I found this post about the new Target store in Morgan Hill, CA. According to the author the new store has no garden center. Is Target changing its focus? Morgan Hill, which at one time was rural is now a high-end suburb in the south bay, so its a bit odd they didn't put a garden center in. We'll have to see if this is just a one store change or company wide.
Just Guarantee It!
Just after writing my post on "One Conditional Guarantee" I read this. Bailey Nurseries, grower of "Easy Elegance Roses" has found out that roses "can be a tough sell to the younger crowd who considers gardening to be too much work and too time-consuming." Whats their solution? Offer a "two-year guarantee", above and beyond whatever guarantee the local retailer puts on an Easy Elegance rose.
So the thinking is young people who find gardening a lot of work will jump on the new "Easy Elegance Roses" because they are guaranteed. Guaranteed against what? What does it mean that the guarantee is above and beyond the local retailer's guarantee. You get two roses after killing one?
Maybe I am missing the boat here? Guarantees are the way to young peoples hearts? How do I redeem the guarantee? Through the retailer or through the wholesaler? What are they guaranteeing? That you will love the rose? start loving roses? not kill it? change your life? love gardening?
If I follow their example I should see a huge influx of new younger customers as long as I guarantee my plants. You see, young people don't try anything new unless they receive a guarantee of results. Never mind that the roses are more disease free and lower maintenance than other roses, or that they are attractive plants. You just got to offer a growers warranty to get their attention.
Why should we stop there. Since young people think gardening is "too much work and too time-consuming" why not offer a gardening warranty? Try gardening for a year, if you find it too much work and too time-consuming just go back to the garden center you bought the supplies from and get your money back. Then you can try cooking. I am sure Emeril will refund your money if his cook wear doesn't help you make the best omelet ever.
The "One Conditional Guarantee"
Josh at In the Country Garden & Gifts made a comment on my post about Plant Guarantees. He said "I, too, think guaranteeing a living item is absurd. One of our local nurseries offers a 1 year guarantee on trees and shrubs or a 20% discount without a guarantee. What is your response when a customer (usually a first time customer, in my experience) asks if your guarantee your plants?"
We get asked about plant guarantees by approx. 5% of our customers. There may be others that assume we have some sort of policy but only a small percentage ask. I realize that what they are asking is really, "If I screw up and kill this plant will you give me a new one?" Of course we will, and in addition we will try and figure out why it died and come to a plan of action to prevent any future loss.
I came across this suggestion at Duct Tape Marketing. They mention a One Conditional Guarantee, which is basically what we have been doing all along. Tell the customer "that the only condition the buyer must meet in order to receive a full refund is that they suggest to you ways that you could make the product or service better or more in line with what they wanted or expected." I like it!
We are in a business that attracts people that are generally in a good mood. We don't have the problem that other retail business might have with consumers returns. Most of our customers are like m. sinclair stevens ,who commented at the same post "If any of the nurseries I shop at have a plant guarantee, I am unaware of it. I have lost many plants over the years but it never once popped into my mind that I might be able to take them back and ask for a refund. Even if I now learned that it was a perfectly acceptable practice, I would not do so. I think the idea is appalling. I know I killed the things. Why should I expect someone else to pay. Have we Americans really come to that?" Yes, it has come to that, just check out the return line at The Home Depot on the weekends.
We get taken up on plant guarantees so little that when it does happen it seems like a bigger issue than it is. Just like irate consumers, we see so little of that as compared to so many retail establishments that when it does happen its blown out of proportion to the total number of satisfied consumers. We are invested in your success, as if you fail we may not see you again. So lets figure out how the plant died without pointing fingers, and see if we can be more successful with a replacement. "The One Conditional Guarantee". What do you think?
The picture above was from our weekend "Make a Living Wreath" workshop. The wreaths are made out of succulents and can be placed flat or hung. It was very popular and we'll do it again!
You get what you pay for
I wanted to address Susan's Rant on the bagged soil she bought. One of the areas our nursery excels in is the sale of bagged potting soils, planting mixes, soil conditioners, and mulch. We sell no bulk materials. Everything is bagged. We carry two brands of organics, E.B. Stone and Foxfarm. We decided a long time ago that if we are going to sell these products then they would have to be the best. We also knew that quality costs and our bags represent that. Foxfarm Potting soil costs $12.99 per 1.5 cu.ft. bag. The Foxfarm Planting Mix is $9.99 for a cubic foot. They are by far our most expensive soils. Lets dive into whats in the bag.
