Time magazine recently wrote about some intrepid gardeners who’ve turned their front yards into vegetable gardens. The homeowner profiled is part of the Edible Estates project launched by Los Angeles-based architect Fritz Haeg in 2004. Participants have vowed to trade manicured lawns for artistic arrangements of produce.
-- Sarah
Seen at Valley Nursery, Poulsbo, Wash.
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-- Sarah
July Fourth won’t be all fireworks, according to numbers released by National Retail Federation. A survey released by NRF revealed that 59.4% of consumers say increased gas prices will impact spending for the holiday, up from 42.1% of consumers who said so last year.
Almost 200 million Americans (87.8%) feel the price of gas will increase before the Fourth of July. Consumers expect that the average price of gas will be $4.39 per gallon by the holiday.
“Americans will continue to commemorate Independence Day this year, though higher gas prices will impact how they celebrate,” said NRF president and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Retailers are aware of the strain gas prices have on consumers’ wallets and will be offering special promotions on food and beverages for the millions of people planning summer barbecues.”
-- Sarah
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Tony Avent hosted GCA members this week for a tour of his botanic garden and wholesale business, Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh. Anyone who has met Tony knows that he's rather blunt. He loves plants. He loves his business, and if you don't like his business or his prices, then he doesn't mind telling you where the closest Wal-Mart is. Although, how any plant lover could quibble about prices after touring his botanic garden is hard to imagine. But he assured us they can and do.
Add to that the covers he chooses for his mail-order business. He uses cartoons, most of which reflect the current events of the day, even if it's politics.
As you can imagine, he gets some pretty ticked-off people, who send in hate mail. Avent responds by posting all that hate mail on his Web site. Take a look at what he's received, and you'll see what he means when he says that hate mail is a true art form.
On a somewhat related note, he asks that anyone wanting a catalog send in either 10 stamps or a box of chocolates as payment. He's gotten everything from the expected box of chocolates to empty wrappers from someone who couldn't resist eating the sweets first, accompanied by a note saying that the wrappers proved the sender's intention, and can a catalog be dropped in the mail anyway?
Call these ideas gimmicks if you will, but I think they reflect a businessman who's willing to be true to himself, even if it goes against conventional retail wisdom, and customers respond warmly to that genuine (if brash) quality.
-- Carol
I am excited about the end of July because I will be in the very exciting city of San Francisco. Outside the hallowed halls of Branch-Smith Publishing, I belong to a great organization of authors and every year we have a whiz-bang conference in a different city. Last year I was slightly disappointed because it was here in Dallas. But I still had fun, I just didn’t get to fly -- that’s always my favorite part.
So far I’ve been to New Orleans (pre-Katrina), Atlanta, Chicago (quite possibly one of the coolest places in the history of ever) and Denver. While my fervor to attend events in these host cities has always been great, never has it reached the point of San Francisco. I can’t quite figure out why, either.
I think it’s the marketing.
Sure, those other places are big and splashy with good name recognition, but do any of them have “The Streets of San Francisco?” Fisherman’s Wharf? Rice-A-Roni?! Not so much. I’ve done tons of research for this trip, planning my precious free time to the nth degree. The Web is crawling with information, suggestions, points of interest, any and everything you could want to know about San Francisco. I signed up for an e-newsletter from a pr firm in San Fran, and they crafted it specifically to my requests. They asked pertinent questions, made suggestions and sent me tons of links to check out. I get them each week in my mailbox and they’ll continue until the Friday before I leave. Cool.
I love it that they molded the e-mails around my needs. I’m sure they’re sending the same e-mails out to hundreds of my fellow author attendees, but it makes me feel special.
The best part though, is all the information I’m getting. Heck, they even sent me to a site to sign up and pay for shuttle service to and from the airport complete with reservation time. So Sunday morning as I’m wistfully saying goodbye for another year to all of my friends, I don’t have to worry about standing in line and making the shuttle and catching my flight. I can just kick back and chill.
Another great link was to the San Francisco City Pass. This has to be the culmination of some marketing company’s genius. The City Pass, which you can buy online, offers a multitude of things to do, places to go and sights to see, all for one low price. Seven museums, entrée into specialty stores with behind-the-scenes access, total trolley access for a full week. Wow!
It really is the San Francisco treat!
-- Jennifer
Garden Centers of America members will participate in the Trees for Troops program, Dec. 5-7. During this weekend, customers will be able to purchase a tree to be donated to military families. Other partners are National Christmas Tree Association, Christmas SPIRIT Foundation and FedEx. The program has provided more than 34,000 real Christmas trees to military families over the past 3 years.
-- Sarah
Seen at Emery's Garden, Lynwood, Wash.
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DAYTON, Ohio -- Bailey Nurseries unveiled its latest blockbuster hydrangea during this week’s ANLA Retail Roadshow. This one’s a lacecap that will debut next spring.
Hydrangea macrophylla Twist-n-Shout produces lush flowers on both old and new growth all summer long. It was developed by Michael Dirr and owes its combination of features to its parents, Penny Mac and Lady in Red.
You can bet this introduction will pack the same marketing punch as its predecessors. “I’m still refining my media buy, but I think it will include HGTV and DIY networks, and maybe some chick stations like Lifetime and a couple of others,” said Bailey marketing manager Jonathan Pedersen.
Pedersen envisions spending $1.5 million next year on print media for Twist-n-Shout, plus $800,000 for television.
It will be sold only to independent garden centers during its first year, and all 20 Endless Summer growers are providing plants to the independent channel. Still, Pedersen encouraged retailers to pre-book orders early. “At Bailey, our pre-numbers are going fast, and I expect it to be another sellout during the pre-book stage,” he said.
The advent of another must-have hydrangea begs the question: do retailers, and the public, really need another hydrangea?
“We do have to be careful as retailers,” Dan Mulhall of Mullhall’s Nursery in Omaha, Neb., said. “Even though we can say that these new varieties that come with such sophisticated marketing actually pull their own weight, they obviously do take up space on the shelf. All of us have to be careful about the number of SKUs we have, and every time there’s something new, it does need to take the place of something else so we don’t get out of control with our inventory.”
-- Kevin
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