G&S Nursery Summer 2019 Newsletter
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INSIDER<br />
SUMMER <strong>2019</strong><br />
There’s<br />
something<br />
familiar<br />
about that<br />
photo...<br />
WHAT’S INSIDE | THIS ISSUE<br />
WWII WONDER WOMAN<br />
TREE-MENDOUS QC<br />
FEATURED PLANT
Nancy Wake,<br />
Real Life Wonder Woman<br />
From the BBC News<br />
Obituary in August<br />
2011:<br />
Nancy Wake, the<br />
French Resistance<br />
fighter who<br />
became Australia’s<br />
most decorated<br />
World War<br />
II heroine, has<br />
died in a London<br />
hospital at the<br />
age of 98.<br />
Born in New Zealand and raised in<br />
Sydney, Ms Wake was nicknamed<br />
“The White Mouse” by the Gestapo<br />
because she was so hard to capture.<br />
She is regarded as a heroine in<br />
France, which decorated her with<br />
its highest honour, the Legion<br />
d’Honneur, as well as three Croix<br />
de Guerre and a French Resistance<br />
Medal.<br />
Ms Wake left Australia and moved<br />
to France in 1932, joining the Resistance<br />
after the German invasion in<br />
1940 and helping shelter displaced<br />
Jews fleeing the Nazi regime.<br />
Confirming Ms Wake’s death today,<br />
New Zealand’s veterans’ affairs<br />
minister Judith Collins hailed her as<br />
a woman of exceptional courage<br />
and tenacity.<br />
Family friend Les Partell said Ms<br />
Wake was one of the world’s greatest<br />
women and had a knack for<br />
survival.<br />
“Anyone else would have got<br />
knocked off left, right and centre,”<br />
he said.<br />
“She was just so good at what she<br />
did. She survived. She more than<br />
survived, she personified survival.”<br />
2<br />
Credited with helping to save thousands<br />
of lives, Ms Wake was placed<br />
at the top of the Gestapo’s most<br />
wanted list and fled France for England<br />
on the advice of her husband<br />
Henri Fiocca in 1943.<br />
“Henri said, ‘You have to leave’, and<br />
I remember going out the door saying<br />
I’d do some shopping, that I’d<br />
be back soon. And I left and I never<br />
saw him again.”<br />
Trained as a spy by Britain’s Special<br />
Operations Executive, she then<br />
returned to Nazi-occupied France to<br />
work with the Resistance in preparation<br />
for the D-Day landings in<br />
Normandy in June 1944.<br />
Parachuted back into France, Ms<br />
Wake’s job was to distribute weapons<br />
among Resistance fighters hiding<br />
in the mountains.<br />
“In those days it was safer, or a<br />
woman had more chance than a<br />
man, to get around, because the<br />
Germans were taking men out just<br />
like that.”<br />
To arrange the delivery of weapons<br />
and other supplies, messages had<br />
to be sent via radio phones.<br />
Ms Wake’s group lost theirs during a<br />
raid by German troops.<br />
This disastrous loss meant Ms Wake<br />
had to pedal more than 200km to<br />
another radio operator.<br />
“The blokes didn’t think I’d ever get<br />
back. I only volunteered for it not<br />
because I’m brave but because I<br />
was the only one who could do it,<br />
being a woman.<br />
“I got back and they said “How are<br />
you?” I cried. I couldn’t stand up,<br />
I couldn’t sit down. I couldn’t do<br />
anything. I just cried.”<br />
She had lived in London since 2001.<br />
Greetings!<br />
In the last newsletter, I mentioned<br />
my background in the industrial<br />
supply business. Now that I am fully<br />
engaged in the operations of this<br />
nursery, I have spent a good deal of<br />
time considering the differences in<br />
the two industries and how much of<br />
the strategies we developed in the<br />
supply business could be incorporated<br />
into the nursery business.<br />
There are some obvious differences<br />
between selling plant material and<br />
saw blades. Consistency of product<br />
is much more of a challenge when<br />
it comes to plants. But there are<br />
some things that are very similar<br />
between the two businesses.<br />
One similarity is the customer’s<br />
appreciation for a vendor who can<br />
solve their problems and make their<br />
jobs easier. I am certain that if we<br />
can consistently deliver quality on<br />
