Your parents founded the wholesale-only Brotzman’s Nursery in 1955. What was it like growing up in a nursery family?
Until we were about 16, Dad never asked more than four hours of work per day from my brother or me. Dad was a hands-on operator, so we had great practical training doing all sorts of farm-related activities.

Did horticulture interest you as a child?
I was interested in growing things from an early age. I remember collecting nuts from oak and chestnut trees when I was about 12 or 13. Dad gave me a plot of ground to grow them and helped with the maintenance and harvest. We split the money from their sale, and I used it to help pay for my schooling at Ohio State.

Is the nursery still a family affair?
My brother [Jeff ’75 LM], my sister, Jo Anna, and my wife [Sonia Hidalgo Brotzman ’79,’80 M.S. LM] are all employed at the nursery. Jeff maintains all aspects of machinery and building maintenance as well as supervising the shipping. Jo Anna works in the propagation department and oversees the care of plants awaiting shipment or planting. Sonia is the office manager; she does the bookkeeping and is in charge of personnel.

You developed your first selection at Ohio State. Tell us about that.
I was interested in a tree we had purchased about 1962 known as Manchurian Maple that I felt was very ornamental. We didn’t have a greenhouse at the time, so I took some cuttings to the Ohio State greenhouse. A few of them rooted, and eventually I named the selection ‘White Tigress.’

How many selections have you developed since then?
To date, we have named and introduced 10 additional selections.

Do you find most of them out in the field, or do you develop them from stock at the nursery?
Selections are made in multiple ways, from seedling-grown plants that produce novel characteristics to plants originating from a deliberate hybridizing program. Nurserymen are constantly exposed to plants that show some variations from the norm. The trick is to be able to recognize those that provide an ornamental or cultural improvement.

Are you currently developing any new selections? Are there any that you hope to develop one day?
The most serious breeding program we have undertaken is with Redbud. I would also like to develop a witch hazel with purple leaves or white flowers.

You consider yourself a “plantsman’s plantsman.” What does that mean?
I consider myself a nurseryman with a profound love for plants, which I try to infuse into the business and the people who visit us.

What’s the best part of your job?
I play some small part in raising a thing of natural beauty that will appreciate in value for decades after it has left our care.

Do you find it difficult to take a walk in the woods without critiquing the plants?
I do critique trees, but it’s always in the spirit of a quote by Donald Culross Peattie: “Wherever you live, wherever you tramp or travel, the trees of our country are wondrously companionable, if you have a speaking acquaintance with them.”