Hines Nurseries financial problems continue.

As we have discussed before Hines Nurseries a leading national supplier of ornamental shrubs, color plants and container-grown plants is having financial hick-ups. We now learn from Green Beam that “Hines received notice from Nasdaq that it could be delisted for not filing its 2006 annual report on time. According to the Nasdaq Staff Determination Letter, Hines is subject to delisting from the Nasdaq Global Market unless Hines requests a hearing. Hines issued a release March 27 that it was delaying the release of the financial information pending the completion of an audit. Hines stated it would get current in its filings as soon as feasible.”

As we talked about before “Hines, Color Spot, and other nurseries that have sold their souls to the chains are going to see further 'significant price pressures' as we move forward. I predict that some of these wholesale vendors are going to be sniffing around independent garden centers to see if they can pick up some business.” Of course that is the whole idea behind Scotts/Miracle Gro CEO Jim Hagedorn saying “Jim Cares about Independents” ad that shows up in various trade magazines we receive. Scotts sees the writing on the wall and realizes they can’t support the growth necessary by simply selling to the chains. The problem is they didn’t care about us independents before. The ad campaign is so obvious in its patronage of independents now that it just doesn’t ring true.

These large horticultural concerns are so worried about the changing marketplace that they go after the very independent business they claim to support. Why would they go after a small fertilizer company with a infinitesimal share of the market? Fear.

Lyndale Garden Center is closed.

I get a lot of visitors to this blog from a post I wrote last year titled “Don’t Blame the Big Guys”. The story was about how “retail Lyndale Garden Center, once a year-round business, will close its Richfield, MN, store Monday with plans to reopen next spring as a seasonal operation. While spring sales were strong again this year, competition from the boxes has hurt overall sales, making it no longer feasible to operate year round, Owner Dallas Schwandt says.”

What happened since is Lyndale Garden Center closed. Not just because of competition from Home Depot. I still get comments on this post from disgruntled ex-employees and people wondering what’s up. Just today I received a comment from someone asking “Does anyone know when/if they are going to re-open? We have a gift card to use there, did not realize they were closing.”

Google “Lyndale Garden Center” and up pops seven entries talking as if the store still exists. The eighth is my blog with the above post. It’s the first entry that mentions the troubles and therefore is a place for venting and questions.

There is still a domain address for Lyndale, but it leads to a domain service. How hard would it be for Lyndale’s ex-owners to post a short page explaining the situation? I would assume the past owners may want to start another project and having my post with some interesting comments might not help in the future. “Let’s see, you people owned Lyndale's? Let’s Google that and see what comes up?”

Part of having a web presence is keeping it up to date and cleaning up old business. These pages float in cyberspace forever and can come back to haunt a thoughtless business person in the future.

Small fertilizer company gets sued by Scotts

This story comes via Open Register. According to Advertising Age Scotts Miracle-Gro is suing Terra Cycle, Inc., a small manufacturer of organic fertilizer. According to their web site Sued By Scotts “Scotts claims that the two companies' products look similar and will confuse customers because some TerraCycle plant foods have a green and yellow label with a circle and a picture of flowers and vegetables on it.” “Scotts also objects that TerraCycle says its plant food is as good or better than 'a leading synthetic plant food' and is refusing Scotts' demands that TerraCycle hand over its scientific tests conducted at the Rutgers University EcoComplex to Scotts' scientists and lawyers. Scotts refuses to turn its tests over to TerraCycle.”

Check out the photos at their website and see what you think. What’s interesting to me is the use of this website by TerraCycle to put out their point of view. This is a great way to counter a larger corporation’s massive legal network. Go straight to the people. We don’t see a blog by the president or anyone at Scotts to counter these claims. So for now TerraCycle can control the conversation. This is a perfect example of a small business using the internet to reach a larger audience and compete with the big companies.

We’ve survived!

It’s Saturday and if everything goes right it should be a busy day. Sun is shinning with a high of about 77°F. These days who knows? I got started in the garden center business in the late 70’s, when Saturday and Sunday where the BIG days. You had people lining up waiting for you to open the gates. Now, while Saturday and Sunday are still big sales days sometimes the weekdays challenge the weekends for dominance.

You also can’t count on a big day just because the sun is shinning. Instead of lining up at our gate they might be heading off to do any number of other outdoor activities. Times have changed in our business and it’s a challenge to address these changes.

Still, I won’t complain as it doesn’t do any good anyway. We love our job most of the time and wouldn’t trade it for a desk job any day. This is the key to success in this business. You had better enjoy what you do because you will be doing it six and seven days a week in the spring. It’s also a risky business. Nothing is for sure in the garden center business except change. I believe that if you can ride the wave of change and am willing to take risks your business will thrive. This is where the love of the business comes in since it may take a few years to start thriving.

