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‘Here, here’ and ‘Soon, soon’

Because you can never have enough nifty products to sell, here are three more, courtesy of a trek down random aisles at the recent National Hardware Show in Las Vegas. (And, no, I’m not writing this to convince the lovely Mrs. Y that I actually took a trek down random aisles at the recent National Hardware Show in Las Vegas.)

The Cinch Stainless Steel Plant Hanger from Strong Marketing is adjustable, so it fits many container sizes and shapes. Just place the pot in the “eye” of the wire loop; then pull to tighten. The hangers are sleek and barely noticeable, yet they are strong enough to hold up to practically any weather condition. They are available in a 3-foot length, but they can be hung at different levels on a deck to create a tiered look.

Fiskars markets a range of Rainwater Harvesting Systems that connect to the downspout to help your customers save water after rain storms to use on their plants. These “green solutions” come in a variety of sizes and styles (pictured is the 58-gallon Salsa-Spice Granite harvesting system). They have flat backs to allow for installation flush with the house.

Be on the lookout this fall for a new lawn- and people-friendly weed remover: Clear Choice from Petro-Canada. This selective herbicide is formulated using a microtechnology manufacturing process that features a patented blend of elements that improves the penetration of active ingredients into the weeds – yet isn’t harmful to the environment. It is scheduled to make its debut in the U.S. in September. Here’s some technical information on the product.

-- Yale

Products the way products should be

Per my vow of a week ago, here are three more “can’t miss” products/product lines seen while doing the Vegas scene at the recent National Hardware Show:

Tierra-Derco Inc. is venturing, big-time, into the birding market. From nesting bags to a variety of heavy-duty tube feeders, the nature line from the tool specialist is primed to make a mark on the industry. And with more emphasis being placed on home entertainment because of the economy, TDI has picked a great time to help your customers adopt new fine-feathered friends.

The BugBand Wristband emits vapors that form a protective shield around the immediate area, keeping pesky insects a safe distance away. The bands work up to 120 hours and are designed with a patented break-away strap that snaps if the band becomes entangled. Bands can be worn on the wrist (hence the title, “Wristband”), as well as on belt loops, hat bands, pet collars, and a whole lot of “other places bounded almost solely by the imagination.” The Wristband can be worn alone in the garden or used in conjunction with BugBand’s other repellent products when the stay outside becomes extended.

Consider this a preview that has been approved for audience members of all ages: The LiteStik from Fertile Earth Corp. will be the solution – no, wait … it will be THE SOLUTION! – for indoor plants that need supplemental light. Translation: Your customer can put plants anywhere in the home now, instead of setting them only near a window. The LiteStik uses energy-efficient LED technology, soaking up sun by day, and then its innovative light sensor allows it to come on automatically when the light dips below certain levels. Coming to a distributor near you in September!

That’s all for this report. Next week, we’ll explore the frozen tundra of Antarctica … or maybe some more products. I’ll leave the guessing of which to your imagination.

-- Yale

Rolling sevens

I realize that what goes on in Vegas usually stays in Vegas, but I’ve just got to share the skinny on what I saw …

… at the National Hardware Show last week. (What?! You were expecting something a tad more provocative? Shame on you!)

At an event that boasts of an aisle “39000,” you can safely presume that there was new stuff aplenty, and, indeed, there was a veritable smorgasbord of quality shelf candy. I’ll devote my weekly visit here the next few weeks to some of the “can’t miss” gardening items at the show, starting with three today:

Georgetown Home & Garden’s new Metal Animal Planters are practical and clever, though not necessarily in that order. In fact, just about everything Georgetown was displaying would sell well where you dwell.

Rush Creek Designs offers a wide range of planter options, including the Herb Garden Set, which includes a tray and three planters, each a different color. The trump card for the set, however, isn’t the fact that it’s attractive and practical – it certainly is both. What sets it apart is the fact that each item in the set is biodegradable.

The NO/No Finch Feeder from Sweet Corn Products features a unique funnel design that ensures that seed stays in all portions of the feeder, meaning that more birds will be attracted to various spots on the feeder – from top to bottom. Its metal mesh design gives birds a solid perch for feeding, as well as helping protect birds from avian diseases.

Next time, we’ll explore some more “hot” stuff from Vegas. And, no, that doesn’t include Chloe, the showgirl who walked about dining area on the last day of the National Hardware Show.

-- Yale

My, that’s one smart-looking lawn

According to Husqvarna’s recently released Global Gardening Trend Report, the yard of the future will be the one at the lawn graduation ceremony wearing all the pretty robes and tassels.

Indeed, when asked about their vision of the YOTF, 38 percent of the 1,000 U.S. homeowners surveyed suggested the yard will be entirely self-containing – and very “smart.” To wit, here’s the intelligent yard model the survey revealed:

• This intelligent outdoor space is driven by a busy lifestyle and desire for a low-maintenance yard.

• Within the next two decades, we could see gardens that are capable of watering and feeding themselves, lawns that can submit growth development reports and even self-pruning plants.

• Gardeners will have the ability to simulate different weather and soil conditions, allowing them to experiment with unusual and tropical plants that previously could only grow in greenhouse environments or within their natural habitat.

The report, produced with trend forecasting agency The Future Laboratory, incorporated interviews with more than 6,000 people from eight countries and asked a series of questions relating to gardening and how the development of technology may impact future behavior.

As sci-fi as the answers might seem on the surface, the fact is that companies such as Husqvarna are already marketing products such as the Automower and Automower Solar Hybrid to address the modernization of the lawn. We’re obviously talking “when” and not “if” the paradigm shifts.

Apparently, 38 percent of the people think the shifting has already begun.

