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I spy a case of product espionage

A camera flash caused me to look up from the booth I was manning at the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas yesterday. A couple scurried down the aisle The man appeared to be attempting to hide something in his shoulder bag.

“Umm, I think those people just took a picture of your booth,” I told the fellow who was in charge of the booth next to mine. It’s a company that distributes all kinds of goods for outdoor cooking.

“Hey you!” the booth owner shouted. “What are you taking a picture of?”

Within seconds, the middle-age couple had rounded the corner and disappeared into the crowd. Another, younger man in the next-door booth gave chase while a merchant across the aisle called show security on his cell.

I’d heard about such intellectual theft taking place at industry trade shows and markets, but this was the first time I had seen it firsthand.

Another merchant on our row said it’s not at all uncommon for secret photos to be taken at trade shows so unscrupulous manufacturers can copy the product designs and have them manufactured overseas. In fact, she said, one time she brought a prototype of a fire pit to a show, only to see the exact design be manufactured offshore and appear at the next market – even before she could get the fire pit manufactured through traditional channels.

The last I saw, a show official had escorted the photographing couple to the lobby, where she was sternly telling them, through an interpreter, that they are not allowed to take photos of merchandise in booths without the permission of the booth owner. The man who shot the photo was reluctantly deleting photos from his digital cameral.

-- Kevin

Shake, shake, shake …

I broke the rules Sunday.

For the first time in 20 years, the Baylor Bears were among the names called when the NCAA basketball tournament selection committee announced the anointed. As a proud member of the Class of ’78, I did what many Baylor fans did on that Super Sunday: I started dancing.

OK, as Baptist sins go, dancing isn’t considered a particularly grievous transgression --not any more. But it was a big taboo back in the day. I never paid the dancing issue much mind. The only reason I ever honored this “Thou Shalt Not” is because, by and large, “I Can Not.”

None of that mattered Sunday. My feet, they just couldn’t be contained. The legs, noting the feet’s feat, suddenly joined the rebellion. In less than a minute’s time, the whole body was moving up and down and around and about, and …

I have to tell you: It felt good.

You might be wondering by now what this blog entry has to do with gardening or retailing or selling or buying or shopping or … well, any of the “ings” you deal with on a daily basis. The technical answer is that what I experienced Sunday has noth-ING to do with what you do.

Except that I would hope that, every now and then, you have cause to celebrate whatever it is you celebrate.

Sic ‘em, Bears!

-- Yale

Last call for Innovator Award nominees

Garden Center Magazine is looking for people reinventing the garden retail business. Tell us about inventive strategies you’ve implemented in your store. Put yourself in the running for the 2008 Innovator Award!

Send an e-mail describing your business to editor Carol Miller, cmiller@branchsmith.com. Deadline is Friday, Feb. 15. Watch for the June 2008 issue where we’ll unveil this year’s inspirational winner.

-- Sarah

Watchers gear up for Great Backyard Bird Count

The Great Backyard Bird Count, led by National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, will take place Feb. 15-18. Participants will be counting birds in their immediate location and entering results at www.birdcount.org.

“Each tally helps us learn more about how our North American birds are doing and what that says about the health and future of our environment,” said Tom Bancroft, chief science officer for Audubon. “These volunteers are counting not only for fun, but for the future.”

-- Sarah

More GCA Fashion in Bloom coverage posted

More sneak peeks from GCA's Fashion in Bloom 2007 have been posted. Check out this slideshow with some of the highlights.

-- Sarah

From Fashion In Bloom: I’ll drink to that

DAVIDSONVILLE, MD. – “Here, try this,” David Wilson said as he thrust a cup full of bright-orange liquid in my hand.

It was a curious drink called mango lassi, which Wilson explained is from the Punjab region of India. The taste was definitely mango, and the texture was almost like a yogurt smoothie. But it wasn’t the drink’s taste or texture that Wilson was emphasizing here at Fashion In Bloom. It was the drink’s color – which coincidentally or not was the exact same as one of the new flower varieties that Overdevest Nurseries was showing.

Geum ‘Mango Lassi’ was named by its discoverer, Grace Dinsdale of Blooming Nursery in Oregon, who recognized the flower’s color as an exact replica of the Indian drink.

Excellent for mixed borders, this geum works well near the front of beds, or massed in lightly shaded, woodland settings. The perennial (Zone 5) is perfect for cottage garden settings. It’s one of nine Garden Splendor Showcase Plants for 2008.

-- Kevin

From Fashion In Bloom: Native beauties branch out

DAVIDSONVILLE, MD. – Prides Corner Farms’ American Beauties program continues to gain stature.

Tim Kane said at last week’s Fashion In Bloom event that the natives-based program is adding new varieties and new growers and is garnering some impressive p.r.

