Open Register

Urban Outfitters’ garden store opens

Terrain at Styer’s, Urban Outfitters’ first garden retail venue, opened for business last week, taking over the former J. Franklin Styer Nursery in Concordville, Pa. The store has 3,000 sq. ft. of plants under glass, 8,000 sq. ft. devoted to home decor, 3 acres of gardens and a 1,000 sq. ft. greenhouse cafe. Urban Outfitters is the company behind the hip clothing stores Free People and Anthropologie.

-- Sarah

Update: More photos and impressions of the new Terrain store can be found on the design blog "Oh Joy!" Click here and here for details.

Scotts recalls products

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Scotts Miracle-Gro to recall several misbranded pesticides. The products affected by these orders are:

• Miracle-Gro Shake 'n Feed with Weed Preventer All Purpose Plant Food
• Scotts Bonus S Max Southern Weed & Feed and Fire Ant Killer
• Scotts Turf Builder Max Plus 2 Weed & Feed and Crabgrass Preventer

Labels on these products make false or misleading claims and one product lacks safety instructions as required by EPA.

In a statement issued last week, Scotts chairman and CEO Jim Hagedorn said problems with the labels resulted from deliberate employee error.

“Over the last several days, we learned that one of our former employees deliberately circumvented company policies, caused invalid product registration forms to be submitted to federal and state regulators and then hid those actions from co-workers and managers,” said Hagedorn. “We sincerely apologize to the EPA, our retail partners, our consumers and our shareholders. As I stated yesterday, compliance with government regulation is not optional, and we are taking aggressive steps to better understand how this action occurred and to seek to avoid any reoccurrences.”

Hagedorn said the company has terminated the employee and has hired an independent consulting firm to review its regulatory compliance processes and procedures.

-- Sarah

Creditors want trustee for Pike’s

Creditors of Georgia-based Pike Family Nursery want a trustee appointed so management can be investigated for possible legal action, The Charlotte Observer reported. The company’s officers should be removed so a trustee can investigate “insider claims,” a committee of unsecured creditors said in a March 6 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Atlanta. Pike Family Nursery filed for bankruptcy last year and went on the auction block earlier this month.

-- Sarah

Canadale Nurseries wins Perennials Marketing Contest

Canadale Nurseries in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, won the 2007 Perennials Marketing Contest sponsored by Plant Publicity Holland and Perennial Plant Association. The store’s winning submission was called “Down the Inspirational Perennial Path.”

“The display concept is to inspire our customers to create a beautiful perennial garden of their own by showing customers perennials planted in the ground in a small garden center,” the store’s submission read.

Customer education was also an important component of the display. Free color information sheets were provided in a stand next to the display. The winners will receive a trip for two to Holland in August. Garden Center Magazine is media sponsor of this contest.

-- Sarah

Help the Georgia green industry make it through spring

The drought in Georgia has shaken state and local officials. Their reaction was to enact a strict ban on all outdoor watering. By early December 2007, the restrictions contributed to unemployment of about half the green industry.

Sherry Loudermilk, executive director of the Georgia Green Industry Association, and many others have been lobbying on several fronts to save the industry. Their campaigning led to the watering ban being lifted at the state level in February.

However, the public is still reluctant to garden. The Georgia green industry has decided a publicity campaign is needed to teach homeowners that gardening is safe and can actually help with drought, if done responsibly. For that, funds are needed.

Keep reading to see Loudermilk’s letter to GGIA members and supporters. A link to the donation form is included.

-- Carol

Phytophthora ramorum retail protocol released

APHIS released its official regulatory protocol for retail nurseries infected with P. ramorum this winter. The document outlines investigation, quarantine and disinfection procedures.

P. ramorum is the pathogen responsible for sudden oak death. Susceptible plants include all species, hybrids and cultivars of Rhododendron and Viburnum.

-- Sarah

California legislators seek to curb pesticide spraying

A bill recently introduced in the California State Assembly would require the governor to declare a state of emergency before pesticides could be sprayed over cities, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Concern over a pheromone sprayed to combat light brown apple moth (LBAM) prompted the legislation. LBAM is threatening nursery crops, particularly in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. If the legislation is passed it won’t halt spraying planned for this summer. New measures would be enacted next year.

-- Sarah

Pike Nurseries assets divvied up

Four bidders will divide the assets of Pike Family Nurseries, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The company went on the auction block last Tuesday. A bankruptcy judge still has to approve the deal.

California-based Armstrong Garden Centers bid nearly $5.2 million for a Pike store in Charlotte, N.C., the right to use the ‘Pike Nursery’ name, plus other retail locations and inventory assets. Geo. Schofield Co. bid $1.2 million for one store and the hardscape inventory of two other stores. Skinner Nurseries bid $1 million for the inventory of two stores. Gary Pike, son of store founder William “Pete” Pike, bid $490,000 for the assets of two Pike stores.

-- Sarah

Pike Family Nurseries on the auction block

After 50 years in business, Georgia-based Pike Family Nurseries will auction off all its assets tomorrow (Feb. 26, 2008), The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in a series of articles over the weekend.

Pike filed bankruptcy in November of 2007, citing the regional drought, but has kept operating since then. Five unnamed companies are participating in today’s private auction, AJC said. Pike is the area’s largest garden chain, with close to 20 retail stores and a wholesale division.

-- Carol

Atlanta will continue outdoor watering ban

Atlanta will continue its ban on outdoor watering despite the fact Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue approved loosening statewide restrictions. State officials OK’d one 25-minute hand watering session per day.

“We are still in a Level 4 drought,” said Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. “And we still are under an obligation to cut our use 10%. We can’t allow outdoor watering and meet that goal.”

A 30-day exemption for new landscaping is still in effect, but Atlanta will no longer exempt watering for lawn overseeding and aeration. Franklin did announce that pools will be exempted from the restrictions effective immediately.

-- Sarah