Cultivate’23, presented by AmericanHort®, showcases the best plants of North America and beyond. Held in Columbus, Ohio, it attracts exhibitors and attendees from around the world. We attend Cultivate each year to share what’s new in trees, to visit with customers, and to meet potential new customers. We’re among more than 650 companies that exhibited at this year’s event, and together we welcomed thousands of visitors at this largest of the summer horticultural events.
It’s always a pleasure to see the beautiful trees in the gardens on the trade show floor, and in the booths of our customers. We’re especially happy to discover trees that got their start at our nursery, five to seven or more years ago, when they were propagated by seed, cuttings, tissue culture or by grafting. We grow them for several years, harvest them, load them in refrigerated trucks, and send them off to their new homes. A few of the trees we spotted in the remarkable displays were presented by loyal customers who have purchased trees from our company for more than 40 years, Several of our finest longtime customers are featured here.
has been serving Cincinnati-area gardeners and landscape clients for over 100 years. They’ve been customers and friends of JFS for over a half-century. As always, their booth radiated a stunning rainbow of color, ranging from flowers and foliage with chartreuse and yellow tones to the deep purple foliage of the three Schmidt-grown trees that anchored the far wall of their booth. Sales representatives Patrick Greeson and Jen Rowland noted that Ruby Falls Redbud, Crimson Sentry Maple and Raspberry Spear® Crabapple garnered much attention, especially the latter two – notable for their dark purple foliage and exceptionally columnar form.
Acorn Farms, based in Galena, Ohio, encompasses over 800 acres of growing grounds and 80+ acres of container stock. Customers located across the Midwest to the East Coast can count on their quality and broad range of trees, shrubs, perennials, roses and more. The booth sported beautiful perennials and shrubs and a half-dozen large trees including three that likely got their start at JFS: Northern Catalpa, Crimson Sentry Maple and a Ruby Falls Redbud that anchored the front edge of the booth. Sales Representative Mark Reisch said the trees always attract a lot of attention and draw people into the booth.
Petitti Family of Farms, located in Lake County, Ohio, encompasses over 2,000 acres of field production and 500 acres of container production. Three nurseries; Willowbend, Ridge Manor and Losely, produce trees, shrubs and perennials for the wholesale nursery and landscape trade. The Redpointe® Maple that towered over their exhibit space was grown from a JFS bare root liner at Ridge Manor Nursery.
Willoway Nurseries, Inc., based in Avon, Ohio, filled their exhibit space with so many beautiful perennials and shrubs that there wasn’t room for trees. Instead, their trees were displayed in several gorgeous gardens on the tradeshow floor. Across the aisle from the Willoway booth, more than a dozen #45 Red Sunset® Maples formed the backbone of a beautiful display garden that ran half the length of the exhibit hall. Willoway representative Jeanne Hicks stands beside the Red Sunset® Maple that anchored the nearby garden.
Our company was well-represented in the 160+ education sessions presented at Cultivate’23. Nancy Buley presented two sessions: A Baker’s Dozen of Pollinator Trees and Cultivating Cultivars: Urban Tree Cultivar Development. Sales representatives Roger Purcell and Pat Carey presented BMP’s for Bare Root Trees – best management practices for handling bare root trees. Audience members remarked that the hands-on pruning demonstration was especially useful.
