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RE: [GWL]: gardening booming too

And gardens are booming.  Fred Roberts, director of Longwood Gardens,
says attendance was up 40% during the month of December with more than
236,000 visitors.  He says the bus tour business is expecting record
numbers of Americans taking day trips to Longwood this spring.

If I already sent this out . . . here is our release we are distributing
today.

JANUARY 30th, 2002 - September 11 has compelled many of us to re-examine
our lives in order to connect or reconnect with people and the world
around us.
We now want to get closer to the ones we love and the things we've come
to see that really matter. Surprisingly - or maybe not - many are
looking to their gardens for that connection. 

Gardening was hot even before September 11, according to Bruce
Butterfield, Research Director for the National Gardening Association
(NGA).   

"Gardening ranks in the top three of all outdoor leisure activity,"
Butterfield says.   "As many people garden for exercise as walk or
swim."

 The latest survey from the NGA shows some 64% of all Americans garden,
spending upwards of $50 billion annually on plants, gardening supplies
and landscaping services.  

To put it in another perspective, consumers spent $16.5 billion on
flowers, seeds and potted plants. That's almost triple what was spent on
the movies and double what was spent on spectator events like football
and baseball. Gardening's roots run deep.
But since September 11 there has been a deepening reluctance to leave or
homes.

Years ago that desire to remain at home was called "cocooning" or
"nesting."  The question of what to do now that we're determined to
spend more time at home is increasingly being answered at our garden
centers and home improvement stores. 

"Gardening is the hot trend for 2002," says Susan McCoy, president of
the Garden Media Group.  "Growers of plants, the media that follow the
industry, garden centers and gardeners tell us the urge to be in the
soil and growing something is stronger than ever before.

"We are hearing that everyone is going to be spending more time
gardening and in gardens in an effort to heal from September 11," she
said.

That's partially because of "flower power." Researchers at Rutgers, the
State University of New Jersey, have proven scientifically that flowers
help people feel less depressed, anxious or agitated. In addition, the
presence of flowers led to increased contact between family members and
friends.

Ken Druse, author of Making More Plants, for which Druse garnered the
coveted 2001 Award of the Year by the Garden Writers Association of
America., feels it goes even deeper than that.  

 "We're never too young or too old to discover the emotional power that
comes with connecting with the earth," he says "Feeling soil, helping
something grow - we can identify on the most basic level, because we're
made of the same stuff.  The healing power of gardening is tremendous."

Ball Seed Company researched why people garden and found relaxation to
be second only to beauty.  "Gardening is a simple respite from our
hectic lives," says Cees Boonman, president of Ball Seed.  "More and
more people who know the least about how to grow things are interested
in gardening because they enjoy being surrounded by nature and beautiful
plants."  

To help even the most novice gardeners select and care for the plants to
achieve the greatest success without a lot of work, Ball is rolling out
a new line of annuals - called Simply BeautifulR.  More than 260 annual
plants, including the popular Title WaveR petunias and FiestaR double
impatiens, will add instant color to any yard.

Gardeners are also expressing an interest in the revival of the old
World War II Victory Garden, according to Robert LaGasse, executive
director of the Garden Writers Association of America (GWAA), gardeners 

"We are witnessing a surge in interest in GWAA's "Plant a Row for the
Hungry" since Sept. 11," says LaGasse.  "People want to find a way to
help each other by growing their own food and sharing it with neighbors
or those in need."

The old Victory Garden is taking on a whole new meaning - the look of
freedom or remembrance.  According to Pennsylvania-based Conard-Pyle
Co., one of the world's largest growers of roses and hybrids, there is a
renewed interest in the famous Peace RoseT, introduced at the end of
World War II, and any of its hybrids.   These roses, combined with the
new War War II Memorial RoseT, Bronze StarT and Silver StarT roses make
a wonderful statement in a peace or memorial garden.  

Flower bulbs, too, are showing up in memorial gardens.  "Planting bulbs
is a universal symbol of hope," adds Tulipworld.com's Pim Bouwman.
Thousands have already been planted in New York City.  The on-line store
from Holland is offering patriotic red, white and blue bulb packages to
plant in memorial gardens.

 And they are putting more than plants in their gardens to help them
heal.  According to Joseph Cilio of Campania International,
manufacturers of classic garden structures, statuary of religious nature
-from St Francis to Buddhas - are being used to create "sacred spaces
for mediation and reflection."

 Ed Neff, co-founder of SoilSoup, Inc., a company specializing in a
natural liquid compost, believes what we're seeing since September 11 is
a desire to reconnect with the family member we all have in common.  

 "That family member is Mother Earth," Neff says. "Since that day, it
seems as though people have been spending more time in parks, gardens
and with nature in general, and why not? It's a very healing
experience."

Certainly, more healing will occur over the months, even years to come,
than what we've been watching at ground zero for the last four months,
but with Mother Nature on our side, we will all, hopefully, find our own
sense of peace in 2002.

For more information, please contact Susan McCoy at 610-388-9330 or
susan@gardenmediagroup.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Douglas Green [d*@simplegiftsfarm.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 8:43 AM
To: Gardenwriters@topica.com
Subject: [GWL]: seminar attendance

A while ago, there was a note that GrowerExpo had to be cancelled
because 
of poor attendance and there was some question about this.  I note this 
extract from Todd Davis' NMPro Newsletter points out that the mid-Am 
conference (at the same time as GrowerExpo) was larger than ever.


* Fear of travel and the war on terrorism haven't seemed to affect
attendance at this winter's nursery trade shows. Attendance at WNLA's
Big
Show in Kansas City, Mo., was up 21% to a record 3,400. CENTS in
Columbus,
Ohio, had a record attendance of 14,470, up 4% from last year. Mid-Am in
Chicago had a record 610 exhibitors and attendance is estimated at
10,000-11,000, under last year's record attendance of just over 11,000.
http://www.wnla.org http://www.onla.org http://www.midam.org


Douglas Green,
Freelance writing: You've got a story to tell - I can write it.
http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/clips/clipmaster.htm
Tell your friends - a free gardening newsletter at
http://www.gardenbrew.com

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