Open Register

Garden center flaunts its floral toilets

From BBC News: Barton Grange Garden Centre in the United Kingdom has installed flower-shaped urinals in the men’s room. The “conveniences” were created by American artist Clark Sorensen, and cost $6,500. Barton Grange Garden Centre’s managing director said the new fixtures have been a hit. The only problem? Ladies ducking in to see the urinals for themselves.

-- Sarah

Conversation continues about green-industry campaign

Industry leaders met last month to discuss the need for a national marketing campaign promoting the green industry. (Read more about the meeting here and here.) One summit participant, Steve Cissel, founder of 10-20 Media, proposed a campaign focusing on an “oxygen footprint,” the antithesis of the “carbon footprint” consumers hear so much about.

Cissel has posted information about the concept at www.oxygenfootprint.org. He has also launched an online forum to spur further discussion about the campaign.

-- Sarah

Industry leaders call for container standardization

It wasn’t long ago that the green industry was in an uproar about defining the exact volume of plant containers. Now, some growers and retailers would like to see additional standardization. Discussion has begun about sticking with a uniform set of container sizes, drastically cutting back on the huge variety currently used.

It’s an idea that Platt Hill has been kicking around for some time. Hill owns Platt Hill Nursery, with locations in Bloomingdale and Carpentersville, Ill., and is president-elect of the American Nursery & Landscape Association’s retail board.

Hill has been discussing the need for standardization with his local colleagues. Many agree that such a move would offer many benefits to the industry. Namely, it would make it much easier for companies to reuse containers. Also, it would help pave the way toward more uniform recycling standards.

“We think it’s just clear and irrefutable that we need to come up with pot standards,” Hill said.

Hill brought this topic to the ANLA Senate at the organization’s annual meeting earlier this month. The association plans to do further research on the viability of this strategy. In the meantime, ANLA’s board passed a motion approving research into the production of pots with No. 1, 2 and 3 resins that could be placed in curbside recycling bins.

So where do you stand on this issue? Are there just too many different-sized containers out there? Or do you like the variety? Leave your comments below. And look for an in-depth discussion of this topic in the October issue of Garden Center Magazine.

-- Sarah

Aquascape completes “most extreme pond build”

More than 600 Aquascape distributors, contractors and retailers from across North America convened at the company’s headquarters earlier this month to tackle the “world’s most extreme pond build.” The group activated the 250- by 90-foot water feature on July 16. More than 1,500 tons of stone were used to construct the pond, including rocks topping out at 50,000 pounds.

-- Sarah

Terrain lives up to its hype

CHADDS FORD, Pa. – Count me as a fan of Terrain at Styer’s, the new garden-retail concept from the Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie/Free People people. I took the 40-minute drive from Philadelphia to check out the nursery, which opened in April.

Please indulge my stream-of-consciousness impressions on Terrain:

It’s easy to see how shoppers can spend two hours here. There’s always one more hut to check out, one more greenhouse, another found object to discover. It’s not the type of place where you’d dash in to pick up a flat of petunias and a jar of Miracle-Gro. There’s a Depot within a stone’s throw for that.

First thing I noticed is all the staff. On a Thursday morning, there were tons of people working. Enough to make any garden center owner cringe. But these folks were all busy straightening, sweeping, deadheading, even replacing plants in the greenwall.

These employees must have gone to the Disney school of customer service. They’re all cheery, and every one, without fail, greeted me as they passed. “Good morning, let me know if there’s anything I can help you find,” they’d say. Some would mention about last night’s thunderstorms and inquire whether I lost power or not.

The barista makes a mean iced coffee.

Plants: good quality, average selection. Some benches were not as full as you might think they’d be, but then again it’s after the Fourth of July and things have slowed down. You see all the big suppliers represented here: Monrovia, Conard-Pyle, Proven Winners, Imperial Nurseries. Every plant tag shows the grower, and many are local or regional.

Employees seem proud of their young nursery and look to be having a good time working here. I saw two guys fist bump one another as they passed in a greenhouse aisle.

About those found objects: it can be tricky to tell if certain pieces are for sale or just elements in one of the over-the-top displays.

The DIY gift wrap station is a cool idea.

I’d love to come back this winter to see what the Terrain merchandising team does for the holidays.

