The Blogging Nurseryman

Changes with the blog

2007-08-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

We are making changes to the blog. While we are doing that you may find yourself re-directed to the new blog under construction, or even our home page for the nursery. This change over from Blogger to Wordpress is giving my webmaster headaches. We are moving along and hope to have the issue resolved shortly.

Thanks go to Charlie in The U.K. for giving me the first heads up on the problem! What an amazing world we live in when friends across the world can have an impact our lives so quickly.

The era of the citizen journalist

2007-08-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

A while back I was interviewed by a trade magazine about blogging. One question was whether garden centers should monitor the internet for negative reviews. My answer was no, just get in on the conversation and occasionally Google you name and business name to see what comes up. I didn’t want to make it sound like you have to sit in front of the computer constantly checking on what people are saying. Maybe I should have said not to make it an obsession but yes, check regularly to what is being said about you.

Here is an unhappy consumer living in North Carolina that makes sure to let everyone know of their disappointment. It’s the second post down. What’s interesting is the $400 Holly trees we’re planted by Paradise Gardens Center for the former owners! Now the new owners have moved in and say all four Holly Trees died, and want the nursery to replace them. The new owners figured that the one-year plant warranty came with the title to the house . You can read the post, but you can’t comment as that function has been turned off.

I like this comment from the consumer, “the 2 center trees of the 4 which are planted in a row, came back to life and are doing great, do to constant care and the use of Miracle Grow.” Amazing how the two dead trees came back to life only with the help of Miracle-Gro” and constant care.

As a nursery person this makes me laugh. As a business person I would be aghast to see this when I Googled the company name. This complaint shows up right under the stores web page! With the comment feature turned off there is no way for the garden center to respond. All the work on the company web page just went down the drain.

If the events happened the way the consumer says, the nursery blew it! Actually it doesn’t matter whether it happened the way the consumer says, since the negative review is out there staring potential customers in the face.

The era of the citizen journalist is here. Everyone has a voice now and there is no way to control the conversation. This of course frightens business people. What happens if somebody with their own motivations decides to deride your company. What if everyone that comes through your store is pleased except for that one "pain in the you know what"? They decide to start a campaign of negativity. It could very well affect your business and the bottom line.

If the affected nursery wants to explain their side of the story what do they do. Put it on the front of their web page? I don't think so since thats like putting a notice of the event on your front door. What you want is a way to take this consumer aside and see if you can come to an agreement. The problem here is we don't know the identity of the person complaining. No way to get a hold of them.

If this isn't a wake up call for how we run our businesses I don't know what is. Are your return policies fair? Hows the consumer interaction going on at the cash register? Whats the cost of replacing two $400 hollies with the cost of repairing your image? Are we checking out whats being said about us on the internet? Do we have a way for disgruntled consumers to reach the owner, when it seems the other employees don't care? What if this consumer could have spoken directly with the owner on his blog?

This kind of thing is going to happen more and more. The best way to prevent it from happening is having an open door policy both in the store and on the internet. Check out what's being said about you now, before you hear it from someone else.

Small wineries and nurseries are a lot alike.

2007-08-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

Small wineries and nurseries have a lot in common. How do you get them into your facility? You can buy plants at Home Depot or Wal Mart just like you can buy wine at BevMo or Costco. You don’t even have to go into the winery or nursery. There are lots of cheap wines that are drinkable just as there are lots of cheap plants that work. Most people will never try a fine wine or fine plants, the cheap stuff is good enough. How do we get them into the store and our world?

Wineries are huge fans of direct mail. I receive a number of snail mail as well as e-news letters from various wineries. One I receive is from Bonny Doon Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Randall Graham who is the owner is a well known figure in the wine industry. Besides being a bit of an eccentric he was one of the first wine makers to promote the twist top on wine bottles. He found that there was no difference and actually an improvement in the quality of the wine when twist tops are used instead of cork. He realized that people associated cork with quality wines, but he stuck to his guns. Of course now twist tops are common with wines from Australia, and are starting to be accepted by others. Let’s face it I would rather twist the top on and off a bottle that fussing with the cork. While people will still associate screw tops with cheap wine the members of DEWN (distinct esoteric wine network) know better.

For years this winery and wine maker have stuck to their philosophy while the rest of the industry ignored them. Over the years they have built up a loyal following. They have done this by producing quality wines, ignoring what the industry told them, and following their own muse. The one thing that pops out from a visit to their web page is a sense of fun and experimentation. You need this since it can take quite while for good ideas to be accepted. Be sure to watch the “Vive le screwcap” video under “The Dooniverse” section entitled “Learn our ways”.

I can see so many ways this type of marketing can work for the small garden center. Wineries and nurseries both need to educate the consumer without making it seem boring. I think Bonny Doon does it better than any other winery.

Keep your options open.

2007-08-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Keeping you options open is a good idea for the small garden center. What you thought you would be about when you started may not be what you are about now. This story from the Macon Telegraph on Green leaf Nursery illustrates that. This family run nursery was “opened… on April 9, 1994, concentrating on growing and selling bedding plants and perennials.” The nursery “has consumed their time ‘from dark to dark’ ever since, said Nancy Lawrence, co-owner.

When husband Ray Lawrence bought $500 in statuary with only $300 in the till he took a chance. “I'm independent," he said, grinning. “I'm a renegade." Apparently the decision was a good one as they quickly sold those pieces and ordered several thousands of dollars more.

Here is where they realized that in their particular niche they needed to take “the business away from growing so many plants” and concentrate “on sales of garden ornaments and statues.” Even better “Ray soon became dissatisfied with the quality of purchased statuary, and he began studying all facets of production. In 1997, he bought his first molds and began pouring and finishing his own statuary - some of it his own designs. Now he owns more than 1,000 molds.”

They have even started custom work. According to The Telegraph, “They pour and install tiered fountains all over Middle Georgia. Their largest fountain bowl weighs 1,160 pounds. ‘Last year, we installed a fountain every eight days,’ he said.”

This nursery has the same concerns most of us have. According to The Telegraph, “Big box stores such as Lowe's and Home Depot have made the garden center business tough for local owners, and several in this area have gone out of business in recent years. And fewer young people are as interested in gardening as their parents were.”

This is an interesting take from Ray Lawrence, “nostalgia brings some people to gardening, when their mothers die,” he said. “They'll come in and say 'My mother raised this flower, or that flower, and I want to plant some in memory of her.'"

He is a great example of looking at the surrounding business climate, changing assumptions about what your garden center is about and going for it. Sometimes our stubbornness at running our businesses they way we think they are suppose be run blinds us to the opportunities that are available elsewhere.

Sunday ramblings

2007-08-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

We just got the latest issue of Garden Design Magazine and in the “shopping” section an article titled “Urban Outfitter” talks about San Francisco’s newest nursery, Flora Grubb. The article says the opening “raises the bar for garden centers everywhere”.

We talked about this nursery back in June and again in July. In the article the author Donna Dorian calls Flora, “California’s horticultural fashionista”. The nursery “announces the new age of the urban nursery-and raises the bar for garden centers everywhere.”

This is a bit much. It’s a beautiful facility, bright, airy, and new. The plant selection consists mainly of succulents, acacias, agaves, and other succulent type plants. Most of these won’t grow outside the frost free climate of The Bay Area. So to call Flora California’s “fashionista” is a bit over the top. Maybe "San Francisco's fashionista" would be a better title. Of course this is what folks living in San Francisco would think as anywhere outside" The City" most likely doesn’t count. Hey I lived there, I know.

Recent issue of Wine Spectator has a great article on “The Wide World of Olives”. There are so many types available now, along with oodles of different types of olive oil. We had Gold Hill Olive Oil Co. at our recent Creekside Festival. What an eye opener for me. The flavors of all the different artesian olive oil are so different in a good way, than plain old olive oil. Tasting olive oil you dip a small piece of bread in a bowl of oil and eat.

I remember when people couldn’t pull olives out of their yards fast enough. Twenty years ago all fat was bad and olives have fat. Plus the olives dropping on patios stained the concrete. The nursery industry answered by creating fruitless olives that had the beauty of the tree, but no fruit. Then about 10 years ago people started to realize that the fat in olives is a good fat, plus Americans started to see small batches of artesian oils turning up and liked these new flavors. My how things can change in a few short years, you can now buy full size fruiting olive trees and have them trucked to your villa.

Our county, El Dorado has over 50 wineries located inside its borders. We have about 12 within 15 miles of here with three within 6 miles of the nursery. While Napa and Sonoma get the lion’s share of interest it’s the other wine regions in California where the action is.

Here you have small operations where the wine maker is often the person pouring the wine. We had Mari Wells from David Girard Vineyards at the nursery for our Creekside Festival. The winery is planting more Rhone varietals which perform well here in the foothills. Originally most of the wineries here planted the common grapes that you would see in Napa, Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay, etc. While our wineries still have lots of these varietals planted our winemakers have finally started planting varieties that do well here, rather than what does well in Napa and Sonoma. Now this region will start to really shine as we express the “terroir”of the region.

I wonder if Eliz at Garden Rant has ever had an El Dorado appellation wine. She has a new section called “Drink This” where she plans on “visiting wineries near and far and interviewing growers and winemakers (New York State and Southern Ontario both have well-established viticultural regions).” She continues, “The category won’t be limited to wine, though; it will include any agriculturally produced liquid that one can ingest without serious harm.” I say as long as no "serious" harm is done, lets get pouring!

Hines nurseries gets de-listed at stock exchange

2007-08-10T07:34:00.000-07:00

It looks like Hines nurseries are having further troubles. The second largest wholesale nursery in the country was just de-listed on the New York stock exchange according to Open Register.

Well over a year ago we discussed the problems at Hines. I said then, “We don’t have too much sympathy for Hines. We don’t buy from them as they are thick in the box stores. Could this be that the boxes are squeezing the wholesale nursery trade? I know that at Home Depot, vendors like Hines, don’t get paid until the product is sold at the retail level. If the plants remain unsold for any reason, Home Depot does not pay. Considering the care plants receive at my local Home Depot I am not surprised that there are many unsold plants. I wouldn't get the same treatment from Hines or any of my vendors. I have to pay, and then do my best to sell them.”

One of the reasons I have a negative reaction to “Urban Outfitters” getting into the garden center business is because it’s a publicly traded company. Stockholders don’t have a lot of patience when it comes to rainy springs, hot summers, the real estate market slowing, and other common problems that our industry deals with. How do you explain to them that next year, if the weather co-operates share prices might go up?

I hope Urban-Outfitters stores make it. It’s just that pressure to have an up season every year makes companies do strange things. Hines and other wholesalers not being paid until the product is sold is one example.

Is this true?

2007-08-08T08:52:00.001-07:00

Adrian Higgins has an interesting article in The Washington Post titled “How to be a better plant buyer”. The Post has “put together an illustrated tutorial available online” he says. Where online is hard to say as I could not find a link anywhere in the article.

What caught my attention was a quote by Warren Quinn, vice president for operations of the American Nursery and Landscape Association. According to the Post “Quinn edits the American Standard for Nursery Stock, a trade manual that establishes standards, specifications and guidelines for nursery plants as they make their way through an industry with a lot of middlemen and players. The holly you buy at the garden center may have been through three growers and two or three nurseries before it reaches you”.

While I am familiar with the nursery industry in California I don’t know a lot about the rest of the country. Is this true that a plant goes through three growers and two nurseries before it’s sold at retail?

Here in California the Wholesale Nursery, let’s say Monrovia grows its plants from cuttings, tissue culture, etc. Once the plant is the right size it’s shipped to the retail store where it’s bought by the end consumer. Now in some cases Monrovia sells liner sized plants to re-wholesale operations that then grow the plants to size and sell them, two steps not the five that Warren mentions.

Are plants going through that many outlets in the rest of the country? If they are going through five different middlemen I can see all sorts of problems that would cause. If I we’re a nursery person where this is going on I would be working as hard as I can to eliminate some of those middlemen.

In California this doesn’t happen. Generally the consumer is two steps from the grower, maybe three. I am curious, nursery people from east of The Sierra, is this true?

Garden Centers need to be the connection

2007-08-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

While writing an article on “Fall is for Planting” for our local paper I came across this quote from Don Hinkley. He says “The usual approach to horticulture, if written in equation form would, sadly, read something like this: {long colorless winters} x {lack of connection to natural world} + {visits to nurseries exclusively in spring} = gardens that stop entertaining much too early in the season.”

We have been trying to encourage people to check out the garden center and its offerings during the other seasons for years. The problem is spring planting is a “biological” urge. The warmer weather returns and you just “feel” like planting where as fall is “intellectually” a better time to do planting, especially here in California. The cooler fall weather doesn’t seem like planting time, but rather a time for storing our nuts for winter.

Here, fall is really our second spring. I would feel more successful if we could get people to shop and garden in fall. We don’t get any rain all summer so the return of fall with upcoming rains and cooler temperatures is an ideal time to plant and garden. The CANGC (California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers) for years ran a somewhat effective campaign called “Fall is for Planting”. I don’t know if they still do it as I don’t belong to this organization any more.

So the problem is how do we get people interested in the year round garden? How do we get people to visit nurseries during the three other seasons besides spring? How do we help people connect to nature so they can have an appreciation of our gardens in winter? There is no excuse here in California for gardens to not have interest and beauty the year round. It certainly isn’t the climate.

Part of the problem is we in the nursery business sometimes seem like where closing down for the fall. We’ve talked about this before and its one reason the fall season doesn’t garner as much attention. Of course the reason there is not more to buy in fall is there are not enough people coming in the nursery to warrant having so many plants available then. What doesn’t sell in fall will have to be overwintered at the nursery, where it just sits. Inventory sitting around all winter is not good.

Hinkley is right! The “lack of connection to the natural world” part of the equation is the most important. Here in California it’s especially prevalent since our “natural world” is very different than the rest of the world. A real connection to the “natural” here would involve the realization the fall is a better time to do major landscaping. Spring should actually be the second garden season here. Living here and being connected to the natural world would bring the realization that plants from other Mediterranean climates where no rain falls in summer are a better choice than the plants we see in many of the garden magazines from other regions.

This is a huge opportunity for the garden center. Where as in the past we thought of ourselves as places to buy plants, we should now see ourselves as places to connect with nature and learn how to work with it. For some people the garden center is the closest thing to “nature” that they will experience. Our job now is not just to sell plants but also be a place to ask questions and get answers. We need to be the place to explain and share in the joy of gardening in the “off season”. We need to keep communicating with our customers via newsletters and e-news all year. We need to have fun events like our Creekside Festival that is not about gardening, but enjoying the ambiance of the garden and connecting with others.

Let’s quit selling plants and start selling a more natural lifestyle. The more we can be seen as a “nature connection” rather than a “store” the better. Many people are interested in learning to live closer to nature but don’t know where to start. How can I garden with the wildlife? How can I garden using less water and more in tune with the Mediterranean climate we enjoy? I want to cut down on the chemicals I use in the garden, show me how. The box stores aren’t doing it so those of us with smaller garden centers should step up to the plate. With all the interest in eco-logical issues right now we are in an enviable position of becoming the nature experts if we want. Get people in tune with nature and the garden center business will thrive. Maybe not in the way it use to, but in a new and different way we are just starting to imagine.

Adopt a nursery

2007-08-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Here is another blogger that takes the time to visit and then talk about the nurseries she visits. Jodi DeLong of bloomingwriter in Nova Scotia has quite an extensive list. I actually ended up here from a Swedish web site Indoor Gardener. This page is in English. The home page is in Swedish which Babel fish will not translate.

The page I wish I could translate is about how to “adopt a nursery”. Jodi has quite a list of nurseries while Indoor Gardener has just started. She has a poll up this post on steam trains in nurseries, which her “adopted” nursery has.

I like this as it is a way for gardeners to spread the word about garden centers they like. This is going to happen in every town eventually. These reviews will help to drive new business to these stores, or if your bad away. First hand accounts from bloggers that are trusted will eventually be more important than all the other ways we try to get the word out.

I have started a section called "Blogs with reviews of garden centers and nurseries" in the link section. If you write nursery reviews or know of someone that does let me know and I'll include a link to it.

It seemed like a good idea.

2007-07-29T21:10:00.001-07:00

When I drive to work I pass by this house that was just completed a year ago. The owners have put in a nice fence which I assume is to keep the kids in check. Soon afterword I noticed the grass growing all through the yard. The owners had planted a lawn. It’s a natural inclination. The Blue Oaks (Quercus douglasii), and Live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) which were here before the house are picture perfect with the fresh lawn planted underneath.

Blue and Live Oaks are native throughout the foothills of the Sierra Nevada as well as the coastal range. Being native they have been living with the yearly drought every summer that is a fact of life here. No water, except for the occasional shower falls all summer until mid fall. Well meaning landowners plant lawns under these trees and then irrigate throughout the summer. The irrigation they provide is out of synch with the oaks natural habit of summer drought. As such these oaks have a good chance of dying within 10 years or sooner. They can develop disease associated with the summer irrigation. Suddenly the lawn which accented the oaks picturesque beauty now stands responsible for its death.

It’s an odd feeling driving by this house. It seems to be a young couple with kids who simply wanted to provide a safe and beautiful space. If you are unfamiliar with our native plants it’s easy to change the landscape in such a way as to kill the very trees that give our area its character.

Welcome the the foothills of The Sierra.

2007-07-26T10:59:00.001-07:00

I wanted to get your opinion. You have just moved here from the eastern half of the country or maybe from the ‘The City’ (San
Francisco) or Los Angeles. When you moved in it was spring and there was a beautiful tree with lush green leaves and even fragrant white flowers. It looked like this.

Now its summer and fall and it looks like this. You soon find out that it’s supposed to look like this during the summer and fall. Its not dead!

The hills are full of these trees. It’s California Buckeye (Aesculus californiaca). It’s a main component of the chaparral in these parts. During the summer it goes dormant with the dead leaves hanging on the tree for a couple of months. It’s not endangered yet, because its so prevalent. These people have left in their yard. Would you?

Small in size doesn't have to mean small in influence.

2007-07-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

I may have shared this e-mail from a fan before, but I think it really underscores the changes taking place in the garden center business.

"Mr. Pitsenberger and all at Golden Gecko,

My name is Nicky O'Sullivan, living in Glanmire, County Cork, Ireland. I am relatively new to gardening and I would most sincerely like to congratulate you on your website. It has fascinating topics, tips, guidance and gardening plans, in fact all you need to know and has kindled my interest in gardening. If circumstances would allow I would most certainly purchase my garden requirements but all I can offer is my appreciation and ask that you keep up the good work.

Regards, Nicky O'Sullivan"

Nicky says, "If circumstances would allow I would most certainly purchase my garden requirements (from us)". Now the challenge for us it to figure out how to facilitate his wish!

I think there are more Nicky's out there. For whatever reason they might gravitate towards your business. Maybe they don't have a great garden center in their area. Maybe they just feel more connected to your business because of your web page and blog.

There is a huge opportunity here for small nurseries to connect with people all over the globe. People are connecting across borders and will show loyalty to the business that speaks to (with) them.

Helping our customers spread the word

2007-07-24T22:43:00.000-07:00

I came across this post on e-newsletters at Katy’s “Getting to the Point Blog”. I thought it timely as I had been thinking about taking our twice monthly e-newsletter and making it a shorter version, but send it weekly.

What I take away from the post is the idea of a “story” with each e-newsletter. I think this “telling of a story” fits in perfectly with our goal of a starting and nurturing a conversation with the consumer. The small garden center can be a great story teller. Our everyday experiences are stories waiting to be told

Our customers have stories to tell too. How about putting the customer’s story in the newsletter? People love to read reviews and hear “stories” from other consumers about businesses. Sounds like a good way to actively involve the customer in “spreading the word”.

