This 'n' Data

California, here we come
Planning to attend the 2010 California Spring Trials? Be sure to check out these sites.

• Ball Horticultural Co. April 10-16. Ball Horticultural Research Facility, 335 S. Briggs Road, Santa Paula, CA 93060. Contact Mary Long, mlong@panamseed.com
• Ecke Ranch, Oglevee. April 10-17. Ecke Ranch, 441Saxony Road, Encinitas, CA 92024. Contact Snow Maestas, smaestas@eckeranch.com
• Fides North America. April 10-15. Fides North America, 15245 W. Telegraph, Santa Paula, CA 93060. Contact Beatrice Pool, b.pool@fidesnorthamerica.com
• Goldsmith Seeds. April 10-16. Goldsmith Seeds, 2280 Hecker Pass Highway, Gilroy, CA 95020. Contact Keysha Weintz, springtrials@goldsmithseeds.com
• Hort Couture. April 10-17. Plant Haven/Island View Nursery, 3376 Foothill Road, Carpinteria, CA 93013. Contact Denise Frey-Vanderford, denise.frey@planthaven.com
• John Henry. April 10-16. Imagination Canyon Greenhouse, 1200 Via Regina, Santa Barbara, CA 93111.
• MasterTag. April 10-16. Speedling Inc., 2640 San Juan Highway, San Juan Bautista, CA 95045. Contact Dori Leutzinger, packtrials@mastertag.com
• PanAmerican Seed. April 10-16. Ball Horticultural Research Facility, 335 S. Briggs Road, Santa Paula, CA 93060. Contact Mary Long, mlong@panamseed.com
• Proven Winners. April 10-16. EuroAmerican Propagators LLC, 32149 Aqueduct Road, Bonsall, CA 92003. Contact Kerry Meyer, Kerry@provenwinners.com
• Speedling Inc. April 10-16. Speedling Inc., 2640 San Juan Highway, San Juan Bautista, CA 95045. Contact Kathy Enders, kenders@speedling.com
• Syngenta Flowers. April 10-16. Goldsmith Seeds, 2280 Hecker Pass Highway, Gilroy, CA 95020. Contact Keysha Weintz, springtrials@goldsmithseeds.com

Building a garden center – from the mud up!
This spring, Jan and George Wallace will open their upstart retail store, Sugar Creek Garden Center in Fort Mill, S.C. We will check in periodically to see how the business develops. For starters, we wanted to know just what is the biggest challenge facing the couple as they start a new business.

“Other than finding financing, our biggest challenge has been the over 19 inches of rain that have fallen since we broke ground Sept. 28, 2009,” Jan said. “Every major milestone has happened in the rain. The retaining wall … the slab (we stood outside for over three hours with our kids waiting for it to cure enough to put our handprints in it, and it never did, it was getting dark, so we had to leave). The store was erected in the rain. The curb is going in, in the rain. It has been unbelievable.

“We have had to think outside the box to get this finished—from scraping away probably 100 loads of mud, to bringing in dry fill, to treating the soil so that we can at least gravel the parking lot and have it ready to pave once things dry up. It’s been an exercise in sheer determination and willpower.” www.sugarcreekgardencenter.com