We will be celebrating our third anniversary May 19^th. We have people who come in and say they didn’t think we would still be here. We survived! It hasn’t been easy but sometimes surviving the first few years is what it’s all about. If after a few years you can still open you doors with a smile on your face you’re on the way.

What to do with those empty nursery pots.

A sore spot for nurseries taking the lead as centers of sustainable practices is the plastic plant can. As Angela pointed out in my last post many of the plastic cans that plants come in end up in landfills. We have customers ask if we will take the cans back. The problem is there are too many cans. As soon as you tell people to bring the cans back some go through their yard and bring all sorts of different sized cans from many different nurseries. Sometimes they pull in with their truck loaded with hundreds of cans. They assume that we want to recycle them by planting other plants in them. Most small garden centers do not do enough planting to warrant having all these cans. As a result most small nurseries don’t take back the cans.

Monrovia Nursery started a branding program that has included having their name printed right on the can. The quality of Monrovia’s plants is usually very good so they proudly emblazon their name on the side. As far as I can tell they are the only wholesale nursery to do this. It’s a first and I think it is working for them. People are starting to equate the brand with quality and garden success.

Small re-wholesalers and wholesalers often use recycled nursery cans for their plantings. I have started to notice Monrovia cans being used for non-Monrovia plants. Imagine opening the little blue Tiffany box and finding jewelry from Zale’s. This is not good for the brand. Once you buy the plant and can its your’s, so there is nothing wrong with people re-using the Monrovia can.

How can Monrovia keep this from happening and at the same time work with the local nursery carrying Monrovia plants to take the lead in recycling efforts? What if Monrovia took their empty cans back? What if I was able to advertise along with Monrovia’s national ad campaigns that we will take back any cans with the Monrovia logo? You bring the cans back to us and Monrovia picks them up every so often. I don’t know how Monrovia would do this or the costs involved but the good will that would be generated might pay for it all. I can see the ad campaign with the gardener of the house returning a dozen “Monrovia” cans to their favorite local nursery where they then pick up some more Monrovia plants all the while knowing they can bring the empty cans back.

If we don’t take the lead in recycling these cans eventually the government will step in and require a deposit on plant cans much like soda bottles. Rather than let the government get involved lets do it ourselves. What if I offered my customers a 10 cent credit towards their next Monrovia purchase with every Monrovia gallon can returned?

I don’t know if Monrovia can re-use these cans. Maybe there are disease problems or the cans won’t last long enough for them to re-use. Perhaps they could make arrangements with a recycling company to take the cans. With Monrovia taking back the cans it builds good will with the consumer, provides a great marketing campaign, and gets the cans out of my nursery where they just clutter things up.

There is a great benefit to being the first to do something. Being the first to recycle their cans Monrovia and its retailers get the credit for doing something good and it may force other wholesale nurseries to follow suit. It is important for the wholesale nurseries to get involved as it has been the retail nurseries that have been dealing with this up until now.

Earth Friendly?

Over at Garden Rant Michele laments her local Home Depots attempt to be more “Earth Friendly”. Home Depots new Eco-Options program where The Depot says it “has identified more than 2,500 Eco Options products, including all-natural insect repellents, cellulose insulation, front-load washing machines, organic plant food and vegetables in biodegradable pots. The wide array of Eco Options also includes compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, programmable thermostats and certified wood.”

Michele’s observations of her local Home Depot seem to be worse than our local Home Depot. Judging by her photos her store is a lot less organized than our local store. I too noticed the “Eco-Options” plant stand filled with vegetables grown in fiber pots. Nowhere on the stand did it mention they we’re organically grown but according to Home Depots press release they are.

What I find interesting is how “Eco” is thrown around like some magic word that will appeal to the consumer. According to Michelle “there was also a prominent rack with an awning that said ‘eco-options’ and labels that promised ‘earth-friendly’ vegetables. It was utterly bare except for a pair of bedraggled herbs.” What is "earth friendly" suppose to mean? “Eco-options” and “earth friendly” could be applied to just about anything the company wants.

Many companies want to jump on the environmental bandwagon. They see big money. We should applaud companies for being less wasteful and more conscious of how they affect the environment but to say that their products are “earth friendly” means nothing. Who decides what is “earth friendly”? How is planting a vegetable plant grown in a fiber pot any more of an "Eco-choice" than someone who plants a vegetable plant using a re-usable plastic pot?

