This profile is a departure from highlighting an emergent in the field of horticulture; this post is about an emergent product called GrowIt! created by Seth Reed and Mason Day, co-founders of GrowIt! Here is an interview on how GrowIt! came to be, and following this account is a profile of Mason Day. This is great stuff, everyone! 
So what is GrowIt!, and where did it come from? I started working for Ball Horticultural in January of 2013. About a month after I started, a guy named Seth Reed swung by my desk, and asked if I had the time to talk about some crazy ideas pertaining to the industry.
We sat down and started talking about how our industry was failing to connect with a large portion of younger generations. Then we decided that we were going to do something about it. After doing some research we found a stat that was just incredible. The average American spends two and a half hours a day on their phone not including time spent on phone calls or texting.
Our industry was completely shut off from consumers for over 2 hours a day. We wanted to change that. @HelenYoest @Mday55 Click to Tweet!
We came up with a couple of different ideas, but finally in January of 2014, while driving from Kansas City to Chicago because of canceled flights, Seth and I came up with the idea for GrowIt!
The concept is that when consumers buy anything else or want to know where to go to eat, they look at different ratings on sites like yelp and consumer reports. However; there was currently no local rating data for plants. If someone wanted to find plants that were going to work well in their specific area they really didn’t have a whole lot to go on.
The goal of GrowIt! is to inspire new gardeners by allowing them to find highly rated plants that will work in their gardens by letting them search by simple things such as color and light requirements.
GrowIt! also gives those expert gardeners a chance to show off their skills and be known for the work that they put in. To promote the app to garden enthusiasts we will be traveling around the country this summer, stopping in various cities across America.
Here is what we have planned so far: July 29th – Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden – 5pm
July 31st – JC Raulston Arboretum (Raleigh, NC) – 6pm
Aug 5-7th – IGC Show East (Minutes from Washington, DC)
Aug 6th – English Gardens (Royal Oak, MI) – 7pm Aug 7th – Colorado State University – 6pm
Aug 8th – Denver Botanic Gardens – 6pm Aug 19-21st – IGC Show Chicago
Aug 21-23rd – Farwest (Portland, OR)
If you happen to be in any of these areas on those dates please be sure to join us for what is sure to be a great time! Also be sure to download GrowIt! available on the Apple App store.
Download GrowIt! link here.
Also, here is the link for the event at the JC Raulston Arboretum.
Now, here is some background on GrowIt! co-founder, Mason Day.
Name: Mason Day
Age: 23
Occupation: Co-Founder of GrowIt!
Place of Employment: Ball Horticultural Company
Where you went to college: Cornell University
What is your earliest garden memory?
I grew up in the greenhouse! One of my earlier memories was when I was about 5 years old in our family garden center. I told one customer that the petunias weren’t for sale because I wanted to keep all of the plants. I used to hide plants under my bed to keep my mom from selling them!
What made you decide to enter the field of horticulture?
I grew up in the industry, so you could say my DNA, but it was the people that really made me decide to stick around.
Please tell me about your current horticultural position?
Currently I am working on an awesome project that my coworker Seth Reed and myself created. It’s a mobile app for gardeners. It’s something that really breaks the current mold of gardening applications. Finally, consumers will have the opportunity to see what local gardeners in their area are growing. They will also have the ability to voice their opinions on certain plants through a rating system within the application. Pretty exciting stuff!
How long have you been in the horticulture business?
Well, both my parents had separate businesses within the industry so I guess you could say since birth! My mom owns and operates a Grower/Retailer business in Imlay City, Michigan, and my dad owns a small horticultural supply company called Hortmark. My start really came when I was about 9 or 10 and my mom started letting me wait on customers in the garden center.
Tell me about your first plant love?
It’s really boring by a lot of plant people’s standards, but I’ll always love petunias. There are so many colors and anyone can grow them. They’re like a blanket of color for any garden spot!
Who inspired you in your career and how?
Since I’ve started in my career my biggest inspiration/influence has to be a guy named Bill Calkins. If you don’t know him, you should. He’s a guy that showed me that horticulture is a lot of fun, and has helped me a lot a long the way.
What is your favorite planting style?
I’m a big fan of traditional pack annuals. I know that a lot of garden designers get hung up on levels and textures, but to me all I care about are blooms. I don’t want to see any soil. It should look like a sea of color.
What advice can you give others considering entering the field of horticulture?
Don’t think of horticulture as one field. There are so many things you can do in horticulture, it’s ridiculous. If you’d have told me a year ago that I’d be working on an application for iPhones, I would have said you were crazy, but hey, here I am.
If you could go anywhere to see gardens, where would that be?
I think I’d like to go somewhere in South America or Africa. The origins of where our common garden plants came from is so exciting to me. Any gardens in the tropics growing cultivars from the natural habitat would be a sight to see.
If you could go with any one person, who would it be?
My mom. Honestly, I think she’s the person who’d appreciate it the most. She truly loves gardens and plants, but because she is so wrapped up in the operations of our family farm, she rarely gets to travel. Without a doubt, my mom would be the first person I’d ask.
What was your most valuable training?
My 18 months with Ball Horticultural, I spent in a training program. It was actually pretty sweet. I did 3 different six month stints: 6 months in marketing, 6 months working with accounts, and 6 months working with trials. It gave me a well rounded view of the company and the industry as a whole.
How can people contact you: email, fb, LinkedIn, Twitter, website, etc.?
Well, because I started out in horticulture as a social media manager, I’m everywhere! However my Twitter is probably the best place my handle is @mday55. However if anyone has any questions feel free to email me at mday55 @ gmail.com, and be sure to visit GrowIt!
Helen Yoest is a curious gardener – curious about plants, soil, design, and how others use these to create their gardens at home. She is also curious about what plants do for us today in the here and now, but also about their history and lore. Plants have a colorful past. As an award winning freelance writer and garden stylist, Helen has traveled the world visiting public and private gardens so she can step into the dream that was once just an imagination. Her work has appeared in Country Gardens, Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, Carolina Gardener, and many others, including her work as the national gardening expert forAnswers.com. Helen is also the author of Plants With Benefits: An Uninhibited Guide to the Aphrodisiac Herbs, Fruits, Flowers, & Veggies in Your Garden (2014, St. Lynn’s Press) and Gardening with Confidence, 50 Ways to Add Style for Personal Creativity (2012, GWC Press). Helen curates garden art, serves on the board of the JC Raulston Arboretum, is past Regional Representative of the Garden Conservancy Open Days tour and opens her garden annually, and is an honorary member of Pi Alpha Xi, the national honor society for floriculture, landscape horticulture and ornamental horticulture. Helen lives in Raleigh, N.C., tending to her half-acre wildlife habitat, her husband, and their three beautiful children. Visit Helen at her popular blog, Gardening With Confidence and at Plants with Benefits. Find Helen on Facebook, too.