The Blogging Nurseryman by Trey Pitsenberger

Interesting post by Seth Godin on “Hunters and Farmers”. One bullet point mentions, “Hunters are in sync with Google, a hunting site, farmers like Facebook.” Read the post and see where you fall.

Facebook has been fun, but I just don’t spend the time on it to nurture relationships like so many others are good at. There can be whole days when I just don’t want to even look at it. Twitter even more so. Send me on a Google hunt and I could end up anywhere, which is what I like.

The LinkedIn group Garden Centers, Nurseries, and New Media is a perfect example. I started the group, but have allowed others to do the nurturing. They are so much better at it, and the strength of the group is stronger because of it. Something that I spend as little time as possible at is now closing in on 700 members! Discussions start, connections are made, and the group just keeps getting better, with little help from me.

I wonder how many of us try too hard to be good at something that we just don’t do well? How many of us act like farmers when we are more like hunters, and visa versa? Getting to know your nature will go a long way towards making your new media efforts more rewarding.

To check out and possibly join the LinkedIn group go here.

I received a e-mail from a friend in the northern California garden center business the other day. Here is part of it, “How are you doing up there?  I love your website!  Do you do all this yourself?  Seems like a great idea…business has been slow here.  I’m getting pretty tired of it, didn’t make much money last year or the year before for that matter..I’m beginning to think this is more of a hobby than a job!  Hope you’re doing better.”

How many of us in the garden center business feel the same way? I have to admit that I was feeling the same way until not to long ago. The ornamental side of the business has been devastated. We use to carry the standard fare at the nursery. Some of our best sales use to come from impulse buys. Unusual plants like weeping Norway spruce, or unusual Japanese maples could be counted on to entice and sell. Not any more. If I we’re to keep running the nursery the way it had always been run we would be out of business.

We made a choice to change our focus last year. It has changed everything. Your probably tired of hearing abut it, but our foray into indoor gardening has been huge. We actually have winter time business! What’s really cool is the cross over sales we have been making to conventional gardeners who never knew about some of the stuff that is generally only found in hydroponic stores. After my talk the other day to our local garden club the ladies where coming in buying mini greenhouse tops, seed heating mats, smart pots, and rock wool growing cubes. Most had never heard of or seen rock wool grow cubes or smart pots. This is something almost exclusively found in hydroponic stores. The Smart Pots are going to fly out of here this spring! Tomatoes will love growing in these things, and people will love the novelty and results they provide.

Burn out is something all of us in small business have to deal with. We have been able to keep it in check this year. I am fascinated by the new technology and items that we are discovering by getting involved in what was almost exclusively a hydroponic  store specialty. In addition we are seeing an influx of twenty something males and females who are also interested in this stuff. Low and behold “generation y” is interested in gardening. They just have not been served by conventional garden centers. They love all this new stuff!

We are becoming a hybrid garden center. Not a conventional nursery, and not a hydroponic shop in a warehouse. We are here to serve gardeners of all persuasions. Mostly we want to be our areas source of gardening supplies, period. It’s so exciting to see young people who really care about fertilizers and what’s in them. Young people who are growing their first vegetable gardens. Older people who are buying T5 grow lights to start their seeds inside their homes.

I don’t buy into the current trend in the industry to simplify things so as to appeal to the supposed un-interested and non-gardening young. They want information and the tools to garden their way. If you don’t supply it they will head to that hydroponic warehouse to get it. Drop your pre-conceived notions of what these people are up to. Look outside of your comfort zone to find new ideas of how to run your store. It has given me a new sense of hope. The younger generation does want to garden. The older generation does want to try new ways and things to help them garden better. Don’t hang out with the same crowd you always hang out with at nursery trade shows.

It’s a brave and strange new world we are entering. We decided that becoming a hybrid garden center was right for us. It changed the dynamic here, and has given us a more positive future. Our experience is that of one small store in northern California, and perhaps our experience wont translate to other regions or other garden centers. Just thought you should know how we are dealing with these most interesting times.

We have talked about our foray into indoor gardening and hydroponics in the past. What we have found is there is a tremendous opportunity for crossover sales. I had a presentation the other day at our local garden club. The discussion was on all the new items we carry at the garden center. We focused on the lights, seed starting mats, Grodan grow cubes, greenhouse tray covers, etc., that we’re brought in to address the hydroponic or indoor grower. What was interesting is most of the garden club members had never seen these items. They we’re excited about the products and came into the garden center to purchase them.

Out here in nor Cal this store in Oakland is getting all the attention in the media. Here is what the Silicon Valley News has to say, “The place (iGrow)has the feel of the nursery at a Home Depot, but the house plants, barbecues and sheds are replaced with hydroponic equipment, fans and nutrients for growing medical cannabis plants.” City council member Larry Reid say’s he is confident the store has enough security to keep out criminals looking to steal valuable equipment and products. And he said he is excited that the store could appeal to gardeners looking to improve their vegetable or flower gardens. “It can be useful for those that want to just grow tomatoes or any other vegetable in their backyard,” he said.