The program allows independent retailers to establish a store within a store with outstanding point-of-purchase materials, benching and merchandise support. Prides Corner in turn donates 25, 50 or 75 cents, depending on container size, to the National Wildlife Federation for each plant you sell, to fund the group’s habitat work and outreach programs.

Kane said Midwest Groundcovers has signed on as a participating grower, and as all growers tend to do, is tweaking the mix to reflect regional preferences. “They’re growing 25 to 30 percent of what Prides Corner is growing,” he said. “It’s more focused on Chicago and the Upper Midwest gardeners’ preferences.”

Meanwhile, HGTV plans to film a segment on American Beauties at Behnke’s Nursery, focusing on a landscape renovation project for one of Benke’s customers.

-- Kevin

From GCA's Fashion In Bloom: Bailey stands behind its roses

JENNERSVILLE, PA. –The marketing folks at Bailey Nurseries know that roses can be a tough sell to the younger crowd who considers gardening to be too much work and too time-consuming. So they’re stepping out on a limb and introducing a two-year guarantee on the Easy Elegance Rose Collection beginning next spring.

“We did a consumer focus group of generation X and Y, and roses are off their radar,” Bailey brand manager Jonathan Pedersen said. “They call them Grandma’s plant and say they don’t have the time to spray and care for roses.

“As an industry, we need to change that,” Pedersen said. “Knock Out roses are helping to change that to a degree. But we’re going a step further with this two-year guarantee. We’re saying that we as a company believe in roses.”

The Bailey guarantee – essentially a manufacturer’s warranty – is above and beyond whatever guarantee the local retailer puts on an Easy Elegance rose.

The three newest members of the collection – All the Rage, My Girl and Super Hero – were displayed for the first time at Fashion In Bloom.

-- Kevin

Pictured: Jonathan Pederson, Bailey Nurseries

From GCA’s Fashion In Bloom: The next Knock Out

JENNERSVILLE, PA. -- Are you ready for the next punch in the Knock Out series of landscape roses?

Conard-Pyle unveiled Sunny Knock Out on the first day of Fashion In Bloom this week.

Sunny Knock Out opens to a medium yellow, and over time it becomes more pastel and eventually gets a pink tinge to some petals.

Conard-Pyle’s Steve Hutton was quick to point out that this is not Yellow Knock Out that many in the industry have been anticipating. That’s still in the works at Bill Radler’s breeding grounds.

“As you know, yellow is the most difficult color to get disease resistance in a rose,” Hutton told me. “This one has the disease resistance and garden performance we want, but not the true yellow color. That’s coming, though.”

-- Kevin

GCA Summer Tour: Final day!

It was a fantastic finish to an action-packed tour. The day started out at Otten Brothers, a family-owned garden center that has been in business for 54 years.

Otten Brothers is undergoing a facelift, of sorts. The company is introducing a fresh, new logo that emphasizes its areas of expertise. They’ll also be doing some remodeling in the near future.

101 Market was our next stop. This business is celebrating its 10th anniversary. They’re also coping with major road construction that’s expected to go on for another two years.

101 Market had some of the most inspiring displays I’ve seen on this trip. Take a look. These statues fit in perfectly with the airy, dreamy plant material on display.

Noble Landscape & Garden Center is a 30-year-old business that’s been in its brand new building for two years. If I had to describe this store in one word it would be “shopable.” It has wide, covered aisles offering easy access to all areas of the plant yard. At practically every corner there is a fantastic vignette display.

And here’s a really cool feature of this store. A garage-type door opens up to expand the area devoted to landscape demonstrations.

Next up was Mickman Brothers. Like the caboose? During the store’s infancy, it was used as the checkout area for the entire facility.

Around 50% of Mickman Brothers' business comes from its wreath-making enterprise. More than 500,000 fresh evergreen wreaths are created and shipped each year.

Linder’s Garden Center was the last stop of the day. Linder’s has one main store, but sets up temporary pop-up garden centers in parking lots throughout the Twin Cities during peak season.

Linder’s was another retailer using technology to inform and educate. The gift area featured two computer kiosks. One was running a display of landscape ideas. Another was an information center in the birding area, connecting customers to a vast bird ID database.

As a grand finale, attendees got to tour Bailey Nurseries' vast container production facility and gardens at Nord Farm. They also hosted a rousing closing dinner, where we learned more about the nursery’s Trees are Cool initiative.

And there you have it, folks. Three whirlwind days, a ton of new ideas and some of the best networking you’ll ever experience. I strongly urge you to attend an industry tour. I know you’ll find it to be a great investment. And Garden Centers of America is offering two chances for you to get out and see the retail world in the near future. The upcoming holiday tour will be held in Boston in November. You can get more details here. Next summer, the GCA crew will be visiting North Carolina. Hope to see you there!

-- Sarah