The consumer will soon become jaded to all these ecological terms. The best way for our garden center to gain the consumers trust is to not start labeling everything "Eco". It really no longer means anything. Better to offer our “Certified Organic Vegetable” starts and our organic fertilizers as they are than to label them “earth friendly”.

Small garden centers should think big.

It’s been a great spring so far in northern California. More sun than rain so people have been getting out in their gardens and as a result visiting the garden center. One of the questions I try to ask when visiting with people at the store how they found out about us.

More and more the two responses I hear are “my friends told me about you guys” or “I saw you website on the internet.” As the mass media flail’s about trying to figure out what’s next, the small garden center can use inexpensive and more effective means to reach the consumer.

We just received a nice e-mail from a fan in Glanmire, County Cork, Ireland. It read, “I am relatively new to gardening and I would most sincerely like to congratulate you on your website. It has fascinating topics, tips, guidance and gardening plans, in fact all you need to know and has kindled my interest in gardening. If circumstances would allow I would most certainly purchase my garden requirements but all I can offer is my appreciation and ask that you keep up the good work.”

I printed the letter up and placed it by our cash registers and bulletin board. This is thrilling as we are able to touch someone so far away yet we are just a small garden center in the foothills of northern California. What’s even more exciting is the part of the letter that reads. “If circumstances would allow I would most certainly purchase my garden requirements.” Why not?

This is something that all small garden centers should be aware of. Your potential market could be a lot larger than the local clientele. How to address this worldwide market is something I don’t have an answer to yet. I think that it presents a huge opportunity for small garden centers to compete in a market that has in the past been reserved for larger companies. At the least the goodwill from working with people from around the world will inspire your walk in customers to have a different and positive view of your business.

I am not sure where this is all leading but it is invigorating to actually think of our business in global terms. Maybe that’s what we need in the small garden center business. Just because you physical location or sales volume may be small your reach and impact can be huge.

Quantity does not equal quality

This doesn’t sound good for Home Depot. According to Lawn & Garden Retailer Magazine’s March Issue New CEO Frank Blake in an effort to regain the “friendly local retailer” image has decided to hire 15,000 new employees. This is exactly what you expect a mega-chain to do when customer service is at issue, hire still more help. Since this is exactly what we would expect it most surly won’t work.

Home Depot’s customer service problems are not from a lack of orange apron wearing employees running around through the store. It’s the quality of those employees as well as the companies’ culture that needs to change. If I were a stockholder in Home Depot what I would want to see is Frank Blake saying he was going to fire 50% of the least productive employees at each store. Then turn around a give the remainder a raise and the authority to make sure the customer gets better service.

Company culture dictates how employees interact with the consumer. When you have employees telling you that it’s “not their department”, avoiding eye contact, or just not smiling, hiring more people is not the answer.

March into spring

What a difference a year can make. Last year at this time it was raining just about every day and we, as well as most garden centers in northern California had one of the worst springs on record. This year we have had a lot less rain and it shows in people’s ability to get out into their gardens. March has turned out very busy and the forecast for April seems to be going our way. After two lousy springs business wise it a great feeling to gain some headway so early in the year.

Both Kim at A Study in Contrasts and Lisa at Millertime asked what I sold the vegan gardener who didn’t want to use animal bi-products in her soil. We recommended a combination of cover crops that can be tilled into the soil for nitrogen, such as various legumes. We can also feed with Kelp meal and/or Alfalfa meal. Raw rock phosphate can be used for phosphorus additions. We also sold her a soil test kit but I have not heard back from her yet.

My visit count for this blog just about doubled over the last week. It seems my post on The Parent Navel Orange Tree in Riverside is quoted as a reference for the Wikipedia entry on Orange trees. It’s very interesting to see how people end up at your site. I get quite a few visitors who are interested in where navel oranges got their start and it's fun to think that my post is where they end up.

Nurseries and the eco-market.

A lady came in looking for organic fertilizer for her vegetable garden. We sell organics so I walked her over to some bone meal and blood meal to work into the soil. These wouldn’t do as she is a vegan! This was the first time this had happened to me. She not only ate vegan but didn’t want to use any animal bi-products in her soil. I just saw a celebrity mention that she only wears vegan clothes!

The eco-movement which gains steam every day is fragmenting. People refuse to be lumped into the general picture of the organic gardener. As a business to just call your self eco-friendly is not going to do for long. Everyone is going to be “eco-friendly” soon as they try to tap into this lucrative market. In the garden center business this means being able to address the needs of the vegan gardener as well as the non-vegan gardener and everyone else who shows an interest in any aspect of organic gardening.

