27. Jazmin Albarran on Seed Your Future

Jazmin Albarran Bio

Jazmin Albarran, MBA, is the Seed Your Future Executive Director with over a decade of change and systems management experience. With a solid knowledge of associations and philanthropy, she will bring her skills and expertise in planning, leading, and managing development projects and programs to the movement. She has experience in a broad range of nonprofit organizations, including those focused on crisis support, youth development, and workforce development. Jazmin will lead Seed Your Future’s next phase of growth, promoting horticulture sectors and the nationwide expansion of career development opportunities with plants.

You can learn more about Jazmin and Seed Your Future by visiting the website, emailing Jazmin at jalbarran@seedyourfuture.org, and finding her on LinkedIn.

Show Notes

• Jazmin’s background in mental health and youth development

• Introduction to Seed Your Future through and meeting previous director Susan Yoder

• Her experience of attending Cultivate and discovering the diverse careers in horticulture

• Jazmin emphasizes how loving what you do impacts mental health and how Seed Your Future aligns with her values

• Connecting plants with kids through mentors that foster that passion and making it fun

• Exposure to plants and horticulture drops off for kids after 3rd grade and misunderstandings about horticulture

• Addressing parental concerns and advising parents to explore the diverse career opportunities in horticulture and shares resources from Seed Your Future

• The excitement among students for careers in automation, technology, and robotics within the horticulture industry

• Jazmin talks about the misconception of horticulture careers and the importance of showcasing the diverse opportunities available

• Jazmin mentions strategies such as engaging with social media influencers and creating educational content to combat plant blindness

• How to keep people gardening after economic downturns by promoting gardening as a communal activity and emphasizing the mental, emotional, and physical benefits

• How Seed Your Future connects career changers with opportunities in the horticulture industry through local partnerships and training programs

• People considering non-traditional career paths like horticulture due to passion and dissatisfaction with previous jobs

• Career changers often faced discouragement from parents, school counselors, or advisors due to misconceptions about the industry, leading to pursuing unsatisfying careers before finding their way to horticulture

• Resources on Seed Your Future like career profiles, quizzes, scholarships, internships, and educational videos to help students explore plant-related careers based on their passions and interests

• Success stories include testimonials from scholarship recipients and individuals who transitioned to horticulture careers thanks to Seed Your Future's resources

• Green Career Week aims to connect industry professionals with students through field trips, classroom presentations, and social media engagement to raise awareness about horticulture careers

• Encouraging industry participation in initiatives like Green Career Week to showcase career pathways to students

• Emphasizing the importance of industry involvement in nurturing the next generation of horticulturists and gardeners

• Partnerships with Scholastic and the Seed to STEM program provide educational materials and professional development opportunities for teachers to integrate plant science and horticulture into their curriculum

• Challenges include college students graduating without clear career paths and limited outreach to schools and students to raise awareness about horticulture careers

• Home gardeners play a crucial role in promoting horticulture by sharing their passion, knowledge, and resources with others, potentially inspiring interest in plant-related careers

• Suggestions for increasing awareness include using inclusive language, leveraging social media to share stories and showcase the impact of horticulture, and incorporating career information at garden centers through signage and QR codes

• Emphasizing the passion and purpose behind horticulture work can attract more individuals to the industry and foster a greater appreciation for the value of plants in improving mental, physical, and emotional well-being

• Addressing cultural barriers in gardening by fostering open conversations about emotions and backgrounds

• Importance of representation in gardening spaces to promote diversity and inclusivity

• Jazmin’s use of lists and prioritization for organization and efficiency in daily tasks

• Incorporating technology, like AI note-taking app Fireflies, to enhance productivity

• Strategic planning for weekly tasks and time blocking to manage schedules effectively

• Overcoming the fear of failure in gardening and viewing mistakes as learning opportunities

• Empowering individuals to propagate horticulturists by promoting awareness of career opportunities in the field

• Learn more about Jazmin and Seed Your Future by visiting the website, emailing Jazmin at jalbarran@seedyourfuture.org, and finding her on LinkedIn

18. Leslie Halleck, Professional Plant Everythingist

LESLIE HALLECK BIO 

Leslie Halleck is a Certified Professional Horticulturist (ASHS) who has spent her 30-year career hybridizing horticulture science with home gardening consumer needs. Halleck earned a BS in Biology/Botany from the University of North Texas and an MS in Horticulture from Michigan State University. Halleck’s professional experience is well rounded, with time spent in botanical field research, public gardens, landscape design and maintenance, garden writing, garden center retail, and horticulture and green industry consulting. For the last decade Halleck has devoted herself full-time to running her company, Halleck Horticultural, LLC, a horticulture industry consulting and marketing agency. Halleck also coaches horticulture industry business owners, from larger established businesses to brand new Plantrepreneurs. Halleck has developed and teaches courses on indoor plants and botany for UCLA Extension since 2020.