I'll try to be better

2007-07-23T23:22:00.000-07:00

I feel like a chastised kid. Reading a blog about blogging it talked about how important it is to answer your reader’s comments. I always e-mail if its a specific question someone has but I haven’t been very good at continuing the conversation in the comment section. I realize I am missing a huge opportunity.

I seem to get a lot of traffic from people typing in different search terms. So your first taste of my site might be a post from a year ago. I think it’s important to make sure the subject has a beginning, end, or a way to the next discussion. Answering comments in the comment section will make sure everything has been addressed on my part.

So let’s continue the conversation. Please check back in the comments if you have left one. I’ll answer you.

Why I don't carry the brand heavyweights

2007-07-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

I have received a few e-mails and comments from fellow nurserypeople about how hard it is to give advice to the customer, only to see them walk out the door to the local Home Depot to buy their recommendation. This is a common theme in our business. I know of one nursery that said that was the final straw in their decision to shut down.

Just for the record this irritates me too. That’s why I don’t carry or recommend what the box store has! I don’t have to worry about them walking out to get it there! It also fun showing people an alternative to the mass produced and hyped products. Now I know many, if not most nurseries and experts disagree. Yes, the national brands have a huge leverage on the buying public. I see the pallets of Scott’s Fertilizers going out the box store doors and realize my way is like fighting a tidal wave. Why don’t I just give in and carry these national brands?

I don’t know. There is a real argument for having the big names and your own smaller labels side by side. Maybe I can convince them to try ours, and if I don’t at least they bought the Miracle-gro and kept the cash flow going. It’s just that I like being different! That doesn’t make it good business sense. That just makes it me.

The 24 hour nursery

2007-07-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

The consumer wants information. The garden center that can supply the most amount of information in an easy to find way will win. We all know the value of an on site nursery professional that can answer a gardening question with ease. But that’s only when they are working, and the store is open. Now people want their questions answered any time anywhere. I do much of my research after hours on the internet. So do my customers.

While it is nice to entice the customer into the store where the potential for greater sales exist is also important to be there when they need help away from the store. I think having the ability to answer questions over the internet is a huge plus for the garden center. We try to answer questions within 24 hours. It’s not always possible but it does seem everyone is grateful for a quick response.

How great is it that we can now have customers e-mail pictures of their concerns so as that we can give them the correct answer. Sure it doesn’t mean a sale today, but by being the expert that can help out anytime they are more likely to come into the store next time around, or buy from our offerings over the internet.

While the idea of being a 24 hour nursery is enough to make a grown nurseyperson cry, we really don’t have to be physically open 24 hours a day. It’s all about perception. If I can ask my question tonight, with the promise of an answer tomorrow before noon that means a lot. The consumer wants access 24 hours a day. Let’s give it to them.

California Horse Chestnut

2007-07-22T07:36:00.002-07:00

This is one of our most miss-understood native trees, the Horse chestnut (Aesculus californica). This picture highlights why the tree is so miss-understood. It goes dormant during summer and doesn’t come out of dormancy until the rains return in fall. Right now the “chestnuts” are forming and will fall to the ground. There they will sprout and start a new tree. These trees are all over the foothills as it is a common component of the chaparral. This is a very easy tree to grow.

Of course the problem is it looks like its dying during the summer, yet it is perfectly adapted to our summer droughts. Think about it, when there is no moisture to be had it goes dormant only to come out of dormancy when the rains return in fall. This is one reason we call fall the “second spring” around here.

Trees and plants like this that are so adapted to our climate will never become popular until we re look at what constitutes a “desirable” landscape here. California is a place where just about anything will grow with water. Why would someone moving here from different climates want “dead” looking plants in their yard. Of course styles change when confronted with drought and a lack of water.

What we need here is a garden aesthetic that celebrates our climate. It’s happening on a small scale with xeriscape and like climate gardens but they are few and far between. While the Horse chestnut may not fit into the “look” most people are striving for, plants that are adapted to the dry summers will become more popular as we look for gardens that take less time to maintain.

California Horse Chestnut

2007-07-22T07:36:00.001-07:00

This is one of our most miss-understood native trees, the Horse chestnut (Aesculus californica). This picture highlights why the tree is so miss-understood. It goes dormant during summer and doesn’t come out of dormancy until the rains return in fall. Right now the “chestnuts” are forming and will fall to the ground. There they will sprout and start a new tree. These trees are all over the place in the foothills. It is a common component of the ch apparel. This is a very easy tree to grow.

The times they are a changing

2007-07-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

I came across this little bit of discouraging news from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette. In an article entitled “Bloom is fading for the gardening industry” the paper paints a gloomy picture for the garden industry. According to the paper “Sales at garden and lawn retailers totaled $34.07 billion last year, down nearly 15 percent from 2002's peak of $39.6 billion, according to the National Gardening Association.”
The paper cites the aging population with “Arthritic 50-somethings throwing down their trowels”. Time crunched consumers are also listed as a reason for the decline. The article goes on to paint an even bleaker view of the Generation X and Y. "We've probably lost the X and Y generation, but we're going after their kids, which is why we do school gardening programs and all kinds of things for children", says Bruce Butterfield, research director for the National Gardening Association.

Betty Cantalini, owner of Gardenalia, a Shadyside garden supply store says, "We in the garden industry are at a crossroads, people are still gardening, but they're cutting way back on the size of their gardens and the quantities of plants they buy.”

This is all stuff we have heard before. The garden center business is changing so quickly it’s hard to keep up. What I found interesting was the last part of the article. The silver lining is for specialty retailers that “target gardeners who want and need a lot of bells and whistles in their gardens.” The paper continues “North Hills Water Gardens, which caters to consumers who love running water in all forms, from ponds to fountains, hasn't been hit by any downturn. If anything, its business is booming, said Tom Buchser, its owner.”"We find that a lot of people say these kinds of gardens provide them with a great way to relax," he said.

We touched on the subject here. We need to fine tune what it is that we are about. I think it will become harder and harder for a garden center to be a one stop shop for all you gardening needs. Instead we will be the one stop shop for all your native plants, water plants, ornamental grasses, succulents, etc. The nursery that has the largest and best collection of whatever their specialty is will win. It may have a series of collections or specialties but trying to have everything for the gardener is the realm of the home stores and they own that turf. Specialties can also include service, personality, information and other non s.k.u. items, but you will have to be the best at whatever you claim for your specialty. If its service it will have to be the best service in your market area to gain attention.

I read optimistic reports on gardening too, but I would have to say that this is the closest to what is the feeling in my industry. Things are scary out there in garden center world. I am hopeful though as it seems to me that when things are getting weird opportunities arise. It will take courage to seize them as we all are entering unknown territory.

The definition of "local" is changing

2007-07-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

A person come in yesterday with tomatoes that looked as if they had a virus. In my attempt to find out what was going on I asked her where she bought them. They were from three different stores, none from us. I guess when things go wrong we are the place to get the answers.

I remember when this would have upset me. They buy the plants elsewhere, have problems then come to us for answers. I even know of a nursery nearby that closed because the owners just got tired of answering questions and then watching the people go to Home Depot, a block away to buy the remedy. Another nursery nearby won’t even answer those questions unless you bought the plants there.

I am no longer bothered by these types of events. We figure that if they think we are the “answer place” that’s at least a step in getting them to be customers. The way in which we answer those questions, without criticizing them for buying them elsewhere is what sets us apart.

We get questions from all over the world concerning gardening. A recent one was from Spain concerning a tree that was lifting the roots of an old villa. Why would I take the time to answer questions from someone who will most likely never shop “in” our store?

We post the questions and then the answers in our e-news in a section brilliantly titled Q & A. Since we are able to measure what sections are read most we have found it has turned into the most popular section of the e-news. I just had someone e-mail me saying that they changed the type of trees they were going to plant based on the Q & A section.

I also like answering these questions because it makes our small nursery much bigger than its physical size. Who in our industry could have dreamed that a small garden center in northern California, or anywhere else would be receiving and answering questions from all over the world? We are turning into an international business.

The other reason to answer these questions is that these people may become customers someday. Who is to say that next year we might be selling online, sending products and information all over the globe? As a matter of fact we are headed in that direction. More on that later.

Just because a nursery is small in physical size does not mean its influence cannot be huge. Why limit our reach to the local clientèle. The world is out there looking for places to trust and spend their money. With the internet we can reach these people and let them know about our unique business. The "locals" will still be the bread and butter of our business, but the definition of local is changing. People who share the same beliefs or interests are becoming members of groups or tribes that are international in reach yet very personable on an individual basis. You may be a resident of your local town but now you can be a resident of of a larger "town" of shared interests or beliefs.

Austin Texas is the future

2007-07-13T08:06:00.001-07:00

Austin Texas gives us a view into what the internet and garden blogging will be like everywhere, eventually. They have over eleven garden bloggers at work there. Pam at Digging points us to “Every Dot Connects” a business blog. Connie says “Now, if you owned a local nursery or related business, how would you respond to this proliferation of garden blogs?” Think about it, you have a tight knit community of gardeners who love to talk via their blogs. Pam at Digging even has a category detailing with pictures her visits to the local garden centers. Check it out.

These vocal gardeners are writing about the gardening and nursery scene. As a nursery owner what do you do? Connie says, “join the conversation. Not as a retailer but a participant.” She goes on to say that the best way to participate in this is as a participant and not a businessperson trying to sell something. As you build trust with the other bloggers “the next time they need seedlings or supplies, they’ll be much more likely to visit your business because they’ve already made a connection with you.”

You might wonder what type of readership these blogs have. According to Connie, “some of these local blogs have a loyal readership in the thousands.” In a community the size of Austin this is substantial. Of course we have been talking about this before here, here, and here . What’s important is that your hearing from people outside the trade now.

Austin has something "going on" and that something will come to your town very soon. We are getting close to a time when conventional advertising will be much less effective. I believe we have reached that time. Consumers will read blogs and their attendant reviews of your garden center before visiting. A blogger whom the readers have grown to trust will have a lot more influence than your ad in the local paper. Everyone wants to read reviews from other people who have shopped at your store.

The most important thing to gather from this article is that the days of talking to the consumer are over. The days of talking with the consumer are here. People like knowing who they are dealing with and a business blog can do that. It allows a glimpse into the soul of the business. If your blog does nothing but sell the latest patio furniture set that’s arrived they will assume that’s what they’ll experience at your store, a sales pitch. If you blog is a conversation with other bloggers and readers about what’s important in your world besides just selling something, they are much more likely to bond with you and your store.

Talking honestly to the consumer via a blog is not an easy thing for business people to do. In the past it has always been us (stores) talking to them (consumer). We wouldn’t want to give away our “secrets” to merchandising and business. Heaven forbid if they should find out that we “know that women are our biggest customers” or that “we have just as hard a time keeping hybrid roses disease free as they do”. What if the customer found out that “business was slow this year and we don’t know why”, or that the new Home Depot going in next door has us petrified.

We are entering an era when honesty in business will be rewarded with good word of mouth. It’s not easy to let people in on the “company secrets”. The problem is there really aren’t any secrets anymore. People want to patronize businesses that are honest about what they sell and will be there for them later. We need to move beyond us and them to a friendship that transcends today’s purchase. We need to have “friends of the Golden Gecko Gardens” as opposed to just customers of The Golden Gecko.

This is all scary stuff for those of us in business but it’s the only way that’s going to work in the future. Besides, I have found that when things get really scary is when change occurs. All of the good things that have happened to us in business have resulted when we were nervous and a little unsure about what was going on. Embrace change, it’s the only option.

Two unique companies

2007-07-11T07:49:00.000-07:00

I wanted to point you to a couple of interesting web sites that I have come across through my blogging. The first is a new forum from Daleys Fruit Trees in Geneva, NSW, Australia. Here you can “Ask questions, share your knowledge and upload pictures about your fruit trees.”

We tried a forum a few years ago before I started this blog. I never got the response that Daleys seems to be getting. One big improvement they seem to have going for them is the ability for people to upload pictures, which was way too complicated when we did it. The ability of people to post pictures with the questions is a huge plus. Daleys also puts together a great blog which is how I originally found out about the company. The energy and enthusiasm the company shows is inspiring.

The other site is “Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping”. I found out about them from “The Garden Wise Guy” . They are a landscaping company in Santa Cruz, California that uses bicycles to travel from job to job. They advertise that the company is “Fossil Free”. “We often choose electric tools or hand tools that run on orange juice and toast,” they say. They do have a couple of trucks that run on bio-diesel. This is Santa Cruz where “anything goes”, including my 18 year old daughter for college if she can pull it off. This is a company that is unique and therefore worthy of notice.

The less intimidating nursery

2007-07-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

Susan at Garden Rant says “Nurseries are INTIMIDATING places for beginners.” She is right! The post on ‘Garden coaches” is a perfect example. She asks “why aren't nurseries offering these services, or at least publicizing the availability of independent coaches to help turn home owners into regular customers?”

We have been offering these services for some time. We call them “consultations”. So garden coaching is really nothing new for us. What is new is calling consultations “Garden coaching”. I like it since it seems less clinical than “consultation”. Consultation sounds like something lawyers and doctors do.

We need to look at our business and see if there are any other areas where we use intimidating language that we might not be aware of. That’s why checking out gardeners and their blogs is such a great way to learn about these things. Why hadn’t the nursery consultants told us about this?

Those of us that have been in this business a long time need this the most. We sit in our offices reading trade magazines and going to industry meetings where our only contact is with other nursery people and those paid to advise us. We need the advice of the gardeners whom we hope to turn into customers. They will tell us what we need to do to make the nursery visit less intimidating. Sometimes just changing a word or words used to describe a service can make all the difference. What other ways do we intimidate the consumer?

Trying to please everyone. It can't be done!

2007-07-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

It’s going to be another day in the 100° F. Our saving grace is the low humidity, around 5 to 10%. On days like this we just can’t expect too much in the way of customer action. We just try to keep everything watered and stay as cool as possible.

Walking around the nursery on days like this I realize just how many plants we have on the ground. I would like to have moved more of them this spring, yet we don’t want to appear empty this time of the year. Just like we talked about earlier concerning the inside store we need to fine tune what we carry. I think we are trying to please too many people by trying to carry a little of everything.

It’s easy to find yourself with too many different types of plants to sell. The instant someone comes in and asks for a Mr. Lincoln Rose you start to think maybe we should carry more roses. Next thing you know you have 100’s of roses for sale. My problem with most of the hybrid roses is the care that is involved with them at the nursery. Sure a little mildew or aphis on you rose at home is o.k. but if our roses don’t look perfect, folks won’t buy them. So I would end up on a spray program every week just to keep the diseases and insects down. It’s the only category where I have to do that much maintenance and I got tired of it. We are also in deer country so roses are not as popular here as other places. We have dropped the rose selection and never looked back. Need a large selection of hybrid roses to choose from? Our neighboring nursery Eisley’s has thousands to choose from and you might check there.

What we have to decide is where to increase our selection and where to decrease or eliminate it. We have increased our selection of 4” size perennials over the last couple of years. We sell lots of them and you can fit $45 dollars worth of perennials in a flat. Now do we increase our total selection of species and varieties? Or would it be better to increase the popular species and varieties? Rudbeckia, or Black Eyed Susan’s are very popular since they are deer resistant and like the heat. So we now carry about 10 varieties of those flowers. Now what we have to figure out is if we should pare down the number of varieties and concentrate on the two or three varieties that sell best.

I actually find this process fun but challenging. I think we in the nursery business want to please all the people all the time, but it’s just not possible. It goes against our natural instinct to reduce the selection, but I think that it’s the way for the smaller operations to be. Focus on our core abilities so we can become the best at what we do.

We just came back from a couple of days off so I will be going into the nursery with an eye on the plants. Which ones are where the money is for us and which ones are just taking up time and water because we “think” we need to carry them? By the way no plants will be harmed in this exercise. We put the discontinued items at half off and of course they fly out of here.

I’ll let you know what we decide about the plants at a later post.

Get in the conversation.

2007-07-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

Word of mouth is the best possible advertising a small nursery or garden center can hope for. We depend on our fans to spread the word to the uninitiated. Now days the target consumer for small garden centers finds out about the store through the internet and word of mouth. Often when researching a store we read what others have said, good or bad about the store. Customer reactions often make up the final decision making process on whether to visit a store or not.

If you Goggle the store name and a bunch of sites complaining about the service or some other aspect of the store come up you might just think twice about visiting. It can also go the other way. Fans can help spread the word of the store and monitor web reactions to that store. If a new garden center has opened up in your neighborhood and you want to make sure it sticks around you can put in your two cents worth and make a difference.

My post on Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco elicited one such response. One commenter wrote, “I've been to Flora Grubb, and it is truly awe-inspiring... Come out, grab a cuppa joe, stroll amongst the most unusual plants and trees around and let your mind create the perfect oasis for yourself. This place is a rare find, especially for this neighborhood. The Bayview/Hunters Point area gets a bad rap, but there are lots of intelligent, arty, enviro types who live here, too, and this is a welcome addition to our world. Come check it out! Amazing garden accessories, such as the concrete loungers that are actually comfy, sleek and stylish decorative pots, and other focal point items for your garden space. Rare trees and succulents. Something for everyone...”

The reason this is important is when you Google “Flora Grub Nursery San Francisco” up pops The Blogging Nurseryman site first. You see its “Flora Grubb Gardens”, not “Flora Grubb Nursery”. So the above commenter was surfing the net looking for information on their favorite nursery and ended up at my blog. Just to put the good revue in context they added their own comment, sighting how important it is that this place succeed and helps breathe some life into this part of town. After reading this commenter’s response it might just seal the deal of taking the time to visit this place.

What’s interesting to me is how little we can control the conversation once it has started. We had better hope the consumer has had a positive experience or we, and everyone else might hear about it on the internet. Businesses that truly warrant “staying in business” will benefit hugely from the conversation going on the internet. This type of advertising is low cost, which is great for us small operations. The price of a web page and someone to check out the conversation going on is it.

That’s why I believe the small garden centers need to be leaders in web marketing. The voices of a small group of loyal fans can be amplified on the internet. Our target consumer uses the internet every day. We can either be a part of the conversation or not. If our stores are truly worth visiting and shopping at it will be on the web first, promoted by the consumer.

You can't please everybody.

2007-07-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

Carol asked what we did with the stuff we cleaned out of the garden store. Everything has been put on sale for 50% off. It’s really selling well now. Maybe we should order some more!

As we were going through the store I would ask Monica when the last time she sold this or that and if it was more than a couple of months ago, it’s gone. To me it’s amazing how we accumulate different t types of products that then just sit on the shelves. Gopher traps? Haven’t sold one in a year, put it on the 50% table and never order it again.

We are too small to be a one stop for everything store. Tools like shovels, hoes, etc. just don’t sell well here. Why do we keep trying to sell them? All they do for us is collect dust. Sure enough after we put the tools on sale and get rid of them someone will want to buy a shovel and we won’t have them. We’ll just recommend they go across the street to the hardware store.

What we do sell well we are going to increase the selection of. Organic fertilizers and pesticides are flying out of here. The RTU (ready to use) products like Neem oil are way outselling the concentrates. People don’t want to mix the products themselves. Soil amendments including potting soils and mulches are huge here in the foothills so we will keep the large selection of these products including two types of potting soil and planting mix. We carry lots of different mulches including shredded cedar, micro-bark, medium bark, coco hulls, and planting compost.

I am starting to think that the term “garden center” may be a bit played. We really are not a center but rather a garden with a nursery. The term garden center conjures up a place where all you gardening needs can be met. It’s just too hard to please all the people all the time. Better to be “remarkable” to the few than mediocre to the many.

Out with the old.

2007-06-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

Looking at the inside of the store I realize we have just too many different items for sale. In an attempt to please as many people as possible we bring in various products to sell. Somebody wants to know if we have “stump remover” and the next thing you know we have 12 cans sitting on the shelves all season. How many different types of fertilizers do we need to offer? Do we need five different ways to get rid of gophers? It’s just so easy to build your inventory up since you don’t want to see anyone leave without the product they came for. It’s never easy to tell someone you don’t carry Miracle-Gro and watch the look of dis- belief in their face as they leave.

