Seen From the Road

Jennifer Zurko

Signs
1. Sometimes signs don’t have to be fancy, like this one at Gardens of Babylon in downtown Nashville. Just tell it like it is.

2 & 3. Riverbend Nursery’s retail area in Franklin, Tennessee, gives their signs a touch of personality, which goes a long way to attract customers and make them smile. (This was taken the week before Mother’s Day.)  

4 & 5. Pike’s in Atlanta had a very well-organized houseplant area, separated by high-light and low-light plants, and they made it obvious with their signage.

Snacks
6 & 7. The Barn Nursery had a small kitchenette with a coffee bar, vending machines and water cooler for their guests. It didn’t take a lot of space, set against the wall in a small area between two greenhouses. They also had a comfy seat if you didn’t want to walk around the garden center with your drink. 

Statues
8 & 9. The Barn Nursery in Chattanooga is 7.5 acres of “poke-around factor.” Every time you turned, you ran into something unexpected, like these metal statues that owner Cole Webster says kids love.

Seats
10. Furniture serves as a multi-purpose item that you can sell while also offering your customers to take a load off and stay awhile. Gardens of Babylon put one of their benches near a bubbling fountain surrounded by trees and shrubs for some extra ambience.

11. Riverbend has the real estate to take it a step further and put benches under a long wooden pergola that also provides a nice place to sell hanging baskets.

Stands
12 & 13. Elder’s Ace Hardware in Chattanooga showcases their smaller houseplants in different ways using different types of standing displays. Customers can easily shop for the Proven Winners leafjoy collection and other indoor plants in smaller containers from high to low. GP