Four Star News & Events

Unplugged® Pink Salvia Wins Retailers’ Choice Award

Proven Winners’® new variety Unplugged® Pink Salvia was awarded a Retailers’ Choice Award at Cultivate’21. The Garden Center Group selected the best new products “to bring excitement and high level of interest for their stores” in 2022, and Unplugged Pink was honored because it is loaded with blooms, it has an adaptable compact in size (12 by 20 inches), and it thrives in sun or shade, and landscape and containers. Read more about Unplugged Pink and other exciting new varieties in the Four Star 2022 Plants & Programs Guide.

Class of 2019: Angie VanWashenova

Angie is responsible for developing marketing sales campaigns, sales analytics, broker relations and promotion. She helped shape our customer relationship management software to prioritize information and identify customer needs. Four Star’s inside sales team can now access the information at their desks and on the road.

With a background in National Advertising Media Sales, Angie adapted media research techniques to our customers and products, which helped develop individual strategies to guide sales efforts.

In her free time, Angie enjoys spending time with her family on the lake in Northern Michigan seeing the Dave Matthews Band, and has attended their concerts more than 20 times. See Angie’s profile here.

Class of 2018: Josh Miller

Josh has had a strategic impact at Four Star, integrating trial growing, marketing and tracking processes, while adding cohesion at every stage to successfully bring different plants to market. While working at a non-profit public garden, he participated on a multi-disciplinary conservation team that focused on restoring the natural flow of a stream in the Great Lakes' largest river basin. Josh grew up playing competitive billiards, seeking out traditional pool halls when he is on the road. He enjoys the change of the four seasons in the upper Midwest, and he loves to vacation in the coastal regions of Michigan with his wife and two children. See Josh’s profile here.

Class of 2015: Amber Coch

Amber Coch, Garden Ready Sales Supervisor at Four Star, received the honor for the class of 2015. In the 18 years she has worked at Four Star, Amber has focused on garden ready sales and was instrumental in the development of Four Star’s barcode pay-by-scan program for independent garden centers, which tracks actual sales by variety and container. She works closely with retailers to provide product lines tailored to their needs. Read more about Amber here.

Dennis Crum named 2013 Head Grower of the Year

Four Star Greenhouse is proud to announce Greenhouse Grower magazine has named our Director of Growing, Dennis Crum, as 2013 Head Grower of the Year. The magazine's editors noted a key reason he was selected was because of "...his willingness to help solve growers' production problems," among other things.

Each year, several head growers are nominated and evaluated by a select advisory panel chosen by the Greenhouse Grower editors. This prestigious honor was given to Dennis in recognition of his tireless efforts to help industry growers, during the "Evening of Excellence" event, held during the OFA Short Course in July, in Columbus, OH.

His enthusiasm for growing is widespread. Four Star President Tom Smith summed it up for the magazine: "Dennis has a true passion for the industry. He is extremely knowledgeable, and I think he knows the Proven Winners® material better than anybody in the world. He has a great feel not only for what plants will sell well and make consumers successful in the garden, but also what plants will produce well for growers."

The entire Four Star family is proud of Dennis Crum's accomplishment. Have a thought to share with him? Send it to mail@pwfourstar.com and we'll pass it along.