What’s happened is there is so many different types of products on the shelves it confuses the new gardener. Looking at all the different types of fertilizers, where do they start? If we are not right there to answer their question they might just become so confused they don’t buy anything. Better to have a big display with lot of the fertilizer we recommend so they can’t miss it.

I got inspired to go through the store and eliminate 1/3 of our product line. If it doesn’t sell on a consistent basis it’s gone. I want to carry more of what sells for us and less of what doesn’t. It seems simple. “So sorry we don’t carry Scott’s Turf Builder, we have an organic lawn food that does a better job?” There either are interested or not. The chains sell Scotts at a very low price so why compete. Offer something better and be the store that’s different.

I believe that a lot of small garden centers are in the same boat. We try to be every ones favorite garden center by carrying a little bit of everything. The problem is we don’t know when to stop. “I don’t like this particular organic fertilizer, can you start carrying this one?” Now if enough people ask for it might be time to bring it in, but I am going to have to remove another product to make way. No more shelves with a gazillion items for sale.

Most any garden center could reduce the amount of product they carry by a third and not lose any business. We need to look at our stores from the eyes of the novice gardener. I think we get caught up in being horticulturist's and carrying every product that might come in handy somewhere in a person’s gardening life. That’s what I get to do today. Try to figure out what products just don’t sell and which ones we need to carry more of. It’s kind of a “spring cleaning” in summer.

Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony

2007-06-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Historical site is right next to the school my kids went to. I pass by this spot on my way to work. The Colony was the first group of Japanese to arrive and settle in the United States. The colony had come to grow mulberry trees for silk production, tea plants, and bamboo plants. The colony struggled along and eventually gave up and returned to Japan. The story of Okei, a young girl who stayed here when the rest of the colony left to go back to Japan is touching. She is buried on top of the hill she sat on when she would look forlornly east, towards Japan waiting for the colony’s return. Her grave still stands on the top of the hill just a little way up this dirt path.

When I worked at Gold Hill Nursery for Al Veerkamp some 20 years ago we would have visitors from Japan come in with post cards picturing the site, asking how to get to the grave and memorial. I believe there is even a replica in Japan.For years the grave has been fenced off but now there is a movement to purchase the property. “The Florin and Placer chapters of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the Fukushima Kenjin Kai, the California State Department of Parks and Recreation, and the American River Conservancy have formed a working partnership which seeks to acquire the historic 303 acre Veerkamp property at Gold Hill, a rural area between Placerville and Coloma in western El Dorado County” according to the web page.

This is quite exciting as I would think this would be a huge destination for people, especially from Japan or with Japanese ancestry. The historical significance is huge and it would be great to see the old house and the rest of the property preserved.

The photos are from the shrine and historical marker that was placed here in the sixties. I am not sure but I believe this was when then Governor Regan and Japanese dignitaries came here to honor the colony. The shrine was designed by my friend nurseryman Don Yamasaki’s Father.

Flora Grubb Gardens, San Francisco

2007-06-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

Monica and I headed down to San Francisco Monday to check things out. I wanted to stop and visit a new garden center I had read about in Garden Design Magazine. Flora Grub Gardens is located just off 3^rd St. on Jerrold Ave. It is a new facility that just opened in May. The gardens are named after the owner who moved from Texas during the dot com era. After that fell apart she started doing landscape design and then opened Guerrero Street Gardens Nursery. Now they have opened this facility.

Located in a warehouse district you have to look for this place. Surrounded by a tall metal fence a necessity in this part of town, the nursery is shinny and new. A metal roof covers most of the nursery and there is parking inside, but only 5 or 6 spaces, so like a lot of city businesses you park on the street. As you approach the store you realize palms are king here as there are some very large specimens growing in the ground as well as in containers.

This is a store about plants with dramatic or interesting foliage. Most of them would not grow in the foothills where we are. This is a frost free area and tropicals and sub-tropicals abound. I didn’t recognize many of them. Cactus and succulents are everywhere including displayed around this old car which may or may not have been sitting on the property when they built this place. There is the requisite coffee shop, “Ritual Coffee” which is located in the store. The store is airy and filled with books to look at. The fertilizer section has maybe five types of organics and that’s it. A small high end tool selection rounds out the conventional garden supplies.

What’s interesting to me is this store is run by someone relatively new to the garden center business. Just like Surf City Nursery in Santa Cruz the owners are new to the trade and that’s important. It seems to me that some of the most interesting new garden centers are run by folks who don’t have any preconceived notions about what makes a great garden center. Who says you need every type of fertilizer and pesticide on your shelves? I saw one organic pesticide in the shop and that’s it.

This store is focused on what they do well, which is lots, and lots of containers and plants with interesting or dramatic foliage. The flower section and soil amendments almost seemed like an afterthought. Is this the future of garden center retailing? Focus on a few core products and skills and drop the rest? I would suspect that if you’re interested in this kind of look there is no other nursery in S.F. that does it this well.

On the way to work.

2007-06-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Couldn't pass this up. Coloma is half way on my 12 mile commute and these modern day iron horses were parked in front of the Coloma post office which dates from the 1850's.

This area is hugely popular with the motorcycle crowd. Beautiful scenery and roads that are like a roller coaster. Hundreds pass by the nursery on their way up-country. Considered one of the premier runs in northern California it rises to 7000 ft. elevation through the National Forest.

Mulch, what is it?

2007-06-23T08:17:00.001-07:00

There seems to be some confusion as to what the word mulch means. Over at Garden Rant that point was made clear at the post about Billy Goodnick. There was a mis-understanding about weather Billy recommended soil amendments for the ground, he doesn’t or mulch for the surface of the ground, he does. It may be regional differences that account for the mis-understanding.

Here we refer to any top dressing applied to the top of the ground to conserve moisture or help suppress weeds “mulch”. The stuff you mix in the soil is called “soil amendment”. We use shredded cedar, planting compost, micro-bark, even rock as mulch. Mulch helps hold the moisture in during our long hot summers and is quite important to plant health. It’s like sun block for the ground.

There is no other process, except watering that will help plants survive and thrive here like a good 2 to 3” layer of mulch around the root zone. It keeps the soil cool and evenly moist while preventing the sun from directly hitting the soil.

On the way to the nursery

2007-06-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

We have one of the more interesting commutes from home to work. In the 12 miles we pass through one of the most historical and beautiful regions in California. I have decided to take a photo of my trip everyday and post it here. I want to see if I can find something interesting for the 300 or so days a year we drive this way.

The red building is Graham’s Pear Shed and the white building on the top of the hill is their house. The pear shed dates back to the 1800’s when pears we the king crop around here. No pears anymore as a pear blight went through in the 1950’s and destroyed the industry. Now Graham grows mandarins, cherries, and a few walnuts which he sells by the side of the road using an honor system. The road is called Cold Springs Road and was the route Marshall took to tell Sutter in Sacramento of his gold discovery.

Grahm planted the oleander around his property about 15 years ago. This time of year the plants are in full bloom and Monica says they are slightly fragrant, although I can’t smell them. We can’t even get oleanders anymore to sell. The growers have too many problems with disease killing them in production and they are hosts to the glassy-winged sharpshooter which is a huge problem for the wine grape industry. One of the most widely planted shrubs in California is virtually impossible to find for sale anymore.

One more picture shows the ride up the hill towards the nursery from Coloma. That’s the Coloma valley below. Here is where Marshall found gold at Sutter’s Mill. The site is right in the center of the picture. It’s a state park and crowded with school kids from all over during the week and tourists on the weekend.

The hills have turned golden for the summer. They won't green up until the rain returns around November.

On the Lookout for Innovative Garden Centers

2007-06-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

We are always on the lookout for garden centers or nurseries that are trying different ways to do business. I am much more interested in a small nursery that chooses to create a new market or idea than a multi-million dollar face lift for some large garden center. It’s the small places where the new ideas come from that are eventually implemented in the larger concerns.

I thought it would be nice to find those places and see what it is that they are doing that’s different. Some of my favorite innovative nurseries no longer exist. They shot for the moon and missed. Oh well, at least they tried and often really new ideas don’t take off right away. So whether a nursery still exists is not important to me. It is the vision and willingness to be different that’s interesting to me, and so needed in our industry.

Surf City Growers got my attention when they were featured in Sunset Magazine. What I found interesting is they wanted to grow only non-toxic plants. I couldn’t find out if that is still the case but we did notice that they “have been certified organic by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This makes us one of the few organic ornamental plant growers in the State of California, and perhaps the only one on the Central Coast.”

The other interesting thing is owner’s husband and wife, Trent and Linda McNair are new to the garden center business. In their words “After a combination of 25 years in the high-tech industry, we made a decision to create a business that immerses us and our family in what we love and care about. We saw a need to make gardening simpler and more convenient for busy people, but also raise awareness about organic gardening practices. We also knew we could use our tech-savvy to do it. We don't claim to be experts, but enthusiasts. We are passing along the wisdom we've learned through trial and error, and we'll refer you to experts when we don't have an answer.”

Sure they are new to the business and haven’t experienced all the crazy things that go on, but I like enthusiasm and they are enthusiastic now. Sometimes the best ideas for this industry come from people new to the business. They haven’t become jaded. As far as growing organic, yes they are in Santa Cruz where you would expect something like this to start, and succeed. It was a bold move to go organic, even in Santa Cruz, but I think it’s something we will see more of around the country.

For being a nursery that got our interest they will be the first listed at my other web site “The Art of Running a Small Garden Center” . As we come across other innovative garden centers we will post them there.

If you know of such innovative places let me know. I have received info before from bloggers, especially the ladies in Austin TX about cool nurseries in their area. Let me know if you have one in your area we can feature.

The Power of Yes!

2007-06-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

Michael commented on my last post about the warning at a garden center blog. He said by putting “this blog is intended to be for garden-related topics only, so please do not post any offensive, adult-content or commercial posts. Your cooperation is very much appreciated” will protect the garden center from claims of censorship.

I am not sure of the legal argument but I have had to delete objectionable content from my site before. Some was sexual in nature while most have been advertisements for some other web site. I am not worried in the least about claims of censorship. It’s my blog and I can put in and take out just about anything I want. So can the garden center in question. I am not sure how it would look for the person putting in objectionable content to be claiming censorship from a garden center blog.

We are a litigious society and I can see the concern of the garden center trying to prevent any “bad comments." The problem is you can’t prevent this stuff. My experience is over the three years of having a blog I have had to remove maybe 10 comments that were “objectionable”. Some of the times it was fellow bloggers that made me aware there was content that shouldn’t be there.

Blogs are things of personal expression and how anyone sets up their blog is up to them. The idea that commercial site would post on this nurseries blog and then claim censorship just wouldn’t fly. Anyone posting obscene material and then having it removed is not likely to claim censorship. What are they going to do, sue?

One of the things I am trying to do at my own business is being positive in the face of the constant challenges we face in this business. We try not to put too many signs with rules on them. The only two “No” signs we have is that “we have cats and therefore would you please leave you dogs in the car” and “Handicap only”, which is dictated by state law. Other than that we don’t put a lot of “No’s” in the business. We don’t have a posted return policy since you can return what you want. We don’t have a bounced check policy posted since it happens so infrequently. We take all the major credit cards since if you want to spend money with us I am willing to pay a percent or two more on the transaction so you can use your American express.

My feeling is as soon as you start telling the consumer what they can’t do, even if they weren’t going to do it anyway it sends a negative message. If there is a law that would allow people to claim censorship if they post a comment that’s obscene or commercial in nature I am not aware. Public opinion wouldn’t support that claim either.

Having just written this post it had made me aware of areas where we could use the power of “yes”. “Yes, we take all major credit cards”, “Yes, we love dog’s, but our cats don’t so would you leave Fido in the car”, “Yes, we are happy to take special orders”, “Yes, we encourage your gardening comments on this blog”, and “Yes, we have no banana’s, we have no banana’s today.” You get the drift, in a world of negativity and “no” the power of “yes” stands out.

Keep it clean folks.

2007-06-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

We are seeing more and more garden center blogs popping up. One new blog by a garden center mentions “this blog is intended to be for garden-related topics only, so please do not post any offensive, adult-content or commercial posts. Your cooperation is very much appreciated.”

I am glad they mention this as my first inclination was to post some obscene content. Who are they directing this warning to? If I am the type of person who sends adult or offensive stuff to peoples blogs why would the warning deter me? Why would I be at this blog in the first place? The only people reading a garden center blog are potential customers or people in the horticultural trade.

The fun of a blog is the unexpected! What is the post going to be about this time? Who is going to comment today? Maybe the topic won’t be about gardening today but about something fun happening in town for which our business is involved. What about the new employee that everyone is excited about. Tell us more.

The nature of blogs is to attract people who are looking for what you offer, not miscreants that post obscene material. By the way those people will find you anyway and you will have to use the delete comment button occasionally.

The garden center with the warning can be forgiven since blogging is a fairly new thing for nurseries. We have all gone through a learning curve and still are. One way to solve the unwanted comments is to turn on “comment control”. The comments can then be viewed by the blog owner before posting. Or just don’t allow comments, which is no fun. Since this is a garden center blog most likely the “garden-related topics only” warning would have been heeded anyway.

The web is a hard thing to control. If you want control use a business web page that offers little or no customer interaction. If you’re going to blog then I feel interaction is what you want. Let the consumer question you about whatever they want. Your answers will show them what kind of business you are.

Trying to stay focused.

2007-06-13T23:54:00.001-07:00

I am convinced more than ever that to succeed nowadays in the garden center business you have to stand out and offer a one of a kind experience. No longer do people line up at the cash registers on Saturdays just because you have garden supplies and are open convenient hours. Just getting noticed by the consumer is harder and harder.

One of the ways to be noticed is to be the best at what you do. To be the best small garden center means that we need to focus on what has gotten us here. That’s why we don’t do any landscaping, or have a landscape maintenance service. You also cannot get a landscape plan drawn up here. I know a lot of garden centers would love to have the extra income from these side businesses. While we have tried doing these things ourselves in the past I have found it starts to detract from our core focus, to offer the best small garden center experience.

To this end we find ourselves always looking to discard products and ventures that take us from our core focus. I feel that by dropping under performing ideas we do a better job with the ideas that are taking hold and growing. Trying to please every consumer is a losing battle. We long ago stopped trying to make money selling the same things you get in box and chain stores. We don’t carry Miracle-Gro, Super Soil, Hine’s plants or Scott’s Products. The chain stores do a better job with these items any way.

The more independent and local we can get our merchandise the better. It makes us stand out. Not to the garden masses, but to a smaller group of people looking for a better nursery experience. These people tend to be less focused on the cost of the item and more on the long term value the item and shopping experience provides. They know our plants perform better in the long run. Our fertilizers offer a better, gentler feeding that increases soil fertility rather than destroying it. Even more important they enjoy a nursery experience that will relax your senses while helping to reinvigorate your gardening passion. To continue down this path we need to focus even more on creating a one of a kind experience for that special consumer.

I'm picking up good vibrations!

2007-06-13T08:00:00.001-07:00

Just read a great post over at Seth’s Blog titled “The Vibe”. He says “The vibe changes everything. It's a place you want to work, or a restaurant you want to come back to.” He continues “Changing the vibe isn't always possible, but most of us rarely try. From physical layout to organization to what leaders say and do... it matters. Sometimes, it's all that matters.”

It is “all that matters”! Walking into a Crabetree & Evelen in the mall the other day we we’re “hovered” over by a sales associate while we looked at items on the shelves. She kept about two feet from Monica and it was almost like she was watching for shoplifters. I know she thought she was being helpful but it was a bit too much. We left without buying anything including the items on sale that she told us about. They even had the product I was looking for! The store was elegant and well designed but it had a strange vibe. The store didn’t have bad vibes, just weird vibes.

In the garden center business “vibes” are what it’s all about. People can sense right away if the nursery has “good vibes” or not. We chose the location of the nursery because of the “vibes” the property has. All the construction and enhancement of the grounds is about increasing the good vibes. It’s one reason I think it important to have music in the garden center. Classical or jazz is always playing, since I like it and it and it adds to the vibe. The “good vibes” our store projects is one of the main differentiators between the box stores and us. We are told by our visitors that the feeling or vibe they feel is one of the main reasons they shop with us.

Vibes come in all sorts of flavors. Good, weird, or bad every business has it. Generally it’s the small things that make a business’s vibe. Sales associates that really care about you and know how to say thank you and mean it. The smell of a store can make a huge difference. Placing a group of fragrant plants where people can enjoy them adds to the good vibe. Replacing a plant without making the customer feel as if they failed adds to the good vibe. Just smiling can create good vibes. Being positive about life and business even when the rainy spring weather ruins sales adds immensely to the good vibe.

Over the last 14 years of running garden centers we have always tried to be aware of what type of vibe people pick up at our store. Working on creating a good vibe is what keeps me interested in this profession. It’s something you can work on but not control. When consumers start telling friends and neighbors about your store you know you on the right track. One of the best ways to introduce yourself and the vibes of your business is through blogging. People will be able to sense what type of vibe your store has through your blog. That’s why I think business blogs should be about more than what is on sale at the store. Use the blog to help spread those “good vibrations”, not “it’s time to apply dormant spray.” Use your company web page for that.

I still need some new pants

2007-06-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

One of the hard things about owning your own business is knowing when to spend any of the hard earned money you have earned. Generally it all goes back in the business except for living expenses. Monica will say I need a new pair of pants and I’ll say “Yea but I can wait, just had to write some huge checks to wholesale companies to pay for springs purchases." Usually when holes start to appear I’ll break down and buy some.

Holes had started to appear with my blog, and the time it was taking at work to get something posted and read other blogs was preventing me from giving it the care and feeding it needs. I have finally solved that problem. We broke down a bought a new computer for home. The computer at work will be for business and the computer at home for fun.

A business blog is an important tool for work, yet tends to take a second seat to more urgent business activities. Urgent is the key word as I believe the blog is an very important part of the business. That’s one of the problems for nursery people keeping up with a blog. Its time consuming and in the garden center business spring is a flurry of activity with barely enough time to rest, much less blog.

A lot has changed in the garden blogging world the last couple of years. So many new bloggers I don’t know much about. Time for that to change, as I still believe more than ever that garden blogging is changing the face of gardening for the better.

Oh, I still need some new pants.

A Cautionary Tale

2007-06-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

If you remember the Supreme Court ruled not so long ago that through the use of eminent domain municipalities can condemn a property and turn it over to a private developer to “improve” the property. According to the Auburn Journal “The Auburn City Council unanimously voted to expand the existing redevelopment project area May 7. City leaders say that the project will help eliminate blighted properties and areas within city limits. Eisley's Nursery was one of dozens of area businesses that were labeled as 'blighted' in a 131-page report conducted by the city and GRC Consultants, based out of Orange, Calif. The report included dozens of photos of properties throughout the city, none of which were named, but were labeled as blighted.”

Auburn like much of the foothills is in a state of change. More and more people moving here from The Bay Area and Southern California are forcing cities and counties to make changes. To some people a nursery with greenhouses is an eyesore. According to Earl Eisley, co-owner “My family has been on this property for 100 years."

Now there is no doubt that the nursery has grown over those years to a collection of buildings and greenhouses that perhaps now would not be allowed. The place is “funky”, yet they do an amazing volume of business that would be the envy of many a business. According to Mike Holmes City Councilman “Somehow these folks got the impression that as soon as the redevelopment area is expanded, they were going to be the first target. But once (the plan) has been approved and it's been made clear that we are not going to use eminent domain in the fashion that has been alleged, we should be able to approve the expansion." I don’t blame Eisley for being nervous. While I know Mike Holmes and think that he is sincere you can’t help but get nervous when you here this kind of stuff.

