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Should you guarantee it?

Check out this interesting discussion on Garden Rant about plant guarantees. What kind of guarantee does your store offer? Have you changed your policy recently?

-- Sarah

Customer’s stranger danger attitude

The other night I was at a classical guitar concert. I had to slip out at one point. As I was awaiting a break between set pieces to re-enter the auditorium, the man who had organized the event asked me if I was familiar with the guitar repertoire. Not realizing who he was, I replied rather flippantly that I know three CDs worth, the three CDs I own.

Luckily, he was more amused than offended at my lacking enough interest in classical guitar to learn about pieces beyond my CDs.

I’m like this with most things in my life. The hobby stuff that others obsess over, if I don’t own it, or haven’t experienced it personally, I’m clueless. Even gardening.

I’m pretty well acquainted with the Texas-tolerating plants I’ve used over the years. But when I started in the industry, I didn’t even know that hosta was pronounced “hoss-tah” instead of “host -ah.” Hostas melt in Texas. Even after 10 years in the industry, I’m only adequate about plants outside my realm of experience.

Believe me, a lot of your customers are just like me. Just as it takes a lot of incentive to buy a CD featuring someone you don’t know, it takes a leap to try out a new plant. To you, a new plant is exciting. To your customers, it’s a risk.

And, by the way, what you consider a new plant is not the same as what your customer thinks of as a new plant. To them, it’s any plant they’ve not used before.

To them, a new plant means they don’t know how to care for it. How often should it be watered? Sun or shade? And do I have to add mysterious substances to keep it happy? It’s so much easier to reach for the same ol’, same ol’.

There are several proven ways to help these customers try out unfamiliar plants.

Demonstration gardens. One of my local garden centers has perhaps the best demonstration garden I’ve seen, even though it’s across the street from the nursery instead of attached. Weston Gardens took over a 1920s or 1930s estate garden and is slowly restoring it, using only plants it carries (which is not as common as you’d think). It’s a gorgeous garden that draws people in who want something to do in the afternoon. Even more importantly, it’s known as an unofficial test garden. I’ve heard several home gardeners say, “I wonder if this plant works here? I’ll have to go over to Weston to see what it looks like in the garden.” The plants in the garden are signed, and the care information is created by Weston staff rather than the plant supplier. Companies in California or the Carolinas don’t have to deal with what Randy Weston calls the “Texas death-ray sun.”

Employee recommendations. Many people refuse to try anything unfamiliar unless someone else has vetted it. You can’t control what recommendations your customers get from friends and family, but you can supply your own. Obvious rules should apply, like the plant actually will grow in the area. This is an important rule to remember if you have plant gurus on staff. Exciting, new varieties that need coddling are best in the “plant collectors” section, not the staff recommendations. Add photos with the recommendation, since customers will know your employees’ faces better than they do their names.

Make it fashionable. If you see plants featured in consumer magazines or even just in the photo shoot of architectural or home accent magazines, then add those magazine pages to the display. Never underestimate the desire to be fashionable.

Make them feel like they know the plant. If you have plants that you think are great for the area, but they just aren’t moving, then take the time to create a display that introduces the customer and the plant. Play up how it’s used (“The perfect sunny accent for a shady porch”), and hint at that use with how it’s displayed. If containers are involved, then have plenty of containers stocked in the display. Don’t be shy about pointing out where not to use the plant, too. If you have a local soil problem like high acidity, and it does well in that condition, then tell them so. This kind of display will require more signs, but should help move the underperforming gem.

-- Carol

The Plant Hunter’s checklist

Tim Wood travels the world in search of new plants for Spring Meadow Nursery. He also writes the blog The Plant Hunter. Today, Tim talks about characteristics that make for winning plant introductions.

Each year at the ANLA Management Clinic in Louisville, Ky., Nursery Management & Production magazine hosts its New Plant Pavilion where growers and breeders showcase their newest offerings. This year the pavilion featured 42 new plants. That's right -- 42 new plants! There seems to be no shortage of new varieties.

While at the conference I heard someone say that we have way too many new plants. In some respects I agree -- there are too many new plants. The problem is that there is no way that people, let alone nursery professionals, can digest so many new introductions, let alone grow them.

I see the same thing when I travel overseas. New plants are a dime a dozen. As I've said before, the difficulty is not finding new plants, it's finding new plants that are better and superior, and that people will want to put in their yard.

To make matters worse, in one of the clinic lectures one retail expert said that garden centers need to cut back on the number of plant varieties they offer. His point was that by offering so many choices we are overwhelming the consumer. Again, in some respects I agree. Unless a garden center has a customer base of avid gardeners and plant collectors, too many plants can make it overwhelming for casual shoppers.

