Market Buzz

Editor's Note: As of 7/1/2013, BloomaPalooza 2013 has been canceled. Click here for more information: https://www.gardencentermagazine.com/bloomapalooza-2013-cancelled.aspx

BloomaPalooza: an exciting new event for industry professionals

GIE Media, Inc., C. Raker & Sons, Inc. and Hort Couture LLC are excited to announce their joint venture creation of BloomaPalooza 2013, a one-of-a-kind business event for the horticulture industry to be held August 1-3, 2013, at the famed Raker Trial Gardens in Litchfield, Michigan.

BloomaPalooza will be an outdoor green industry trade fair with a music festival format and offer a comprehensive, high-quality educational program for horticultural industry professionals.

“BloomaPalooza will be a premier event that brings plant breeders together with commercial growers, independent retailers, landscape contractors, architects, golf course managers and other professional segments of the horticultural industry for three days of high-energy, cost-effective business interaction and family fun,” says Chris Foster, CEO of GIE Media, Inc.

“BloomaPalooza is a totally unique event concept for business owners and managers, as well as their support staff and families,” says Jim Monroe, CEO of Hort Couture LLC. “Everyone we’ve discussed this concept with has been super excited about its creative dimension, drawing together 25 leading business speakers for educational sessions exploring business ideas, insights and solutions, mixed in with more than a dozen amazing musical acts over a wide range of genres that will give BloomaPalooza the feel of a summer music festival. Add to this a trade fair with hundreds of vendors, great food (and not that high-priced carnival junk), a kid-friendly atmosphere, three exciting days of Garden Idol competition, and you have something very special.”

The three-day event will be an integral part of the Raker Trial Gardens 100-acre grounds. “BloomaPalooza will give independent retailers the incredible opportunity to see new and improved flower varieties in the ground and to talk first-hand with leading floriculture experts,” says Susie Raker of C. Raker & Sons, Inc. “And of course, BloomaPalooza is not solely for garden center retailers, because landscapers, landscape architects, and horticulture professionals of all types will find this to be a valuable business venue effectively timed for their 2014 business year planning.”

For more information about attending, exhibiting or sponsoring BloomaPalooza, visit www.BloomaPalooza.com. 

Read more about the event on page 26.

About the organizers of BloomaPalooza
GIE Media, Inc., C. Raker & Sons Inc., and Hort Couture LLC have partnered to develop BloomaPalooza. GIE Media Inc. is the leading media company serving major horticultural markets in North America. Its publications include Garden Center, Greenhouse Management, Produce Grower, Nursery Management, Lawn & Landscape, Golf Course Industry, and Green Industry Supply Chain Management magazines. C. Raker & Sons is a leading producer of grown-to-order plugs and liners in North America. Raker also produces The Raker Trial Gardens which occupy more than five acres of grounds at the Raker facility, and are divided into row, hanging basket, and large container trials. The Hort Couture LLC brand offers the most sought-after new plants and genetics from the world’s best breeders and provides retailers with merchandising accessories to create a unique shopping experience for the consumer.

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Grow Anywhere Tour set for spring 2013

THE BURPEE HOME GARDENS Food Truck will make 23 stops around the country this spring as part of its “Grow Anywhere Tour,” a program that will deliver fresh food to communities in food deserts.

The home gardening company received more than 500 applications from schools and organizations around the country. The entries were narrowed down to 72 locations that are in areas with limited access to fresh produce.

Schools and organizations vote on Facebook to help Burpee determine the 23 winners. Voting ends Feb. 15.

“We received over 100,000 votes in the first 48 hours (of Facebook voting), and we’ve seen an impressive increase in ‘likes’ and consumer connections via social media, too,” said Carolyn Dixon, sales manager for Burpee Home Gardens.

The “Grow Anywhere Tour,” which starts in mid-March, will drop off 30,000 pounds of produce, 13,000 vegetable plants and provide gardening advice so communities can learn to grow their own fresh food.

For more information, visit www.burpeehomegardens.com.
 

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Difference makers: Alex Marks, director of Family Garden Initiative

Families in low-income neighborhoods sometimes live in areas where access to fresh produce is limited. In addition, many people don’t have the space or soil to maintain their own gardens.

Family Garden Initiative, a project created by Filtrexx, an Ohio-based company, and Church of the Open Door, has offered a solution.

Filtrexx developed GardenSoxx, or mesh, tube-shaped systems that hold soil and seeds or plugs and allow plants to grow on concrete, decks and other places normally not conducive to gardens.

Alex Marks, director of Family Garden Initiative and general manager at Filtrexx, helped launch the FGI program in 2010. As a member of Church of the Open Door, he organized a group of 150 volunteers that delivered 300 gardens in Lorain County, Ohio, in one day.

“Our goal is to reach those in the greatest need, which is generally classified as those who are in low income areas, and it generally happens to align with those who are in a food desert,” says Marks. “It takes anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes to set up a garden.”

Volunteers also provide instructions. Families can sign up for a pre-recorded call that explains what the crops should look like during different times in the season and when to harvest, among other tips.

Marks said since the project began, they’ve set up nearly 2,000 gardens in Ohio. Each 16 square-foot garden comes with eight GardenSoxx, 25 plants (seeds and plugs) which include tomatoes, peppers and zucchini, a watering can, and a growing guide and recipe book, which includes information about how to can vegetables. Each garden produces 60 to 80 pounds of produce a year.

