ABOUT KAREN
It was the smell, I remember that the most. I walked into the elementary school gymnasium with my class. They were on the top of the lunch tables. It was the Mother's Day plant sale. It is one of my earliest memories. I remember wandering table to table, trying to choose. I even remember when I was giving them the money I did not have enough. I am not sure what was said but the look on my face must have been priceless because I remember leaving with them all.
I cannot tell you that ignited a passion right away. I was a typical, although shy, high school student. I grew up in rural New Jersey, got good grades and swam on the Swim Team.Then I found myself in the high school guidance counselor office, it was time for college applications. I don't think I had given it much thought and I remember her asking “Well what do you like?” "Plants" I said.
I attended Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture where I studied horticulture. I
started dreaming of owning an apple orchard and one of those beautiful Pennsylvania farm
markets. Until I took an Ornamental Horticulture class. I learned to start seeds and root plants from cuttings. Magic! Then a plant pathology class, those diseases and insect pests... nutrients... deficiencies... trying to figure out was wrong. That brought me to the University of Maine where I earned a Masters of Science in Plant Pathology. Well now, what do I do with that?
That original greenhouse still stands. It is filled with geraniums every spring. I have been fortunate to be able to do what I love, grow plants. I have been equally fortunate to have raised my two sons where I love to be. They played under the benches and in the soil bin with their toy trucks. As teenagers they took that soil, filled pots, and transplanted. I am proud of the successful young men they have become. It warms my heart to hear that spring has not arrived for them until they find their way back here, walk into the greenhouses and smell.
I became an Extension Technician working with the University of Massachusetts and Ocean
Spray working on diseases of cranberries. Growing cranberries in bogs, living near Cape Cod, was
interesting but Maine called me back. I arrived back at my parents home in Orrington jobless. I
looked up an old friend, he was a scientist at the lab where I studied at Umaine, and he had a
greenhouse business. His advice... buy his old greenhouse and grow plants!
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