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A weekly news and commentary service of GrowerTalks magazine.

November 14, 2006

Back from Horti Fair now, and I’ve had a week to let it all sink in. I’ve got more trends I’ll share in the coming weeks as they seem appropriate, including one rack display that I’ll comment on below.

I didn’t report on the Aalsmeer Market show yet, which I visited on Friday of my Horti Fair week. I’ve come to count on that show for cool new packaging ideas, but other than another look at that clever combination plant/bath (or spa or beach or whatever) gift pack that I showed you from Horti Fair (here’s another look at it), I didn’t see anything new.

Unless, that is, you count dyed and glittered kale …

Also, neither show seemed to offer much evidence of what the current fashionable colors are. For instance, when I visited the Casual Furniture Show in Chicago this fall, it was obvious that one of THE big home décor color combinations is beiges and browns combined with rusty shades of orange and red. I saw loads of furniture reflecting that. But at Horti Fair, I only saw one small display out of hundreds that picked up that color palette. Otherwise, the displays covered every color and texture on the planet, with a heavy emphasis on colored gel and feathers. It will be very interesting to see if the exhibitors at January’s IPM Essen in Germany pick up more on home décor trends, as they seemed to in 2006.

Would this work in the real world?

With so much product retailing straight off the shipping rack these days, I’m always interested in new ways to make these displays look appealing to the end consumer. Here’s a great one, for boxwood. Not only is the overall appearance really tight, the signage, which indicates how many plants to plant in 1 meter, is an excellent “silent salesman.” All in all, a fine-looking bit of retail merchandising.

But now put on your reality hat. Roll this into your typical retail outlet anywhere in the world, and what would it look like in a few days? The plants would be picked over and in disarray, and probably wilted, too. If they had been watered, the POP would be a sodden mess-—a dog’s breakfast, as my friend Dean Bemis would say.

Concepts like this are wonderful. But in this business, whether grower or retailer, it’s all about execution.

DIY vs. DIFM: Okay, so I’m weird

You guys pretty much left me hanging a few weeks back when I was discussing do-it-yourself vs. do-it-for-me trend and I mentioned how much I enjoy mowing my lawn and how I think that mowing is an important part of being in touch with your garden. A couple of you see my point of view, but most of you recognize that, want to or not, people just don’t have time to do it themselves.

My family (father and three brothers) has been in the greenhouse business all their lives. They worked long days (6 am–6 pm) and the last thing that they wanted to do is mow the lawn after 6 pm. Personally, I do not have a physical demanding job, so I kind of like to mow the lawn and smell the gas fumes. So it all depends whom you ask. If growers say that they mow the lawn themselves, then they must have time on their hands!
- Theo J. Blom, Ph.D., University of Guelph

I am a sales rep for a large wholesale bedding company. In the spring and summer I am on the road six–seven days a week. By the time I would drag the mower, trimmer, edger, and blower out and finish the job it would be an hour-plus. My lawn guy pulls up to the house and is gone in 17 minutes and he does a beautiful job. This allows me to plant annuals and perennial in the evening as a relaxing outlet to the day. The neighbors are happy not to hear a mower at 8 pm, too.
- Julie Mintun

“Time is the currency of the future," predicted Anna Ball several years ago at an industry luncheon. We were encouraged to find ways to save our customers time, pointing out time is more precious than money. Whether you are a busy grower or a maxed-out homemaker, everyone has only 24 hours per day to decide what is important and what is urgent. After putting out fires and paying attention to others, we try to rest and enjoy distractions: fishing, golf, TV, the gym, or America’s favorite pastime: gardening. Whoever does the work, our highest and greatest objective should be to encourage people to enjoy the pleasures of plants. We invest our time where our heart is.
- Bob Cook, Florida Certified Horticulture Professional

I think, in today’s society, there's got to be a compromise somewhere along the line with home maintenance and raising a family. I work for a grower in Southern California. With a blended family, both parents who work outside the home and gone over 10 hours per day, school, band, sports, scouts, etc, who has time to mow the lawn? We have a “mow and blow.” He's in and out every week so the lawn always looks great. Luckily, I have a family who enjoys being outside and doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty. The planting, weeding, sprinkler repair—all the fun stuff—is left for us to enjoy as a family.
-Alissa Adams, Briggs Tree Co.