time and avoid surprises, we can<br />
make a positive impact on the lives<br />
and people that we touch.<br />
One area we’ve been really working<br />
on lately is becoming a better<br />
source for trees. The way I see it,<br />
when you are able to get more from<br />
a single vendor, you will save on<br />
administrative costs and generally<br />
make your life easier. If you’re<br />
already buying your shrubs and<br />
ground cover from a single source,<br />
you would likely appreciate the option<br />
of buying more from the same<br />
reliable source if you could get<br />
quality, consistency and competetive<br />
pricing.<br />
We’ve recently made some<br />
changes in our operations with<br />
this goal in mind. I have brought<br />
in Janet Hall to represent us at<br />
nurseries throughout the state,<br />
tagging material that meets our<br />
standards so that when we deliver<br />
your weeping yaupon tree to your<br />
jobsite, you can be assured that it<br />
will be exactly as it is described.<br />
We’ve also brought in a veteran<br />
of the tree business, my brother<br />
Scott Curry, to make sure our tree<br />
pricing is always in line with the<br />
market.<br />
In addition, we are now working<br />
with specialty freight companies<br />
to shave costs in situations where<br />
going with a shipper saves money<br />
over using our own trucks.<br />
Every day offers new opportunities<br />
to improve our process. I’d love to<br />
hear from you about what you’d<br />
like to see us do to make your job<br />
easier and your business more<br />
successful!<br />
Take Care,<br />
Gabriel Curry<br />
President<br />
G&S <strong>Nursery</strong><br />
386 754-0161<br />
gabriel@gsnursery.com<br />
3
Old Masters of the<br />
Auto Garage<br />
By Gabriel Curry<br />
Freddy Fabris is a<br />
professional photographer<br />
whose<br />
work ranges from<br />
commissioned<br />
advertising to fine<br />
art.<br />
Growing up as a<br />
child of two professional<br />
dancers, Freddy spent time<br />
in New York and Argentina before<br />
making Chicago his home. He was<br />
accompanying a friend to drop off<br />
a car at an independent auto shop<br />
when he was struck by the artistic<br />
possibilities the space had to offer.<br />
After getting the consent of the<br />
shop owner, he assembled a group<br />
of models. He chose men whom he<br />
estimated could be believable both<br />
in the role of auto mechanic yet also<br />
possessed an air of romantic nobility<br />
of the kind that might have appeared<br />
at home within a classical painting.<br />
“Because of my painting background<br />
I’ve always wanted to re-create classic<br />
masterpieces, but I knew that<br />
in order to create something that<br />
would create a new dialogue on an<br />
old subject, there had to be a twist,”<br />
Fabris says. “How could we tell these<br />
stories in a new context? How could<br />
we bring a little humor yet respect<br />
and homage the originals?”<br />
The series of photographs that resulted<br />
from this project has brought<br />
smiles to virtually everyone who has<br />
seen them. Some of the images are a<br />
playful riff on a famous masterpiece,<br />
while others are simply portraits in<br />
the spirit of a Rembrandt with no<br />
specific painting in mind. The characteristic<br />
lighting and tonality of the<br />
photos, combined with the special<br />
presence of the carefully chosen models,<br />
combine to sell the notion of fine<br />
art that Fabris so skillfully achieves.<br />
Images and content courtesy of Fabris<br />
Photography. Fabris’ quotation is from<br />
an article in Popular Mechanics.<br />
4<br />
5
Featured<br />
Plant<br />
Galphimia is a shrub that<br />
may be just the plant you are<br />
looking for if you are seeking a<br />
lesser-known bush that grows<br />
easily in full sun and yields<br />
small, star-shaped yellow flowers<br />
from July to late fall.<br />
Once established, Galphimia<br />
will grow in any Southern<br />
landscape to 3-4 feet tall with<br />
a bushy profile. The plant<br />
responds well to trimming,<br />
sending out new blooms soon<br />
after pruning.<br />
The plant will die back in the<br />
winter if you experience below<br />