This is a great opportunity for the small garden center. While the larger chains and box stores will wrap themselves in the “eco” banner will they be able to help the vegan gardener? How about the organic gardener that requires “certified” organic seed? Open pollinated seed varieties? The gardener interested in cover crop rotation? What about native plants and excellent substitutes that are drought tolerant?

The opportunities for attracting this type of consumer to the garden center are great! This person is generally willing to spend more to meet their goals and is quite loyal to the business that has earned their trust. They will spread the word to their like minded friends. While most of our organic customers are not quite as particular as some, the market for the various sub-categories of organic gardening is one that might be worth addressing. I know we will.

Passion creates the great garden centers!

Anna in Spain wants to start a small garden center and has questions about the water needs of plants, how many plants to start with, and all the other questions that someone starting a garden center would have. I have been trying to find the time to get to the answers in the middle of the spring rush. Hang in there Anna and I’ll find the time.

I am not a cook but I watch real ones on TV. Last night I watched a great biography of Chef Emerill Lugase. It’s the story of a man who worked his way up to the top of his profession. The reason I like to watch his show and I am sure most people watch it is to be filled with his passion for cooking and life. Despite having challenges to face all through his career his passion and joy have always trumped any negativity.

This would be the one quality that a new garden center owner should have in abundance. Passion is going to carry you through the times when the weather doesn’t cooperate and despite you best intentions you loose money that year. Passion is going to carry you through the next year when the same thing happens. How is it possible to get up in the morning and greet the customers with a smile and cheerful demeanor when the pile of bills in the office would scare anyone?

I see many similarities between restaurants and garden centers. Going to a restaurant involves many of the same reasons you go to a great nursery. Besides plants or food we each provide an experience. You go to Home Depot to buy plants, you go to a great nursery or restaurant to buy and take home a piece of the passion you felt when you we’re there. We both want the experience to be so great that you can’t wait to tell your friend’s about the really cool place you have found.

I’ll see if I can answer Anna’s questions well enough to help but the best advice I can give is to look to the great chefs like Emerill and imagine your self as passionate and excited as they are and have been. Create your garden center just as if you we’re creating a restaurant and provide the consumer with an exceptional experience. Get excited and let you passion carry you through the up’s and down’s.

Home Depot say’s, "Sorry we let you down"

A post at Today’s Garden Center Blog about how Frank Blake, CEO for Home Depot has apologized for the lousy service his stores are known for. The reason he is apologizing is the over 10,000 e-mails and messages he has received. The message board registers 423 pages of complaints and discussions about Depot.

This is what business everywhere should fear or delight in. With the internet we are able to lodge our complaints or complements about anything we want. Soon the complaints get grouped together and eventually even large corporations have to respond. To his credit Mr. Blake has responded, but who knows if it’s too little too late. As a business owner I want to be out their communicating with the consumer before any mis-understandings arise. The best way to do that on the internet is through blogging. Invite people to comment on your blog, even if it’s to complain. Just by being out there you send a message that you want to work with people to build your business.

I am disappointed that Frank is not going to start a blog. Right now he wants you to send an e-mail to wehearyou@homedepot.com if you have a concern. With a blog Frank could let us know in real time just what he is doing to make it right. He wouldn’t even have to do it. Maybe there is someone on staff that would be good at blogging and is passionate about the business. It won’t be easy changing the culture at a huge operation but with a blog we could be kept informed of the progress or lack of it.

Smith & Hawken, bring back the hippies!

Just read an interesting article on Smith & Hawken in the latest edition of Garden Chic Magazine. According to the article the company is “now in the midst of a major shift to return to its ‘roots’, its horticultural beginnings.” Senior Vice President Gordy Erickson joined Smith & Hawken after 10 years at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., where he was senior vice president and general merchandise manager. He said he “feels the previous management and various owners lost track of their core focus.” In the article “Gordy proudly points to the original catalogue from the early days of the company, when the hippies-turned-visionary businessmen were still at the helm.”

If you remember back when we talked about Scott’s here it was mentioned “I can’t imagine that Smith and Hawken is the same store that Paul Hawken built and then sold. You can look the same on the outside but once corporate gets a hold of it the culture changes.” I guess Gordy Erickson agrees.

What I find interesting is how Scott’s, who owns Smith & Hawken is trying to recapture something that they can’t possibly bottle. When Dave Smith and Paul Hawken (hippies) started the company it was a new idea and had the interest of the “enthusiast’s” in the garden world because it was ground breaking venture. Those enthusiasts spread the word until now, when it has become the main stream entity that it is today, predictable and boring. The enthusiasts have long since moved on.

