GH Squad Podcast

Katie Dubow, president of Garden Media Group, joins Bill Calkins, Seth Reed and Mason Day for a lively conversation about green industry trends, trends that will NEVER be discussed, selling plants on television (and Mars), why coffee is the only true hot drink and how to market a game named for a man’s nuts. Read the 2027 Garden Trends Report: https://gardenmediagroup.com/trends/ Follow the Squad on Instagram: @GHSquadPodIn this episode: - Katie shares how she found her way from sports broadcasting and PR into horticulture—and how Garden Media Group grew from her mom’s basement startup.- The group explores Katie’s experience selling plants on QVC, including the role of trusted host, late-night shopping and the surprising volume of plant sales.- Katie reflects on Garden Media Group’s trend report and the ideas that helped shape the industry, including houseplant marketing and native plants.- They discuss trends that missed the mark, from robotic weeders to fake plants and consider sustainability challenges around plastic pots and packaging.- The conversation goes interplanetary: the group imagines which plants might suit Mars, with potatoes, kangaroo paw and mangaves in the mix.- Katie explains how a family game called Jason’s Nuts became a side hustle, prompting a conversation about the return of hands-on games and in-person connection.- The Squad talks fall color, mums, industry research and wrap with a spirited hot take about morning tea drinkers.

This episode explores why volunteering in horticulture organizations matters, what America In Bloom is doing to beautify communities and how plants can inspire civic pride while creating value for local businesses. Bill, Seth, and Mason share perspectives spanning association work, community involvement and hands-on horticulture.The conversation covers how industry involvement builds networks and perspective, alongside highlights from last week’s America In Bloom symposium celebrating the organization’s 25th anniversary. (AIB President) Mason explains how communities, garden clubs and local leaders can use beautification to improve quality of life and increase visibility for horticulture businesses.

Then the Squad spins the Plant Wheel of Excitement—landing on sunflower. They run through shout outs and hot takes and close with the fun banter you’ve come to expect. Learn more about America In Bloom: https://americainbloom.org/ Check out the Wild Mile: https://wildmile.org/Follow us on Instagram: @GHSquadPod

This episode features a special guest! And dang, he’s a good one. This is a conversation with Jerry Schmitt of Stein’s Garden & Home in Wisconsin. Jerry joined The Squad (Mason, Bill and Seth) to add some intelligence and decades of experience to the usual shenanigans. Jerry brings more than 50 years of retail and livegoods experience, offering a fascinating perspective on how independent garden centers have evolved, what still gets shoppers excited and how the industry keeps adapting. They cover Stein’s history, retail strategy, memorable product experiments and the future of the garden center experience. This is a perfect episode for anyone interested in merchandising, trend spotting and how independents stay relevant alongside big-box competition. They also spin the old Plant Wheel of Excitement and land on calibrachoa. Everyone has thoughts on calis. Follow The Squad on Instagram: @GHSquadPod

Although Mason abandoned them this week, Bill and Seth knock it out of the park with this duo cast (after missing last week), then spend most of the show trading rapid-fire “would you rather” questions—personal, professional and just plain crazy.Along the way, they dig into where ideas come from, how to force better audience engagement when giving presentations and why some plant categories feel more useful than exciting (daylilies). This episode is the usual mix of horticulture industry banter, personal preference debates and practical takeaways for just about anyone … or no one. Seth and Bill close with shout-outs for the upcoming Plug & Cutting Conference and friend-of-the-show Marcus’s new job.Follow us on Instagram: @GHSquadPod

This time, The Squad debates what’s overrated in the plant world and beyond. The three fire off hot takes on everything from mulch and verbena to cherry tomatoes, marigolds, big plant tags and strawberry planters. Heck, they even drop the hammer on manicured lawns, hell strips/parkways/treelawns and sidewalks.

Then the crew spins the Plant Wheel of Excitement—landing on hosta. This leads to a deep dive into why hostas are reliable and easy, the beauty of specimen hostas in botanical gardens, the common name “plantain lily” and Mason’s million-dollar concept: Houstas.

At the end, the amazing hosts share listener feedback and industry frustrations, including supplier backorders, hipping damage, customer questions in garden centers, product availability and ordering headaches and the impact of BFG’s bankruptcy on the hardgoods side of the industry.

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In this episode, The Squad (Mason, Seth and Bill) tackles the everyday annoyances, industry gripes and pet peeves that make horticulture such a love-hate business. The three of them trade stories from greenhouses, garden centers and the road while unpacking what really drives growers crazy.

They also discuss the gap between how plants are marketed and how they’re actually cared for, why some industry gripes are fair and others are overblown and which recurring problems seem to unite everyone in horticulture. Along the way, the trio also shares a few personal updates, some school-year chaos and spins the Plant Wheel of Excitement—landing on Angelonia.

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Seth and Bill hold down the fort for this one. Maybe Mason did not care for the numerology of episode 33? The dynamic duo discusses some of their favorite garden centers in America and explains exactly why they’ve both been to hundreds of them over the years. Then they share some boneheaded mistakes they’ve made … and learned from.

Towards the end, they spin the Plant Wheel of Excitement (Echinacea, which made Seth so happy …) and drop a couple shout outs and hot takes before closing it out.

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Better late than never, the Squad finally caught up to discuss events from the past week—Bill and Seth were at Ball Seed Customer Days and Mason was at the Raker trial. They talk about some of the plant highlights, interactions with industry folks and the overall vibes of these events. Then, Mason touches on some big industry “news” from last week and how it impacts growers, retailers and vendors. The Squad then tackles a fantastic topic suggested by a listener—the classic “coffee with your younger self” conversation looking back at ways the guys might have set themselves up for bigger things, reduced mistakes made and what their younger selves would think of how they turned out. It was a fun topic for sure!Then the guys spin the Plant Wheel of Excitement (Zinnia Marylandica) and drop a couple shout outs and hot takes before wrapping the episode at just more than an hour. Follow the Squad on Instagram: @GHSquadPod

This episode, the Squad was psyched to be joined by their friend Kate Terrell (representing the Quad Cities, Wallace’s Garden Center, Boy Scouts of America and Cubs fans around the world) to recap AmericanHort’s Cultivate ’26 event in Columbus, Ohio a couple weeks ago. Kate, Mason and Bill were there—all with different goals and roles—and Seth was not. So, he asked the three of them questions and by the end felt like he didn’t miss a thing, although he’s planning to attend again in 2027.

They discussed new products, strategies for getting done what needed to get done at a show that size, afterhours events, the value of networking, why in-person events are so important, reasons to attend every year and much, much more. #cultivate26

Kate brought the perspective of a garden center and greenhouse owner, attending to find new products and ideas, as well as catching up with peers and fulfilling her leadership roles. Mason discussed the value of being a vendor at the show, as well as representing affiliated groups like America In Bloom, NICH and HRI Leadership. Bill shared how he navigates the show as a media member and representative of a technical services team.

Although this may sound sort of dry, the conversation was anything but! If you know these four, you can only imagine the stories shared and laughter generated!

Then they spun the Plant Wheel of Excitement—landing on Peony—mentioned some important folks in Shout Outs and perhaps dropped a ruthless Hot Take (and one related to #Jimothy, the racoon.)

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In this episode, Mason, Seth and Bill tried to keep it short before traveling to Cultivate but that didn’t happen … The Squad gives their garden updates following weeks of hot weather and spins the Plant Wheel of Excitement. Mason offers a fiery hot take. And the three share reasons why you should plan to attend Ball Seed Customer Days and the Michigan Garden Tour at the end of July and the first week of August.