If you have a student home on winter break—or maybe you are that student—here’s a productive task to undertake: apply for one of several scholarships available through the National Horticulture Foundation. All students need a) to gain experience and expertise, and b) the money to make it happen. If we’re looking to build the horticulture industry’s next generation of productive and eager contributors, we need to make sure these students can make it through their schooling.

As I said, there are several scholarships available through the NHF:

James S. Davis Memorial Fund, available to full-time undergraduate students attending a community college, university or technical institution within the state of Florida. Apply here.

Hoskin/McDougald Scholarship Fund, established by the Palm Beach Chapter of FNGLA. Apply here.

Billy Barwald Memorial Scholarship, established in 2016 by the Northeast Chapter of FNGLA. Apply here.

There’s also a General Application Fund for full-time undergraduates, graduate students and non-traditional students attending community college, university or technical college outside of Florida. I’m a big fan of the work ethic it takes to be a non-traditional student, so this scholarship is my jam. Apply here.

The reason I’m saying to jump on this task NOW is because the deadline for all applications is January 15, which is soon! Students will need A 2.5 or above grade point average, and since only one application per person is accepted, choose which scholarship fits you best. Good luck!

Speaking of NHF, it’s time to reserve your space at the second annual International Plantscape Awards Gala, an event that supports the organization. The International Plantscape Awards and Plantscape Hall of Fame will be held in partnership with TPIE, FNGLA and NHF on the evening of Thursday, January 19th, at the Tampa Convention Center in Florida. And by “gala,” they do mean gala! The full awards program presentation includes a four-course meal. Yum!

But enough about the food—it really is all about recognizing the outstanding achievements in interior plantscape design, installation, creativity, renovation and innovation. Entries are judged on their own merit rather than against each other. I love that type of award-giving. I’ve seen the work of past winners, and it’s truly amazing what folks in this industry can do. Not to mention that this event does good work by being a fundraiser for NHF. All proceeds will be designated to research, education and marketing initiatives through the Interior Industry Growth Fund.

So go ahead, kick off your New Year with a Gala. Register for the event HERE. (P.S. You’re going to TPIE in Tampa, too, right?)

If you’re into orchids, you’ll be glad to know that the International Orchid Show will be putting on its 75^th edition at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara, California, March 10-12. This will be the first show since 2019, as the 2020 show was cancelling abruptly due to you-know-what. So this year’s show title, “Orchids—The Adventure Returns,” really is quite fitting.

I am impressed with the number of orchid growers on the list! This truly is an international show. Not only are there growers participating that are local to Santa Barbara, but folks from other parts of Cali, Florida and even South America will be showing, as well—maybe even further afield.

Go online to view a workshop and demonstration schedule and to purchase tickets. It’s sure to be a visually stunning day!

If you are looking for a last-minute gift for the houseplant lover in your household or on your staff, I’ll share with you a quick review hort professor emeritus Richard Criley sent along for a brand new book on houseplants. How do I know it’s about houseplants? Because its title is “House Plants.” (I can be such a smart aleck sometimes.)

Here’s what Richard had to say about the book, which he calls “not your usual house plant book:”

“House Plants,” a 2022 book by botanist/horticulturist Mike Maunder, is a history of the origins and uses of house plants. Certainly there are photos and illustrations of a great variety of house plants, and a couple chapters (The Gathering of the Exotics and Monsters and Beauties) dwell extensively on where the plants hailed from and how they came into cultivation.

Maunders begins by reminding us why we need nature and that house plants help to satisfy that need. House plants are living things that interact with us and help to form the ecology of our living spaces as we introduce them for our happiness, health and general well-being.

I found his chapter on the House of Plants to be stimulating as he illustrates and describes living spaces of the future that are especially designed to integrate plants and spaces for growing plants into the architecture of buildings in cities. Photographs of some high rises resemble cliff faces full of trees, shrubs, and small filler plants. Beyond this he introduces genetically modified plants that glow, plants that can signal when pollutants are present and the technologies that can send this message to a cell phone, and other technologies that can move a plant to better lighting or to a watering spot.

Maunders concludes with a thoughtful discussion of Wild and Endangered Relatives, reminding us that the common house plants are derived from species that are endangered or may no longer exist in the wild due to rapacious gathering by collectors. He posits that maybe it is time to add a conservation tax to the price of some plants to support conservation of species and their habitats. In whatever final form of their use, house plants are envoys for a world that is fast being lost—to nature blindness. Reaktion Books LTD, London.

Thanks for the review, Richard! (He purchased his copy through the University of Chicago Press, for anyone wishing to find a copy of their own.)

Happy holidays, everyone! I’ll see you next year!