National Brands v. The South

I had an interesting conversation with a person representing a plant brand yesterday. We discussed the possibility of us picking up the brand for 2013. We had a nice talk but it doesn’t look like the brand would be a good fit for us. One of the main reasons is timing. We have run into this with every national brand that we have worked with. The main problem is that all national brands are geared towards marketing, promotions and sales for northern markets. Those of us in the South are on our own with these brands. Either the plants, pots or tags are not available when we need to plant to have the product ready in March or the marketing and promotions don’t start until we are more than halfway through our selling season.  The simple fact is that we who deal plants in the South are not considered as part of the national green industry (with a few exceptions). Why? Because of population density. There are more people in other parts of the country. People equate to sales.

Every spring there is an email newsletter that comes through about April 15 or so that says something like, “Spring is here. Time get started planting!” However, we have been selling and planting for 6 weeks or more in the South. If there is ever a national promotion or advertising program that is agreed upon by the industry, the South will get the short end of the promotional stick. If it happens, the advertisements will focus on northern markets and start so late in our selling season which will be of no benefit to us.

We need a coordinated national cooperative, commission or committee that can fund, create, schedule and promote the benefits that our industry provides to the county. Think about it. How many products produce tangible items that give back to the consumers and how many product are available to consumers that sustain the environment by simply existing? When that group national promotion is finally formed, southern growers and garden centers need to make sure we are well represented. If not, we will receive no benefit from participating in it just like an article featuring a certain plant in the June edition of Southern Living will never be of any benefit.

Selling in May

Sales in May are sketchy at best. It’s the same every year. The week after Mothers Day seems to be the week when everyone takes stock of everything and may or may not order based on their leftover inventory for the weekend. Next week is the week before Memorial Day weekend which is also a hit or miss week depending on how well things are going in the garden centers. We have been dry around here and warmish to around 90F or so this week. As long as we get some rain and the temps stay below 95F, we will probably have a good week.

Weekends in May are tough. There are a lot of events and festivals that make selling plants hard. These events draw your customers away from your stores. There are a lot of garden centers hosting their own events and sales to keep the customers coming in the door. Here is a sample of what one garden center is doing.

Lots of Plants for Memorial Day

There is good availability on all the summer items you need like Lantana, Vinca, Begonias, Pentas and Sunpatiens!

Technorati Tags: begonias, celosia, color, color bowls, confetti garden, Cora Vinca, daylilies, dragonwing begonias, impatiens, ivy, lantana, leucanthemum, marigolds, new guinea impatiens, parks brothers wholesale plants, parks wholesale, pentas, purslane, scaevola, sunpatiens, sweet potato vine, tropical hibiscus, wave petunias, wholesale plants, zinnias

My sisters did an end run on me when they got together and bought Mom something for Mom’s Day and left me out of it. I asked my mom what she wanted for Mother’s Day. She told me that she didn’t want anything. I suggested that we could take her out to eat she told me that doing absolutely nothing this weekend would be wonderful. I replied that I could afford doing nothing.

The thing is that my Mom works here and does all our bookkeeping so getting a break around here in the spring really is something we all would like to have. Don’t worry. I will do something for her. Although I think I might owe both her and Dad something from Mother’s and Father’s Day last year.

Mother’s Day is always a big weekend for IGC’s. We have some people that have told us on Facebook that they are driving 2 hours to come shop with us this weekend. If I didn’t work here, I would get Mom a nice Combo Pot or Combo Basket or maybe a gift certificate with a promise to go with her to help load and unload everything.

Despite the big weekend that we are all hoping for (it’s going to rain here tomorrow), we still have a good selection of product to carry us through the next several weeks. If the weather will stay nice like it has been for this week, we should all do nicely. My personal prediction based on nothing but my gut is that the season will stretch into early June. There are still a lot of people who have not planted their flower beds. Plus I think that people are tired of all the politics that bombards them online, on TV and the radio so they will escape to their yards for some peace and relaxation.

So having said all that here is what we have for next week. There is a great selection of J6 packs and good numbers on several items of 1204 packs like impatiens (1204s are discounted next week – check availability for pricing). We also have great selections of #4.5 and #6 items, #10 baskets and #12 deco pots and baskets. Also check the availability for other sale items.

#12 Wave Petunias Deco pots are on sale next week. Check the availability for prices and other sale items.

Technorati Tags: begonias, calibrachoas, combo baskets, combo pots, coreopsis, dahlias, dragonwing begonias, gerbera daisy, hanging baskets, impatiens, lantana, new guinea impatiens, ornamental peppers, parks brothers, parks brothers wholesale plants, platycodon, scaevola, sedum, stepables, wave petunias, wholesale plants, zinnias, zonal geraniums

In this first one in the far back you can see a pickup customer being helped by one of our loaders. In the front are some great looking #4 Celosia, some Wave Baskets on the floor (we sometimes have to stock baskets on the floor for a little while) and behind them are our Stepables.

In this one, we are unloading a truck and restocking. You can see some Wave Petunias baskets hanging up high. There are two crops hanging up high. The mature crop is on the right and the next crop are the smaller ones on the left. You can also see how good our Purslane baskets look hanging low on the far right side along the wall.

Technorati Tags: annuals, celosia, hanging baskets, loading, parks brothers, parks brothers wholesale plants, stepables, wave petunias, wholesale plants

Check out the bottom of this post for information on the Mid-South Green Industry Conference. June 19-20, 2012 in Pearl, MS. A great conference to attend to network, for education and to see some of the plant trials on how well plants perform in the South. Hope we can see you there.

Now for the pictures.

If you are interested in attending a great green industry conference in the south this summer you might consider attending the Mid-South Green Industry Conference in Pearl, MS. Click here for my blog post on the conference and here is the registration form.

The event is sponsored and supported by the associations shown below.

Technorati Tags: annuals, baskets, begonias, bonfire begonias, caladiums, calibrachoas, color bowls, cora cascade vinca, gerbera daisy, impatiens, jumbo 6 annuals, lantana, mother's day, new guinea impatiens, parks brothers wholesale plants, perennials, petunias, purslane, Spring Plants, sun coleus, sweet potato vine, tropical hibiscus, vegetables, verbena, vinca, wave petunias, wholesale plants, zinnias