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Featured Companies
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Cheap Tricks: Fun For The Whole Family
| Jennifer Polanz
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>> Published Date: 7/26/2012
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 Go Native
How do you sell native plants? Why, you capture the imagination of young and old alike with a butterfly tent. Ray Wiegand’s set up a tent filled with native plants like butterfly bushes, coneflowers and daylilies, among other types, and a plethora of beautiful butterflies. Little cups of sugar water with foam paint brushes (available at the local craft store) make for excellent feeding tools that delight the children, and provide excellent photo ops for parents and grandparents. Signs highlight the lifecycle of the butterfly. In all, it makes a great attraction for a time when most people aren’t thinking about the garden center, and sell native plants to boot.
Show ‘Em How It’s Done
The initial setup may be an investment, but a mock-up of the front of a house affords ample opportunity to showcase the highlights of the seasons in plant material and accessories. This was in an out-of-the-way spot in the garden center and put on a dazzling display of what summer looks like in Michigan.
 Cool Tools
Tools can be a problem area for many garden centers. It’s difficult to display them neatly yet effectively. Ray Wiegand’s uses this clean-looking, wood-finished slatwall setup spaced well apart for easy shopping.
For The Fairies
The folks at Ray Wiegand’s don’t do anything half-way, and that goes for the fairy gardening section, too. From enormous, ornate fairy homes to modest stone ones, a multitude of accessories and Stepables-branded plants, this section covered everything a fairy-lover could hope for. More importantly, pre-made fairy gardens were present for inspiration and for those who may lack the vision, but not the passion, for fairy gardening.
Everything But The Water
Water gardening can be a tricky department, but Ray Wiegand’s does it right with a well-trained staff of six people (new hires to the department are shadowed by a veteran for at least two months), as well as carrying all the necessities. In today’s retail, that means pondless waterfall systems, rocks, pumps, fish, water plants and more. And generic, pre-formed ponds are a thing of the past. Ray Wiegand’s custom-fits virtually all ponds nowadays with 45 mil. liners, giving the customer the time, experience and satisfaction to keep ‘em coming back. Blue Thumb Distributing, which manufactures the PondBuilder line of equipment, is the source for many of the retailer’s products.
 Mr.&Mrs.Fix-It
Diagnostic sections are becoming more popular in garden centers, and for good reason. Independents have to be the experts, which means a dedicated space to diagnose pest and disease issues. At Ray Wiegand’s it’s called Garden Remedies, and it’s located in a prominent spot near the entrance of the main Garden Store, which also houses the solutions for pest and disease issues.
Child’s Play
Within close proximity of both the butterfly house and the fairy gardens is this display of Melissa & Doug outdoor toys. A kid (and parent) favorite, Melissa & Doug has the Sunny Patch line of gardening accessories, including carts, gloves, tools, watering cans and more to keep the kids gardening right next to mom and dad. GP
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