennial garden, which I feel like comes naturally from working at Walters Gardens (laughs), but my main focus for gardening would be fruits and vegetables. I love growing things that I can eat, and my dogs actually love it too. They’re always stealing strawberries from my patch.

For more: www.waltersgardens.com