41 AWARDS FOR EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE

We’re honored that Reporter Newspapers and Atlanta INtown have won 41 awards in the Georgia Press Association’s Better Newspaper Competition over the past three years. For 2019, the Reporter’s honors include eight first place awards in its category.

The annual competition is judged by newspaper professionals from around the country and represent the highest journalism standards. Thank you to our readers, advertisers and peers who support our mission of providing trusted, hyperlocal community journalism.

Watch for the same to happen to some of these hard-to-find houseplants. Yes, some of this is pricy but the demand is definitely there. And there are other ways to get your hands on the hottest new plants. Etsy does a thriving business in cuttings and starter plants sold by people often propagating popular plants out of their own jungle apartments. There are ever more facebook pages dedicated to local plant groups. Then there are also local organized plant swaps put on by neighborhood groups or individuals where hobbyists bring cuttings and potted divisions from their collection to hopefully trade for a coveted wish list item.

You can’t ignore one of the big factors driving all this is plant YouTubers who often sit in front of shelves of plants and grow lights gushing effusively about their latest finds and their top dream plants. Popular videos can include a number of things. There’s plant tours showing off one’s collection and talking about one’s personal connection to each plant. There are also videos opening plant mail (the latest mail order plants from specialty nurseries or even other countries). There are plant-buying trips to big box and local plant stores, going to Goodwill to find planters, and let’s not forget popular plant hacks and dollar store finds. Some channels often throw some “what’s going on in my life” b-roll footage as well, and in the end you feel as if you’ve got a new friend you can sit around and talk houseplants with.

One or those YouTubers is Ashley Anita of the popular YouTube plant channel “Life with Ashley Anita.” She often divides her time between Charlotte and Atlanta. In her videos you get to spend lots of time plant shopping with Anita in various box stores, smaller nurseries and visiting botanical gardens. She’s often rattling through plant names as she scans the shelves and shares plant tips. She’s typical of many plant YoutTubers. She’s not a horticulturist but she’s obviously a keen hobbyist. She knows a lot about plants but part of the charm is following her on her journey as she continues to learn more.

Katelynn Corley, one of the owners at Flora/Fauna, and Cary Smith and Libby Hockenberry, owners of The Victorian, shared how they got into plants. It’s one I heard quite often. So you leave home where your parents have a couple of old reliable houseplants and move into your first dorm or apartment. For the first time you’re in charge of your own place, and of course want a couple of well placed plants. But you don’t want the same old snake plants and umbrella trees your parents had, so you look around and discover something entirely new.

Thanks to the internet, new shops and online ordering, there’s an entire world of plants to discover and learn about. Once you grow that first gateway plant, some people are hooked. It’s no small sense of accomplishment growing something from a one-leaf cutting to a huge floor plant. Its addictive. Now just imagine your whole place full of your favorite plants, each with it’s own story to tell. In the end, though, it’s just fun to grow stuff.

▲Kraig Torres, founder and president of Hop City Beer and Wine, has been selected as the 2020 SBA Georgia Small Business Person of the Year. A 20-year Atlanta resident and avid beer enthusiast, Torres opened Hop City Beer and Wine’s first location in 2009 with four employees. Over the past decade, the business, offering over 1,900 different ales and lagers and more than 1,100 wines, has continued to grow. The brand now has two locations in Atlanta and one in Birmingham. Torres has also ventured into the restaurant industry with the opening of Barleygarden Kitchen and Craft Bar in Alpharetta and BoxCar near the Westside BeltLine.

Banyan Street Capital has announced it will add spec suites and vertical improvements at Marquis Towers and Towers 233 and 229 at Peachtree Center. The move-in ready spaces will feature open-office environments designed for optimal collaboration. Along with the spec suites, Banyan Street is bringing its focus on art-infused public spaces to Towers 229 and Tower 233’s elevator banks, which will feature murals that pull inspiration from Hopare’s “Symphony,” the southeast’s largest public art mural found on the building’s Peachtree Center Avenue façade. For more information on Peachtree Center, visit peachtreecenter. com.

A new 16-story Hyatt Centric hotel is coming to Buckhead at 3301 Lenox Square Parkway, adjacent to the mall. The hotel will have 218 guestrooms, 4,500 square feet of meeting space, a pool and a fitness center. It will also feature a 16th floor rooftop terrace, bar and restaurant, and a lobby bar and restaurant.

Wellstar Health System has opened a primary care office on the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail at The Edge mixed-use development, 670 DeKalb Ave., Suite 106. The office offers health care for all ages, diagnostic imaging, and laboratory services by appointment and on a walk-in basis. Dr. Randolph Taylor II will serve as the primary care physician at Wellstar Primary Care and Terrica Rumph, DNP, as nurse practitioner.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (470) 267-0570 for primary care and (678) 581-5900 for imaging.

Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of lilli Midtown, the 147-unit luxury apartment building on Peachtree Street in Midtown. Robert Stickel, Alex Brown and Chris Spain of Cushman & Wakefield represented the sellers, JPX Works, Mariner Group and ELV Associates, in the transaction. Oxford Properties Group acquired the property, which also includes 3,965 square feet of retail space.

◄SustainAble, the Atlanta-based retailer offering fair and ethically made artisan goods, hand-picked decor and accessories founded by LaToya Tucciarone, will expand from its former retail kiosk to a new permanent space at Ponce City Market. The shop will be housed on the second floor of Ponce City Market’s buzzing Central Food Hall between Citizen Supply and Modern Mystic Shop. During the buildout, the brand is popping up at a larger temporary space across from Topstitch. SustainAble offers a curated selection of socially and ethically crafted products from local and global makers.