It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than That!

Over the past weekend we were invited to be a part of Chalet Nursery’s Garden Faire event in Wilmette, Illinois. The first weekend in May is the grand opening of spring in the Midwest. When we showed up to the garden center, it was about a quarter to eight in the morning and there was already a line of people waiting to get inside! It’s clear that people had enough of Old Man Winter and wanted to get some plants in the ground.

We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. It was 70 degrees and sunny for the most part. Also, we were able to camp out next to the popcorn guy so that wasn’t bad either!

Plants looked great as well, and the selection was fantastic. Even though some of the more prominent summer annuals weren’t available yet, the wallflowers looked fantastic and so did the lobelia baskets.

We held a raffle as well! Four lucky people are set to win $25 gift certificates to Chalet Nursery and four luckier people are set to win GrowIt! t-shirts. We also had an AMAZING run-in with one of our GrowIt! fans this weekend as well!

Google Maps, Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Youtube.

Those are all examples of mobile apps that are the first thing downloaded when someone gets a new phone. This past weekend, we learned that you can now add GrowIt! to that list!

Last summer while we were doing events in the Chicagoland area we had the chance to talk to a lot of people about what we are doing with GrowIt! Because we are currently only a mobile platform some people couldn’t use GrowIt! from the beginning because they didn’t have a smartphone. Turns out that we left an impression on those folks too!

We actually had one fan stop by – in a GrowIt! t-shirt no less – and tell us that last summer she was unable to use the app because she did not have a smartphone. However, she said that back in December she finally upgraded to an iPhone. Can you guess what the first app she downloaded was? Yep! It was GrowIt! We honestly, thought she was kidding at first but she assured us that she downloaded it right at the Apple Store! How cool is that?

She now uses the GrowIt! app as username “booter13”, and really enjoys helping people identify plants that they have questions about. She said that it’s a lot of fun and that she enjoys spreading her passion for gardening.

At the end of the day that’s what GrowIt! is all about: Spreading a passion for plants. We’re just glad we can make people smile while doing it. It truly was a great weekend capped by an AWESOME interaction with one of our users.

GrowIt! Scholarship Recipients

At GrowIt! we know that the future of our planet lies in the hands of the youth. It’s up to them to plant the gardens of tomorrow! That’s why this Summer/Fall we decided to give away scholarships to Collegiate Students!

We are proud to announce the 2014 GrowIt! Scholarship Recipients! The students below are passionate about plants, and also have a pretty keen eye for a good photo opportunity. Here are their stories (and photos)! Congratulations and Great Job!

Maxwell Mercer

My name is Maxwell Mercer and I’m from Mount Dora, Florida. I’m currently a senior at the University of Florida, and will be graduating this December with a BS in Plant Science, specializing in Landscape and Nursery Horticulture. My parents own a tropical foliage nursery in Apopka. Growing up I would work there whenever we had breaks from school. Throughout my time working there I gained an interest in the company. I plan on taking over the family business and use my knowledge gained during school to grow the company to new heights.

Lindsey Miller

My name is Lindsey Miller. I am a proud Minnesota native who grew up in Brooklyn Park and graduated from Osseo Sr. High School. I am currently enrolled in the Horticultural Science program at the University of Minnesota, and expect to graduate from this program in the spring of 2015. It took me a bit of life experience, and a lot of general courses to realize my hidden passion for environmental science. Upon this realization, it was necessary to choose a more focused area of study: I chose plant science because these organisms were, and continue to be, a key supporter of other forms of life on the planet.

This past summer I was granted a full time internship at the University of Minnesota Display and Trial Garden located on the St. Paul campus. This internship allowed me to observe hundreds of native and locally popular perennial and annual plants throughout the growing season. One of the responsibilities delegated to me was to photograph garden happenings in an effort to draw attention to the garden through use of social media. As I began to do this, I became deeply fascinated by the structure and function of plants in the garden; the ecological interactions that took place before my lens continuously piqued my interest. Thank you to Mason and the GrowIt team for honoring me with this scholarship. I am excited and proud to have my passion for displaying the beauty of plants recognized in this way. I look forward to posting more photos and plant information to the GrowIt! app as the next growing season draws ever closer.

