Don’t lose that growth mindset

I’m writing this column on the first day of school. My kids rode their bikes off to another year of learning and growing, and as I watched them, cup of coffee in hand, the whole situation set me to ruminating and contemplating. The beginning of another school year is a brightly-lit signpost in the lives of our children, a benchmark to measure progress against. Look how tall they’ve gotten. Braces on, braces off. But for too many people, the kind of growth fostered in primary and secondary education stagnates after graduation.

This month, we continue spotlighting our Horticultural Industries Leadership Award winners, with Heather Gronek. Heather’s story is inspirational. I particularly enjoyed learning about how she motivates herself by finding ways to improve, whether it’s a process, a plant or her own leadership skills. She refuses to lose that growth mindset.

We also shot a video with Heather at our booth at Cultivate, in which she talks a bit about the whole HILA experience. Watch that video, along with the others from our week in Columbus, Ohio, at nurserymag.com/media.

If video isn’t your thing, we also recorded a podcast sharing our highlights from the trade show. You can listen to the Growth Industry podcast on our website, or if you prefer to listen on the go, follow us on Spotify or Apple podcasts.

Are you a perennial grower? Get an in-depth look at bare root perennial production at Walters Gardens at our live event with Q&A. Learn from Laura Robles how the Michigan nursery grows, harvests and ships high-quality bare root plants. Find it, and all of our previous live events, videos and podcasts, at nurserymag.com/media.

For more perennial goodness, check out this month’s On the Road department. In June, Patrick Coleman, editor of our fine sister publication Greenhouse Management, attended Darwin Perennial Day in West Chicago, Illinois. See which introductions wowed him.

Next month, get ready for our State of the Industry Report. Follow this link to take the survey: bit.ly/2025NMSOI. Thanks for supporting Nursery Management.