It's a Tough Job

A gorgeous mophead hydrangea in the trial garden at McCorkle Nurseries.
I can't remember this one's name, but it was a beauty!

I just completed two and a half days of planning meetings with my employer, McCorkle Nurseries. McCorkle grows ornamental shrubs (and some trees) in a beautiful rural setting in Dearing, Georgia, about 30 minutes west of Augusta. The planning meeting was held at the farm in Dearing. I am responsible for forecasting sales for future years and working with Operations in Dearing to plan production crops to meet the sales forecast. We finished the meeting before noon today which allowed me time to tour the nursery to check out the various crops currently in production. I get so excited looking at all the beautiful plants; it's hard for me to resist loading up my truck with one of everything. This time I escaped with just a couple of hydrangeas and loropetalums. I was very disciplined. After touring the nursery, I walked through the trial garden and research center where we test plants before adding them to our offering. The trial garden is fantastic, a plant lover's dream.

Entrance to the Trial Garden
Don't you just want to walk down that path and see where it takes you?

We are testing a wide range of blueberries, and these shrubs were loaded down with fruit. Mike, who manages the research center told me I could pick all I wanted. I had a blast! In just a few minutes I picked about a gallon.

Picking blueberries.
It's a tough job!

These three days at the McCorkle farm working with the McCorkle family reminded me just how blessed I am. Blessed to have a job that suits me so well -- that allows me to work with great people some of the time, and by myself much of the time. I thrive on quiet, calm, and solitude -- so to have a job that allows me to work mostly on my own, from my home, from my cabin even -- well that's a tremendous blessing, and I am grateful. And to work with people who appreciate me for who I am and allow me, even encourage me, to work in a setting where I thrive, well that's about as good as it gets I think. But then to top it off, I work with plants, which I love. So even when I'm crunching numbers all day long, plants are at the heart of what I'm doing. I'm totally justified (even expected) to tour the farm and look at beautiful plants, to sample the blueberries, to walk garden centers and see what the competition is doing, to test our awesome plants in my own garden. I am so blessed and grateful.