This month started off with Green Career Week. John Morgan visited Alexander High School and South Gallia High School to share presentations on careers in horticulture. (Thanks again to the FFA leadership at Alexander for hosting a cookout!) Then, later in the week, we hosted tours for Southern High School and the WV 4H Junior Horticulture Judges. Join us for Spring Green Career Week coming up in March! Look for more details soon.
Bob Barnitz Passing
Robert “Bob” Barnitz, who founded Bob’s Market and Greenhouses with his wife Corena in 1970, passed away on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, at the age of 94. To read more, you can find a post in our Wholesale blog.
In The Greenhouse
In the greenhouse, October started off with the tail end of shipping our Fall finished products, like mums, pansies, ornamental kale, and other frost hardy plants.
Heading into late October and early November, our poinsettia start to show their true colors. The color change of poinsettias is day length dependent. They need at least 12 to 14 hours of darkness for about 4 weeks to trigger their color change from green to red (or other shades).
Also, in the greenhouse, our spring fern crop is getting its start. Out of all the crops we grow, ferns take the longest. Starting off as little, clone-grown starts, it takes a full nine months to get to the full baskets you find in our stores.
Poinsettias in September
Poinsettias in November
Congratulations American FFA Degree Recipients
Eleven Mason County students received the American FFA Degree on Oct. 24 during the 99th National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis.
Braxton Blain, Breena Clutter and Brycen Gillispe of the Mason County Vocational FFA chapter, based at the Mason County Career Center in Point Pleasant; Matthew Thomas, Wyatt Harris, Marrissa Roush and Lauren Edwards of the Wahama High School FFA chapter; and Emma Deal, Leia Mayes Edmunds, LillyAnne Nance and Dakota Saunders of the Hannan High School FFA chapter earned the honor alongside more than 5,800 recipients nationwide this year. Less than 1% of all FFA members achieve the degree.
Industry News
October 2026 brought some good news for the U.S. flower and plant industry (called floriculture—the business of growing flowers, mums, poinsettias, houseplants, and other ornamentals).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture decided that chrysanthemum white rust, a fungal disease that has caused headaches for mum growers for years, no longer needs strict federal quarantine rules. Starting November 9, this change makes it easier to move and import mum cuttings without as many holds or restrictions, which AmericanHort (the main industry group) had pushed for a long time.
A new report from the Floral Marketing Fund showed that people who buy houseplants are shopping less often than during the pandemic years, but when they do buy, they spend more and own more plants overall—and many plan to spend even more next year, often inspired by gifts or social media.
