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FEBRUARY 7, 2006
Trends: Garden tools
Quality diggers and more... In the ongoing battle between independent retailers and mass merchandisers, the "indies" seem to have conceded certain product lines. On the surface, garden tools would appear to fall in this category. However, a number of independent garden centers are finding success with specialty or high-end garden tools — specifically items or brands that "out-value" what their cookie-cutter competitors are peddling down the street.

A good resource in the premium tool market is Brook & Hunter. The company offers sturdy, attractive shovels, trowels, forks, cultivators and more, each made with Red Oak handles and stainless steel blades. We also think you'll give a green thumb's up to the quality products from Fiskars. This site is updated with new products regularly. For an excellent review of garden tools, which spotlights items by brand and by type, you'll want to check out Epinions.com. Here, consumers use the tools and rate them. Click on the link and then go to the Affiliates section for more information.

Maybe you have a tool line you would like or recommend. Maybe you just like talking tools. Either way, log into our blog and tell us your tale. And, by all means, check out the rest of these GCP&S e-Zone features...

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Riddle me this...
Romeo and Juliet are found dead on the floor in a bedroom. When they were discovered, there were pieces of glass and some water on the floor. The only furniture in the room is a shelf and a bed. The house is in a remote location, away from everything except for the nearby railway track. What caused the death of Romeo and Juliet?
(Scroll down for the answer.)

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February by category
Here, here... This month, while you're wondering if she loves you or loves you not, you'll want to check out the items found in the following categories, which appear in the February GCP&S ProductZONE.

 

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Puzzling pictures
Head over heels... One of the pictures below is a puzzle. Find the right one and then piece the product together again. If you do, you will become the smartest horticulturist in the history of man. Or at least one of them.

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Pick 'n Click
Instant service... Looking for the latest on the latest garden/gift products? These suppliers are geared up to send you the info you need. Click the company for e-reader service.

Achla Designs
Agraquest, Inc.
Allsop, Inc.
Alpine Corporation
Animus Garden Art
Aquascape Designs, Inc.
Bamboo Accents
Bar Harbor Cedar
Best 1 Hummingbird Feeders
Biedermann & Sons, Inc.
Bird Brain, Inc.
Bloom Master Planter Corp.
Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery
Bottman Design, Inc.
Brass Baron Fountains & Statuary, The
Braun Horticulture
Brook & Hunter
Caffco International
Carruth Studio, Inc.
Carson Industries
Charlie Cook Associates, Inc.
Collier Metal Specialties, Inc.
Country Originals, Inc.
d’barro Pottery
Danove Corporation
Discount Pond Supplies, Inc.
DMC Products
Dorothy Biddle Service
Ecological Laboratories, Inc.
Fabriscape
Featherock, Inc.
Gardenware
Growers Supply
H & H Manufacturing
H. Potter Conservatory
Heritage Farms
Hines Pottery
Hydrofarm
Keystone Wholesale
Kinsman Company, Inc.
LFS Incorporated
Listo Products
  Little’s Good Gloves
Macore Co.
National Lawn & Garden Show
Novelty Manufacturing Co.
Novelty Manufacturing Co.
Ohio Wholesale, Inc.
Palm Beach Wholesale Growers Association, Inc.
Par A Sol
Pharm Solutions, Inc.
Poly-Tex, Inc.
Pond Filtration, Inc.
Principle Plastics
Red Carpet Studios
Retail Service Company
Riverside Enterprises
Riverside Enterprises
RSR Industries
Rubicon International
Ruibal’s Topiary Systems & Ironworks
Rustic Natural Cedar Furniture Co.
Savio Engineering, Inc.
Schrodt Designs
Schrodt Designs
Sherman Nursery Company
So Cool Products, Inc.
Spring Meadow Nursery, Inc.
Stonesmith Garden Vessels
Stoney Creek
Strong Marketing, Inc.
Structural Plastics
Sunlight Supply/a division of National Garden Whol
Synchronics
Tetra Pond
Toland Enterprises, Inc.
Triformis Corporation
Tula Hats
Two Dogs Designs
WeatherPORT Global Shelters
 

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Oh, yeah, the riddle answer...
(Insert rim shot here)... Romeo and Juliet are fish. The rumble of the train knocked the tank off the shelf.



 
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