Foxfarm Potting Soil contains the following, earthworm castings, bat guano, Pacific northwest sea-going fish and crab meal, composted forest humus, sandy loan, and sphagnum peat moss. When you compare this with the ingredients of many potting soils you understand why the bags are priced this way. Results are what counts and our potting soils and amendments provide the results. How discouraging to sell our premium plants and while loading the truck find bags of some cheap potting soil or planting mix in the car. I don't understand why people would buy quality plants only to plant them using bags of composted sawdust, sand, and perlite. These are actually the ingredients in some low ball potting soils sold near here.
Its taken a while but as our customers have gotten to know us and trust our advice they have switched to our soils because they have experienced the benefits first hand. The soil Susan at Garden Rant used at $2.80 a bag can only contain some very inexpensive ingredients, like wood fines and composted leaves. I would rather have had her use our Green all Soil Booster in a 1.5 cu. ft. bag at $5.99 or three for $17. Look what it has that the "top soil" doesn't. Fir bark, chicken manure, mushroom compost, earthworm castings, volcanic pumice stone, bat guano, kelp meal, and feather meal. This explains the cost. Better ingredients equals better results. No composted leaves, the manure type is listed, and no dirt. You need to mix this stuff in the ground, not just throw it on the soil surface.
We realize that the majority of people will never spend the money on amendments priced like this, but that's one reason why so many seem frustrated with their gardening results.
The Art of Running a Small Garden Center or Nursery
I created a web page a year or so ago called The Art of Running a Small Garden Center or Nursery. I had read Tony Avent's book "So you want to start a nursery" and found it interesting, yet it seemed to be the only resource for someone thinking of starting a small nursery. In addition it was written by someone who is a grower and only opens the nursery once in a while for retail. I wanted to create a dynamic resource that could change as new ideas emerge from the perspective of a small retail garden center . Originally I started the web site just for fun and kind of updated when I felt inclined to check it out. We'll I checked it out a month or two ago and noticed it was getting quite a bit of interest. So its time to put a little focus back into the project. Head on over and let me know what you think. While your there you can rate the site or leave a little blurb at the bottom.
Please let me know if you are a garden center professional, horticultural professional, or involved in the nursery trade or allied businesses and think you should be included. I updated some of it today but know I have missed people. If you are in the trade and are new to the internet or blogging scene the more your sites are seen in different locations the better. Let me know if you want to be included on the page.
Check out some of the other web pages or lenses as they are called. The gardening section might interest you . You can also build a lens yourself on just about any subject.
New garden center coffee maker
With all the talk about garden center cafes (all the comments from that post we're lost in the move from Blogger to Wordpress. Such a shame as it was one of my most commented on posts) one wonders how one could provide a good cup of coffee or other hot drink without having to hire someone to make it and serve it. On the recommendation of Sherwood Greenhouses in Regina, Saskatchewan I bought a Tassimo Coffee Maker.
We brought it home to try it and I immediately threw the old coffee bean grinder out. This machine has completely changed our morning coffee routine. Super easy to clean this maker uses T-Pods which are pre-filled with coffee, hot chocolate, tea, etc. Place the T-Pod into the maker with the bar code facing down. The maker reads the bar code and heats the water just right for your particular drink. You can even make espresso, latte, or cappuccino. The quality of the coffee is better than when we we're grinding our own beans. Plus the machine makes just one cup at a time, so no waste. It also makes the cup usually within one minute!
We are going to buy another one and put it in the gift shop for the customers. Maybe request a dollar per cup that they can leave in a jar. This machine will be self-serve on the honor system. We'll see how it holds up under nursery use but so far we have been very pleased with the one at home. The quality of the coffee was so important, as I don't want to serve "industrial" coffee which we nursery people are famous for.
After we have used it for awhile in the store I'll post on the results.
Plant guarantees?
Went shopping yesterday and stopped at Best Buy electronics. After having to flag down an associate who was doing his best to ignore me I was turned over to another associate who couldn't or wouldn't look me in the eye. Frustrated I left for Circut City. Asking an associate where the I-pods we're he said they we're right behind me, without ever looking up from a video game he was playing. Then after asking if they had them in all the colors pictured behind the glass I was told they we're samples and had been out of them, and had been for a while. Finally I left for the Apple Store! I was immediately approached by one of their "geniuses", yes thats what they call them. I got quick service and even paid for it while the clerk used a hand held device to swipe my credit card. I never had to go to the counter. This is truly a method for facilitating faster service in the garden center. Imagine if we could go outside, write the customer up and give them a receipt without having to go to the cashier. I asked if I could bring the I-pod back if needed and was told sure, as long as it is withing fourteen days! Even if the package is not-opened you only get 14 days to return it, after that its yours. If you return the product with the package opened they charge a 10% return fee. Well, I bought it anyway since no one else had it.