When I get home at night the last thing I want to do is mow. I guess that’s just like the shoemaker’s kids not having shoes or the carpenter whose house is never finished. I know it’s a bad thing for us green industry people to have unkempt yards. So, I am planning on building a new house in the next year or so and have the perfect answer to the mowing question. Visit www.friendlyrobotics.com and you’ll see what I mean. RoboMow, a robotic lawnmower that keeps your lawn looking great! I can’t wait to get one!
- Jim Peterson, Sonshine Growers of Maine, LLC

I must say that we are seeing more and more of people wanting to have services done for them. It’s not just landscaping either, it’s planting containers, planting annuals and perennials, and even custom hanging baskets and also installing these at their home. The one thing that might seem somewhat odd is that most of these are younger people in their 20s and 30s. It seems that both members of the family are working and probably both have good jobs and very little free time. They are willing to pay for these services, and most want instant show. Maybe this is partly because no one taught them to garden when they were kids? This is not a bad thing to happen to the green industry, but we have to be willing to service it. This is where I think some of the problem is in finding good labor to do this. It is certainly a challenge now and probably just a bigger challenge in the future.
- Mark Landa , Boulevard Flower Gardens

My co-workers never miss an opportunity to point out that I am NOT the typical consumer, which is why I try not to judge the marketplace by what I think about it. I mean, I build furniture, run wiring and changed the manifold gaskets on my van. I learned to weld just for the fun of it, for pete’s sake!
Reader Tim Crawford is probably weird like me. He made an interesting analogy, even if it’s not the opinion of the vast majority of the general public.

The thrill, the excitement, the passion, a.k.a "the value" of plants and flowers is in the planting, nurturing, growing and the satisfaction that comes after the creation of a beautiful garden, arrangement, etc., Paying somebody else to take on these activities is like having a delicious piece of fruit but having somebody else to eat it and savor it.

Speaking of which … Depot wants landscapers

A reader sent me this help wanted ad, spotted in the September issue of Landscape Trades magazine.

No more negative ads … how dull

Hasn’t television gotten almost boring without all politicians raking each other through the muck in 15-second spots? Now Desperate Housewives seems tame in comparison. But now that the dust has settled, I’ve got a question: What do you think the elections will mean to your business and our industry? Good things? Bad things? Click HERE to respond.
I could ask the professional political pundits I know, but they’ve all got agendas. I want to know what the politically savvy grower thinks.

Finally … get some tax dollars back!

I saw a press release recently that Walters’ Gardens in Michigan has received another alternative energy grant to help pay for installation of some heating equipment (they got one a while back for a biomass boiler; this latest one is for pollution control equipment that will let them burn corn and wood pellets more efficiently).

That’s cool news, but I was more curious about how YOU can get some money—and how much! So I called their grant expert, Chris Byrnes of Viability, LLC. Chris is a grant writer. It’s his job to know who’s got the money and how to get it, and he’s got quite a few greenhouse clients. He gets paid a percentage of the grant amount.

Chris told me that grant money is available from USDA and from some states. For an alternative energy project like a biomass boiler, you can get up to a quarter of the full project cost—up to $500,000. For energy efficiency grants (like installing curtain systems), you can get up to $250,000 (again, one-fourth of the project cost, maximum).

You can go to www.grants.gov for federal grant info, but why not work with Chris? He is the expert, after all, and he knows how to get state money and even private foundation money. Check out his Web site at www.viabilityonline.com, e-mail him at chris@viabilityonline.com or call him at 616-886-1691. He’s happy to offer a free consultation.

I asked Chris if he had any suggestions or saw any common mistakes when it comes to grants, and he said it’s all about timing. “You can never start to early.” Grants are incentives, he explains, and the government likes to think you wouldn’t be able to do the project without their financial help. Because of that, if you’ve already put a down payment on the equipment, your application will probably be rejected. Also, you may have to wait for the grant to be decided upon before initiating the project. So you have to be patient.

To me it sounds like a win-win. If you’re considering any sort of installation, why not let the government pay for some of it? It’s your money, after all.

See you next time,
Chris

Chris Beytes
Editor
GrowerTalks