Independent Garden Center Business Manager at Ball Horticultural Company, Bill capitalizes on his retail garden center background to spot the latest trends and creative strategies, positioning products and developing programs for retail garden centers. Bill earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Cleveland State University, often times attending class in his mulch-covered work clothes. After writing for industry trade magazines for seven years, Bill joined the Ball Horticultural Marketing Department in 2007. He’s an avid gardener who spends spring, summer and fall digging in the dirt.

As Landscape Business Manager at Ball Horticultural Company, Jeff facilitates company sales to professional growers serving the steadily growing landscape business segment. Ball is focused on promoting easy-to-use, proven products and programs for today’s landscape professional and the growers that serve them. Jeff is a graduate of the University of Illinois with degrees in Ornamental Horticulture and advertising communications. He is a frequent traveler and speaker to professional landscape, grower and municipal organizations, as well as community groups on landscape color trends, new varieties, and landscape care and installation practices.

Chris “Seacrest” Beytes is editor and publisher of GrowerTalks and Green Profit magazines. A former wholesale greenhouse owner, Chris now travels North America and the world for Ball Publishing, seeking out the latest news, trends and ideas. Although partial to hydrangeas, his favorite plant is Pedilanthus tithymaloides, which will probably never win a beauty contest.

Todd Davis has conducted interviews at more than 450 nurseries and other horticultural facilities in 41 states, Canada and Europe. His keen journalistic insight is informed with in-the-field experience working for three landscape contracting firms and with Skinner Nurseries’ (TX) landscape distribution operation. He is a frequent speaker at nursery industry events, is a Texas Certified Nursery Professional and a member of International Plant Propagators’ Society. In 2006, he was awarded Southern Nursery Association’s Pinnacle Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the green industry.

Called both a “mad scientist” and “plant geek," LLoyd's passion is matched by his commitment to using advanced technology. Lloyd worked in market research and special projects at Ball Seed Company prior to purchasing the Peace Tree Farm property in 1983, which he and his wife, Candy, have grown from “the little greenhouses up on the hill” to an established and internationally respected operation. Lloyd is a technology guru and advocate for small growers. He has contributed to GMPro, OFA, GPN, Greenhouse Grower, and GrowerTalks, and can be seen, from time to time, palling around in front of the camera with Martha Stewart.

Katie Ketelsen is, plain and simple, a plant geek! From her grandfather's Christmas tree farm, she launched her career as the local HyVee garden center manager. Recently, she did landscape design, project management, marketing, social media and event planning for TimberPine Nursery. Today she's taking the online gardening world by storm at BHG.com, writing and contributing to the "Everyday Gardeners" blog. No matter where she's working, her perfect slice of heaven will always include fresh soil, five of the hottest new plant introductions, a watering can…and probably some chapstick.

Tina Bemis is co-owner of Bemis Farms Nursery, a small grower/retail garden center in central Massachusetts. She is a Cornell University Floriculture graduate, as well as a graduate of ANLA's Garden Center University. In addition to her primary role as grower of herbaceous plants, she creates all of the advertising, marketing, merchandising and promotional events. She teaches more than 200 workshops a year on container gardening and garden-related design projects. Along with her husband, Ed, she hosts the cable television gardening show "Bloomin’ with the Bemises."

Justin W. Hancock is the senior garden editor for the Better Homes and Gardens web site, www.bhg.com, and a serious plant lover. He's been a gardener all his life and has worked on garden books, magazines, and web sites for the last fifteen years. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa (where he's also the co-owner of a retail garden center, Loki's Garden).