20 bright ideas from 20 IGCs

Eye-catching Websites

Make online shopping approachable

Roger’s Gardens
Corona Del Mar, California
rogersgardens.com

Shopping for Mother’s Day couldn’t have been any easier for the IGC’s Orange County customers. The site’s clean and colorful interface includes categories like Fresh Cut Florals, Living Arrangements, Gift Baskets, Workshops and Collectibles, and items have thorough descriptions so you know what you’re getting. The delivery turnaround time posted on the items’ webpage also provides for a customer-friendly shopping experience.
 

Hook the sale with photography

Flora Grubb Gardens
San Francisco, California
shop.floragrubb.com

Get inspiration for your succulents and mini terrariums with crisp, head-turning photography in this urban gardening-focused web shop. The “Quick View” tool lets you get a close up before navigating to a new page for easier browsing, and the clickable bubbles on the item pages make ordering fast. Flora Grubb’s email newsletter also keeps you updated on what’s new and popular in the store.
 

Boost your brand

Fairview Garden Center
Raleigh, North Carolina
fairviewgardencenter.com

Sticking to a color scheme helps with your branding, as this North Carolina IGC shows. The green, grey and white theme has script-font subheads and whimsical icons to give it a comforting, delicate feel while the often bright red, brown, green and blue colors in the photography allow top stories — like Container Design — to stand out.
 

Wow customers

Winston Flowers
Seven locations in Massachusetts & Connecticut
winstonflowers.com

When you fill your website with high-resolution photography, you can’t go wrong. Instead of merely listing navigation points, this Boston garden center and florist draws you in with close-up images of floral arrangements and gift baskets that lure you into each category. We can’t stop staring at “Garden Majesty” in the “Beloved Peony” section, and we’re sure customers won’t be able to, either.
 

Navigate with ease

Woodley's Garden Center
Columbia, South Carolina
woodleygardencenter.com

Photography and balanced colors on a website are always a plus, but easily navigating a website is perhaps the most important when your customers are looking for info about your store. This two-location operation provides a map for both stores at the bottom of the page and contact information for each. Visitors can sign up for the newsletter on the front page, and the “What’s Growing On” navigation takes you to a comprehensive list of updated products and events.
 

Write with humor

Highland Gardens
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania
highlandgardens.org

Garden centers can utilize how-tos and DIY projects through blogs on their websites, but one garden center has taken a unique approach to offering its customers enjoyable and satirical content: Sheep costumes. Yes, that’s right. How do you make your own sheep’s costume? The site's friendly and witty blogger Erica will help you create it and put it on. “Please note, once you have it on, it may be very challenging to remove it. And, your eyes must remain tightly closed,” she advises.
 

Be silly

Sherwood’s Forest Nursery and Garden Center
Manchester, Missouri
sherwoods-forest.com

This Missouri IGC’s Instagram account (@dlsherwood) is run by its owner, which includes a montage of selfies, store specials and occasionally, SNL re-created skits. Take the classic “More Cowbell” post, for example, where he jumps out of the car and jams out to “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult. We love the marketing plan and cultural reference!

Photos courtesy of respective IGC websites

Impress with workshops

Graf Growers
Akron, Ohio
grafgrowers.com

From terrariums to fairy gardens, Graf Growers shows its community that it is the industry expert by offering monthly workshops for customers like succulent education, container crafting and fairy gardening. The keys to success, as PR and marketing manager Karlie Graf suggests, are offering workshops customers want to attend, (they tried veggie gardening, but it just didn’t stick with the market,) and also learning how to get on your customer’s level — which means eliminating the plant jargon. “A lot of times, as an industry we throw words around that customers are not familiar with, so we make sure you talk to them in a language they understand. When you’re talking about perennials, explain what a perennial is, when you’re talking about an annual, explain what an annual is,” Graf says.