Halleck currently sits on the certification board for ASHS and the Leadership Advisory Committee for Resource Innovation Institute (supporting the CEA and cannabis sectors).  She also holds certificates in “The Science and Technology of Medical Cannabis Cultivation” from Utah State and two certificates in “Women in Leadership” from Cornell University.

Halleck’s previous positions include Director of Horticulture Research at the Dallas Arboretum and General Manager for North Haven Gardens, an independent garden center in Dallas, Texas. Halleck is a regular feature on the professional speaking and industry publication circuit and was a columnist at Garden Center Magazine, Greenhouse Management Magazine, and Produce Grower Magazine for almost a decade; but she also continues to offer up common-sense gardening advice and hands-on learning to home gardeners via her Plantgeek Chic blog, public workshops, and consumer publications. During her career, Halleck has written hundreds of articles for local, regional, and national publications, as well as taught countless gardening programs for the home houseplant keeper, indoor grower, flower gardener, edible enthusiast, and backyard farmer.

Halleck is the author of Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers (2018), Plant Parenting: Easy Ways to Make More Houseplants, Vegetables, and Flowers (2019), and Tiny Plants: Discover the Joys of Growing and Collecting Itty Bitty Houseplants (2021).

Halleck is an avid lifelong plant and gardening “everythingist” who prefers low-input “fluffy” landscapes and gardens as well as dense high-output vegetable gardening (both indoors and out!). She’s obsessed with tiny plants and tiny chihuahuas. Halleck is also an artist who creates botanical and nature-focused work in watercolor, colored pencil, printmaking, as well as digital illustration. You can find her artwork and more at her website Halleck Horticultural.

SHOW NOTES

• Leslie’s office Hoya cumingiana growth (which she encouraged me to share a photo of below)

• Leslie’s plant passion germinating in Germany from the women around her, her adopted “grandmothers”, and her first plant

• Caring for plants in a cemetery in Germany

• The language of plants

• Returning to the states, attending the University of North Texas for art, and then transferring to botany

• Her first job at The Green Fiddler garden center and lessons learned from that experience

• An internship in Puerto Rico’s El Yunque National Forest studying how ferns grew after Hurricane Hugo

• Pursuing graduate school at Michigan State and studying flowering physiology via environmental controls

• An overview of vernalization

• Returning to Texas to be Director of Horticulture Research at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden where she started the plant trials program

• Becoming general manager at North Haven Gardens in Dallas

• Creating her own horticulture business when she turned 40 and the reasons why

• Core concepts she would teach a class on running a horticulture business

• Consulting on Plants of Texas, a new garden center in east Texas that she helped design from scratch

• Teaching two courses indoor plants and botany for UCLA Extension and lessons learned from this experience

• Leslie’s three books Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers (2018), Plant Parenting: Easy Ways to Make More Houseplants, Vegetables, and Flowers (2019), and Tiny Plants: Discover the Joys of Growing and Collecting Itty Bitty Houseplants (2021)

• Leslie’s passion for life and pursuit of so many areas of horticulture and her skills of asking for help, using project management software like Asana and her planner, and setting boundaries by saying no

• How perfection is paralyzing

• The myth of where oxygen comes from in photosynthesis and misconceptions about light

• Her current book love for miniature orchids

• How to propagate more gardeners through exposure and education

• Learn more about Leslie and her work by visiting her website Halleck Horticultural, and her Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

9. Peggy Anne Montgomery on Stories and Stinzen Gardens

Peggy Anne Montgomery Bio

Peggy Anne Montgomery is a people-oriented horticultural professional with more than 35 years of U.S. and international experience in trade- and consumer-focused garden marketing and communications, public relations and outreach, landscape design, and public horticulture. She studied horticulture and apprenticed in the Netherlands where she raised a family and owned a landscape design firm for 15 years. Her business specialized in sustainable, eco-friendly landscapes continuing her life-long interest in nature and the importance of balanced ecosystems. She has an extensive background in public relations and was part of the creative team that launched the Endless Summer® Hydrangea brand. Peggy Anne went on to study native plants at Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware and Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. She is currently an account executive for the Garden Media Group, the premier horticulture marketing firm where she represents Royal Anthos, a consortium of Dutch bulbs growers and exporters. She is a long-standing member and Fellow of GardenComm and has written for numerous trade and popular publications. Her home garden has been featured in magazines, books, and television. Today she lives and gardens with her husband and fellow horticulturist Dan Benarcik in northern Delaware.

You can learn more about Peggy Anne on Garden Media Group, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Show Notes

• Peggy Anne’s interest in horticulture germinating from her grandfather and mom and early gardening memories

• Being told at a young age that she shouldn’t pursue horticulture because women don’t do that (and how we can change that type of thinking!)

