According to Tipp News Daily and the RHA (Rose hybridizer) Forum, "in a bankruptcy auction held in Wilmington, Delaware, on May 16, IGP (International Garden Products) Acquisition, a newly formed company under common ownership and control with an affiliated group of companies that includes Gardens Alive! purchased the assets of International Garden Products, including its subsidiaries Weeks Wholesale Rose Grower and Iseli Nursery, Inc. IGP Acquisition is owned by Niles Kinerk, who allegedly started Gardens Alive! in his kitchen and garage in the early 1980’s. Gardens Alive is a frequent bidder at auctions of horticultural firms. They own Breck's Bulbs, Henry Fields, Gurney's Seed & Nursery, and Michigan Bulb Company, Spring Hill Nursery, Audubon Workshop, the Flower of the Month Club, and Rocky Meadow Orchard & Nursery. They tried unsuccessfully to acquire Jackson & Perkins Rose Co.
One commenter at the Rose forum said about the move, "I had already feared that. The product side of this is already at that stage (Scotts), and they command the majority of space. Companies like Spectricide, Whitney Farms, and Lily Miller (and some others) compete to a point, but not at the level Scotts does (they umbrella a massive range of products under various names like Vigoro)."
Weeks and Iseli at one time independent businesses will now join the others at Garden's Alive! We have talked at this blog for years about the fragmentation in the nursery world. As more and more of these independent garden businesses are swallowed up by these huge holding companies the garden center world will continue to fragment.