30. Gary Lewis on Ground Covers for Every Garden

GARY LEWIS BIO

Gary Lewis has had a life-long interest in plants and gardening. His retail and mail order nursery, Phoenix Perennials, located in Richmond, BC, offers more than 5000 different plants. Gary authored The Complete Book of Ground Covers: 4000 Plants that Reduce Maintenance, Control Erosion, and Beautify the Landscape and has written for various garden magazines including Fine Gardening and has been a frequent guest on local and regional radio and television stations in British Columbia. He speaks regularly to garden clubs around BC and the Pacific Northwest and has presented at conferences across North America. In 2013 he was selected as Communicator of the Year by the BC Landscape and Nursery Association and in 2014 as one of Canada’s Top 10 Horticultural Professionals under 40 by Greenhouse Canada magazine. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Perennial Plant Association and is a committee member of Great Plant Picks. Learn more about Gary by visiting his website phoenixperennials.com, finding him on Facebook, or his Instagram handle @phoenixperennials.

SHOW NOTES

• A fun memory from Longwood Gardens, running to catch the last bus back to Lancaster while photographing Bruce Munro’s Field of Light

• Gary's passion for plants began in childhood, influenced by his grandmother, mother and early experiences with wildflowers

• The challenges of working at a wholesale nursery as a teenager

• Details his master's research on soil chemistry and plant relationships in serpentine soil ecosystems

• Buck Creek Barrens in North Carolina

• Becoming the owners of Phoenix Perennials, a nursery in Richmond, British Columbia, which he acquired during his master's in botany

• Phoenix Perennials grows a wide selection of plants for retail and provides mail-order services across Canada

• The importance of managing and inspiring a team in horticulture

• The diversity and uniqueness of plants available at Phoenix Perennials, including rare succulents and new introductions from breeders worldwide

• Discussing the value of ground covers in gardens, noting their role in naturalistic planting and ecosystem support

• Why Gary wrote The Complete Book of Ground Covers: 4000 Plants that Reduce Maintenance, Control Erosion, and Beautify the Landscape

• Why ground covers are crucial for creating functioning ecosystems within gardens, supporting pollinators, and enhancing habitat complexity

• Benefits of ground covers fall into three main categories: functional/economic, environmental, and aesthetic

• Functional/economic benefits include outcompeting weeds, reducing lawn maintenance, protecting tree root zones, acting as green mulch, controlling erosion, and covering difficult-to-maintain spaces

• Environmental benefits include supporting pollinators and wildlife, reducing the size of lawns, retaining biomass, and improving rain gardens

• Ground covers impact on aesthetics by creating continuity in garden design, adding magical touches and tying plantings together

• Different types of ground covers (rhizomatous, stoloniferous, trailing) have specific uses and considerations in garden design

• What Gary loves about his book on ground covers that is a comprehensive encyclopedia for the temperate gardening world, covering around 4,000 taxa

• Gary shares a favorite ground cover, Azorella trifurcata 'Nana' highlighting its aesthetic impact in a garden

• Lewis’s book has been translated into Japanese, reflecting its broad appeal and relevance.

• David MacKenzie’s Perennial Ground Covers

• How Gary approached writing the book including extensive research and reviewing nursery lists, catalogs, and existing literature, which resulted in a shortlist of 12,000 species and cultivars which he whittled down to 4,000

• Gary’s daily curiosity and exploration in horticulture and his always seeking new plants and forms.

• Discussing the prevalence of "plant blindness" in society and the lack of public awareness and appreciation for plants.

• The repetitive selection in local garden centers and the need for more diversity and inspiration in plant offerings.

• Challenges faced include managing diverse plant stocks and navigating seasonal challenges like powdery mildew outbreaks.

• Recommends Anna Pavord's books The Tulip and The Naming of Names for their captivating insights into plant history and evolution and Dan Hinkley’s books

• Debunking horticultural myths like the use of pot shards and the necessity of the Chelsea chop in modern gardening.

