Give Me a Grower

Art Parkerson

Give me a grower whose office is the greenhouse, whose work vehicle is most often their own two legs and whose timeclock is a Rainbird.

Give me a grower so obsessed with efficiency that they waste neither movement nor moment and seize every opportunity to simply stroll about doing nothing but observing their crops.

Give me a grower who listens to plants and talks to people. Who leads employees and is led by leaves.

Give me a grower who is a better meteorologist than the local news channel’s weatherman.

Give me a grower who makes meticulous plans, but then happily does whatever the plants demand, for plants can’t read spreadsheets.

Give me a grower whose primary growth regulator is H2O.

Give me a grower who truly enjoys working hard under a blazing sun or in a humid greenhouse, but also has a lazy streak strong enough to avoid unnecessary touches.

Give me a grower who is smart enough to know when they’re ignorant and confident enough to doubt everything they think they know.

Give me a grower who loves their plants enough to sacrifice all sensible comfort to serve them, yet is unsentimental enough to celebrate wildly when they depart, seemingly overnight, without so much as a “thank you” or “goodbye.”

Give me a grower who desires to do this over and over again.

Give me a grower who will be proud and unflinching when they fail, and humble and gracious when they succeed.

Give me a grower who counts pennies.

Give me a grower who considers prayer to be most effective as a prophylactic, not an emergency cure.

Give me a grower whose mind is always in the soil. Give me a grower who looks at roots, not flowers.

Give me a grower who is generous with their time and attention, and stingy with water.

Finally, give me a grower who can propagate not only plants, but also themself. May they be able to mentor, train and inspire others to the noble calling of horticulture. GT

Art Parkerson lives and works at Lancaster Farms, a wholesale nursery in Suffolk, Virginia. To say hello, write to art@lancasterfarms.com.