While Eisley’s is not funky in the same way as The Golden Gecko is, what’s that matter? That’s the nature of “Funky”. No two people will agree on the meaning. I suppose that if Urban Outfitters wanted to open one of their new garden centers it would be o.k., as they will be slick and modern without any messy “funk”.

I never agreed with the Supreme Court ruling on eminent domain and now the reasons are clear. If you don’t fit a certain look, no matter how long or successfully you have run your business you just might lose that business for not fitting in.

A new concept?

2007-06-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

Urban Outfitters is getting into the garden business. According to Open Register the publicly traded hip clothing store chain is going to start stand alone garden stores with, “home and garden products, live plants and flowers, and oddly enough, antiques. The new concept will launch its first large, free-standing sites early next year.”

My gut instinct says this is bound to fail. Unlike Smith and Hawken which started out as a small two man operation and grew to the monolith it is now, Urban Outfitters is going into it with a corporate mindset from the start which will no doubt prevent it from being too original. It sounds lucrative to address this high–end gardening market and Urban Outfitters new stores will probably be well designed to appeal to that high-end crowd. Publicly traded companies like Urban Outfitters must show constant growth to its share holders, which is hard to do in the garden center business. The stores may start out and initially be received well but time will tell if they should have stuck with what they know best, clothing and clothing accessories.

The All Weather Garden Center.

2007-05-31T10:37:00.000-07:00

This story headline from Horticulture Week, a British concern. “Holiday sales slump sparks calls for all-weather garden centres.”

According to the article “Garden centres will have to look at being less weather-dependent after poor weather hit trade this bank holiday weekend, say retailers.” The solution? “We need to be much less seasonally dependent — selling 60 per cent in three or four months. We’re trying to use food as a traffic generator, with coffee shops spreading turnover throughout the year.” The last quote of the article says it all, after three days of rain “Indoor attractions fared better, with “people looking for places to go that were undercover”. Who would have guessed? People don’t like to get wet.

Here is how one concern solved the problem. According to Matthew Bent of Cheshire-based Bents they “went into Christmas in a big way in the early days and our current developments, including the £3m Open Skies development, is all about all-weather shopping.” That’s three million pounds folks, approx, 4.5 million dollars.

Nursery people since the beginning have tried to figure out how to prolong the sales season. Christmas shops, living Christmas Trees, Fall is for planting campaigns, pet centers and bone bars are some of the ways. Coffee shops and eateries are some of the latest.

Since coffee and food service is the way to take seasonality out of the business why not go all the way. Maybe we should be Golden Gecko Coffee Co. We could mention that we have a small garden center attached for you to enjoy your coffee in. The nursery would be the accessory, not the main game.

I say the above tongue in cheek since that may very well be the future of the larger garden centers. As the largest garden centers morph into “lifestyle centers” and “Open Skies development(s)”, plants and garden accessories may very well become the impulse buys while enjoying your java and food. This may save the larger garden centers.

I hope all the larger concerns head this direction. I believe that larger garden centers will be a thing of the past as younger family members realize that the value of the land in many places is greater than the business. There is just too much overhead for these mega-nurseries to depend on just garden related activities for business anymore. They will become lifestyle centers while gardening and garden centers will be run by medium and small concerns that can manage the downturns in weather that will always happen.

As we continue into the future as a small garden center we will watch as the large concerns scramble to come of with the latest gimmick to keep the growth up. There is nothing charming, quaint, or unique about a 3 million pound “open skies development”. Our target consumer may enjoy a cup of “Joe” while shopping, but what they really enjoy is the “funkiness” and originality that can only be expressed by a smaller concern. Besides, I can’t get the foam on the cappuccino to stand up like the do at the coffee house.

Ladybug breeding grounds.

2007-05-25T09:31:00.001-07:00

Here are some photos from the ladybug breeding ground. I took these yesterday and since the lady bugs are gaining in numbers. These are just some of the groups that seem to congregate. I wish I could show you the masses in flight, but they are small and don't show up well on photographs.

Mowing the lawn yesterday they were bumping into me and by the time I was done there were twenty or so crawling on me.

By the way they bite! It more irritating than painful and only a small percentage do it.

I will try to get up there when the grounds are packed for a few more photos.

The Ladybugs are Back!

2007-05-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

The lady bugs are back. They just arrived on their migration up-country where they breed between 2000 and 3000 foot altitude. When they return it’s almost impossible not to notice. Our neighbor even called to let us know they were back. I believe they move up creeks and streams to their breeding grounds. They hang out in the millions and sometimes cover tree trunks and rocks. Breeding grounds are kept secret by those who know where they are.

I know of one such breeding ground, a few miles from here and will go to see if I can get some photos. The shear number of lady bugs that hang out around here must explain why last year we only had to spray once for aphids. So far this year we have had no aphis activity. There are so many out there right now that you would have to keep your mouth closed as they might just fly right in. I tried to take a picture of them flying around but they are too small and fast to capture on film.

Go Ladybugs!

A visit by The Inadvertent Gardener

2007-05-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

Monica and I had a visitor from Iowa City. Genie, from The Inadvertent Gardener made the trip from Berkley where she was visiting a friend. I wondered what someone who knew us only from the internet would think. Did we live up to our promise? Genie put together a great post and I am happy she felt we were worth the trip.

I first visited Genie at her blog after she posted on her visit to the local garden center. My post in response was called The Plant Trafficker. It can be found here. It turned into a great learning experience for me and any nursery person who takes the time to read it.

Genie is the first person whom I only knew from blogging to visit the store. I find it amazing she was able to squeeze us in. Most garden bloggers have never met in person, yet it seemed like we were old friends.

Garden blogging can open up all sorts of opportunities to expand your circle of friends. You really do make a connection with fellow bloggers and readers of blogs. You never have to meet the person in flesh to make a real connection.

I wish Genie and I had more time to talk. Its great fun talking about other bloggers around the world like we were all old friends. Anyone traveling between Lake Tahoe and Sacramento has an open invitation to stop by and enjoy our garden (nursery). See for yourself if the physical location lives up to the virtual one. Thanks Genie!

The Golden Gecko Exterior Home Improvement Place.

2007-05-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

My last post on “de-emphasizing gardening’ got me to thinking. That would mean changing the name of ours and every other garden center business.

If you are going to de-emphasize gardening then we really need to think about what we are going to call ourselves. Now we could be Golden Gecko Nursery, but that confuses people as nursery can be a child nursery as well as a plant nursery. Golden Gecko Horticultural Center might work but I am afraid for most people spelling horticultural could be daunting. Golden Gecko Plant Place just doesn’t have any cache. How about The Golden Gecko Exterior Home Improvement Place?

We are an industry having a serious case of identity crises. We are so freaked out that we are running from the very hobby that created us, gardening. Gardening is so “old school” according to some industry experts that we can’t possibly survive without throwing the baby out with the bath water. Emphasize the increased market value of the landscape and de-emphasize the very act that gives our store part of its name, garden.

Gardening brings us closer to nature and the very environment that has us so concerned. As we get older the very act of gardening can keep us healthy and more flexible while at the same time changing for the better our own little corner of the eco-system. Gardening can be a great stress reducer. Now who couldn't use a little stress relief?

We are going to focus our energies in not running from gardening but instead embracing it. We are seeing an interest from younger people in growing their own food and maintaining their own gardens. Sure the majority of people could care less about gardening, but we have never been focused on the majority. That’s the realm of the box stores. Let them de-emphasize gardening, while we cater to those who still find joy in getting their hands dirty.

De-Emphasize Gardening?

2007-05-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

Just read a report by Lawn and Garden Retailer on “The changing Face of a Maturing Industry.” They divide the report into segment for Retailers (Me), Growers and suppliers, and Landscape and Lawn Maintenance. The trends are shown and the best response for each of the professions given.

One of the trends listed is “The locally owned garden center must redefine its value proposition”. Another trend is “The product perception of locally owned garden centers is too narrow.” Listed in bullet fashion are the responses for action.

· De-emphasize gardening.

· Emphasize exterior home improvement.

· Adopt a more youthful and contemporary positioning to attract new customers.

· Emphasize product categories outside plant material.

· Emphasize convenience.

· Be at the forefront in promoting new and innovative products offered by suppliers.

While I can get behind most of these suggestions two are a little harder to embrace. Emphasize product categories outside plant material, and de-emphasize gardening.

Products outside of traditional plant categories are lawn furniture, outside grills, wine, clothing, and anything else inventive nursery people can come up with. There are garden centers that do well with these categories I suppose, but I worry about becoming too involved with categories outside my expertise. We do have a 500sq.ft. Gift shop, but most everything is garden oriented.

De-emphasizing gardening worries me more. I am afraid that with the push to appeal to the masses the joys of gardening are being ignored for the sake of “exterior home improvement”. With the declining home values I believe more and more people are looking to their homes as places to live as opposed to an “investment”. Gardening in and of itself is a therapeutic way to connect to the natural world. Perhaps instead of de-emphasizing gardening we should instead reinvigorate the idea of gardening as a way to keep active while changing your immediate surroundings for the better. Take action and change your world through gardening!

Five things you really didn't want to know.

2007-05-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

Genie at The Inadvertent Gardener asked what five things people don’t know about me were. It took awhile Genie but here it goes.

Just out of high school I took Horticulture classes at The College of San Mateo, just south of San Francisco. I was not really a very good student as my mind was elsewhere. Professor Graham sensed that and told me in his thick Scottish accent that I might be better of checking on a job that had just opened at Christensen nursery. I did and thus began my Horticultural Career. I never did get that degree and have never looked back.

Just before attending San Mateo College I took classes at Cañada College in Woodside. I would ride my moped (one of the first on the S.F. Peninsula at the time) from school to The Phleger Estate. I was an assistant estate gardener working with the gardener who lived on the site. This was the largest single land holding on the Peninsula, over 1000 acres at the time. This was truly a grand estate with a live in cook and maid. The cook would change into his chauffeur clothes and then drive these people in an old Lincoln Continental with the suicide doors. Our nearest neighbor was The Fioli Estate which is famous for it gardens. I would hike over to see what was going on when I wasn’t busy, or just didn't want to weed the rose garden. The Phleger Estate is now part of The Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

My taste in music runs the gamut. I am as likely to listen to Bach as AC/DC. It all depends on my mood. I especially like ancient music from the Renaissance. I was in the high school choir as a tenor. For a while what you could call me a part time "Dead Head.” We would go just about anywhere in the Bay Area, including Winterland to see The Grateful Dead Play. I drove a 1968 V.W. Camper Bus for many years. No, it wasn’t painted Psychedelic as this was 10 years after the hippies, although we did take some "trips" in it.

I love food and it’s only through occasional dieting that I have been able to maintain a decent weight. When I lived in San Mateo my roommate and I would go to San Francisco and blow our paychecks on fine food and wine. We were young gourmands. I will even BBQ in the rain, under cover of course. While I have trouble spending money on some things when it comes to good food I will justify it. I am in the middle of trying to drop about 10 pounds so I am still eating well, just trying to cut the portions.

I spend entirely too much time blogging. When I had the computer at home I would be up until after mid-night. Now that it’s at work I have to fit everything in during working hours. That’s good for a family life but has prevented me from interacting on line as much as I would like. I need a computer for home but keep putting it off, not being able to justify it at this time. When Monica walks by the office she looks in and gives me that look, "doing your blog again, huh?" I have even started leaning back just far enough that she can't see me when she walks by. I really don't think I am fooling her.

Hines Nurseries financial problems continue.

2007-05-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

As we have discussed before Hines Nurseries a leading national supplier of ornamental shrubs, color plants and container-grown plants is having financial hick-ups. We now learn from Green Beam that “Hines received notice from Nasdaq that it could be delisted for not filing its 2006 annual report on time. According to the Nasdaq Staff Determination Letter, Hines is subject to delisting from the Nasdaq Global Market unless Hines requests a hearing. Hines issued a release March 27 that it was delaying the release of the financial information pending the completion of an audit. Hines stated it would get current in its filings as soon as feasible.”

As we talked about before “Hines, Color Spot, and other nurseries that have sold their souls to the chains are going to see further 'significant price pressures' as we move forward. I predict that some of these wholesale vendors are going to be sniffing around independent garden centers to see if they can pick up some business.” Of course that is the whole idea behind Scotts/Miracle Gro CEO Jim Hagedorn saying “Jim Cares about Independents” ad that shows up in various trade magazines we receive. Scotts sees the writing on the wall and realizes they can’t support the growth necessary by simply selling to the chains. The problem is they didn’t care about us independents before. The ad campaign is so obvious in its patronage of independents now that it just doesn’t ring true.

These large horticultural concerns are so worried about the changing marketplace that they go after the very independent business they claim to support. Why would they go after a small fertilizer company with a infinitesimal share of the market? Fear.

Lyndale Garden Center is closed.

2007-04-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of visitors to this blog from a post I wrote last year titled “Don’t Blame the Big Guys”. The story was about how “retail Lyndale Garden Center, once a year-round business, will close its Richfield, MN, store Monday with plans to reopen next spring as a seasonal operation. While spring sales were strong again this year, competition from the boxes has hurt overall sales, making it no longer feasible to operate year round, Owner Dallas Schwandt says.”

What happened since is Lyndale Garden Center closed. Not just because of competition from Home Depot. I still get comments on this post from disgruntled ex-employees and people wondering what’s up. Just today I received a comment from someone asking “Does anyone know when/if they are going to re-open? We have a gift card to use there, did not realize they were closing.”

Google “Lyndale Garden Center” and up pops seven entries talking as if the store still exists. The eighth is my blog with the above post. It’s the first entry that mentions the troubles and therefore is a place for venting and questions.

There is still a domain address for Lyndale, but it leads to a domain service. How hard would it be for Lyndale’s ex-owners to post a short page explaining the situation? I would assume the past owners may want to start another project and having my post with some interesting comments might not help in the future. “Let’s see, you people owned Lyndale's? Let’s Google that and see what comes up?”

Part of having a web presence is keeping it up to date and cleaning up old business. These pages float in cyberspace forever and can come back to haunt a thoughtless business person in the future.

Small fertilizer company gets sued by Scotts

2007-04-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

This story comes via Open Register. According to Advertising Age Scotts Miracle-Gro is suing Terra Cycle, Inc., a small manufacturer of organic fertilizer. According to their web site Sued By Scotts “Scotts claims that the two companies' products look similar and will confuse customers because some TerraCycle plant foods have a green and yellow label with a circle and a picture of flowers and vegetables on it.” “Scotts also objects that TerraCycle says its plant food is as good or better than 'a leading synthetic plant food' and is refusing Scotts' demands that TerraCycle hand over its scientific tests conducted at the Rutgers University EcoComplex to Scotts' scientists and lawyers. Scotts refuses to turn its tests over to TerraCycle.”

Check out the photos at their website and see what you think. What’s interesting to me is the use of this website by TerraCycle to put out their point of view. This is a great way to counter a larger corporation’s massive legal network. Go straight to the people. We don’t see a blog by the president or anyone at Scotts to counter these claims. So for now TerraCycle can control the conversation. This is a perfect example of a small business using the internet to reach a larger audience and compete with the big companies.

We've survived!

2007-04-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

It’s Saturday and if everything goes right it should be a busy day. Sun is shinning with a high of about 77°F. These days who knows? I got started in the garden center business in the late 70’s, when Saturday and Sunday where the BIG days. You had people lining up waiting for you to open the gates. Now, while Saturday and Sunday are still big sales days sometimes the weekdays challenge the weekends for dominance.

You also can’t count on a big day just because the sun is shinning. Instead of lining up at our gate they might be heading off to do any number of other outdoor activities. Times have changed in our business and it’s a challenge to address these changes.

Still, I won’t complain as it doesn’t do any good anyway. We love our job most of the time and wouldn’t trade it for a desk job any day. This is the key to success in this business. You had better enjoy what you do because you will be doing it six and seven days a week in the spring. It’s also a risky business. Nothing is for sure in the garden center business except change. I believe that if you can ride the wave of change and am willing to take risks your business will thrive. This is where the love of the business comes in since it may take a few years to start thriving.

We will be celebrating our third anniversary May 19^th. We have people who come in and say they didn’t think we would still be here. We survived! It hasn’t been easy but sometimes surviving the first few years is what it’s all about. If after a few years you can still open you doors with a smile on your face you’re on the way.

What to do with those empty nursery pots.

2007-04-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

A sore spot for nurseries taking the lead as centers of sustainable practices is the plastic plant can. As Angela pointed out in my last post many of the plastic cans that plants come in end up in landfills. We have customers ask if we will take the cans back. The problem is there are too many cans. As soon as you tell people to bring the cans back some go through their yard and bring all sorts of different sized cans from many different nurseries. Sometimes they pull in with their truck loaded with hundreds of cans. They assume that we want to recycle them by planting other plants in them. Most small garden centers do not do enough planting to warrant having all these cans. As a result most small nurseries don’t take back the cans.

Monrovia Nursery started a branding program that has included having their name printed right on the can. The quality of Monrovia’s plants is usually very good so they proudly emblazon their name on the side. As far as I can tell they are the only wholesale nursery to do this. It’s a first and I think it is working for them. People are starting to equate the brand with quality and garden success.

Small re-wholesalers and wholesalers often use recycled nursery cans for their plantings. I have started to notice Monrovia cans being used for non-Monrovia plants. Imagine opening the little blue Tiffany box and finding jewelry from Zale’s. This is not good for the brand. Once you buy the plant and can its your’s, so there is nothing wrong with people re-using the Monrovia can.

How can Monrovia keep this from happening and at the same time work with the local nursery carrying Monrovia plants to take the lead in recycling efforts? What if Monrovia took their empty cans back? What if I was able to advertise along with Monrovia’s national ad campaigns that we will take back any cans with the Monrovia logo? You bring the cans back to us and Monrovia picks them up every so often. I don’t know how Monrovia would do this or the costs involved but the good will that would be generated might pay for it all. I can see the ad campaign with the gardener of the house returning a dozen “Monrovia” cans to their favorite local nursery where they then pick up some more Monrovia plants all the while knowing they can bring the empty cans back.

If we don’t take the lead in recycling these cans eventually the government will step in and require a deposit on plant cans much like soda bottles. Rather than let the government get involved lets do it ourselves. What if I offered my customers a 10 cent credit towards their next Monrovia purchase with every Monrovia gallon can returned?

I don’t know if Monrovia can re-use these cans. Maybe there are disease problems or the cans won’t last long enough for them to re-use. Perhaps they could make arrangements with a recycling company to take the cans. With Monrovia taking back the cans it builds good will with the consumer, provides a great marketing campaign, and gets the cans out of my nursery where they just clutter things up.

There is a great benefit to being the first to do something. Being the first to recycle their cans Monrovia and its retailers get the credit for doing something good and it may force other wholesale nurseries to follow suit. It is important for the wholesale nurseries to get involved as it has been the retail nurseries that have been dealing with this up until now.

Earth Friendly?

2007-04-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

Over at Garden Rant Michele laments her local Home Depots attempt to be more “Earth Friendly”. Home Depots new Eco-Options program where The Depot says it “has identified more than 2,500 Eco Options products, including all-natural insect repellents, cellulose insulation, front-load washing machines, organic plant food and vegetables in biodegradable pots. The wide array of Eco Options also includes compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, programmable thermostats and certified wood.”

Michele’s observations of her local Home Depot seem to be worse than our local Home Depot. Judging by her photos her store is a lot less organized than our local store. I too noticed the “Eco-Options” plant stand filled with vegetables grown in fiber pots. Nowhere on the stand did it mention they we’re organically grown but according to Home Depots press release they are.

What I find interesting is how “Eco” is thrown around like some magic word that will appeal to the consumer. According to Michelle “there was also a prominent rack with an awning that said ‘eco-options’ and labels that promised ‘earth-friendly’ vegetables. It was utterly bare except for a pair of bedraggled herbs.” What is "earth friendly" suppose to mean? “Eco-options” and “earth friendly” could be applied to just about anything the company wants.

