Ravin’ Traven: Promotions With Personality

Each week, wholesale grower Lloyd Traven of Peace Tree Farm in Pennsylvania sends out an engaging and highly opinionated rant to his garden center customers along with the most current availability, an order forms and pictures of plants in the greenhouse.

“We’ve done this for quite a while now, but it’s far easier now that 90 percent of it is done by email,” Traven says. “I do it so they will look at it and think about things, sometimes just to see what I’ll say next. I feel like I say what they are thinking or should be!”

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Here are excerpts from Traven’s rants this spring.

April 27–Let Peace Tree Help You Passover Into May Sales!!!

Hey, do us a favor, please. Every time our truck pulls into your store to deliver another load of fabulous material, remind whoever is driving to fill up the tank on the way home. We figure that will save us around 6 cents per gallon per day!!! Does it seem to you that as we all noodle down the journey of ridding ourselves of petro-based inputs that the cost is simply replaced by higher pump prices? Insanity!!! It starts to feel like the Weimar Republic in Germany between the World Wars and the wheelbarrows of cash for bread. Read more.

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April 21–Peace Tree, Popes, Passover And Pricelists 

So, the Pope, a rabbi and the Dalai Lama meet in a bar…. Sounds like New York this week!!! That’s a whole lot of holy in one place. Wow!! Cap it off with a week of beautiful weather driving masses into your garden center …Read more.

April 14–Who Can Rant When It’s This Nice?

I’m trying so hard to find something to kvetch about, but the weather is SOOOOO nice (finally). Okay, there’s always something to freak over. Wish we had more baskets ready, wish there were more Novalis geraniums ready, wish customers would get orders in earlier on the proper day. You know, the usual. But the SUN IS OUT!!! The leaves are beginning to pop, the grogs are croaking, the dandelions are spreading mayhem and the geese are having goslings for our resident fox to eat. Read more.

April 8–Peace Tree Has Jet Lag

Whew, flying is SOOOO elegant these days! Those pesky TSA folks have absolutely no sense of humor. I know I feel safer with them on the job. All that training, the education level required, and the motivation to get people through efficiently. I know that dedication would shine in a greenhouse environment. They would all be burned out before lunch. Read more.

March 24–Peace Tree Eats Rabbits For Lunch

Mmmmm, that rabbit tasted good. Plenty of wind, rain, cold, too. Isn’t it weird, though, how no matter how bizarre the date of Easter is that we just plow ahead as if everything is normal? Bulb guys on every corner standing blown-over pots up endlessly, lilies that need another 10 days or were ready 10 days ago, hydrangeas burning up as soon as the sun comes out. Life is good. Read more.

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