Think cool

While typically not as busy as spring, the hot summer season can still be profitable at your IGC. In this issue, our goal is to help you keep things chill and thrive during the hottest months of the year with drought-tolerant varieties, "hot" (or are they cool?) ideas and ways to beat the heat. We showcase the stand-out drought-tolerant plants from the Dallas Arboretum trials starting on page 18 to give you an idea of the latest plants to survive and thrive in the heat. Grower-retailers should be sure to check out our feature on page 30 about rainwater collection for growing operations.

Speaking of surviving the heat, it’s important to keep employees from getting overwhelmed by the high temperatures - read more about keeping employees happy and healthy this summer starting on page 28. We also talked to Joseph Pellegrin of Pike Nurseries about what’s hot this year in the IGC (page 36), and Associate Editor Michelle Simakis shares some of the sizzling trends that she saw while touring various IGCs this spring on page 38.