Many companies want to jump on the environmental bandwagon. They see big money. We should applaud companies for being less wasteful and more conscious of how they affect the environment but to say that their products are “earth friendly” means nothing. Who decides what is “earth friendly”? How is planting a vegetable plant grown in a fiber pot any more of an "Eco-choice" than someone who plants a vegetable plant using a re-usable plastic pot?

The consumer will soon become jaded to all these ecological terms. The best way for our garden center to gain the consumers trust is to not start labeling everything "Eco". It really no longer means anything. Better to offer our “Certified Organic Vegetable” starts and our organic fertilizers as they are than to label them “earth friendly”.

Small garden centers should think big.

2007-04-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

It’s been a great spring so far in northern California. More sun than rain so people have been getting out in their gardens and as a result visiting the garden center. One of the questions I try to ask when visiting with people at the store how they found out about us.

More and more the two responses I hear are “my friends told me about you guys” or “I saw you website on the internet.” As the mass media flail’s about trying to figure out what’s next, the small garden center can use inexpensive and more effective means to reach the consumer.

We just received a nice e-mail from a fan in Glanmire, County Cork, Ireland. It read, “I am relatively new to gardening and I would most sincerely like to congratulate you on your website. It has fascinating topics, tips, guidance and gardening plans, in fact all you need to know and has kindled my interest in gardening. If circumstances would allow I would most certainly purchase my garden requirements but all I can offer is my appreciation and ask that you keep up the good work.”

I printed the letter up and placed it by our cash registers and bulletin board. This is thrilling as we are able to touch someone so far away yet we are just a small garden center in the foothills of northern California. What’s even more exciting is the part of the letter that reads. “If circumstances would allow I would most certainly purchase my garden requirements.” Why not?

This is something that all small garden centers should be aware of. Your potential market could be a lot larger than the local clientele. How to address this worldwide market is something I don’t have an answer to yet. I think that it presents a huge opportunity for small garden centers to compete in a market that has in the past been reserved for larger companies. At the least the goodwill from working with people from around the world will inspire your walk in customers to have a different and positive view of your business.

I am not sure where this is all leading but it is invigorating to actually think of our business in global terms. Maybe that’s what we need in the small garden center business. Just because you physical location or sales volume may be small your reach and impact can be huge.

Quantity does not equal quality

2007-04-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

This doesn’t sound good for Home Depot. According to Lawn & Garden Retailer Magazine’s March Issue New CEO Frank Blake in an effort to regain the “friendly local retailer” image has decided to hire 15,000 new employees. This is exactly what you expect a mega-chain to do when customer service is at issue, hire still more help. Since this is exactly what we would expect it most surly won’t work.

Home Depot’s customer service problems are not from a lack of orange apron wearing employees running around through the store. It’s the quality of those employees as well as the companies’ culture that needs to change. If I were a stockholder in Home Depot what I would want to see is Frank Blake saying he was going to fire 50% of the least productive employees at each store. Then turn around a give the remainder a raise and the authority to make sure the customer gets better service.

Company culture dictates how employees interact with the consumer. When you have employees telling you that it’s “not their department”, avoiding eye contact, or just not smiling, hiring more people is not the answer.

March into spring

2007-04-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

What a difference a year can make. Last year at this time it was raining just about every day and we, as well as most garden centers in northern California had one of the worst springs on record. This year we have had a lot less rain and it shows in people’s ability to get out into their gardens. March has turned out very busy and the forecast for April seems to be going our way. After two lousy springs business wise it a great feeling to gain some headway so early in the year.

Both Kim at A Study in Contrasts and Lisa at Millertime asked what I sold the vegan gardener who didn’t want to use animal bi-products in her soil. We recommended a combination of cover crops that can be tilled into the soil for nitrogen, such as various legumes. We can also feed with Kelp meal and/or Alfalfa meal. Raw rock phosphate can be used for phosphorus additions. We also sold her a soil test kit but I have not heard back from her yet.

My visit count for this blog just about doubled over the last week. It seems my post on The Parent Navel Orange Tree in Riverside is quoted as a reference for the Wikipedia entry on Orange trees. It’s very interesting to see how people end up at your site. I get quite a few visitors who are interested in where navel oranges got their start and it's fun to think that my post is where they end up.

Nurseries and the eco-market.

2007-03-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

A lady came in looking for organic fertilizer for her vegetable garden. We sell organics so I walked her over to some bone meal and blood meal to work into the soil. These wouldn’t do as she is a vegan! This was the first time this had happened to me. She not only ate vegan but didn’t want to use any animal bi-products in her soil. I just saw a celebrity mention that she only wears vegan clothes!

The eco-movement which gains steam every day is fragmenting. People refuse to be lumped into the general picture of the organic gardener. As a business to just call your self eco-friendly is not going to do for long. Everyone is going to be “eco-friendly” soon as they try to tap into this lucrative market. In the garden center business this means being able to address the needs of the vegan gardener as well as the non-vegan gardener and everyone else who shows an interest in any aspect of organic gardening.

This is a great opportunity for the small garden center. While the larger chains and box stores will wrap themselves in the “eco” banner will they be able to help the vegan gardener? How about the organic gardener that requires “certified” organic seed? Open pollinated seed varieties? The gardener interested in cover crop rotation? What about native plants and excellent substitutes that are drought tolerant?

The opportunities for attracting this type of consumer to the garden center are great! This person is generally willing to spend more to meet their goals and is quite loyal to the business that has earned their trust. They will spread the word to their like minded friends. While most of our organic customers are not quite as particular as some, the market for the various sub-categories of organic gardening is one that might be worth addressing. I know we will.

Passion creates the great garden centers!

2007-03-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

Anna in Spain wants to start a small garden center and has questions about the water needs of plants, how many plants to start with, and all the other questions that someone starting a garden center would have. I have been trying to find the time to get to the answers in the middle of the spring rush. Hang in there Anna and I’ll find the time.

I am not a cook but I watch real ones on TV. Last night I watched a great biography of Chef Emerill Lugase. It’s the story of a man who worked his way up to the top of his profession. The reason I like to watch his show and I am sure most people watch it is to be filled with his passion for cooking and life. Despite having challenges to face all through his career his passion and joy have always trumped any negativity.

This would be the one quality that a new garden center owner should have in abundance. Passion is going to carry you through the times when the weather doesn’t cooperate and despite you best intentions you loose money that year. Passion is going to carry you through the next year when the same thing happens. How is it possible to get up in the morning and greet the customers with a smile and cheerful demeanor when the pile of bills in the office would scare anyone?

I see many similarities between restaurants and garden centers. Going to a restaurant involves many of the same reasons you go to a great nursery. Besides plants or food we each provide an experience. You go to Home Depot to buy plants, you go to a great nursery or restaurant to buy and take home a piece of the passion you felt when you we’re there. We both want the experience to be so great that you can’t wait to tell your friend’s about the really cool place you have found.

I’ll see if I can answer Anna’s questions well enough to help but the best advice I can give is to look to the great chefs like Emerill and imagine your self as passionate and excited as they are and have been. Create your garden center just as if you we’re creating a restaurant and provide the consumer with an exceptional experience. Get excited and let you passion carry you through the up’s and down’s.

Home Depot say's, "Sorry we let you down"

2007-03-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

A post at Today’s Garden Center Blog about how Frank Blake, CEO for Home Depot has apologized for the lousy service his stores are known for. The reason he is apologizing is the over 10,000 e-mails and messages he has received. The message board registers 423 pages of complaints and discussions about Depot.

This is what business everywhere should fear or delight in. With the internet we are able to lodge our complaints or complements about anything we want. Soon the complaints get grouped together and eventually even large corporations have to respond. To his credit Mr. Blake has responded, but who knows if it’s too little too late. As a business owner I want to be out their communicating with the consumer before any mis-understandings arise. The best way to do that on the internet is through blogging. Invite people to comment on your blog, even if it’s to complain. Just by being out there you send a message that you want to work with people to build your business.

I am disappointed that Frank is not going to start a blog. Right now he wants you to send an e-mail to wehearyou@homedepot.com if you have a concern. With a blog Frank could let us know in real time just what he is doing to make it right. He wouldn’t even have to do it. Maybe there is someone on staff that would be good at blogging and is passionate about the business. It won’t be easy changing the culture at a huge operation but with a blog we could be kept informed of the progress or lack of it.

Smith & Hawken, bring back the hippies!

2007-03-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

Just read an interesting article on Smith & Hawken in the latest edition of Garden Chic Magazine. According to the article the company is “now in the midst of a major shift to return to its ‘roots’, its horticultural beginnings.” Senior Vice President Gordy Erickson joined Smith & Hawken after 10 years at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., where he was senior vice president and general merchandise manager. He said he “feels the previous management and various owners lost track of their core focus.” In the article “Gordy proudly points to the original catalogue from the early days of the company, when the hippies-turned-visionary businessmen were still at the helm.”

If you remember back when we talked about Scott’s here it was mentioned “I can’t imagine that Smith and Hawken is the same store that Paul Hawken built and then sold. You can look the same on the outside but once corporate gets a hold of it the culture changes.” I guess Gordy Erickson agrees.

What I find interesting is how Scott’s, who owns Smith & Hawken is trying to recapture something that they can’t possibly bottle. When Dave Smith and Paul Hawken (hippies) started the company it was a new idea and had the interest of the “enthusiast’s” in the garden world because it was ground breaking venture. Those enthusiasts spread the word until now, when it has become the main stream entity that it is today, predictable and boring. The enthusiasts have long since moved on.

How is Scott’s is going to “re-hippy” Smith & Hawken? According to Garden Chic they will go “green”. “The new ‘green’ S&H will get back to a much larger percentage of houseplants and flowering material. While not truly a ‘garden center,’ they will be much more green and less of a furniture store.”

As a small independent garden center owner it’s kind of fun to watch huge corporations like Scott’s try to reinvent themselves as cutting edge ‘hippies’. They may be successful in luring many new customers and regaining some momentum but they will never again have the interest on the garden enthusiasts who look for the cutting edge and are the ones who spread the word when they find a truly novel idea.

That’s why the small garden center might have a leg up on the large corporations for the garden enthusiasts and other gardeners business. More often than not these days many people make purchasing decisions based partly on a companies "authentic story". Many small garden centers have what Gordy Erickson wishes Smith & Hawken still had, an interesting and authentic story.

Start that small garden center today!

2007-03-15T10:35:00.001-07:00

The time is ripe for the small garden center. The mood is unmistakable. People are looking for the unique experience. Weather its cooking, traveling, or gardening people want to try new things. I don’t know about you but I cringe when I see another power mall going in with the prerequisite Borders, Sports Authority, Home Depot, and Baby Gap. The power mall in Folsom looks just like any other mall in the U.S. Sure I patronize some of these places but they don’t inspire me.

Embrace eccentricity! The fun nurseries are always the ones that are a bit eccentric. Generally the smaller stores have the ability to express their “difference better.” The larger independents and the box stores are generally very predictable with out much excitement going on. Running a successful small garden center means having to step put of the current trends and quit being so predictable. Now I am not saying you should open the doors to the shop at any old time of the day. Certain practices should be predictable, but the experience of discovery at the garden center should not be.

I tried to think of some of the ways that we are different than most other garden centers. Our name ‘Golden Gecko’ comes to mind. We wanted a name that was unique and had nothing to do with gardening or us! Our former nursery “Happy Frog” is another example.

We have been arranging our plants in a “theatrical’ manner for the past 13 years. We dropped alpha numeric rowing of plants then and never looked back. Grouping the plants in “vignettes” by color, shape, and smells was quite novel then and unfortunately still is.

Every plant is labeled with Latin names. The sign for a group of plants may not have the Latin name but every plant comes with it. We believe that as more and more garden centers drop the use of Latin names the use of Latin will become more exotic and therefore more interesting to gardeners who care and want to learn about plants. We want to be that source of information.

I am into playing music, jazz and classical mostly. It’s in the background and never obtrusive but helps to set the scene that we are creating. It amazes me how many garden centers don’t use the sound of music to help mask the noise from the road.

We use our mailing list and the internet as our main sources of advertisement. We try not to use mass media much as we have found our best chance of reaching people is through those who have signed up to receive information from us. The internet also focuses our message to those who have an interest already in what we are offering.

We use water a lot! We have two water falls and quite a number of smaller water tub pots, in addition to our creek. The sound of water is a help in masking the sounds coming from the street as well as setting a relaxing mood.

Have Fun! It is sometimes the hardest thing to do when one looks at the bills coming in but is critical to your health and success. Monica and I constantly remind ourselves that if we are not having fun then the customer won’t. The “feel” of a store is directly related to the moods of the people who run it. We have been through some amazing hardships in running our businesses and have had periods where the fun was really lacking. You know what? The sales showed it. It’s not easy but “letting go” and trusting our instincts while trying to keep a playful attitude has been a great benefit.

Good news for independents

2007-03-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

Here is some good news for independent garden centers. According to the folks at Open Register the Garden Writers Association , who conduct garden surveys during the year have a new survey which reports, “for the first time in years, more consumers say they plan to shop at garden centers (47%) than mass merchants. Further, according to Open Register “This hasn’t been a neck and neck race. A mere 39% of consumers planned to shop at garden centers in 2006, compared to 52% wanting to shop at mass merchants. The split was similar in 2005, at 40% to 51%. So this year’s turn around is a major shift.”

Whether this benefits a local garden center will ultimately be up to the store and how well run it is. If the store does not offer a better experience than a chain store this study won’t mean much. It is encouraging to see the shift in consumer sentiments however. It appears that quality is one of the main reasons sited for the shift.

We are quickly shifting to spring mode here. Temps today in the high 70’s and 70’s for the rest of the week, at least. Compared to last year when we had 4” of snow on the ground it’s quite a turnaround. While cold weather might still come, “it always snows on the dogwood blossoms” this nice weather and encouraging report is just what nurserypeople in northern California have been waiting to hear.

The picture above is of an old Western Redbud in front of The Vineyard House in Coloma.

Music at the garden center

2007-03-08T10:56:00.000-08:00

These are the blooms of the California Bay Tree (Umbellaria californica). It grows in the foothills below 4000’ elevation, in our case mixed with manzanita and other chaparral. The leaves when crushed have a wonderfully powerful fragrance, more powerful than bay leaves (Laurus nobilis). California bay can be used in cooking but more sparingly than Grecian Laurel.

Another native plant in bloom is manzanita. The flowers are bell shaped and pink. Often the first that you notice the blooms is the sound of bee’s busy flying from flower to flower. Manzanita is a main component of the chaparral that occurs in the foothills.

What music do you hear when you garden? This is an area dear to my heart since I have always made it a point to have music playing at the garden center. We play classical and jazz. We play this music since I have always liked it and have found that it fits in nicely with the garden center experience. We don’t play opera, country, rock, or most other genre. I love most music and have a special spot for good old rock and roll but have found that classical and jazz are great as garden center music. Since people don’t listen to classical and jazz as often it is something different that they associate with the garden center. “I love the music you play” or “Where did you get this CD” is what we hear.

We don’t just play any classical but gear ourselves toward Mozart, Bach, Handel, and other baroque or rococo styles. The melodic melodies are uplifting and not as intense as modern classical. In the world of Jazz we like the classics. We have also started playing some Afro-Cubana, and Caribbean style tunes. The music should be something that is easy or fun and not the normal background music you hear at the grocery store or when stepping on an elevator.

I don’t believe that any music will work. Rock and roll does not work for us but maybe it would for someone else. Monica and our employees are always trying to get me to change the CD or tuner to something more hip. I don’t play the music to be hip but rather to set the tone for what we hope will be a remarkable and different garden center experience.

Spring in northern California

2007-03-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

This is where we’re at weather wise in the foothills of northern California. These daffodils are growing in front of the old school house in Coloma. Flowering plums and pears are starting to bloom as spring has sprung! We will still have cold weather and even a little snow but the grass has turned the hills green again and the manzanita is in bloom.

The last two years we’re washouts for the garden center biz around here. We had rain constantly through May of last year and June the year before. This year we are at 60 % of average rain, but that means the spring has been a lot drier which is good for business. The water resource board came on and said we have enough snow and water to supply our needs for this year. So perhaps this will be a year when folks can get out into the yard in spring and enjoy the garden.

Garden Centers, google your name today!

2007-03-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

Over at Mr. Brown Thumb he mentions my post on Home Depots new CEO’s plan to bill the mega-retailer as the “friendly local retailer”. Mr. Brown Thumb says “On his blog (thegoldengecko.blogspot.com) he's criticizing Home Depot for their latest ad campaign that tries to brand HD as the "'friendly local retailer.'" I'm not sure Trey has much to worry about because I don't think anyone will ever really buy into the idea, but what I don't agree with is how he puts local retailers on a pedestal.”

Mr. Brown Thumb then goes on to relate how “’friendly local retailer’” is a myth created by Hollywood and people's selective memories of days gone by.” In my post I had mentioned “The only thing that Home Depot has done is work on running most of the local friendly retailers out of business. I’ll admit that some of those retailers needed to go out of business…”.

Mr. Brown Thumb may be correct. I don’t know about the Hollywood myth part but he is right in that the way it's worded I did put the local friendly retailers on a pedestal. It was unintentional and just sounded that way. What I should have said was “most of those retailers needed to go out of business”. Just like Mr. Brown Thumb I have no illusions as to the state of the retail sector as it relates to customer service. Its poor, and shared equally by box stores and local retailers.

We found out about Mr. Brown Thumbs post after I goggled “Golden Gecko Garden Center”. I do that every now and then just to see what comes up. I followed a link Mr. Brown Thumb had on the post to message board by a disgruntled customer of a well known nursery in the Chicago area. This nursery apparently has no web page but they are sure getting interest on the web. The first entry takes you to a posting at Gardeweb.com that has a lively conversation going on. I would think the owner of that store would want to take action to rectify these customer’s complaints. However if they don't check the web they won't know what being said.

People using the computer are exactly the type of consumer that might very well patronize a smaller independent nursery. People are creating communities of like minded individuals on the internet. Because they are communities what is said often has more meaning to the readers than other forms of communication and bad news as well as good spreads fast. Google your name or your business name today and see what comes up.

The eco-friendly blog

2007-02-28T13:49:00.000-08:00

Get ready for eco-friendly everything. As we race into the future companies will all be trying to “out-eco” each other in this lucrative market. Joe Gardener.com has awarded Scott’s/Miracle-Gro’s Deluxe™ EdgeGuard® Broadcast Spreader its “Best of the must haves list”. According to Joe Gardener, “In their effort to provide more eco-friendly solutions, The Scott's Company has answered the challenge to this ongoing problem and hit a homerun in the process.” As the web site says “An easy to use on/off control lever instantly activates a shield below the hopper that prevents fertilizer and other chemicals from being thrown onto areas where it is not intended, such as waterways, streets and other impervious surfaces.” So there you go, a spreader that applies the product where its suppose to go is now an “eco-friendly solution”.

Making products that work better is always a good thing. It’s just that calling it eco-friendly smacks of pandering. Where does it stop? Sure a spreader that doesn’t throw fertilizer and pesticides where they are not needed is good, but eco-friendly? Wouldn’t pulling out the lawn be even more eco-friendly? Why not just say the spreader works better? Because it doesn’t sound as cool as “eco-friendly”. We are about to be inundated with “eco-friendly” everywhere we look. It will become just another phrase without a lot of meaning to get consumers interest.

It's taken about 30 years for eco-friendly to become mainstream. It makes you wonder what the people who where there at the beginning of the eco-movement are thinking. Stuart Brand, the publisher of the first Whole Earth Catalog recently started to criticize the international environmental movement he helped inspire. He wrote an article in Technology review that might surprise lots of people who have known of Brand and his work all these years.

