Market Buzz

At NLGS, vendors and buyers get the opportunity to meet face-to-face.

National Lawn & Garden Show to celebrate 20 years in 2014
This past June, several hundred lawn, garden and pet vendors and key industry buyers met face to face and conducted more than 6,000 appointments in less than three days at the National Lawn & Garden Show. An exclusive industry buying event, the 19th annual NLGS was held in Chicago and highlights included not only a rise in the number of new and first-time vendors and buyers, but also an expanded pet products division that attracted new lawn, garden and pet buyers.

In 2013, the Board of Directors, in conjunction with National Lawn & Garden Show, initiated a vendor company loyalty discount program for companies who have consistently attended NLGS since its inception in 1995.

“It is our way of giving back to those who have supported our buying event,” said Bob Mikulas, president and founder. “We sincerely appreciate the companies that have been loyal to this event over the years and trust their business has grown and benefited from consistently attending. This is our way of saying thank you for their patronage.”

Many lawn and garden companies agree. “NLGS is guaranteed to create a personalized schedule unique to every vendor and buyer who attends the event,” said Larry DeWitt founder of DeWitt Company. “It’s an incredibly productive and economical choice for our company, and that is why we have attended for the past 19 years.”

For vendor companies who have attended the event for at least three years, NLGS offers a graduated discount to the current registration fee. The more years that an individual company has attended the event, the higher the discount is and the more complimentary services the company will receive.

“Our sole mission since 1995 has been to provide an affordable, efficient alternative to traditional tradeshows which assures buyer/vendor introductions in preset scheduled appointments,” said Mikulas. “We love what we do and wouldn’t change it for the world.”

The 20th annual NLGS event will take place June 10-12, 2014, at the Crowne Plaza - Denver International Airport in Denver, Colo.

For more information, www.nlgshow.com

PRO-MIX donated growing mix to two community gardens in Ohio.

Difference makers
After hosting or organizing a charitable event or giving to a cause, sometimes it’s difficult to measure the impact. Growing mix company PRO-MIX, based in Quebec, Canada, recently sponsored two community garden projects in Ohio, and decided to complete a case study to find out how everyone involved benefitted from the initiative.

The company donated $12,000 in growing mixes total to a community garden in Columbus during an Earth Day celebration and one in Akron over Mother’s Day weekend during a Keep Akron Beautiful event. The goal was to increase brand recognition and align the company with a good cause.

Leah Haugh, assistant account manager at Garden Media Group, says it was beneficial to coordinate the PRO-MIX donation with other events for both the growing mix company and the independent garden centers, Oakland Nursery in Columbus and Canton Road Garden Center in Akron, which helped transport the material.

“Partnering with a community garden that already has an event planned creates a bigger buzz. It takes that stress off of you because you already know something is going on. I would suggest that as well for independent garden centers,” Haugh says. “They already had this event going on, and they already had volunteers.”

And it never hurts to organize events around popular gardening holidays.

“Because we were so successful with that timeframe, we’ll try to stick to that” if the company plans another, similar event, she says. “But we may try to mix it up or see if there are other events around Father’s Day.”

Getting news outlets involved and spreading the word via social media is also important, and Haugh says she reached out to several people before the event to make sure they made a stop at the community gardens PRO-MIX sponsored. As a result, the event was featured in print and online, and 100 people were exposed to the brand.

Haugh says she’s still getting photos from the community garden organizers sharing the progress their plants have made since the events.

“Everybody was so happy and these community gardens were in such need that they said the donation couldn’t have come at a better time,” she says. “Now we have these brand ambassadors that love the IGCs and PRO-MIX.”

New sales reps join Eason Horticultural
Eason Horticultural Resources is pleased to announce the addition of four new representatives to its sales force who will provide a wide array of young plant liners, tropicals (finished, flowering, and liners), nursery stock, perennials and greenhouse structures to growers, garden centers and rewholesalers.

Bryan Estell comes to EHR after many years of experience in the field as both a technical rep and a sales representative with Aris Horticulture. Estell resides in Spring, Texas, and will provide his expertise in East Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.

Mark Evans comes to EHR with extensive cultural and sales expertise in the industry. Most recently he was with Syngenta Horticultural Services and prior to that with the Fred Gloeckner Co. and Ball Seed. Evans resides in Westlake, Ohio, and will provide his expertise in the northern half of Ohio, northeastern Indiana, and southern Michigan.

Brent Furbee comes to EHR with an extensive background in the nursery/ornamental industry and will bring his expertise to customers in the greater Washington, D.C. area, Virginia, Maryland, and southern New Jersey. Furbee resides in Palmyra, Va.

Jordan Holtkamp comes to EHR with strong, hands on experience as Head Annual Grower at the W.A. Natorp Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio and previous to that as perennial and nursery manager at Greenfield Plant Farm in Cincinnati. Holtkamp will be providing his expertise to customers in the southern half of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. He resides in Morrow, Ohio.

Chris Keller comes to EHR with a strong nursery/ornamental background having owned and managed his own landscaping and nursery business for many years as well as representing multiple nursery stock suppliers to the industry. Keller resides in Wallkill, N.Y., and will bring his expertise to customers in New York, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

For more information visit www.ehrnet.com
 

Hashtags debut on Facebook
You may have noticed your Facebook friends posting messages adorned with the pound sign.

The social media site announced in June that it was adopting hashtags popularized by Twitter.

Not everyone has hashtag capabilities now, but according to an article in Adweek, they will soon.

The hashtags will allow Facebook to have greater search engine optimization where Twitter once reigned king, according to the article.The hashtags will also allow people to easily find others with similar interests and prompt larger online conversations. When Facebook users click the hashtagged word, it will display the feed with other people who’ve recently shared a post with the same word.

This could be good news for garden center retailers trying to reach their customers.

By putting the pound sign in front of well-known, garden-related keywords and the location they are in, businesses may be able to target people in their areas more easily.

Hoffpauir

Summit Chemical mourns loss of Bill Hoffpauir
Jonathan Cohen, president of Summit Chemical Co., recently announced the passing of Bill Hoffpauir, vice president of sales.

Hoffpauir died in his sleep on June 7, 2013, after succumbing to cancer.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Bill Hoffpauir,” says Cohen. “Bill was a treasured member of our company family, and he was also an extremely well-respected part of the lawn and garden industry. Bill’s industry knowledge and impressive work ethic were enhanced by his good humor and his kind heart. We mourn the loss of a true friend and a well-loved man who represented our company with integrity and honor.”

Hoffpauir is survived by his wife, Debra Hoffpauir; his son and daughter-in-law, Chris Hoffpauir and Aurora Hoffpauir; his sister and brother-in-law, Debra Robison and Rud Robison; and his sister, Catherine Nesbit.

Hoffpauir had been very active in two organizations, KAIROS (www.kairosprisonministry.org) and Give Kids the World (www.gktw.org). Donations can be made in his name to these fine organizations.

Hoffpauir joined Summit in 2007 as regional sales manager. He was responsible for the East Coast and southern regions of the country, coordinating the sales and promotional activities for Summit products. Later, his responsibilities grew to encompass national sales activities for Summit’s retail product line marketed under the brand name Summit Responsible Solutions. He worked tirelessly with distributors, retailers and manufacturers’ representatives to provide them with sales information and support, focusing primarily on top-selling Summit products including Mosquito Dunks and Summit Year-Round Spray Oil. He was promoted to vice president of sales for Summit in 2012.

OFA selects 2013 scholars
The Association of Horticulture Professionals has selected six students to serve as the year’s OFA Scholars. This rigorous competitive application process identifies some of the industry’s brightest young professionals and helps to launch their careers in horticulture by providing education and networking opportunities. The goal of the OFA Scholars Program is to provide students with an enriching professional development experience that increases their knowledge, industry awareness and career enthusiasm.

2013 OFA Scholars

• Josh Craver, Kansas State University
• Steven Ferullo, Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute
• Josh Henry, Ohio State University
• Chris McKellar, Michigan State University
• Garrett Owen, Purdue University
• Alicia Rihn, University of Minnesota

OFA Scholars will be on-site at the 2013 OFA Short Course (July 13-16 in Columbus, Ohio) and receive complimentary OFA Short Course registration, lodging and meals. Additionally, they will receive a complimentary one-year OFA membership. On-site at the OFA Short Course, Scholars will assist the OFA Generation Next Committee with events, conduct presentations that share their insight into industry issues, attend the trade show and educational sessions, meet with industry mentors and network at various social events.

More information on this year’s OFA Scholars including biographies and photos are available at www.ofa.org/scholars

Garden & Floral Expo to provide resources for retailers
Toronto, Ont. - Canada’s fall trade show offers more than leading vendors and hundreds of new products to entice customers. Garden & Floral Expo, produced by Landscape Ontario, offers novice and veteran retailers and designers the products and professional development needed to operate a profitable business.

The show will take place Oct. 23 and 24, 2013, in the North Building of the Toronto Congress Centre.

Celebrating 40 years, Landscape Ontario continues to produce a trade show with a reformatted program to meet industry retailers’ personal and professional needs.

Following last year’s success, the Destination Inspiration Theatre will be brought back for 2013. Featured workshops will include seasonal urn assembly, live cooking demonstrations and information on product trends — relevant to garden and floral retailers and designers.

The Garden Centre Group is excited to announce Jim Hole of Hole’s Greenhouses & Gardens, as the keynote speaker. Hole is one of Alberta’s most articulate and knowledgeable horticulturists. He is ardent about plants, conservation, the environment and business.

For more information, www.loexpo.ca

Nature's impact on healing
A Cornell Researcher is leading a team that was recently awarded a $750,000 National Open Spaces Sacred Places (OSSP) Award from the TKF Foundation. The team will design, build and research spaces in Joplin, Mo., and in the New York City metropolitan area that will focus on healing aspects of the human-nature interaction in the wake of disaster.

For more information, http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/06/researcher-study-develop-public-healing-spaces