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NEWS on the GROW

November 11, 2003
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AIB Announces Winners

The Second Annual America in Bloom (AIB) Symposium and
Awards Program brought people from all over the country to see which communities
are actually the most beautiful. The event was held September 18-20 in Chicago,
Ill. -- last year's largest population winner and this year's Nations in Bloom
contest winner -- hosted by the city of Chicago and the Chicago Park District.

The event started off with a reception at the new Millennium
Park in downtown Chicago and continued the next day with a keynote speech from
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. There were a number of workshops offering ideas
and solutions for attendees to take home and implement in their communities, as
well as a speech from Chicago television celebrity Bill Kurtis. Tours of many
Chicago-area nature venues followed, with the awards dinner closing the
successful event.

The winners in each population category are:

5,000 or less -- Lewes, Del.

5,001-10,000 -- Warwick, N.Y.

10,001-15,000 -- Brecksville, Ohio

15,001-20,000 -- Berea, Ohio

20,001-25,000 -- Batavia, Ill.

25,001-50,000 -- Lake Oswego, Ore.

50,001-100,000 -- Reston, Va.

100,001-300,000 -- Akron, Ohio

500,000-1,000,000 -- Indianapolis, Ind.

1,000,001 or greater -- Columbus, Ohio

There were also four special awards presented to communities
that received high scores in all population categories:

Ball Horticultural Floral Displays Award -- Lake Oswego, Ore.

Proven Winners Landscaped Areas Award -- Brecksville, Ohio

Communities in Bloom Community Involvement Award --
Indianapolis, Ind.

The Scotts Co. Turf & Groundcover Areas Award -- Glen
Ellyn, Ill.

Currently, plans are underway for the 2004 AIB contest. The
deadline for communities to register is March 31, 2004. For more information,
contact Laura Kunkle by phone at (614) 487-1117 or E-mail at [email protected] or
visit the AIB Web site www.americainbloom.org.

Zelenka Nursery Update

Zelenka Nursery's future was ensured after the sale of the
company's assets to the Bob Berry family of Oklahoma. The Berry family was the
successful bidder for all three Zelenka Nursery operations and was certified as
the new owner of the company on October 24, when the sale closed. The Berry
family outbid several other people in the process to help secure Zelenka's
future.

The Berry family currently owns and operates four other
nurseries including Tri-B, Park Hill and Sanders Nurseries in Oklahoma and
Judkins Nursery in Tennessee. The Berry family plans to continue operating the
nursery independently under the Zelenka name. Richard Brolick will remain CEO
of the Zelenka facilities.

The addition of Zelenka Nursery's Michigan, North Carolina
and Tennessee operations to the Berry nursery holdings is expected to create
one of the largest nursery operations in the country. With new ownership in
place, Zelenka Nursery will be able to continue providing the same high level
of quality products and services that its customers have become accustomed to
for Spring 2004 and beyond. Zelenka would like to thank its valued customers,
vendors and employees for their support during this challenging period of
Zelenka's history.

Queen of Containers Passes Away

Kathryn "Kathy" Pufahl, owner and president of
Beds and Borders, Inc., Laurel, N.Y., died Oct. 13, 2003 in Newport, R.I., from
a short battle with cancer. Kathy, 44, was known worldwide for her outstanding
container gardening designs as well as her promotion of gardening with unusual
plants. Her work appeared in a number of national consumer gardening magazines
that really made an impact on the way industry experts and the average consumer
look at gardening today. "Kathy recognized container gardening as a better
consumer package. Then, she taught the entire horticulture industry how to do
it," said Judy Sharpton of Growing Places Marketing, Atlanta, Ga.,
"Growers, garden centers and gardeners all over America have benefited
from her outsider's insight. And, like me, they benefited from her friendship.
Thank you Kathy."

"Kathy had a passion for plants, and she had a passion
for showing people how to use them," said Josh Schneider, director of
marketing for EuroAmerican Propagators, Bonsall, Calif. "She was a delight
to listen to, whether it was across the dinner table or with a room full of
growers. She understood that ideas have the power to change the world, and she
made the world change. She was passionate about everything she did, and her
passion was contagious. Just listening to the energy that burst from the room
at the end of one of her lectures was incredible. People who had heard her were
ready to go take on the world -- just like she did."

Beds and Borders, a wholesale grower of specialty plants,
was founded in 1988 in Riverhead, N.Y., with just a few small greenhouses, and
in 1997, Kathy moved to Laurel with 17 extra acres and more than 400 different
specialty plant varieties. "Kathy Pufahl started a small nursery 15 years
ago that seemed to go against all the received wisdom of the industry. She
refused to do the plants that needed to be done in cell packs and rejected the
cell pack mentality. She did only specialty annuals and tender perennials. She
made it a success," said Schneider.

Kathy was born December 17, 1958 in Long Island, N.Y., where
she graduated from high school in 1977 and met her husband, Kevin Cande. She
received her degree in biology in 1981 from Georgetown University and began a
journey into the horticulture industry. She has two children, Tyler and Torie
Cande, with whom she was actively involved in fundraising for juvenile
inflammatory bowel disease organizations. She loved to water-ski and served as
one of the first directors for the Ultimate Players Association for Ultimate
Frisbee.

