Trends: Innovative marketing
A marriage of sorts... I went to a wedding the other day, the first I've attended in more years than I care to recall. It was "amply lovely" (which is one of the better adverb/adjective combos you can attach to a ceremony that featured a beautiful bride, a beaming groom and lot of people crying happy tears). Actually, the evening's love song started on a rather shaky note, as the minister — ministering his first wedding ever — opened the service by asking, "And who will give away this man?"

To his credit, the official officially recovered in a manner both quick and humble — to the point that his gaffe will probably be chuckled upon years hence, when the happy couple recalls the highlights of their nuptial experience. Chances are excellent that said shared guffaw won't take place at a garden center. But it might...

You see, a garden center helped make the evening special by supplying plants for the service — plants that had some 50 people in attendance saying, "Wow, are those flowers beautiful, or what?!"

OK, I said that. Most of the rest of the crowd simply took notice, asked the bride's mom about the various ensembles of color and foliage, and discovered in a manner that the MasterCard commercial would deem "priceless" that said arrangements came from the garden center just around the corner.

I have no idea whether the garden center cut the family a deal — or if it even provided the plants out of the goodness of the owner's heart. I do know that virtually everyone I talked to was talking about the plants and the plant provider. And I would be willing to wager — were I a willing wagerer — that the lovely Mrs. Y and I weren't the only attending parties to go plant shopping "around the corner" a few days later.

Sometimes, little things do a lot to enhance your image in your community. Sometimes, just staying a step ahead of the guy around the "other" corner will do the same thing. To that end, I would recommend the Fernlea Flowers Web site, which has a page devoted to helping garden centers carve and maintain a niche in the marketplace. You'll find many good tips on growing, merchandising and marketing — as well as some proverbial "other."

All of it will help you better court your customer. Who knows, maybe she'll even become "married" to the notion that she needs to shop with you regularly.

Puzzling pictures
You can do it, waterboy!... One of the pictures below is a puzzle. Find the right one and then piece the product together again. When you achieve said nirvana, pat yourself on the back because you know it took the woman at the cubicle next to you three tries to accomplish the same feat.

"Outdoor rooms with no place for plants?"
Check the *BLOG*

Pick 'n Click
I want it all, and I want it now... Do you need to find "just the right" garden/gift items? The suppliers listed here are ready/willing/able to send you the information you desire (assuming, of course, you're not still stuck on that "what is the meaning of life?" question). Click the company for e-reader service.

Alpine Corporation Anamese Garden & Home Ancient Graffiti Asian Ceramics Atlantic Pottery ATLAS Glove Consumer Products, a Div. of LFS, Inc. Bamboo Accents Benchmaster by Structural Plastics Bird Brain, Inc. Brook & Hunter Carruth Studio, Inc. Carson Industries Ceramo Co. Charlie Cook Associates, Inc. Collier Metal Specialties, Inc. Danove Corporation Deer Out Dekorra Products Discount Pond Supplies, Inc. EasyPro Pond Products Fabriscape Featherock, Inc. Gardenware Gifts That Bloom Good Directions, Inc. Hines Pottery Horticopia, Inc.

Imperial Ponds Jamaica Cottage Shop Listo Products Little's Good Gloves Magnet Works Maine Bucket Company, Inc. National Lawn & Garden Show New Creative Enterprises Novelty Manufacturing Co. Ohio Wholesale, Inc. Outback Chair Co. Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Assoc. Parker Davis Company, Inc. Plastair Punxsutawney Glass & Tile Co. Red Carpet Studios Retail Service Company Riverside Enterprises Ruibal’s Topiary Systems & Ironworks Savio Engineering, Inc. Silcast, Inc. Trunk Mat Company, The Tula Hats Upper Deck Ltd. Wayside Fence Company WeatherPORT Global Shelters White Cedar Gazebos

 

"Outdoor rooms with no place for plants?"
Check the *BLOG*

Oh, yeah, the riddle answer...
You're likely to step in a poodle.

 
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