Summer 2019

INSIDER
SUMMER 2019
There’s
something
familiar
about that
photo...
WHAT’S INSIDE | THIS ISSUE
WWII WONDER WOMAN
TREE-MENDOUS QC
FEATURED PLANT

Nancy Wake,
Real Life Wonder Woman
From the BBC News
Obituary in August
2011:
Nancy Wake, the
French Resistance
fighter who
became Australia’s
most decorated
World War
II heroine, has
died in a London
hospital at the
age of 98.
Born in New Zealand and raised in
Sydney, Ms Wake was nicknamed
“The White Mouse” by the Gestapo
because she was so hard to capture.
She is regarded as a heroine in
France, which decorated her with
its highest honour, the Legion
d’Honneur, as well as three Croix
de Guerre and a French Resistance
Medal.
Ms Wake left Australia and moved
to France in 1932, joining the Resistance
after the German invasion in
1940 and helping shelter displaced
Jews fleeing the Nazi regime.
Confirming Ms Wake’s death today,
New Zealand’s veterans’ affairs
minister Judith Collins hailed her as
a woman of exceptional courage
and tenacity.
Family friend Les Partell said Ms
Wake was one of the world’s greatest
women and had a knack for
survival.
“Anyone else would have got
knocked off left, right and centre,”
he said.
“She was just so good at what she
did. She survived. She more than
survived, she personified survival.”
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Credited with helping to save thousands
of lives, Ms Wake was placed
at the top of the Gestapo’s most
wanted list and fled France for England
on the advice of her husband
Henri Fiocca in 1943.
“Henri said, ‘You have to leave’, and
I remember going out the door saying
I’d do some shopping, that I’d
be back soon. And I left and I never
saw him again.”
Trained as a spy by Britain’s Special
Operations Executive, she then
returned to Nazi-occupied France to
work with the Resistance in preparation
for the D-Day landings in
Normandy in June 1944.
Parachuted back into France, Ms
Wake’s job was to distribute weapons
among Resistance fighters hiding
in the mountains.
“In those days it was safer, or a
woman had more chance than a
man, to get around, because the
Germans were taking men out just
like that.”
To arrange the delivery of weapons
and other supplies, messages had
to be sent via radio phones.
Ms Wake’s group lost theirs during a
raid by German troops.
This disastrous loss meant Ms Wake
had to pedal more than 200km to
another radio operator.
“The blokes didn’t think I’d ever get
back. I only volunteered for it not
because I’m brave but because I
was the only one who could do it,
being a woman.
“I got back and they said “How are
you?” I cried. I couldn’t stand up,
I couldn’t sit down. I couldn’t do
anything. I just cried.”
She had lived in London since 2001.
Greetings!
In the last newsletter, I mentioned
my background in the industrial
supply business. Now that I am fully
engaged in the operations of this
nursery, I have spent a good deal of
time considering the differences in
the two industries and how much of
the strategies we developed in the
supply business could be incorporated
into the nursery business.
There are some obvious differences
between selling plant material and
saw blades. Consistency of product
is much more of a challenge when
it comes to plants. But there are
some things that are very similar
between the two businesses.
One similarity is the customer’s
appreciation for a vendor who can
solve their problems and make their
jobs easier. I am certain that if we
can consistently deliver quality on
time and avoid surprises, we can
make a positive impact on the lives
and people that we touch.
One area we’ve been really working
on lately is becoming a better
source for trees. The way I see it,
when you are able to get more from
a single vendor, you will save on
administrative costs and generally
make your life easier. If you’re
already buying your shrubs and
ground cover from a single source,
you would likely appreciate the option
of buying more from the same
reliable source if you could get
quality, consistency and competetive
pricing.
We’ve recently made some
changes in our operations with
this goal in mind. I have brought
in Janet Hall to represent us at
nurseries throughout the state,
tagging material that meets our
standards so that when we deliver
your weeping yaupon tree to your
jobsite, you can be assured that it
will be exactly as it is described.
We’ve also brought in a veteran
of the tree business, my brother
Scott Curry, to make sure our tree
pricing is always in line with the
market.
In addition, we are now working
with specialty freight companies
to shave costs in situations where
going with a shipper saves money
over using our own trucks.
Every day offers new opportunities
to improve our process. I’d love to
hear from you about what you’d
like to see us do to make your job
easier and your business more
successful!
Take Care,
Gabriel Curry
President
G&S Nursery
386 754-0161
gabriel@gsnursery.com
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Old Masters of the
Auto Garage
By Gabriel Curry
Freddy Fabris is a
professional photographer
whose
work ranges from
commissioned
advertising to fine
art.
Growing up as a
child of two professional
dancers, Freddy spent time
in New York and Argentina before
making Chicago his home. He was
accompanying a friend to drop off
a car at an independent auto shop
when he was struck by the artistic
possibilities the space had to offer.
After getting the consent of the
shop owner, he assembled a group
of models. He chose men whom he
estimated could be believable both
in the role of auto mechanic yet also
possessed an air of romantic nobility
of the kind that might have appeared
at home within a classical painting.
“Because of my painting background
I’ve always wanted to re-create classic
masterpieces, but I knew that
in order to create something that
would create a new dialogue on an
old subject, there had to be a twist,”
Fabris says. “How could we tell these
stories in a new context? How could
we bring a little humor yet respect
and homage the originals?”
The series of photographs that resulted
from this project has brought
smiles to virtually everyone who has
seen them. Some of the images are a
playful riff on a famous masterpiece,
while others are simply portraits in
the spirit of a Rembrandt with no
specific painting in mind. The characteristic
lighting and tonality of the
photos, combined with the special
presence of the carefully chosen models,
combine to sell the notion of fine
art that Fabris so skillfully achieves.
Images and content courtesy of Fabris
Photography. Fabris’ quotation is from
an article in Popular Mechanics.
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5

