Josh Kardos

Josh Kardos became interested in horticulture as a young boy while working in his grandmother’s garden.  He built his first greenhouse at the age of 14, and worked for a garden center and then a wholesale nursery while in high school.  Josh started working for Dr. Michael Dirr in his plant improvement program while majoring in horticulture at the University of Georgia.  He became interested in plant breeding and introduction while working for Dr. Dirr as an undergraduate and decided to pursue a Ph.D. at UGA.  Josh conducted research involving several aspects of breeding hydrangeas and earned his Ph.D. in 2008.  In 2007 Plant Introductions, Inc. was formed by Dr. Dirr, Jeff Beasley (owner Transplant Nursery), and Mark Griffith (owner Griffith Propagation Nursery) and Josh was hired as the companies’ plant breeder and only employee.  Josh is working with Plant Introductions to breed and introduce improved ornamental plants.  Josh lives and gardens in Watkinsville, GA with his wife, Darien, and two daughters, Ellie and Maggie.”

Mike Sikes

Mike Sikes, is the horticulturist for the Gardener’s Confidence Collection. He has spent more than 25 years in the horticulture industry.

He is a graduate of the University of Georgia’s School of Horticulture, is a certified master gardener, and has served as president of the Georgia Nursery Association and Friends of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia.

Sikes also has been recognized as the Georgia Green Industry Association’s Distinguished Professional of the Year. His expertise is easily shared with other gardeners who strive to have the utmost confidence in their own garden whether that includes acres of plants or patio containers because he knows each and every garden is special to its owner.

Ted Stephens

Received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Ornamental Horticulture from Clemson University.

1969-1972, taught Horticulture at Lake City Community College, Lake City, Florida.

1973, Founded Nurseries Caroliniana, in North Augusta, SC, a retail garden center focusing on offering  rare and unusual plant material to the gardening public. In 1990, a wholesale division was begun to offer plants to other nurseries throughout the Southeast.

Ted travels to Japan and other foreign countries on an regular basis to collect new plant selections for introduction to the American market. He is also introducing a number of his own selections which he has developed in selective breeding programs. Among these is Loropetalum ‘Carolina Moonlight’™, which is a compact white flowering form. Loropetalum ‘Carolina Midnight’™; an upright deep burgundy foliage form with red flowers; Albizia ‘Merlot Majik’™, a deep burgundy colored leaf Mimosa; and Ilex vomitoria ‘Carolina Ruby’™, a female, compact growing Yaupon Holly with the heaviest berry set of any holly.

Ted has served as the past president of the S.C. Nursery and Landscape Assoc. and currently serves on the advisory board for the S.C. Botanical Garden and the Center for Applied Nursery Research.

Nurseries Caroliniana has recently begun a mail order division, where many of our plants are shipped nationally and globally. We ship to other nurseries in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and England where they wish to add new cultivars from Nurseries Caroliniana to their offerings.