Incorporate fashion

Milaeger’s
Two locations in Wisconsin
milaegers.com

Milaeger’s in Wisconsin is part garden center, part fashion runway. The store hosts its annual fashion show in spring each year, drawing in hundreds of customers. The 2014 show brought more than 530 customers to one of their empty greenhouses, where more than 100 outfits were modeled. Not only has the event provided a great social event for the community, it’s contributed to increased sales in both of their Wisconsin locations. This year’s theme was the All American Beauty Fashion Show. Tickets cost $30 per person, which included a $10 store gift certificate, coupons and other goodies.

Give customers a healthier option

Holm Town Nursery
Fairbanks, Alaska
holmtownnursery.com

Marcia Holm, co-owner of Holm Town Nursery, always wanted to open her own café. After she retired from teaching, she decided it was the perfect opportunity to give it a shot. The coffee and sandwich shop had modest beginnings in the nursery’s old greenhouse, but after success with the food offerings, they expanded the concept and created a dedicated restaurant, Petunia’s Garden Bistro. “My vision was always that we would be a healthy alternative to the diners and fast food places around town, so we try to keep it really healthy,” Holm says. “We have gluten-free choices, and we have vegetarian options with our soups, and our quiches are made with potato crust so they are gluten-free. Our soups are not just your broccoli and cheddar; we have vegetable curry, and we do a kale, potato and sausage soup.” The restaurant doesn’t only attract garden center shoppers. “The atmosphere is really nice. People love to have baby showers here or get-togethers with their friends.

We have Wi-Fi, so people come in and work on their computer.”
 

Branch out on social media

Get real results from Twitter

Swansons Nursery
Seattle, Washington
swansonsnursery.com

When social media pages like Facebook and Twitter first launched, it was all about likes and follows. Now, businesses are trying to engage their customers in real conversations. Swansons Nursery in Seattle, Wash., has nailed it with their #heyswansons campaign, where gardeners can ask the independent garden center questions or for advice via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag and receive responses, generally within one to two hours. The hashtag is reinforced in the store on signs and employee T-shirts, on social media cover photos and on the website to help promote the campaign. When we checked in with them in November 2014, sales were up 13 percent, said Brian Damron, president of the nursery. “We’ve set all kinds of records: our largest sales day, our largest sales week, of all of the years we’ve been in operation.”
 

Get up close

Bakers Acres Greenhouse
Alexandria, Ohio
bakersacresgreenhouse.com

This Ohio IGC has mastered the art of the close-up on its Instagram page (@bakersacresgreenhouse). But these close-ups aren’t selfies. Instead, they’re detailed snapshots of its plant offerings. From the rich coral and pink hues of the Dahlia Hypnotica Bellini to capturing even the tiny root hairs of the Begonia ‘Dale Sena,’ these carefully crafted photos allow the plants to sell themselves.
 

Switch it up

Shady Brook Farm
Yardley, Pennsylvania
shadybrookfarm.com

Variety is key for this IGC. Ice cream, selfies, mulch, strawberries, florals and funny, comment-welcoming posts fill up this account (@shadybrookfarm) that attracts more than 2,000 followers. Shady Brook Farm knows how to take advantage of hashtags like #landscaping and #buckscounty with its photos that average about 50 likes per post. This social media manager also knows how important captions are, as they’re all filled with punching personality.

Add filters and regrams

Urban Garden Center
New York City
urbangardennyc.com

This NYC garden center’s feed (@urbangardencenter) shows that filters are OK because they provide inspiration; posting customer feedback can create rewarding comment conversations; and “regramming” or posting others' photos, which are also relevant to your profile will work in your favor. Posting its collaborations with schools and other community groups is also a heart-warmer for the IGC’s 830 followers.

‘Live your passion’

The Garden Corner
Tualatin, Oregon
thegardencorner.com

Jonn Karsseboom is part garden center owner, part YouTube video star. He owns The Garden Corner in Tualatin, Ore., with his wife, Tracy, and every two or three weeks, he posts a new video to his website and YouTube. The videos collectively have more than 1.5 million (and counting) views on YouTube, and he has close to 3,000 subscribers. The mini movies are more music video than how-to garden program, and each video closes with Karsseboom’s motto and mission statement: Always live your passion. Some are behind-the-scene views of what it takes to run a garden center, with close-ups of staff repairing the wooden pathways at the outdoor store or Karsseboom restocking hanging baskets. Others are more instructional, like a recent how-to video for creating a hanging basket. Karsseboom takes his own advice and lives his passion for hanging baskets and making gardening accessible, easy and fun for all. Songs for the videos run the gamut, from classics like “Alone” by the Bee Gees to tunes from new artists like Gotye, “Somebody that I used to know.” Coco, Princess and Nighthawk, the chickens that roam free at the garden center, make frequent cameos.

Treat kids like VIPs

Heinz Brothers
Saint Charles, Illinois
heinzbrothers.com

When asked why Heinz Brothers decided to launch the Garden Kids Club and host Children’s birthday parties in 2015, manager Christa Bormann had a simple answer — parents requested it. “This is a way to provide a different venue to get kids interested in gardening and get them into the store to see what flowers and plants are all about,” she says. The Garden Club for Kids events go beyond the paid workshops they offer because the projects are curriculum-based, so students receive a lesson about the topic — whether it be recycling or carnivorous plants — and they work on a project based on that day’s lesson. They also learn about a new bug each month. The Garden Kids Club meets four to six times a year, but there are still two to four workshops each month for youngsters to attend in between. The garden center also started formally hosting kids’ birthday parties this year. Guests and the birthday boy or girl produce a craft of their choice, which include terrariums in mason jars, fairy gardens, stepping stones, mosaic pots and more, and they go on a scavenger hunt through the greenhouse. In addition, the child’s name is posted on the large Heinz Brothers sign.

Provide a beautiful venue for weddings

Wilson Nurseries
Frankfort, Kentucky
wilsonnurseriesky.com

Jennifer Wilson, owner of Wilson Nurseries, says after hosting weddings at the garden center for seven years, she’s learned to make them profitable by “doing all of it.” In addition to a wedding venue and nursery, Wilson is also a foodie destination with its completely separate Sage Garden Café. The restaurant handles all alcohol and food for the events except for cake, and the garden center provides the flowers and designs the centerpieces and bouquets. Tables and chairs are provided by the nursery, too. Brides and grooms get their pick of three different spaces on the Wilson Nurseries property, which include indoor and outdoor options. “It’s a lot of work, but, from a dollars perspective, it’s worth it when you get the whole package,” Wilson said in an interview in February 2014. “I would never want to imply to anyone it was the most profitable thing we do, but it’s successful for several reasons. It’s a morale booster for employees and a creative challenge. It shows people that we can do the floral, that we’re not just a garden center. We’re designers, and we can create amazing venues.”

Photos courtesy of respective garden centers

Holiday Festivities

Celebrate Christmas early

Al’s Garden Centers
Three locations in Oregon
als-gardencenter.com

Christmas in Oregon is as beautiful as it sounds, and this IGC makes it even better with its Evening of Lights event that showcases its elaborate Christmas Trees and scenes. The trees are decorated in 21 different themes, including Northwest Rustic White and Salvaged Find, which has a rustic feel with metal, plaids and red colors. Inside the greenhouse, customers get a first look at the 40 to 50 different varieties of poinsettias grown in-house. And their bonus is a 20-percent off coupon for purchasing a tree during the event.
 

Become an autumn destination

Bauman’s Farm & Garden
Gervais, Oregon
baumanfarms.com

Patrons of this Oregon IGC welcome the cool, autumn air with an annual fall festival, complete with family-friendly activities like cider demos, hayrides, corn tunnels, apple tasting and an animal barn. An interactive map is also available for families who wish to strategically plan out the day. Our favorite event? The Bug Train, which takes kiddos on a fun, bumpy, 15-minute trip around the farm on the “Pollination Express.”

Add your great ideas to this list! Please share your stories of success with us by emailing Michelle Simakis, managing editor, at msimakis@gie.net.