It’s hard to remain sanguine these days about the future of America.

Where are all these hurricanes coming from?  Shooters?  International threats from Little Rocket Boys?

And we can’t seem to fix our hospitalization system or our tax system… or address impending issues from our growing debt and growing insolvency from transfer payments (social security and medicare).

Kris and I just joined the legions on social security and Medicare so are we part of the problem?  No pension from the nursery business…but we’re fine!   Our vehicles have mucho miles on them…over 160k…but so do we!  Our legs are still functional…for now…and we can walk where we need to go.  We can buy food (thankfully Kris is a carnivore again after five years as a vegetarian!) and squeak by with our house payment…but we anticipate selling in the coming years…

Our down-sizing process moves forward.  At last count, we still have 23,234 containers to sell and 4407 flats.  Help us out!  Buy some! Great values!  We’ve got unused nursery poly left from last year…but we’d rather sell it than use it!

We’ve got four remaining employees and they all have multiple offers from other nurseries.  We’re happy about that and we’re gratified that they’ve remained around so long!  We don’t deserve such great dedicated workers!  In addition, we continue to correspond with our legion of great former student workers!   They’re moving on in their lives and we celebrate their success.  Most comment that Gilson’s was their first job and a great point from which to jump off… We believe that small businesses continue to provide a tremendous role in our local communities!

Back to America…

Kris and I believe in American Exceptionalism.  (that’s probably misspelled…but you know what I mean…)  There’s something about our society that turns out great folks…heroes willing to step up in times of crisis.  It’s unfortunate that we don’t have more of those exceptional heroes in Congress right now.   Do we vote them out?  No…we demand that those currently in office take care of the Nation’s business and not worry about raising money or getting reelected.

We love the nursery business.

We’ve lived our lives in the nursery business and we’ve grown old in the nursery business.

We have many reflections but few regrets.

We remain positive about horticulture and the future of the America we love.

But that positive future rests with us…all of us…and our continued dedication…

Mark Gilson