Welcome the the foothills of The Sierra.

I wanted to get your opinion. You have just moved here from the eastern half of the country or maybe from the ‘The City’ (SanFrancisco) or Los Angeles. When you moved in it was spring and there was a beautiful tree with lush green leaves and even fragrant white flowers. It looked like this.

Now its summer and fall and it looks like this. You soon find out that it’s supposed to look like this during the summer and fall. Its not dead!

The hills are full of these trees. It’s California Buckeye (Aesculus californiaca). It’s a main component of the chaparral in these parts. During the summer it goes dormant with the dead leaves hanging on the tree for a couple of months. It’s not endangered yet, because its so prevalent. These people have left in their yard. Would you?

Small in size doesn’t have to mean small in influence.

I may have shared this e-mail from a fan before, but I think it really underscores the changes taking place in the garden center business.

"Mr. Pitsenberger and all at Golden Gecko,

My name is Nicky O'Sullivan, living in Glanmire, County Cork, Ireland. 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.

Regards, Nicky O'Sullivan"

Nicky says, "If circumstances would allow I would most certainly purchase my garden requirements (from us)". Now the challenge for us it to figure out how to facilitate his wish!

I think there are more Nicky's out there. For whatever reason they might gravitate towards your business. Maybe they don't have a great garden center in their area. Maybe they just feel more connected to your business because of your web page and blog.

There is a huge opportunity here for small nurseries to connect with people all over the globe. People are connecting across borders and will show loyalty to the business that speaks to (with) them.

Helping our customers spread the word

I came across this post on e-newsletters at Katy’s “Getting to the Point Blog”. I thought it timely as I had been thinking about taking our twice monthly e-newsletter and making it a shorter version, but send it weekly.

What I take away from the post is the idea of a “story” with each e-newsletter. I think this “telling of a story” fits in perfectly with our goal of a starting and nurturing a conversation with the consumer. The small garden center can be a great story teller. Our everyday experiences are stories waiting to be told

Our customers have stories to tell too. How about putting the customer’s story in the newsletter? People love to read reviews and hear “stories” from other consumers about businesses. Sounds like a good way to actively involve the customer in “spreading the word”.

I’ll try to be better

I feel like a chastised kid. Reading a blog about blogging it talked about how important it is to answer your reader’s comments. I always e-mail if its a specific question someone has but I haven’t been very good at continuing the conversation in the comment section. I realize I am missing a huge opportunity.

I seem to get a lot of traffic from people typing in different search terms. So your first taste of my site might be a post from a year ago. I think it’s important to make sure the subject has a beginning, end, or a way to the next discussion. Answering comments in the comment section will make sure everything has been addressed on my part.

So let’s continue the conversation. Please check back in the comments if you have left one. I’ll answer you.

Why I don’t carry the brand heavyweights

I have received a few e-mails and comments from fellow nurserypeople about how hard it is to give advice to the customer, only to see them walk out the door to the local Home Depot to buy their recommendation. This is a common theme in our business. I know of one nursery that said that was the final straw in their decision to shut down.

Just for the record this irritates me too. That’s why I don’t carry or recommend what the box store has! I don’t have to worry about them walking out to get it there! It also fun showing people an alternative to the mass produced and hyped products. Now I know many, if not most nurseries and experts disagree. Yes, the national brands have a huge leverage on the buying public. I see the pallets of Scott’s Fertilizers going out the box store doors and realize my way is like fighting a tidal wave. Why don’t I just give in and carry these national brands?

I don’t know. There is a real argument for having the big names and your own smaller labels side by side. Maybe I can convince them to try ours, and if I don’t at least they bought the Miracle-gro and kept the cash flow going. It’s just that I like being different! That doesn’t make it good business sense. That just makes it me.

The 24 hour nursery

The consumer wants information. The garden center that can supply the most amount of information in an easy to find way will win. We all know the value of an on site nursery professional that can answer a gardening question with ease. But that’s only when they are working, and the store is open. Now people want their questions answered any time anywhere. I do much of my research after hours on the internet. So do my customers.

While it is nice to entice the customer into the store where the potential for greater sales exist is also important to be there when they need help away from the store. I think having the ability to answer questions over the internet is a huge plus for the garden center. We try to answer questions within 24 hours. It’s not always possible but it does seem everyone is grateful for a quick response.

