September 26, 2017 – This month marked the annual Horticultural Encounter and Open House at our Village Nurseries Sacramento facility. The week-long event began Monday, September 18 and included tours of the nursery and a “Horticultural Encounter” display of beautiful landscape vignettes. Over the course of the week, Regional Marketing Representative/New Plants Chair Suzie Wiest and Plantsman Nicholas Staddon gave tours to 84 Northern California-based landscape designers, including the Bay Area and Sacramento chapters of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD).
The landscape vignettes, designed by Suzie Wiest and built by Director of Contractor Sales Rick Stiles and Territory Manager Bill Sturdivant, were designed to show plants “in action” in specific landscape situations:
- Perfect Pairings
- Dry Lush Delights
- Dreams of Deep Shade
- Mediterranean Marvels
- Animal Attraction
- Succulent Sensations
- Supreme Screens
The “belle of the ball” in the display was a multi-branch Bonsai Jacaranda, one of our newest plant introductions.
On Thursday, September 21, 89 landscape professionals gathered at the nursery for an Open House and speaker event. This year’s speakers included MWELO authority Lance Sweeney of Sweeney & Associates, Inc., Nicholas Staddon, and Sunset Western Garden director Janet Sluis of Plant Development Services, Inc. Guests were treated to beverages, dinner, and a raffle. The speaker portion ended with a roundtable discussion for guests to ask questions in an informal setting.
Village Nurseries Horticultural Encounters are part of an ongoing company initiative to provide educational outreach to landscape professionals in California.