In this business, it’s normal for operations to be 50, 60 or even 80 years old. That’s why Bachman’s Floral, Home and Garden’s upcoming celebration of 140 years is so extraordinary! Bachman’s has been serving the Twin Cities region (that would be Minneapolis, St. Paul and their environs) since 1885, making it one of Minnesota’s oldest family-owned businesses.

It all started as many stores in our industry do—maybe even your own—as a vegetable farm. As the story goes, Henry Bachman Sr. gave each of his five sons a portion of the garden to grow whatever they would like. Son Albert decided to grow carnations for his mother, and would also sell them at the nearby cemetery. It’s not called Bachman’s Vegetable Farm, so you know which son’s garden offerings quickly rose to the top.

“For 140 years, we have been honored to serve Minnesotans throughout all of life’s events, from births, to weddings, to anniversaries, funerals and everything in between, celebrating triumphs and providing comfort during challenging times,” said Susan Bachman West, CEO and President of Bachman’s, and one of three members of the family’s fifth generation involved in the business. “We are grateful to our customers for welcoming us into their lives over the past 14 decades, and we look forward to continuing to be a part of the community for decades to come.”

There are six Bachman’s Floral, Garden and Gift locations in the Minneapolis, St. Paul and surrounding suburbs, and 28 floral departments within Lunds & Byerlys grocery stores. The flagship retail location in Minneapolis sits right near the original homestead where Albert first started growing flowers. Much of the plant material they sell is grown locally in their seven acres of greenhouses and the 670-acre growing range in Farmington. Oh, and they operate an events and weddings department, a wholesale nursery and interior and exterior landscaping divisions, too. Bachman’s is busy!

But they aren’t too busy to throw themselves and their customers a 140^th birthday bash. On June 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. they’ll host celebrations at all garden center retail locations. If you’re in the area, go give them your good wishes yourself. Or, maybe we can all send them a birthday card. They’d love it.

Congrats, Bachman’s! Looking forward to seeing what you do for 150!

What do the New York Mets and garden centers have in common? They both want customers to come to their locations to see they are about more than just baseball or plants.

I ran across a piece in Marketing Brew about how the Mets (and a lot of baseball teams, for that matter) are putting in a lot of effort into ballpark entertainment options. A line from the article struck me as one horticultural folks have been quietly fidgeting with for a while:

“[Putting a lot of effort into the entertainment options] may be because Mets execs know that those people who enjoy taking in a baseball game every once in a while, those who are there more for the vibe of being at a ballpark on a summer day than for the on-field action, are perfect candidates for conversion into full-time fans—especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha.”

How many times has it crossed your mind that if you could just show folks how great it is to grow plants or be active in the garden or to relax in a beautifully landscaped space then you would be able to convert them into gardening fans (and gardening customers)? The Mets’ VP of creative content said, “We want these young kids wearing Mets gear and making it cool to be a Mets fan, but ultimately, we want them to come to the park and see that there’s so much more to offer.”

How are the Mets trying to do that? For one, they opened a pop-up that sold merch and hosted activities in Union Square. And it was a hit. But they also aren’t ignoring their longtime fans. The Mets held an “Amazin’ Day” fan festival to drum up excitement and ticket sales for core fans.

Appealing to the casual gardener while also treating tried-and-true customers to special events—this is an excellent marketing strategy. How might you go about implementing it? Drop me a note about it and share your ideas.

The Small Business Administration is in the matchmaking business officially. The organization has created a “Make Onshoring Great Again Portal” that lists more than 1 million U.S.-based suppliers as part of the Trump administration’s effort to push U.S. businesses to source American-made products.

The portal pulls previously accessible information from three existing database platforms:

• IndustryNet, which tracks U.S. manufacturers;
• ThomasNet, a longtime industrial sourcing site;
• CONNEX, built by Utah-based i5 Services, started as a state tool and later expanded nationally with help from the National Association of Manufacturers.

There’s nothing new about the data, but the SBA is hoping that putting the manufacturers all in one place will offer small businesses a “one-stop-shop” from which they can find local suppliers.

Give the portal a look if you like HERE. Finding what you are searching for might be another issue. I’ll let you read the FORBES ARTICLE on that for further insight.

One place you can find USA-made items for your horticulture business is in a feature that my colleague Jen Polanz is working on for the July issue of Green Profit. But she’s requesting some assistance first! Jen is looking to highlight companies that make some or all of their retail products in the U.S. Does this sound like something you do? If so, please reach out to JEN POLANZ for more details.

We’re working with a tight deadline on this, needing the information by Monday, June 2. Get in touch with Jen soon!

Many of you are making the annual pilgrimage to Columbus, Ohio, for Cultivate’25 coming up July 12-15. Why not tack on a day before the show to hop on a bus and attend a tour!

