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RE: [GWL]: Hortus, nursery trends



    But this line from the AP is even more chilling: "High-end nurseries
have
been especially vulnerable as gardeners look for cheaper souces for plants,
fertilizer and other gardening needs." Does this mean Home Depot, Target,
Wal-Mart and similar retailers with "garden departments" are the nurseries
of
the future?

Ten years ago, I heard the prediction - of the 10,000 independent garden
centers in the country only 4000 or 5000 would survive the encroachment of
the big boxes.  That prediction is coming true but the reason may not be
obvious.  The independent garden centers and "high end" nurseries that
survive will be those that have good management; leaders who understand the
market, who understand business competition, who understand customer needs
and realize that those needs change over time.  The sadness is that many of
the truly wonderful "high end" nurseries that die were run by plantsmen;
people who were or are true plant experts and who are passionate about
plants and passionate about sharing those plants with others.  Those
plantsmen are not always good business persons.  Before the big boxes, they
could get away with bad business practices and still make a living and do
their thing - raising interesting plants to sell to folks interested in the
unusual.  The 4000 independent garden centers left will do just fine and
continue to thrive giving us a high end selection of plants, plants in
better condition, a staff that knows what they are talking about, and some
personal attention the big boxes can never deliver.  As depressing as the
loss of Foster and Gallagher was, we need to remember that Foster didn't buy
a nursery for the F&G family unless it was already in financial trouble.
The lawn and garden industry came out of a heritage of mom and pop
operations both on the manufacturing and growing side as well as on the
retail side.  Toro may be well known, but it is just a small company when
compared to American industry as a whole.  Scotts is the only big company in
the lawn and garden industry.  Ames tools may be number one, but it is still
just another small company in West Virginia.
Small  companies need very good and wise management to survive in the
competitive world of 2001.  the ones that fail usually fail because they
could not handle the rapid changes that the industry is experiencing and
will continue to experience.  After all that, I am very optimistic that we
will continue to enjoy and have access to lots of nurseries with high
quality unusual plants for the next generation and more; there just won't be
as many of them as there were in the past.
End of pontification.

Jeff Ball

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