• 18 million new gardeners from the COVID pandemic

• Studying early childhood nutrition at University of Minnesota and then studying horticulture in the Netherlands

• Peggy Anne’s learning practical horticulture by working in the Netherlands

• Differences between horticulture education and practices in the Netherlands and the US

• Returning to the US to work with Bailey Nurseries and helping with the Endless Summer® Hydrangea brand, the biggest woody plant brand launch in America

• For plant marketing, the importance of truth and checking accuracy of information being shared, the role of stories, and building relationships with clients

• Using an auger to plant bulbs

• The role of stories in connecting plants with people

• The story behind Stinzen gardens

• Naturalized bulbs at Winterthur

• The benefits of bulbs

• Flock Finger Lakes

• Planting over 70,000 bulbs for the first stinzen garden in the US

• Pith & Vigor’s stinzen garden

• The Dutch Bulb Planter

• How Peggy Anne stays current in marketing and horticulture

• The practice of an evening walk to enjoy the garden and reflect on tasks

• Her husband Dan Benarcik and his work at Chanticleer (and his motto dig, divide, repeat)

• Creating trends reports with Katie Dubow and the Garden Media Group Team

• Sprout social to see what people are talking about on social media

• Using groundcovers more in the landscape to help manage weeds

• Peggy Anne and Dan’s garden including gravel garden, pocket meadow, trees, and moss garden

• Her cheat of just weeding the first foot into the bed

• Andrew Bunting’s and Jeff Epping’s gravel gardens

• Peggy Anne and Dan’s gravel garden construction and trialing and error

• The most impactful thing Peggy Anne has done in her marketing career

• Her favorite books including edible flowers, pruning espaliers, A Guide to the Great Gardens of the Philadelphia Region, and American Roots

• Peggy Anne encouraging people to not be afraid to prune plants

• Her current interest in tropical plants and integrating tropicals into the garden in creative ways

• Propagating horticulturists by sharing the passion of plants and cultivating relationships with people

• Finding Peggy Anne Montgomery on Garden Media Group, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Flower Bulbs

• Garden Media Group trends reports

5. Angela Palmer on Introducing New Plants for Gardens

Angela Palmer’s Biography

Angela Palmer co-owns Plants Nouveau, a trendy new plant marketing company where she manages the annuals, perennials, and grasses as well as the website, marketing, photography, and social media aspect of the business. 

Angela has a Bachelors of Science in Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Design from the University of Delaware. She has a storied career in horticulture.  She worked for many years as the Director of New Products for one of the largest wholesale nurseries on the East Coast, The Conard-Pyle Company, where she was instrumental in introducing Knock Out rose.  She also previously managed the Plant Introduction Program for Chicagoland Grows as well as the staff and development of 1/2 of the collections at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, DC as well as the arboretum’s Elite Plant Introduction Program.  She also served as the Conference Director for the annual Native Plants in the Landscape Conference held at Millersville University for 12 years.

She currently lives in New England where she has fun gardening in her home garden and pursuing another passion of hers, coaching girl’s lacrosse teams. You can learn more about Angela on her company’s website plantsnouveau.com, and on Instagram her handle is @plantweenie. 

Show Notes

• Angela’s pet moss as a four year old

• Her transition from engineering into horticulture at University of Delaware

• Gary Smith’s approach to teaching landscape design and teaching students to see everything

• First jobs in horticulture including vegetable packing, a Christmas tree farm, and integrated pest management at Star roses and move up into overseeing new plants

• How Angela’s curiosity was a plus in helping her level up in her career

• The origin of the Knock Out® rose from breeder William Radler

• Plant breeders rights

• Angela’s thoughts on patents, trademarks, and nomenclature

• Angela reflects on Knock Out® rose’s success

• Her experience at Chicagoland Grows and the US National Arboretum

• Angela striking out on her own by starting Plants Nouveau with Linda Guy

• A step-by-step of how new plants are introduced to market and complications with the process

• Trends Angela is seeing including smaller plants, edible ornamentals, and compact selling perennials that will actually grow in the ground (or, sleep, creep, and leap!)

• The shift from double back to single Echinacea and the importance of plants for pollinators

• How it takes time for consumers to get to know a plant by name

• Angela’s interest in marketing and exploring brands and trends outside the industry

• Staying fresh with plants by planting container gardens, visiting the gardens of friends, and traveling for conferences or trade shows

• What Angela is reading including English gardening magazines; Fine Gardening; marketing, social media, and engagement; and marketing gurus like Seth Godin

• “It’s all about the why“ and how Angela has integrated that into her life

• The Akimbo workshops started by Seth Godin

• Daily rituals including scrolling Instagram and visiting her greenhouse

• The myth that hydrangeas always need shade

• Angela’s work to increase the availability of Itoh peonies to the market

• Angela’s advice on women who are cultivating careers in horticulture

• How to propagate more gardeners through technology including better plant tags, personalized information, and geotagged information

• Find more about Angela on her company’s website plantsnouveau.com, and on Instagram @plantweenie