Sign of genius: Witty wordplay winners announced

SALISBURY — Besides being known as a nursery that does garden maintenance and design and sells flowers, shrubs, and trees, Salisbury Garden Center is well known for its humorous and sometimes thought-provoking signs. Many look forward to the signs when driving on Route 44 on the way to or from Canaan.

The Garden Center’s owner, Eric Mendelsohn, decided to hold a contest this year and invited, through the signs, all who pass by to submit a saying for them. He got entries “in the double digits” and had plenty to choose from. Of all the entrees four were chosen, with more as possibilities for future signs. Since the sign can only hold sixty characters, length was part of the determination. He was happy to call the contest “a success.”

On Sunday, Aug. 25, the first two winners were announced. The winning entries were:

“If Jerry could, you can! Time to deadhead.” Submitted by Sally Spillane of Salisbury.

“A fall is a great time to plant, since you’re down there.” Submitted by Ariana Erickson, also of Salisbury.

The other two winners’ signs will be on display next Sunday, Sept. 1. At that time, their names will be announced.

The top four winners will receive gift certificates from Salisbury Garden Center and their entries will be displayed for a week. Two winners a week will have their sayings posted, one on each side of the sign. Winners’ names and a photo of their sign will be posted on Instagram.

Henry Pincus, a major in Creative Writing at Oberlin College and a summer staff member, was put in charge of the entries. He said the staff voted on the ones they liked most to pick the winners. Pincus said of the signs, “It is deceptively difficult to make them both funny and snappy. It was interesting to get other people in on the process and see them experiment in that creative space.”

Eric Mendelsohn has been the owner of the garden center since 2004. He said that he first began having fun with the signs about ten years ago. He gets the ideas from “a curating of signs the world has come up with.” He added, “There are no original ideas out there that someone hasn’t thought of.” And so, he will not claim the writings on any of the past signs as his own. During the spring and summer seasons, most signs are garden related.

He has had people who have been offended by some of the signs call or stop in to complain. Mendelsohn contributed that, “Funny gets close to the edge of that sometimes.”

Travelers on Route 44 can enjoy reading the winning entries for the next two weeks at least.

Salisbury Garden Center is located at 167 Canaan Rd (Route 44) and open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.