Last week, I promised a few more items I spied at the recent IGC Show in Chicago, and, good to my word—here they are!

I’ll start off with a conversation I had with Lance Walheim at the BioAdvanced booth. You’ll recall that Bayer Environmental Science’s consumer business was sold in 2016 to a family-owned French company, SBM Life Science. What was once branded as Bayer Advanced consumer products have been transitioning to the new name, BioAdvanced. The branding transition is finishing up this summer.

Customers who recognized the blue Bayer bottles will still see the blue bottle and many of the same products. There are a few new additions, including an All-In-One Weed & Feed, a 3-In-1 Weed & Feed for Southern Lawns and a Triple Action Lawn Fertilizer Plus. Also new is a new product called NutriOne, a “proprietary formulation” plant food that boosts root strength and health. That comes in a dry granular, a super concentrated granular and a liquid. 

What interested me was what’s in BioAdvanced’s green bottles. That would be the line of Natria products, their “alternative solutions” or natural products. Lance called these the second generation of natural products, which bridge the efficiency gap between synthetics and the natural products. That’s what appeals to consumers, their research says, and that’s where the opportunities lie for retailers. And a bunch of the Natria products are OMRI-listed, too.

Oh, and their new BioAdvanced Blue Guru Solution Center site will be up and running this fall. Don’t know what disease you’re dealing with? Can’t place the name of that insect? Blue Guru will help you narrow it down and ID what you’re dealing with.  

My next chat was with Ron at EZ Shipper. Those are the folks who rent (and sell) pallet rack systems. Typically, their customers are the growers or nurseries where you retailers order your plants.

I know, not a photo from IGC Show. Silly me, I missed my photo op at the show. Ron, thanks for sending along a shot of what the EZ Shipper looks like!

So, why were these guys displaying at the IGC Show? Because seeing what they offer is the best way for you guys to understand what they’re all about and why you’d accept these rack systems into your garden center at the peak of spring.

• It’s retail ready the moment it hits your store. No need to unpack.
• You can leave the rack pick-up scheduling up to them.
• EZ Shipper's Rack Tracking System helps you track your shipments.
• EZ Shipper’s dedicated pick up means there’s no need for you to disassemble and deal with getting rid of the dunnage yourself.
• You’ll feel better knowing that whatever is on the empty rack that can be used again (and again and again) will indeed be reused and not wasted. You’ll also feel good knowing that EZ Shipper assesses and repairs racks, so you’ll have a good rack come in your door.

Essentially it saves you, the retailer, time, labor and risk. Who doesn’t want to save all three of those?  

Next was a brief visit to the folks at the Heartland Design & Marketing booth. Owner Werner Sperzel had spotted me on the shuttle from the hotel earlier in the morning, slipped me his card and lured me in with wording like, “stuff you’ve never seen before.”

I woke up with hair just like that "bad hair day" tag! There are quite a few other fun and funky tags in Heartland's collection. And you are right, Werner—I have not seen anything quite like those tags! Fun stuff, and certainly attention-getting, too.  

That would be the Lambert Peat Moss booth. These folks have been in the peat industry for 90 years now. Long time! So why not try something new, right? They have a few new items for you retailers.

Professional Organic All Purpose Potting Mix. OMRI-listed for organic growing, this mix has the same high quality as the products they sell to professional growers, just in a different formulation. It’s all-purpose, so use it for anything from seed germination to beds to interiorscapes. It comes in three sizes for retail: 8-qt., 1 cu.ft. loose bags and 2 cu.ft. compressed bags. I like the detail on the bottom of the bags listing the product name and formulation. That’ll allow you to stack the bags horizontally if you need to.

All-Purpose Organic Potting Mix and Garden Soil. Again, the organic offerings are key nowadays, so Lambert is filling this category in their mix and soil lineup.

On top of that, have you seen their packaging for their lineup of bagged mixes? They did a nice job on the design, really eye-catching stuff. And they have a few mixes that are not as commonly found in your average retail-ready lineup, including a tree and shrub mix and a potting mix with moisture crystals.

Two Buzzes ago, I showed some highlights of the IGC Show Retail Tour stops, including this neon sign from Pesche’s. I had never seen a neon sign in a garden center before!

But apparently, they do exist at other IGCs. Kate Terrell sent me proof.

If you’re new to Wallace’s and looking for the lawn category, you can’t miss it. And I love the design of the sign, too.

Anyone else have a neon sign? Send it my way at ewells@ballpublishing.com.  

Meteorologically speaking, autumn begins this Saturday, September 1. Unlike previous years, I haven’t been inundated with “fall” stuff yet, except for candy corn displays in the supermarket. But maybe I’m just not passing by or stopping in the places filled with mums, ornamental kale and more mums.

But why stick with annuals? Fellow Ball Publishing e-newsletter editor Paul Pilon, who pens the Perennial Pulse newsletter, included a bit about perennials for fall sales. Here are two that he said slot in perfectly with the fall color scheme.

Echibeckia Summerina Butterscotch Biscuit

Echibeckia Summerina Electra Shock

Here’s what Paul said about perennials for fall sales:

“Marketing perennials in the fall as decorations rather than perennials will break down mental barriers and allow consumers to simply enjoy them rather than being concerned with where to plant them. It's definitely value-added for consumers who know these plants, but let's face it, most consumers are hungry for attractive decorations rather than planting a landscape. If that's how they want to purchase perennials in the fall, I say let's embrace it and sell all the decorations we can.”

What’s your strategy for fall plant, er, I mean, décor sales? Drop me a NOTE about it if you would.  

September also means that National Indoor Plant Week (NIPW) kicks off pretty soon. It’s always the third week of September. That pretty much corresponds to when I bring my own houseplants in from their outdoor summer vacation. It’s a good time to have it as outdoor gardens are winding down, people are spending more time indoors and college kids want to add some life to their dorm rooms (something other than mold in their small fridges).

Start promoting National Indoor Plant Week now to get the word out about any houseplant department workshops or sales you’ll have during that week. Maybe there’s a contest you could run, giving out prizes for the oldest houseplant or some such accomplishment. If and when you do run a contest or promotion around this, drop me a line HERE to let me know how it goes.

NIPW was created in 2007 by Mark Martin of Interior Tropical Gardens in the Chicago area. The point was to bring more awareness to all the great stuff plants can do for the indoor environment (I don’t have to tell you what those are, you already know). Mark and his team will be giving away over 7,000 plants this year to promote NIPW. With the recent boom in the houseplant market, celebrating NIPW is definitely something you should get on board with. Is there a coordinated social media campaign for this? I’m not sure—but what’s stopping you folks from taking the lead on that right now?  

Speaking of houseplants, take a look at this succulent of mine.

Eek! What’d I do?! It’s been sitting in a south-facing window that gets mostly direct light for about 6 hours each day. I’m sure it’s a goner, but I’d appreciate knowing what happened so I don’t do it again. Thoughts?