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Dear Gardening friend,
Each Friday I’ll opine on the all-mighty horticulture industry, add in a bit of pop-culture and most importantly, talk about what’s happening in the new plant world. I hope this will give you insight to issues in our industry and how Plants Nouveau is working to shape the way new plants are introduced – responsibly.
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Why The Weeding Gnome, you ask?
As a humble college intern, I weeded. I even weeded out plants that weren’t weeds (1st lesson learned the hard way). As the New Plant Coordinator for The Conard-Pyle Co., I weeded. I weeded out the best seedlings in fields that often contained 50,000 or more seedling roses. Then there were the hollies and other plants that we trialed. It was all weeding.
As a landscape designer, I weeded. I weeded out the folks who only wanted to spend $2000 on a foundation planting to cover the front of their $750K McMansion. Did I mention they wanted it all to be “maintenance free” as well? I kept the clients who actually wanted plants, but boy were they hard to find. Clients who wanted real plants were almost as hard to come by as a disease resistant rose for the Mid-Atlantic. They exist, you just have to have a good eye for spotting them.
My mentor, the late, great Dick Hutton (former President of The Conard-Pyle Co.) decided he was going to take me out into a field of 50,000 rose seedlings on a sunny June day and see what I saw. This was a test. I knew it was a test, but for what…I had no idea. He wanted to see what I saw. Didn’t ask any questions. Just asked me what I liked and why. He spotted and developed my good eye. He knew I could spot the good from the weeds.
Together with Jacques Ferare – our California counterpart (and a little help from a very good breeder), we saved Knock Out (and Double Knock Out) from being weeded out and it was introduced at a time when nothing like it existed. It certainly has been a fun ride for Conard-Pyle, this Knock Out thing. May many more be introduced and may they ride that wave for many years.
Without Dick, I wouldn’t be where I am today. For that, I thank you sir, from the bottom of my weeding heart.
While I worked at the US National Arboretum, I weeded. Literally. But that’s another story…
I dreamed of starting a company that introduced new plants (Plants Nouveau) without the constraints of the corporate world. I wanted to be responsible for what I introduced, making certain the plants would sustain and carry on without hurting the world for future generations. I wanted an innovative marketing program and to treat breeders and anyone else who finds a new plant like family, much like I learned at Conard-Pyle. I wanted to give them full credit for their introductions.
I aspired to be the fashionista of the new plant world, one who follows and then sets new trends in gardening. To grow them in my garden and see them every day, not just a few times a year. To live with them and know them so well that there’s no question for which I personally don’t know the answer and to be a company that truly trials the plants to their fullest extent.
If Jimmy Turner can’t kill it in an oppressive Dallas summer (or two), then I’m happy to say it is heat and humidity tolerant. If Debbie Lonnee at Bailey’s in Minnesota and Leonard Perry at the University of Vermont can’t kill them in the winter, then I’m happy to say they can tolerate a pretty darn cold winter. But that’s not enough – I want to trial the plants in as many places as I can to push their extremes.
I’m not afraid to tell a breeder his selection is crap – just ask anyone I work with. It’s all about honesty. If people can’t trust me, then the whole business model fails (at least in my mind).
Weeding… need I say more?
And what about gnomes? We’re a small company competing with giant corporations, so I find the word “gnome” to be quite apropo. I also adore and collect gnomes for my garden.
So, there it is…. The Weeding Gnome. We may be small but we live in the garden (sic) and unlike my college days we know how to recognize a weed from a Knock Out. This really sums up our focus on weeding and how important it is in plant introduction:
“People who spend a great deal of time in their gardens attest to the natural mindfulness that gardening requires. What could be more naturally mindful than weeding? It requires a great deal of sustained attention. Weeds need to be taken up with care: Pull too hard, and the weed breaks in your fingers, leaving the root to grow and spread. Different weeds need different techniques and, sometimes, tools. When we weed our gardens, we have to pay attention to where and how we walk and bend. Move too far in one direction or another, and we’ll squash growing things.” ~ Sura Lama Das, “Awakening to the Sacred”
I hope you’ll enjoy reading The Weeding Gnome as much as enjoy writing it.
Happy weeding,
Angela Treadwell-Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau
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