(DIFM) Do it for me

2007-02-25T13:02:00.000-08:00

My latest edition of Nursery Retailer arrived and in the very back, in the section titled “Consumer trend watch” we find a story titled “Today’s young homeowners want you to do the dirty work for them”. In the article we hear that Generation X and Y “want beautiful gardens and outdoor rooms, minus the sweat and hard work that come with them”. The article continues, “they take interest in environmentally sound gardening and raising organic vegetables and fruits-though they’d probably prefer to hire you to come over and do it for them…” Finally this, “And don’t even try to tell them they need to learn the Latin name of the ornamental grass they are eying across your nursery yard”. This last one is interesting as I have never thought anyone needed to learn the Latin names of plants. They should however be available for the consumer when deciding on purchasing a plant. This also sounds like the boomer generation who is getting on in age. As a matter of fact it sounds like just about everyone nowadays. I am not so sure it’s just a quality of Gen. X and Y.

O.K. what’s a small garden center to do? At first blush you would think the way to capture this market is to have a landscape designer to design their landscape, a crew to install the landscape, and a maintenance division to care for landscape.

The problem with these reports, as they deal with our garden center business is it ignores the more lucrative niche markets that exist within these demographics. Maybe 8 out of 10 Gen X want you to DIFM (Do it for me) but there are 2 out of ten that find the whole notion of “DIFM” or “not getting dirty” silly. Why fight the big companies for the DIFM market? Scott’s, Depot, Lowes, and the rest are charging straight into the DIFM market.

We think there is a whole sub-culture of people who desperately want to be different than the masses. They see a generation saying DIFM and decide they want to be different. “Not getting dirty”? Our niche audiences want to get dirty! They want their kid’s to learn about dirt and how plants grow. They come to our “kid’s classes” where parents can share with the kids the joy of nature. I read about groups of Gen. X and Y that go and plant abandoned lots in various cities so as to beautify the neighborhood. That’s not very DIFM. Our workshops are sometimes more popular with Gen X and Y than the boomers

We believe a lot of these trends are real. DIFM, dropping Latin names, “don’t want to get dirty”, do seem to be happening with much of the population. We don’t think however that a small business should be focusing on such a large demographic. Focus instead on the small niche markets that want something different than the masses. These niche markets often cross generational boundaries. Organic gardening, native plants, xeriscape, garden workshops, water gardening, community gardens, and more are enjoyed by members of the Boomer generation as well as Gen. X and Y.

As everyone rushes to address the DIFM, and “Not getting dirty” market small garden centers should be addressing the other markets that get passed over. That’s where the action is.

How can we better serve you?

2007-02-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

Garden Rant asks “How could garden centers better serve you? We're looking for the Top Five Ways they could improve.” As I scroll down the list there is a theme to the responses. Most want more information about what they are purchasing! A number mention including Latin Names on signage yet this is one area that the garden centers seem to be running away from. From what I read in various trade publications the trend is to drop the Latin names and use only the common names. We are told that the buying public just doesn’t care about Latin names anymore.

Susan, the post author says she wants of garden centers “More information about the plants they sell especially the Latin and correct cultivar name, but also exposure, water requirement and ultimate size.” This theme is echoed in the comments. People do want more information and Garden Centers are the place to provide it, yet we find ourselves told to reduce the amount of information we provide. “Drop the Latin names and watch sales grow” seems to be the mantra.

Some might say that the comments on a site like Garden Rant are those of enthusiasts, not the general buying public. These are exactly the kind of people we need to market to, the enthusiasts. It’s the enthusiasts that spread the word when they discover a “cool” garden center. Enthusiasts are out in the blogosphere spreading the word about the places they like. I don’t think a garden center could stay in business with just the enthusiast’s shopping, but I do think you need the enthusiast to be the voice of the nursery. They are the megaphone that every garden center needs. They will guide others interested in gardening to your store. Much of our business is word of mouth and it’s the enthusiasts that speak for us the loudest. They often bring neighbors new to gardening in to “get them off to the right start”.

I have a fear of following trends. It seems like when ever people follow trends weather it’s the stock market, housing market, or nursery trends they lose. Following trends is following the masses. My garden center is not marketing itself to the masses. I want to market to that 5% of the consumers that appreciate the difference that a well run garden center with lot’s of information offers. Let the other 95% of consumers head to the box stores where no Latin names are found, the staff is less than knowledgeable, and the plants are in need of help. Box stores lead the way in the "no Latin names and little info about the plants they sell" world. Why follow that?

Ask a wine enthusiast what’s important about the wine they drink and they will tell you it’s the taste, but so much more. Where are the grapes from? How are they pruned? How long in the barrel? Skins left on how long? Bottled when? They want to know this stuff. What would they do if you said “Here, just drink this, it tastes good and it’s in a pretty bottle?” They would go elsewhere, where the winery appreciated their interest in learning more about wine and was willing to teach them the nuances. Look to the small wineries with the cult followings to see how smaller garden centers should operate. Sure they may not sell as much as Gallo, but they get a lot more per bottle and they have enthusiasts out spreading the word and bringing new people in to join the wine club all the time.

The new eco-learning centers.

2007-02-20T17:43:00.000-08:00

Open register , the blog of Garden Center Magazine asks about the current state of the “Fall is for Planting Campaign”. Here in northern California fall is the best time to plant most shrubs, trees, and perennials yet the turnout by the consumer is less than satisfactory.

Of course we in the garden center business have no one to blame but ourselves. Somehow we are not getting the message through to the consumer. The folks at Garden Rant talked about this at length a while ago.

I don’t know what the solution is but we are working on educating the customers that wants to be educated, our mailing list. People who receive our e-news and snail mail newsletter have already given us permission to inform them. We will continue to promote this planting season to them as a sort of “secret to success” that only they know about. Let’s face it, the vast majority of consumers don’t care that fall is for planting. There is a small percentage of the public that will accept the message. We’ll focus on those people.

Garden centers need to be the voice of the outside world. Many people are divorced from the realities of life outside. We think garden centers have a unique opportunity to become sort of “eco-learning centers”. As more people feel the need to connect to nature they will want a place to learn, and share in the discovery of gardening and it’s relationship to our well being. Garden centers are positioned perfectly to be that place.

We can't rely on horticultural industry marketing for “Fall is for Planting”, which has to this point been ineffective. We’ll have to go directly to the consumer. We will do this with e-mail newsletters, snail mail newsletters, our web page, my blog, workshops, and speaking engagements. We believe these methods are for us more effective than mass media.

Boomers rejoice, most of you are now Jonesers!

2007-02-14T14:11:00.000-08:00

I’ve got some good news for us "baby boomers." Just when we thought we would have to resign ourselves to being “boomers” we are sent a savior! Thanks to Jonathan Pontell we are now the younger and more hip “Generation Jones”. If you are one of the lucky "baby boomer's" aged 41-52 you can leave the boring "boomer" scene for the trendier “Jones Scene”. I couldn’t find out how old Jonathan is but I would like to think that he is a “Joneser”, since only someone in our generational demographic could come up with such a cool way to redefine ourselves.

The celebrities that were lucky enough to be born between those magic years are jumping on board the new demographic. Rosie O'Donnell, Maureen McCormick, (actress Marcia Brady), and George Stephanopoulus (ABC News) have all proclaimed their joy at finally being able to identify with this new demographic. As the Chicago Sun Times say’s, wherever Pontell goes the subject has “people in that age bracket” responding, “Yeah”.

If you we’re one of the boomers that missed this important demographic cutoff all we “Jonesers” can say is “invent your own demographic!” It’s not that hard. The next step will be segmenting each demographic into even smaller segments. I already feel a bit alienated from the “Jonesers” in the over 50 age bracket. The 50, 51, and 52 year olds must have really lobbied hard to be included in ‘our’ demographic.

As a nursery retailer we are told by consultants to discern the subtle and not so subtle differences between "Gen X", "Jones", and "Boomers" so as to be better able to target each of these three demographics properly. This just seems like to much work so I am going to target my demographic, “The Jones”. “Boomers” will want to be seen to be as cool as a “Joneser” so they will respond while “Generation X”, also know as the “lost generation,” will respond to the more mature and self-assured “Jonesers” marketing that we will produce.

The excitement builds as we all rush to focus on this completely new demographic, which apparently has been ignored or not properly focused on until now. You can imagine all the consultant work that will be needed by companies concerned about how best to approach “The Jonesers”.

Home Depot as the "Friendly local retailer"?

2007-02-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Michele at Wonder Branding point's us to Home Depot’s latest attempt to convince us they care. Their “True Stories” ad campaign is part of new CEO Frank Blake’s attempt to, as he say’s “restore the image of Home Depot as the friendly local retailer run by happy, helpful employees.”

I don’t remember the Home Depot that Frank remembers. “Friendly local retailer run by happy, helpful employees”? This is the same Home Depot that over the last 15 years has been called a “category killer”? The only thing that Home Depot has done is work on running most of the local friendly retailers out of business. I’ll admit that some of those retailers needed to go out of business, but to say that Home Depot was ever looked upon as a “local retailer” seems to be stretching it a bit.

We are being inundated by advertising that attempts to paint a picture that is something beyond reality. When Scott’s/ Miracle-Gro President Jim Hagedorn run’s an ad campaign in nursery trade publications saying he “cares about independent garden centers” yet his two biggest customers are Home Depot and Wal-Mart it just doesn’t ring true.

These attempts by large corporations to paint themselves as something they are not is the small and medium size businesses ticket to attracting more consumers. More and more consumers will want to know if the companies they do business with share their values. If their values include trust and the truth then these attempts by Home Depot and Scott’s will fall on deaf ears. When Frank Blake say’s he wants to return to an image of “Home Depot as the friendly local retailer” we friendly local retailers that are still standing know we have been on the right track all along.

Who are we marketing to?

2007-02-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

Over at An Alameda Garden Claire posted about her trip to The Nor Cal Show in San Mateo. This is northern California’s big nursery trade show.

Claire mentions how at the end of one of the exhibit halls four displays were aimed at appealing to four different demographics. As Claire say’s “Generation X, Generation Y, the Baby Boomers, and the generation that I fall into, the unfortunately named Jones Generation. How was each presentation supposed to appeal to each group? You got me. All four of them looked interesting but staged and styled beyond any semblance of reality and none of the individual elements seemed to me particularly suited to any special demographic.”

I was unable to attend the Nor Cal Show this year so was unable to see the displays. Claire’s comments would seem to indicate that this type of marketing is not going to work in our business. I don’t see how it’s possible to segment our consumers into such fine demographic distinctions. Can anyone say for certainty how Gen. X gardens differently than Generation “Jones”, or “Y”.

Wouldn't it be better to market to a “lifestyle” that embraces the out of doors whether it is Gen. Y or the Baby Boomers? There is too much cross over in what each demographic appreciates in a garden to attempt to segment the consumers into such narrow divisions.

Wouldn’t a display aimed at Generation Y appeal to Baby Boomers looking for what’s new and hip. How about a display aimed at Baby Boomers that appeal to Gen Y that is looking for something they think of as “retro”? A modern, colorful, well thought out display should have good crossover appeal to every generation.

We can build our nursery displays in a way that we think appeals to the young and hip Generation “Jones”, yet I bet most of the purchases out of that display will be made by Baby Boomer's, since they account for the largest segment of our sales in the nursery. Claire couldn’t quite discern how each display related to that generation, and the consumer won’t either.

P.S.

I have added a link after Carol mentioned in the comments she hadn't heard of "The Jones Generation." Linda, who's comments also appear below left this link to Jonathan Pontell's web site. He first coined the term "Jones Generation." I made the mistake in the post of assuming that "The Jones Generation" was a younger demographic. It's actually used to describe the ages 41 and 52 which puts me smack dab in the middle.

Flower Confidential

2007-02-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

Amy Stewart’s book “Flower Confidential” is out! This has been fun to watch as I have followed her over the last year, so to see the book finally come to fruition is great.

I first found out about Amy when she noticed my blog here. I followed the link over to her blog and found out there was a lot more going on with garden blogging than I realized.

The floriculture business has many of the same issues as the garden center business. Especially on the independent side the small and medium size florist is competing with grocery stores and chains like Costco that sell cut flowers. I am sure the floriculture industry is going through some major changes and it will be interesting to watch as they do it.

Why I Blog.

2007-02-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

I was asked to write a piece about "Why I blog" for the folks at Garden Center Magazine. The publishers Branch-Smith are also responsible for The Green Beam, an internet site for the nursery industry. They recently started a company blog titled Open Register and that’s where the article resides. Check it out here.

Gardening Trends

2007-02-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

We in the garden center trade are under intense pressure by media and “experts” to follow trends. They say the way to success is to look at what the mass of people are doing. Selling organic products from your store is now “trendy” because everyone is into it. When you have Wal-mart selling organics, Scott’s putting out a line of organics, and the media types all telling how organic they are you know it’s a trend.

I think the trend towards organics is great! As a business person we sell lots of organics and the more people are aware of them the better sales will be. Of course the list of places where you will be buying organics will be increasing so to stay ahead of the curve we in the garden business will do like we have always done. Offer a better product, packaged more thoughtfully, and backed with better information on how to use.

The problem with following trends is everybody else is doing it. To stay ahead as an independent small garden center you have to create the trends. The hard part of that is that its lonely creating trends, and most of the time you don’t know you are doing it. Sometimes you’re the first to notice the very beginnings of an upcoming trend and can ride the wave. Most of the time you’re just doing what makes sense to you but it takes awhile for the consumer and especially the industry to notice.

Garden centers selling organics is nothing new. John Dromgoole, owner of The Natural Gardener Nursery in Austin, TX has been involved with organic gardening for thirty years. He has been teaching and selling organics before it was trendy. You can hear him speak at the upcoming Independent Garden Center show in Chicago. He must think it’s great to have so much interest now in what he has been doing for so long. Still he must wonder why there is so much excitement in the garden center industry now. Where has everyone been? The time to have gotten involved with this and reaped the greater profits was years ago. Sure there is room for the organic market to grow but the competition is getting a lot tighter. Now that Scott’s and Wal-mart has recognized the importance it’s going to be everywhere. We are about to be bombarded with an advertising campaign that will try to incorporate every eco-catch phrase possible. Organic, ecological, natural, eco-friendly, and earth friendly seem to be the most popular now. I think we’ll be “The Home of Eco-Friendly Gardening”™

The secret to success as an independent is to not “follow the money” but rather have the “money follow you.” If you follow the big money it leads to large corporations who leave nothing to chance and only move a certain direction when they are very certain of a result. By the time they are certain this trend will be profitable for them the real trend setters have already moved in a different direction. The real trend setters might not know the direction they are moving. An aversion to following trends will lead them to a “niche” that they might enjoy for awhile, before everyone else figures it out. Real change takes place on the fringes, not in the middle.

What’s the next trend going to be? I don’t know. Most likely it’s getting started by someone who is passionate about what they do and willing to buck the trends and set their own course. Following trends is safe but boring, bucking the trends and creating your own style is scary but ultimately more rewarding.

Nursery Trade Show Time.

2007-01-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

It’s winter and the Daphne is blooming so it must be trade show time. During the slow season various nursery trade shows vie for our attention. In my area we have a Sacramento Nursery and Landscape Expo, then the slightly larger Nor Cal Show in San Mateo, then the even larger Far West show in Portland, and now the mega-show in Chicago “The Independent Garden Center Show.

Generally the shows follow somewhat the same format. They are staged in large halls with row after row of vendors each with a display trying to attract your attention. Someone selling beneficial insects might be right next to a booth by Bayer or Scott’s. It’s all a bit overwhelming. You pick up a plastic bag, usually emblazoned with some corporate logo to put all the papers and samples from the different vendors. Business cards, brochures, fertilizer packets, and anything else you’re given. Some of the vendors will offer discounts if you buy product at the show. Buy “x” amount of plants and receive a discount and maybe delayed billing.

There are seminars with various experts on all sorts of subjects. The IGC is going to have seminars with a store management consultant, garden café consultant, color trends expert, counter trends expert, garden center marketing expert, organic garden expert, store design global consultant, international garden retail expert, store display expert, garden retail industry consultant, Jim “cares about independents” Hagerdorn of Scott’s, and Susie Coelho of HGTV fame.

What I find interesting is how every one of the speakers has a different title, with some being quite creative. Garden café consultant is a new one for me. It may be the first. What a great niche to have discovered. Counter trends expert is a bit confusing. I am not sure what that means. I like “store design global consultant.” Not just store design consultant, but "global" to boot.

In our rush to embrace what’s new and hip I hope we don’t forget the little things that make or break a small business. While we discussed cafes in garden centers http://thegoldengecko.blogspot.com/2006/10/garden-center-cafes.html I wonder if we aren’t just getting a bit too carried away. Building a café or coffee kiosk may be out of the budget for some, but upgrading to a better coffee maker and a better brand of coffee may be all we really need. I stopped in a local garden center the other day and saw they had a coffee maker with a sign that said “help yourself.” I did and threw away the cold coffee. What a bummer, it was a cold day and I wanted to warm my hands. Does this garden center really need a café if they can’t even brew a decent pot of hot coffee? Maybe they should lease out the spot to someone else that will make the coffee for them.

Many of the speakers at the IGC show and other shows have interesting stories to tell. If they have an enthusiastic, upbeat outlook just listening can be worth it. My question is why should have to get that information second hand from “consultants”? I interact with the consumer daily via my nursery and blog. Garden bloggers in Austin, TX turned me on to John Dromgoole and “The Natural Gardener” nursery last year. I have already “visited” his store and had a taste of his philosophy long before he will be speaking in Chicago at the IGC Show. We have already talked about Jim Hagedorn of Scott’s and Susie Coelho of HGTV at this blog last year. I think we have a handle on what these folks will be telling us.

If you really want to be different and create a niche for yourself I doubt any consultants are going to be able to help you. You have to believe that your ideas have merit and that following the consensus is often an avenue to mediocrity. The interesting, funky garden centers are that way because that’s the way the people running it are. You can’t fake it. I get nervous when everyone starts doing the same thing. It seems lately that if you don’t have garden center that looks like it came straight out of Europe, complete with pet center and coffee bar you are doomed. Sometimes I think we listen to “experts” because we had the same idea long before but need the ‘approval’ of experts before trying it out ourselves. That way if it fails we can blame the “experts”.

There are a couple of new nursery bloggers out there and I wanted to point them out. “Mallee Native Plants”. It's written by Corinne and her small native plant nursery and home block in country South Australia. "Growing Up” is a blog by Sherwood Green Houses located one mile east of the Regina Tourist Booth, on the North Service Road Regina, Saskatchewan. They say “Running a retail greenhouse operation on the Canadian Prairies could be considered a bit of a challenge. A short summer season, a long intense winter and a couple of days of spring and fall stuck between. But, --Hey it's better than not working. It is my hope to record our daily activities and describe seeding, plants, planting and everything in-between. Finally, Daleys Fruit Tree Blog, Australia. They have the “You Tube” thing down and the enthusiasm they have for their craft is evident. Check it out!

A Gold Country Landscape.

2007-01-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

Driving from Placerville to Coloma via Hwy. 49 you pass this house. It has had the same landscape for at least the last 20 years. This area is called “Gold Country” and that is the theme here. The giant piece of “gold” gets a yearly coat of fresh paint. While it’s not my idea of a xeriscape landscape it is unique and as such could be called “garden art”.

Sleepy Hollow Nursery in Placerville closed last year after having just remodeled the store. They did a beautiful job of construction. They put in a coffee shop complete with the giant espresso machine that you see at Starbucks. Six months later they were closed. While there are a lot of reasons this store didn’t make it the final straw, according to the owner was the new Home Depot that went in a block away.

Walking through the Placerville Home Depot you come across all sorts of dead and dying plants that are just left in displays that can only be called “thoughtless”. This was the final straw for Sleepy Hollow? This Home Depot sent shivers through all sorts of business when it opened last year. This is what everyone is afraid of? I read an old German proverb the other day that say’s “Fear often makes the wolf appear bigger than he really is.”