Terrain faces some of the same problems as every garden center: the day after a heavy rainstorm, I had to maneuver around puddles of muddy water in the gravel parking lot; carts were jumbled up in one corner of the tree yard; and hand-written tags had faded in the elements.

Can this concept spread across the U.S.? Maybe. Does every garden retailer need to be worried about a Terrain intrusion. Probably not. If you’re in an area like Long Island, Midtown Atlanta or Silicon Valley, worry. Ames, Iowa, nah.

-- Kevin

Garden photography tips from the master

PHILADELPHIA – I’ve always been envious of anyone who could take gorgeous garden photos. I just don’t have the knack for it.

One of the masters of the craft, Rob Cardillo, shared some tips on garden photography during the Perennial Plant Association’s 26th annual symposium here this week. If you’ve picked up a coffee-table book about garden design, or maybe one of the finer garden magazines, you’ve probably seen his work.

“The first thing you should do when you enter a garden is take a hike,” Cardillo said. “Try to imagine as many angles and shots as you can.”

Once you’re ready to begin shooting, aim for color and textures, patterns and echoes (repeat elements for power and impact), lines and motion (look for geometric patterns within the frame). Juxtapose something delicate, like a dainty bleeding-heart flower, against something strong, like a stone wall.

Flowers are people, too, Cardillo said. If you look hard enough, you’ll see individual blooms have distinct personalities.

Watch for OOFEs. It’s pronounced “oofies” and refers to out-of-focus elements. OOFEs can be a good thing, like when you use a background of out-of-focus plant material to frame your subject or give depth to an otherwise uninteresting photo.

Add people for scale and interest.

The big thing to watch out for is your light. Avoid top light, like that seen at mid-day. Front light is good for giving information in the photo (“your typical Kodak instructions: shoot with the light coming from behind your shoulder,” Cardillo said.), side light is good for sculpting the primary image, back light adds drama, and splotchy light, used sparingly, can add intrigue.

Cardillo’s final words of advice: “What it all comes down to is luck and patience.”

Enough said. That explains why I’ve never had the knack for great photography.

-- Kevin

From the home office in Chadds Ford, Pa.

PHILADELPHIA – You read it here first.

The Garden Media Group generally doesn’t release its annual look at garden trends until sometime in September. But this year, GMG founder/president/key buzzmaker Suzi McCoy decided to present her eighth annual report to a roomful of retailers, growers and designers at the Perennial Plant Association’s 26th annual symposium.

Here, presented in backward-to-forward David Letterman style, are the GMG Garden Trends for 2009:

11. Bubbling. This is different from the cocooning trend that emerged after 9/11. Consumers will be protecting and enhancing their own spaces. They want to keep up with the Joneses, sure, but they want to do it with their own unique style and flair.

10. Worldly. For every trend, there is an opposite trend, Suzi says. This one is the opposite of buying local (see locavore below). Expect influences from Marrakesh, Asia, Beijing (thanks to the Summer Olympics) and other far-flung destinations.

9. Global colors. Driven by shoppers’ global awareness, colors will represent exuberant palettes. Expect consumers to choose bright, layered hues.

8. Quick and simple. We’ll see fewer over-the-top gardens, more sustainable ones. Winners will be easy-care roses like the Knock Outs and multi-tasking shrubs with at least three seasons of interest. Containers are no longer a fad, they’re a garden staple.

7. Info lust. Lack of knowledge, Suzi says, is the No. 2 reason why people don’t garden. (She didn’t mention No. 1.) Take a look at your tags, your signage, your educational classes, every aspect of your garden center.

6. Bringing the outside in. Houseplants are on the rebound, on window sills, in offices, on greenwalls, everywhere.

5. Water in/water out. That is, wasting it is out. Conserving it and using it wisely are in. Watch for more “plug and play” fountains that allow consumers to have a water feature without feeling guilty about wasting too much of the precious resource.

4. Locavore. This word -- yes, it’s a real word; it entered the dictionary last year -- refers to people who go to great lengths to source locally grown and manufactured food and other materials. Ornamentals are an obvious next step. “Clearly, the right plant from the right spot is on the consumer’s mind,” Suzi said.

3. Blended gardens. Consumers will marry edible plants with ornamental ones. We’ll see small fruit trees sharing a container with perennials, and Swiss chard at the front of a flower bed.