This place is a warehouse. It’s 15,000 square feet! While it may be successful in it’s primary objective, I doubt it’s going to pull many vegetable or flower gardeners into it, yet.  What will be interesting to watch is how the smaller hydroponic and indoor growers respond to this “Home Depot” of indoor supplies. Google hydroponics in the zip code of this store and 261 results come up! You heard it right, 261 results. It would seem that all these smaller “mom and pop” stores now have the same competition we in the garden center business have faced over the years. What happens when the people who own the new I Grow superstore decide to start carrying vegetable plants and flowers to compliment their other products?

Interesting stuff.

More interesting news concerning Home Depot and Hines Nursery. According to Les, “Hines has given all their reps notice that at the end of January they will be let go. Home Depot is going to a program where the merchandising company will manage the ordering at the store level. This is the same merchandising company that regularly confuses agapanthus with hemerocallis or phormium with dietes. At Lowe’s they are going to a computer program for product replenishment and sales reps will no longer be welcome in their stores, much like WalMart did two years ago. How the plant selection at your local WalMart?”

Read the whole comment by Les here.  It will be interesting to watch how this all plays out. It seems the only constant these days is change.

Out here in nor Cal it seems that 2010 will be a lot like 2009 when it comes to what people will be buying in the garden center. My guess is fruit trees and other edibles will lead the way with ornamental shrubs and trees lagging. If the economy is improving elsewhere it sure hasn’t shown up here. I do beleive people are getting use to the way things are. Not as much panic as last year, but a resignation that this year won’t see much change from last year.

We will focus again this year on being the place where people can purchase stuff for sustainability in their gardens and lives.  The interest in growing your own is strong. Fruit trees, fruiting bushes, and vegetables will lead the way. The stuff we use to maintain these things will also be strong. Sales of soil conditioner’s and fertilizers we’re way up last year and should be again this year. That’s good, as sales of five gallon and larger ornamental shrubs and trees was way down last year. Sustainability is in, ornamentation is out in our area.

I like the trend. We want to be a resource for people who want to take control or their lives and live better. It seems the shop locally trend is starting to take hold. We may get involved in selling canning supplies this year. Monica and I are still enjoying food we canned last year. We beleive that canning your harvest is becoming fashionable. It makes sense for us to show people how to preserve the very fruit we sold them earlier.

Thought I would mention Target buying the Smith and Hawken brand. I think Target has a better chance of making it work than Scott’s Miracle-Gro did.  That being said I find it a big yawn. Smith and Hawken started out, much like Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream. A business with a passion. Once Ben and Jerry’s was bought by Unilever it lost it’s cache. Same with Smith and Hawken and Scott’s Miracle-Gro. The passion is gone and it’s now just a commodity taking up some aisle space at your local Target.

According to to commenter Les, “It seems Hines will acquire Bordier’s and lock up their position as the primary source for the Home Depot. With Color Spots’ take over of El Modeno, that leaves two major players running just about everything at the big boxes. How long before one absorbs the other?”

This was bound to happen. The management team that Hines has gone with is the same management team that was at the helm at Bordier’s during their bankruptcy. Funny how such large corporations make one bad decision after the another.

Happy New Year!

No matter where you stand on climate change it’s quite obvious that climate talks in Copenhagen will end in failure. Depending on which side of the argument you are on, that’s either a great or terrible thing. So many people want BIG things to happen. Trillions spent here, trillions spent there. Flying to Copenhagen in private jets and limousines our leaders seem to be floundering.

The answer is not in spending more money or attending useless meetings, but in taking control of our lives. The world we live in is in a transformational time, and it seems everything we use to know no longer applies. We could talk politics or other subjects, but my blog is about gardening and the business of gardening. What can we do to make a better world, and keep our businesses thriving?

It’s as simple as planting a tree! The old saying is true. The best time to have planted a tree was ten years ago, the second best time is now. It seems that the garden business has a unique opportunity to change the world and change how the world sees us. When everything seems to be collapsing, the simple act of planting a tree is life affirming. Those of us in the garden world should be driving home this point. Let’s quit talking about how the consumer just want’s to decorate the yard. Instead lets talk about how our customers can empower themselves to change their world now.

Fruit tree planting season is upon us here in northern California. I can think of no better way to take control of your life, than the act of planting a home food garden.  Using modern techniques like Home Orchard Culture we can grow all, or most of the fruit we need to live. Later on when the vegetable season arrives we an continue planting, so that the majority of food we consume is safe, nutritious, delicious, and from our own backyards. Add the fun hobby of indoor growing along with hydroponics, and we can feed ourselves without depending on the supermarket. It’s possible. Take a look at what one nursery in the UK is doing. Otter Farm, according to it’s web site is, “the UK’s only climate change farm - where we’ve planting olives, peaches, pecans, persimmons, apricots, szechuan pepper, vines and much more.” I love it. The climate is changing, so let’s take advantage and improve our lives.

