Mid-Atlantic Grower columns

GARDEN TALK

Let it rain!

By CAROL KINSLEY (September 2010)

I'm sure anyone who attended the Maryland Greenhouse Growers summer conference at The Perennial Farm in Glen Arm is now convinced I'm nuts, and I can't blame them.
At a Chesapeake Green silent auction some time ago, I purchased a gift certificate from Perennial Farm worth $200, which I had not had the opportunity to use. The summer meeting would be the perfect chance. I asked my husband John to go to help me pick out plants.
We didn't get there as early as I had planned, so I arranged to gather my selections during the nursery tour later in the afternoon. Then rain clouds threatened. When it started raining, I was invited to go ahead and get my plants. We could easily skip the throwing competition Stanton Gill had arranged, we decided. We were allowed to take our car into the growing area and stash plants inside.
As I hurried inside one of the tunnels, I remarked to my husband, "It's raining inside!" The covering wasn't solid plastic. We were going to get wet.
The rain came down harder as we moved from house to house. I had to keep changing the papers on which I was writing the number of which kind of plants we selected, because the paper kept getting so wet I couldn't write on it.
I had made a careful list beforehand of what I wanted and what I thought we could afford, but by this point, I was going to be satisfied with whatever made it into the car. John kept insisting we could cram in one more plant. Finally, I insisted, "That's enough!" and we drove to the office to tally our purchase.
I happily paid for the extra $100 worth of plants we'd chosen, redeemed my certificate, and we returned to the meeting. I was drenched.
Fortunately, the rain had changed the schedule somewhat, and most of the other conference participants had eaten dinner and were off to tour the nursery, as it had finally stopped raining. Maybe they didn't notice how wet we were. We helped ourselves to barbecue and drip-dried a little before heading home.
I don't know who won the tossing contest, or which prize-bearing turtle was the fastest, but so far as I'm concerned, I came out the big winner that day. My new plants are beautiful!
I was really impressed with the customer service efforts of The Perennial Farm, even though they knew I was not a landscaper or re-seller who would become a regular customer.

 

Q&A

Use of social media

By Sylvia Hoehns Wright, Communications Specialist, The Wright Scoop (September 2010)

Did you know Social Networking websites continue to gain media market share? Facebook recently announced it has reached over 400 million worldwide users and Twitter is following right behind reaching a benchmark of 50 million tweets per day. Together, Facebook and Twitter boast triple-digit growth in 2009 and presently account for 11 percent of all consumer time spent online.
User accounts have experienced significant growth, as has consumer time spent surfing social networking sites. In fact, a report from the Nielsen Company indicates a huge increase of 82 percent. This research concludes overall social media sites such as Facebook are the more common user homepage and people now spend the majority of their Internet time either using a form of social network or blog. So, the question is, “In relation to use of social media as a marketing or public relations tool, what is your level of participation?”
Believe it or not, during a volunteer “green” advocacy activity, its leadership mandated that formats of social media could not be used to communicate their activity. Yes, you read the prior sentence correctly. Not only is this industry sector failing to adequately communicate its presence, it has mandated its failure to accept viable present-day communications, social media.
On the contrary, let me share the success story of my colleague Kathy Jentz, editor & publisher for Washington Gardener magazine. I first met Kathy through the National Garden Writers Association. Since start up of her publication, I’ve contributed columns and features and, recently, participated in her fifth anniversary celebration. So, I’ve watched Kathy transform an idea into a viable media business. As a result, the story of Kathy’s start up business is being featured by Magazine Launch (www.magazinelaunch.com/case-studies/washington-gardener-magazine-case-study). This case study reveals tips and strategies for the implementation of successful print, online newsletter, blog and other forms of social media usage. As additional proof of her success, a “google search” reveals more than 137,000 web links exist, supporting the concept that all forms of web activities including social media are viable formats of communication.    
Nevertheless, there are people and organizations that continue to fear usage of online formats. To be candid, as in any form of media whether paper or electronic, there are privacy issues. So,
Don’t use a weak password. A good technique is to insert numbers within alpha characters;
Don’t except under secure circumstances provide your full birth date and/or credit card number;
Limit access to private information to a select few;
Specific to children, don’t include identifying name and/or home location;
Don’t mention when you will not be home;
Specific to Facebook, establish a secure personal home page and then, create groups that are used to advertise your professional, civic and/or business activities.
In other words, apply the same caution applied in any other area of personal/business communications.  
Having discussed the “don’ts” of social media formats, why participate? To simply state the obvious — it works! So, separate personal from professional or special interests. For example, I maintain a personal Facebook page and through this activity have acquired numerous “friends” who share common interests. I also maintain my professional business group, The Wright Scoop; a community special interest group, Laurel Historic District Virginia; a professional networking group, Richmond Women’s Network; and a cultural arts group, the National League of American Pen Women. As illustrated by my activities, use of social media is an array of opportunity.
So, where are you in your level of present-day media format participation? Are you refusing to “get with the program” or are you striving for all-star status like my colleague Kathy?  Related to personal exploration, are you prodding along at the rate of a prior era or pacing at the rate of a World Wide Web globe traveler?
To share comments, ideas or strategies related to this subject or other communication topics, contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Together, let’s create a series of column topics that are helpful to the Industry.

About the author – Sylvia Hoehns Wright, author of The ABCs of Green Industry Communications: assess, brand & communicate, http://www.lulu.com/content/6083320, challenges all to “grow green their market share.” For details of Wright’s activities, see www.TheWrightScoop.com or contact her at 804-672-6007.