Horridculture is a collection of rants about horrid horticulture. Almost all of such rants are from my own experience and observation within the various horticultural industries. There are more than I can write about. I have been involved with so much more than just production of horticultural commodities on the farm. Horridculture is a bunch of sniveling about the worst of it.

Perhaps I should occasionally say a bit more about the best of it. If I thought it would be more interesting, I could write much more about the best than the worst. Except for the few experiences that I so frequently snivel about, my career has been awesomely RAD!

Therefore, for this week, I will briefly deviate from the typical Horridculture theme.

While we were in school, the professor who taught ‘Orientation to Horticulture’ told us, “If you want to make a lot of money in your career, change your major NOW!”. Of course, we did not. Brent and I both were naturally horticulturists, even if we were not good students. We studied exactly what we wanted to study. We made our careers of what we do naturally. Brent became one of the most renowned landscape designers of the Los Angeles region. I became a nurseryman.

Not only did I work for two legendary nurserymen within my primary career, but I also worked for at least four legendary arborists. I worked with the production of both citrus and rhododendrons with their companion crops. My gardening column was not planned, but has continued for a quarter of a century. Although not as well distributed locally as it had been, it is presently shared with a few publications between San Francisco and Beverly Hills in the Los Angeles region. These few publications sometimes share it with a few others elsewhere.

So, besides all the sniveling, I have been very pleased with my career. The worst of it may not have been as difficult as retirement might be. Fortunately, I do not necessarily need to retire completely, although I should quit sniveling.