So what’s the answer? In my opinion the free market will solve the problem. The best plants will rise to the top as growers, retailers and consumers vote with their pocketbooks. With this in mind, it’s very important for growers to be careful in introducing new plants or they’ll soon discover that they’ve wasted a lot of time and money.

To help me avoid making these kinds of costly mistakes, I’ve developed a checklist that reflects the plants attributes I feel are needed to be successful. Here’s my simplified checklist that I use when considering a new plant:

More color. The trend in gardening -- or more correctly yard decorating -- is color. Plants with a longer bloom season, multiples seasons of color (flowers, fruit, fall color), colorful foliage that lasts beyond the flowers, etc. are all high on my list.

Easy to grow. The majority of people do not know much about gardening. They want to plant it and enjoy it, so I look for shrubs that are dwarf or compact that require little or no pruning. I look for plants (particularly roses) that do not have to be sprayed. And I look for plants that do not require special fuss.

Lastly, I look for plants that connect with our emotions. In other words, plants that make us feel good. Everyone likes to feel good. Who can resist the sweet fragrance of a lilac or the joy evoked by a flock of brightly colored butterflies darting about a butterfly bush? Not me, and I suspect most people feel the same way. Certainly a rose connects with our emotions, but the need to spray it can negate those feelings -- so even plants that connect with our emotions must be easy to grow.

The days of breeding plants strictly for bigger flowers are long gone. Sure, big flowers are great. A dahlia has a remarkable flower, but only the rare enthusiast is willing to overlook its ugly habit and excessive need for care. Times have changed, and so must the nursery industry.

What do you think?

-- Tim Wood

All-American Rose Selections announces 2009 winners

All-American Rose Selections named its 2009 winners: Carefree Spirit, Pink Promise and Cinco de Mayo.

 

Carefree Spirit has a mounding habit and produces deep red flowers with white accents. It was hybridized by Jacques Mouchotte and introduced by Conard-Pyle Co.

Pink Promise is a hybrid tea with large pink flowers and dark green foliage. A percentage of sales from this rose will be donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Pink Promise was hybridized by Jim Coiner and introduced by Coiner Nursery.

 

Cinco de Mayo is a floribunda with lavender flowers and a hint of rusty red-orange. It was hybridized by Tom Carruth and introduced by Weeks Roses.

-- Sarah

Novalis expands grower network

The Novalis consortium added 7 companies to grow for the Novalis Plants That Work by Color program: Armstrong Growers, Beds & Borders Inc., Carolina Nurseries, Peace Tree Farms, Sunbelt Greenhouses, Tanasacre Nursery and Wenke Greenhouses.

Also, Bailey Nurseries is now part of the program. It will grow shrub and perennial selections as well as offering breeding. The first plant from Bailey is Diervilla sessilifolia Cool Splash, which will be available in 2009-2010.

-- Sarah

Garden writer offers plant picks from MANTS

New York Times garden writer Anne Raver visited the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show in Baltimore earlier this month. Check out which plants she’s bringing to the attention of consumers in this article.

-- Sarah

What is the greenest tree?

Slate.com recently tried to answer the question: What is the greenest tree? A reader wanted to know which trees they should plant to soak up the most greenhouse gases. Check out what the author recommended.

-- Sarah

Perennial Plant Association names 2009 Plant of the Year

Perennial Plant Association named Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ (golden Japanese forest grass) as its 2009 Perennial Plant of the Year.

This clump-forming deciduous grass produces arching, linear leaves that are bright yellow with narrow, longitudinal lime-green stripes. The leaves often develop a reddish tinge in fall. Plants reach 12-18 inches tall and 18-36 inches wide. It is hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones 5-9.

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is the 2008 Perennial Plant of the Year.

-- Sarah

Merry Christmas!

What’s that? You say you forgot to buy a gift for dear ol’ Aunt Eunice? But there’s still a few potted plants sitting out in the greenhouse? No worries.

Kyle Knight of Knollwood Garden Center in Beavercreek, Ohio, described on the Proven Winners Web site how he made this clever snowman: “We had some extra Diamond Frost euphorbia, which we were using for our DiamondPoints for Christmas, and Cheryl and Steve Hopkins, our head grower, came up with this Diamond Frost snowman.”

Kudzu could contribute to climate change

Kudzu, the vine-gone-wild that runs rampant in the South, may be spewing pollution into the atmosphere, researchers reported.

Two scientists believe the plant is emitting sizable amounts of ground-level ozone, potentially increasing smog and contributing to global climate change. Kudzu produces 2 key ingredients of ozone: isoprene and nitric acid. The vine produces isoprene 5-10 times faster than similar plants.

-- Sarah

(Image courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr, U.S. Geological Survey, Bugwood.org)