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Online Nurseries 2002 - WorldPlants.com

© Marge Talt

World Plants.com is the home of Trans-Pacific Nursery - The World Plant Shop, founded by Jack Muldoon and operated by him and Gerry Roe, who's, as he says, a "Johnny Come Lately", having only been with the nursery for fifteen or twenty years. The nursery grew out of Jack's passion for collecting unusual plants, offering it's first collector's list in 1985.

Jack is a master at grafting and operates a sister business, with his partner, Leo, Pacific Propagators, devoted to the propagation of wholesale tree liners and custom propagation. It also provides the wide range of Japanese Maples offered by World Plants.com.

Gerry pretty much runs the mailorder business, which includes making the print and online catalogs, handling the correspondence, and packing and shipping the plants. He also does as much propagation as he can, but says he seems to spend less time in the greenhouses and more time at the computer these days.

Jack does the grafting, mainly the Japanese maples, which are a major part of their sales, as well as much of the other propagation. He also maintains the greenhouses. Since he is heavily involved in Pacific Propagators, he is often in the field.

Gerry says that Jack is good at things like plumbing and fixing vehicles, while he tries to keep the computers alive. He also told me (and this cracked me up) that:

"Jack is an avatar of Shiva. He thinks this is just a figure of speech, but it's literally true. Shiva is called The Destroyer, but is paradoxically the creative force, since the creation of something new implies destruction of the old order. It is Jack's role in life to oppose order wherever it raises its ugly head, and he does a magnificent job.

I appreciate Jack's struggle against order, acknowledge that it's a job that somebody needs to do, and admire the strength and passion he brings to it. If it were left to me, the nursery would be nearly as messy, but because I'm a slob, not because I have a divine mission. Unfortunately, the practicalities of business require that I try to maintain as much order as I can, or we'd never be able to find anything. Luckily, when Jack isn't off grafting, he's likely to be off looking for plants in Thailand or the Himalayas, so I have a chance to organize things. It works out pretty well. It helps that our part-time helper, Gail, likes things in straight rows, as does Leo, Jack's partner in the grafting business. With 3 against 1, we can nearly hold our own, and have fun doing it."

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