2. Grow it yourself. This trend is not just about vegetables and herbs, though they’re driving it. Suzi sees 6-packs making a comeback because of the better value they provide. The GIY trend will morph into the Slow Gardening trend (a takeoff on the anti-fast-food Slow Food movement) that encourages people to take time to enjoy life in the garden.

1. Eco-boosting. It’s like the sustainability craze on steroids. Driven by what she calls the Greater Good Generation, these consumers eagerly telegraph their green credentials to anyone who’ll listen. They feel a personal responsibility for the Earth’s future.

-- Kevin

Urban Outfitters’ retail visionary at his best when charting new Terrain

PHILADELPHIA -- Whenever I’m on the road, I enjoy hitting the newsstand to pick up the local city magazine. One of the best is Philadelphia Magazine. In town this week for the Perennial Plant Association’s 26th annual symposium, I was pleasantly surprised to see Philadelphia Magazine’s July issue carries a lengthy profile of Dick Hayne, the guy behind the newly opened Terrain at Styer’s, along with Urban Outfitters (132 stores), Anthropologie (113) and Free People (19).

Here are some take-home points from the article:

• When Hayne wryly describes his job as “the business of pleasing women,” he’s kind of joshing, but he’s also quite serious. For 38 years, Hayne has made a career out of quietly observing and ingeniously responding to the needs of the country’s most influential shopper: the affluent upper-middle-class woman.
• At first, he observed women his age, women in his social circle. As he grew older, when he and the women in his life no longer fit the demographic, he did it by hiring new women -- and men -- who fit and understood his customers’ profiles.
• With his new title of president and chairman, Hayne is in big-picture mode, looking for new concepts like Terrain, which has a simple premise: Attract the Mercedes Benz-driving women, show them a lifestyle they identify with, keep them wandering for an hour, maybe two, and watch sales go through the greenhouse roof.
• Out-of-the-box locations make his customer feel like she is experiencing something unique. “It’s kind of a labyrinth,” one analyst said. “You keep walking through, delighted by each turn. … You feel like you’re discovering little things.”
• When he’s not cultivating his retail, Hayne is trying to cultivate his tomato plants. “One of the most wonderful parts of gardening is, if you came to my house and you saw a certain plant, and you said, ‘Where did you get that?,’ I’d actually want to tell you,” he says. But you’d definitely have to ask. “I can’t toot my own horn like that.”

Believe me, tongues are wagging at the PPA symposium over Terrain. I’m going to take a drive out to Chadds Ford later this week to have a firsthand look. I’ll be sure to pass along some photos and my thoughts on the place.

-- Kevin

You say goodbye; I’ll say hello …

As you’ve possibly heard, I am no longer the editor of Garden Center Products & Supplies. That’s because I’m editor of Garden Center Product Source, the NEW and IMPROVED incarnation of the retail-oriented magazine we’ve endeavored to deliver for the better part of 15 years.

The new GCPS (sans the ampersand) will hit newsstands in September — or at least it would were we to actually hit newsstands with our publications. More likely, you’ll get a copy in your mailbox, after which you’ll peruse it a while before deciding whether we’ve hit the mark with our promise to address “the business of lawn and garden buying.”

Time will tell on that score, I suppose, but I do know this: We’ve done enough research to tell us that it’s time for a buyer-focused magazine in the lawn and garden market. And the magazine we’ve crafted will cover many bases, from some with which you’re familiar, to a few you yearn to reach. For example, we’re retaining the more popular parts of P&S — the column, the Editor’s Choice section, the ProductZone. But you’ll also get a revamped/enhanced editorial component designed to help you know what to buy, where and when to buy, and how to buy best.

I believe you’ll be pleased with the transformation. I hope you’ll be SO pleased that you’ll bombard my boss with cards and letters and e-mails and text messages, noting what a wonderful editor that new magazine has and suggesting that he should be given a huge raise for all the good he is doing the industry. (And I would guess that the previous sentence gets edited.)

Speaking of things the boss might edit out, here’s something he wants edited in: You’ll note a link on this page that will allow you to subscribe to the new GCPS — for FREE, no less. I/he highly recommend/recommends that you click on it.

-- Yale

Gardeners take issue with un-recyclable pots

Plastic horticulture waste has got some gardeners hacked off, the Chicago Tribune reported. Pots, flats and trays not coded for recycling are leading to frustration among customers. The story outlines some steps large growers and retailers are taking to cut down on plastic entering landfills.

-- Sarah