freezing temperatures, but will<br />
re-emerge once the weather<br />
gets warm as long as there<br />
have been no extended cold<br />
snaps below 15° F.<br />
There is a lot of conflicting<br />
information as to the name of this<br />
plant. It is often called Thryallis, but<br />
according to the International Code<br />
of Botanical Nomenclature, this is<br />
6<br />
386 754-0161<br />
Galphimia<br />
Galphimia Gracillis<br />
3 gal: $4.85!<br />
Prices good through the end of August<br />
<strong>2019</strong><br />
not correct. Despite the earnest efforts<br />
of the experts to train the rest of us,<br />
the names Golden Thryallis or Rain of<br />
Gold prevail in normal usage for this<br />
plant.<br />
“If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much”<br />
— Donald Rumsfeld<br />
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY<br />
G&S is delighted to introduce you to our<br />
newest team members!<br />
As Gabriel mentioned in his column<br />
on page 3, Janet Hall has joined<br />
G&S in a new position created to<br />
ensure consistency and accuracy<br />
in the plant material you order from<br />
us. She gets to combine her love of<br />
plants with a love of travel to be our<br />
eyes in the field, scouting out which<br />
nurseries have the best specimens<br />
of the trees and shrubs that our<br />
clients are asking for. Whereas most<br />
buyers have to rely on a telephone<br />
Janet Hall<br />
description or a representative photo<br />
to make their material purchase decisions, we now have a nursery business<br />
veteran with two good eyes and a wealth of experience to make the<br />
critical call. It’s one more step we’ve taken to eliminate surprises when<br />
the G&S truck pulls up with material at your next installation.<br />
Janet has a long history working in nurseries. A few years ago, she broke<br />
her hip, and she thought she would have to slow down and get a more<br />
sedentary job. Now fully recovered, she’s had enough of confinement and<br />
is exhiliarated to be back in her element—on the road and knee-deep in<br />
plant material!<br />
Teri Flanagan is our newest inside<br />
sales representative. She comes to us<br />
with a solid background in customer<br />
service. Although new to the nursery<br />
business, she is experienced in handling<br />
problems and helping customers<br />
get the answers they are needing,<br />
and she’s not bashful about admitting<br />
what she doesn’t know while she’s<br />
learning the ropes.<br />
A large part of Teri’s job is providing<br />
Teri Flanagan<br />
support for our outside sales staff so<br />
they can get answers quickly for the customers they are calling on.<br />
When she’s not on the job, Teri likes to read, watch a good movie, work in<br />
the yard or hang out with friends. She also appreciates a good craft beer<br />
and burger at one of Jacksonville’s local breweries. Being a single mom,<br />
she keeps busy with a 12-year old daughter and an older daughter entering<br />
her senior year at NYU. Two cats and a dog round out a household<br />
she’s maintained for 18 years in the Mandarin area of Jacksonville.<br />
www.gsnursery.com<br />
7
1550 SW Bedenbaugh Ln.<br />
Lake City FL 32025<br />
RIDDLE OF THE MONTH<br />
I sometimes come in a can but I’m not<br />
food<br />
I sometimes come in a tube but I’m not<br />
toothpaste<br />
I come in different colors but I’m not a<br />
rainbow<br />
I’m sometimes used with canvas but I’m<br />
not a tent<br />
...What am I?<br />
LAST ISSUE RIDDLE:<br />
Zack was in the final lap of the G&S 500.<br />
He’d been trailing Pedro, who was in<br />
second place, for several laps when he<br />
finally saw his opportunity and passed<br />
him in the straightaway just before the<br />
checkered flag. What place did Zack<br />
finish?<br />
A. He finished 2nd.<br />
ANSWER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN:<br />
MASTERPIECE<br />
TV WALLPAPER<br />
SLIDE SHOW<br />
LAST ISSUE’S WINNERS<br />
Marlee Mercer<br />
Wynona Dudley<br />
Ashley Klinger-<br />
Degregoria<br />
Send answers to newsletter@gsnursery.com before July 31, <strong>2019</strong>. All correct<br />
answers will be entered into a drawing to win a prize!