• Travel experiences botanizing in South Africa, Western Australia, and exploring garden and wild plant diversity globally

• Finding Cordyline indivisa (mountain cabbage tree) in the wild

• The beautiful Hellebore painting in Gary Lewis’s office by Gwen Dirks (image included below)

• How to propagate more horticulturists by inspiring more people with plant diversity and nurture curiosity in horticulture.

• Learn more about Gary Lewis by visiting his website phoenixperennials.com, finding him on Facebook, or his Instagram handle @phoenixperennials.

12. Jared Hughes on Groovy Plants Ranch

JARED HUGHES BIO

Groovy Plants Ranch traces its roots back to humble beginnings where determination, ingenuity, and passion helped grow into something unexpected.

In 2007 at 19 years old, Jared Hughes started to realize the spark of a dream. While taking classes at Columbus State Community College and working at Foertmeyer and Sons Greenhouse, he fell more and more in love with plants. The desire to grow as many plants as possible, paired with a natural entrepreneurial spirit led Jared to begin propagating succulents in his limited free time. Their low care and ease of propagation made them a perfect starter crop.

From there, the business naturally grew and he started building a small facility at his parents farm in Cardington, Ohio. As the business grew, so did Jared’s collection of different unusual plants from around the world.

In 2015 Jared and his now wife Liz were married, and together they worked diligently on growing the business. Unexpectedly, they found themselves with the opportunity to purchase an amazing greenhouse property in Fargo, Ohio, previously known as Fargo Herbs.

Jared and Liz went full force into their new venture, Groovy Plants Ranch, where they now work with their two young girls, and an amazing staff of plant professionals allows them to grow far more unique and interesting plants than they ever dreamed. In addition to the diversity of plants, Jared and Liz enjoy making the ranch a family friendly, whimsical oasis of escape for customers from all over the country.

Groovy Plants Ranch has been featured in a number of magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, and Midwest Living named them the best garden shop of 2022.

You can learn more by visiting groovyplantsranch.com and by following them on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok.

SHOW NOTES

• Jared’s germinating interest in plants from his grandfather and mother and a love of nature

• Experiences in learning at Columbus State Community College and having Debra Knapke as a teacher

• His changing perception of working at a nursery

• Learning about the horticulture industry from working at Foertmeyer and Sons Greenhouse

• Mark Foertmeyer and Sid Raisch teaching Jared to build value around plants

• Jared’s involvement in AmericanHort and networking opportunities

• The use of biological organisms for pest control in the greenhouse and the learning curve of their use

• AmericanHort’s shift initiative

• Stump house plant store

• Lessons learned from the SHIFT initiative like breaking the ice with plants and engaging people with plants

• How Groovy Plants Ranch started with the succulent boom and grew from there

• Buying property with a schoolhouse and some infrastructure

• Incredible customer experiences at Groovy Plants Ranch

• Jared’s innate creative spirit and making a playground out of an airplane

• How Jared builds worlds at his garden center so that there is something for everyone

• Jared’s formula for Groovy Plants Ranch — drip with creativity for the joy of the visit and use incredible plants in unique ways

• Keeping his creative spirit alive because he genuinely loves his work

• How Jared forces himself to finish projects by keeping the return in mind

• Why Groovy Plants Ranch is unique in its approach to creativity

• The importance of idea generation and a supportive network

• Jared’s other hobbies like cars

• Gardening books that inspire Jared like Bizarre Botanicals and Cacti and Succulents for Cold Climates

• The interest in tropicals like Musa basjoo (Japanese hardy banana)

• Exciting projects including building new greenhouses, propagating cool stock plants, and new approaches to marketing

• Jared’s recent interest in perennials and peonies

• How all gardeners could benefit from drip irrigation and using water to control pests on houseplants

• Jared’s advice for social media including do good content that isn’t false and take good photos

• The myth of a hot pepper crossing with a sweet pepper makes the sweet pepper hot and the misunderstanding about GMO’s

• Jared’s quote in Greenhouse Management

• Propagating more horticulturists by 1. us getting more excited about plants and letting it show and 2. remembering that what we do is an inherently good thing and that plants enrich life

• Learn more about Groovy Plants Ranch on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok.