A Garden Blog with a Different Perspective

By Kathy Purdy November 29, 2006 – Posted in: Recommended Links

Hydrangea 'Limelight' - Photo courtesy Proven Winners Most garden blogs are written by home gardeners. A few are written by garden writers, and a few I’ve seen are written by nursery owners. The Plant Hunter – New Plants is the first blog I’ve seen written by someone involved in the process of bringing new plants to market. Tim Wood is currently the Product Development Manager for Spring Meadow Nursery. Does that ring a bell? No? How about ProvenChoice Winners, such as Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ or Sambucus ‘Black Lace.’ Yeah, those plants.

Well, Spring Meadow Nursery is a marketing machine like none other in the horticulture world and I was afraid this blog would be something akin to a link farm. You know, search engine fodder. Tim’s job is to find new plants for his firm to sell, so you will find plenty of them featured in his posts. But he gives you some background for how they were discovered and a little insight into what his job is like, and it’s not like each post is peppered with links. At this point I’ve just skimmed a few posts, but I have to confess I’m a bit curious about life on the other side of the tracks. His credibility will go up in my book if he can ever bring himself to admit that any of the plants his firm markets are even a teensy bit less than perfect.

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners

About the Author

Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She would be delighted to speak to your group about colchicums or other gardening topics. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002.

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Now, the digging and dividing of perennials, the general autumn cleanup and the planting of spring bulbs are all an act of faith. One carries on before the altar of delayed gratification, until the ground freezes and you can’t do any more other than refill the bird feeder and gaze through the window, waiting for the snow. . . . Meanwhile, it helps to think of yourself as a pear tree or a tulip. You will blossom spectacularly in the spring, but only after the required period of chilling.

~Adrian Higgins in The Washington Post, November 6, 2013

Comments on this entry are closed.

Olivia December 16, 2007, 10:50 am

I, too, have stumbled across Tim Wood’s blog. I even subscribed, but it appears he is not a prolific writer. It was interesting what he had to say about the initial development of Limelight. I am always looking for “the most beautiful “cold hardy flowering shrub and Spring Meadow is quite the marketing juggernaut.

Ki November 30, 2006, 6:57 am

Thanks for the link Kathy. I’m always on the look out for new and unusual plants. We just bought two “limelight” hydrangeas and have seen the sambucus black lace in the local nurseries. Now I know where they came from.