Heronswood Voice

It would seem that we are starting to see more heads of larger concerns starting blogs. One notable example is Greg Wittstock owner of Aquascapes, the number one supplier of pond equipment. We talked about it here. Unfortunately Greg had to start, or started his blog because his company got into some financial problems. Doesn’t matter, because at least now he is out their trying to explain his reasoning for doing what he has done. Greg had to lay off some employees recently, and I bet there are times when Greg wishes he had turned off the comment function at his blog. Some of the ex-employees visit the blog and give Greg a piece of their mind. It makes for great reading for those of us interested in how business works.

Another new blog, at least for me, is also from the world of horticulture. Its Heronswood Voice, written by George Ball. I ended up there after George said some nice things about my blog. George Ball, if you didn’t know owns Burpee Seed as well as Heronswood, the much discussed nursery founded by plantsman Dan Hinkley and architect Robert Jones in 1987. There are passionate feeling about the subject and no mincing of words when it comes to some peoples feeling about Burpee and George. I never really got into the situation at Heronswood since until just a couple of years ago I hadn’t even heard of it. Yes its true, I had little knowledge of Dan Hinkley or Heronswood until the fuss over the sale. Most of my knowledge of the place was gathered at Garden Rant where there have been numerous discussions of the subject and the comments have been generally negative of George and Burpee.

Whatever you think of the Heronswood situation, it’s good to see George out there talking. After all, I have been harping about how important a blog is to a business, especially a large one where people often feel a disconnect with the ownership of the business. Scotts CEO Jim Hagedorn would be well advised to start one about now. I think the disconnect that a lot of people are feeling with Scotts could be discussed through a blog, but back to George and his blog. I wanted to leave a comment, but there is no comment feature. I like having the comment feature turned “on” because thats what starts a “conversation”. Of course I don’t run a multi-million dollar enterprise, despite what Stuart thinks. If I did it might just be too much to deal with all the comments. The solution is to allow trackbacks at the end of each post. One of the most popular bloggers around, Seth Godin, does not allow comments at his blog but does have the trackback feature. That way if you want to comment on something he has said you can, on your own blog, and it will show up as a trackback. This is another way to have a “conversation” without having to answer the comments, yet allowing people to have their say.

Welcome to the blogroll George. Come on over anytime, and feel free to participate.