I think that if Sleepy Hollow had changed their focus a bit they might have been able to capitalize on the close proximity of The Depot. I would think that it would be a great opportunity to highlight the differences between the nursery and the Home Depot. Why not even mention you closeness to The Depot in advertising. Everyone knows where the Home Depot is. Not everyone knew where the nursery was. “We’re just a block away from the Home Depot, but a world away in style, quality, service, etc.” Maybe instead of worrying about the arrival of a new chain store we should be excited to show how we do things better.

I think the days of running in fear of the box stores should be over. As much as they tout their new “focus” on customer service and quality they will never be able to do it the way a quality independent can.

Blueberries are in.

2007-01-25T15:31:00.000-08:00

My talk with the Auburn Garden Club went well. This is one of the most active garden clubs around. The topic was “What’s new and exciting in the garden center.” I was given lots of new introductions by Monrovia that I was able to share. The southern high bush blueberries, which are a more heat tolerant type good for our region, were especially well received. Blueberries are again popular this year as we are quickly selling out of our bare root types. These southern high bush types are completely taking over the California market from the low bush types.

What’s interesting is how the sales are being fueled by health conscious people looking for the antioxidants contained in the berry. We are also seeing some interest in fruiting Mulberries for the same reason. It’s funny because the fruitless mulberry just like the olive tree where once scorned as being to messy so sterile varieties were produced and sold over the years at the nursery.

Another reason the blueberries are selling well is people realize they can containerize them. Our soil is not the best for blueberry culture but by growing them in containers with our planting mix, which is just right for blueberries, they can be successful.

While the interest in home grown fruit and vegetables is increasing most people don’t realize that bare root season is the time to buy many of the fruiting trees and shrubs. The whole bare root season is a challenge. People just don’t know about it and most don’t want to shop at a garden center in the winter. Our pre-booking of fruit trees, which ends in November, is growing. The advantage to pre-booking is you can buy one or two of any fruit tree on our growers list. We don’t have to buy in unusual varieties that might not sell well during bare root season. So the selection of varieties is huge and people are still gardening in fall and more likely to buy at that time. We bundle the trees by customer when they arrive in winter.

The citrus were hit pretty hard by the cold we experienced a couple of weeks ago. Even though they were covered and under the deck the night temperatures got down to 19°F. Fortunately we don’t carry a lot of citrus at the nursery. We will wait and see if they leaf out in this spring. After two weeks of record cold I am now running around in a tee shirt as the temps are now in the 60’s. This is now the driest January on record. I am not going to complain as we could see gully washers this spring like the last two years. We’ll just make hay while the sun shines.

Naturally, a better way to garden!

2007-01-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

I will be giving my annual talk to the Auburn Garden Club this Monday. This will be about the eighth time I have spoken and its fun to do since this is a very active club with over a hundred in attendance at my last talk. The theme is always what’s new and exciting at the nursery. Generally we will talk about new plant introductions, garden supplies, or trends that are appearing.

Monrovia Nursery sent me quite a number of their new plant introductions to take to the event, so we will discuss those as well as our greater emphasis on gardening naturally as we talked about at this post.

There is no doubt this is a trend as I received my latest issue of “Garden Chic, the art of niche retailing.” Over all this is one of the better trade magazines I receive and the latest issue dealt with how to be successful in the organic market. I opened this magazine the day after I posted about this very subject. In addition there is a great article about how to involve the kids at the nursery which we also discussed. This shows that these trends are just starting to be recognized by my industry and those who embrace these ideas will be some of the first to do so.

There was also an article on The Natural Gardener in Austin (warning: when the web page opens a you hear a rooster crow, irritating!) and how they have captured the organic market in that area. It’s a great piece and fun to read. But just so you know why blogging is important to me I had a number of comments from some readers that live in Austin after I had written a post last year. They informed me of this place then and I had checked out their web page, so it was fun to read about it yesterday in the magazine.

One complaint I have is in the section of the magazine called “you can!” It say’s “What not to do in the garden? An online blog provides insight on what many frown upon. Among the hated looks-plastic, in-ground walkway lights, lining every which way of every walkway: ‘It looks like a landing strip for an alien spacecraft.’ Military formation-style plantings with boring shrubs lined up like soldiers didn’t go over very well, either. Overuse of mulch stacked too deep and high around trees to form the infamous ‘Volcano’ look was also noticed.

Now I can’t remember weather I read that in Garden Rant or another blog, but it would be nice if they give credit to the blog. Calling it an “online blog” is unfair to the author. It’s nice to see garden blogs being noticed, but give credit where credit is due.

The Guacamole Hut as Kid Central

2007-01-18T11:05:00.000-08:00

We have finally figured out how best to utilize “The Gaucamole Shed”. It is separated from the store and has been a seed department, water garden department, and gift shop. The problem is its not big enough for any of our departments and it’s separated from the store which is a bit of a hassle. What are we going to do? Turn it over to the kid’s!

We are going to put a table with coloring books featuring our mascot “Gordie The Golden Gecko”. We want to put a chalk wall up so they can draw. Book’s to read. Basically anything to keep them occupied while the parents can shop. What we will put in there will revolve around the outside world in a general way. In other words keeping them entertained is foremost but well see if we can’t stir their interest in “The Outdoor Foothill Lifestyle”™.

“The Outdoor Foothill Lifestyle”™ represents our excitement in bringing about a renewed interest in the garden by expanding what it means to garden. We will incorporate all of our ideas on how to create a beautiful outdoor space which include our ideas on "Naturally a Better Way to Garden"™ . Most of the people coming to The Foothills are moving from Sacramento, The Bay Area, or Southern California and have had to adapt to our different climate and attitude. We are a little less stressed out and laid back than those places and we want to be the place you go to pick up ideas and items to help enjoy this new lifestyle.

This is really quite exciting as it frees us up to expand our focus from being a place to buy plants to a place to buy plants, garden art, bird watching supplies, outdoor furniture, BBQ cooking classes, herb and vegetable growing, and gifts You will also learn through our workshops and e-news how to garden with wildlife and learn to enjoy the natural beauty we have all around us. We are hopping to create a new attitude that will invigorate people to spend more time outside in the garden. If we can get the kid’s interested in the outside world then it’s natural they will want to enhance and protect the world when they become adults.

Starting a small garden center.

2007-01-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

I have been talking with Anna who is contemplating “trying to start a small garden centre in the south of Spain. The area is a south-facing mountain range (about 1000m above sea level) and to date there are no other garden centres in the entire area.” She continues, “This is obviously not necessarily good news (no customers, perhaps?!), but I think there is a niche. The area is changing from traditional agriculture (old men on donkeys picking their almonds) to rural tourism and lots of foreigners buying second homes (a culture of shopping in garden centres, an interest in gardens (as opposed to agriculture) and (hopefully) disposable income!). The nearest garden centres are at least 30 minutes drive (most are an hour) and are very 'industrial' experiences when you get their, if you know what I mean (low plastic greenhouses, no landscaping, no cafe, no personal touch).”

How exciting! I love hearing from people thinking of opening a small garden center or nursery. The above picture is my brother-in-law and I working on the landing to the garden shop before opening. Many of the same issues face us with regional differences of course. While I don’t know much about the regional habits of the clientele the questions Anna brings to the table are the same that we all face. She asks “is it a realistic way of planning to make a living?! There are days when everything points to the fact that we may actually get huge orders, particularly for the local trees (people have immense plots of land and in theory - rumour has it! - need large quantites of trees, every so often) and then other days I try to calculate how many 1 euro geraniums we will have to sell to pay the rent, overheads, wages........ and I go pale!" That just about summarizes everyone’s fear when thinking about starting a business.

What do I say? That there are days when you will “go pale”? There are also day’s when you can’t keep up with the orders. It’s a huge risk and there are no guarantees. But with the risk comes the potential of being first in the area and setting the standard.

We are going on our third year and sometimes just being able to open your doors for another day of business is a success. You have to be able to keep moving forward when the weather and those around you might be less than encouraging. The reason why business successes are often hard to come by is they are “hard to come by”.

When Anna mentions there are no garden centers in the area she is right to ask “This is obviously not necessarily good news (no customers, perhaps?!), but I think there is a niche.” How bold she will have to be to take a chance and be the first and develop that niche. I believe that she needs to trust her instinct’s, do some research (but don't over research it), start small, but get started! How many times have we said, “I wish I had thought of that”, but did nothing? I hope that we will be able to watch a new garden center sprout as the area changes, bringing new customers and causing Anna one day to ask what it was that she was so worried about.

On The Way To Cool.

2007-01-11T16:54:00.000-08:00

This is a sign at the corner of Marshall Rd. and Hwy. 49 on the way to the nursery. Usually Cal-trans pulls stuff like this down quick, but maybe they figure it’s worth the second looks it gets. This should put to rest any questions about the quality of our education system.

Over at "Garden Rant" they have an interview with Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. “Brent say’s business is just fine, growing steadily every year, despite the downturn in the bulb industry generally. (Some blame the box stores, others lazy gardeners.) B&B doesn't sell to the boxes at all but instead, appeals to people for whom planting bulbs is a ‘fun sport’. We know exactly who he's talking about - real gardeners, us.”

I know at our nursery and our last nursery venture bulb sales have been declining steadily. I do believe that it’s the same reason that bare root sales are declining. They are sold during a season that most people are not into gardening, fall and winter. In addition you have to plan ahead to get the beauty in spring. I wish more people we’re into bulbs but the reality is they are not. I also think the chain stores have pretty much captured the low end of the bulb market. They buy and sell smaller bulbs, but at a very cheap price. Most people don’t know the difference between all the grades bulbs come in and how that determines the quality of the flower.

In addition folks like Brent and Becky have captured the “collector" market with a broad selection that can’t be matched by a brick and mortar store. Bulbs are easy to transport compared to other plants. This is actually where I think the people who treasure the unusual should get their bulbs.

We in the garden centers sell more bulbs based on people noticing them when they come into the store. “Oh, look they have bulb’s”, or we plant them up with other flowers in a container and sell the blooming bulbs in spring. To that end I think there will always be a place for bulbs in the garden center, but I don’t see the category growing much.

Which leads me to the post by Elizabeth at “Gardening While Intoxicated”. She mentions how she loves shopping on the Internet for her unusual seeds and flowers. She say’s “ I know many of my fellow garden blogger's are very familiar with ordering from catalogs, but for those who aren't, give it a try! You buy everything else in your pajamas—why not plants? Or at least plants you’re not going to be able to find at your local nurseries.” She also say’s “I’ll be spending lots of money locally (oh yes, indeed), but the final clincher for online purchasing is that you don’t have to wonder if your local places will carry your gotta-have plants—a nice bit of insurance for us compulsive types.”

This is where the Internet shines, the sales of unusual, smaller sized plants that can be transported within a couple of days. I am sure that flower and vegetable starts, blooming annuals and perennials will still make up a large portion of our business, but I don’t see the sales of bulbs and seed’s ever being what it once was. That’s o.k. though as it frees us up to focus on the areas that will provide the growth in the future.

Naturally a Better Way to Garden™

2007-01-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

We’re back from vacation and the nursery is open for the first time this year. We are charged up and ready to make this our best year ever. We have been open now 2 ½ years! We have had some very rainy springs that have cut into profits and slowed down our growth. We can’t use the weather as an excuse this year! We are going to have to grow the business if we are going to reach our goals. Sure the weather can hamper things, but we are a business and must do what is necessary to soften the blows the weather causes and find the areas that will help with the growth.

To that end we have decided to focus are energies on creating a new path for the nursery. The Golden Gecko Garden Center, . Our new focus will be "Naturally a Better Way to Garden"™ showing people how to garden in a more natural way. We feel that gardening is looked upon as a chore by many people. They have gotten “stuck” maintaining the garden rather than enjoying it. We hope to plant the seed of an idea that to really enjoy the garden we have to reduce the amount of time maintaining it. In our region of dry summers and wet winters it is time consuming to maintain plants that are from regions that require larger amounts of water and effort to keep looking good. This was driven home to us when we left our house to live at the nursery for a year. The water line was disconnected and some of our landscaping died. Upon our return we decided that we want to create a garden that is beautiful, wildlife friendly, able to withstand the drought of summer better, and requires less time to maintain. After all I garden for a living and would like some time off when I am at home.

I think there are a lot of people like us and we want to reach them. Do they know about all the great new plant introductions coming from Australia? We are finding out that Grevillea is a lot more cold tolerant than first expected and that’s great news for us in the foothills. It’s also deer resistant! What about the idea that using organic fertilizers will help make stronger and better adapted plants than if you use synthetics? What about the idea that here in northern California you have better success planting in the fall than spring? What with the winter rains coming and the cooler temperatures after a hot summer plants establish better planted in fall. How about focusing you energies on the aspect of gardening you enjoy most. By landscaping with "like climate plants" in a more natural way we free ourselves up to concentrate on our hobby of vegetable gardening, fruit tree growing, container gardening, boating, traveling, or whatever.

Here in California we have taken gardening more appropriate to other climates and made it work. The cost though has be in increased watering, fertilizing, and time spent supporting these plantings. The ideas we are talking about are not new but are often looked upon separately by people, where instead they need to be grouped together to create a more natural and effortless garden. We are not saying that you must garden organically. In our area of large parcels Round-up is often used for fence lines and other areas where hand weeding is not appropriate. Gardening in a more natural way means planting and using what works best for your situation. It happens that organics tend to improve soil structure, benefiting plants where synthetic don’t. This is exciting since it takes the argument from organic versus non- organic. Use what works best and in most cases it’s the organics.

We will also be increasing our selection of Mediterranean climate plants. We feel that native plants deserve a much greater representation in our landscape along with other like climate plants. Growing a strictly native garden might be a fun horticultural pursuit but by incorporating other plants from like climate regions we can create a beautiful garden that is unique to our region. Why try for the Cape Cod look or the Tuscan look when we should develop our own unique look. By gardening in a more natural way we will be creating a garden that expresses our region and personalities better.

Here is what we will be doing. Increasing the selection of natives and Mediterranean style plants that we carry, while decreasing the selection of plants that don’t fit in with our goals of creating a more natural garden. Promoting organic fertilizers and pesticides used properly. Encouraging wildlife friendly gardening, and yes this includes the deer! We will work to increase the awareness of fall as a more natural time to plant here. Most of all we will be increasing our efforts to get the word out by making available the information people need to embrace this style of gardening.

I also want to take the time to answer a couple of questions I received about my last post. The chapel pictured is small. It’s might hold 20 people comfortably. The pruned Monterey Cypress has a flat statue of a lady sitting underneath it and if you look very closely a “bird house” has been pruned into the very top of the tree. It stands up above the flat top of the tree.

Mendocino is a lot like Coloma near us. During the season it is packed with tourists and quite as can be in the winter. We wanted to enjoy the quiet and we did. It rained part of one day which we found enjoyable as rain on the coast is different than in the mountains, more mild and breezy. We stayed at a bed and breakfast, the Packard House and had the place all to ourselves for a day. We enjoyed the quiet. Thats our room "The Pacific View" in the piture above. Other than driving to Ft. Bragg we stayed in town exploring the hidden alleys, unique shops, and beaches. If you want to enjoy one of the most beautiful drives in the world take Hwy. 1 from Mendocino to San Francisco.

Back from the coast.

2007-01-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

We’re back from Mendocino but not quite done with vacation. It's always amazing to see the wealth of flowers and plants that grow in the benign climate of the coast. A native, Garrya elliptica is in full bloom.

Driving down Hwy. 1 near Point Arena we spotted these Monterey cypresses that have been pruned for many years. While I don't usually like formally pruned plants these are eye catching and whimsical enough to get me to pull over and take a photo.

Down the road further in Gualala was a nursery that uses giant dinosaurs to attract attention. I think this is what happens to nursery people who decide to live full time on the coast. This area is so beautiful, but so isolated that it takes a certain outlook to live there.

This little building is in Sea Ranch. It is a chapel and a good representative of the carefree buildings and people who inhabit this place.

I am gathering up some plants to take to my talk in Sacramento at the California Home and Flower show tomorrow. After the talk Monica and I will wonder around and see what's new or exciting for 2007.

The Snowdrops are blooming!

2007-01-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

We're at the nursery today feeding the cats and checking on things. We have been off for one week now and have until next Tuesday off. We came by to stand up the plants that have blown over and check on watering.

Just out front the first flowers of the year have started blooming. The Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are poking up out of the ground. In most climates they wait to bloom until the end of winter. Here things are a bit different and it is not unusual to see these bulbs as well as narcissus blooming now. It's about 65 degrees Fahrenheit today so it’s no wonder these plants think its spring.

We're going to head out to Mendocino on the coast. Stay at a bed and breakfast for a couple of days. We’ll come back Saturday and give a talk at The California Home and Garden Show in Sacramento. Then it's back to work on Tuesday the 9th. Bare root fruit trees will arrive that week!

This last year of blogging has been wonderful! Garden bloggers are unique people and I enjoy the company of people who have interesting things to say. We'll talk again when we get back from the coast.

Happy New Year!

First Day of Winter

2006-12-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

I don’t get to work on my blog as much as I would like. Since moving out of the garden center back to our house the only computer I have is here at work. What with the day to day activities I don’t have the leisure time necessary to do as much with the blog. The remedy is to get another computer just for home where I can do fun things as opposed to “work”.

We are getting ready for our winter break which means the store will be closed from Christmas through January 6^th. I would love to take more time off but we have to get back to deal with the bare root fruit trees which arrive about then. In addition we don’t get a paid vacation here. Store closed equals little income.

Right now we are selling garden gift items and gift cards. We had a big 25% to 50% off sale just last month and it helped in moving some plants. I think our winter plant inventory is right about where it should be. This is the time of year when I look out and see too much planting mix and potting soil left over. Sure we can sell it next spring but why did I make that last order? Monica said we could hold off, but I never want to be out of a key item so I ordered it. Sure enough she was right.

There is so much to do here that it is overwhelming at times. We have a number of dead trees that need to be removed. I want to extend the sprinkler system to a new area which means digging trenches. We would like to get the main part of our newsletters ready for next year. Trying to write an e-news and snail mail newsletter during the busy spring is crazy. If we can get about six months done now it would be a great.

A post or two ago U.K. Bob left a comment. He said “Such as you and I keep on gardening no mater what the time of year because it's our life but I've noticed just by reading the blogs that were full of gardening when I first started to read them in August are now given over to other things like cakes and Christmas decorations. I notice also the last few times I've been to our garden centre it's been empty, it’s actually felt weird being the only one in the place. So I'm sure things will pick up for you, what you need is an early spring to get people out gardening again.”

I don’t like to see it but the fact that even in gardening crazy England the garden centre’s are slow this time of year gives me solace in that our occupation shares many of the same quirks no mater where you do business. While many people enjoy not thinking about the garden in winter we are busy planning for next year. We have to as if we wait we will be too busy when spring comes.

This is a good time to get out and spread the word. I will be talking at the California Home Show at the Sacramento Convention Center on Saturday Jan. 6^th at 12:45. The topic is Mediterranean climate gardening. This will give us exposure to many people in the city who might want to make the drive up to the foothills to visit. On January 22^nd I will speak at the Auburn Garden Club Meeting. This has been an annual engagement for me the last 8 or 9 years now. The subject is always “What’s new and exciting for 2007 at the garden center.” They are one of the most active garden clubs around with about 120 people coming to my last presentation.

Winter has arrived today! I like the fact that slowly but surely the days are getting longer and the nights shorter. Each day may only gain a minute or two of light but the minutes add up and soon I won’t be closing the store in the dark.

Keeping invasives in check

2006-12-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

In an effort to prevent the spread of invasive species a new program known as “Plant Right” has taken root in California. It is made up of various horticultural groups who are devising a list of potential invasive plants that should be avoided. The list is not out yet but it will be interesting to see what ends up on it.

