Marketplace News

Companies seek to protect branded plant patents
Spring Meadow Nursery, Bailey Nurseries, Conard-Pyle, and Plant Development Services Inc. are joining forces in a new enterprise aimed at protecting their plant patents and branded programs. Branded programs covered include Proven Winners ColorChoice, Encore Azaleas, Endless Summer Collection, First Editions, the Knock Out Family of Roses, Drift Roses and Southern Living Plant Collection. Plant Watch has been hired to inspect nurseries, report on their findings, and collect fines where warranted. Starting this fall, nurseries across the country will be inspected by Plant Watch representatives to see how they are meeting the requirements of these branded programs. Nurseries found to be non-compliant will be assessed a significant fine based on the number of unauthorized plants discovered, and the destruction of those plants will be required.
 

Teters Floral acquires assets of Napa Home & Garden
The assets of Napa Home & Garden have been acquired by Teters Floral Products, a company specializing in permanent floral and decorative accessories. Transaction details were finalized on Aug. 4, after the two organizations entered into an agreement for Teters to purchase assets related to the core Napa Home & Garden business. Napa recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following a spate of lawsuits against the company over problems with a gel it marketed for use with decorative fire pots.

 

Sid’s Greenhouses shuts doors Sid’s Greenhouses, one of Chicagoland’s largest and most respected specialty retailers, closed its two retail nursery and garden center locations in Palos Hills and Bolingbrook, Ill. In announcing the closings to employees and the public, company president Philip Schaafsma, Sr. said, “It is with a great deal of emotion that I must tell you that Bill and I have been forced to close the stores. Lagging sales over the last several years along with declining property values on which our loans and credit lines are based are among the factors leading to this difficult decision. We thank all of our employees and customers for the wonderful memories associated with our stores, and wish all of our employees the best as they seek new opportunities in the coming weeks.” Approximately 110 full and part-time employees will be displaced by the closures; many of them have worked for the Schaafsma family for 20 years or more.

 

Natural Industries breaks ground on new facility
Natural Industries (http://naturalindustries.com), which manufactures organic products such as Actinovate and Actino-Iron, has broken ground on a new 20,000 square-foot facility in an office park setting on the north side of Houston that will include a 5,000 square-foot state-of-the-art research laboratory. The facility is expected to be completed later this year. "With increasing global demand for our patented microbial products, we have outgrown our lab space," said Boomer Cardinale, marketing director for Natural Industries. "Our growth has also resulted in a doubling of our staff in just the past year."

 

Burpee Home Gardens will launch flower line for 2012 Burpee Home Gardens will expand its garden-ready lineup of vegetable and herb plants with a complete line of flower favorites. With a spring 2012 launch, the program introduces more than 150 flower varieties, including 15 exclusives. The Burpee Home Gardens flowers program is supported at retail with free POP, extensive consumer advertising and promotion, and the new Burpee Garden Coach and My Garden Designer mobile tools.

 

H. Potter launches online Marketplace
Outdoor décor/accents supplier H. Potter has launched a new website to help garden centers sell its products online. H. Potter Marketplace sites are fully functional e-retail sites that can expand a store's brick-and-mortar presence in the online realm.

Capabilities and features include unlimited number of product listings, with products appearing in both the garden center's E-Store and the central Marketplace.

Social media tools are also available, including a blog and direct connections to the garden center's Facebook and Twitter accounts.

In addition, H. Potter will provide e-mail templates to announce and promote the new online store. For more details visit http://workspacefiles.com/hpottersales/.