And the HILA goes to...

This month, at the OFA Short Course in Columbus, Ohio, the GIE Horticulture Group will honor representatives of all 50 states for their outstanding contributions to their industry and to their communities ... And, certainly, to their callings, for there’s no question that our honorees were called to be where they are. And, boy, are we glad they were.

The inaugural Horticultural Industries Leadership Awards—we like to call them the HILAs—will cite many noteworthy people and even more noteworthy achievements, the collection of which should make us all proud to call these fine folks friends and colleagues.

As you might expect, deciding on 50-some-odd “bests” from this industry was no small chore. I met with fellow editorial types Todd Davis and Dave Kuack (publisher and editor, respectively, of our sister publications Nursery Management and Greenhouse Management) on several occasions to sift through dozens of nominations “from the field.”

We rated and debated the merits of each, even offering a few candidates of our own from the three hort fields (nursery growing, greenhouse growing and retailing). Then we played “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” when it became obvious that there is no way to cite JUST 50 great people from this great industry—and when it became obvious that I’m a much better RPS player than either Todd or Dave.

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