A Letter Home from Camp Monrovia
Earlier this month I gathered with a group of dedicated plant people to explore the big, bountiful world of Monrovia--and the only thing missing was the s'mores.
Dear Folks,
My camp adventure began with an invitation from Monrovia:
“Join us for an immersive tour of Monrovia's Visalia, California nursery, learning how we grow beautifully here — and what's in store for 2024.”
For myself and a dozen other plant enthusiasts, including landscape designers and content creators, the invitation included dinner with Monrovia CEO and President Jonathan Pedersen and other Monrovia managers (who they call “coaches”), followed by a tour the next day of the huge Monrovia nursery and a number of presentations and activities. And there may have been some mention of free plants. I’m not saying that that in any way influenced my decision to attend, but I did make sure that the trunk of my car was empty when I headed down Highway 99 toward Visalia.
Monrovia is one of the major plant suppliers in the country, with nurseries in Oregon, Georgia, and Connecticut, in addition to the Visalia location, so of course I was interested in seeing what they are cooking up for the coming seasons. We started with a beautiful dinner at the rooftop restaurant at the Darling Hotel where we were able to just chat and get to know each other a bit. (Note: If all camps started with fine dining and free-flowing wine, I might have been a much more enthusiastic camper as a child.) The conversation was friendly and lively, as I have come to expect when I’m in the company of plant people.
The next morning we headed over to the Monrovia nursery and began our tour. I’ll admit that, having toured many nurseries over the past 15+ years, I sometimes find myself thinking that it’s not worth the time to go to yet another one, but the truth is that I learn more with every nursery visit. Horticulture is a very dynamic industry. The smartest companies (and there are a lot of them) are always looking to improve processes and develop new and interesting plants that meet the needs and expectations of home gardeners.
It was interesting, for example, to see methods and techniques, including automation, that Monrovia has adopted to improve the working conditions of its employees (or in Monrovia parlance, its “craftsmen”). Why waste worker time and energy simply moving pots around when you can employ adorable little robots to perform this mindless but necessary task?
The craftsmen themselves are plenty impressive as well. We met a number of them who have been with the company for decades, including one gentleman who gave us an expert demonstration of grafting. He’d been working for Monrovia for more than 50 years!
Of course, when you perform the same tasks for years, you build up some master-level skills. Watch how quickly this craftsman pruned this juniper into a perfect spiral:
In addition to touring the acres of nursery grounds with container plants stretching as far as the eye can see, we got a presentation of some of Monrovia’s new plants for 2024 and a sneak peek at a few goodies they have planned for 2025. We discussed trends that the company has identified and is responding to, such as gardening for well-being and interest in water-wise gardening that is now extending far beyond the usual thirsty areas of California and the Southwest.
And what is camp without a little friendly competition? To wrap up our day, we were divided into three teams to participate in a container design challenge. We had only 15 minutes to select our plants and another few minutes to get them potted, so the pressure was on. I think my team did rather well:
Our hosts were very diplomatic and decided that rather than declare one winner, they would award all of us with gift certificates. To be honest, I’m not sure I would have been able to pick just one winner of the three either.
After what felt like a whirlwind visit, it was time to head home again. Lucky for me, I had a three-and-a-half-hour drive back home to think of where in my garden I would place the plants that filled the trunk of my car.
I have to say Camp Monrovia was a lot of fun and very informative. Every bit of it was stimulating and well organized and I’m grateful that they included me. Our hosts thought of everything to make the event an entertaining and collegial learning experience.
And I didn’t really miss the s’mores.
Cheers,
Claire