As in years past, Cultivate has plenty of options when it comes to touring. You, of course, want to poke around fellow garden retailers’ operations. There’s a Garden Center Tour for that! This year’s tour stops will include:

• Baker’s Acres Greenhouse in Alexandria
• Groovy Plants Ranch in Marengo
• Oakland Nurseries/Dublin Garden Center in Dublin
• Wilson’s Garden Center in Newark

I’ve been to three of the four, but it’s been a while. If you’re thinking, “Oh, I’ve seen them before,” you know operations change things up on the regular, so get yourself on the bus. Sign up for the July 12 tour HERE.

Maybe you are considering starting some production. Join the Nursery Production Tour that will be visiting Acorn Farms, Decker’s Nursery and Millcreek Gardens.

The Greenhouse Production Tour will stop at Foertmeyer & Sons Greenhouse, Green Legacy and the Controlled Environment Research Complex at The Ohio State University. Cutting-edge research at that last stop, I bet. Oh, and Green Legacy, an operation started in 2021, will showcase its 1-acre trial garden with more than 40,000 plants from 20 breeders and with 25 sponsors. Even if you hop on the Garden Center Tour, maybe you make a point to call Green Legacy and see if you can stop in to see their trials. It’s just 30 minutes from Columbus.

To register for the show and the tours, go to cultivateevent.org.

Speaking of Cultivate and therefore AmericanHort, have you heard they’ve launched a new AI-powered assistant? It’s called Sage, and it helps visitors to AmericanHort’s websites access information. Not gonna lie, sometimes I get lost in the vast amount of resources AmericanHort has online. Sage was created to serve as an intelligent tool that will deliver quick, accurate answers to your queries by drawing on AmericanHort’s vast libraries of resources. Manual search no more! (Whew!)

What can Sage assist you with? It can provide information on Cultivate, business solutions, best practices, events, education, advocacy, membership and research.

“This is a powerful tool created to help our members and the industry quickly find the resources they need,” says Mary Beth Cowardin, Vice President Marketing and Member Engagement for AmericanHort. “While it is not meant to replace human interaction, Sage saves time and makes it easier to find valuable information.”

Saving time and making tasks easier—exactly what AI is for. And unlike other AI platforms (like ChatGPT, for example), Sage sticks to AmericanHort’s resources and does not pull from public resources. No muddying of the information—just straight AmericanHort content.

AI platforms are continuously improving themselves, with human help. After every response, Sage will prompt the user to give feedback on its response—thumbs up or down and a comment if you’d like. That way Sage is continually learning.

Head over to AmericanHort.org/Sage to watch a video and give it a try yourself.

If you don’t get to Columbus and don’t make it to Green Legacy’s trial gardens, head over to West Chicago, Illinois, for Ball Seed’s Customer Days. Taking place July 24-25 in The Gardens at Ball, this event has been exposing growers, retailers, landscapers and anyone with an interest in horticulture to the next and new in the industry. And it’s not just plants!

Ball Seed has been hosting Customer Days for more than 70 years as an opportunity to step away from the day-to-day of your own business and to explore what’s next. Take time to explore the 13 acres of trial gardens and 700-plus new introductions. Plan for 2026 with Ball Seed’s experts and meet up with your industry peers to talk about business and exchange ideas. And, you’ll have an opportunity to tour their brand-new robotic order-fulfillment system. I hear it’s a great way to spend your day.

Make the trip to Ball Hort HQ and Ball Seed Customer Days by registering HERE.

Each year Star Roses and Plants submits varieties for the American Rose Trials for Sustainability (A.R.T.S.) program, and every year they bring home awards. And with good reason—they have some fabulous varieties that meet the A.R.T.S. requirements: the roses have to be sustainable, hardy and pest-resistant. And of course they have to be beautiful, too. All roses entered into the program are evaluated under low-input conditions and they measure for the presence of disease and pests, flowering, foliage, plant form, growth habit and general health. To win an award, roses must prove they are resilient on their own merits—no additional fertilizer or chemical applications.

With that said, Star Roses and Plants’ A.R.T.S.-winning varieties for 2025 include:

Blushing Drift: This groundcover rose displays attractive, double, pink flower clusters with a warm, yellow center. It is compact, disease resistant and has an abundance of blooms, making it a stunning and reliable landscape choice. Blushing Drift received Local Artist Awards in five climate regions, earning the Master Award. 

Ruby Red: This is a non-fading, dark red rose with a compact and floriferous habit. Ruby Red performs well on its own roots and performs excellently in a container. It, too, earned a Master Award after receiving Local Artist Awards in four climate regions. 

 To learn more about Star Roses and Plants introductions, visit Star Roses and Plants.