The Blogging Nurseryman by Trey Pitsenberger

Gardening doesn’t get the same media play as the culinary professions. While garden shows and magazines are suffering food related media grows. I think we are going to see and are seeing a melding of the two arts as we head into the future. The biggest trend I can see coming down the pike is people growing and then preparing their own food. Not so much as a survival technique but as an artisan revival.

Found a hydroponic shop that sells gardening supplies, wine making supplies, and beer making supplies. The gardening supplies sell during spring while the beer and wine making supplies sell during winter. I expect to see more hybrid stores like this in the future. You could come up with some fun fall and winter workshops with these subjects.

Interesting article concerning Hines Nurseries at Grower Talks Magazine. Titled “The Rebirth of Hines” the article talks to Steve Thigpen, CEO of Hines Nurseries (then Hines Horticulture), and his long-time Hines colleague and friend Joe Gray. Ten years ago Grower Talks Magazine interviewed Steve about the direction of the business which at the time was rapidly growing and the first publicly traded nursery company.

Over the last 10 years the companies sales have fallen, from $423 million to $130 million. In between a bankruptcy, a change in management, and now it’s no longer publicly traded.  As it tries to rebuild it’s business one thing is clear, the nursery business is splitting into two different factions. One side dominated by box stores and their suppliers, and the rest of us and our suppliers. As Joe Gray say’s, “The more data we get, the more information, the more planning we can receive, it helps us in our production and in servicing them (box stores). Personally, I think we’re getting closer, we have a better working relationship, we understand each other’s needs a lot better. I think it’s good. I think a good, healthy relationship helps us plan out our production and our business and partner better.”

The box stores and their suppliers  must work more closely together. With the relationship becoming tighter it only seems logical that the independent garden center will have to search out alternative suppliers for it’s needs. The days of independents and box stores using the same vendors seems antiquated. How can the independent distinguish itself from the box stores if it is selling the same plants as the box stores?

There will always be people who favor the box stores over independents. There are also people who want to support smaller locally owned businesses and make a point of not shopping at boxes. Then there is a whole group of people who shop at both. The best bet for the smaller independent is to service the second group. I have seen an increase in the number of people who want to shop with us not just because we have what they want, but also to support the local business. I think we are entering an era where many people are becoming more conscious of the ultimate cost of loosing locally owned business. If you don’t shop there, one day they will be gone.

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According to The Los Angeles Times, the new lawn at the LAPD headquarters has been installed. As  the paper mention’s, “Just after the new 10-story building and its landscaping were dedicated last fall, trucks and cranes rolled in to erect a massive tent for a Los Angeles Police Foundation fundraiser. Work on the gala ended up destroying the lawn, the LAPD says.” Here is the background story. “The rare open space, a hit with downtown loft-dwellers and their dogs, debuted as an alluring oasis in the city’s urban core, complete with a stand of palm trees at one end and edges of benches, native plants and tall grasses,” said The Times. “Just after the 10-story building and its sustainable, park-like landscaping were dedicated last fall, trucks and cranes rolled in to erect a massive tent for a Los Angeles Police Foundation fundraiser. Ironically, work on the gala, which raises money to help improve the department, ended up destroying the green, the LAPD says. Vehicle tracks gouged in the turf can still be seen, and sprinklers in a water-conserving irrigation system were damaged, officials say.”Here are some more before and after pictures. 

My question is, in a city where the average rainfall amounts to approx. 15 inches a year could we have come up with a better alternative to this expanse of green? I am not anti-lawn, except where conditions don’t seem right. This would seem to be one of those situations. Los Angeles is a desert served with water shipped from many miles away. In addition the city offers a rebate to citizens for ripping out their lawns. The rebate was offered in June of 2009, during one of the areas frequent droughts.

What happens with the next drought? Will this lawn be ripped out and replaced with a water conserving landscape? What message does this send to citizens of the city? Could this area have been designed a bit differently?

My last post on embracing change talked about how gardening information is being dispensed through media not usually associated with gardening. Just after the post I checked the site meter and found some incoming links from this source. Checking it out I found the comment board discussing late blight on tomatoes. What’s the site? “AR15.com, Home of The Black Rifle”. It’s a gun site devoted to the “history, manuals, ammo, manufacturers, discussion groups, mailing lists, and distributors of AR-15s” (a type of gun). What is it about guns and gardening? I would gather it has to do with the whole self-reliance trend. No matter how you feel about guns, the fact that still another magazine like Garden & Gun, Soul of the New South exists shows how gardening information is now being dispensed through areas not formally considered “garden related.”

It’s a huge opportunity for the local garden center to reach out to people and groups that formally might not have been considered “garden focused.” Interesting…

The interest in gardening has never been more intense, yet we see more and more wholesale and retail nurseries closing. What’s up? I don’t think the interest in gardening overall is growing, just certain aspects or gardening. Our sales this year indicate the change. The interest in our “little neck of the woods” is in consumables, and color spots. Just try selling Japanese Maples or ornamental conifers and you’ll see what I mean. Sod sales are non-existent. Operations that catered to the landscape crowd are doing poorly, while nurseries that cater to the “home grown” group are doing better. Just ask my shrub and tree suppliers. Our sales are way down with these folks.

We’re happy with the change.  I enjoy helping people become more self-reliant. People will pay for vegetables, fruit trees, and the assorted items that help them succeed.  The younger crowd is especially interested in self-reliance. Generation y and z will spend money on gardening, but not so much the ornamental type of gardening. They are rightly concerned with their futures, and many see the answer in growing their own. This is reflected in magazines where gardening is discussed but not the center of attention. Backwoods Home Magazine, Mother Earth News, Backyard Poultry Magazine, Maximum Yield, etc. It’s more about creating a self-reliant lifestyle than creating a “outdoor room.”

As our country seems at times to be rudderless, people naturally want to steer their own course. The smaller garden center as a huge opportunity to be the place to help people reach their goals. My sales this year indicate that vegetables, color spots, soils, seeds, and fertilizers are where peoples interests are. People will pay a premium for local, expert information. It’s been great to see first time gardeners coming back this year. They we’re successful in their gardens last year and want to continue the trend. They do want to support locally owned businesses if you can supply them with their needs, and be there when they need help. The information part is so important. People want to connect with someone they can come to and know they will be steered in the right direction.

What a great time to be a small, locally owned nursery. Small, because you can change course quickly to suit your customers needs. Locally owned, because people want to know that the nursery they shop at has a vested interest in the community.