Garden retail tours always offer a banquet of ideas that attendees can use back at their own garden stores. That was especially true of this year’s Garden Center of America’s Summer Tour in Portland, OR.
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Plant a birch grove to shade a sitting area (Good News Gardens)
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Bottle garden border at Garden Fever
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A florescent light is disguised at Garden Fever
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A metal grid is suspended directly below a florescent light, with a thin, frosted sheet of plastic atop it
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A series of garden-to-table themed classes are promoted at Farmington Gardens
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The classroom is set up along side the main displays in the greenhouse, near the front of Farmington Gardens
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Get social with Al's Garden Center
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Shorty's has an extensive outside plant yard. But you'll find no straight paths.
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The curving paths give customers views of plants, no matter where they are in the yard.
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Even the path to the dock and staging area curves.
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Cornell Farms built an attractive chicken coop, and set up an outdoor classroom along side it.
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Portland Nursery's tag line on employee's' work aprons burnishes its image.
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"Starter size" instead of just "4 inch plants" makes higher priced plants more valuable (Portland Nursery)
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Let customers know you'll only sell what works for them (Cornell Farms)
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Help customers succeed with common sense instructions (Garden Fever)
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1
of
15
Plant a birch grove to shade a sitting area (Good News Gardens)
2
of
15
Bottle garden border at Garden Fever
3
of
15
A florescent light is disguised at Garden Fever
4
of
15
A metal grid is suspended directly below a florescent light, with a thin, frosted sheet of plastic atop it
5
of
15
A series of garden-to-table themed classes are promoted at Farmington Gardens
6
of
15
The classroom is set up along side the main displays in the greenhouse, near the front of Farmington Gardens
7
of
15
Get social with Al's Garden Center
8
of
15
Shorty's has an extensive outside plant yard. But you'll find no straight paths.
9
of
15
The curving paths give customers views of plants, no matter where they are in the yard.
10
of
15
Even the path to the dock and staging area curves.
11
of
15
Cornell Farms built an attractive chicken coop, and set up an outdoor classroom along side it.
12
of
15
Portland Nursery's tag line on employee's' work aprons burnishes its image.
13
of
15
"Starter size" instead of just "4 inch plants" makes higher priced plants more valuable (Portland Nursery)
14
of
15
Let customers know you'll only sell what works for them (Cornell Farms)
15
of
15
Help customers succeed with common sense instructions (Garden Fever)
Take a look at the clever ideas I spied at the garden centers we visited, ideas that range from the simple and easy-to-implement, to others that take a little more effort, but will have a worthwhile payoff.