How great is it that we can now have customers e-mail pictures of their concerns so as that we can give them the correct answer. Sure it doesn’t mean a sale today, but by being the expert that can help out anytime they are more likely to come into the store next time around, or buy from our offerings over the internet.

While the idea of being a 24 hour nursery is enough to make a grown nurseyperson cry, we really don’t have to be physically open 24 hours a day. It’s all about perception. If I can ask my question tonight, with the promise of an answer tomorrow before noon that means a lot. The consumer wants access 24 hours a day. Let’s give it to them.

California Horse Chestnut

This is one of our most miss-understood native trees, the Horse chestnut (Aesculus californica). This picture highlights why the tree is so miss-understood. It goes dormant during summer and doesn't come out of dormancy until the rains return in fall. Right now the chestnuts are forming and will fall to the ground. There they will sprout and start a new tree. These trees are all over the place in the foothills. It is a common component of the chaparral. This is a very easy tree to grow.

Of course the problem is it looks like its dying during the summer, yet it is perfectly adapted to our summer droughts. Think about it, when there is no moisture to be had it goes dormant only to come out of dormancy when the rains return in fall. This is one reason we call fall the "second spring" around here.

Trees and plants like this that are so adapted to our climate will never become popular until we re look at what constitutes a "desirable" landscape here. California is a place where just about anything will grow with water. Why would someone moving here from different climates want a "dead" looking plants in their yard. Of course styles change when confronted with drought and a lack of water.

What we need here is a garden aesthetic that celebrates our climate. It's happening on a small scale with xeriscape and like climate gardens, but they are few and far between.While the Horse chestnut may not fit into the "look" most people are striving for, plants that are adapted to the dry summers will become more popular as we look for gardens that take less time to maintain.

The times they are a changing

I came across this little bit of discouraging news from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette. In an article entitled “Bloom is fading for the gardening industry” the paper paints a gloomy picture for the garden industry. According to the paper “Sales at garden and lawn retailers totaled $34.07 billion last year, down nearly 15 percent from 2002's peak of $39.6 billion, according to the National Gardening Association.” The paper cites the aging population with “Arthritic 50-somethings throwing down their trowels”. Time crunched consumers are also listed as a reason for the decline. The article goes on to paint an even bleaker view of the Generation X and Y. "We've probably lost the X and Y generation, but we're going after their kids, which is why we do school gardening programs and all kinds of things for children", says Bruce Butterfield, research director for the National Gardening Association.

Betty Cantalini, owner of Gardenalia, a Shadyside garden supply store says, "We in the garden industry are at a crossroads, people are still gardening, but they're cutting way back on the size of their gardens and the quantities of plants they buy.”

This is all stuff we have heard before. The garden center business is changing so quickly it’s hard to keep up. What I found interesting was the last part of the article. The silver lining is for specialty retailers that “target gardeners who want and need a lot of bells and whistles in their gardens.” The paper continues “North Hills Water Gardens, which caters to consumers who love running water in all forms, from ponds to fountains, hasn't been hit by any downturn. If anything, its business is booming, said Tom Buchser, its owner.”"We find that a lot of people say these kinds of gardens provide them with a great way to relax," he said.

We touched on the subject here. We need to fine tune what it is that we are about. I think it will become harder and harder for a garden center to be a one stop shop for all you gardening needs. Instead we will be the one stop shop for all your native plants, water plants, ornamental grasses, succulents, etc. The nursery that has the largest and best collection of whatever their specialty is will win. It may have a series of collections or specialties but trying to have everything for the gardener is the realm of the home stores and they own that turf. Specialties can also include service, personality, information and other non s.k.u. items, but you will have to be the best at whatever you claim for your specialty. If its service it will have to be the best service in your market area to gain attention.

I read optimistic reports on gardening too, but I would have to say that this is the closest to what is the feeling in my industry. Things are scary out there in garden center world. I am hopeful though as it seems to me that when things are getting weird opportunities arise. It will take courage to seize them as we all are entering unknown territory.

The definition of "local" is changing

A person come in yesterday with tomatoes that looked as if they had a virus. In my attempt to find out what was going on I asked her where she bought them. They were from three different stores, none from us. I guess when things go wrong we are the place to get the answers.

