Happy end of year to you all
It is that time of the year when daily life becomes a tad hectic. Retailers have to draw on energy reserves to cope with the pre-Christmas sales. Landscape contractors work around the clock to meet customer expectations of having their new garden ready for Christmas gatherings. This could be a good time to have the conversation with the client that if their friends ask for your details, to let them know to plan well ahead so they won’t be disappointed.
As we are at the end of the year and are about to move into our 16th year producing Hort Journal Australia, we feel very proud. It has not always been easy, however, we can give thanks to all who make the magazine the success that it is. Firstly, our advertisers for supporting us. We are happy to advertise your businesses for the benefit of all in our industry. Our subscribers deserve a big thanks as well. I must say it is very interesting to see that while we have an online version of HJA, 87% of our subscribers prefer to buy the hard copy magazine. People love the fact that they can walk away from their work and sit back with a printed version to read and when they finish with it, they can hand it over to their workmates and colleagues, sharing the knowledge!
A really extra big thank you has to go to our contributing writers (you only have to turn the pages to see who they are). From my perspective they have to cope with me nagging at them to get their work in on time, and they put the time into researching their topics to bring you interesting articles to read and learn from. For example, this month our feature is Artificial Intelligence and technology. This is a relatively new topic and I take my hat off to them for going to the extra mile to ensure that you, the reader, can enjoy the read. Can I say thank you to all of you who write in from time to time to praise and congratulate a writer on their work. This means a lot to them and also provides feedback that we are on the right path. We love to hear from you. It gives me great pleasure to deliver that positive feedback.
As well as thanking our contributing writers I personally would like to thank Janet Hodgkiss for her exceptional proofing skills, Sarah Wilson our graphic designer who manages to put the magazine together in the fastest time, and Gabe Mostafa for trusting me with his baby, Hort Journal. We are a small team producing a monthly magazine. I am very proud of all of you for your dedication and brilliant work.
So, to you, our readers and supporters, we thank you all so very much and we wish you all a safe, happy, peaceful (and restful) festive season and a prosperous 2024.
Karen Smith and your Hort Journal Team