Biggest indoor plant nursery in San Mateo Co. Ca. files for bankruptcy

According to The Mercury News, Nurseryman's Exchange “the biggest wholesaler of indoor potted plants in San Mateo County and a major Coastside employer, announced Monday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The family-owned company intends to remain on the coast but is in the midst of ‘restructuring,’ according to CEO Jack Pearlstein." It’s big news as I grew up near this place, and met my wife in Half Moon Bay. It was a landmark along the coast.  San Mateo County is known as the greenhouse capitol of California. According to Rivian Bell a spokesperson for a PR firm representing Nurseryman’s Exchange, “Nurserymen's revenue was $62.7 million in 2010 and $51.1 million so far in 2011, according to financial documents. Bell said the company posted a loss in 2010 but would not say how large it was. Wells Fargo has agreed to loan the company up to $5 million to take care of its remaining debts this summer.”

“Half Moon Bay flower farmer and City Councilman John Muller said he was sad, but not surprised, to hear about the struggles at Nurserymen's Exchange. ‘The nursery business has really changed,’ Muller said. ‘The shipping costs of moving products across the county are really high.’ Most of the greenhouse nursery industry is now based in East Coast states such as Georgia, North Carolina and New Jersey, he added.”

What’s slated to be built on the site? “The grassy parcels, four in all, are zoned for housing subdivisions.” Mr. Muller is correct, the nursery business has really changed.  Just what Half  Moon Bay needs more of, homes instead of employers. It has gone from a working person's town, to a suburb of San Francisco, inhabited by those who can afford the high costs of living there. Kind of a shame, but the way it is.

Should the actions of the parent company matter, Pt.2

When I posted yesterday about Urban Outfitters using the designs of a small business owner with out attribution little did I realize the story would end up at Boing-Boing and The Huffington Post. It shows the power of people talking, and spreading the word. A friend who is a nurseryman commented yesterday. He said, "There seems to be a question of who came up with the design originally. People are stating that these 'I Heart State' pendants have been on the market long before I make Shiny Things came up with the idea. I feel that if you are a small business and you come up with an original idea that you wouldn’t want someone to steal, then you should patent or trademark that idea or product. Being a small business is no excuse to be ignorant of being a good business person and protecting yourself your ideas and your original products.

Trey, if I hybridized a really cool original daylily, let’s say a Red Stella De Oro with variegated folige, and I just started selling it on the market without patenting it, and then all of the wholesale nurseries started picking it up and selling it and then I started crying foul what would you think? You would say 'Wow Keith, I feel bad for you. Why didn’t you patent it? Sucks for you man!'"

Fair enough, but things have changed. Now the small hybridizer like yourself can spread the word about what happened. Here is my answer to my friends comment.

" Yea it sucks. But you know what, I would be pissed off with you. Sure there we’re no laws broken, but still. If that happened to you perhaps you would Tweet your displeasure, and I would pick up on that. I write a blog post on your situation, meanwhile others are Tweeting their displeasure. Next thing you know Boing_Boing has picked up on it. Now I seeThe Huffington Post has picked up the story. Is it right or wrong? Was it right or wrong of these wholesale nurseries to take your hybrid? It’s all grey. The point is, there is something you can do now to get your story out, where as in the past it was a lot harder. Seems that lady is selling her jewelry out as we speak, and a lot of people know about her business now, and know about Urban Outfitters, too."

Right or wrong companies that do stuff that is legal, but a bit nefarious, are going to get called out. How they respond to the that will reflect on their companies for a long time.

Should the actions of the parent company matter?

Remember when Urban Outfitters opened up a retail garden center called Terrain back in 2008? We talked quit a bit about it at the time. Frankly I found then, and still find Urban Outfitters foray into the garden world simply an attempt to cash in on their name. I have been in Urban Outfitters, and while they do have some interesting stuff, it always seemed a bit phony. Doesn't matter, as I am not the target audience and they don't care what this middle aged guy thinks. It's Urban Outfitters and the are just so hip and cool, and if you don't get it your not. Does Terrain’s being owned by Urban Outfitter’s mean anything when the parent company is caught "borrowing" ideas from smaller independent artists? I came upon a Tweet by Stevie in Chicago who owns imakeshinythings.com She designs and makes jewelry, which she sells online through Etsy. She say’s Urban Outfitters stole her designs, and is now marketing them under the Urban Outfitters label. Take a look here and here and see what you think. Of course now she wishes she had copy-righted her designs, but never the less it does seem a bit sleazy.

