Editor Patrick Alan Coleman discusses this year's Leading Women of Horticulture

I entered the horticulture industry almost three years ago. That’s a blink of an eye for many who read this publication, with careers spanning decades and lifetimes. But in my short tenure, I’ve found myself working with as many women as men. At industry events and conferences, gender representation has always seemed to be fairly balanced. Even in my career as a hort editor, I’ve been lucky to work with the incredibly knowledgeable and talented women leaders at the top of our masthead.

Admittedly, my perspective is skewed toward the present. However, as I spoke to the women of North Carolina’s Fairview Greenhouses & Garden Center, who grace this month’s cover of our Leading Women of Horticulture issue, I was reminded that the industry’s relatively equitable gender representation is the result of dogged perseverance and hard work. Progress has not come easily.

Consider Fairview founder Jo Ann Dewar, who, at the age of 94, continues to work in the greenhouse. Back when she was trying to grow her business from a hobby greenhouse to a wholesale operation, loans were inaccessible to women — unless they had the co-signature of a male spouse. She did have a husband who could co-sign, and he did so despite not being involved in the operation beyond spousal support.

Jo Ann’s daughter Susan Rollins, age 74, is the current Fairview president and went to school for horticulture at NC State as one of very few women in her classes. She recounts that she was sometimes disregarded, even as she took leadership in the business. She remembers once going with her brother to buy a truck for the operation. The salesman largely ignored her presence on the lot, until Susan’s brother interrupted the sales pitch directed at him and explained that Susan was the one who had the check.

These are just two stories of very many across the industry that illustrate how much horticulture, and the world, has changed to open more opportunities to women. But it would be wrong to assume that those changes occurred organically. It required women like Jo Ann and Susan, who continued to lead in the face of cultural and business obstacles.

I have received happily few emails asking why we still devote a full issue to women in horticulture. But the answer is simple: because it still matters. It matters to remember how far we’ve come and how much further we can go. It matters to talented young women weighing a career in the industry. It matters to celebrate the lives of the women who have innovated horticulture and, in many cases, are raising the next generation of leadership.

I humbly offer this issue — with more digital-only stories to come — to you as a celebration, food for thought and an opportunity to glimpse an even more equitable future.

Patrick Alan Coleman
Editor | pcoleman@gie.net