Most likely pampas grass, scotch broom, and vinca major will be listed. It looks like what they want is for nurseries to voluntarily avoid selling these plants. We do sell pampas grass but these are sterile types. We can’t sell scotch broom in El Dorado County, even though there are sterile varieties available. Vinca major is a common ground cover and planted all over. I don’t like it as much as Vinca minor which has a less aggressive nature.

There are plenty of alternatives for these plants, but I hope that the sterile and non-aggressive varieties don’t get thrown out with the true pests. I look forward to seeing this list and making sure that true aggressive species are not sold.

This area is covered with the yellow blooms of Scotch Broom during the spring. This plant was brought over in the gold rush and has spread through out the hills. It is aggressive and pops up in disturbed areas along side roads or new construction. The sight of its yellow blooms in spring is spectacular, which I would guess is the reason it spread so much. Another plant brought over in the gold rush was Ailanthus altissima, the Tree of Heaven. I guess it’s a pest all across the country. It shoots up seemingly through concrete.

The Coyote Bush is in Bloom

2006-12-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

The Coyote Bush (Baccharis pilularis) is in bloom amongst the chaparral of the Sierra foothills. It’s quite common on sunny banks growing along with the Toyon and Ceanothus. In the foothills it will grow into a mound about 5 to 6 feet tall and wide. Along the coast it is often a low 1 foot tall spreading plant. The first picture is of the hills along the road to the nursery and the other pictures are of a Coyote bush growing just outside of our fence along the deer trail.

I have sold a ground cover form of coyote brush called“Twin Peaks" in the past. It makes a good bank or erosion cover in hot sunny areas. Once established it takes a bare minimum of water during the dry season and in addition is quite deer resistant. The problem is that it is not very ornamental in the nursery can. It’s one of those plants that gets better once it grows a bit. Most people just pass right over it, which is the difficulty in getting people interested in native plants. Many natives don’t really take on an ornamental look until they have matured a bit. People also tend to over water native plants the first year. Instead of planting in fall and letting Mother Nature water them, most people plant in spring and water the natives just like any other plant, which often rot’s the roots in our hard clay like soil. Still the number one reason native plants don’t sell well is aesthetics. Most people don’t appreciate the subtle beauty of our native plants, or that the beauty is sometimes greatest in winter when people just don’t get out in the yard or nature as much.

I am looking forward to carrying more natives this upcoming year. We will just have to promote them more so people will take notice of them. We like to inter-mix natives amongst other Mediterranean climate plants for what we consider a more ornamental look. Pure native gardens have their beauty, but it is an acquired taste and most folks just want more to choose from. Using other plants from other like climate regions of the world with the natives we can create a garden that is beautiful as well as water conserving and lower in maintenance.

Rainy day at the nursery.

2006-12-10T11:18:00.000-08:00

It’s a rainy day and I don’t think a lot is going to happen at the nursery. We might get a few folks looking at Living Christmas Trees or checking out gifts and gift cards. Today is Christmas at Coloma, an annual celebration that involves people in period dress, lot’s of vendors, and usually thousands of people. Today with the rain it will be more subdued, yet it sure beats sitting at home. I took this picture of the old Emanuel Church from my truck. It’s from 1850 something and is still used. It is very popular with the wedding crowd. This is the town Christmas tree and a group of vendors trying to stay dry.

This time of the year the rain is expected and welcome. Ideally it would be nice to have the weekends dry so people could shop but I am running about 50% when it comes to my wishes being granted. It’s the rain in spring that’s a killer. We have been getting way more rain than we need in April and May. During drought years that rain is a blessing, but when we have been running above average for rain the last two years that spring rain is depressing. We received over 70 inches of rain, twice normal for the year.

This is a time when it’s important to stay positive in mind. It’s so easy to get in a funk when it rains and there is virtually no income. The last two years with slow springs means there is less money stored up to carry you through the winter. It would be easy to just write the year off and sit till spring. Can’t do that though as now is the time to prepare and see if the route you have plotted for the business is the right course.

One area we are going to pursue is sales over the internet. We just started with our Metal Art that we have been selling at our garden centers for years. Made locally in the foothills they rust with age and have been a steady seller for us over the years. We thought we would start with a few unique items to us and see what happens.

If you Google “Metal Garden Art”, a million different web sites come up and it can be quit a feat to sort through all them. We are going to work on the assumption that people are visiting our website for a whole different reason. Maybe it’s to get info, or e-mail a question, or find out directions to the store. While you’re at the web site you notice that we have interesting things available that you might not even have thought of. Kind of like visiting the nursery and spotting something you want.

We are under no illusions about what the potential of internet sales will be for us. We hope its a little extra income but I don’t expect to check my e-mail and see a hundred orders for the day. Maybe someday, but we will be patient. When we got our first order it was exciting!

Over the next few days we will be deciding on what the topic will be and dates we will hold our workshops. We already know that we will do two on pruning fruit trees and shrubs, one on starting vegetable and flower seed indoors, how to vegetable garden in containers or raised beds, water gardening in containers, cactus and succulents in containers, drip irrigation, make a living wreath for the holidays, kids class on making stepping stones, make a hyper-tufa pot, and make a hanging moss basket. We want to do more with kids so we are thinking about what we can do with them. We also want more hands on and less lecture.

Feel free to send any ideas you have my way. We come up with the ideas for some of our classes from customers. We are even invisioning a workshop on using herbs in cooking and having the B.B.Q. fired up to try out the suggestions. Combining food and gardening is always fun.

Not so live oak.

2006-12-07T16:10:00.000-08:00

We lost a huge Live Oak at our house during a storm last winter. Since we have just moved back after a year away it’s time to cut it up. This was a tree most likely around 60 years old, or older. Quercus agrifolia keeps its leaves all year, thus the reason it’s called Live oak. During a storm where received 6 inches of rain in one night it looks like the water undercut the tree and it split in half. Now it’s time to cut it up. You can see my chain saw sitting on one of the branches.

We also have Blue Oak and Black Oak on the property. They are deciduous and account for much of the fall color we have in the foothills. Since we we’re gone a water system failed and we lost some fruit trees. I don’t think I am going to replace them. We have a small vineyard and one remaining, and quite healthy ‘Arkansas Black’ Apple. I want to try planting a native grass and wild flower meadow in the old orchard.

The meadow will start growing in the fall, stay green in winter, and flower in early spring. Just after the meadow goes to seed I will cut the meadow down for fire safety during the summer. Laying dormant during the summer it will come to life again in the fall.

I have never planted a meadow myself, so it’s a new experience for me. We’ll see how it goes.

No pears at Graham's Pear Shed.

2006-12-05T17:48:00.000-08:00

On the way to work I passed Graham’s Pear Shed. This old building has been standing for over 100 years. Bill Graham moved here from southern California about 20 years ago. He had grown oranges down there, so when he moved here he planted Oranges and Mandarins. At his elevation, 1400’ it has to be one of the higher and most northern orange groves around. He used to have all cherries but they don’t have a long lifespan in our heavy soil. So as they died he planted citrus. There are no pears at Grahams Pear Shed. The pear industry died out in the 1950's as a result of disease.

You can stop by his shed and pick a bag of mandarins up for $3.00. He also had some apples. In spring you can stop and get the Bing Cherries from his surviving trees! He operates on the honor system with arrows pointing where to leave your money.

So much happens here in fall when it comes to plants. Fall is like spring for our native plants with the Coyote Bush in bloom and the berries hanging in the Toyon. Unfortunately most folk’s don’t realize the benefits of fall planting and miss out. It’s hard to blame them with the holidays coming and the shortening days.

Tis' the season for toyon.

2006-12-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

This time of the year is when our native plants come back to life with the recent rains. One that stands out this time of year among the chaparral is Toyon. Heteromeles arbutifolia, also know as California Christmas Berry. Located on the sunny side of hills it is usually growing along with manzanita and ceanothus. It’s quite showy right now. This is the only time people seem to notice it.

As far as landscaping uses it is one of the more asked for native plants, after manzanita and blue flowering ceanothus. You have to locate it where it will receive little or no summer water, though. It’s quite fussy about being over watered! This is why fall is the best time to plant natives here. The rains water the plants during winter and spring when they are actively growing. Then in summer the plants slow growth and you only have to water every so often to keep them looking good.

It's Mandarin Season.

2006-11-29T15:00:00.000-08:00

Driving through Auburn on down to Newcastle to pick up a maple tree for a customer I passed this old orange grove on Taylor Rd. Taylor Rd. follows the old Lincoln Highway which was the main highway over the Donner Pass down into Sacramento. Long since bypassed by nearby Interstate 80 I like to travel this way when I can. It cuts through a slice of old California, with old gas stations turned into antique shops or real estate offices.

This is Mandarin country. The main variety sold is the “Owari-Satsuma.” These little jewels are also called “zipper-skin”. They have to harvest them with pruning shears as if they pull on them the fruit will come right out of the skin. This has been mandarin and orange country for over a hundred years. Lots of tall palm trees line the roads and the oranges and mandarins are just now ripening.

The sight of these bright little fruit hanging in the evergreen foliage is a cheerful sight now that winter has arrived. Sacramento is under a freeze warning again tonight and at out foothill location the temperature got down to about 27°F this morning.

Since we are further up in the foothills we tuck our small collection of Dwarf Citrus under the over hang of the gift shop and wrap them with thermal blanket at night when it gets this cold. If we do that they come out next spring just fine.

Winter comes knocking.

2006-11-25T09:43:00.000-08:00

Winter has finally reached the foothills. There is frost with temps in the mid-thirties. It will start reaching about 50°F this afternoon. Suppose to be a big storm brewing off the coast that will spread rain over the area and snow over 3000 ft. We are at 2000’ elevation so we will miss the snow. Go up the hill about 5 miles and the snow will start. When you get up to about 6000’ elevation the snow really starts with a couple of feet of new snow expected. We will end up with a couple of inches of rain if it pans out.

These are Red-Hot Poker plants growing in front of the nursery. Believe it or not they didn’t receive any water during the summer. Remember it does not rain here for 6 months of the year. They just started blooming about two weeks ago. I didn’t like this plant for the longest time. I don’t know why but I have developed a new appreciation for it. Hardy, deer resistant, is blooming in fall and early winter, and is extremely drought resistant. What a plant! It does have a unique look which needs to be placed properly to work.

January 6^th I will be speaking at the Sacramento Home Show on Mediterranean gardening. It is located at the Convention Center downtown and this is the first time I have presented anything for them. I hope to get people who might not otherwise make the drive into the foothills interested enough to want to visit the nursery.

Over the years we have found that speaking to garden clubs, and other interested groups has paid off big time for us. Public speaking is ranked right up there as peoples biggest fear. I have been doing it for over 15 years and while I still get somewhat nervous it has gotten better and I find the rush when you’re done quite exhilarating. If garden center owners want a great way to reach people, public speaking is great because nobody wants to do it. Groups are always looking for speakers and if you or someone on your staff can do it you’ll find yourself being invited all over the place. I do about 10 talks a year outside the nursery and about 20 at our nursery workshops.

When the garden industry should not blog.

2006-11-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

Just got the latest issue of Nursery Retailer Magazine in the mail. This is a magazine for the independent garden center. The Publisher, Jeff Morey writes “Yeah, I know what your thinking, ‘Another editorial where the writer has little to say and is just filling space!’ Fear not, I share your contempt for meaningless musings. That’s one reason I’ll never burden you guys with a blog. The few attempts at industry blogging mounted by other industry publishers have, in my humble opinion, fallen short of the mark with non-industry-related, flow-of-consciousness ramblings about irrelevant topics as the movie Snakes on a Plane”

I would have to agree with Jeff. Most of the blogs put out by nursery industry related magazine publishers are boring and not updated frequently enough. It seems to be the “got to keep up with the trends” attitude. If you don’t enjoy doing the blog it is bound to fail. I applaud Jeff for not putting out a blog as it is obvious he would not enjoy doing it and it would turn out like so many others, boring.

Generally the most interesting blogs are the ones where the people who write them have a passion for this type of communication. It's not for everybody and no one should blog because "it's the thing to do". I have started to compile a list of industry blogs at my site "The Art of Running a Small Garden Center."

Fall in the Sierra Foothills.

2006-11-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

Now that we are living just outside Placerville we have a 12 mile commute to the nursery. It takes about 20 minutes if you don’t get stuck behind a big truck or horse trailer. The drive takes us right through Marshall Gold Discovery State Park and across the south fork of The American River at Coloma. Once you cross the river you travel up Marshall Road to Garden Valley, about 5.5 miles.

Traveling to Garden Valley you pass through a chaparral region growing on serpentine. Serpentine allows only so many plants to grow, including Toyon, Coyote Brush, and Ceanothus. We don’t have the blue flowering Ceanothus, but a white flowering version. Just as you enter Garden Valley the soil changes and the Cedar and Pine forest begins, about 2000 foot in elevation.

The generally color of fall here is the yellow of the Valley, Black, and Blue Oaks, as well as riverside willows. There are some pinks from the western redbuds and wild pears.

The pictures are of Coloma, crossing the river and the view into the valley on the road to the nursery. The old stone building is the only one left in
Garden Valley from the 1850’s.

Fall at the Garden Center.

2006-11-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

We have started to get goodies for the gift shop. We will have a children section with tools, bug viewers, stepping stone kits, paint a birdhouse, etc. we will also have a chair and a shelf of reference books concerning horticulture that the customer can look through. We had kept these behind the store counter before for our use, but I think this will be better. Coffee will be available in the store so you can pick it up and cruise to the gift shop if you want, and do a little research!

Looking through all the trade publications we get you could be intimidated when you see some of the gift shops and coffee bars going in at some of the larger garden centers. We’ll just take the same ideas, miniaturize it to fit our space and see what comes.

I got a questionnaire from a student at Davis who is majoring in Horticulture. He wanted to know how the retail industry was doing and whether starting a nursery was a viable thing. I was pleased to see someone in the younger generation interested in this business.

I filled out the questionnaire and sent it back. Yes, you can make money in this business if you have patience and a positive attitude! This is agriculture and we share the same concerns as farmers. Not only do you have the retail environment to deal with but the weather becomes the overriding factor in how well your business will do that year. Just like the farmer, we plant our crop in the spring and hope Mother Nature allows the customer to get out in the garden, and our garden center.

These pictures are from our second annual scarecrow contest. After people make them we leave them up for one week so those who drive by can check them out. At night we have a street light on them, which gives the whole scene a surreal feel. This is great fun and I hope it gets bigger and better each year.

The blogging nurseryman blogs again!

2006-11-14T10:21:00.000-08:00

I can’t believe my last post was the third. Where does the time go? The rainy season has started here in northern California. We had about an inch of rain yesterday. The rest of the week looks dry through the weekend.

We have had a lot going on as far as cleaning up the nursery. We have several large valley oaks (Quercus lobata) on the property and they have been dropping leaves like mad. Normally I would just let the leaves sit, but you have to get through the walkways so it’s been clean up every day. It also has been raining acorns which if they hit gets your attention. These don’t rake up so well.

We are also re-opening our little gift shop where I have my office, so we are moving the office next door. The gift shop was fun and the only reason we had not kept it open was our attempt to live in the house where it’s located. We’ll after a year of living in a really small place we relocated to a larger home, a few miles from here where Monica and I will be much happier.

The other thing I have come to realize is that I do need to get away from the business a day or two a week. Living at the nursery means living the business 24/7. While there are certainly benefits to being here I also enjoy the fresh outlook a day or two off gives.

That fresh outlook has stimulated some ideas about where we want to take the nursery in the future. I feel that finding a niche(s) that you can own is the way to go in the small garden center business. Trying to please everyone just doesn’t work and if we are going to thrive in this competitive market we have to think “outside the box”. More on that later!

Sorry about not posting sooner. I appreciate the e-mails wondering where I was, and will do my best to keep you informed more frequently. It’s going to be a fantastic year ahead and I would love to share it with you!

Less plant disease with "Messenger"?

2006-11-03T11:46:00.000-08:00

My friend Saul, who writes a garden column for the Auburn Journal asked if I had heard of a product that he is writing about called “Messenger” by Eden Bio-Science. He had visited a grower of Camellias who had been using it and liked it. Since I had not heard of it I did a little research. According to their website “The technology is based on a family of naturally occurring proteins called “harpins”.

Harpins “stimulate natural reactions in plants that enhance disease resistance, growth, and flowering” according to Eden Bio-Science. It’s a powder that is mixed with water and sprayed as a fine mist on the leaves about every 3 weeks. Bio-science says that the use of “Messenger” “means healthier plants, more flowers, more fruit, and your best garden ever! This revolution in plant care and production is now available to you for home and garden use. Now all your flowering plants, flowers, and trees can be healthier and more productive.”

This is exciting stuff as the product is quite safe to use and has been approved on aquatic plants, on or above the water line, as well as endorsed by The American Rose Society. I wonder if Barrie at Garden Mob has heard of this? The Bio-Science Web site say’s “Messenger can be used on all types of plants growing indoors and outdoors, including edible fruits and vegetables right up to the day of harvest.”

If it is what the say it’s another step in controlling plant diseases which often involve some of the most toxic of fungicides. Since we are considering carrying this product I was wondering if any one out there knows about it, has bought it, or is using it?

Palm controversy.

2006-10-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

In case you think garden aesthetics would never be a political issue look no further than Placerville (known in the old days as “Old Hangtown”). This is the county seat of El Dorado County and our nearest large town. According to The Sacramento Bee the city council has decided to have In ‘n Out Burger remove the two palms that we talked about earlier. If you remember the two palms took the project over the requirement that 50% of the landscape be El Dorado County natives.

The palms have become one of the main campaign issue in the upcoming city council elections. The local paper The Mountain Democrat recently posted an editorial on the issue. They, like my self think it’s silly to have to remove the palms now that they have been planted.

What’s most important here is the city government is trying to come up with a foothill aesthetic. The editorial says, “Instead of suggesting the business add some native plants such as blue flowering ceonothus shrubs or redbud trees to bring the native plant ratio into compliance, the city Planning Commission ventured into that elusive regime of what's proper and what's not proper aesthetics. The majority pooh-poohed palms trees as some Southern California alien life force. Unfortunately, these commissioners are not familiar with their own town. There are quite a few palm trees around town and they are old enough that they probably predate paving and cement sidewalks on Main Street. There is no ‘mountain town’ aesthetic that we should be forced to live with, otherwise every new commercial building would be required to be built of sheet metal or brick or stone.”

In Placerville the city council wants to promote a foothill aesthetic in its commercial landscapes. So what’s the foothill aesthetic? Our region lives off vacationers who visit the area for its natural beauty as well as the gold rush history. We are just 5 miles from Sutter’s Mill and Marshall Gold Discovery Park. One of the first things the new settlers did was plant non-native species they remembered from home. The giant black locusts that line the streets of Coloma are non-native, as well as Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) which has spread all over. Soon as the settlers realized they would grow here they planted Palms. If you drive through Newcastle or Loomis you will see rows of palms well over 100 years old that line some of the streets.

It would seem that the City Council wants to come up with an aesthetic that was the foothills before the settlers arrived. How reasonable is that considering the history of the last 150 years here is about man changing the environment? You cannot go anywhere in the foothills and not see the results of gold mining on the land. Osage orange, old fashioned lilacs, rambling roses, and palms are growing in Marshall Gold Discovery Park. There are two 100 year old palms planted in front of one of the historic homes right in town.

This argument may show up at a town near you soon. What are the towns aesthetic and who decides. Should we turn our backs on 150 years of gardening history to try and create some type of aesthetic that existed before the settlers came?

So it’s about more than a couple of palms. It’s about elected officials deciding what is “proper” landscaping for the rest of us. Since this is one of the main issues for this election well see who get elected. Pro-palm or anti-palm, its your vote.