Monrovia faces pressure to book $20 million by Jan. 31

Monrovia, headquartered in Azusa, Calif., is facing pressure from lenders to book $20 million in business by Jan. 31. This development prompted the grower to send a letter to customers detailing the company's struggle and encouraging retailers to add to spring bookings. A seperate letter signed by dozens of garden centers pledging support was also passed along to customers.

In an interview with Garden Center, Monrovia CEO Miles R. Rosedale said he is "humbled" by the outpouring of support from garden retailers.

"One message we are trying to get out to our retailers," Rosedale said, "is that we certainly appreciate them, but we're not asking them to pull orders from other growers."

Instead, Rosedale encourages retail customers to add items to current orders and pass the savings to end customers.

In the letter to customers Monrovia outlined challenges it’s facing in 2011:

An ancient curse reads, “May you live in interesting times.” These are interesting times. We, like many growers, retailers and rewholesalers are struggling to make ends meet. We have maintained the quality of our plants but we have grown more plants that we are selling. Our banks have expressed their concern by giving us until January 31 to show significant improvement to our 2011 bookings or face a distressed sale of our inventories. We are working closely with their financial advisors to solve the problem we face.

Accordingly, we are offering you the opportunity to add to your spring bookings now and until January 31st. Your sales craftsman will be contacting you with details. You will receive an extensive list of specially priced plants of the highest quality but which remain unsold today. Orders for these plants are not eligible for Plus 5 rebate and are sold net of all other discounts because they are priced so low. Any of these plants that are already on your booked orders will be reduced to the special price. This is a significant list of plants, a significant reduction in price and a significant need for us to increase our bookings now.

We have asked for the advice and support of some of our key customers and graciously they have composed their thoughts in a letter, a copy of which is enclosed. They have also indicated their willingness to discuss this with you. Four telephone calls are being scheduled for next week for you to listen to our customer views and contribute your thoughts to our situation. The calls have been scheduled for Tuesday, December 7th. Details of the phone calls are attached.

Candidly, we are being advised by our lenders and their advisors to sell to the big box channel if we are unable to significantly increase our booked orders. We will not sell our brand into the big box channel but the quality of our plants even in a black pot speaks for itself. We are aware that this affects your competitive advantage.

We apologize for having to ask you to help us out but our weak performance and the economic difficulties within our grower community have impacted our lenders and reduced our choices. We hope you can pass on the special prices next spring and increase your sales. Please know, we have produced a full supply of our Distinctively Better plants for 2012 and beyond but the current financial crisis regarding bookings for spring 2011 is real.

Thank you,
[Signed]

Elin R. Dowd, President; Miles R. Rosedale, Chief Executive Officer; Bob Smiland, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer

To access the Dec. 7 phone call, customers can contact their Monrovia Craftsman for the call-in number and access code. The call will be broken down by customer region.
Northeast: 8 a.m. PST
Southeast: 10 a.m. PST
Northwest: 1 p.m. PST
Southwest: 3 p.m. PST

The customer support letter, also referenced above, reads as follows:

We hope all of you had a very good Thanksgiving.

We all know what the economy has done to our industry over the last few years. There has been a significant amount of wholesale nurseries (growers) going out of business or facing large financial challenges. Banks are reducing and canceling their lending to wholesale nurseries.

Some of us have learned about such a crisis with Monrovia Growers, their bank(s) are requiring
significant repayments. Also, they have strongly urged Monrovia Growers to market their “Distinctively Better Plants” to the Big Box stores. Due to a shortage of quality plant material, the Big Box Stores have lately repeatedly approached Monrovia Growers to sell to them. Not selling the brand, but instead selling Monrovia Growers quality plants in black containers. Miles, Elin, Bob, Gilbert, Bruce and Susie are doing everything in their power to keep this from happening. Monrovia has always been solely dedicated, and the number one supporter of the Independent Garden Center Channels/ IGC Industry.

If Monrovia does not achieve an increase in sales through raising their spring bookings by $20,000,000 before the end of JANUARY, they may be forced to liquidate inventory or the entire company. We, as Independent Nurseries cannot afford this to happen. We agree that we shall increase our spring bookings by a significant amount to help Monrovia Growers reach their goal. Monrovia is reducing prices on hundreds of varieties by 35% to 50% on their part to achieve their goal.

This is a win-win partnership.

We all ask you to join us in rallying around Monrovia Growers at this time by significantly increasing your purchases.

Thank you all!

Ken Andersen, Walter Andersen Nursery, San Diego, CA
Eddie Anderson, McDonalds Garden Centers, Virginia Beach, VA
Don Baldocchi, Pacific Nurseries, San Francisco, CA
David Bates, Bates Nursery, Nashville , TN
Frank Benzing, Summerwinds Garden Centers, San Jose, CA
Jack Bigej, Al's Garden Centers, Tigard, OR
Cathy Bishop, Mesquite Growers, Tucson, AZ
Renai Bobbett, Beaver Bark Ltd., Richland , WA
Calvin Bordine, Bordine's Nursery, Rochester Hills, MI
Russel Brown, Southern Homes and Garden, Montgomery, AL
Bud Burgquist, Green Thumb International, Southern California
Steve Burgquist, Green Thumb Super Garden Centers, Southern California
Mike Byland, Bylands Nursery, Kelowna, Canada
Tim Chichak, Greenland Nursery, Sherwood Park, Canada
Steve Cockerham, Betty's Azaela Ranch, Fairfax, VA
Tom Courtright, Orchard Nursery and Florist, Layafette, CA
Jacquie Courtright, Alden Lane Nursery, Livermore, CA
Vince Crupi, The Garden Gallery, Burlington, Canada
John Darin, English Gardens, Detroit, MI
Jay DeGraff, The Greenery Nursery, Turlock, CA
Cameron Dennis, Landscapes Unlimited, Petaluma, CA
Frank D'Esposito, Sunset Farms & Garden Center, Wanamassa, NJ
Tim Elbert, Northwest Nursery Buyers Association, Board Chair, Rhododendron, OR
Monte Enright, Armstrong Garden Centers, California, CA
Jim Estill, Calloway's Garden Centers, Dallas, TX
Mark Gill, Green Acres Nursery & Supply, Roseville, CA
Pat Gray, Navlet's Garden Centers, Walnut Creek, CA
Conrad Hayter, New Garden Landscape and Nursery, ,
Brett Hensley, True Blue Nursery & Florist, Pawley's Island, SC
Gavin Herbert, Jr., Roger's Gardens, Corona Del Mar, CA
Dean Higbee, South Branch Nursery, Murfreesboro, TN
Bill Hole, Holes Greenhouse & Gardens, St. Albert, Canada
George Hyams, Hyams's Landscape and Garden Center, Charleston, SC
Michael Ireland, Martin Viette Nurseries, East Norwich, NY
Bill Jameson, Master Nursery Garden Centers, CEO, Concord, CA
Dennis Keady, The Garden Factory, Rochester, NY
Liz Kimmel, Sperling Nursery, Calabasas , CA
Brent Kittle, The Plant Depot, San Juan Capistrano, CA
Mike Kunce, Pike Nurseries, Atlanta , GA
Jeff Laffterty, Master Nursery Garden Centers, Concord, CA
Ken Lain, Watter's Garden Center, Prescott, AZ
Jim Larson, Cascadian Nursery, Inc., Hillsboro, OR
Matt Lepow, Almaden Valley Nursery, Arnold, CA
Ken Long, L.A. Reynolds Nursery, Winston-Salem, NC
Tom Mahoney, Mahoney's, Inc., Boston, MA
Sandi McDonald, Hillermann Nursery, Washington, MO
Alfred Millard, Behnke Nurseries, Beltsville, MD
Jens Molbak, Molbak's , Woodinville, WA
Erik Moller, Moller's Garden Center, Inc., Palm Desert, CA
Morris Newlin, New Garden Landscape and Nursery, Greensboro, NC
"Mrs. Bob" and Sandy Noten-Heuman, Bob's Garden Center, Egg Harbour Township, NJ
Bob Oliver, Sunshine Plants, White Lake, MI
Richard Pantano, Pantano Nursery, LLC, Manalapan, NJ
Tim Parker, Plymouth Nursery, Inc., Plymouth, MI
Shirley Peckosh, Peck's Green Thumb Nursery, Cedar Rapids, IA
Mike Pelis, Green Spot Nursery, Longmont, CO
Tom Perry, Sunnyside Nursery, Fairfax, CA
Paul Reeves, Garden Centre Group Co-op, Mississauga, Canada
Paul Reiner, Oakland Nursery, Inc., Columbus, OH
Bryan Rice, Rice's Nursery, North Canton, OH
Don Riddle, Homestead Gardens, Inc., Davidsonville, MD
Michael Rowland, Plantworld, Albuquerque, NM
Jenifer Schamber, Greenscape Gardens, Manchester, MO
Bill Shaw, Earl May Nurseries, Midwest States, IA
Dave Sherwood, Sherwood Forest Nursery & Garden, Manchester, MO
Ted Sickle, Sickles Market, Little Silver, NJ
Lenny Statile, L.P. Statile, Colts Neck, NJ
Joe Stoffergan, Homewood Nursery, Raleigh, NC
Dave Strauss, Sloat Garden Centers, San Francisco, CA
Steve Taber, Southwest Wholesale, Carrollton , TX
John Tomasovic, Tomasovic Greenhouses and Nursery, Des Peres, MO
John A. Trax, Jr., Northwest Nursery Buyers Association, President, Rhododendron, OR
Jim Webster, The Barn Nursery, Chattanooga, TN
Marv and Ray Wiegand, Ray Wiegand's Nursery, Macomb, MI
David Williams, Williams Nursery, President of GCA, Westfield, NJ

Photo by Marina del Rey Garden Center