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Featured Companies
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Cover Story
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Countrywide Classics: The Best Sellers from East to West
| Ellen C. Wells
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>> Published Date: 9/15/2010
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Churchill’s Gardens
Exeter, New Hampshire
David Kirkpatrick
Top 5 Annuals: Supertunias (esp. Royal Velvet), Superbells, Butterfly argyranthemum, bacopa, scaevola
Top 5 Perennials: Salvia, nepeta, echinacea, rudbeckia, ornamental grasses
Top 5 Flower Colors: Purple/blue, pinks, yellow, white, orange
Top 5 Edibles: Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, herbs, zucchini
Popular Pottery Colors: Blue, black, red
Customer Count Compared to 2009? Down
Average Ticket Compared to 2009? Down—in August our customer count was down, but our sales were equal to 2009.
Additional Comments?
Product selection, merchandising and positive salesmanship made a huge difference in a down customer count year. Many departments exceeded or came close to their target sales levels.
American Plant
Bethesda, Maryland and Great Falls, Virginia
Marlene Bessel
Top 5 Annuals: Impatiens, geraniums, pansies, vinca, petunias (Millionbells and Supertunias)
Top 5 Flower Colors: White, pinks, reds, purple, yellow
Top 5 Edibles: Full-sized tomatoes, patio/container tomatoes, basils, peppers, lettuces
Most Popular Container Combos:
• Shade: Impatiens, torenia, tuberous begonias, ferns and vinca vine
• Sun: Millionbells, bacopa, sun coleus, lantana and ipomoea
Popular Accessory Colors: Naturals/rustic, blue, gun-metal grey, bronze
Customer Count Compared to 2009? Client visits were about the same, or slightly higher.
Average Ticket Compared to 2009? Average ticket sale was about the same.
Additional comments?
It’s always about the weather. The economy certainly plays a role, but people want to feel like they are doing something healthy, sustainable and fun, regardless. They just don’t want to do it when it’s too wet, too cold, too hot, too dry. We’re fortunate to be located in an area where the federal government and peripheral businesses help keep employment levels somewhat stable. That being said, people are still careful about how they spend their dollars. We have seen a big up-tick in edibles.
Hole’s Greenhouses and Gardens
St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
Valerie Hole
Top 5 Annuals: Petunias (vegetative and seed), tomatoes, annual vines (mainly ipomoea and English ivy), geraniums (vegetative only), annual grasses (mainly pennisetum)
Top 5 Edibles: Tomatoes, strawberries, herbs (basil is by far the biggest seller in this category), cucumbers, peppers
Most Popular Container Combos:
Our most popular containers were anything that had calibrachoa and/or vegetative petunias in it. This includes hanging baskets. We also grow some containers with mixed perennials in them. In this department, our most popular sellers were mixes that had “true” blue-flowering and purple-flowering plants. Although we received lots of moisture this season, our past five years have been droughts, so customers were also focused on those planters that had drought-tolerant plants in them.
Popular Pottery Colors: Black (by far), brown/mocha, pewter grey
Customer Count/Sales Per Customer Compared to 2009?
• March—customer count up/sales per customer down
• April—customer count up/sales per customer up
• May—customer count down/sales per customer down
• June—customer count up/sales per customer slightly down
Additional Comments?
Sales of vegetative annuals continue to increase, while traditional annual packs (seed-started varieties) continue to decrease. The chains/mass merchandisers have taken over many of the traditional gardening categories, which means as an independent, it is more important than ever to continue to be innovative and unique.
Tagawa Garden Center
Centennial, Colorado
Jere Fukai
Top 5 Annuals: Petunias, geraniums, sun coleus, vegetative lobelia, calibrachoa
Top 5 Perennials: Ornamental grasses, agastache/salvia, rudbeckia/coreopsis, echinacea, Stepables (ground cover)
Top 5 Edibles: Tomatoes, peppers, squash/cucumbers, basil, strawberries/raspberries
Popular Pottery Colors: For pottery: Blue, red. For home décor: Chartreuse green, orange, red.
Customer Count Compared to 2009? Up in April, down in May, slightly up in June, up in July
Average Ticket Compared to 2009? Down
Additional Comments?
We are still seeing weather as the biggest factor in April and May. We had great weather most of April and cooler weather the end of April and first half of May. We had a very long, cold winter in Colorado and our customers were anxious for spring. We were grateful for good weather in June and July. (We escaped the terrible hailstorms from 2009 that made our customers give up on their gardens). We have seen continued growth in edible gardening and customers converting part of their yard to vegetables, herbs and fruit. There is also a big demand for vegetables to grow in containers. Edible gardening is also very much a family/couple activity. We are optimistic for 2011 and hope the weather is great for all of us.