My question is, do the actions of the parent company affect the other businesses they own, like the garden center Terrain? Should it? I believe this kind of stuff does resonate, and over time degrades the image these companies have worked so hard to build. Suddenly Urban Outfitters doesn't seem so cool.  Terrain?

Looks like Boing-Boing, one of the worlds most popular blogs picked up on the story this afternoon. I wonder if they saw it here? I like to read their blog, so you never know. Never the less this shows the power of The Internet to spread ideas.

Now the Huffington Post has picked up the story.

The spring season so far...

Over at Today's Garden Center they have a report about how spring is going for retail garden centers this spring. Titled, "Spring a Mixed Bag For Garden Retailers" the report shines the light on some bright spot's, and not so bright spot's across the country. Truly a mixed bag. The weather has been the number one reason for most businesses reporting a decline in sales. That coupled with the economy makes for some challenges. Some are doing better than last year. One respondent mentioned the up tick in gas prices helping their business. Seems people are staying closer to home, and working in their gardens.

We have a storm moving in today here in northern California, which is rather late for this kind of activity. People here are just now planting their summer vegetables. We'll have to wait and see how it all unfolds, but so far we are doing alright at our garden center.

Now it's off to go cover the potting soils for the umpteenth time. If the bags get really wet they can get quite heavy. Since I do much of the loading of soils, keeping them dry is imperative.

The fresh wind's of change in garden retail

Where is the future of garden retail? I don’t know about you, but I am so tired of reading about multi-generational,

multi-million dollar a year, Independent Garden Centers (IGC’s). Yes they are to be congratulated for lasting, and thriving in today’s market. It’s just my interest’s lie in the edges, not in the middle where most of these larger operations reside. They are successful, but few new and exciting ideas come from the middle. Give me the smaller, even micro business model where entrepreneurs have to be bold to make it.

The future of garden retail is bright, but not for all. The retail garden centers that are still operating like it was the mid 90’s are not going to be around much longer. You know the ones. Un-interested sale’s staff, boring selection, been there forever, and ain't going to change any time soon. Well they will when they have to have their final sale, but that is still a year or two away. But let’s focus on the bright future of garden retail.

Our nursery group has some heavy hitters as members, but also a huge collection of smaller and micro-sized operations. What I love about these places is they so often have to put it all on the line. They are start-up’s, and if you have ever started a company it’s a scary thing. It causes you to focus on what’s really important, and generally your passion is what carries you through the first few years. We need more passion in our businesses, and in gardening in general.

We just had a new member join our group from Canada. Sarah Hemingway from Sarah’s Kitchen Garden in Ontario has a small nursery that sell’s seedlings for the kitchen garden. She say’s, “I have a passion for growing food and helping other people learn more about it. This business venture is an extension of regular life for me! The more I learn, the more I want to share – with as many people as possible.” Apparently she even has helper monkey’s running around.

She has a couple things going for her that stand out. She say’s, “This business venture is an extension of regular life for me!” Good, because no matter what you think, as soon as you take the dive into this trade it becomes “your life”. She also has, “a passion”, which will serve her well in the years to come. She also wants’ “to share”, which is really the core of what we do. Share ideas, and hope our customers will like what we have shared, and maybe want to take home the items, or ideas we are sharing. It’s a tough business, but it’s heartening to see new people getting involved without the pre-conceived notions of what garden retail is.

I love places like Sarah’s. Our nursery group has many places that are a lot like Sarah’s, and people who exemplify the new era of garden retail. It’s about sharing ideas without worrying whether someone is going to “steal” your idea. It’s about support for each other as we find our way forward in this new retail landscape. It’s about the freshness of a new business, or an older business re-inventing itself. It’s about looking at the other side and having to make a leap of faith, and then jumping. There is no one to catch you if you fall. You can however, get up, dust yourself off, and try a different approach. But you will still need to make that jump. To all the people dreaming of, or actually doing garden retail, here is hoping you at least make the jump. We need more people making that leap of faith. Sometime's, if your lucky,  you  never even have to land.

The box stores are breeding plants for easier shipping

My last post was a link to Annie of Annie’s Annuals and her most excellent rant, "Dwarf Madness". It concerns some breeders, and their mad science. It seems they are breeding plants to flower sooner for quicker sales at the box store garden center. It’s not only for a quick sale, but they are also breeding plants to grow shorter so they fit into the racks used to deliver plants. It use to be that plants we’re loaded onto trucks individually, and unloaded that way. Not very efficient since plants are all different sizes and shapes when shipped. To speed loading and unloading many suppliers now load plants onto racks that are wheeled off their trucks, and into the nursery. You can fit more plants on the truck this way, cutting costs, and making for easier unloading. They collect the empty racks, and take them back to be filled again. It’s all very neat and organized.

Now the box stores are demanding plants be bred for easier shipping. A friend in the breeding/growers world, Lloyd Traven of Peace Tree Farms had an interesting conversation with a box store representative. Lloyd relates this conversation. “Conversation at Lilytopia yesterday, among 10,000 STEMS of incredible Oriental lilies, many with 12 flowers each a FOOT across and 4+ feet tall: ‘What growth regulator can I use to get these less than 18" tall, including pot?’ Response from bulb breeder---"WHY would you want to do that? The flowers will shrink to 5", they won't last, and the customer will think they are short varieties.’ Blank stare from box store grower—‘I need to fit these on a shipping rack, 3 layers minimum, all the same height and size and bloom stage.’ ‘Maybe you should look for another product to force into a mold. We worked hard to make these magnificent, and you will make them ordinary.’"

It’s worse than I thought. Not being a breeder this kind of stuff was off my radar before. Since I have been hanging with other nursery folks at our Indie garden center group I am getting an earful on a subject that is now on my radar. It seems this is an area where the independent garden center can make some headway against the standardization, and homogenization of our trade. What if the decline in interest in gardening was being helped along by these practices? They are breeding plants for better shipping? That’s what has happened to our vegetables, and look what that did. Now people are growing their own, and finding they taste a whole lot better.

This is just ridiculous. Remember when you buy plants from the box stores you are helping promote this type of thing. Individually smaller plant nurseries and garden centers don’t have the pull necessary to get stuff like this done. It’s the chains and box stores that are breeding the “Shazam” out of gardening. The only people fighting this are places like Annie’s, smaller locally owned operations, and their fans. Next time you think all the plants are the same no matter where you buy them, think again. It does matter where you buy your horticultural supplies.

Rant on Annie!

A fantastic blog post by Annie of Annie's Annuals. When I read stuff like this it makes me proud to be an independent nurseryman.  Without people like her, our trade would be much diminished. She proves that when your small, the best bet is go against the major trends in the industry and start your own.

Rant on Annie!

What an amazing week

How does one explain the intense emotions that this post stirred up? It's clear that when we broached the subject of horticultural companies using social media, it hit a nerve. That was the question I was asking. Is this particular strategy of using garden bloggers to get your message out a good one? What happened is it quickly turned into something else. Sort of a cathartic explosion of pent of feelings that had been simmering just below the surface. Wow! What passion! All those people who "just want to write about the garden and their gardening", apparently don't. They also have some very intense feelings about the direction that gardening, and garden media is taking.

Gardening is not a community of like minded individuals. Everyone has their own idea of what gardening  is. "Gardening should be fun". We hear that often. Really? If your livelihood dependes on it is it still fun? Of course it would be nice if it was, but farming has always been a "tough row to hoe". As more and more people try to make a living from gardening, you'll naturally find different communities of people arising to meet and talk. Your community of gardeners may not agree with the other community of gardeners. Someone who depends on their crop to feed their family has a different set of priorities than some one who just wishes to dabble in the dirt. We need to drop the whole, "gardening should be fun" thing. If you want to have fun in the garden, that's great. If you want to make money from the garden, fine. It's up to you. But it's not always fun. It's a garden.

When you align yourself with one, two, or more horticultural corporations you can't say, "I just want to garden and write about it". Guess what? That company you just aligned yourself with is working against the best interests of someone else. One side or the other is not wrong or bad, unless your on the other side. The idea that you can support a corporation, and not expect someone from the other side to speak up is over. You might wish people who disagree with you would just hang out in their own "garden community". They don't. They like to get out and see what's going on in other communities.

I am a part of the "horticultural industry". Now that "industry" has fragmented into many different industries, each with it's own set of goals. I am aligned with the IGC (Independent Garden Center) industry, yet I think that side of the industry has it's own set of issues. There are some real crappy IGC's out there. That's why it's sometimes hard to say, "support you local indie garden center". Sometimes you can't. What I am trying to accomplish is more along the lines of "give your local indie a chance". You'll soon find out if they are worth your time.  Our goal is to make sure at least people know we exist. After that it's up to each locally owned indie to do something remarkable for their customers. If it doesn't they will eventually be gone, customers first, then the store. You gave them a chance and that's all we could ask. There are some really cool indie garden centers and nurseries. I think the prospects for these types of places are very good. The prospects for the whole nursery industry is less certain. I think it's going to get a whole lot smaller, which likely is a good thing, in the long run. In the short run it's going to get very interesting. It's hard to turn away, and not watch.

You say it so well!

I confess, that until recently Gayla Trail of "You Grow Girl" was off my radar. Sure I had heard of her, and she has a great reputation in the garden media world. It's just our paths didn't cross until recently. Now that I have read some of her essays and posts, it's obvious why she is so popular with her gardening community. Gayla left this comment at my blog today. It summarizes her reasons for cutting back a bit on her interaction in the online world. No, she is not fading away, and still keeps an active online presence. It's just there are other equally, or more important things to do in life, like garden.  Like her, I am not fading away, just trying to cut back on all the noise. Too much noise makes it hard to hear. Oh, and I hope the cough she developed at the end of her comment doesn't get worse.

I believe her comment dovetails with Ian Barclay's post that I just put up here. See what you think.

Why do we make social media so complicated?

I want to share a post done by one of the members of our IGC&N (Independent Garden Centers & Nurseries Group.) By the way, our group now has 287 members, and is growing every day! Ian Barclay, owner of The Desert Northwest and author of a blog by the same name wrote a great post on how not to use social media for your garden center or nursery. He writes about one garden center where he posted on their Facebook page, only to find his post's deleted, twice. Now if the garden center in question found a post that was derogatory or demeaning then I certainly could understand it being removed. His post's we're not, and when a garden center does that it shows they are not very open to having a conversation with people, but rather they are trying to control the message. These day's that doesn't work, but some garden centers, nurseries, and garden media continue with the illusion. I am concerned that some horticultural enterprises, who are jumping into the social media bandwagon, are following the wrong advice. Often this advice comes from the very people who tout them selves as social media experts.

There are no social media experts! Just people who have figured out how to use the various platforms available. Sure someone can tell you to push this or that button, or here is how to turn on this or that feature with Facebook or Twitter. But social media experts? I'm not a social media expert. I am a garden center owner that has figured out how to use some of the platforms available to get the word out.  What you do with  it after that is up to you. Do I need someone to tell me how to start conversation? No.

Simply being a IGC (Independent Garden Center) does not make you better than the local box stores. There a plenty of IGC's that don't get it, as Ian in his post points out. Why wouldn't an honest nursery, with honest advice not want to start a dialog about what they are recommending with Ian? Because they are trying to control the message. It doesn't work that way anymore. If your garden center or nursery that's get "it", and you want to hang with others that do, we have a community of like minded people here. Come join us.

There is no garden blogging community

The Big Boy's Have Gotten The Social Media Bug Bad seems to have it a nerve. It did because it was what a lot of people had felt before, but we're afraid to say. There is no garden blogging community anymore, and those of us in garden blogging knew it. There use to be a community, but now there are many communities. It was bound to happen but the knowledge has "depressed" some people from what I read at various pages. It's especially depressing for those who just thought garden blogging was always going to just be about people gardening, and sharing their love of gardening via The Internet. What has developed are a series of garden blogging communities, each with it's own dynamic. This is a natural progression, and not to be feared. Yet some people are fearful. So fearful they are brought to a point where ethics are thrown out the window, and they do things they wouldn't do otherwise. Fear also has kept some from speaking up about what they saw happening to their "community". They might think if they say something negative they will be ostracized by the community, loose the "link love" and other benefit's that come with being a part of "the community". They might have also felt that if they speak up they would be responsible for the disintegration of the beloved community. They need not be fearful, as the community has fragmented, just like the garden center business has fragmented. Right on!

If you going to try and monetize your blog, great! If you "just want to garden and write about my experiences in the garden", great. The problem is some say the later, but want the former. Ain't going to happen. Like any business you are going to have competition that might not always agree with what you say, and they are going to let you know it. How you react to criticism is going to be a big part of the success, or failure of your blogging business. Sure, if people don't like your blog they can just not read it and move on. They don't always move on. When you align yourself with a brand that has competition (they all do), sometimes the competition won't sit still. They will show up at your blog, and let their feelings be known. It's not  a matter if this is right or wrong, it just is.

Where do we go from  here? It's not really a concern for those who do not want to monetize their blog. What do they care? They can just write away, and say what they want. Those who wish to monetize their blogs need to understand that there is also no one garden business community. There are several, and they compete with one another. "That grower" is not always buddies with "that other grower". "That fertilizer" company is not always friendly with "that other fertilizer" company. Align yourself with one, and people who like the other may not let it go. We may not like that, but it's just the way it is. Get use to it.

I received a comment from Gayla Trail who runs one of the most popular garden communities ever, "You Grow Girl". Since 2000 she has been involved in the online gardening world, way before most of us. She is thinking about cutting back a bit. She said, "Yes. There are lots of places to be online and while it often starts off as a bit of fun, it can quickly become overwhelming. I had to pull back somewhere for my sanity. This is gardening season. I want to be gardening. I need to garden. It is a requirement for living.

Lately I’ve been thinking about taking too much on, especially when it comes to social media and how sometimes this can stem from a fear that if you are not everywhere at all times that you’ll be forgotten and left behind. I don’t want that sort of fear to dominate the choices I make in my career or how I live my life. I want to be okay with taking breaks and disappearing to recharge for a while.

So I’ve begun pulling back. I will likely pull back even more even though the timing is all wrong and most would think I am ill advised in doing so. I have known for nearly 2 years what I want to do next (when this current book is done), and yet I have found myself saying yes to too much, which is starting to get in the way of what I WANT to be doing and how I would like to spend my time." Right On!

That's unusual in the online world, and quite remarkable. So remarkable it got my attention. It's when people do remarkable things that the word spreads, not when brands try to "make things go viral" by having enough people talk online about their product. It backfires, and we witnessed it the last few days. It got me to thinking if I am trying to cover too many bases. I have a Twitter feed, 4 Facebook Pages, two websites, a LinkedIn group with over 1400 members, and this blog. I have purposefully not linked to the above sites, since I am getting tired of seeing social media posts that have a bunch of links to the brand that's being promoted. Where to cut back is the hard part. Perhaps like you, I don't want to miss something important. Yet with more and more noise coming at us everyday, from all the different media outlets, sometimes by doing less, you get more out of it.

What's the buzz?

The way to get people to talk up your brand is to do something remarkable. If you do that then people will spread the word. Why does a place like Annie's Annuals, a smaller grower and retail operation in the SF Bay Area get so much publicity without a large advertising budget? This place has a remarkable fan base which seems to have been built on mostly word of mouth. It's because Annie and her nursery are remarkable! She has stuff you don't find elsewhere, a fun and enthusiastic atmosphere, and you feel like you know the owner. She has put herself out there, and these days that's remarkable, and people freely spread the word. Annie's brand has way more buzz than many older, or more established horticultural brands will ever have.  Just Google Annie's Annuls and you'll see page after page of great reviews. With all the advertising we are inundated with everyday how does you brand stand out? The use of social media will not spread the word when the brand is not that remarkable.  Social Media is a tactic.  As the social media scene get's filled with more and more advertising the only way any brand can hope to stand out is create something unique, and news worthy. How many brands in the horticultural world have that kind of buzz?

You are a summation of ALL your social media accounts

It seem’s that with my last post the pot got stirred.  I apologize to Gina for attributing a quote to her, that was not her's. I have made the correction in my comment's here.  I have no personal agenda against any particular blogger. My blog has over the years had it’s fair share of controversy. I don’t make money from it. A very small percentage of my garden center customers read it. It’s a business blog and as such I cover subjects that involve the trade, and forget that many just want to dig in the dirt. I also now realize that many of the garden writers are not as use to the controversy that sometimes swirls around myself, and my writing. If you got caught up in the whirl wind, and don’t like the attention, I apologize. It’s a new world and I am trying to get use to it, too.

The one thing I have learned from all this is, you are a summation of all you social media accounts.  Your blog may not seem overly partisan, but if your Facebook account or Twitter feed is, where do you draw the line? Your blog may not gush with praise for one brand or another, but what if your Facebook feed say’s otherwise? What happens when what is said at one persons social media outlet doesn’t jive with what’s happening at their other social media outlet's.

I have always said what is on my mind, and the only people who I have to answer to are you. And yes, this time I did have to answer, perhaps a bit long winded as Jack points out in the comments. Soon as I accept sponsor’s or advertisements everything I say has to be seen through that prism. For myself, who makes a living in the brick and mortar world it’s not worth it. Those of you who make money, or hope to make money with their online efforts have different motivations, and I really understand that now.

And now it's off to the garden center where we are preparing for a storm moving in. Suppose to get down to 35deg.F Sunday night. Hail predicted and snow down  to 2500 foot elevation. Not good for all those vegetables people have planted. We'll spend the afternoon gathering them up and protecting them inside. What a drag!

The big boys have gotten the social media bug bad

Like we talked about in the last post, "I love my new (insert brand here)" it appears companies have discovered how

useful garden bloggers are when it comes to getting the word out. Over at Garden Rant they have landed some new advertisers. Both Troy-Built,  the power tool people and Proven Winners, the plant branding people now have ads on the site. What's interesting is both companies use garden bloggers to help get their message out. Troy-Built's ad takes you to their "Measured In Yards, The Lawn and Garden Club".

According to the Troy Built site, "direct from their backyards, these bloggers share their trials, tribulations and triumphs in all things lawn and gardening. Now, they're teaming up with Troy-Bilt® to bring you their best tips and tricks to help make your Saturday in the yard a rewarding one. Let us introduce you to the Saturday Six. In coming months, you will see more from this talented group in The Dirt with how-to videos, sharing favorite lawn and gardening projects, product reviews and giveaways, as well as out and about at local Lowe's® stores."

So these bloggers are going to give us their best tips and tricks to help make my Saturday a "rewarding one". Of course if they really wanted to make this nurseryman's  Saturday a rewarding one they would send customers to their locally owned, independent garden center instead of Lowe's and other box stores. When you visit the bloggers individual sites they of course now sport ads for the "Troy-Built Garden Club" on their sites.

Now in addition to the ad for Troy-Built at Garden Rant, they also sport an ad for Proven Winners. Interestingly enough Proven Winners recently had a event where they had 20 selected garden bloggers flown back to P. Allen Smiths home for an event called Garden2Blog. At this event according to their Facebook page, "P. Allen Smith and his Garden Home Partners gather with 20 garden bloggers for two days of garden tours and workshops." The event was sponsored by a number of companies, including Proven Winners.  We now see Proven Winners ads at many of these same blogs.

At "Jennah's Garden" a garden blogger and member of the Troy Built Team, the author writes, "I’ve reviewed several Troy-Bilt products on the blog before that I got from them through various promotions. I’m the first to admit that it’s a pretty sweet partnership and I love all the products I’ve reviewed for them. And I was SUPER surprised to be invited to be one of the Saturday Six for Troy-Bilt this year.  Gina of  My Skinny Garden gives a very good overview of the dealiyo. But I think this means I am no longer just a garden blogger, but actually a Garden Blogger. (Perhaps I should update my business cards?)"

