November/December 2019 - 14

DIRTY SECRETS
Welcome to GardenComm,
Salt Lake City
The GardenComm Annual Conference and Expo features a lineup of
unforgettable events and experiences - and beautiful gardens.
GardenComm is a highly respected organization
By Christina
Salwitz
W
e garden writers are known to be an
enthusiastic bunch, so when we descended
upon poor unsuspecting Salt Lake City
recently for the GardenComm Annual Conference and
Expo, they clearly knew not what they should expect:
crazy plant people, crazy coffee people, and enough
cameras and technology to make Canon and the Silicon
Valley blush. We did not disappoint our gracious hosts.
The large gathering brings members from not just
across the continent, but also from around the globe.
For three impressive days, the event features a lineup
of unforgettable events and experiences - and
beautiful gardens. The educational program highlights
included dynamic learning sessions, industry all-stars,
essential networking and so much more.
For those not familiar with this wonderful group
of professionals (formerly called the Garden Writers
Association) here is GardenComm's mission, vision
and values:
Garden Communicators International provides
leadership and opportunities for education,
recognition, career development and a forum for
diverse interactions for professionals in the field of
gardening communications.
of professionals communicating about horticulture,
agriculture, gardening, natural systems and the
environment.
To foster respect and integrity for the garden
communications industry and its potential members.
To be the source of education and information in
the garden communication industry. To advocate for
responsible environmental stewardship.
Naturally, you can imagine the bountiful amounts
of wacky botanical Latin jokes, zany cocktail-hour
stories of how new books came to be born, eccentric
garden creators, deranged animals wreaking havoc on
our beloved subject matter, and a near and dear topic
to many that will never be outshined - the weather.
For this vast and unending subject of our writing,
podcasting, video-making is rife with one-upmanship
over who survived the worst and the gardens that lived
to tell about it goes on until the wee hours of maybe 10
p.m. After all, we're all gardeners who get up early!
As gardeners who also earn a slightly solitary living
at the desk, we're extraordinarily eager to meet
other humans outside of our native habitats, where
we can talk shop about our next hot topic. And this
trip was a ripe cluster of early fall grapes bursting
with great topics for us to write about, so in honor
of this bounty of good material, I thought I'd give
you a tiny handful of things I thought were neat new
introductions that I found in a new session this year
called " New Product Review. "
Here are some plants and products too good to
ignore, in no particular order:
14 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
'Red Hot Black Diamond' in the landscape
November/December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November/December 2019