Sarah Swofford

Howdy!  My name is Sarah Swofford and I am a senior Horticulture major at Texas A&M University.  I’m a native Texan – I was born in Houston and grew up in Keller, Texas.  Since I can remember I have been fascinated by nature, especially the plants around me.  I followed this love of nature and it has guided me to a more specialized, detailed, and interesting area of agriculture.  One of the wonderful things about plants is that there’s always something new to learn about them.

I have also discovered that plants are not just beautiful and interesting, but are critical to life.  Realizing how essential plants are to life gives me a passionate desire to find a career involving plant life, sustainability, and the environment.  As I move forward I continually remember the necessity of plants in our everyday lives.

Emma Neigel

Hi my name is Emma Neigel. I am from the small farming community of Athabasca in rural Alberta, Canada. I’m a senior at Mississippi State University (hail state!) and studying Horticulture with a Floriculture concentration. My interest in plants comes from my Mother, who frequently had me help her in the garden. I also worked at a local greenhouse throughout high school and had the opportunity to work at Callaway Gardens in Georgia this past summer. I’m looking into doing the Disney internship this summer in and hope to pursue my Master’s degree in Organic Horticulture in the near future.

David Proven

David Proven is a student at Pennsylvania State University where he studies Landscape Contracting with a concentration in management. He grew up in Perkasie Pennsylvania, a small town about an hour north west of Philadelphia. Living in the suburbs brought David into contact at a young age with many beautiful landscapes ranging from large estates to natural landscapes which are abundant in the area. He always enjoyed seeing how the plants in the landscapes were capable of either enhancing or hindering the house which they surround. He was also introduced to plants at a young age because his grandfather is a certified Pennsylvania Master Gardner and so David was brought up living the green-thumb lifestyle.

Lauren Normandin

My name is Lauren Normandin, I am from Berwick Pennsylvania.  During high school I attended Columbia Montour Area Vocational School in Bloomsburg where I was a student in the Horticulture/ Floriculture program.  My Horticulture teacher Mr. Tim Mauk taught me a lot over those four years but my love for plants began even before that.  As a kid, I spent much of my time with my grandmother in her little greenhouse.  She showed me the miracle of growing beautiful plants from such small seeds.  Because of these two wonderful people I chose to attend the Pennsylvania State University and major in Plant Science Horticulture.  After I graduate I hope to manage a greenhouse or a nursery.

Guest Blog: DIY Gourd Lamp by Plant Jungle

Halloween has passed and Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. You have plenty of fantastic gourds left over but what do you do? Today we have a guest blogger with the perfect answer to this question. Megan Evans on behalf of Plant Jungle in Utah, details how to turn plain old gourds into stunning works of art.

DIY: How to Make a  Gourd Lamp 

By Megan Evans 

Special thanks to Mark Burton & Graham Hickey

Brought to you by Plant Jungle

Looking for a fun DIY project or a thoughtful holiday gift for a loved one? A homemade gourd lamp is a perfect solution for both. Young bottle gourds can be harvested for culinary purposes. Alternatively if a gourd is allowed to mature it will desiccate to form a hard woody shell. This “petrified” gourd can be hollowed, cleaned and used for a number of applications.  In fact dried bottle gourds have been used for centuries to make items like lamps, utensils, bottles, and even musical instruments such as the sitar.  As bottle gourds come in many shapes and sizes, your imagination is essentially the only limitation to what you can make with these.

Building lamps from bottle gourds is our personal favorite use of bottle gourds. The gourds themselves are very esthetically pleasing as lamps. Additionally placement of a light source within the gourd provides a fantastic glow that casts light through the designs etched into the exterior of the gourd. This provides a really nice effect that will brighten up any room in your house. Construction of a lamp from a bottle gourd essentially consists of 3 major steps: hollowing a dried gourd, carving/drilling a design on the exterior of the gourd, and then fitting the gourd with an appropriate light.

Below are some basic instructions for constructing your own gourd lamp. After mastering the basic approach to using a gourd to construct a lamp we encourage you to be creative and think of new designs and other cool uses for dried gourds. Due to the material of the gourd, we do not recommend that you leave the lamp on unattended or on for long periods of time.

