The #GeekyGardener

Ideas, Products, Tips & Tricks

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TECHNOLOGY IS ANY TOOL THAT HELPS MAKE A TASK EASIER
The first evidence of the use of technology humans have identified was the use of rocks as a tool. Some animals use tools but for the most part, it is humans that are known as tool-using animals.

TOOLS

WEBSITES & APPS

PLANTSMAP.COM

GROW TECH

MAPS

DRONES

WEATHER

PHOTOGRAPHY

Bill Blevins, Cofounder
PlantsMap.com
bill@plantsmap.com

Plant Geek Bio
Bill is an avid plant collector and is known to try and grow anything that might survive in Zone 7. On a 2-acre lot in Spotsylvania, VA, he and his wife Tracy are growing over 1800 taxa of plants. Bill has also been an early adopter of just about every high-tech gadget that’s been introduced in the past 40 years. Bill is constantly thinking about how technology can help his plants and landscape. He was trained as a photojournalist and pursue that career for 10 years but then turned his attention to the Internet in the mid-1990s and went on to run some of the largest websites in the United States. In 2014 he started PlantsMap.com and is now helping gardeners and organizations all over the world document their plant collections. Bill has collected over 300 conifers and is an active member of the American Conifer Society and serves on the non-profit committee with the National Institute of Consumer Horticulture. He is also a member of the American Rose Society, American Iris Society, American Hosta Society, Arbor Day, National Garden Bureau, American Horticultural Association and American Hort.

Bill’s More Boring Professional Bio

Bill Blevins has more than 25 years of experience in the media industry. As Vice President of New Business Development for GateHouse Media, Inc., located in Fairport, NY from 2009 – 2012, he was responsible for developing a business that sells digital marketing services and tools to SMBs to help them manage and more efficiently communicate with their customers using social media and their traditional websites. These tools and services included reputation management monitoring, email marketing, Commerce, mobile website creation and hosting, social media messaging management, text messaging, online presence management, SEO, SEM, and social media advertising. From 2006 – 2009, Mr. Blevins was the Vice President of Online Operations for GateHouse Media. In that role, he was a key member of a team that completed a successful initial public offering (IPO) in Oct. 2006 that led to over $1.5 billion in newspaper and Internet acquisitions over the next 18 months. Mr. Blevins was responsible for designing and implementing a global online strategy, centralizing core digital technologies shared by more than 465 websites and he had P&L; responsibility for digital sales of more than $28 million in 2009. Bill Blevins joined the Board of Directors of Search Initiatives in 2006. He was formerly Vice President of Online Operations with Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. (CNHI) located in Birmingham, AL, from 2004 to 2006. From 1990 to 2004, Mr. Blevins held several newsroom and online management positions, including Director of Photography and Internet Director running Fredericksburg.com, for The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co. Inc., of Fredericksburg, VA. In December 2000, Bill received the Newspaper Association of America’s “20 under 40”; award honoring 20 people under 40 years of age who have had a significant positive impact on the newspaper industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the School of Fine Arts and Communications at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA.