Last time, I mentioned the passing of retail garden center pioneer Bob Ench, founder of Flowertime in New York, and I asked if any of you had memories of Bob. Here are two:

"My very first real job in 1988 was working at Flowertime in Copiague, New York, taking care of all of the indoor tropical plants. Flowertime was known for its customer service. There was a full-time staffed Horticultural Help Desk where customers could bring their lawn and garden questions. I would stand at that desk and watch all the samples coming in. From that moment I knew I wanted to learn more about plant insects and diseases. I followed the passion that Flowertime created all the way to getting my MS degree in Plant Pathology. When I received my horticulture degree from Farmingdale along the way, Bob Ench was the commencement speaker. His enthusiasm about the industry was unmatched. For me, 36 years of a rewarding career track was sparked by a little old man named Red Keller who worked at the Horticulture Help Desk at the Copiague Flowertime. Rest in peace, Bob.”—Jillanne Johnson, Kurt Weiss Greenhouses

“Bob was one the first plant retailer visionaries I met when I started in the business in 1976. The team he created are some of the industry's greatest experts that came along because of his mentoring with a couple easily coming to mind—Vince Naab (former Home Depot merchant) and Bill Bott (former Frank’s VP of Operations and GM of Angel Plants, New York). Bob was always gracious when I was with him and I learned a lot from him. He will be missed dearly. RIP, Bob.”—Mike Rimland, Rimland’s Nursery/Costa Farms

Also last week, I announced mountainmint as the Perennial Plant Association’s 2025 Perennial Plant of the Year. Bob Ambrose of Riverview Acres Farm wrote to say, “You neglected to mention this is also excellent as a cut flower. We’ve been using it for several years.”

Good tip, Bob! And, also, based on this photo I found from Roxanne’s Dried Flowers (thanks, Roxanne!), it makes a pretty dried flower, too. By the way, it's Zones 4 to 8 (in case I neglected to mention that last time).

Might it be a throwback to what George and Vic used to attend as the one-day “Short Course” at Ohio State back in the day when “Kip”would ring the bell and call the meeting to order? Who knows … but anyway, Dr. Garrett Owen emailed to ask if we’d help him promote the inaugural Ohio Floriculture & Nursery Conference, which he's hosting on Thursday, October 17 at The Ohio State Controlled Environment Agricultural Research Complex (CEARC) in Columbus, Ohio. You can attend in person ($60) or virtually ($40).

A full day of educational sessions will provide you with the most up-to-date information of the key sciences and technologies contributing to floriculture and nursery crop production. This event will bring nationally and internationally renowned speakers of key areas of plant nutrition and growth regulation, biostimulants, water quality, root-zone substrate sciences, disease control and sampling to advance the sustainability of greenhouse and nursery crop production.

Lots of great sessions, including:

- Top Tips for Finishing Annuals Efficiently
- Optimizing DLI for Boston Fern Production
- Ethephon Drenches for Annuals and Perennials
- ID and Management of Common Diseases of Ornamental Plants
- Managing Water to Ensure Profitable Production in the Future
- Establishing and Maintaining Rootzone pH
- In-House Nutritional Monitoring
- Gearing up for Spring: A Greenhouse, Nursery and Garden Center Checklist

And more!

Speakers include Dr. Owen, plus Dr. Christopher Currey, Dr. Michelle Jones, Dr. Francesca Peduto Hand, Dr. Jim Owen, Dr. Francesca Rotondo, Dr. James Altland, Dr. Beth Scheckelhoff and more.

Plus, if you're there in person, you get lunch and a tour of the CEARC facilities.

Learn more HERE.

In an effort to “boost the fiscal health and success” of its members, AmericanHort just announced the new AmericanHort Financial Benchmarking Survey & Industry Report.

This initiative, conducted in partnership with Industry Insights, the largest provider of financial benchmarking surveys for national trade associations, is set to empower members to improve the fiscal health and success of their business. Participation in the survey is free for AmericanHort members and all participants will receive the Industry Report.

“Financial benchmarking is an important way to drive improved business performance,” said Ken Fisher, AmericanHort President and CEO. “We believe having this information can help business leaders make strategic decisions, improve productivity and reduce costs.”

These are some of the benefits of participating in the survey:

- Utilize information to enhance business strategies and gain a competitive edge in the market

- Access comprehensive benchmarking data to identify strengths, best practices and areas for improvement

- Leverage the data to make informed decisions that drive profitability and growth

- Receive essential comparative financial data on sales, revenue, cost of goods sold, SG&A expenses, operating profit, inventory and receivables, and understand how your company compares to other survey respondents

Completing the survey is simple. Participants, who must be AmericanHort members, are asked to provide company information and share data from standard balance sheet and income statement reports. Data can be easily uploaded directly from financial accounting software programs like QuickBooks, Sage and others.

All data remains confidential. Individual company data is never shared and all benchmark data is reported in aggregate, guaranteeing the utmost privacy and security.

The survey portal will be open until September 15. Companies who complete the survey will receive the AmericanHort Financial Benchmark Industry Report in October. AmericanHort premium member respondents will also see a side-by-side comparison of your company compared to others in the industry through The Company Comparison Report available to them at no additional cost.

For more information and to participate in the survey, CLICK HERE.

I take it as a good omen that they were announced on my birthday, July 9: All-America Selections has five new AAS Winners available for the 2025 gardening season. They are:

Dianthus Capitan Magnifica (National winner)
Zinnia Zydeco Fire (National winner)
Nasturtium Baby Gold, Baby Yellow, Baby Red (all Regional winners)

As I assume you know (but I’ll reiterate anyway), AAS Winners are trialed throughout North America by professional, independent, volunteer judges who grow thesse new, never-before-sold entries next to comparisons that are considered best-in-class. Only those entries that have superior garden performance—better than the comparisons—are granted the AAS award designation.

Interspecific Dianthus Capitan Magnifica
Non-Seed Ornamental Winner
National Winner
Bred by Selecta One

Said AAS, “AAS Judges were very impressed with this new dianthus, as it continued blooming and growing even through summer’s heat. One quick shearing after blooming and it bounced back with a profusion of beautiful pink blooms that sport a consistent, light pink edging. New interspecific breeding gives this beauty more heat tolerance than traditional dianthus varieties. And it also has stems long enough to use as cut flowers. Bonus: The more flower stems you cut for indoor enjoyment, the more blooms Capitan puts forth." 

Zinnia Zydeco Fire
AAS Seed Ornamental Winner
National Winner
Bred by Syngenta Flowers

Inspired by the lively, foot-stomping music of Southwest Louisiana, this zinnia bursts with sunshine-bright, fully double flowers that are noticeably larger than the comparisons. Picture a kaleidoscope of fiery orange blooms, swaying on sturdy stems all summer long, right up until the first frost. Judges across North America couldn't resist its infectious charm—Zydeco boasts not only incredible flower power, but also long-lasting blooms on disease-resistant foliage because of its Z. marylandica heritage.

Tropaeolum minus Baby Gold, Baby Yellow, Baby Red
AAS Ornamental from Seed Winner
Regional Series Winner: Heartland, Northeast, Mtn/Southwest
Bred by Takii EU

Three new colors in the popular Baby series of nasturtiums—and all of them AAS Regional Winners! Talk about good breeding, eh? If you love Baby Rose, then Baby Gold (pictured) is a must-add. The Baby series is known for being a petite-flowered, mounding variety with healthy, dark foliage ideal for containers and small-space gardens. AAS’ expert judges praised the uniformly compact plants that produced intense gold-colored flowers that didn't fade. Their compact habit means less flower flopping, with their blooms remaining upright throughout the season.

Each of the newest AAS Winners will soon be featured in custom videos on their individual AAS Winner web page and on the AAS YouTube channel. All AAS Winners are marketed through social media, public relations and trade shows, and are proudly grown in AAS Display and Introduction Gardens across North America. In addition, the AAS office creates and maintains a wide variety of marketing pieces and resources for anyone in the industry to use, including a wholesale source list, PowerPoint presentations, bench cards and variety markers, all of which you can access HERE!

So says my friend Chris Higgins, proprietor of Hort Americas, which supplies equipment, technology and know-how to the controlled-environment agriculture world. Electric utility companies are influencing CEA energy-efficiency decisions by making incentive dollars available through rebate programs. These programs are funded through taxpayers’ monthly meter bill payments. Tens of millions of dollars are available throughout the country from these rebate programs supporting sustainable growth. Chris has prepared a mid-year forecast that show opportunities for offsetting your costs for investing in energy-efficient technologies. It includes this map showing where the opportunities are located:

Click HERE to read the 2024 Utility Program Mid-Year Q3 & Q4 Forecast.

But act quickly because rebate program funding is limited. Many programs across North America operate on a first-come, first-served basis until their funding is committed. As we shift into 2024 Q3 and Q4, utility programs and their administrators are shoring up program projections to achieve their end-of-year energy-saving commitments. 

Three things we all like in our employees!

If you're a garden center using Proven Winners’ Connect+ marketing program, you might want to take advantage of their new ConnectSpace intranet platform, which they describe as a fully customizable web hub that houses everything your team needs in one easy-to-navigate space. “From HR forms to scheduling, promotions, training and more, the web platform allows garden center managers to provide employees with essential information right at their fingertips.”

“ConnectSpace fits into the Connect+ program so perfectly because it helps garden centers engage their employees in a more efficient way,” said Jessica DeGraaf, Proven Winners director of retail accounts. “Our goal with Connect+ has always been to bring IGCs resources that will help them grow their businesses in easy ways at a low cost. This partnership will allow them to simplify internal communication and provide their teams with the tools they need right at their fingertips.”

Designed by John and Souny Kennedy of BoomerWrangle and developed over years of working directly with IGCs, ConnectSpace is a solution to training, HR and communications issues common in the industry.

“ConnectSpace really accelerates the ability of an organization to become more efficient,” said John Kennedy. “Built exclusively for garden retailers, we’ve spent hundreds of hours developing and refining this tool to best serve the industry.”

Available on desktop and mobile, ConnectSpace makes it easy for employees to stay informed and better serve your customers. Staff will no longer need to spend valuable hours searching for information they need; instead it will be right at their fingertips. From HR forms to scheduling tools to promotional updates, you can organize all of your most important information on one platform.

And to help navigate the site, the AI chatbot Daisy is always available to answer user questions and find resources quickly.

ConnectSpace rolls out in 2025. To learn more about it, watch THIS SHORT VIDEO walkthrough of ConnectSpace to see what it can do for your business.

And to explore a sample ConnectSpace website, CLICK HERE.

I should leave these more technical plant topics to my buddy Bill Calkins, editor of our Tech on Demand newsletter … but this isn’t really all that technical. Plus, it might be helpful to you retailers who hear of the problem from consumers. The problem? “My hydrangea was beautiful and loaded with flowers … and now it’s flopping over. What can I do?”

Here are three reasons for the problem and three solutions from Spring Meadow Nursery, home of Proven Winners’ ColorChoice Flowering Shrubs:

#1 Reason—Pruning
PROBLEM: Cut back too far

Hydrangeas* that are pruned too hard will overcompensate during the growing season. They’ll put out an abundance of weaker new growth, which can get weighed down by blooms, especially when there’s heavy rain or wind.

SOLUTION: Lighter pruning

Only cut your new wood-flowering hydrangeas* back by 1/3 of their height and width in late fall through early spring. Trim out any spindly inner branches, too. See how it’s done in these two example videos on how to prune PANICLE or SMOOTH hydrangeas.

*This only applies to smooth and panicle hydrangeas. Bigleaf, oakleaf, mountain and hybrid hydrangeas don't need pruning.

#2 Reason—Fertilizer
PROBLEM: Over-fertilization

Fertilizing too often or in higher quantities than the packaging recommends can cause issues. This boost may cause the plant to rapidly produce an excess of new growth.

SOLUTION: Adjusted applications

Hydrangeas benefit from a granular fertilizer formulated for flowering shrubs, like a rose fertilizer. If necessary, you can apply it once in spring and potentially again in early summer. Here are some FERTILIZER TIPS.

#3 Reason—Sun Exposure
PROBLEM: Too little sun

A hydrangea getting less than four hours of sun exposure may stretch out to reach the light or simply produce less vigorous growth due to the lack of energy.

SOLUTION: Transplant

A hydrangea needs a minimum of four hours of direct sunlight (or all-day dappled light) on its foliage. If it doesn’t get that, move it to a location where it will. Spring and fall are great transplanting times.

What to do in the meantime:

1. Stake your hydrangeas upright. This will allow that flexible new growth to harden upright over the following months.

OR

2. Cut off all the flowers. Removing that weight will help the stems pop back up and harden upright. Use the flowers in an arrangement or dry them for décor.

SePRO Corporation—a developer and marketer of herbicides, algaecides and fungicides for landscaping, golf course, general agriculture use and aquatic applications—has two new financial partners: Stanley Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs Alternatives (a minority co-investor). They take over from Excellere Partners, which purchased SePRO in 2019.

As for SePRO, they say in the press release, “This investment will further accelerate SePRO’s ability to bring the best-in-class solutions, technologies and technical support to customers in water management, the green industry and specialty agriculture." 

“For the last three decades, our mission and purpose has been to protect, preserve and restore more nature,” said SePRO President Tyler Koschnick, Ph.D. “Every day we read headlines about beaches being closed, phosphorus pollution in lakes, invasive weeds and toxic algae destroying our ability to enjoy our water resources. By providing expanded problem-solving products and services to the market, we will be able to offer customers unsurpassed technical support and solutions for water quality restoration globally."

Headquartered on a 410-acre Research & Technology campus in Carmel, Indiana, SePRO was founded in 1994 by William (Bill) H. Culpepper. Bill still serves as President and CEO.

I found this fitting ode to the poinsettia by South Carolina grower Daniel Gravano of Gravano Farms on his Facebook page (where he also posts tasty licks on his boutique guitars through his impressive collection of Mojave amps). If you've grown poinsettias, I think you'll agree with him. Let me know HERE.

Poinsettias:

It’s the crop that will net the least amount of money out of all the crops you can grow.

It’s the crop that oftentimes makes you feel like a beginner (even with 30 years under your belt).

It’s the crop that will teach you all about humility and remind you to be humble every single day it’s under your roof.

It’s the crop that oftentimes has the last word, even when you think you’ve figured it out.

It’s the crop that will remind you to stay back at the facility and watch it instead of going to town for lunch.

It’s the crop that will demand more time and energy from you than anything else you can grow.

Anyone who says they have this crop figured out from start to finish is fibbing, naïve or just hasn’t seen enough variables yet in their experiences with it.

Throw in a tropical storm or two or some hurricanes and all that comes with those along the way and it puts a new spin on the phrase, “shooting from the hip.”

It’s all good, though! See how nice the crop looks so far?

Daniel added this postscript to his message:

BTW: 20-plus inches of driving rain washing off the shade I put on two weeks ago, which is why this curtain is closed in this range. So up on the roof I go again in the next few days … as soon as the wind gusts decrease!