We would encourage garden centers to focus like a laser beam on becoming the source for sustainable lifestyle choices.  Somehow the greenest business around, you local garden center is missing out. Maybe too much attention on trying to attract people who just want to decorate their yard, or worrying about dumbing things down for Generation Y. We need to quit listening to marketing experts, and instead listen to our own hearts. It seems to be a lack of communication by the nursery industry. We should trumpet who we are and what we are about.

In the past the bare root fruit tree season was just a prelude to the rush of spring. Our customers are sitting at home wondering what they can do during the winter. We need to make sure we communicate the hopeful message we have. That there is no more hopeful, life affirming action than planting a fruit tree.

Someone felt the need for a Christmas Tree and chose a Keteleeria, a rare Asian conifer growing at the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle. The trees value is estimated at $10,000. Those of us who are into plants know the value is much higher!

Considering the tree is not that attractive a Christmas tree, perhaps it was cut down by someone with a grudge? Even good ol’ Charlie Brown would know better.

I think we can all agree what kind of Christmas those who cut it down have.

I use site meter to find out why people end up at this blog. I am interested in the number of people who came by. After a mention by a popular blog or a big news story it is fun to watch your traffic spike. Never the less I realize my blog will never have the number of visitors that other sites have. That’s o.k. since I beleive that it’s not just the number of people who show up, but the quality of people who read this blog that’s important.

What the site meter tells that’s important to me are the search words used.  Often just before important news breaks I often find people using the same search words to arrive at the site. Sometimes the word, “financial troubles”appears before or after the name of the company folks have questions about. I found out about Bordier’s, El Modeno, and Hines Nursery bankruptcy from the search words used by visitors.

These days lot’s of people have been prefacing their search of various large and small companies with, “financial troubles”. One reason that they end up at this site is it is one of the only places that has discussed these companies before the fall. Google Hines nursery, Bordier’s Nursery,  El Modeno Gardens, or Smith and Hawken, and up pops this site.

This seems the way news comes to the surface these days. Citizen journalism.  Web sites that depend on readers to bring the news to them. In the past news outlets sent reporters out to gather the news. Now everyone is a reporter, even if they don’t know it. As a news gatherer I do feel a sense of responsibility not to announce what companies are showing up at this time. Big names and maybe just rumors, so it’s best not to feed the rumor mill.

An additional note. For some reason I had not not  moderated comments on a number of past posts. We have been without power for the last few days because of heavy snow. If you posted a comment and it did not appear, I apologize. One comment was from Joe, who said about my post on social media, ” If you really want to write a blog please use proper spelling and grammar! Here is what you wrote: Just a few years ago we we’re told that nurseries really should not worry about or bother with social media, we are now told that your a dinosaur if you don’t. This is the way it should be: Just a few years ago we were told that nurseries really should not worry about or bother with social media; we are now told that you’re a dinosaur if you don’t.”

Joe is right! I disliked English in school, and as such it shows in my writing. I always thought it was more important to get the info out, and worry about spelling and grammar later. Since plenty of my visitors understand the English language better than myself, I will try and do a better job. As for Joe, proper spelling and grammar are not requirements for writing a blog. Anyone can write a blog, and I encourage you to write one concerning proper English spelling and grammar. Please continue commenting here on my use of spelling and grammar. I did try to follow the link for your name to find out who you are. Unfortunately, your name led to “server not found”. Joe, if your are going to comment at a blog and leave a link for your name, be sure it leads to somewhere besides “server not found”. That’s the way it should be.

In the past we have talked about Hines Nurseries, at one time the largest nursery in the country. I was checking out GreenhouseGrower.com when I came upon a discussion started in April 13th of this year, concerning the new management team at Hines. If you remember, Hines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late last year. “The Blogging Nurseryman” was the only source of information on what was happening at Hines pre-bankruptcy at the time. My post and the comments were made in August 10th 2007, long before the most knew the bankruptcy was coming.

The greenhousegrower.com post is an interesting read. If the mood of the anonymous commentator’s are any indication, Hines has a long way to go to regain the trust of it’s former suppliers and customers.  The post also includes a quote from Mike Trebing, senior vice president of sales and marketing. According to greenhousegrower.com Mike say’s “‘As a company we are returning to our core values and business philosophies which the company has been built upon over the last 90 years,’ Trebing says. ‘As an outcome of the bankruptcy, Hines has emerged with one of the cleanest balance sheets in the nursery business.  During these challenging economic times, that flexibility will help Hines rebuild its operations and inventory.’”

I love this comment from anonymous, “Unbelievable, this guy is bragging about having one of the cleanest balance sheets in the industry. Wouldn’t we all like to have all our debt just disappear? However, this is at a horrendous cost to suppliers who were just discarded. Are these same suppliers going to do business with them? Experience?? Why should this team, whom all come from companies that they helped bankrupt–Bordiers, Hines, and Powell be expected to do anything different? They can continue doing the same things that bankrupt their respective companies now that their debt load is gone.”

Wow!