Materials that you will need:

• Dried gourd
• Drill and drill bits- The largest holes were drilled with 1 inch bits with the consecutive holes being 5/16^thof an inch to 1/8^th of an inch. The largest holes can be finished with a dremel
• Sandpaper (80 and 100 grit)
• Stencils
• Compass
• A pencil
• 10 watt incandescent light bulb
• Tapped thread size 1/8^thlamp couplings
• One 2” candelabra socket
• 1/8^thCandelabra base
• 1/8^thlamp nuts & washers
• 1/8^thtapped solid hex nut

Directions:

1. Sand the gourd with 80 grit sandpaper. After thoroughly sanding the rough areas, finish with 100 grit sandpaper.
2. Measure the midsection of the largest part of the gourd and then use a geometric compass to make a concentric circle from the largest section. The concentric circles will provide a systematic placement for the pattern.
3. Use a pencil to stencil the pattern on the gourd prior to drilling.
4. Drill the largest holes around the midsection with a 1inch or smaller bit. Afterward, drill smaller holes along your traced pattern.
5. Drill the top of the gourd to fit a 1/8 Candelabra base
6. To assemble the light fixture insert the candelabra base through the hole on the top of the gourd. Fasten the candelabra in place with a steel washer and hex nut. Do not over tighten the hex nut as this may crack the gourd.

Since 1998, Plant Jungle has been in the indoor plant business selling live and artificial plants as well as plant maintenance tools, pottery, custom gifts, and plant arrangements. Give a unique gift! We can create custom corporate/client, housewarming, and condolence gifts. Additionally, we offer seasonal products such as gourds, pumpkins, and Christmas trees. Plant Jungle also specializes in patioscaping and indoor plant designs including container gardening, office plants, and plant arrangement for special occasions. Plant Jungle can customize interior plant arrangements to your specifications such as custom designed Christmas ornamental plant displays or custom designed garden containers for your business. For more information regarding our custom gifts or perusing our indoor plants go to www.plantjungle.com or contact plantjungle@twistlab.com

As always be sure to check for the latest version of GrowIt! on the Apple App Store, and stay up to date on the latest GrowIt! news at www.facebook.com/growitapp and www.twitter.com/growitmobile!

The Plant Explorers!

We have the great opportunity to meet a lot of people from all over the world through the course of creating and promoting GrowIt! It’s the interactions with different people that really show me how GrowIt! Is making a difference.

Since I was young, my favorite thing in the world has been to meet interesting people and learn what makes them tick and what gets them out of bed in the morning.  I had the opportunity this weekend to act out my passion and meet some very interesting people…and to see a friend’s passion in full swing.

This story starts with my friend at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Gardens, Mr. Kelly Norris.  I will sum him up quickly: he is a kickass individual.  After becoming the director of the gardens, he used his passion and drive to acquire over $18 million in funding to renovate the facility and add 7 acres of outdoor garden space.  This is a wonderful opportunity for all of Des Moines because the garden itself is in the heart of the city.

Kelly had the vision beyond what the gardens current state was; he communicated that vision with passion, built the right team, and then used his drive and determination to make it a reality.  You can read more about Kelly and The Greater Des Moines Botanical Gardens by reading the New York Times story HERE.  If you live near Des Moines, make sure to stop by and take a look at it…..and feel free to put up some wonderful plants on GrowIt!.

I was in Des Moines visiting Kelly and his crew over the weekend for their first annual symposium, “plant exploring”.  As I was driving to Des Moines I couldn’t help but envision an Indiana Jones like figure standing on stage with his trowel in one hand and whip in another hand.  He would be excitedly telling us about the time he was in search of a long lost plant that had only been pictured in ancient scrolls.  After hearing 4 wonderful presentations I can assure you that there were no chase scenes depicted in the stories that were told.  However, there did seem to be some amazing similarities in the fact that one speaker, Mark Hachadourian, was in search for plants that had not been seen for over 100 years.  He started his presentation talking about the incredibly exotic plants that explorers from all over the world would bring back to Victorian England.  As time passed on, wars came and went, family fortunes were broken up and massive greenhouse sculptures were lost.  With those lost structures, the plants disappeared as well. The only proof that they ever existed were pictures drawn out by artists.

