From left , Lloyd and Candy Traven , Joe Lament
“ Why do you jazz what you do ? ” This was a question posed last month at the annual conference of the Eastern Region of theInternational Plant Propagators Societyin the Brandywine Valley , Pennsylvania . The elated answer came from Joe LaMent ( a fella whose name in no room fits his personality ) when he order , “ I ’m abstract on propagation . ”
Joe is a young professional who made his statement in a room full of former professional . ( I was far from the oldest in the room but middle - age no longer applies . ) Nurseries and glasshouse are despairing to raise untried natural endowment . It ’s a elusive byplay where few possessor force back fancy imports . Nobody is produce robust . ( The joke goes like this : “ How do you make a lowly fortune in the plant business ? Start with a bombastic chance . ” ) But a career in horticulture , and a passion for plant , does n’t intend you ’ll stop - up in the poorhouse . It might , however , take you places you had not imagined .
From left, Lloyd and Candy Traven, Joe Lament
The one-year meeting of the International Plant Propagators Society ( IPPS ) takes works madness in multiple directions . I was fascinated with a lecture on endogenous seed dormancy . ( The triploid endosperm , the female dominatrix of the industrial plant earthly concern , is an challenging biological turn - on , for instance . ) And propagators – male and female – could n’t blow over up the probability to see great garden . Among them : Longwood Gardens , Winterthur , Chanticleer , the Tyler Arboretum and the Morris Arboretum . Over 190 nursery folks — breeders , academics , plant life geeks and voice from botanical garden and botanic garden — didn’t want to overlook a instant of play .
Longwood Conservatory . picture by Allen Bush .
During a coffee break , on the first good morning of talks in the beautiful Longwood Gardens Conservatory , satiate with mums , tree ferns and yellow flowering kalanchoes , Sharee Solowwalked up to me . Sharee had a plan . She and Rita Randolph were heading off the next day on a tour of their own , to visit nurseries and private gardens . Sharee tried to dishonour me . “ you could do the DuPont Legacy Tour or you could hang with us . ”
Longwood Conservatory. Photo by Allen Bush.
It ’s a bit like going to Yankee Stadium to see Yogi Berra at the old - timers game . The DuPont homes , like Yogi , might be little long in the tooth , but they hark back nostalgically to a foregone era . Although noble homes and historical garden would n’t be a bad tour of duty option , Sharee ’s determined looking at interpret sternly otherwise : Do n’t be a dumb ass ! Sharee was behind the wheel the next morn when we headed northward up I-95 .
I prefer the solitude of my home garden , but I do like to meet other gardeners on their sward . It ’s not the same seeing photos of adorable garden and plants every day on Facebook or Garden Rant . There ’s no relief for the real thing .
Sharee live and garden near Philadelphia on a little spit of estate that is equal parts uncommon plant depositary and restrained refuge — that is , when the commuter train is n’t stray by , on the hillside above . Childhood memory and an former career may explain how she has learned to blend an eclectic mix of vines , dwarf coniferous tree , perennials and water plants in a small space . Before she wandered into the garden world , she was a theatre costumer in New York . horticulture finally caught her fancy , and a landscape architecture degree followed . Now Sharee has her own figure business and assists other garden pedagogue around Philadelphia , notably thePerennial Diva , Stephanie Cohen . Sharee lectures , as well . I eagerly anticipate try what she cooks up from her recent trip to North Viet Nam . The Medicinal Plant Display at Hanoi ’s Museum of Ethnology sounds particularly challenging .
From left, Rita Randolph, Anne Haines and Sharee Solow at Rare Find Nursery.
From left , Rita Randolph , Anne Haines and Sharee Solow at Rare Find Nursery .
Our other fellow traveler , Rita Randolph , is legendary for her unrivaled enthusiasm and triumphant laugh . The fun - loving , writer , lensman and 2ndgeneration greenhouse owner from Jackson , Tennessee , is also a gifted teacher and popular lecturer whose persuasive charm can turn a new gardener from diffident into devil - may - worry . Her flora combinations are profuse expressions of an Godhead will to have playfulness . She and her husband , Hamp McCall , are converting the beloved 65 - year - old retail Randolph ’s Greenhouses into a specialty mail - order nursery call Rita ’s Rare Plants that will be unveiled in outpouring of 2013 .
Sharee had vainglorious plan for the twenty-four hour period , but the schedule change within proceedings of our reaching atRareFind Nursery . Anne Haines met us , sized us up as sufficiently nutty , and piled us into a golf cart for a tour . We made frequent stops to praise plants . We lollygag longer at RareFind than we ’d wait . There are few American nurseries with such an extraordinary salable collection of tree and shrub . We were in a grove of rhododendron , witch hazelnut , dogwood tree and dwarf conifers . It was retiring lunchtime when we pull up stakes . The schedule was shot ; we headed back . We stopped at Sharee ’s Jenkintown , PA , garden , filled to the rim with fascinating plants surrounding the backyard pond and street side rock garden .
Michael Colibraro.
Michael Colibraro .
Then it was on to nurserymanMichael Colibraro’splace in nearby Willow Grove , just in metre for a glass of Querceto Chianti Classico Riserva 2001 . No one does garden hospitality like Michael . Stone trough , a pergola , sculptures and bamboo fencing are a few of his props , play along by rarified tree , shrubs , tropicals and perennials . I ’ve never see a bonsai collection so elegantly exhibit ( and it was n’t just that the lubricant of a second glassful of wine was kicking in ) . In less talented hands , all of this could easy be a jumble . But Michael is a landscape painting artist whose garden is handcraft with colorful and textural precision .
Back pathway in Colibraro garden . Photo by Rita Randolph .
Back pathway in Colibraro garden. Photo by Rita Randolph.
See picture and ravesby another booster of Michael ’s garden .
On the last day , Greenhouse diligence trailblazer , Lloyd Traven ofPeace Tree Farm , speak to the group discussion . Lloyd think way outside the nursery . He and his wife , Candy , have re - invented efficient and sustainable agency of greenhouse production for thirty years . And they have an intuitive talent for acquire a fascinating plant product stock as well as for agnise endowment . Lloyd distinguish me he hired the young Joe LaMent because of his motive and warmth . Joe started his vocation in an car body store but found it was as stifling as a concrete casket . He line up salvation . Joe squeal , “ plant produce felicity , a connection to nature . ”
My sidekicks know this heavy felicity and connection to nature all too well .
You ’ll need to crawl over me , if distance is limited , the next sentence Sharee and Rita plan another joyousness ride .
