President’s Column by Jake Pierson, Pierson Nurseries, Inc.


MELNA President Jake Pierson


Greetings fellow MELNA members. I want to open my first President’s column with thanking you for the opportunity to lead this tremendous organization. I have grown up with this association and have known many of you for much of my life. I consider it a great honor to lead MELNA, especially in light of the exciting ventures that MELNA is about to undertake.


First and foremost is our very own Flower


Show. We are deep into the planning for the inaugural show to be held in 2017. Te committees are having robust discussions and are moving forward to make this a reality for our association. I would like to personally thank all the members of the various committees that are working on OUR Flower Show.


On another note about our Flower Show,


we have hired a producer to run our show. After an exhaustive search, we decided to hire our capable and versatile Executive Director, Don Sproul. I’m excited to announce our choice as I feel that Don will guarantee the success of our show.


Our second venture is the Plant Something


Program, a national program that raises awareness of our products with the consumer. We are rolling out a marketing campaign this spring in conjunction with Independent Garden Centers of Maine to maximize our advertising dollars. In the future, we plan on tying together marketing for the Flower Show with the Plant Something Program to help both brands.


As you can see MELNA has some exciting


programs in the works for the future. I feel that these initiatives will continue the positive growth that our association has experienced in the past number of years. Te future looks bright for MELNA and I’m thankful that I can lead us with these projects. If you have any interest in getting involved in these ventures, please contact myself or Don Sproul.


Lastly I want to alert all of you to a very serious issue in our industry, Plant Shortages. Tey are real and they are here. Balled and burlapped shade trees are in very short supply as are broadleafs, boxwoods, junipers, and other slower growing plants. Some shortages are much more acute than others but they do exist. So please plan ahead and get your plants ordered early and be prepared for substitutions.


I wish you all a successful season. If you


have any questions/concerns/pledge of help, please contact me at the email below.


Jake Pierson jpierson@piersonnurseries.com


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Spring2016


(photo by Edith Ellis)


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