Mark’s presentation was chalk full of wonderful images of plants that were so exotic you would l think you were looking at a Hollywood set.  But for me, given how much I enjoy people, I found his enthusiasm for unknown plants the most remarkable.  If you enjoy the observing interesting photos of weird and wild plants you might want to check out his book.

I would like to Thank Kelly Norris, Mark Hachadourian and his other speakers: Dan Hinkley, Jim Ault, and Peter Zale for and great day of plant exploration…even if there was no Indiana themed music. Dun dada dun… dun da dun….

Seth Reed – Co-Founder, GrowIt!

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Why GrowIt!?

We’ve covered the “What” and the “Who” of GrowIt!

It only seems logical that the next step would be to talk about the Passion behind GrowIt!

In order to dig into the subject, we have to ask:

As I touched on in the last post, Seth and I both came from jobs in the commercial horticulture industry. Think of it this way: when it comes to gardening we were brokers of the raw materials. We could describe it further but you’d be asleep by the end of this senten…. Sorry dozed off there!

We were working in an industry that makes the world beautiful. However, one thing Seth and I noticed was that younger generations were missing out on the beauty of plants and the benefits they provide. Kids from the Eighties and Nineties didn’t grow up in the garden like previous generations did. Because of this, plants and the concept of “growing” don’t come natural to most younger people.

Rather, than admit defeat and accept the future of a colorless world, Seth and I set out to find a way to get plants in front of more people. Rather than try to bring young people to the garden, we wanted to bring the plants to them. The Average American now spends around 3 hours a day using apps on their phone, so naturally that had to be our platform.

We see GrowIt! as a way to introduce people to plants and other gardeners. It’s a community where the experienced gardener can share their expertise and knowledge, but also a place where plant rookies can obtain the most basic plant information. It’s our job to connect people of every growing level.

If you want to see how plants are important to you and society, all you have to do is Google “benefits of plants” to see what I’m talking about. We’re discovering new benefits every day. That’s where the real passion behind GrowIt! is. Sure, it’s a fun app to share your photos and brag about your garden, but at the end of the day the goal is to inspire people to get growing. Plants are amazing, and we want to make sure more people know that.

– Mason Day, Co-founder of GrowIt!

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www.facebook.com/growitapp

Who Is GrowIt!?

Sure, GrowIt! is an app for sharing plant pictures and rating plants.

However, the difference between GrowIt! and the million other gardening apps out there is that GrowIt! is also about people.

Our mission at GrowIt! is to get more people out in the garden. We want to connect gardeners to other gardeners. We want people that have never owned a plant before to be able to connect to every “green thumb” in their area. It’s time to enhance the Growing Culture by creating a platform for people who want to share and learn about plants.

Today to introduce the People aspect of GrowIt! I ask the question:

We’d like to have you believe that there are a million employees at GrowIt! that drive Segways around the office and play ping pong on their lunch breaks, but in reality GrowIt! is two average guys with the backing of an awesome technical team.

Co-Founders:

Seth Reed – Seth brings stability and hair gel to the GrowIt! team. He’s a man who’s truly embedded into plants. After receiving a degree in Horticulture from the University of Illinois, Seth moved north to the Chicago suburbs where he worked in the commercial flower seed industry for almost a decade. Seth is a true family man, and spends every moment he can with his daughter. Let’s just hope she doesn’t turn out like him :).

Mason Day – Mason brings creativity and a lack of knowledge of anything Pre-1990 to the GrowIt! team. Mason grew up around plants on a small farm and garden center in rural Michigan. After graduating from Cornell University, Mason moved west to the Chicago suburbs to work in Social Media. His primary focus was to develop content for leading plant brands. Though he has adjusted to the “grown-up” lifestyle he does still have the occasional “YOLO!” outburst in the office.

The Tech Team:

Eight Bit Studios – When Seth and I created the concept for GrowIt!, we knew we would need some help. Neither of us knew the first thing about computer coding and programming. We sought to find a development company that was truly the best of the best in the Chicago area, and we found that group in Eight Bit Studios. They are responsible for taking all of your ideas and our crazy concepts and putting them into action. They are also the voice of reason when Seth and I suggest ideas that are simply out of date!

At the end of the day though, the real people driving GrowIt! are the people across the nation (and globe) that use the app every day to help out their fellow growers. For this we thank YOU!