Hillermann Nursery & Florist
Washington, Missouri
Sandi Hillermann McDonald
Top 5 Annuals: Petunias (Wave, Surfinia, etc.), Diamond Frost, lantana, geraniums, begonias (Dragon Wing and BIG)
Top 5 Perennials: Hosta, daylilies, heucheras, astilbes, geraniums
Top 5 Flower Colors: Pink, coral, red, yellow, white
Top 5 Edibles: Herbs, tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons
Most Popular Container Combos: Calibrachoa and petunia, verbena and calibrachoa, begonia and lysmachia, impatiens and spider plants, tomato and basil
Popular Pottery/Décor colors: Tan/khaki, terra cotta, black, green, gold
Additional Comments?
Spring 2010, for the third year in a row, has been a challenge. I am anticipating a great 2011. Mother Nature can’t hold a grudge for four years, can she? No, seriously, the interest is very high, the customer anticipation is strong, and we are looking for the upswing to happen shortly. Stay sharp and keen and to your plan and remember the customer wants and needs our support and education. We are excited about the challenges ahead. We have met as a team and have 2011 planned and ready. I can’t wait to start the process. Bring her on!
Rockledge Gardens
Rockledge, Florida
Theresa Riley
Top 5 Annuals: Impatiens, petunias, violas, coleus, zinnias
Top 5 Perennials: Pentas, salvia, milkweed, angelonia, lantana
Top 5 Flower Colors: Yellow, purple, pink, red, orange
Top 5 Edibles: Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, eggplant, collards (also fruit trees … citrus, tropical fruit, peaches and apples)
Customer Count Compared to 2009? Up
Average Ticket Compared to 2009? Down
Additional Comments?
We have tried hard to position ourselves as “the answer people” when it comes to gardening. The local paper calls us frequently when they are writing articles. We conduct free seminars every Saturday for our customers. We feel this helps us to establish a good relationship with them and to be their trusted source for garden products, plants and advice.
Calloway’s Nursery
17 retail locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, 2 in Houston
Tim Runté
Top 5 Annuals: Begonia Bada Boom/Bada Bing 4 in., periwinkle Cora 4 in., impatiens Xtreme 4 in., petunia Hurrah 4 in., ipomoea 4 in.
Top 5 Perennials: Hosta 1 gal., daylily 4.5 in., verbena 4.5 in., salvia 4.5 in., coreopsis 4.5 in.
Top 5 Flower Colors: Red, pink/lavender, white, yellow, mix
Most Popular Container Combos: $19.99 price point (by units), $29.99 price point (by retail dollars), Aladdin EarNautical Mix petunias
Popular Accessory Colors: Earth-tone greens, earth-tone browns, earth-tone creams
Customer Count Compared to 2009? Up
Average Ticket Compared to 2009? Up
Additional Comments?
We’re very optimistic on the outlook for retail garden centers in Texas. Our customers are continually benefiting from the improvements made to products we offer. Kudos to those breeders, growers and manufacturers that work diligently to improve their products so that the home gardener is more successful.
Minter Country Garden Ltd.
Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada
Lisa Minter-Bustin
Top 5 Annuals: Osteospermum, pansies, bacopa, calibrachoa, ipomoea (mainly green)
Top 5 Perennials: Lavender, Evergold carex, grasses, heuchera, hosta
Top 5 Flower Colors: Orange, purple, scarlet red, pink, yellow
Top 5 Edibles: Basil, Tomato, Goji berries, Blueberries, salad greens
Most Popular Container Combos: Annuals with perennials and grasses; lots of color and texture
Popular Accessory Colors: Black! (and a little purple and copper)
Additional Comments?
Remember you are first and foremost a garden center and, as such, need to ensure you stock garden staples. With today’s economy, we all are trying to reduce inventories, but need to be able to provide solutions for our customers, not just the information. I’m always surprised at how many people will come into our store to find a rather basic, but perhaps not right, in-season product that they can’t seem to get elsewhere.
DeWayne’s Inc.
Selma, North Carolina
Tina Lee
Top 5 Annuals: Gerbera daisy, petunia, impatiens, portulaca, geraniums
Top 5 Perennials: Chapel Hill lantana, Miss Huff lantana, coral bells, phlox, salvia
Top 5 Edibles: Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, herbs
Most Popular Container Combos: Spike in the center surrounded by heat-tolerant annuals surrounding such as portulaca, Million Bells
Customer Count Compared to 2009? Gardening was down; storewide was up
Average Ticket Compared to 2009? Gardening was down; storewide was up
Additional Comments?
Plant sales have been disappointing this year for us. We started out strong this spring, but after Mother’s Day, plant sales went down. Thank goodness we are a very diverse company. We actually opened a Ladies Boutique at our location in April and it is doing very well. Overall, we are up 17% over 2009 total sales. GP
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