So here is my question. Do blogs, by sporting ads for companies compromise their objectivity? Did they have any objectivity before? At Jennah's Garden the author lists her creds as, "Troy Bilt’s The Dirt newsletter – July 2010 –Raised Beds and Troy Bilt’s The Dirt newsletter – June(?) 2009 – My First Garden. "

It's tough being a garden blogger writing away in virtual anonymity. When a company offers to buy ad space on your blog it changes everything. Suddenly there is light at the end of the tunnel. A way to make money at something you did before for free. Of course you have to toe the company line. You have to link to other like minded bloggers who also sport the same ads on their blogs. You have to remind people on a regular basis about how much you love mowing your lawn with that "Troy-Built mower bought at Lowe's".

These companies instead of building their own fan base, and speaking to us directly have gone to established garden bloggers to do their work for them. If they get enough of them on board they have the makings of their own network of company mouthpieces who always mention, and link to what the company is promoting.

What do you think about this trend? Am I being too hard on these bloggers and companies? Is this just the way it is going to be when it comes to garden blogging, so get over it Trey? Of course once you get the ads from Troy-Built and Proven Winners on your site other corporations will assume that's where the action is, and soon they will be trying to get these same bloggers to represent them. So for the early adapters it may mean a windfall of advertising coming their way. Time will tell.

For those of us in the locally owned garden center world keep in mind this quote from My Skinny Garden Blog, "and you might see one of us at your local Lowe's this summer providing gardening tips while the Troy-Bilt folks are there teaching customers about their products.  In summary, fun will be had by all!"

"I love my new (insert brand here)"

Over at The Transatlantic Gardener (formally Transatlantic Plantsman) Graham Rice reviews a book titled, The Bad Tempered Gardener. In the post titled, "The Elephant in the Room" what caught my eye was where Graham paraphrases the author of the book, Anne Wareham where she, "complains that all commentary on gardens is positive, sometimes exuberantly and untruthfully so. She’s right, and this is pretty much unique to gardens. Reviews of movies, plumbers, restaurants, political campaigns, exhibitions, cars, even mothers… all just say it as the author sees it. And, often, dislike of the subject inspires fine and entertaining writing. But not gardens and, oddly, not reviews of garden books. When I helped run Plants & Gardens magazine (RIP) long ago, we were praised for our honest book reviews. But no else has been prepared to say that a garden book gives bad advice or recommends poor plants. It’s just not reviewed. Mustn't upset potential advertisers." How true that is. "Mustn't upset potential advertisers". What do you get when you have garden blogs that are sponsored by major corporations involved in gardening? Fluff! "Look how easily so and so handles that (insert brand here)power saw." How about, "excited about my newly planted (insert brand here) container garden in my front yard." One more is, "can't wait to cook up the delicious meals I read about in (insert brand here) book".  There is nothing wrong with writing about how well so and so looks wielding a chain saw, but do we really need to put the brand name in there? Of course, that's who your being sponsored by.

This brings us to this passage from the book. Anne say's, "that all commentary on gardens is positive, sometimes exuberantly and untruthfully so." That seems to be the trend on The Internet. Who would speak badly about a corporate sponsor? Everything is better with my new (insert brand here) pruning tools. That wouldn't be because you just received a bunch of those (insert brand here) pruning tools for free, would it? Yes, it seems everything is better with (insert brand here).

Major garden corporations are now jumping into social media. For some it's too risky to just write great content, and let the readers find them based on their writing. The Internet is the wild west, and it's hard to control the message. Instead they try to orchestrate what is said. What if you write something in your garden blog and the legions don't swoop down and praise your writing? How embarrassing! Better to have a group of people who are committed to the (insert brand here) cause that can praise your writing and your (insert brand here).

It was bound to happen. It presents a huge potential for those who are willing to be independent, speak their minds, and create their own mini-brand (garden bloggers and independent garden centers). People will  migrate towards brands that don't constantly shout, "look at me". Sure it may not land you a seat at the (insert brand here) dinner table, or get you that(insert brand here)free gift, but it will gain you readers who appreciate that fact that you are not always trying to find a place in your blog post to (insert brand here).