IGC Show Announces Garden Center Tours

Ellen C. Wells

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times: Touring garden centers is the BEST way to get ideas to improve your own business (aside from reading buZZ! and Green Profit, of course). This summer the IGC Show has TWO opportunities to hop on a bus and check out what your peers are doing to turn a profit.

Those two opportunities take place the day before the IGC East (August 3 in the Baltimore, Maryland area) and IGC Chicago (August 17 in Chicagoland). Here’s a rundown of the stops on each tour:

IGC East (all in Maryland)
Conscious Corner, Clarksville
Johnson’s Florist and Garden Centers, Olney and Kensington
Brookside Gardens, Wheaton
The Behnke Nurseries Co., Beltsville
 
IGC Chicago (all in Illinois)
Rock Valley Garden Center, Rockford
Gensler Gardens, Love’s Park and Davis Junction
Village Green Home & Garden—Riverside, Rockford
Klehm Arboretum & Botanic Garden, Rockford
Pepper Creek, Rockford

Each tour is a daylong opportunity to network with other IGC retailers and talk about the highs (and maybe lows) of the day’s stops. FAIR WARNING: Sign up and reserve your seat ASAP! Like I said, tours are awesome and these will surely sell out fast. For more about the IGC Shows and to register, visit www.igcshow.com. GP