Immigration Reform is finally on center stage in Washington DC! I was involved in three different meetings trying to influence the result with our Ohio legislators.

First, we hosted Caryn Candisky, NE OHio Coordinator for Senator Rob Portman, at Sunleaf

Whoa! Where did the Spring go! The Milky Way Kousa is blooming outside my office…many of the Rhodys are done! But here we go into the Summer Perennial Season! Salvias! Dianthus! Thymes!

We took 24 Master Gardeners on a wagon

Spring is slowly sneaking up on us in NE Ohio! Two weeks ago…the spring peepers began their late-afternoon chorus. Today I noticed the Kingfisher is back. In addition to the big guy who patrols our middle pond, there is a

My brief career in Live TV began and ended today. I was an ‘auctioneer’ on our local Ideastream Public TV auction. My first appearance went okay…hawking some donated items before the camera. I was introduced as a representative of Ohio

Below is one of my rants that got published as a letter-to-the-editor in the News-Herald. So far it’s getting rave reviews from the check-out ladies at our local IGA.

Minimum Wage Debate

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is championing a substantial

Below are links to an article I wrote for Greenhouse Grower magazine about Invasive Plants.

http://www.greenhousegrower.com/article/33219/the-invasive-plant-issue

The second link is to the Editor’s Article in which she comments on my article.

http://www.greenhousegrower.com/article/33650/slowing-the-spread-of-invasive-plants-opinion

Last night Kris and I did our first dynamic duo Powerpoint Presentation! Our audience, Gardeners of Greater Cleveland, a long-standing and prestigious group, seemed to like it! They served us dinner at the Bratenahl Towers and then took us upstairs

When did the winter get so busy for nurserymen? We need an extra month in the winter to get our work done!

During January, CENTS and the 85th OSU Short Course provided a lively week. Sunday Night at Barley’s Brewery

This was a very productive year for Ohio Invasive Plants Council with the development of an Assessment Protocol and Assessment Policies for Ohio. We were able to do this in conjunction with Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association, which formally endorsed

This letter of mine was posted in the Lake County Development Council (LCDC) March 2012 Newsletter:

H2A Guest-Worker Program: a regulatory nightmare for local employers

With all the hue and cry regarding undocumented workers, you would think our country would

What a busy Fall!

Many of our greenhouses have white poly on them and we’re preparing to do our ‘hardwood cuttings’ of things like Juniper, Boxwood and Arborvitae. We’ll stick these cuttings by Christmas and they’ll stay in the sand-flats

This was the last week for most of our student workers and we’re going to miss them! We’ve had good crews and not-so-good crews over the years…several hundred local students have stood in line in front of the Gilson time

We entertained the Mayfield Garden Club this week with a Powerpoint presentation about local nursery history, juice/coffee/donuts/fruit, a hay-wagon tour of the nursery, and a shopping spree in our garden center. Eighteen great ladies! We almost lost one on the

Spring at last!

Pretending to sail the WindStar during our cruise of the Aegean and Adriatic in 2007.

I read somewhere that Spring travels north at 16 miles a day. It’s not here yet, but there are signs that it’s getting close…maybe Cincinnati

What a long winter…snow, icy temperatures, ice on the Lake…like the winters of old!

I saw some huge hawks circling over our nursery today…eagles? And there’s a smaller hawk that visits the trees by our office…a Kestrel?

Enchanted visitations!

John

I’ve had the good fortune over the past few years to meet some people with our 16-county Northeastern Ohio Fund for our Economic Future (FFEF). These folks are moving on a number of different fronts and they recently asked supporters

Last year a Latino father in Ashtabula was deported because of false documentation. Not an unusual occurrence in Northeastern Ohio. He left behind a wife and three children. The wife soon grew despondent and could no longer work. As she

This essay was submitted to a Sustainable Cleveland contest sponsored by EcoWatch Journal. It Won! Kris and I got to attend the EcoWatch Annual Dinner at Landerhaven and meet lots of great people, including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr! In June,

My father passed away in January, 2006. This was the introduction to our wholesale catalog for 2007.

As we wrap up another catalog, perhaps it is an appropriate time to pause and reflect upon the passing, at age 86, of