Challenges for Earth friendly garden centers

I’ve been talking with organic garden centers for years. It’s a pet issue for me, and I can’t resist asking about how they handle the challenges they face. Many of them feel isolated. One owner will tell me how she focused on selling natural products and operating in sustainable ways years ago, and she had to figure out how to surmount each obstacle on her own. Then I would meet another retailer who was in the exact same situation from another part of the country.

So I’d like to air some of the repeated challenges I’ve heard. I know this is an incomplete list, but since I don’t run a garden center myself, I’m not sure what I should add. Let me know!

Non-green products. There’s a steep learning curve to understanding what different labels mean. Are the products certified? If they are recycled, how do you know that the process is not worse than first-time produced products? What’s the difference between natural and organic?

Plants. It is almost impossible to find a supplier for organically grown plants. And for a plant to be certified organically grown, there are a lot of requirements for the grower -- no chemicals in the soil for a number of years is just one item in a phone-book sized regulation guide. And if you can find a grower who does grow in a nontoxic way but cannot get the official certification, how do you promote that to customers?

Energy. There are a lot of facets to this topic. The easiest is finding an electric company that generates power in an eco-friendly manner -- wind, hydro, etc. But what about generating your own power through solar panels and windmills? And how can you cut down on your energy use and still provide a customer-friendly atmosphere? Motion sensors in rooms used only occasionally? Long-lasting light bulbs that work for product spotlighting and that emit the color tones you want are hard to find. And is it worthwhile to tackle a labor- and time-intensive project like a green roof?

Delivery trucks. Biodiesel is very appealing, but if you talk to those who are most passionate about green issues, you’ll hear that the way corn is grown and processed for ethanol is as bad as the way gasoline is produced. And there don’t seem to be a lot of options beyond that for larger trucks.

Employees. Just this morning I was talking to a Maryland retailer who mentioned the difficulty in training seasonal staff. These employees are the ones you have least influence over, but often have the most contact with customers. Organic gardening has a pretty steep learning curve, so consumers really need information from those who are confident and knowledgeable. How can you properly train the transient staff members most effectively?

OK. Now I’d like to hear from you. Have any of you figured out solutions to the problem areas I mention above? What are some issues I’ve overlooked?

--Carol