Container Trends<br />A garden-retail buyer shares his 2009 game plan By Jeff Cooksey

When it comes to containers, it’s important to pay attention to customers and listen to what they actually want to purchase from you. Regardless of whatever the current trends are—or what “hot” color is unveiled for the year—what matters most is that you actually have in stock what customers want to walk out of your store with.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s important to have a slice of the newest thing touted in magazines and among garden gurus. This helps keep your selection from looking stale. But these “fashion-forward” items should be kept to a mere 5 percent of your total product category mix, because most customers—based on our Midwestern following—really want something not too outrageous.

As I talk with container-gardening customers who faithfully come into our store, I tell them that the pot should be compared to the frame around a beautiful picture. You want the container to enhance the bouquet of color, not have the focus shifted to the container solely.

When you showcase just a few of “those crazy looking containers,” it not only offers inspiration, but also great enjoyment and entertainment for shoppers. These eye-catching displays then reel customers back to their comfort zone when making their more “middle-of-the-road” purchase.

What’s on tap for 2009
This spring, I plan on offering a new twist on a long-time garden center classic: beautiful, ornamental styles of decorative Italian terra-cotta pottery.

These garden containers feature subtle accents in low relief. This texture-on-texture style will highlight the vibrant blooms within the pot, making it eye-catching throughout the summer months. Going back to handcrafted terra cotta is reminiscent of simpler times. With this updated twist and stellar style, it’s going to be a real winner for 2009.

Of course, a wide pallet of colors is always a staple in Vietnamese glazed pottery. I think these pots will always have a place in garden centers, because they offer a stunning, affordable way to incorporate compatible colors on decks or patios yourself, while it appears coordinated by a designer! The single most popular color is usually a saturated blue, most often a shade in harmony with dripping glazes, adding more excitement. Almost always, the most popular size is between 12- and 16-inches in diameter, because this size fits perfectly on a front step, serving as a duo on either side of an entrance. Each spring, we will also offer our customers two opportunities to come into our garden center and select exactly what they want from the beautiful catalog of Campania International cast stone pottery. For years I purchased thousands of dollars of stone containers, only to find that the customer would want the same container in a different size of color choice. This way, the customer can pick out exactly what they want, and we deliver it to their home free of charge. Many customers decide they want us to go ahead and pot up their containers, so that the complete package is delivered finished, without them even getting their hands dirty!

Bulk doesn’t always pay off
Several years ago we found ourselves lured into the promise of great pricing and huge margins when purchasing in either half or full container loads from overseas.

That is all well and good, if you want customers who shopped in March to return to your store in April, May or June and see the very same selection and colors they saw on their initial visit.
For us, it is all about having a great selection, but in quantities that we can sell through and turn in a timely manner.

You have to be cautiously optimistic in the current economy, but you must have a wide enough selection, beautiful colors and multiple sizes to satisfy those who trust their gardening needs to all of us in this profession.

Jeff Cooksey handles purchasing/procurement at Altum’s Horticultural Center & Landscape in Zionsville, Ind. He has more than 25 years of experience in the horticulture industry. gc