The goal is to expand to 3,500 gardens in 2013, launching 16 projects in states around the country including Texas, California and South Carolina. FGI won’t manage them — they’ll teach local nonprofits, universities and churches that are interested in replicating the system how they manage it.

“We coach them, we walk them through the steps, we make sure they take all of the considerations into account to be successful. They manage the volunteers and distribution locally,” Marks said.

“We network, and that builds a stronger program and it builds a stronger community.”

Independent garden centers can get involved by joining forces with local organizations and serving as the meeting location for volunteers the day of the garden deliveries. They can also help raise money for the gardens.

FGI and individual organizations pay for the $40 cost associated with each garden by collecting donations. The gardens are free for families and discounted for organizations.

FGI is working to find ways to measure the effectiveness of the program. However, families have shared their success.

“None of that feedback usually has anything to do with what they produced … most of the feedback that we get is what it meant to them as a family or an individual,” he said. “I had one recipient who was on welfare and on food stamps, and she commented that she was only buying processed food with her food stamps. [The garden] has given her an opportunity to use fresh produce, and she and her kids go out and harvest the garden together, so they’re building their family around it.”

For more information, visit www.gardeninitiative.com
 

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2013 Cut Flowers of the Year announced

The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers named ‘Amethyst Coral Berry,’ ‘Katz Cherry Blossom’ and ‘Super Green’ its Cut Flowers of the Year.

‘Amethyst,’  a Proven Winners shrub, was recognized in the woody stem category for its “masses of hot pink berries, which ripen into the fall,” and the fact that it is “relatively easy to cultivate as a flower crop, with fruiting stems as long as 60 inches,” according to a news release from Proven Winners.

‘Katz Cherry Blossom,’ from a series named for PanAmerican Seed product manager Philip Katz, took the crown in the fresh category, and was noted for “its uniform flowers and consistent stem length.”

The bulb cut prize went to Ranunculus ‘Super Green,’ and it was highlighted for its green inner petals that are mixed with the typical bold, colorful petals of the ranunculus.

To see photos of the winners, visit www.ascfg.org, click the “About Us” tab and select “2013 Cut Flowers of the Year.”

For more information, visit www.ascfg.org
 

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Share your green industry events with Garden Center

HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT the events section on Garden Center magazine’s website? We compile — and update — green industry events scheduled throughout the year. Is there an event that’s not listed that you’d like to promote? We’d like to hear from you. Please email msimakis@gie.net with the following information, and we’ll put your event on our list online.

• Name of event
• Date
• Location
• Website
• Contact information -- email and/or phone number

We hope to see you on the road in 2013.

For more information, visit www.gardencentermagazine.com, and click on “events” in the left column.
 

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Garden supply giant Commerce Corporation closes its doors

Former Commerce Corporation sales reps and customers are joining the ranks of past competitors as the garden supply giant closes its doors. BFG Supply Co. hired one manager and nine sales reps within days of Commerce’s close. Arett Sales, which tried to purchase the company back in December, and other suppliers have made moves to acquire the leftover business with lines such as Good Tidings and Michael Carr Designs.

Hiring and acquisitions have continued as Commerce has swung between conflicting closing reports since the end of December, with offices being shut down and workers laid off with little notice. In a letter dated Dec. 27, 2012, Richard Lessans, CEO of Commerce, said “unforeseen business circumstances resulting from actions taken by Commerce’s largest and most important suppliers” caused the company to close and lay off all employees working at both the Michigan and Maryland offices permanently. The letter included a memo giving notice to the company and a list of more than 250 affected jobs.

The company wasn’t required to give employees the 60-day notice normally necessary before layoffs in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act due to a sub-rule in the act that exempts employers if the layoffs are caused by unforeseeable circumstances, says Lessans in the letter.

“This has been the most difficult decision of my life and I wish that the circumstances were better,” he says.

Those circumstances looked better before the company released information that Commerce’s past CEO, Malcomb Cork, used some funds improperly.The company has taken suit against Cork, and he has countersued, in the Maryland District Court.

To read more, visit www.gardencentermagazine.com and search for the keyword “commerce.”
 

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Gainey Ceramics CEO to retire, cease production at La Verne facility

Steve Gainey, CEO of Gainey Ceramics Inc., announced in a letter Jan. 9 that he will retire and end ceramic production at the facility in La Verne, Calif., as of Jan. 31, 2013.

Gainey took over the more than 60-year-old business from his father, John, in 1988, according to the company’s website. Gainey specializes in containers, producing pottery for garden centers around the country, and ceramic tiles. 

Gainey said the company will remain open as he formulates his succession plan.

Gainey wrote this note, addressed to “Customers of Gainey Ceramics Inc.:”

Due to [a] number of events that have happened recently in my personal life, I have decided to announce my retirement. With my retirement, I have decided to cease all ceramic production in [the] La Verne, Calif., location as of Jan. 31, 2013. During this period, we are committed to honor and fulfill ceramic orders [and] place future orders that we will accept up until Jan. 31, 2013. With this sudden decision to retire, I unfortunately do not have a succession plan in place at this time. As I consider my options for succession, the company will continue to remain open and the existing management will continue to operate the company, offering fiberglass and other products. We are also exploring the opportunity of importing some of our Gainey ceramic shapes.

I sincerely apologize for my sudden notice and thank you in advance for working with us during this transition. I also want to personally thank all of our loyal customers, who over the years have purchased and enjoyed Gainey’s ceramic products.