I use a PC, not a Mac. I imagine that Apple can get away with this return policy since 'Mac heads" are so loyal to the brand. If they don't except the return policy they will have to change their lives and use the dreaded PC. No silly return policy is going make them switch. Apple has a small, when compared to total computer users, group of very dedicated customers.
I think nurseries blew it when about twenty years ago they jumped on the one year guarantee for plants. They did this of course to respond to the box stores who were advertising this incredible new policy. We got so nervous about this that it seems everyone in the business started offering plant guarantees. Let me see, an un-open package of electronics can only be returned without penalty in 14 days yet we guarantee our living plants for a year or more. Forget to water them, bring them back. Suppose to be deer resistant but your deer ate them, bring them back. We may still have consumers who think there plants are under guarantee from the last century.
Do I think we should go back to not offering guarantees? No, its to late and besides I think Apple is screwing up with their policy. They should allow you to bring the electronics back in the un-opened box anytime for a exchange or full refund. Instead of guaranteeing plants for one year why not just offer customer satisfaction. When someone brings a plant back I ask them how we can insure their satisfaction. Sometimes they just want a new plant and some help figuring out what happened. Other times they have said they would take a new plant at half price, or just want information on how to care for the plant. If they say they would take a plant at half price I would give them the plant free. Lets offer customer satisfaction instead of a plant "guarantee".
Great nurseries and garden centers have a core customer base like Apple does. The customers will work with the nursery since they have vested interest in seeing the garden center stay open the next year. Let the box stores continue with their plant "guarantees" since the odds of their plants failing are a lot higher than a well run garden center. This only works for exceptional garden centers though! The rest will continue to think that plant "guarantees" are the way to customer loyalty.
Plant craziness at The State Fair.
While I was writing the last post on our Nurseryman holiday I caught a bit of the television Monica was watching. The news cast was from The California State Fair where they we're giving a 80% discount on all the plants that are used at the fair. These are containerized plants in one gallon and larger. There was quite a line of people waiting early in the morning to score on these plants. The reporter would walk along and ask the people in line what they we're waiting to buy. I think just about everyone she asked said they didn't care what they got. Sun, shade, perennial, houseplant, winter harder or not. The fun part was watching everyone run around like chickens with their heads cut off. A mother with a 6' tall ficus in one hand and three kids in tow, a lady running through the crowd hitting people unintentionally with her agapanthus flowers, etc. There is something unseemly about people running with plants. Not as dangerous as running with scissors, but still weird.
The thing that got me was most didn't have a clue as to the needs of the plants. Thats not important. What's important is the plants we're cheap! Score now and figure out where to plant them later. No thought to the aesthetics of the garden. I wonder how these peoples yards will look when they are done? You don't have to wonder though, just travel through almost any new subdivision in the greater Sacramento region. You come across these people and their yards everywhere.
There seem to be two types of garden shoppers. Ones like the people at the fair where buying something on special is most important. It doesn't really mater if they need the items, just so long as they got a deal. I would imagine most of those people also frequent the box stores on a regular basis. The other type of garden shopper seems more interested in planting for beauty, aesthetics, or the shear joy of it. If the plants are on sale great, but thats not the sole reason to buy. Not to many of those in line at The State Fair.
Scenes like that remind me that we want to focus our attention on the second type of consumer. They are much more likely to remain loyal to a business and care for their plants once they leave the nursery. Trying to appeal to the people that wait in line at the state fair would never work. They are the ones most likely to show up a year later and want their money back because the plants they bought died. "Nobody told me it couldn't take the cold in winter", or one of my favorites, "It did well for the first year but now it dead. You do guarantee your plants don't you?"
Nurseryman's holiday
I take Monday's off every week so having Labor Day off is routine. One thing these Monday holidays remind me off is how much I dislike having the same day off as everyone else. When I have taken weekdays off for most of my career you get use to having places you visit to your self. Fortunately everyone was heading home as we headed up the hill to Loon Lake. We have been having a mini-heatwave of late so heading up to 7000' elevation sounded nice.
