Kelli Rodda, Editorial Director

Kelli Rodda, Editorial Director

Editorial Director

As editorial director of the GIE Media Horticulture Group, Kelli seeks out and delivers essential information to help green-industry businesses improve their bottom line. She’s visited several hundred nurseries and greenhouses — from mom-and-pops to massive operations — across the United States. She’s also seen some of the most high-tech operations in Holland. She resides in Azle, Texas, with her husband Jason and daughter Molly, as well as a gaggle of pets. She sometimes bewilders her GIE Media coworkers, who are based in Ohio, with her odd Southern expressions. She enjoys container gardening and blurring the Hardiness Zones by experimenting with lots of plants. Her favorite plants: the American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua); Salvia sp.; and Viola tricolor. She also enjoys spending time in the mountains and the forest. Kelli is proud to represent an industry that characterizes hard work, integrity and professionalism. She enjoys being part of an industry responsible for products that do so much for human nature and the environment. She’s been a professional journalist for three decades, specializing exclusively in business-to-business publications.

Aftermath of the storm

Growers in the Florida panhandle region are facing millions of dollars in losses and structural damage following unprecedented levels of snow, sleet and freezing rain.

The X Factor

Gen Z craves more time for gardening and they’re willing to spend more money on their beloved pastime.

Future leaders

An innovative apprenticeship program is training desperately needed green industry workers.

Sold out

The industry faces plant shortages from last year's soaring pandemic sales and this year's southern freeze.

The Mangave phenomenon

Hans Hansen describes why he’s so enthusiastic about this trendy breeding program.

Crucial conservation

The green industry plays a vital role in the education, promotion of drought-tolerant plants and smart water use.

Crucial conservation

The green industry plays a vital role in the education, promotion of drought-tolerant plants and smart water use.

Generation gap

As the green industry looks for its next generation of leaders, one movement aims to promote horticulture careers to the youth.

Trees, Ornamental & Bedding Plant: Landscape Plant Development Center, Mound, Minn.

The Minnesota-based center develops and evaluates plants that are adapted in different geographic regions.