Stump Stacey, Martha Stewart Living garden editor, on #GardenChat tonight

When I first started working in the lawn and garden industry, one of the overriding characteristics of the gardening world were the number of ladies and gentlemen who work in it. Nice people and gardening seem to just go hand-in-hand.

And tonight, you get to chat live on #GardenChat on twitter with one of the nicest and most knowledgeable people in the business, Stacey Hirvela, senior associate garden editor at Martha Stewart Living and host of At Home in the Garden on MarthaStewart.com. The two met at the Costa Farms Social Summit a few weeks ago. (Stacey is pictured with our GMG Stacey here.)

And Stacey will be giving away my favorite soil -- Organic Mechanics. It's the caviar of soilless mixes.

Stacey's love of plants began with her grandmother, who always let her pick as many lilies of the valley as she wanted. In 1999 she attend the School of Professional Horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden.

After working as a rooftop gardener in Manhattan, she served as the horticulturist at Tavern on the Green restaurant for three years - only the second woman ever to hold the position. WOW!

Then Stacey found her home. In 2005 she joined the Martha Stewart Living staff and now works with out good friend Tony Bielaczyc planning the garden content for the magazine. And we think she does a great job sharing her knowledge and stories from the garden.

So be sure to tune in to#GardenChat on Twitter.com tonight and ask Stacey some really tough questions. I bet you won't stump her though.

Suzi, Garden Media Group

Costa Farms Social Summit Blooms

Costa Farms Social Summit held in Miami earlier this month was a huge hit. Everyone was blown away by seeing hundreds of thousands of orchids, ferns, succulents, cacti and other tropical plants in one location.

Here are what a few of our friends had to say about their visit:

Justin Hancock, BHG.com editor, pictured here in orchid heaven, had this to say: "Last week I had the pleasure of traveling to Costa Farms, one of the coolest companies in the horticultural industry."

Justin says the the Costa Farms trial gardens, which are open to the public, are "definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area. "

Martha Stewart Living senior associate garden editor Stacey Hirvela (pictured here with me) wrote two blog posts. In her first post "Meet Maria Costa Smith, Stacey told us about Costa Farms' sustainable initiatives. "Maria told us about some of the things that they are doing to be a smarter, better source for plants. While they are working on addressing all of the sustainability issues I mentioned, it is the packaging that gardeners will notice most." Click here to read more and take Stacey's packaging survey.

In the second post, entitled "Sublime Reputation", Stacey talks more about the plants. "When I was down in Miami visiting Costa Farms, one of the most stunning sights was the sheer quantity and precision of their growing ranges. It's pretty unbelievable to be standing in a room with nearly three quarters of a million orchids, or 60 acres of nothing but Boston ferns." Stacey posted lots of great pictures to give you an idea of the scope of the Florida nursery.

Christopher Tidrick actually won a social media contest to attend, and we're glad he did. What a delight he is. He did a great post Plants with a Purpose, A Plantsman with Passion , calling the trip to the Costa Farms greenhouses "a visual experience so surreal, there aren't really words that can do it justice." But he found the words and really recapped everything -- from Costa Farms O2 for You educational program, to the Wall Street Journal's recent article to a wonderful profile of Mike Rimland.

Here we all are in our guayaberas, or Cuban wedding shirts for our closing dinner. What fun to be Cuban for a night!

Stacey, Garden Media Group