Market Buzz

Get on board with A Garden Life
We’re pleased as punch with our “new arrival.” GIE Media’s Horticultural Group has launched its first-ever consumer magazine, A Garden Life. The innovative new media publication will be delivered to consumers as a free app for tablet platforms. The premiere issue is available for download now on iTunes/Apple Store at: http://bit.ly/agardenlifeapple and on the Android Market at http://bit.ly/agardenlifeandroid.

Here’s why YOU should be excited: Hundreds of retailers across North America will benefit from a built-in geocoding function that will point AGL readers to their local garden centers to source products they find in the publication.

If you haven’t submitted your store’s information, it’s not too late. Visit www.GardenCenterMagazine.com and click the AGL Sign Up promo at the top of the page. You’ll also be able to print out customized point-of-purchase materials to share news about A Garden Life with your customers.

GIE will publish six issues of A Garden Life in 2012 (March, May, June, July/August, September/October, November/December). Each issue of A Garden Life will explore and celebrate the concept of “life as a garden.” GIE Media Chairman, Richard Foster, described the magazine’s mission:

“To create a community of consumers with shared values and interests in lifestyle subject areas such as healthy living, that includes growing and preparing clean food, contributing to community, exploring travel and adventure, art and literature, as well as having a passion for diverse aspects of nature and gardening.”

A Garden Life will also utilize the latest social media tools to stimulate active reader engagement with its editors and contributors, as well as with one another, be it across town or around the world.

“Tablet mobile technology —and the social media it facilitates—can stimulate sharing of ideas through direct one-to-one connections by e-mail and text messaging, and simple tools for sharing imagery, audio and video,” said Foster.

A Garden Life has a companion website (www.agardenlife.com) that will offer the magazine app content to consumers who do not yet use tablet technology.
 

OFA and ANLA announce new event for 2013
Building on the joint venture announced in January, the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA) and OFA — The Association of Horticulture Professionals are introducing a new event to be held in winter 2013. With a target audience of business leaders and decision makers—owners, CEOs, top managers, and emerging professionals —the new event will focus on the business skills and innovations needed for sustainable success in this rapidly evolving economy. Further details about the event will be released this summer. Look for additional coverage at www.GardenCenterMagazine.com.
 

Dig.Drop.Done goes digital
Dig.Drop.Done, the educational flower-bulb marketing campaign, has enhanced its social media presence for the second season of the initiative. The program has launched a Pinterest page, maintains a robust Twitter feed, and has added a Family Fun page to the initiative’s primary website. Enhancements to Dig. Drop. Done’s YouTube channel are coming soon—including more practical how-to videos. The program’s Facebook page is currently hosting a contest to engage consumers. Between now and April 13, Canadian and U.S. residents can enter the “Green Thumb Giveaway,” Facebook contest. One winner will receive a Holly Aiken tote featuring the Dig.Drop.Done tulip, an enameled gardening trowel from Brook Farm General Store and a bag of assorted summer-flowering bulbs—a $150 value.

Dig.Drop.Done is sponsored by the Dig.Drop.Done Foundation (a select group of major Dutch flower bulb exporters who are members of Anthos, Holland’s Royal trade association for nursery stock and flower bulbs) and iBulb, a foundation that was set up, by Anthos.

Would you like to see your store’s video featured on our site? Just send the YouTube link to smartinez@gie.net and you’ll be in the running for a spot in our “Latest Multimedia” highlights.
 

Monrovia plants featured in HGTV personality Jamie Durie’s new iPhone app
HGTV personality and landscape designer Jamie Durie has released a new iPhone app: Garden Design with Jamie Durie. The app features more than 1,200 Monrovia plants, and offers design-philosophy videos and a plant selector that allows users to type in a ZIP code to see plants based on geographic location. Users will see a color image along with detailed plant information and a locator for the nearest independent garden center that carries Monrovia plants. The app can be purchased on iTunes.

The Espoma Company receives environmental stewardship award
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has presented The Espoma Company, Millville, N.J., with a certificate of Environmental Stewardship for its use of renewable energy. The company recently implemented a solar energy installation covering nearly 43,000 square feet of warehouse rooftops. The system produces over 700,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity —enough to power over 60 homes for a full year, and save more than 1.4 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions annually. The state recognized Espoma for its voluntary and proactive measures taken to ensure a sustainable future. For additional information, visit www.espoma.com.
 

Nymphaea ‘Scarlet Flame’ named 2012 Collector’s Aquatic Plant of the Year
The International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society (IWGS) has named Nymphaea ‘Scarlet Flame’ as the 2012 Collector’s Aquatic Plant of the Year. ‘Scarlet Flame’ was introduced by Florida Aquatic Nurseries and received first place in the Tropical Day-Blooming category of the IWGS 2011 New Waterlily Competition. IWGS will be the only source for limited supplies of N. ‘Scarlet Flame’ in 2012, until it becomes available in the retail market no earlier than spring of 2013. Learn more at www.iwgs.org.
 

Two suppliers get new homes on the Web
Hines Growers has a new and improved website at www.hinesgrowers.com. The consumer-targeted site has enhanced plant-search features, a dealer finder and information on Hines’ Bloomtastic plant brand.

Bonnie Plants just unveiled a newly redesigned website at BonniePlants.com. New features include: online communities, social sharing, how-to videos and new product highlights.

2012 National Hardware Show aims to attract more independent retailers
The 2012 National Hardware Show (May 1-3, Las Vegas Convention Center) hopes to attract more independent home improvement retailers this go-round. The 2012 show will feature an array of services to assist independent business operators grow their business. Resources include special Independent Retailers Buying Desks and private lounges for independent retailers, along with a complete educational lineup and awards programs. For more details, visit www.nationalhardwareshow.com.
 

Difference Makers

You can learn a lot about a business while you’re “on hold” on the telephone. Sometimes, you have a long silence – or, worse, a long silence followed by the words: “now, who are you holding for, again?”

Sometimes, you get pleasant music – for a funeral home! Sometimes you get the dreaded “click” followed by that aforementioned nasty silence followed by the real scream-inducer: the dial tone.

And sometimes, you get an auditory extension of the same great service you find when you visit the business in person – an outline of the perks you’ll receive as a customer, the best buys available right now, the calendar of events that might contain something you want to experience.

Yep, we called Johnson’s Garden Center in Wichita, Kan.

Owner Marty Johnson does a lot of the little things that make his store special – such as making sure marketing takes place even when someone is on hold on the phone, or offering his favorite plant suggestions on the company website.

The collection of those little “parts” makes for one wholly satisfying experience for his customers. Johnson has been doing business that way for more than 50 years now, if you count the time he spent with grandfather Orie learning about plants.

“We want customers to think of Johnson’s Garden Centers as the same family-owned, local business that so many have grown to love,” Johnson said.

Even while “on hold.”