Home & Garden Showplace and Master Nursery Garden Centers form strategic alliance Thanks to a recently announced a strategic alliance, Master Nursery Garden Center members will be able to make merchandise purchases through Home & Garden Showplace, a business unit of True Value. The alliance will directly and immediately benefit Master Nursery retailers by providing Master Nursery Garden Centers the opportunity to purchase from among True Value Company’s 60,000+ warehouse-stocked products. For current Home & Garden Showplace retailers, the alliance will bring the ability to participate in Garden Elements, a proprietary program of Master Nursery Garden Centers including both a branded annual program and a new line of organic plant foods.Industry mourns the passing of Don Riddle Jr.  Don Riddle Jr., founder and owner of Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, Md., died June 30. He was 63. Riddle established Homestead Gardens in 1973 and over the years developed one of the most admired garden centers in the industry. He was active in both the industry and in his local community. Recent achievements over the past decade include designation as the Official Gardener of Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles, and the introduction of hanging baskets and container gardens to the Historic District of Annapolis as part of a master beautification program.Napa Home and Garden files Chapter 11 Georgia-based Napa Home & Garden, which sold bottled burnable candle fuel—among its other décor offerings—has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company is facing dozens of lawsuits by burn victims. Napa Home & Garden Inc. sold a clear, slow-burning gel used to fill up decorative fire pots—a summertime staple for outdoor patios and decks—that has been blamed for sending dozens of people to the hospital after they were splattered with flaming gel. Company executives said that because incidents related to the fire pots will likely “result in huge litigation expenses and massive customer returns, [the company] cannot expect to operate for much longer,” according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Atlanta. Court papers indicate that incident-related insurance claims could total more than 70. GIE Media awards $10,000 in scholarships  The GIE Media Horticulture Group awarded students $10,000 in scholarships last month. Lauren Garcia and Trenton Spratling were presented the scholarships during a presentation at OFA Short Course in Columbus, Ohio.Garcia of Texas A&M University and Spratling of Brigham Young University both received $5,000 and were the first recipients of GIE Media’s Horticultural Scholarship Program, which was launched in October 2010. “Students at the top horticulture programs in the United States are the future of the green industry,” Richard Foster, CEO and founder of GIE Media said when the program was launched. “Our contributions—and those from companies and suppliers across the industry—will help support the academic and business education of these students and ensure their continued success.” Garcia, who will be a senior in the fall, is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture, studying landscape architecture and working on a minor in urban and regional planning. Spratling is expected to graduate from Brigham Young in December with a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Management. Spratling has been heavily involved with PLANET, becoming a landscape industry certified member and attending Student Career Days and the Green Industry Conference. |
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