The Site Gardener Blog

The one common theme I keep noticing this summer is for next year garden center owners are looking for different plants to have for their customers.
I believe this is really going to be very profitable. One example is the Japanese maple market. there are more bloodgoods,red dragons and crimson queens than anyone knows what to do with.
Go to Lowes or Walmart and you’ll find plenty. What you won’t find is
some of the more cool ones like Acer orange Dream, Acer fullmoon,
Acer palmatum spring delight.
These are so unique it almost becomes an impulse buy.
Here is a link to some really great new varieties.
www.bizonnursery.com. Browse the plant section
or go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/42299627@N03/
or Iseli Nursery http://www.iseli-nursery.com/

http://www.buchholznursery.com/our_plants.html

These are cutting edge conifers and maples.

I recently attended the 3rd IGCS Trade Show www.igcshow.com a few weeks ago. From what I understand the attendance was up almost 40%. I spent three days talking with attendees. I am always amazed by how people in our industry look for the positive side of things.

The overall feel was of unsureness of the future. No one seems to know where we are going as a country. The funny thing is, this is the same overall feel everyone had this last winter.I thought after the positive spring we had, garden center owners would have at least be assured spring is going to be there and customers will be in. I must say though, How does the small business owner make decisions on spring purchases when all they keep hearing over and over from the media and administration about how bad everything is.
I do know this.Without exception and I mean not one. The garden centers that were stocked with fresh product had a good spring. Those that didn’t had a disastrous spring.
I hope they learned form it but I was a bit concerned about how some of them were blaming everything else even when it was brought to their attention.