Q&A with Sam Rogers

Mid Georgia Nursery specializes in B&B trees and services landscape contractors, re-wholesalers and municipalities. The nursery is located in Meansville, Georgia, and ships trees to Atlanta, Florida, Texas, Ohio and New York.

NM: How did you get started in horticulture?

SR: Actually, my dad got a degree from the University of Georgia (UGA) in horticulture. He was a great role model, and I just wanted to follow in his footsteps. In my teenage years, I worked the Southern Nursery Association (SNA) tradeshow in Atlanta. I literally grew up not knowing anything else, except plants. It’s just what I love. Anybody that wants to get out in 90-degree heat with 40% humidity and still have a good time, you gotta be a little bit off (laughs), or when it’s 30 degrees outside with a nice breeze, but you’re loving life because you’re digging and shipping.

I think I was in fourth grade when I wrote a letter for school, and it said I want to be just like my dad when I grow up and go to trade shows and get seed packets and pencils and pens (laughs). My mom found that letter, and she put it in a frame. I've got it hanging in my office now. Both my brothers ended up in the industry and my mom as well, so it’s a family tradition. I worked for Pike Nurseries back in the ‘90s. Then I went to UGA for horticulture.

NM: Can you tell me about your time at UGA, and what was it like being a student of Dr. Michael Dirr?

SR: Vince Dooley would come into Dirr’s class and sit in the back because he was a big plant guy. It was neat, just being able to sit next to Vince Dooley and listen to Dirr talk about trees or cheeseburgers or cheese puffs because he loves those things (laughs). Dirr was fantastic. They say he wrote the bible of horticulture with his book, and I was fortunate enough to study under him. I sat in the same puke green colored chairs at UGA that my dad did.

NM: How did you get to Mid Georgia Nursery and what do you do there?

SR: Straight out of school I went to work for Bold Spring Nursery. Then in 2014 I started working at Mid Georgia Nursery. Originally, I was hired for sales, but now I manage anything outside the office – selecting what we grow, purchasing, production and sales. … We have a good group of guys working for us that I don’t have to micromanage. I can say plant the junipers and the Cedrus deodara on the high side of the field because they don’t like wet feet, and it gets done. I don’t have to specifically point to the spot in the field.

NM: What is your favorite part of the job?

SR: Well for me, it’s working with what God spoke into creation – working with trees. Really, this is the oldest profession in the world. God put Adam and Eve in the garden, and they were to tend it. That’s what I get to do every day, and it’s wonderful. To me, trees scream to the glory of God and his design. This is a thought I had in the deer stand one morning during hunting season, what happens if you take all the animals aways from the world? Everything dies. What happens if you take all the trees away? There’s no more oxygen; everything dies. What happens when you take all the water away? Everything dies. What happens when you take man away? Nothing, because we’re not meant for this world. We are meant for something greater. Sometimes I get to teach at church, and Romans 11:16-18 talks about grafting and how we were made in God’s image. In order for the root stock and the scion to graft each other, they have to be like plants. I can’t graft an oak on a pine tree. There’s no other way we could be grafted in unless we were made in his image. For me when I read the Bible, I see trees and gardening everywhere. So, that’s why I say I get to work in the oldest profession, and it’s fantastic. There’s two things I can talk about a lot – God and trees. When you put those two together, watch out (laughs).

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

SR: Well, I have a greenhouse in my backyard, so I tinker with plants at the house. I like hiking, getting on a river kayaking or canoeing, playing with my kids. Of course, they’re getting older now, and actually it’s wonderful. My oldest daughter works with me part time. I’m teaching her propagation. At the nursery, we try to propagate about half of what we grow.

For more: www.midgeorgiansy.com