Trends: Water gardening
Shaken AND stirred... The following quote, from a young woman participating in a recent gardening trends focus group, probably will make you bristle. It certainly should make you think.

"Gardening is going to my local garden center, purchasing a pre-made container of plants, putting it on my deck, then having my friends come over to smoke cigarettes and drink cocktails." (Source: "In The Know," the Standpoint Marketing Research newsletter)

While we have to be careful about painting any demographic sector with the broad brush, most trend watchers agree that the younger customer wants a garden much more than she wants TO garden. The same philosophy marks most of what she puts in and around the home. Whereas the journey means a lot to the Baby Boomer customer, the destination is what matters to her successor.

You face or will face a major challenge when you craft the garden center of tomorrow. The words "easy to maintain," "instant" and "custom designed" will become major players in said store's offerings — regardless of what said store offers. Take water gardening, for instance. The focus group participant mentioned earlier might want to smoke up and drink up her deck, but while she's doing both she'll still want to gaze upon a serene water feature — as long as she doesn't have to conceive/install/maintain it.

You'll either give her something ready-made, or you had better be ready to make her something. And what you make her can't require constant care. I recently came across an excellent Web site that explores water gardening in general and container water gardening specifically. It delves into setup processes and offers plant options. In a nutshell, it's the kind of "primer" the young consumer could/would use when she decides to enjoy her own water feature.

Presumably between puffs and swigs.

Puzzling pictures
Giving you fits... One of the pictures below is a puzzle. Select the correct one, then put the product together again. Then pass "Go" and collect $200. Or not.

Urban Outfitters prepares for garden store launch
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Pick 'n Click
Data on that-a... We’ve created this list of links to the suppliers to help you find the garden/gift items you need. Please click the company for free product info.

Achla Designs Allsop, Inc. Alpine Corporation Aquascape, Inc. ATLAS Glove Consumer Products, a Div. of LFS, Inc. Bamboo Accents Bar Harbor Cedar BC Landscape & Nursery Association Benchmaster by Structural Plastics Brook & Hunter Carruth Studio, Inc. Charlie Cook Associates, Inc. Chicagoland Grows Clean Air Gardening Collier Metal Specialties, Inc. Danove Corporation Danove Corporation Deer Run Greenery Dekorra Products Discount Pond Supplies, Inc. Downeast Quarries of Maine, Incorporated DP Foods, LLC (Daniels Plant Food) Dramm Corporation EasyPro Pond Products EbioExpress International Echo Valley Echo, Inc. Ecological Laboratories, Inc. Fabriscape Fafard Fiskars Brands Friendship's Garden, Inc. Garden Market EXPO/CANGC Gardenware

George Little Management Gifts That Bloom Hines Pottery Horticolor Canada, Inc. Hydrofarm Imperial Ponds K&H Manufacturing Lawngrips Melrose International Middle Tennessee Nurserymen's Association Novelty Manufacturing Co. Novelty Manufacturing Co. Olds Seed Company Plant Revolution, Inc. Pride of Place Plants, Inc. Principle Plastics Radius Garden LLC Red Carpet Studios Riverside Enterprises SATO Labeling Solutions America, Inc. Savio Engineering, Inc. SeedBallz Shatley Farms, LLC Sherman Nursery Company Silcast, Inc. Stonesmith Garden Vessels Tetra Pond Tierra-Derco International T-Mate-O Vitamin Institute Walter E. Clark & Son Waterscapes Aquatic Plant Nursery Wellmaster Carts West County Gardener Winston Company

 

Urban Outfitters prepares for garden store launch
Check the *BLOG*

Oh, yeah, the riddle answer...
Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

 
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