Featured
Plant
Galphimia is a shrub that
may be just the plant you are
looking for if you are seeking a
lesser-known bush that grows
easily in full sun and yields
small, star-shaped yellow flowers
from July to late fall.
Once established, Galphimia
will grow in any Southern
landscape to 3-4 feet tall with
a bushy profile. The plant
responds well to trimming,
sending out new blooms soon
after pruning.
The plant will die back in the
winter if you experience below
freezing temperatures, but will
re-emerge once the weather
gets warm as long as there
have been no extended cold
snaps below 15° F.
There is a lot of conflicting
information as to the name of this
plant. It is often called Thryallis, but
according to the International Code
of Botanical Nomenclature, this is
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386 754-0161
Galphimia
Galphimia Gracillis
3 gal: $4.85!
Prices good through the end of August
2019
not correct. Despite the earnest efforts
of the experts to train the rest of us,
the names Golden Thryallis or Rain of
Gold prevail in normal usage for this
plant.
“If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much”
— Donald Rumsfeld
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY
G&S is delighted to introduce you to our
newest team members!
As Gabriel mentioned in his column
on page 3, Janet Hall has joined
G&S in a new position created to
ensure consistency and accuracy
in the plant material you order from
us. She gets to combine her love of
plants with a love of travel to be our
eyes in the field, scouting out which
nurseries have the best specimens
of the trees and shrubs that our
clients are asking for. Whereas most
buyers have to rely on a telephone
Janet Hall
description or a representative photo
to make their material purchase decisions, we now have a nursery business
veteran with two good eyes and a wealth of experience to make the
critical call. It’s one more step we’ve taken to eliminate surprises when
the G&S truck pulls up with material at your next installation.
Janet has a long history working in nurseries. A few years ago, she broke
her hip, and she thought she would have to slow down and get a more
sedentary job. Now fully recovered, she’s had enough of confinement and
is exhiliarated to be back in her element—on the road and knee-deep in
plant material!
Teri Flanagan is our newest inside
sales representative. She comes to us
with a solid background in customer
service. Although new to the nursery
business, she is experienced in handling
problems and helping customers
get the answers they are needing,
and she’s not bashful about admitting
what she doesn’t know while she’s
learning the ropes.
A large part of Teri’s job is providing
Teri Flanagan
support for our outside sales staff so
they can get answers quickly for the customers they are calling on.
When she’s not on the job, Teri likes to read, watch a good movie, work in
the yard or hang out with friends. She also appreciates a good craft beer
and burger at one of Jacksonville’s local breweries. Being a single mom,
she keeps busy with a 12-year old daughter and an older daughter entering
her senior year at NYU. Two cats and a dog round out a household
she’s maintained for 18 years in the Mandarin area of Jacksonville.
www.gsnursery.com
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1550 SW Bedenbaugh Ln.
Lake City FL 32025
RIDDLE OF THE MONTH
I sometimes come in a can but I’m not
food
I sometimes come in a tube but I’m not
toothpaste
I come in different colors but I’m not a
rainbow
I’m sometimes used with canvas but I’m
not a tent
...What am I?
LAST ISSUE RIDDLE:
Zack was in the final lap of the G&S 500.
He’d been trailing Pedro, who was in
second place, for several laps when he
finally saw his opportunity and passed
him in the straightaway just before the
checkered flag. What place did Zack
finish?
A. He finished 2nd.
ANSWER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN:
MASTERPIECE
TV WALLPAPER
SLIDE SHOW
LAST ISSUE’S WINNERS
Marlee Mercer
Wynona Dudley
Ashley Klinger-
Degregoria
Send answers to newsletter@gsnursery.com before July 31, 2019. All correct
answers will be entered into a drawing to win a prize!