-- Yale

Floral fulfillment meets Hollywood glamour

OK, this is just clever:

Ben Swett, president of the drop-ship plant company FloraServ, gave me the inside scoop on plants walking the red carpet this year. And apparently competition is stiff among these floral superstars. (It’s like a Hollywood catfight, it seems. Just without the nail polish, high heels and stuff like that.)

“You’ll note that there is some controversy here,” Ben said. “The competition can be quite tense, as it’s not clear exactly what the judges are looking for in their search for the plant that will be highest in customer satisfaction. The standard seems to shift from year to year. We watch closely, of course, as the plants most likely to satisfy are the ones we want to ship to our floral brethren.”

You can read more about the nominees here.

-- Sarah

Food for thought

In an effort to evoke the kind of passion that prompts people to comment on blog entries, I would like to open this post with a declaration:

Baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet are all over-rated.

In an effort to inform you about something really garden-riffic – and trendy, to boot – I would like to make this e-claration:

The Burpee Web site is so “way cool” that it even contains a carb chart for the various veggies you can get from the company. Indeed, should I be inclined to purchase some parsnips plants, I now know that the normal portion contains 15 grams of carbohydrates. Of course, should I ever be inclined to purchase some parsnip plants, you have my permission to womp me upside the head.

Still, there is value in knowing the carbohydrate content of foods, especially given that your customers are more likely to grow veggie gardens this year and are generally carb-conscious, as well. To help edify them, here is a nutshell synopsis of what vegetables can make fun of the other veggies over health matters – along with some that shouldn’t join the debate:

Good: lettuce, cucumber, cabbage and asparagus (all contain fewer than 3 grams of carbohydrates per serving).

Bad: lima beans, acorn squash, green peas (all contain at least 25 grams of carbohydrates per serving).

I would end by thanking our sponsors (the Texas Rangers baseball team, Mamaw’s Fresh Apple Pies, and General Motors), but I can’t seem to locate them anywhere on our sponsor’s list any more.

-- Yale

Good product; even better byproduct

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the SeedBallz story. I’m quite certain that you should be. It began in 2004, when the great Alice Strong and Strong Marketing came up with the idea of clay balls filled with seeds, which in concert could be planted to produce beautiful clusters of flowers. Alice called the new product SeedBallz, and they caught on so quickly that soon Strong Marketing was shipping them all over the world.

The benefits of SeedBallz were – and are – significant, on many fronts. In a day when more than a few items carry the label “Made in China,” Strong Marketing proudly notes that SeedBallz are born in the U.S.A. And this home-grown product is as conveniently bountiful as it gets in the plant world. Each ball contains a number of seeds, meaning all the user has to do is plant them into prepared soil a predetermined depth, water them and enjoy them as they sprout lots and lots of gorgeous flowers. Whether you are making a border, naturalizing an area or hiding a tree stump, SeedBallz represent gardening at its easiest.

But even that’s not the most significant benefit.

To get SeedBallz ready for distribution, Strong Marketing calls on people with developmental disabilities, who drop the seeds in the clay and roll each seed ball by hand. The production staff comes from work support programs in Arizona and Oregon, which have teamed with Strong Marketing to provide employment opportunities for people who might otherwise be under-employed or unemployed.

Now, five years later, we see how tiny balls of clay can render the ultimate “win-win-win” scene. Strong Marketing has benefited from its association with the workforce, while the workforce has benefited from its association with Strong Marketing. Meanwhile, the consumer benefits, too, whenever she purchases a product that will render some of the prettiest flowers around – while touching the heart in the process.

Hey, didn’t I tell you it was a good story?

-- Yale

H2o, plz

We’ve read/written literally dozens of articles about the challenges garden centers face trying to woo Gen X customers. There’s a new product in the market that might just help. It’s called Botanicalls, and it’s tailor-made for the on-the-go, techno-savvy consumer who has so many irons on the fire that he/she doesn’t need a bunch of plants to care for, to boot.

Botanicalls Kits let plants reach out for human help. They offer a connection to your Gen Xers’ leafy pals via online Twitter status updates to their mobile phones. When a plant needs water, it will post to let you know, and send its thanks when you show it love.

How it works: Sensor probes, placed deep in the soil, measure the amount of moisture present. Readings are sent to a microcontroller built into the unit that translates the data into information that can be sent over the Internet through an embedded Ethernet connection. The information is sent to a Twitter account, a free networking system that allows users to stay connected in real time. Twitter sends the plant’s information via a message to the user’s mobile phone.

Of course, you could argue that watering your plants every few days would serve the same purpose, but that’s so old school.

-- Yale

Check out the new video from Novalis

A new video about Novalis just made its debut on YouTube. You can check it out below!

-- Sarah

Hot product alert!

When garden writers take notice of products, we try to take notice as well. Here’s what Val Easton, garden columnist at Pacific Northwest Magazine and freelance writer for the garden section of the Seattle Times, had to say about a nifty item we recently featured in Garden Center Products & Supplies magazine:

POTRISERS, the brain child of local container designer Tabitha Anderson, are my favorite new garden product. They are sturdy little blocks of recycled material, easily stuck under pots to “float” them above the ground. They protect decking, help pots drain efficiently, and, best of all, you can’t see them. Four of the rubbery little things support a whopping 1,600 pounds. You can find POTRISERS at local nurseries and [on the company Web site,] www.potrisers.com.

Terry Smith, vice president of sales at POTRISERS, adds that the company sells cases of 24 packs to the trade. The product is also available in bulk packaging of 500 pieces. In addition to the POTRISERS mentioned above, there is also a larger size just for very large containers and statuary. The product can easily be retrofitted to existing plant containers.

-- Yale