How is Scott’s is going to “re-hippy” Smith & Hawken? According to Garden Chic they will go “green”. “The new ‘green’ S&H will get back to a much larger percentage of houseplants and flowering material. While not truly a ‘garden center,’ they will be much more green and less of a furniture store.”

As a small independent garden center owner it’s kind of fun to watch huge corporations like Scott’s try to reinvent themselves as cutting edge ‘hippies’. They may be successful in luring many new customers and regaining some momentum but they will never again have the interest on the garden enthusiasts who look for the cutting edge and are the ones who spread the word when they find a truly novel idea.

That’s why the small garden center might have a leg up on the large corporations for the garden enthusiasts and other gardeners business. More often than not these days many people make purchasing decisions based partly on a companies "authentic story". Many small garden centers have what Gordy Erickson wishes Smith & Hawken still had, an interesting and authentic story.

Start that small garden center today!

The time is ripe for the small garden center. The mood is unmistakable. People are looking for the unique experience. Weather its cooking, traveling, or gardening people want to try new things. I don’t know about you but I cringe when I see another power mall going in with the prerequisite Borders, Sports Authority, Home Depot, and Baby Gap. The power mall in Folsom looks just like any other mall in the U.S. Sure I patronize some of these places but they don’t inspire me.

Embrace eccentricity! The fun nurseries are always the ones that are a bit eccentric. Generally the smaller stores have the ability to express their “difference better.” The larger independents and the box stores are generally very predictable with out much excitement going on. Running a successful small garden center means having to step put of the current trends and quit being so predictable. Now I am not saying you should open the doors to the shop at any old time of the day. Certain practices should be predictable, but the experience of discovery at the garden center should not be.

I tried to think of some of the ways that we are different than most other garden centers. Our name ‘Golden Gecko’ comes to mind. We wanted a name that was unique and had nothing to do with gardening or us! Our former nursery “Happy Frog” is another example.

We have been arranging our plants in a “theatrical’ manner for the past 13 years. We dropped alpha numeric rowing of plants then and never looked back. Grouping the plants in “vignettes” by color, shape, and smells was quite novel then and unfortunately still is.

Every plant is labeled with Latin names. The sign for a group of plants may not have the Latin name but every plant comes with it. We believe that as more and more garden centers drop the use of Latin names the use of Latin will become more exotic and therefore more interesting to gardeners who care and want to learn about plants. We want to be that source of information.

I am into playing music, jazz and classical mostly. It’s in the background and never obtrusive but helps to set the scene that we are creating. It amazes me how many garden centers don’t use the sound of music to help mask the noise from the road.

We use our mailing list and the internet as our main sources of advertisement. We try not to use mass media much as we have found our best chance of reaching people is through those who have signed up to receive information from us. The internet also focuses our message to those who have an interest already in what we are offering.

We use water a lot! We have two water falls and quite a number of smaller water tub pots, in addition to our creek. The sound of water is a help in masking the sounds coming from the street as well as setting a relaxing mood.

Have Fun! It is sometimes the hardest thing to do when one looks at the bills coming in but is critical to your health and success. Monica and I constantly remind ourselves that if we are not having fun then the customer won’t. The “feel” of a store is directly related to the moods of the people who run it. We have been through some amazing hardships in running our businesses and have had periods where the fun was really lacking. You know what? The sales showed it. It’s not easy but “letting go” and trusting our instincts while trying to keep a playful attitude has been a great benefit.

Good news for independents

Here is some good news for independent garden centers. According to the folks at Open Register the Garden Writers Association , who conduct garden surveys during the year have a new survey which reports, “for the first time in years, more consumers say they plan to shop at garden centers (47%) than mass merchants. Further, according to Open Register “This hasn’t been a neck and neck race. A mere 39% of consumers planned to shop at garden centers in 2006, compared to 52% wanting to shop at mass merchants. The split was similar in 2005, at 40% to 51%. So this year’s turn around is a major shift.”

Whether this benefits a local garden center will ultimately be up to the store and how well run it is. If the store does not offer a better experience than a chain store this study won’t mean much. It is encouraging to see the shift in consumer sentiments however. It appears that quality is one of the main reasons sited for the shift.

We are quickly shifting to spring mode here. Temps today in the high 70’s and 70’s for the rest of the week, at least. Compared to last year when we had 4” of snow on the ground it’s quite a turnaround. While cold weather might still come, “it always snows on the dogwood blossoms” this nice weather and encouraging report is just what nurserypeople in northern California have been waiting to hear.

The picture above is of an old Western Redbud in front of The Vineyard House in Coloma.