Inspirational Color

Delilah Onofrey, an editor with Meister Media Worldwide, and a horticulture lover, was honored recently with “Best Use of Color” in the seventh annual Westlake In Bloom competition. With her family, she planted flower beds with lively color varieties such as petunia Easy Wave 'Blue,’ gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun,’ Disco marigolds, verbena ‘Aztec Red’ and purple perennial salvia for height.

Westlake, Ohio, was one of the first cities to participate in America In Bloom in 2002 and won its population category that year. The city enjoyed the program so much that it has grown its local program seven fold in seven years from 38 to 300 entries, including 224 raised flower beds.

The value of this vibrant program isn’t lost on anyone in the Westlake community including their mayor, Dennis Clough. “We knew Westlake In Bloom would be a great idea because so many in the community enjoy getting involved,” he said. “It has enhanced the quality of life we all enjoy in the city of Westlake.”

What an inspiring and creative way to brighten a community and garden. Congratulations to Delilah, her family, and Westlake, Ohio!

~Leslie

Greenhouse Grower Sports New Online Look

Greenhouse Grower, a much-admired Meister Media publication, recently upgraded its Web site to provide readers a fresh, user-friendly, and interactive news source on all things relevant to horticulturists, greenhouse growers, and members of the industry.

The new Web site contains many helpful features to assist garden centers, growers and other agribusiness professionals access the “Whats?”, “Hows?” and “Whys?” of the Green Industry - quickly and easily. The site includes:

· The latest news and trends in the greenhouse world

· Informative viewpoints from industry professionals, gathered and written by Delilah Onofrey, Sara Tambascio and others at Meister.

· Special reports section on topics like “Top 100 Growers” and sustainability

· “Ask the Experts” section where greenhouse and nursery professionals can interact with OHP experts

· An archive of articles providing the green industry a multitude of resource materials and information on many important and helpful topics of interest…including article contributions from our own Don Eberly and Jeff Collard.

Good job, Sara and Delilah…as always.

Check out the great new site at www.greenhousegrower.com

- Adam

Schmoozing with Raw Fish

Some of my absolute favorite (yes, it deserves the bold!) hours during our trip to OFA were spent in an adorable little sushi restaurant named Haiku where Eberly PR hosted a media dinner for a few of our clients and some of our favorite members of the industry media!

I’m telling you; it’s hard to go wrong when you combine awesome people with delicious food and a few drinks. :)

What a blast! We were able to enjoy a lovely evening with industry leaders such as Dan Heims, Ken Brown and Dave Doolittle from Terra Nova Nurseries, Bob Lovejoy from Horticultural Identification Products (HIP), and Tom Kegley and Kim Cameron from Novalis Plants that Work / Plants that Work by Color.

Several of our trade media friends also attended such as Delilah Onofrey, Kevin Yanik and Sue Distaulo from Meister Media Worldwide, Ellen Wells and Jen White from Ball Publishing, Paige Worthy, Jasmina Radjevic and Darhiana Mateo from Scranton Gillette, and Meshele Conley from Garden Design!

What I learned at dinner:

• We can all eat way, WAY too much food when we aren’t paying attention. I really don’t know where we fit it all.
• Sue, Don, Jen, and Jasmina don’t like to wait for their dessert! They went straight for the Key-lime martinis.
• Paige and Dan knew each other in a different life. Nothing else explains all the uncanny similarities!
• We know how to close down a restaurant!

And, remember everyone – this is an annual event, so keep your calendars open for next year! For those clients and media members who did not join us, we hope you can make it next time.

~Leslie

And, the Award Goes to…

Meister Media’s Medal of Excellence Awards event at OFA 2008 was its usual success…and very much the buzz of Short Course. After all, who wouldn’t have fun surrounded by the awesome folks from Meister and beautiful award-winning plants!?

First, I think the Meister folks deserve a big award for hosting the Medal of Excellence each year and being such tireless industry supporters! On behalf of EPR and our clients, many thanks to Delilah Onofrey, Sue Distaulo, Bob West, Richard Jones, Sara Tambascio, Ann-Marie Conroy, Laura Drotleff, Joe Monahan, Jeff Fenner and all the others from Meister…for always putting the rest of us first!

Second, there were several excited and well-deserving winners. Check out Meister’s “On Location at Short Course” blog to read about them and other people and happenings from OFA this year!

My personal favorite winner of this year’s award ceremony was the Reader’s Choice for Breeding, the new Rudbeckia ‘TigerEye’™ from Goldsmith Seeds. It is the first and only FI hybrid Rudbeckia with a never-before-seen uniformity on the bench and strength in the garden. Its long-lasting flowers are a rich yellow-gold featuring brown centers that will catch your own eye from a distance.

Some of its benefits include:

• Uniformity formerly unknown in Rudbeckia
• Excellent basal development
• Incredible PGR response
• Vigorous root development
• Dense flower canopy
• Reduced sensitivity to powdery mildew

‘TigerEye’™ offers retailers a compact habit and durable, eye-catching flowers…and is sure to be a hit for 2009.

Also, if you haven’t seen Goldsmith’s 2008-2009 catalog, check it out as soon as you can. The photography alone is enough to almost use it as a coffee table book, in addition to being a stylish sales and marketing tool. To learn more, log onto www.goldsmithseeds.com.

~ Don

Industry Blog, Sara's Green Space, Re-launched with New Format

Congrats to our friend Sara Tambascio, managing editor of Greenhouse Grower magazine (Meister Media publication) on the recent re-launching of her greenhouse industry blog, Sara's Green Space! We love the new format and are excited to keep up with Sara's industry news and insight through the blog. We're also looking forward to reading future posts, which will surely include her thoughts on various happenings and developments effecting the greenhouse-growing world. In the near future, we hope to have Sara featured as a guest blogger on MAAN to share her outlook on what's to come for and from the industry in 2008. In the meantime, be sure to check out Sara's Green Space for the latest from Sara Tambascio and Greenhouse Grower.
- Sally