I remember when this would have upset me. They buy the plants elsewhere, have problems then come to us for answers. I even know of a nursery nearby that closed because the owners just got tired of answering questions and then watching the people go to Home Depot, a block away to buy the remedy. Another nursery nearby won’t even answer those questions unless you bought the plants there.

I am no longer bothered by these types of events. We figure that if they think we are the “answer place” that’s at least a step in getting them to be customers. The way in which we answer those questions, without criticizing them for buying them elsewhere is what sets us apart.

We get questions from all over the world concerning gardening. A recent one was from Spain concerning a tree that was lifting the roots of an old villa. Why would I take the time to answer questions from someone who will most likely never shop “in” our store?

We post the questions and then the answers in our e-news in a section brilliantly titled Q & A. Since we are able to measure what sections are read most we have found it has turned into the most popular section of the e-news. I just had someone e-mail me saying that they changed the type of trees they were going to plant based on the Q & A section.

I also like answering these questions because it makes our small nursery much bigger than its physical size. Who in our industry could have dreamed that a small garden center in northern California, or anywhere else would be receiving and answering questions from all over the world? We are turning into an international business.

The other reason to answer these questions is that these people may become customers someday. Who is to say that next year we might be selling online, sending products and information all over the globe? As a matter of fact we are headed in that direction. More on that later.

Just because a nursery is small in physical size does not mean its influence cannot be huge. Why limit our reach to the local clientèle. The world is out there looking for places to trust and spend their money. With the internet we can reach these people and let them know about our unique business. The "locals" will still be the bread and butter of our business, but the definition of local is changing. People who share the same beliefs or interests are becoming members of groups or tribes that are international in reach yet very personable on an individual basis. You may be a resident of your local town but now you can be a resident of of a larger "town" of shared interests or beliefs.

Austin Texas is the future

Austin Texas gives us a view into what the internet and garden blogging will be like everywhere, eventually. They have over eleven garden bloggers at work there. Pam at Digging points us to “Every Dot Connects” a business blog. Connie says “Now, if you owned a local nursery or related business, how would you respond to this proliferation of garden blogs?” Think about it, you have a tight knit community of gardeners who love to talk via their blogs. Pam at Digging even has a category detailing with pictures her visits to the local garden centers. Check it out.

These vocal gardeners are writing about the gardening and nursery scene. As a nursery owner what do you do? Connie says, “join the conversation. Not as a retailer but a participant.” She goes on to say that the best way to participate in this is as a participant and not a businessperson trying to sell something. As you build trust with the other bloggers “the next time they need seedlings or supplies, they’ll be much more likely to visit your business because they’ve already made a connection with you.”

You might wonder what type of readership these blogs have. According to Connie, “some of these local blogs have a loyal readership in the thousands.” In a community the size of Austin this is substantial. Of course we have been talking about this before here, here, and here. What’s important is that your hearing from people outside the trade now.

Austin has something "going on" and that something will come to your town very soon. We are getting close to a time when conventional advertising will be much less effective. I believe we have reached that time. Consumers will read blogs and their attendant reviews of your garden center before visiting. A blogger whom the readers have grown to trust will have a lot more influence than your ad in the local paper. Everyone wants to read reviews from other people who have shopped at your store.

The most important thing to gather from this article is that the days of talking to the consumer are over. The days of talking with the consumer are here. People like knowing who they are dealing with and a business blog can do that. It allows a glimpse into the soul of the business. If your blog does nothing but sell the latest patio furniture set that’s arrived they will assume that’s what they’ll experience at your store, a sales pitch. If you blog is a conversation with other bloggers and readers about what’s important in your world besides just selling something, they are much more likely to bond with you and your store.

Talking honestly to the consumer via a blog is not an easy thing for business people to do. In the past it has always been us (stores) talking to them (consumer). We wouldn’t want to give away our “secrets” to merchandising and business. Heaven forbid if they should find out that we “know that women are our biggest customers” or that “we have just as hard a time keeping hybrid roses disease free as they do”. What if the customer found out that “business was slow this year and we don’t know why”, or that the new Home Depot going in next door has us petrified.

We are entering an era when honesty in business will be rewarded with good word of mouth. It’s not easy to let people in on the “company secrets”. The problem is there really aren’t any secrets anymore. People want to patronize businesses that are honest about what they sell and will be there for them later. We need to move beyond us and them to a friendship that transcends today’s purchase. We need to have “friends of the Golden Gecko Gardens” as opposed to just customers of The Golden Gecko.

