Fall classics

This month, our new nationwide “pulse-taking” venture focuses on many people’s favorite season: autumn. The topic for this installment of Marketplace is “hot-selling green goods and hard goods for fall.” Here’s what the retailers told us:

Making pumpkin ‘bread’
Gale’s Westlake Garden Center / Westlake, Ohio
www.galeswestlake.com

“Two categories are neck and neck,” said Pam Donzelli, the affable vice president of Gale’s Westlake Garden Center. “It’s between hardy fall mums and our pumpkin patch. Since it’s way more fun, the pumpkin patch is the way to go. We sell everything from little mini pumpkins to the jumbo, first-class carving varieties. I know some retailers are all about price, but our focus is on the good stuff. The good stuff is where I see the trend going.”
Donzelli said the patch runs from early September through Halloween. “We build a pretty big log cabin out of firewood to set the stage,” she said. “We plant fall planters and decorate with corn stalks, Indian corn, large kales and mums—it is just fun to shop.”

How low can you grow?
Moana Nursery / Reno, Nev.
www.moananursery.com

Moana Nursery’s “Plant Doctor” and certified arborist Jon Bruyn said geography helps dictate what sells well at Moana. “For the harsh, high-desert northern Nevada climate, I recommend the ‘Grow-low’ sumac,” he said. “It’s low, has gorgeous glossy leaves in the spring, and turns a brilliant red in the fall. It is impervious to pests and is cold-hardy.”

To market the ‘Grow-low’ sumac, Moana Nursery runs a wrap-around bi-weekly ad in the Reno Gazette Journal. “We also feature it on our website and include store signage,” Bruyn said.

Veggin’ out
Countryside Gardens / Hampton, Va.
www.countrysidegardens.biz

While there might be debate in some locales about the relative momentum of the “veggie craze,” at Countryside Gardens, people are still filling their plates, as it were. “In Virginia, for the past 15 days and for the next 15 days, fall vegetable plants rule,” said garden center owner Tish Llaneza. “After that it switches to pansies and mums as Nos. 1 and 2.”

Llaneza said the store’s primary marketing push comes through company’s e-newsletter and use of social media. Countryside Gardens also offers a counter-top handout, “What’s Happening,” that spotlights products and services. “We are also doing door hangers in a one-mile radius in two weeks,” Llaneza said. “The local newspaper has a fall garden magazine, where we will have an ad.”

How does your guardin’ go?
Cole Gardens / Concord, N.H. 
www.colegardens.com

Cole Gardens owner Charlie Cole said his store’s customers have experienced enough cold weather through the years to realize discretion generally is a better play than valor in the Great Northeast. “ShrubGuard is a great product that sells well in late fall,” he said.

To help ensure that sales of this practical item stay steady, Cole and staff send an e-newsletter to the customer group that purchased shrubs. “Then,” he said, “we watch them come back in looking to protect their new investment.”