On the QT | The Official Newsletter of GWA September - October 2017 - Page 12

DIVERSITY
B Y C H A N TA L A I D A G O R D O N , L E S L I E B E N N E T T A N D D E B R A P R I N Z I N G
Seeking and Celebrating Diversity
in the Green Industry
The diversity discussion uses many terms
and some are clumsy. Others are so overused
that their relevance or meaning has been
diluted.
When we discussed including a panel about
diversity (or lack thereof ) in horticulture and
floriculture at the Slow Flowers Summit held
July 2 in Seattle, we knew that it might be
uncomfortable or awkward, but we felt it was
essential.
For Debra Prinzing (creator and host of
the Summit), a white woman whose spouse
of 32 years is black, adding the subject to the
one-day floral industry conference allowed her
to delve into a highly personal topic in a pro-
fessional forum. The panel continued an earlier
roundtable discussion from last year at Detroit
Flower Week about lack of representation in
the floral industry.
Chantal Aida Gordon, cofounder of thehor-
ticult.com blog and coauthor of the forthcom-
ing book How to Window Box, (Clarkson Potter,
2018), agreed to moderate. Leslie Bennett,
owner of Oakland, California-based Pine House
Edible Gardens and coauthor of The Beautiful
Edible Garden (Ten Speed Press, 2013), joined
the panel along with Rizaniño “Riz” Reyes, a
Seattle horticulturist, educator and blogger as
well as Nicole Cordier Wahlquist, a floral de-
signer from Grace Flowers Hawaii, with whom
Riz has collaborated.
Rather than focusing on diversity as the
word du jour, the panelists broadened the
discussion with terms such as representation,
equity and inclusivity. Chantal began the
presentation with this challenge: “We’re all
plant people, so we’re doers. We’re going to
talk about concrete things that we can do . . .
to make our work more vibrant and inclusive
and more inviting to this world that we are
all part of and to meet even more clients and
more collaborators and elevate our own work
to new heights.”
12
this is that some of the big opportunities for
change rest in the hands of media deci-
sion-makers and mainstream institutions to
seek a more inclusive world rather than on the
shoulders of underrepresented groups.
From left: Chantal Aida Gordon, Leslie Bennett,
Riz Reyes and Nicole Cordier Wahlquist participated
in a panel on diversity at the SLOW Flowers summit
in June in Seattle.

D I V E R S E PA NEL, AUD IENCE
Each of the four presenters shared their
unsung horticulture heroes and garden
legends with the mostly white audience at
the Slow Flowers Summit. Chantal wanted the
audience to see faces of famous and not-so-
famous persons of color—horticulturists and
designers who deserve greater recognition in
the mainstream. While symbolic, the images
prompted further discussion about gardening,
design and floristry gatekeepers.
Chantal singled out writer Jamaica Kincaid,
author of My Garden (Book); Leslie highlighted
novelist Alice Walker, author of In Search of
Our Mothers’ Gardens, and Los Angeles floral
designer Maurice Harris (@bloomandplume on
Instagram). Riz credited topiary genius Pearl
Fryar and prizewinning dahlia grower Cora
Slecther, his childhood mentor; Nicole singled
out her first floral industry employer Jim Yoshi-
hara and her friend and collaborator Riz Reyes.
The big question, “How can the green indus-
try be more representative of society?” sparked
many in the audience to respond with ideas
about expanding horticulture to be more
inclusive.
And the conclusion that many took from
LES S O N S F RO M LO N G AGO
We hope that solid, practical ideas for mak-
ing change will inspire others to act in their
own circles of influence. For example, James
Baggett, who served as master of ceremonies
at the Summit and is a longtime garden editor,
now at Better Homes & Gardens, recalled his
efforts in the mid-1980s. As a young science
editor at Scholastic Inc., it bothered him that
there were no editors of color at the publish-
ing company.
“At the time, the president of Scholastic was
a former Time Inc., executive named Steve
Sweat. I said to him one day, ‘Out of all of
our very small staff for all 42 magazines we
publish, there isn’t a single person of color,
although half our readers are students of color,
so what on earth are we doing?’ We didn’t
even know what we could be doing to reach
and be more effective with our classroom
audiences.”
James’ boss responded, “Let’s do something
about it.” The desire to address inequality
at Scholastic—and across the journalism
profession—led to the company’s minority
internship program. “It was tough getting it off
the ground and at first we only had a couple
of interns, but those who participated went
on to jobs at much bigger companies,” James
recalled. “And after about four or five years,
we hired one of our first interns through the
program to join the magazine staff. What was
fascinating to me was, yes, talking the talk is
one thing; but walking the walk is another
and actually trying to implement and effect
change became the harder part.”