This is all scary stuff for those of us in business but it’s the only way that’s going to work in the future. Besides, I have found that when things get really scary is when change occurs. All of the good things that have happened to us in business have resulted when we were nervous and a little unsure about what was going on. Embrace change, it’s the only option.

Two unique companies

I wanted to point you to a couple of interesting web sites that I have come across through my blogging. The first is a new forum from Daleys Fruit Trees in Geneva, NSW, Australia. Here you can “Ask questions, share your knowledge and upload pictures about your fruit trees.”

We tried a forum a few years ago before I started this blog. I never got the response that Daleys seems to be getting. One big improvement they seem to have going for them is the ability for people to upload pictures, which was way too complicated when we did it. The ability of people to post pictures with the questions is a huge plus. Daleys also puts together a great blog which is how I originally found out about the company. The energy and enthusiasm the company shows is inspiring.

The other site is “Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping”. I found out about them from “The Garden Wise Guy” . They are a landscaping company in Santa Cruz, California that uses bicycles to travel from job to job. They advertise that the company is “Fossil Free”. “We often choose electric tools or hand tools that run on orange juice and toast,” they say. They do have a couple of trucks that run on bio-diesel. This is Santa Cruz where “anything goes”, including my 18 year old daughter for college if she can pull it off. This is a company that is unique and therefore worthy of notice.

The less intimidating nursery

Susan at Garden Rant says “Nurseries are INTIMIDATING places for beginners.” She is right! The post on ‘Garden coaches” is a perfect example. She asks “why aren't nurseries offering these services, or at least publicizing the availability of independent coaches to help turn home owners into regular customers?”

We have been offering these services for some time. We call them “consultations”. So garden coaching is really nothing new for us. What is new is calling consultations “Garden coaching”. I like it since it seems less clinical than “consultation”. Consultation sounds like something lawyers and doctors do.

We need to look at our business and see if there are any other areas where we use intimidating language that we might not be aware of. That’s why checking out gardeners and their blogs is such a great way to learn about these things. Why hadn’t the nursery consultants told us about this?

Those of us that have been in this business a long time need this the most. We sit in our offices reading trade magazines and going to industry meetings where our only contact is with other nursery people and those paid to advise us. We need the advice of the gardeners whom we hope to turn into customers. They will tell us what we need to do to make the nursery visit less intimidating. Sometimes just changing a word or words used to describe a service can make all the difference. What other ways do we intimidate the consumer?

Trying to please everyone. It can’t be done!

It’s going to be another day in the 100° F. Our saving grace is the low humidity, around 5 to 10%. On days like this we just can’t expect too much in the way of customer action. We just try to keep everything watered and stay as cool as possible.

Walking around the nursery on days like this I realize just how many plants we have on the ground. I would like to have moved more of them this spring, yet we don’t want to appear empty this time of the year. Just like we talked about earlier concerning the inside store we need to fine tune what we carry. I think we are trying to please too many people by trying to carry a little of everything.

It’s easy to find yourself with too many different types of plants to sell. The instant someone comes in and asks for a Mr. Lincoln Rose you start to think maybe we should carry more roses. Next thing you know you have 100’s of roses for sale. My problem with most of the hybrid roses is the care that is involved with them at the nursery. Sure a little mildew or aphis on you rose at home is o.k. but if our roses don’t look perfect, folks won’t buy them. So I would end up on a spray program every week just to keep the diseases and insects down. It’s the only category where I have to do that much maintenance and I got tired of it. We are also in deer country so roses are not as popular here as other places. We have dropped the rose selection and never looked back. Need a large selection of hybrid roses to choose from? Our neighboring nursery Eisley’s has thousands to choose from and you might check there.

What we have to decide is where to increase our selection and where to decrease or eliminate it. We have increased our selection of 4” size perennials over the last couple of years. We sell lots of them and you can fit $45 dollars worth of perennials in a flat. Now do we increase our total selection of species and varieties? Or would it be better to increase the popular species and varieties? Rudbeckia, or Black Eyed Susan’s are very popular since they are deer resistant and like the heat. So we now carry about 10 varieties of those flowers. Now what we have to figure out is if we should pare down the number of varieties and concentrate on the two or three varieties that sell best.

I actually find this process fun but challenging. I think we in the nursery business want to please all the people all the time, but it’s just not possible. It goes against our natural instinct to reduce the selection, but I think that it’s the way for the smaller operations to be. Focus on our core abilities so we can become the best at what we do.

We just came back from a couple of days off so I will be going into the nursery with an eye on the plants. Which ones are where the money is for us and which ones are just taking up time and water because we “think” we need to carry them? By the way no plants will be harmed in this exercise. We put the discontinued items at half off and of course they fly out of here.

I’ll let you know what we decide about the plants at a later post.

Get in the conversation.

Word of mouth is the best possible advertising a small nursery or garden center can hope for. We depend on our fans to spread the word to the uninitiated. Now days the target consumer for small garden centers finds out about the store through the internet and word of mouth. Often when researching a store we read what others have said, good or bad about the store. Customer reactions often make up the final decision making process on whether to visit a store or not.

If you Goggle the store name and a bunch of sites complaining about the service or some other aspect of the store come up you might just think twice about visiting. It can also go the other way. Fans can help spread the word of the store and monitor web reactions to that store. If a new garden center has opened up in your neighborhood and you want to make sure it sticks around you can put in your two cents worth and make a difference.

My post on Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco elicited one such response. One commenter wrote, “I've been to Flora Grubb, and it is truly awe-inspiring... Come out, grab a cuppa joe, stroll amongst the most unusual plants and trees around and let your mind create the perfect oasis for yourself. This place is a rare find, especially for this neighborhood. The Bayview/Hunters Point area gets a bad rap, but there are lots of intelligent, arty, enviro types who live here, too, and this is a welcome addition to our world. Come check it out! Amazing garden accessories, such as the concrete loungers that are actually comfy, sleek and stylish decorative pots, and other focal point items for your garden space. Rare trees and succulents. Something for everyone...”

The reason this is important is when you Google “Flora Grub Nursery San Francisco” up pops The Blogging Nurseryman site first. You see its “Flora Grubb Gardens”, not “Flora Grubb Nursery”. So the above commenter was surfing the net looking for information on their favorite nursery and ended up at my blog. Just to put the good revue in context they added their own comment, sighting how important it is that this place succeed and helps breathe some life into this part of town. After reading this commenter’s response it might just seal the deal of taking the time to visit this place.

What’s interesting to me is how little we can control the conversation once it has started. We had better hope the consumer has had a positive experience or we, and everyone else might hear about it on the internet. Businesses that truly warrant “staying in business” will benefit hugely from the conversation going on the internet. This type of advertising is low cost, which is great for us small operations. The price of a web page and someone to check out the conversation going on is it.

That’s why I believe the small garden centers need to be leaders in web marketing. The voices of a small group of loyal fans can be amplified on the internet. Our target consumer uses the internet every day. We can either be a part of the conversation or not. If our stores are truly worth visiting and shopping at it will be on the web first, promoted by the consumer.

You can’t please everybody.

Carol asked what we did with the stuff we cleaned out of the garden store. Everything has been put on sale for 50% off. It’s really selling well now. Maybe we should order some more!

As we were going through the store I would ask Monica when the last time she sold this or that and if it was more than a couple of months ago, it’s gone. To me it’s amazing how we accumulate different t types of products that then just sit on the shelves. Gopher traps? Haven’t sold one in a year, put it on the 50% table and never order it again.

We are too small to be a one stop for everything store. Tools like shovels, hoes, etc. just don’t sell well here. Why do we keep trying to sell them? All they do for us is collect dust. Sure enough after we put the tools on sale and get rid of them someone will want to buy a shovel and we won’t have them. We’ll just recommend they go across the street to the hardware store.

What we do sell well we are going to increase the selection of. Organic fertilizers and pesticides are flying out of here. The RTU (ready to use) products like Neem oil are way outselling the concentrates. People don’t want to mix the products themselves. Soil amendments including potting soils and mulches are huge here in the foothills so we will keep the large selection of these products including two types of potting soil and planting mix. We carry lots of different mulches including shredded cedar, micro-bark, medium bark, coco hulls, and planting compost.

I am starting to think that the term “garden center” may be a bit played. We really are not a center but rather a garden with a nursery. The term garden center conjures up a place where all you gardening needs can be met. It’s just too hard to please all the people all the time. Better to be “remarkable” to the few than mediocre to the many.