To get there from the nursery you drive through our neighboring town, Georgetown. This community has the interesting habit of allowing parking in the middle of the street. After the town burned down for the third time in the 1800's the community made the main street extra wide to prevent the spread of fires. You drive right through town on main street and head "up the hill" into the mountains. It takes about 40 minutes if you don't stop to admire the view.
Monica and I set up our Kelty sun shade, which is now over 20 years old and flake out. We did enjoy this 
bottle of pinot noir rose from Francis Coppola. I normally don't drink Rose, but the bottle was just so cool and it is the afternoon. The wine is great for picnics and the bottle will look great as a retro candle holder.
Loon Lake is at the edge of The Desolation Wilderness and is a classic Sierra Granite Alpine lake. It is one of the sources of of water for the garden center and is so clear underwater you can see quite a distance when swimming. The water was cool but not cold. It had the feel of late summer and was truly relaxing.
Anti-spam and lost comments
When you comment on this new Wordpress blog for the first time it will ask me to approve your comment. Once its approved for the first time you shouldn't have to have approval for comments after that. Its is a anti-spam measure. I am glad we have it as we have already caught 12 spam messages that I was able to delete before posting. Now that those e-mail address are listed as spam they shouldn't be able to get through. Also I lost a couple of comments in the move. One was from mmw over at Two Gardens concerning my post on Randall Graham and Bonny Doon Vineyards. Actually I still have the comment in my e-mail folder but when we made the move from Blogger to Wordpress it was gone from the post. Just want to make sure it wasn't removed by mmw. If it wasn't intentionally removed I would love to comment on what was said. It had to do with money going to marketing and not product quality. Randall Graham recently addressed that issue!
Hines nursery post still getting comments!
I love the "most recent comment section". It helps bring to life past posts that are still commented on but would be missed by anyone else but me. The post on Hines Nurseries troubles is one such post. Here we have some comments from people who we're involved with the organization. Its quite interesting to see the blame laid at the feet of management, which is of course where it should be. By reading the comments it becomes clear that the problems facing this organization goes way beyond the economy, or this companies sweetheart deals with the box stores.
What I like is the comments made at this post are a way for people to explain what really has happened to the company. I am not sure who the commenter's are but from the sound of it most are people who thought Hines had a good thing going until management screwed it up. If you listen to press releases and what not from the company I am sure you would not hear any of this. Whats neat is when you Google Hines nurseries problems up pops this blog and it attendant comments. Now potential investors and others can hear a more complete story.
The economy again.
No sooner than I write the last post on having fun I read this from Open Register. According to the post "The Deloitte Research Leading Index fell to 2.67% this month, prompting a forecast of weak spending in the coming weeks." It continues, "More of consumers’ money is going toward mortgage payments" and less to "discretionary spending."
There is one more thing to worry about if you want. Many of our customers use the equity in there homes to buy gardening and landscape supplies. This downturn in the housing market comes during one of our mildest summers. No heat waves. So once again weather good, economy bad. Oh, well. I am not too worried. We manage to make it through other downturns. Maybe people will start to think of their homes as "home", and not just an investment. People will also want to do things closer to home and of course gardening and landscaping fits that bill.
I think this downturn in the housing market will affect business. The best way to work around this is to keep having fun and offer the consumer an escape from their day to day worries.
Having Fun
Having fun with the granddaughter at Lake Tahoe
There are so many things that occupy any given workday at the nursery. Paperwork, paying bills, answering the phone, writing the next newsletter, watering, weeding, pest control, talking with customers, talking with vendor reps, etc. At times, especially in spring it can be all so overwhelming and stressful that its easy to forget the one thing thats should be most important on my to-do list. Have fun!
To truly be successful involves so much more than monetary gains. Sure, the cash flow can make a huge difference in my ability to have fun. There are just so many different things that can affect our business to the down side that it could get you in a real funk. Economy great, weather bad. Weather great, economy bad. The instances of weather great and economy great are just so infrequent its not worth waiting around for. "Boy, next year if the weather will cooperate we can really have a good spring and make lots of money." It seems that the fabled "perfect year" is really an illusion. Thats why its so importnat to have fun everyday.
