The Ladybugs are Back!

The lady bugs are back. They just arrived on their migration up-country where they breed between 2000 and 3000 foot altitude. When they return it’s almost impossible not to notice. Our neighbor even called to let us know they were back. I believe they move up creeks and streams to their breeding grounds. They hang out in the millions and sometimes cover tree trunks and rocks. Breeding grounds are kept secret by those who know where they are.

I know of one such breeding ground, a few miles from here and will go to see if I can get some photos. The shear number of lady bugs that hang out around here must explain why last year we only had to spray once for aphids. So far this year we have had no aphis activity. There are so many out there right now that you would have to keep your mouth closed as they might just fly right in. I tried to take a picture of them flying around but they are too small and fast to capture on film.

Go Ladybugs!

A visit by The Inadvertent Gardener

Monica and I had a visitor from Iowa City. Genie, from The Inadvertent Gardener made the trip from Berkley where she was visiting a friend. I wondered what someone who knew us only from the internet would think. Did we live up to our promise? Genie put together a great post and I am happy she felt we were worth the trip.

I first visited Genie at her blog after she posted on her visit to the local garden center. My post in response was called The Plant Trafficker. It can be found here. It turned into a great learning experience for me and any nursery person who takes the time to read it.

Genie is the first person whom I only knew from blogging to visit the store. I find it amazing she was able to squeeze us in. Most garden bloggers have never met in person, yet it seemed like we were old friends.

Garden blogging can open up all sorts of opportunities to expand your circle of friends. You really do make a connection with fellow bloggers and readers of blogs. You never have to meet the person in flesh to make a real connection.

I wish Genie and I had more time to talk. Its great fun talking about other bloggers around the world like we were all old friends. Anyone traveling between Lake Tahoe and Sacramento has an open invitation to stop by and enjoy our garden (nursery). See for yourself if the physical location lives up to the virtual one. Thanks Genie!

The Golden Gecko Exterior Home Improvement Place.

My last post on “de-emphasizing gardening’ got me to thinking. That would mean changing the name of ours and every other garden center business.

If you are going to de-emphasize gardening then we really need to think about what we are going to call ourselves. Now we could be Golden Gecko Nursery, but that confuses people as nursery can be a child nursery as well as a plant nursery. Golden Gecko Horticultural Center might work but I am afraid for most people spelling horticultural could be daunting. Golden Gecko Plant Place just doesn’t have any cache. How about The Golden Gecko Exterior Home Improvement Place?

We are an industry having a serious case of identity crises. We are so freaked out that we are running from the very hobby that created us, gardening. Gardening is so “old school” according to some industry experts that we can’t possibly survive without throwing the baby out with the bath water. Emphasize the increased market value of the landscape and de-emphasize the very act that gives our store part of its name, garden.

Gardening brings us closer to nature and the very environment that has us so concerned. As we get older the very act of gardening can keep us healthy and more flexible while at the same time changing for the better our own little corner of the eco-system. Gardening can be a great stress reducer. Now who couldn't use a little stress relief?

We are going to focus our energies in not running from gardening but instead embracing it. We are seeing an interest from younger people in growing their own food and maintaining their own gardens. Sure the majority of people could care less about gardening, but we have never been focused on the majority. That’s the realm of the box stores. Let them de-emphasize gardening, while we cater to those who still find joy in getting their hands dirty.

De-Emphasize Gardening?

Just read a report by Lawn and Garden Retailer on “The changing Face of a Maturing Industry.” They divide the report into segment for Retailers (Me), Growers and suppliers, and Landscape and Lawn Maintenance. The trends are shown and the best response for each of the professions given.

One of the trends listed is “The locally owned garden center must redefine its value proposition”. Another trend is “The product perception of locally owned garden centers is too narrow.” Listed in bullet fashion are the responses for action.

· De-emphasize gardening.

· Emphasize exterior home improvement.

· Adopt a more youthful and contemporary positioning to attract new customers.

· Emphasize product categories outside plant material.

· Emphasize convenience.

· Be at the forefront in promoting new and innovative products offered by suppliers.

While I can get behind most of these suggestions two are a little harder to embrace. Emphasize product categories outside plant material, and de-emphasize gardening.

Products outside of traditional plant categories are lawn furniture, outside grills, wine, clothing, and anything else inventive nursery people can come up with. There are garden centers that do well with these categories I suppose, but I worry about becoming too involved with categories outside my expertise. We do have a 500sq.ft. Gift shop, but most everything is garden oriented.

De-emphasizing gardening worries me more. I am afraid that with the push to appeal to the masses the joys of gardening are being ignored for the sake of “exterior home improvement”. With the declining home values I believe more and more people are looking to their homes as places to live as opposed to an “investment”. Gardening in and of itself is a therapeutic way to connect to the natural world. Perhaps instead of de-emphasizing gardening we should instead reinvigorate the idea of gardening as a way to keep active while changing your immediate surroundings for the better. Take action and change your world through gardening!

Five things you really didn’t want to know.

Genie at The Inadvertent Gardener asked what five things people don’t know about me were. It took awhile Genie but here it goes.

1. Just out of high school I took Horticulture classes at The College of San Mateo, just south of San Francisco. I was not really a very good student as my mind was elsewhere. Professor Graham sensed that and told me in his thick Scottish accent that I might be better of checking on a job that had just opened at Christensen nursery. I did and thus began my Horticultural Career. I never did get that degree and have never looked back.

1. Just before attending San Mateo College I took classes at Cañada College in Woodside. I would ride my moped (one of the first on the S.F. Peninsula at the time) from school to The Phleger Estate. I was an assistant estate gardener working with the gardener who lived on the site. This was the largest single land holding on the Peninsula, over 1000 acres at the time. This was truly a grand estate with a live in cook and maid. The cook would change into his chauffeur clothes and then drive these people in an old Lincoln Continental with the suicide doors. Our nearest neighbor was The Fioli Estate which is famous for it gardens. I would hike over to see what was going on when I wasn’t busy, or just didn't want to weed the rose garden. The Phleger Estate is now part of The Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

1. My taste in music runs the gamut. I am as likely to listen to Bach as AC/DC. It all depends on my mood. I especially like ancient music from the Renaissance. I was in the high school choir as a tenor. For a while what you could call me a part time "Dead Head.” We would go just about anywhere in the Bay Area, including Winterland to see The Grateful Dead Play. I drove a 1968 V.W. Camper Bus for many years. No, it wasn’t painted Psychedelic as this was 10 years after the hippies, although we did take some "trips" in it.

1. I love food and it’s only through occasional dieting that I have been able to maintain a decent weight. When I lived in San Mateo my roommate and I would go to San Francisco and blow our paychecks on fine food and wine. We were young gourmands. I will even BBQ in the rain, under cover of course. While I have trouble spending money on some things when it comes to good food I will justify it. I am in the middle of trying to drop about 10 pounds so I am still eating well, just trying to cut the portions.

1. I spend entirely too much time blogging. When I had the computer at home I would be up until after mid-night. Now that it’s at work I have to fit everything in during working hours. That’s good for a family life but has prevented me from interacting on line as much as I would like. I need a computer for home but keep putting it off, not being able to justify it at this time. When Monica walks by the office she looks in and gives me that look, "doing your blog again, huh?" I have even started leaning back just far enough that she can't see me when she walks by. I really don't think I am fooling her.

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.