Gardening's Image Problem Part 1

Something tells me we need a makeover.

Over the course of the past 5 to 10 years it has become apparent that the garden industry and gardening as an activity have an image problem.  Garden clubs are oblivious to their aging membership.  Locally owned garden centers struggle to make profits and blame their blight on the prices at the box store down the street.  Growers meet every winter with their broker rep and ask "What's new?" only to order the exact same plant material as the past five years (and their competitors).  Breeders celebrate a "game-changing" variety while their hired PR specialists ponder over how to market yet another red petunia.  And everyone is asking "how do we get 'young people' to like us?".

Some in the industry say our focus should be on schools and children, incorporating gardening and food harvesting into curricula through school gardens, field trips, and other activities.  This is an excellent effort to get kids outside, to play with the earth, and get their hands dirty all the while learning about gardening.  However, I'm not 100% convinced that participating in a school garden will lead to future gardeners.  Growing up I personally was encouraged to make mud pies, was a member of my town's junior garden club, grew marigolds in Girl Scouts, and planted a tree for Arbor Day with Mrs. Silver's 2nd grade class, but every spring Saturday when my parents would ask for my help dividing the hostas and spreading mulch I refused.  Adamantly.  Dividing hostas and spreading mulch was in my teenager mind Manual Labor and neither entertaining nor worth my time.  I'd rather be hanging out at my friend's pool listening to N'Sync.  I wouldn't enjoy gardening and spreading mulch until later in college.

Happy Plant Science college students, c2006

I have found similar stories with friends of mine, both in and outside the industry.  Nichole and Brian don't garden because Nichole works 40hrs a week while Brian finishes his masters in engineering.  They have a small space in their back yard for a couple hops plants Brian uses for his home brewing hobby.  Wendy, a recent law grad, music lover, and foodie doesn't garden due to space limitations with her Brooklyn studio apartment, but has a collection of herb plants she uses regularly to season her favorite recipes when she hosts Saturday Night Dinner.  Courtney, an accomplished photographer for a number of blogs and home & garden magazines doesn't garden because it's such a labor intensive activity "where you get dirty."  She does however purchase a bouquet of flowers on occasion at Reading Terminal Market.

Another friend, Dani, a past wine sommelier and budding agriculturalist, works at a market in Brooklyn where he helps curate the farms and companies who participate.  On his apartment balcony he grows a few dozen varieties of tomatoes every year to concoct the perfect summer salad, and has become quite the heirloom fanatic.  Dani purchases plants from one of my customers and favorite garden centers in Brooklyn -- Crest Hardware & Garden Center.  However Dani has qualms with garden centers -- actually, he hates them.  The "bland Costco layout makes it incredibly difficult to shop and visualize" his garden at the store.  It doesn't help too that the plethora of products offered is unappealing to his 29 year-old male self, referring here to all the lawn ornament and "gifty" stuff (seriously, it's all crap from China, so why offer it?).

Whether they state it or not, all of these friends "garden" even though they don't classify it as gardening.  In their minds they are supplying their home-brewing hobby, trying delicious new food recipes, decorating a home.  Not only are Generation X/Y consumers changing the way consumers shop, read books, and communicate, they are changing the action and therefore definition of "gardening".  Fellow industry colleague Chris has found when polling neighbors that "gardening" means "planting herbs and vegetables", while a "gardener" means "you're old".  In an effort to rid ourselves of the old ladies wearing loud hats at their elite garden club luncheon at the country club image, do we change the image or gardening or do we develop a new term?

So where do we go from here?  Who do we target -- Rookie Gardeners like Dani, Courtney, Wendy, Nichole and Brian, as they change the definition of gardening, or younger Millennials who don't have plants on their radar yet (come on, people, they just got INTO college)?  What is the new definition of gardening, and how do we adapt to the changes consumers are indirectly forcing onto the industry?  How do we adapt the garden center and shopping experience to appeal to Gen X/Yers?

This is what I'm pondering.

Plant on and rock on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: It's Tearing Up My Heart - N'Sync

Happy T-Givz!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my faithful and casual readers out there!  May your holiday be filled with family, fun, love, and plenty of lovely nature-inspired holiday decor.  To my friends and collegues affected by Super Storm Sandy earlier this month -- Nick and I are thinking of you all, and hope that even during a difficult time such as this, you are able to enjoy what is truly important in life, family and friends.

Love to all!


Plant on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Fir - Blitzen Trapper

Sex & the City or Plants? Choose Wisely

First off, I hope all of you who are Mid-Atlantic and New England readers are safe and at home as Hurricane Sandy comes blundering in.  Let's hope the power stays on long enough to publish this post!

An article was published today in Today's Garden Center Magazine by their new associate editor, Karli Petrovic.  The article, titled 'Why I'm Not Gardening (... And No One Else My Age is Either)', is an op-ed discussing why Gen Yers are not giving garden centers a portion of their purchasing power.  Karli claims that commitment issues are not at stake, but instead that 'gardening' is seen as 'work'.  If I remember correctly, I think I made this very claim two weekends ago at a cocktail party with fellow industry leaders.  Bob at Dickman's, correct me if I'm wrong.  And important to note, the last cocktail party I had been to was in July - quite the dry spell for a Gen Yer and I'm sure Karli would agree.

There are many garden center owners and buyers who are probably reeling in their seats after reading this article.  The blasphemous double speak!  The poor cash-strapped Gen Yer!  Oh those Gen Yers who only want to spend their money on booze and clothes -- they're so detached from the real world!  I partially agree with them, but realize that I too was once in Karli's "WOOO! Post College!" mindset.  Yes, in grad school I'd rather spend my tip money from working as a barista on drinks at Pixel.  Yes, I used to have a much more extensive wardrobe.  However, note the past tense -- there has over time been a change in my mindset, and even though at 23 I wasn't ready for plants, I wasn't ready for a pet or a child either for that matter.  But what I was or wasn't ready for was not the same for ALL 23 year old's, or ALL of my friends.  One important take away for the readers AND Karli: beware of superlatives and over reaching generalizations.

However, I feel the true issue is not that gardening is perceived as work, but that the horticulture industry is not speaking or promoting plants in Gen Yers' terms.  We don't want to garden, we want to make Summer Salad with our neighbors and friends.  We don't want to garden, we want to have our own hops for our home-brewing project.  We don't want to keep a house-plant, we want to collect comic books.  Ok.  So that last example doesn't involve plants, but the collecting and nerdy culture of comics could easily be transmitted to collecting succulents and telanzias.  Make no mistake though -- those of us who do have container gardens, rooftop gardens, edible landscapes, house plants to make the apartment more "inviting to the ladies" sure as hell do NOT want large swaths of petunias as you'd see back in the 90s.  Those days are lame and gone, my friend.

Are you a Gen X/Yer who just recently started gardening?  I'd love to hear how you started living with plants, and why you enjoy it!  Please share your comments.

Maybe Karli needs to read my post from earlier this fall about killing plants.  It's alright Karli -- I kill mint too.

Plant on and rock on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Little by Little -- Groove Armada

Hurry Up and Wait Part 2

The bulbs arrived!!!

So only a week later than I wanted, I arrived home from work this afternoon to a small white box filled with bulbs from Holland!  Actually not Holland but Lewisburg, Ohio.  Those posers and their "DIRECT FROM HOLLAND!!!" plastered over their website and the daily emails I've been receiving since placing my order.

At any rate, the bulbs arrived in great shape, and the iris came with a cute name tag wrapped around the shoot.  Nick and I planted our goodies this afternoon and were watering in the plants just in time before it got too dark to see what we were doing.  I would have taken photos to share with you all, but Nick's camera battery needed charging and my camera was left at my parents home earlier this fall.  We'll just have to wait until spring to share!

Happy fall planting, everyone!

Plant on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Hurry Up & Wait - Stereophonics

Hurry Up and Wait

In August I stumbled upon a Dutch bulb company while researching colors of amaryllis for work.  This happened to be during one of the hottest weeks of the year and my garden at home was looking as horrible as the neglected patch of invasive weeds in my neighbor's yard.  My garden was surely in need of a life makeover, and I was dreaming of cooler fall weather.  After browsing the online catalog, I put together a wish list and placed an order later that weekend with Nick.  We were excited (ok, honestly I was excited; Nick just thought ordering some plants was nice) for our future fall planting project in early October.  I also liked the fact that next spring we would have flowers for fresh cut bouquets.  The order confirmation noted the bulbs would arrive in late September.  Sweet!


Poppy Anemone 'Mixture', one of the items I ordered (and really want to plant)

In September I decided to schedule a week off from work for early October.  I was past due for a vacation and decided October would be a great time to have a stay-cation to spruce up the garden, put together some fall combination planters, and plant the order of bulbs.  Then I got an email from the bulb company: "Important Update Regarding Your Order."  The delivery date was MOVED!  Moved to LATE OCTOBER!  I was crushed with my plans for an idyllic gardening vacation thwarted.

The bulb industry side of horticulture is so different from the rest of the industry -- it seems to have a bit more whimsy, more magic, something you can't quite put your finger on but spark curiosity.  In college we learned about tulips and how they were a form on currency in ancient cultures, where different colors yielded different monetary values; if I remember correctly, one of the first "market bubbles" was the tulip market.  Seems almost too good of a story to be true; perhaps great tulip industry branding efforts?  Other parts of the industry just seem so unorganized.  My undergraduate advisor would receive shipments of free bulbs to use for research experiments.  Some years there would be more bulbs than research and my friend Cheni and I would spend part of our summer composting bulbs that had gone unused and rotted in the greenhouse coolers.  Then there's last year's Dig, Drop, Done campaign that was so campy I to this day have no idea whether consumers bought it, found it appalling, funny, whimsical, or just plain stupid.  Kind of like the email confirmation when my bulb order was placed: "For Zone 6a, expect your order to arrive between September 15th and November 15th."  It's amazing that the bulb industry can operate so lackadaisical, when the rest of the horticulture industry demands live inventory stats and immediate order confirmations.  Maybe this is just a bad experience with this particular bulb company (that's been in business mind you since 1818, or so their website states), but I seem to remember other bulb companies having similar work ethics.  Am I missing something here?  Do I just have over-rated expectations because I, like other Americans, sometimes have "I want it NOW" consumer habits?  Are the Dutch onto something with their more laid back attitudes?

At any rate, I still am missing my order of bulbs. Please send ASAP.  ::Sigh::

Plant on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Now Generation - Black Eyed Peas

The Fear of Dead Plants

I have a confession to make: I am a terrible gardener.  I may know my garden plants and my weeds -- hell, I only went to an Ivy League school for seven years to become a horticulturalist and weed ecologist -- but I generally end up killing most of what I plant each year.

This year Nick and I moved out of Lehigh Valley and into a new apartment in a northern suburb of Philadelphia.  Along with the brand spanking new open-concept apartment came a lovely, well established garden off the side of the property.  There are a number of hostas, a single rose "tree" (for its shape in no manner resembles a "bush"), a peony that seemed to disappear over the summer, and a tall mamosa tree.  I tried making my mark on the space this spring, tearing out a number of ground geraniums that multiply like Tribbles and planted some 4 O'Clocks, peas, and dahlias.  The established perennials, 4 O'Clocks 'Limelight', and black leafed 'Dark Angel' dahlias did well until this past week; the peas never made it.

"Well" might be an over statement.  Mind you the 4 O'Clocks did bloom but fried in the August heat.  The dahlias, without proper staking or training became more of a ground cover rather than tall and upright.  An the herb pots for mojitos and grilling -- dead.

Every year I start with good intentions but the three past years at the greenhouse have made me realize that perhaps my gardens will always be the shoemaker's children -- always happy but without any shoes/plants.  My past and current landlords must regret allowing the "flower girl" take the apartments with their largest garden areas.  I know I should pay more attention to the garden by watering more often, amending the soil in the early spring, planning out each season what I'm going to plant, etc.  However, even with my type-A personality, I kinda don't care that the garden fails every year.  You'd think that I would cry over spilled milk (only sometimes) or dead plants.  This seems to be the case with most American gardeners -- we can't stand the thought of killing a plant.  Americans seem to treat plants as we treat our pets, as members of our family, although not as close.  Plants are like an estranged relative -- Aunt Lucy, twice removed on your step grandmother's side.  You still feel horrible when you learn she died two years ago, guilty that you were mad she didn't send a Christmas card during that time.

Why is this?  Why do American gardeners cherish plants so much and yet have a hard time validating purchasing plants throughout the year to beautify our homes or apartments?  Cut flowers are seen only as for special occasions or for when someone died.  Why are we so quick to cut the landscaping budgets when money gets tight, but still make sure we have $5 a day for our soy lattes?  Why do we run away in fear whenever a politician brings up "preserving the environment"?

My friends and colleagues in Europe don't seem to share this thinking.  It's more a mentality of "Oh hey, the plant died?  No worries, mate!  We'll just get another one!  It was time for a change anyhow."  I can agree with this sentiment -- so what if the plant dies?  It just means it's time to try something new!  I think other Gen X/Yers are starting to share this same way of thinking, as it can be seen in the boom in edibles, seed starting, terrariums, and the succulent craze.  Do you know how many different heirloom vegetables there are to try?  How many succulents?  The lists seem endless.

So how do we harness this curiosity to encourage more gardening?

On the Blog Again...

320 days.  That's how long my hiatus from blogging has run.  And it's not that I haven't had blog post topics on my mind, or the lack of encouragement from peers; life just took over.  My husband Nick got a much better job and we moved to a much nicer neighborhood closer to Philadelphia.  I found Pinterest -- follow me!  Spring came and performed above the industry's expectations.  My company patented a new hardy lavender.  We built an outdoor patio for a trade show booth.  Two weddings down and two more to go.

Working in the horticulture industry for nearly the past three years has opened my eyes much wider than my graduate student mind thought was possible when I started blogging.  Lately however I have been a bit confused about the focus of Generation X/Y Gardener.  I had a number of blog topics in mind that were focused more on the industry: how to effectively market to generations X/Y; why Generation X/Y buying power is focused on the tech and clothing markets and not plants; or branded programs and the difference between a brand and a package.  These topics to me sound as if they should be case studies for a marketing class at The Johnson School, not on a blog geared towards the cool kids.

Then GPN Magazine's 40 Under 40 happened.  On my mom's birthday in March I received an email from the editor congratulating me on my induction into the inaugural class of the 40 top individuals under 40 years old in the horticulture industry, hand selected from over 100 individuals who were nominated by their advisors, colleagues, bosses, etc.  I was floored.  Completely blown away that I had been included in a group of such amazing individuals; absolutely humbled that people other than my parents, husband, and bosses think of me as a future leader in the industry, a 'game changer'.  I needed to start blogging again.

I still was really unsure though about Generation X/Y Gardener.  When I started the focus was on the young, novice gardener and the blog was to act as an education tool for those wanting to know more about how to garden, what's new in gardening, and that it truly is easier than it looks in most cases.  I also wanted to voice to the industry that people in my generation are indeed interested in all things green, even if the interest and buying power are arguably not strong (yet) or visible in the traditional sense of large swaths of bedding plants and gaudy, grossly oversized hanging baskets.

Earlier this month I attended my favorite conference of the entire year -- OFA Short Course.  It's an all inclusive industry event which holds both education sessions and a trade show that covers over 8 acres.  It was a past Short Course that convinced me to return to the horticulture industry during my graduate school days, and I'm thrilled to now be a part of the Generation Next Committee.  It's a time when I get to recharge my batteries after the spring craziness, open my mind to new ways of thinking about business and the industry.  I love catching up with friends and peers -- it's like my annual therapy session for work, plants, and life.  A friend I have gained much appreciation for over the last year is Jared Barnes, a PhD candidate at NC State.  It was chats with Jared throughout the week that helped me regain focus on this blog and helped me develop the perfect topic for my next posting.  From here forward, Generation X/Y Gardener will be more of a dialog that is applicable to both folks involved directly in the horticulture industry and Gen X/Y'er gardening fans, to make us all think and gain a better understanding of the other party.

40 Under 40 Peeps and Jared -- thanks for getting me back into my blogging groove.

Rock on and plant on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Welcome Back - Mase

Fall in Love (Again)

I have fallen in love.  Again.  Thank goodness!  I feel as if I have awoken from a deep, Sleeping Beauty trance that left me feeling bland, old.  This month's issue of Green Profit, a trade magazine for the retail end of the horticulture industry, features an article that recaps the brilliantly successful pop-up retail outlet my friend Carmen and her company Nectar & Company created this spring.  Carmen had told me about the event's success back in July but reading the article yesterday refreshed my excitement to the point I had to visit the gym for two hours to calm down.  Carmen and her team created a gardening wonderland with different vignettes throughout the greenhouse that appealed to numerous audiences in their Georgia town.  The catch though was these vignettes were not just 'mini departments' within a larger 'store' - each had a story to tell through its strategically picked plant offerings, color scheme, and staging.  At every turn you didn't know what you would discover next; cleverness and creativity was oozing from every inch of the greenhouse.  I remember telling Carmen with excitement "I WISH I had BEEN there!!!".  The creative, stylish, and gardening-made-easy nature of the event energized and engaged customers to return two, three times throughout the weekend, making the event a complete sell-out.

Excitement is the exact feeling missing in the gardening industry right now.  Granted there are some of use with lots of spunk who are making a commotion, but the majority of growers, garden centers, and landscaping companies are one in the same.  Regardless of whether they are locally owned or part of a box store chain, everyone is offering the exact same lifeless plants.  Everywhere you go in the spring it's the same Filler-Spiller-Thriller combination planter, the same purple petunia, the same sweet basil, the same over growth-regulated mum and ornamental kale in the fall - like that Greek yogurt commercial: "plainly plain and samely same."  Makes you want to buy plants, right?  It's a poor business model if you ask me, when the gardening industry is vying for the same dollars we spend on our Starbuck's lattes, music from iTunes, Pandora bracelet charms, PlayStation video games, and annual batch of Titleist golf balls, ALL of whom have marketing campaigns exciting and praising the individuality of their customers.

So what does it take for consumers to "fall in love again" with plants?  Thinking of other things in life I love, the answer lies many times with memories of amazing experiences:

Love for Food: Tojo Sushi Restaurant, Vancouver, BC: My husband Nick cannot visit or talk about another restaurant without mentioning our night at Tojo.  We visited during our honeymoon, were treated like family by Tojo, his wife, and an ensemble of waiters and waitresses, ate like royalty, and laughed the whole night.  An experience we would buy $1000 flight tickets just to eat at the restaurant.

Love for Music: Fifteen years of ballet classes, ownership of every Supergrass album, and attending a Girl Talk concert all revived my love for music at different points in my life.  Whether a song, musical chord, genius Jerome Robbins choreography, or Girl Talk's unexpected combination of vocals from Peter Gabriel with the guitar rip from Space Hog, music invokes memories and experiences that I want to relive again and again.

Love for Fashion: a pair of Steve Madden Herringbone Twill Heels: Countless walks up Libe Slope, a Valentine's Day with best friends, and a drunken walk through 3-ft of snow with Mike and Arnaub, I've worn these shoes so many times I've repaired the heels three times.  If a simple pair of shoes does not render memories for you, or if you can honestly deny your closet holds a dress you haven't fit in since freshman year in college but keep to see if one day you can, perhaps it's time for a life makeover.

Love for a Sports Team: Go Tribe! Go Red!: Reinstated every Sunday with Fantasy Football, every summer with the smell of beer and Nathans hotdogs, every winter with the crisp smell of ice, people will die for their beloved sports teams.  Why?  The thrill of watching the winning homerun/touchdown/goal at the last second, a memory that sports fans retell year after year.

We fall in love with songs we danced to in high school, sweatshirts from our boyfriends, with baristas who make our lattes perfectly every time, and lust over the next ipad.  It's time growers, garden centers, and landscapers evoke the excitement and memories of consumers to help them fall in love with plants.

Plant on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden (Center): The Wise Guys - Start the Commotion

It's Been a Long Time...

Holy cow, it's been over three months since I last posted - call me the worst blogger ever. Life/work were a bit insane during this time, worthy of at least 10 posts if I wrote about every single plant-related topic. However, I figured I keep things from getting too long-winded and I'd write one instead - consider this the Cliff's Notes edition to my life - and just in time for OFA Short Course starting this upcoming Saturday!

April

Dear Horticulture Consumers - I'd like my month's worth of sales back. Love, Stephanie

Let's not talk about the Month from Hell now and leave that discussion for a time where we can have a drink (or a bottle of wine. Each.)

May

"Yes, I have Non-horticulture friends who grow their own plants."

Wendy LaManque - lawyer. Dani Zylberberg - foodie, wine sommelier. Hanna Block - ex-barista, teacher. Tristan Whitehouse - sailing instructor, teacher (ok, cheap point, he's my brother). I was having a conversation with one of our sales reps from a majore brokerage firm about the Edibles trend and whether it is gaining momentum with consumers. Rich made the comment that has been resounding in the industry for the last three years or so: "Baby Boomers are not getting any younger - how is this industry going to survive? It's not like [Gen X/Yers] are buying plants..." Do any Gen X/Yers beg to differ? My response: "Wendy LaManque, Dani Zylberberg, Hanna Block, Tristan Whitehouse. Give them a call and thank them for buying some plants."

My Future Sister-In-Law's College Graduation - Yay Kalee!

Urban Garden Season 2

We received the "Garden Writers" edition of the Hort Courture Sample Pack of plants at work and Lloyd told me I could use them in my garden as long as I kept record throughtout the season of the varieties' performances. Breeding companies like Hort Courture send out samples of their newest plants to growers and garden writers each spring in hopes of getting feedback and publicity. So far the annuals are doing quite well - more posts to follow!

June

Bucks County Garden Tour

A great girls' day out with Candy and Kristen, we toured the gardens of three houses in Bucks County and Paxton Hill. Beautiful, relaxing, and energizing!

Cornell Reunion - Class of 2006

We broke some reunion records (would you expect anything less from us?), gawked/cried at construction and fences, sang some songs, and drank out of Solo cups on the Arts Quad. It was supurb! Plants WERE involved too, with a visit to the updated Cornell Plantations with its LEED certified headquarters building, and a romantic picnic lunch at the Horticulture Field Trials in hopes of seeing this year's plantings underway.

APGA More! Conference in Philly

The American Public Garden Association (APGA) hosted its annual conference in Philadelphia, a perfect location since the city and its suburbs is home to the greatest number of gardens/arboretums/conservatories per mile than any other city in the country. My company decorated the hotel with mixed planters of some pretty unique and beautiful plants.

July

My Dad, the Next Charlie Hall

While at home this weekend for the Fourth, I was telling my parents all about this upcoming week as I prepare to travel to Columbus for the OFA Short Course and all that is planned for the trade show booth Peace Tree Farm is having for the first time. My dad is a graphics designer whose company does work for P&G and Energizer and so I thoroughly enjoy talking about market trends with him. Dad's market prediction/conclusion: "In the next few years there is going to be a major shipft in the way retail shopping works; it's starting to happen now. With Gen X/Yers becoming more and more prevalent and active in different markets, decisions are going to become more consumer-driven. [Your generation] is so used to customization - you are going to want to make every product and shopping experience your own." There's your homework friends! I'll be looking forward to your thoughts and comments later this week!

Plant on,

Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Lisztomania - The Phoenix

The McShamrock Shake of Plants

Having just visited the Philadelphia Flower Show, customers calling me by day to pre-book April/May orders, and browsing seed catalogs by night for my kitchen windowsill garden, I've been thinking a lot about all things spring. I'm on the search for the newest (and most fashionable) style of gardening gloves, sourcing the coolest ornamental grass, and waiting desparately for the country's longest continuously running Farmers Market to reopen. My husband Nick is "getting his Spring on" by looking for solar-powered walkway lights, Woolly Pockets for the deck, and has found his beloved new grill. He too is anxious for the Easton Farmer's Market so he can buy the ingredients for our Easter Lamb Kabobs. Nick and I understand the wait is well worth it, completely necessary, realistic, and logical to the seasonality of produce and plants, having grown up with relatives who own an organic grass-fed beef cattle farm in VT, or in Nick's case right next door to a large dairy farm.

Does the rest of the American public understand why the Farmer's Markets are closed in the winter? Do plant buyers of garden centers realize why basil doesn't grow in January?

We live in a time where technology is king, where an astounding number of foods contain high fructose corn syrup, and the majority of our household items are made outside of the United States. Americans today have grown up shopping for their food at the local grocery store or produce dude down the block from their Brooklyn flat - places where food just magically is always available and always looks the same. My friend Melissa asks "Do kids/adults know that their food doesn't materialize on demand like Star Trek or The Jetson's?"

I think sadly the answer is no. A friend of mine attended the Bucks County Food Shed Alliance meeting last week and was taken back when the consumers at the meeting commented they want a year-round farmers market. Catch: a year-round farmers market supplying tomatoes, peppers, berries, etc. that are all LOCALLY sourced. Unless Bucks County finds a grower/farmer who is interested in growing summer produce in a greenhouse with loads of heat and supplemental lighting during the coldest and darkest months of the year, Bucks County residents might be SOL.

Obviously the solution is to educate the public - adults AND children - about farming and greenhouse growing. The work is hard but the results are well worth the effort. For Pete's sake people, plants are NOT tee shirts that sit on shelves in warehouses, waiting to be ordered and shipped to the grocery or garden center. There is a seasonality, an exclusiveness, a "limited time only" aspect - just the same as one can only get McDonald's Shamrock Shakes in March, or candy corn in October, tomatoes and basil are key components in "Summer Salad" for a reason.

CSA's attempt to teach their members about the work involved in growing, but how many of the members actually put in their required time by the end of the season? Perhaps field trips are a better start. When I was in elementary school my classes went to the Dewitt, NY Wegman's to see trucks delivering food to the stores; we visted the original Hoffman Hotdog factory (back when hotdogs were still considered "food" in the mid-80's); and my Girl Scout troop visited a local dairy farm to milk cows. If you're a grower, invite the local Boy Scout troops to tour your greenhouse and have them pot up some petunia starts. If you're a mother, suggest to your child's teacher they take a tour to a local farm. For my garden center peeps, work with the local school district to start a children's garden. And in the meantime, get excited for Spring!

Plant on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Pumpkin Soup - Kate Nash
Song for the Seedlings (AKA Plant Wannabes): Summer Girl - Beck

Let's Hear It for the Rookie Gardeners

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it would obviously be appropriate to talk about cut flowers, flower arranging, ways to drop hints to your significant other that you want flowers, or helpful hints on how to help cut flowers last longer, but I decided against it. Sorry, Charlie Kremp.

Two weeks ago I attended the American Nursery & Landscape Association's (ANLA) NEW (!) Management Clinic. This was NOT your ordinary horticulture industry conference, were one listens to keynotes every morning at 8am, followed by a number of same-old-same-old education sessions on leadership skills or profit margin analyses. The NEW (!) Management Clinic was incredibly energize, educational, fun, tech-savvy, contemporary conferecnes filled with speakers who were not afraid to tell it like it is. By the end of the week, Gen Y-ers were texting with Baby Boomers their new ideas for retail displays, and I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg's Data Miners discovered a flood of new Fan Pages for landscape designers and garden centers. Needless to say, I'm pumped for Spring 2011.

What does this have to do with Gen X/Y Gardeners? You are all a part of an incredibly important group of consumers whom some at the Management Clinic came to recognize as "Rookie Gardeners". You might be a Rookie Gardener if:

a. You think you lack a "green thumb", or might even say you have a "black thumb",

b. You know the location of the local garden center, but have never gained the courage to visit in person (websites are a start, but don't count as a 'visit'),

c. You think the "local garden center" is Home Depot, Lowes, CostCo, or Walmart,

d. Read Martha Stewart Living and/or visit public gardens, admire the beautiful plants and flowers but think "I could never do that" or "Where do I even BEGIN?!", or

e. An ensemble of All The Above.

Fear not. Rookie Gardeners are a team of many, and there are garden centers and florists in your neighborhood who want to help you. Rookie Gardeners are surprisingly also Seasoned "Localvores" - you know the best restaurants in town, buy birthday gifts from the artist and jeweler down the street, and can be seen every Saturday at the Farmers' Market. Where does one begin to find the best local garden center or florist if one only knows the Box Stores? Running a Google search for "Easton, PA garden centers" does not yield the best results - half of the stores I know aren't even listed. You might have driven past a store a few times, but do you remember the name to find their website ("Honey, what was that place called? Posey Place...? Posey Pods...?")? Here are some suggestions:

- Visit GardenPilot.com and download the iPhone app. It's a great resource for not only plants and gardening how-to's, but also provides a search for local garden centers by zip code.

- Visit Today's Garden Center and check out their list of Revolutionary 100 - these are the Best of the Best stores across the entire US.

- Contact your county's chapter of Master Gardeners, or chat with the women at your church - chances are they know where to get "the good stuff" and might even invite you to their next garden club meeting.

This Valentine's Day I encourage all of the Rookie Gardeners out there to use your localvore skills and visit a local florist or garden center. Check them out - see what they're list, introduce yourself (yes, put down the smart phone and say "Hi, my name is ___, I'm a Rookie Gardener."), and ask what's in store for Spring. Let them know you're new at gardening, and ask how a Rookie Gardener can get started on a kitchen herb garden. Pick up a couple succulents - they're SUPER easy to grow, as long as you have light and don't water too often. Chances are, you'll learn something new and you'll be on your way to becoming a Major Leaguer.

Plant on and rock on,

Stephanie

Song for the Garden: "Let's Hear It for the Boy" - Deniece Williams

PS: I want to make baseball tees that read "Rookie Gardener" on the front - who's with me?

Poinsettias Are Kinda Lame

This is the first holiday season in a long time that I have felt downright depressed, and it's a shame when from Thanksgiving to January 10th is my absolute favorite time of year - holidays, birthdays, Advent, parties, pretty SNOW. Even though Marketplace Morning Report keeps telling me that retails sales are up and therefore consumers are indirectly communicating they are tired of the sluggish economy, all I'm hearing are complaints, disappointments, and an overall lack of excitement - pure torture for an extrovert like myself.

"Well, poinsettias are... well... kinda lame."

That's what one young Gen-Y consumer said to me last week. To be honest, she has a point. Poinsettias in the classical sense have become lame - your generic red and white 6" poinsettias from a box store just don't cut it anymore. Granted one can argue that a red poinsettia isn't just "red", as there are dozens of red varieties in different shades, but to the consumer (and honestly, in the end she's the only one who matters) red is red. Obviously the consumer needs something different, and in recent years there have been huge strides in poinsettia breeding to bring new colors - marbles, speckled, variegated, bright pinks. However, you won't find these colors at a box store, you'll find them at a locally owned, independent garden center, which is desperately in need of your business. Tell them you didn't want a plant from a box store and they'll take you in as family.

"But the wire is showing... the bracts don't meet in the center. I don't get it - I can't work with this - I can't sell this."

A florist called me early one morning in regards to the new Poinsettia Wreath Topiary we had delivered the day before to the store. The wreath is the newest topiary shape for 2010 at work, and being in its experimental year there were some kinks to work out. Yes, the two plants trained along a central wire hoop don't meet in the center to create a fully closed wreath shape. So you turn lemons into lemonade - decorate the wire and add value to the product. Other customers of ours sent in their photos of the wreaths with the wire covered in greenery and fabulous gold bows. One mentioned she let the consumer pick and choose their own decorative additions to match the color scheme in her living room. The holidays are for decorating your living space so you can enjoy it with family and friends when the weather is downright crappy outside. Bring the beauty of the garden INSIDE and inspire your customers with YOUR passion - using beautiful plants to beautify homes. That IS why you're in the floriculture business, right?

There is one comment that has been a beacon of light, hope, and happiness however. Quite possilby the one event that keeps putting a smile on my face is a phone conversation I had with my brother in early December. We chatted about gift ideas for our parents, and about my boss' appearance on The Martha Stewart Show on November 30th. Martha had invited us back for a second visit this year, and wanted to see all the new poinsettia colors and topiary shapes we specialize in for the season. The show's segments were posted online the following day, and my brother had shown them to the students in his after-school program to teach them about poinsettias as part of a holiday themed afternoon.

"[Lloyd] did a great job and my kids really liked the show! We all, myself included, had no idea about the cyathia and bracts, and one kid said he'd check his mother's plants that evening since she purchased them on Black Friday at Lowes."

This was killer! My brother, teaching his 6th graders about plants, and he's not even the gardener in the family! His students getting excited about PLANTS and wanting to go home and tell their parents about what they'd learned. Absolutely killer! Take that, industry folk who think the horticulture industry is making its way to the trashcan!

The excitement my brother and his students had is what I'm talking about. Plants, gardening, and the Christmas Season should not be about commercialism and making money, complaining about the weather and how it's snowing (people, it's winter, it's supposed to snow), complaining about poinsettias and the overall lack of diversity and inspiration in Holiday plants, or seeing who can sell the most pionsettias at a specific price point to meet a predestined profit margin or percentage sell-through. It's about being excited for the beginning of winter, wanting to spend time with family, taking a break from work, hosting wine & cheese parties with friends, burning fires in a fireplace, catching snowflakes on your nose, dancing like the Charlie Brown characters in the movie, laughing when your sibling calls you and cries with joy "IT'S A ZEPPELIN!" Pure joy and sharing that joy with others. That's what the Christmas Season, and gardening, in my mind is all about.

Plant on and rock on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: "Skating" - Vince Guaraldi Trio

Photos taken by LRT

The Gen. X/Y Urban Garden Part 2

It's been just over a month since I planted the vegetable and herb garden out on my patio/glorified fire escape and I thought I'd fill everyone on the successes and challenges of the garden. Here's the overview:

Best performers thus far: sweet basil, green onions and tomatoes.

Doing so-so: radish and peppers.

What happened?!: cilantro.

Some challenges:

1. Heat. On one side its been great to have the sun shining on a daily basis, but after working in a greenhouse all day, there were definitely a few days I came home and realized that I had completely forgotten to water the plants! Just look at the radishes in the photo that have curled up and died, burnt to a crisp. One thing to keep in mind is to water early in the morning. Think of water as the "breakfast of champions" for plants. Having moisture available first thing in the morning helps jump-start photosynthesis after the evening hiatus. Watering in the middle of the day can also burn the leaves if water droplets are left on the leaves.

2. Poor germination. The cilantro we purchased didn't germinate, even after the two week period that is normally required for the herb. I sowed some new seed just last week, so we'll see how that turns out. Proof that over seeding is never a bad thing in container gardening, and that reading up on your varieties beforehand can be helpful.

3. Pesto is hard to make by hand. Don't try to make pesto with a hand chopper that you have to power by hand. My OXO chopper is now dull from all the pounding and chopping I did to make 1/4 cup of pesto last week. I immediately that night went to Bed Bath & Beyond that night and purchased the food processor I had on our wedding registry. This kitchen essential can't wait til October.

How are other gardens going? A customer of ours has developed with us an "herban garden" urn to sell this summer at their store, with provides 5 different culinary varieties of basil in an 8" rice hull urn. Hanna, my friend in Nashville who has become pretty successful at tending her heriloom begonia and growing herbs from her kitchen, planted some peppers and tomatoes pretty late in the season (end of May/beginning of June) as a trial to see if the plants will still bear fruit in time for summer. I've spoken with some gardeners who have been testing the Topsy Turvy Tomato Grower - I still don't think it works, but if it get's people to start gardening I suppose it's a start. Have successes or challenges of your own? Let me know!

Plant on and rock on,

Stephanie

Song for the Garden: No One Does It Like You - Department of Eagles

Lancaster Farms' Julia Loves Plants

Quite possibly the most amazing marketing plan a garden center or greenhouse could ever have - employing your children to talk about your wonderfully beautiful plants. Now, who says young people don't like to garden, or that Social Media isn't for Baby Boomers? When I have a daughter, I only pray that she's as interested in plants as much as Julia and me!

Lancaster Farms' Garden Tour with Julia

Plant on and rock on,

Stephanie

The Gen. X/Y Urban Garden

What is it about growing your own garden that is so enjoyable? Is it being able to see the end result of your hard work? Is it the contrast between a garden's beauty and the harst environment of city life? Is it the genes of my NH farm-raised grandmoster that's showing and making me itchy to get my hands dirty? I think it's a mixture of all the above.

This year marks the first summer I have a space to my own where I can plant a garden. University housing wasn't ever too keen on me installing a window box outside my 4th story apartment in a brand new building. For better or worse, I now live in a city apartment where the only green space to my name is a 3 sq ft patch of compacted dirt below a city-planted maple tree. So I decided with my limited space to try one of the few options city dwellers have - container gardening.

My fiance and I are fortunate enough to have a nicely sized fire escape that has become a "backyard". There were many sources of inspiration: Marty, one of our building mates, who has created his own garden out his bedroom window, the Philadelphians I work with every day who are constatnly looking for new ways to get plants into the hands of their neighbors, and the success of the vegetable garden my parents grew last year. So last week I stopped by a local garden center to pick up some essentials: a sizeable container to get the peppers and tomatoes started, smaller bins for the herbs, seeds, plant tags (I went for the au-naturale look of wooden stakes), organic soil, and an empty tonic bottle I used as a watering can.

I decided to grow green onions, green peppers, non-heirloom tomatoes, radishes (essential for tuna sandwiches!), cilantro, and sweet basil. I also have a Kentucky Wonder bean plant and spearmint (essential for mojitos). I kept away from the heirloom tomato route as the varieties can be finicky to work with, and I didn't want to go overboard in the first year here.
Throughout the planting I had an absolute blast! I felt like a kid again, as if I was working on a Girl Scout merit badge or something for the Skaneateles Junior Garden Club. Wat was even more gratifying was that within three days the radishes started to sprout. Got to love instant gratification!


Here are some helpful tips I've picked up along the way:
1. Make sure you purchase enough soil. I bought one small bag thinking I'd be ste, but there's a good 4" of space between the edge of the pot and the soil line.
2. Purchase containers with holes in the bottom, or drill your own! The tin bins are cute but don't drain well.
3. Read the directions on the seed packets. There is helpful info about how deep to plant the seeds, and the spacing requirements after the plants are established.
4. Over seeding is great. It eliminates any worry you might have about the success of your efforts.
5. Check out your garden daily. Make sure it's got enough water, admire your work, and talk to your plants. Research (and Myth Busters my fiance notes) has suggested that human speech has a positive effect on the health of a plant. Plus you'll get some nice oxygen in return.

I'll keep everyone posted throughout the summer with the progress of the Gen. X/Y Urban Garden.

Plant on and rock on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Miss Broadway - Glass Candy

Too Cool for School

So many times I have heard from friends, old residents of mine (while I was an RA and GRF at Cornell), and people I've met through travels "I love flowers but I don't really know what to do with them." I always respond by telling my friends that it's okay not to know, as arranging flowers for a vase can be pretty simple if you let the flowers "speak" for themselves. I find that if you have an eye for design or at least an eye for what looks bad, you'll know when an arrangement looks well put together. Still I think my zen outlook towards flower arranging comes from the fact that I was in a junior garden club when I was young, and flowers have been a part of my life for over 20 years. For others, designing with flowers doesn't come that easily.

There is a solution out there for those of you who have friends or you yourself are newbies to floral design and arranging: Little Flower School of Brooklyn, NY. Nicolette Owen and Sarah Ryhanen are two close friends who have come together for their love of plants, education, and everything beautiful to help Gen X/Yers like us without a single sense of design skill but plenty of desire to learn. Based in Brooklyn, Nicolette and Sarah have set up a shop and a number of in-house classes on a plethora of plant topics, including winter-happy plants and succulents, to flowers for Mother's Day, to a very special Cherry Blossom event. Their designs are absolutely divine, and their personalities are the cutest - I'm sure they are some of the best floral design teachers around!

Check them out at their own blog, Sarah's blog, and Nicolette's site for a listing of classes, dates, and topics - there's 3 spots left for the Cherry Blossom event! And if you're ever in the neighborhood or attend one of their classes, be sure to stop in and tell them Stephanie sent you and says hello!

Plant on and rock on,

Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Jackhammer - The Spinto Band
Photo Credit: SR, 2010

Begonias 'R Us

Happy March, faithful readers!

For those of you who have access to tv during the day or TiVO, be sure to check out the Martha Stewart Show tomorrow, March 2nd, for what is sure to be an educational and entertaining segment on Heirloom Begonias with Martha and Lloyd Traven. Traven, owner of Peace Tree Farm, a certified organic wholesale greenhouse in Kintnersville, PA has been collecting and sharing heirloom begonias for most of his life, and oddly enough, Martha Stewart shares this same passion with a man who could EASILY pass for Jerry Garcia.

For us Gen X/Yers, Martha might not be the hippest girl on the block, but we must admit she has a nack for a sophisticated style that is unpresidented, even if it's borderline obsessive when it comes to perfection. However, begonias are quite hip and "retro" as they envoke memories of our childhood visits to Aunt Jeanie's farm house in VT. Grandma's plants are cool again as we all seek to keep a grasp onto our most cherrished elements of our childhood. So even if you don't know a single iota about begonias, check out the show on tv or online - these plants are totally deserve their 15 Minutes of Fame!

Plant On and Rock On,

Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Fables - The Dodos

Photo Credit: LRT, 2009

It's 2010 and This Plant Needs a Drink!

So it's 2010! Woo, Post Aughties!

However, with the end of the Holiday season brings some sadness - no more parties, all the decorations are taken down, trees are stripped of their lights and left for dead at the edge of the street, and poinsettias are thrown into the compost. For anyone living on the eastern seaboard (or nearly anywhere in the United States for that matter) lately it's been freezing cold for nearly the last week. January seems to rip the fun out of everyone's lives, and it can become quite the bland and bare month - all of the plants we used to decorate with for the Holidays are now gone.

Cheer up! There are some fun indoor projects one can partake in one wintery weekend to bring some life, color, and fragrance into your home with plants.

Grab the gin, this plant needs a drink!
Bulbs can be "forced" to grow before spring indoors with a little TLC and alcohol - yes, alcohol. As they grow, paperwhites have the tendency to lose their luster in the blossoms and become top-heavy. A study done at Cornell University found that by watering with small amounts of gin (in addition to water), paperwhites can stay crisp white and nicely kept. So when you're out getting some pebbles or potting soil to plant your paperwhites, be sure to stop by the Wine & Sprits store for your plants. While you're at it, be sure to reward yourself with a Gin & Ginger for a job well done!

It's (not quite) Shake n' Bake, and I helped!
From the smallest apartment to beauteous mansions, herb gardens are the perfect addition to every kitchen, whatever the size. Herbs are fairly easy to grow, so they are great for gardeners with any skill level. Seed can be found at any home improvement center, along with your potting soil and pots. Target has some all-in-one kits with some pretty chic containers to keep your herbs looking hot.

Winter is a popular time for garden centers to host educational seminars or hands-on learning sessions to get gardeners excited about spring. Dickman Farms in Auburn, NY is known for hosting session on creating your own evergreen wreaths from old Christmas trees. This month terrain at Styers in Glen Mills, PA is hosting sessions on creating your own terrarium. Visit your farvorite local garden center to see what events are being held to entertain us this winter. While you're at it, pick up those paperwhites - your house will be happier with the lovely fragrance, and you'll be happy with your plant project and martini!

Plant on and rock on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Foux Du Fa Fa - Flight of the Conchords

Groove is in the Plant

Thursday marks the beginning of my absolute favorite time of year. From Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day, I am giddy with excitement, and who can blame me when you have four holidays, a birthday, and countless parties to attend. Over the years I have become one of those people who requires a birthday party/soiree/gala, and preferably with a theme. I've gone small and intimate with wine & cheese gatherings or Ugly Holiday Sweater parties; I've gone big with black tie shindigs at M1-5. However I am now realizing there was always something missing at each party - plants and flowers.

At a second look, "plants" have been present at most of my parties. When I was an RA, a Holiday celebration hosted for my floor had a "Christmas tree" that my residents cut from the top of a pine tree in the campus golf course (sorry Cornell). M1-5 had spray-painted gold and silver tree branches mixed with evergreens decorating the bar. However, these decorations didn't fit in with the band's lead singer, who was dressed in red leather pants and a Native American headdress (he was channeling the Village People and David Bowie, and no, he wasn't there on our request). Last year's Ugly Holiday Sweater party had dried eucalyptus branches in a vase that was broken by my friend Tyler - he leaned against what he "thought" was a wall. Obviously my plant & party track record isn't too high or successful.

Friends and professors of mine in the industry have also had poor plant & party experiences. A professor once hosted a Holiday dinner party and tried giving poinsettias as party favors. However, when getting ready to leave, each guest gave a different excuese for not taking their plant home. Come on, people! It's pretty, color-coordinates your Holiday decorations at home, and lest we forget, IT'S FREE!

So where is the disconnect? Why have I failed at successfully integrating plants into my own parties? Why do guests make lame excuses for not accepting a free plant as a parting gift? Is this a generational or age-level issue, i.e. am I concerned more about serving the best seasonal cocktails and looking my best than decorating or gifting with flowers? Or do I bypass the plants for the booze because there is arguably more of an 'instant" and "longer lasting" gratification with Manhattans? One thing is for sure - I have decided to pledge a more conscious effort at incorporating flowers and plants into my activities this Holiday season. So if you're attending a party of mine, or I'm visiting your apartment during Thanksgiving weekend for Big Red Hockey, expect Ice Punch the poinsettia instead of Ice Punch the spiked drink.

Plant on and rock on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Let's Dance - David Bowie

Where Have I BEEN?!!!

My gosh! It has been nearly a MONTH since I last posted! Where have I been?! Actually I have been quite the busy bee, relocating, starting a career in the industry that I love, and visiting plenty of garden centers. One thing that's been on my mind lately (besides finding storage places in my apartment for all my clothes) is...

CHRISTMAS!

I know, I know, me and the rest of the Targets, Borders, Walmarts, and garden centers of the world. It appears Christmas comes earlier and earlier every year - I think a friend of mine even saw Xmas type products out on the shelves around October 16th. People, it wasn't even Halloween yet! Needless to say, with November nearly in full swing, getting ready for the Holiday Season is where it's at.

So, this weekend I will most likely post about Holiday 2009 trends and fun, easy, and inexpensive ways we all can decorate our homes and lives with plants for the holidays. Stay tuned!

Plant on and rock on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Furr - Blitzen Trapper