The Blogging Nurseryman by Trey Pitsenberger

My post, Hines Nurseries De-Listed from Stock Exchange, August of 2007 is still getting comments! The latest one from Roger-Dodger claims that Hines will be soon be selling only to the box stores. No more sales to independents. That won’t bother us, as we long ago decided to not do business with companies that serviced the box store. Now it’s going to go the other way, with wholesale companies deciding to eschew the independent for the boxes. According to Roger it won’t matter as the company will eventually be sold off. I love this quote, “We did hear that even the Box stores were looooosing $$$ now! It is about time someone did the math, you can’t sell a $4.50 plant to the box store for $3.99 and make money!”

This is part of the fragmenting of the nursery industry we talked about here. Some companies will decide to do business only with the box stores, while others will service the independents. Trying to service both is just about impossible. If you service the box stores you have to price your plants and service accordingly. What independent is going to buy plants from a company that gives a better deal to the boxes? We have a local wholesale company out of Sacramento that tries to do just that. Their plants are in the boxes and at some of my independent competition. Why my fellow independents would support a company that sells the same plants to the boxes at a bigger discount is beyond me.

The nursery businesses are facing some challenging times. The shake ups have only begun! I believe that it will become harder and harder for wholesale nurseries and suppliers to service both the boxes and independents. It’s like us independents trying to offer the best service and quality at box store prices, it won’t work. Sooner or later you have to decide who your market is and what they want. What the independents and boxes want from the nursery business are two different things. The boxes generally use the garden department as a loss leader, while the independents use the garden department for making a profit and staying in business. Each has it’s own customer base with different needs. Wholesale nurseries that try to have it both ways will face more independents like myself who question why we should be supporting their business.

Along that line it’s time for wholesale nurseries to start treating their customers (us) a little better. Tell me why I should be doing business with you? Do you offer extraordinary service? Are you sales people really finding out about the needs of their customers? Most don’t! Most don’t even read my blog. What an insight for them. They just call and ask if we need any plants? It’s of course funny how they show up when business slows down in summer. Fair weather friends. Considering how hard we work at understanding and creating relationships with our customers, I don’t have the patience for a wholesale business that cannot articulate just why I should be buying from them. They just bounce along like nothing has changed.

“We have Photinia’s in one gallon sizes” So what, so does everyone else. What makes your’s so special? What makes your company so special? Most don’t have an answer.

These are very interesting times.

Will this current interest in growing vegetables and fruit’s continue once people realize the work involved? Doug Green has a post on the subject here. His take in a nutshell is the interest in vegetable gardening is fueled by current affair’s. ie. fuel prices, mortgage meltdown, etc. Once folks realize the work involved in growing your own the interest will diminish once current affairs change. He’s seen it before and so have I. That’s OK. Though, as it’s important for people to understand just how much work is involved in bringing food to table.

Vegetable gardening is entering a new phase of interest. While the majority of people may loose interest in the long run, there are plenty of people who find growing their own a fun pursuit. It’s about being outside, getting exercise, fresh food, and the feeling of self-sufficiency that comes with the knowledge that you can grow your own food. It’s also becoming something of a status symbol. Who has the time and money to grow the very best?

As a nursery person I enjoy working with people who take a ongoing interest in their garden as opposed to folks who install a “landscape” and then move on to the next project. People working in the garden visit the nursery more often, their purchases are smaller but more frequent throughout the year.

Things are a bit different here than the rest of the country but our sales of bat guano, alfalfa meal, kelp meal and other obscure fertilizers are better than ever before. Starting this week we will carry Indonesian bat guano, Mexican bat guano, as well as Jamaican bat guano. I would have never though we would have needed these fertilizers. Did you know that some bat guanos are high in nitrogen while others are high in phosphorus? I didn’t, but apparently some of my customers do.

Here is the latest video on fertilizing vegetables in containers. It’s so important to feed vegetables grown in containers.

Feeding keeps the plant healthy and growing. It also vital for the best tasting fruit. I actually like using a organic based fertilizer that has added micro-nutrients. Here in California we are not allowed to label fertilizer organic if it contains micro-nutrients. How strange. As a matter of fact I am going to cover this strange labeling issue in a later video.

Meet Gordie the Golden Gecko. He has a bit of an accent since he is from down under, but he moved to northern California a few years ago and gets along just fine here. He hopes to amuse and educate our customers in how best to enjoy our unique climate and topography. Since he is from elsewhere, like so many others in the foothills, it’s easier for him to relate to the unusual gardening conditions here. He is especially fond of Mediterranean plants including our natives. He tends toward organic gardening.

I would love to come up with a whole series of informational material that utilizes Gordie’s unusual talents, but for now Gordie just wanted to introduce himself.

G’day mates!

Fertilizer sales for us this year have been huge. We have never sold so much including specialty fertilizers like bat guano, alfalfa meal, bone meal, blood meal, etc. In a year where shrub and tree sales seem flat it’s good to see interest in maintaining the plants so high. I would have to guess it’s because of all the interest in growing your own food. 80% of our fertilizers are all organic so that has been a plus. Easy to promote.

We are expanding the fertilizer section to include more of the specialty fertilizers that we seem to be asked for. In addition the soil amendment sales have been great too. We have sold more full pallets to individual’s than ever before, especially the Foxfarm Ocean Forest.

It what has been an underwhelming year overall the fertilizers and potting soils have been very bright. Big ideas for this next year.

Wanted to talk about the comment made by Victor Flaherty at my post titled, There is no nursery industry. He has found out it’s hard to get people to pool together for advertising. Out of 10 independent garden centers in the Huston area only one, besides his own has committed. Everyone wants to wait and see what happens. This is why it’s even harder to get a national campaign together.

He is what I am doing. Writing this blog and getting involved with other bloggers. I have met and talked to people who I would have never conversed with before. This is good as it has opened up worlds of possibilities. Bloggers are a small proportion of the population. Never the less they are some of the most intellectually curious people around. That’s why they blog. Same goes for gardening professionals who blog. They are the people I most want to connect with. They will be the ones that have the new ideas that will reinvent what we do for the better.

Because of that I feel that we will connect without much effort. That’s what I love about this medium. The unexpected consequences that occur when you just get out and participate. Rather than trying to get a group that will commit on some plan of action, let’s organize a group that will allow the free exchange of ideas among like minded individual’s.

How to start?

1. Start a blog separate from your customer oriented website or blog. Start one where you can talk about the things that interest or worry you in our businesses. It can be separate from you company website if so inclined. Posting doesn’t have to be frequent.

2. Start reading blogs.

3. Link to the blogs you like.

4. Visit blogs that you like. Become involved in the discussions going on and comment when so moved. After a while they may link to your site because you showed an interest, communicate honestly, and they like what you have to say. Sometimes blog owners just forget to tend to the blog roll. If not at that point it’s o.k. to ask. There is a new category at my blogroll, “garden center or nursery related websites.”

5. Now we are linked together. By visiting Technorati or subscribing to the blogs feed you will be able to keep up on what’s going on and who’s saying what.

6. Visit the Golden Gecko Garden Forum. Register and use the “Business of Gardening Section” We created it for those of us in the garden businesses.

7. Now let simmer.

I am filled with ideas and hope from the commenter’s at this blog. Everyone wants to do something. We are just not necessarily in agreement on what needs to be done. That’s fine. The first step has begun, we are beginning to find one another because of our mutual interests. I think the key is just putting ideas out there and seeing what transpires. Everyone wants to speed things up, since we are all getting a little spoiled by the immediacy of the web. This is just the beginning.

Do you know what a troll is? No, I am not talking about garden ornaments but rather the Internet type troll. Wikipedia say’s, “An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.

One of the wonderful things that the Internet is doing is putting the power back into the customers hands. The customer can start a blog and write about their experiences, good and bad. This comes as quite a shock to some nurserypeople, and their first reaction is to strike out at people who are perceived to be unfriendly to the “garden industry”. One person some might perceive to be unfriendly to the “industry” is Amy Stewart, author of Flower Confidential and a blogger at Garden Rant.

Check out this post at Garden Rant, the accompanying photos, as well as the very first comment. This first commenter is the troll. The comment that “ You write about and criticize the garden industry as though you are some sort of expert. The photos shohw an overgrown mess withvast disorganization along with lack of rythum and and ano design talent whatsoever.” Follow the link for the commenter, parsons wayneright and you are sent to Tropic Al’s BBQ Review (I left the link to that site out intentionally). I figured the comment was designed to get you to click the link to see who this was, but instead are directed to a web site hoping for business or higher rankings.

When you leave a comment at most blogs a link to your name is created. This way you can see who wrote the comment. If you want to stay anonymous, that’s o.k. No link is created. But when you are mis-lead by a false name it makes you feel “fooled” and not likely to return to that site again. Lost business! The false name at the comment doesn’t help in a world where just about everything you do online is just a Google away.

Trolling does nothing but make those of us who fall for it, like me, angry. I have known Amy for a few years now. She does not mince words when discussing the horticulture businesses. So what! How refreshing! The fake name with the re-direct to a BBQ website is why I write this. If you want to speak your mind then sign your name. Amy does.

More horticultural enterprises are becoming involved or trying to become involved in the great discussions going on at garden blogs. There seems to be a mis-understanding as to what a garden blog is. I noticed this with the Stepables promotion that was commented on at Garden Rant a few weeks ago. Read this post entitled How to Talk to a Blogger.

Most garden bloggers are not involved in the media business, they are my customers. Even if they don’t shop in my store they shop at some garden center somewhere. Not only are they customers but now they have a voice, and perhaps a following. Why would I want to pick a fight with my customers in a public forum? My customers have their beliefs, some of which I may not agree with. The one thing they all have in common is a love of the garden. That’s what I love about my business. I can work with (almost) everyone if they have a interest in gardening.

Just a few years ago Garden Rant didn’t exist, nor did Open Register, or Todays Garden Center. Garden Center’s that blogged could be counted on one hand. Starting a blog now has never been easier. If you feel you have something to contribute start one today! Look to Open Register and Today’s Garden Center for examples of how horticultural media can use blogs to join in. There are also a number of new garden center blogs that are examples of nursery people reaching out. Remember everything you say at a blog is forever. You are the company and what you say will be around a long time.

Actually there is no one nursery industry. The comments from the last post “I am participating!”, would indicate others see the same thing. The nursery industry has fragmented. There is no one voice of the industry. There are different factions with different ideas on which way to proceed. It’s like the restaurant industry. Mc Donald’s is a far cry from that little Italian Restaurant down the road. Sure they both sell food. That’s about where the similarities end.

I could see getting behind a concerted effort to promote the local, independent, WELL RUN, garden centers. The key is well run. Let’s face it, some independent nurseries are not, and I wouldn’t want to be involved in a campaign that included them. That is the crux of the problem in any large advertising campaign concerning the nursery industry. The message that drives a person to embrace Scott’s/Miracle Gro is not the same message that we have.

What’s the solution? I don’t know! I do know that the only thing we can do is try to provide the best service, plants, and customer experience we can muster up. If we do it right the customer will spread the word. Right now the means to spread the word is in it’s infancy, but it will grow. Sid tells of the “new wireless internet ‘cloud’ caused by the combined effort of interested and organized citizens that is beginning to cover the San Francisco area. In the past few months they say they’ve connected over 50,000 people to the Internet.” Strange and wonderful things are afoot

I wanted to address the comment from Steve Cissel at my last post, “Got Plants?”. Steve says, “it is really easy to sit back on the ranch and lob pessimism and one liners into the mix.” He continues, “ What our industry needs is creative thinkers (like you) to roll up your sleeves and participate.”

No one asked me to participate at the summit. There was a mention at Todays Garden Center web page May 20th. “National Green Industry Summit has been set for June 11-12 in St. Paul, Minn., with the goal of assembling a group of thought leaders to discuss a national promotional program for the green industry, similar to the dairy industry’s ‘Got Milk’ campaign.” I may have been sent an e-mail but I don’t remember. Was I invited?

The people involved want to help the industry. Steve and the rest of the participants want to do something to help steer people towards gardening and the garden. The idea that you can replicate a campaign like “Got Milk” just doesn’t resonate with me. It’s like trying to hit a home run every time at bat. Better to just hit the ball and run towards first.

Steve says that they “need creative thinkers, like me to roll up my sleeves and participate.” My sleeves are rolled up, and I am participating the only way I can, through my blog. If the organization wants input from creative thinkers why not offer the meeting on live video feed. That way the small garden center owner who can’t leave the nursery during the spring season can participate. Why is this thing scheduled for early June? I am not heading across the country this time of year. I choose to reduce my carbon footprint by not flying all the way to St. Paul.

I did find a web page, Project Green Industry which is written by Green Beam. I have added it to my blogroll. According to the web page, “Steve Cissel, CEO and founder of 10-20 Media, proposed building a national marketing campaign around the ‘oxygen footprint’, an antidote to the carbon footprint concept that every third-grader has become familiar with by now.” The article continues “Cissel is so gung-ho about the oxygen footprint idea that he already has purchased several Web domains: oxygenfootprint.com, oxygenfootprint.org, O2footprint.com. ‘Every which way you can configure it, I have it,’ he said.” It continues, “He envisions a well-funded promotional campaign that will result in everyone knowing the answer to ‘What’s your oxygen footprint?’ just like they know the answer to ‘What’s your e-mail?’”.

We need to focus at the local level. Instead of trying to hit that home run with a national “Got Milk” type campaign, we should be putting people in contact with local garden oriented business that care about what’s going on in the community and are willing to talk about it. It’s through this “small and local” thinking that people might gravitate towards gardens and gardening.

“Meet the local garden center or florist who makes a difference everyday in your community.”

That’s my idea.

Wanted to address this article from Open Register on “The First National Green Industry Summit” This group wants to develop a “national marketing program for the horticulture industry. Mandatory check-off programs like ‘Got milk?’ and ‘Pork, the other white meat’, along with voluntary programs like the National Rifle Association’s safe-gun storage campaign, were held up as examples.” Sure, who wouldn’t like to hit a gold mine like “Got Milk”. The problem is it doesn’t just happen. Looking at a hit like “Got Milk’ and trying to replicate that never works.

Why do we need a national ad campaign? Here we are in the midst of a huge interest in vegetable and fruit gardening without any advertising. Nurseries are saying they can”t keep up with the interest. People seem to have found out and started vegetable gardening without any advertising. Advertising has changed. The idea of a national ad campaign is so old school I can’t believe they are thinking of it. Of course that’s why nothing was decided at the summit. To many conflicting ideas on what’s the best way to proceed.

In the end they decided they need “to hire a professional facilitator who can guide participants through the process of writing a mission statement and then lead the group toward selecting a program message everyone can get behind.” Oh boy, here come the professionals. Sounds like a money pit to me. Far better to spend less money on advertising and more money on making sure that the customer has a great experience when they come into your store.