We are a small business and as such our moods affect the entire atmosphere of the store. My ex-partner didn't know how to have fun. Just seeing his car parked in the driveway brought everyone down. He thought the business too important not to be serious. I think the business is too important not to have fun. I find that the business is such a part of my life that by having fun keeps me from getting "burned out". Burn out is easy when you have been doing the same thing year after year waiting for the big payoff.
Thats why I blog, it's fun. When I started blogging it would have been hard to justify it as a money making project for the store. I just found it a fun exercise and want to take it wherever it takes me. If it improves the bottom line for the nursery, then great. If it doesn't I will keep doing it anyway because its fun. Same goes for our Creekside Festival or Fall Festival. Everyone has fun and are quick to tell us they look forward to the next years events.
Customers having fun!
We are on our third year here and its just impossible for me to eliminate the un-fun things this early. Until then I try to get those things done before or after work so that when we are open I can have fun, and help spread that feeling to others. Besides, I find it fun to imagine me not doing the un-fun things.
Another one bites the dust.
Another small garden center closes in Placerville. Carters Nursery owner Dale Carter has decided to retire. With Sleepy Hollow closing last year, and Carters this year there are no longer any garden centers in the county seat! Oh, there is still the local Home Depot which showed up right about the same time. There are other nurseries including mine that are within 10 to 12 miles from town, so all is not lost.
Last week Monica and I went for a drive up hwy. 49 to Grass Valley. We stopped by the old Happy Frog Garden Center, which closed just early this year. This was the mother ship to our smaller store in Auburn. Over seven acres of gardens and nursery that are gone. 
The picture shows some Giant Weeping Sequoias that are slowly dying. What a depressing site, all because of mis-management. Please notice The Master Nursery sign hanging on the fence still. I bet The Master Nursery Association was not too thrilled to have to write off the loss of this store. The Association is a co-op of nurseries and when one goes down it affects everyones dividends. 
EAL commented at one of my post that in her neck of the woods, Western New York the local nurseries are thriving. She mentions it not an economically thriving area, either. I don't know if its just here but small garden centers are dropping like flies. There doesn't seem to be anyone filling the gap yet so I will assume that we just had too many small garden centers in our area. Its either that or mis-management or in Dales case, just wanting out.
I wanted to show some pictures of what the area looks like around here in late summer. We are in the dog days of summer and the hills have turned golden. Haven't had rain
in in months and most likely won't for another month. Unlike Carol, we are used to this. With the fall rains the hills will slowly turn green again. Everything that we grow in our gardens must be supplemented with irrigation water. Only the hardiest natives and Mediterranean climate plants will survive without irrigation.
Back to nurseries, consumers vote with their wallets and if they don't vote for you then your toast. I think in the long run the shake up thats going on in the nursery business in our area will benefit those that remain. We need to stay innovative and positive in our thinking, but a new era for garden centers is coming. Only the fittest will survive.
Update on whats up here.
I seem to be figuring out this new Wordpress system, yet I still have lots of questions. If you have used Wordpress.com it is an amazingly simple system to use. What we did was take Wordpress.org and download it onto our web page thegoldengecko.com. I felt it was time for us to take our work and put it under the home address. Thank goodness my webmaster Denise was able to get it set up. I think it might have drove her to madness. We had been using Blogger, which has served me well for the last few years. I thought it time to switch to Wordpress after hearing from various bloggers how much they liked it. My webmaster was helped greatly by a well known garden blogger. I don't want to mention her name as she will be inundated with "help questions". She was on the phone and e-mail with Denise helping work through the problems which arose. For no other reason than just to help this lady made this move possible. She is an amazing person! One of the things I really like about this system is on the sidebar is a "recent comments" section. I wondered how to respond to comments from posts I made in the past. The post on Hines Nurseries being de-listed is a good example. It was written back on August 10th yet I have received comments up to yesterday. While I would know the comment had been made since I receive a e-mail, no one else would know the comments had been made. Now the most recent comments show up in the sidebar, which is a huge plus.
This is not the design I want for the blog. This is the Wordpress classic which was quickly available. Rather than wait around for everything to be perfect we wanted to get rolling on the new blog, so here it is. Sometimes in business we think things through to the point of never doing anything because its not perfect. Rather its better to get it out there and work on it as it develops. I get to look through a whole bunch of templets, and pick out a great one.
One of the most important things we did was re-direct the old blog address to this new address. That way no one has to change their blogroll as our old address will send you here at the new address. Basically we moved the whole blog over to Wordpress, post for post.
Just wanted to let you know whats up. Please be patient with me as I navigate through this new system.