Jury Duty & the Small Business Owner

What a week it’s been. Whew!

Many apologies for this abbreviated version and it’s tardiness. I promise, I’ve truly got an amazing excuse.

This has to have been one of the busiest weeks I’ve experienced in a long time. I’m always busy, so when I say busy, I mean impossibly busy.

Monday, I met with one of the owners of AB-Cultivars from The Netherlands. It was a daylong meeting, but we discussed the future of the AB-Cultivars selections and got a sneak peak at the new seedling selections of coneflower hybrids that bloomed late in 2009. Luckily, I’ll get to see these in person when I tour the breeding fields at their place in late June.

Tuesday morning I jetted off to Chicago to visit some growers who have exciting new shrubs for me to evaluate and to have a quick visit with Richard Hawke, Plant Evaluation Manager and Dr. Jim Ault, Plant Introduction Manager and perennial breeder at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Forty hours and hundreds of miles in the car later and I was home in time for my next adventure, the one that ruined my week and looks to ruin this week as well.

Jury duty…

I was selected to serve in Baltimore City on a murder trial jury. That’s right, a horticulturist with more things on the to do list this month than most people accomplish in many months, was chosen to be a juror.

No rest, and no break for the small business owner living in the city.

It completely rocked my world and has forced just about everything to a halt for at least the next two days, possibly three. No phone, no texting, no email, no nothing from 8 to 12:30 and then again from 1:15 to 5 or 5:30. I have about one hour at lunch to do 8 hours work – that is until I get home, hence the reason this is coming to you just before the midnight hour.

As you can see, life is really busy and jury duty has made it even worse, but I wanted to encourage you all to go the ANLA Knowledge Center website and vote in the FINAL round of Garden Idol.

Our very own Echinacea purpurea ‘Milkshake’ is the one and ONLY perennial in the final round. So…please vote and pass this along to all of your colleagues and friends so they can vote too. If we win, we’ll get $5000 worth of free advertising and what new plant can’t use a little free advertising.

Thanks in advance for your vote. Voting opens tomorrow morning.

I’m looking forward to finishing this damn trial mid-week and getting back to the business of new plants… and ranting!

Happy weeding and good night.

Angela Treadwell-Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau