There is a subtle difference between an assortment and a collection. An assortment says: Here are the plants we sell. A collection says: These plants belong together for a...
A customer walks into a garden centre. Before they read a plant tag, before they compare prices, before they ask whether something will survive a Canadian winter, something much...
Every garden centre manager knows the customer. They arrive carrying a plant tag. Sometimes a phone. Frequently an opinion. “This is Zone 5.” Pause. “We’re Zone 4.” And suddenly...
September is a dangerous month for a garden-centre buyer. Not because anything particularly dramatic happens. Because everything that happened is still easy to remember. The spring that started badly....
There is a hydrangea on a street somewhere that has probably sold more hydrangeas than most advertisements ever will. Nobody planned it. There was no media buy. No promotion....
A customer is standing in front of a clematis. Technically, they are looking at a plant in a pot. Perhaps two feet tall. A few flowers. A tag. A...
The horticultural industry loves information. We put it everywhere. On plant tags. On signs. In catalogues. On websites. Inside QR codes. On care sheets. In databases. And, of course,...
A customer picks up a plant. They turn it around. Look at the flowers. Lift it slightly. Put it into their cart. At this point, retailers naturally think the...
There is a sentence almost everyone who sells plants has heard. Usually it comes with a laugh. “I kill everything.” The customer says it casually. Perhaps they are standing...
Why Great Retail Is Designed, Not Discovered Walt Disney famously said: “Do what you do so well that people will want to see it again and bring their friends.”...