"Her passion for our industry, her willingness to share
what made her successful and her ideas for the future will have a lasting
impact on horticulture. She was a great woman and a very dear friend. I will
miss her," ended Schneider.

New Professor at University of Florida

The University of Florida-Milton has added a new asset to
their list of esteemed faculty, Dr. James "Jamie" Gibson as assistant
professor, environmental horticulture. Gibson began his career at the
university October 1, with duties including researching production, fertility
management and plant growth regulation of stock plants, rooted cuttings and
finished floriculture crops. Gibson will also be instructing students in the
fields of nursery and greenhouse production and management.

Gibson received his bachelor's degree in Plant and Soil
Science from West Virginia University, Morgantown, W.Va., in 1996 and continued
on to North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C., where he received his
master's degree (2000) and Ph.D (2003) in horticulture and studied under Paul
Nelson and Brian Whipker. According to Whipker, "Jamie is an enthusiastic
and motivated person. His accomplishments in extension, teaching and research
while a student at NC State University were amazing. He will be an invaluable
asset to the students and growers of Florida."

"The area [University of Florida-Milton] is a good core
of professionalism and has excellent teaching programs, good students and great
facilities such as the greenhouses and the Milton Public Gardens for trailing
plants," said Gibson. "There is an art and science to ornamental
horticulture. It is a beautification of the environment. It is one of the best
businesses right now because people are so environmentally conscience, and helping
them realize that they can make of difference with plants is very
exciting," Gibson follows.

According to Rick Schoellhorn, floriculture extension
specialist at the University of Florida-Gainesville, "We are really pleased
to have Jamie on board at the University. Jamie comes from a very results based
and productive program at NC State. We're really looking forward to the
expansion of his research program, which will focus on the development of
production and management solutions for the ornamental plant industry."

Proven Winners Hits the Road

Despite a horrific traffic jam and one bad day of torrential
rain, Proven Winners' very first Proven Winners Roadshow was a success. The
three-day event took place on October 7 in the Boston area in Woburn, Mass.;
October 14 in the Chicago area in Bloomingdale, Ill.; and October 17 in Salt
Lake City, Utah.

"In the past we have mainly focused on retailers; now
we are wanting to focus more on growers," according to Marshall Dirks,
director of marketing and public relations for Proven Winners. "We want to
give them better tools to make it a premium product, to help the growers make
it look good."

The Roadshow was an all-day seminar that focused on the
grower in the morning and added retail into the mix in the afternoon. "We
wanted the retailers there to help prove to the growers all of the
opportunities the Proven Winners products have," Dirks added.

Each location started in the morning with an introduction of
all of the new Proven Winners varieties along with growing and selling tips.
After a short break, John Gaydos, director of promotions and product
development, talked to the group about the detailed growing information needed
to grow a premium Proven Winners plant.

After a nice lunch, attendees reconvened for a look at the
retail side of the Proven Winners products. Judy Sharpton, from Growing Places
Marketing, Atlanta, Ga., discussed "The Geography of Merchandising --
Knowing where to place products and POP in our store is the first step in
getting the customer to buy." This program allowed both retailers and
growers to learn about product placement, helping growers feel they can give
input on the placement of the plants for best exposure.

Dave Konsoer, director of national accounts, spoke about the
PW Certified Garden Center Program and explained all of the new POP materials
Proven Winners offers that makes its line even more appealing to the consumer.

The seminar ended with another interesting program from
Sharpton about "The Mannequin Technique -- We'll learn a
display/merchandising technique from mainstream retailing that can easily and
effectively be transferred to any garden center." style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

Overall, the event was a success, and Proven Winners staff
is in the process of planning similar events for growers and retailers next
year.  

-- Catherine Evans

Fred C. Glockner Foundation Announces Deadline

The Fred C. Glockner Foundation has chosen April 1, 2004 as
the deadline for the submission of grant proposals for research and educational
projects in floriculture, plant pathology, plant breeding, agricultural
economics, agricultural engineering, entomology and plant physiology related to
floriculture. These grants will be considered for universities, colleges and
federal research institutions in the United States.

Grant proposals approved by the board at the Fred C.
Glockner Foundation annual meeting in early June are paid in August. Since
1961, the Foundation has distributed more than $4,750,260 to institutions
nationwide.

Application forms and guidelines are available on the
Foundation Web site at www.glocknerfoundation.org or by calling (914) 698-2300.

Euro Opens Up

EuroAmerican Propagators opened the doors of its propagation
facility for its second annual open house, themed "Autumn In Bloom",
held September 26-27 in Bonsall, Calif. Touting a line-up of both retail and
grower-oriented speakers and a behind-the-scenes tour of production, the open
house attracted approximately 50 attendees each day.

Headlining the meeting was nationally-known merchandising
expert Judy Sharpton of Growing Places Marketing, Atlanta, Ga. Judy instructed
growers and retailers about her Mannequin Technique of merchandise placement
and display that increases customer/merchandise contact. Also included were a
representative of Nordstrom's talking about customer service and John Greenlea
on ornamental grasses. In addition to world-class speakers, great hospitality
and new varieties/culture discussions, Euro designated a two-hour block on
Saturday afternoon as an "open mic" session. Attendees were given a
forum to interact with Euro principles about future directions, current
troubles and industry issues.

Our thanks go out to Euro for being great hosts and for
coordinating a great event.

-- Bridget White