As fall descends across North America, gardeners are ready to start their bulb planting. At Homestead Gardens’ two retail locations in Delaware and Maryland, they’re giving customers precisely what they want with the a vast array of bulbs.

Nina Bishop, perennials manager, says carrying Netherland Bulbs is an easy choice for Homestead Gardens, considering the wide selection of bulbs they offer.

“The first thing that comes to mind is their marketing for us. They just make marketing so easy,” she says. “They provide great online capabilities.”

Bishop says the IGC’s marketing team can easily access the Netherland Bulb library of materials, including photos, blurbs for social media, bloom charts and other information that helps capture customers’ attention.

“They provide so much marketing information, and it’s all so well researched. It’s a humongous time-saver for us so we don’t have to look all this stuff up,” she says.

Bishop also praises Netherland Bulb’s eye-catching display racks and colorful signage, which add a nice pop of color to the floor.

“Everything looks beautiful when they’re filled up in the displays. Their signage is so pretty because they have bright colors and little banners and things, which always looks really nice,” Bishop says.

There is currently a high demand for Netherland Bulbs at the garden center, which is a bit of a challenge due to nationwide shipping delays, she says.

“Our customers are calling about them constantly. I mean, every day our customer service reps are fielding calls about when our bulbs will get here. People are just waiting for them to come in!” she says.

She notes that in the two years that she’s been working there, customers have never complained about Netherland Bulb Company. She even has her own testimony: “I buy Netherland Bulbs myself, and I’ve always been pretty happy with them,” she says.

Bishop is also quick to point out that Homestead Gardens choose to carry Netherland Bulb because they have everything the IGC needs from variety to marketing materials, and calls buying from them a “one-stop shop” process.

“Since I am a buyer for four different locations, buying from them just makes my life easier tenfold,” she says.

Bishop also notes the efficacy of Netherland Bulb Company’s sales representatives and praises their attention to detail and quick turnaround times whenever she has a question.

“They have amazing reps. My rep is just amazing — Rene. He is just off the charts. They’re super quick to get back to you. Any time I have a question, I immediately get a response. And he’s a wealth of knowledge because he’s just been doing this for so long,” she says.

Knowing the numbers is crucial at Petitti Garden Centers, especially when navigating the changing demands of the past 18 months. With nine locations in Northeast Ohio, the IGC relies on its Epicor point-of-sale system to track sales, inventory and more.

AJ Petitti, president, has been using Epicor for 10 years and over the decade, the grower-retailer has grown significantly, thanks in large part to accurate reports.

The Epicor point-of-sale system allows Petitti to track all aspects of the business daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually with reports that help him make better business decisions. Petitti even has the app on his phone with up-to-the-minute sales, and he interacts with it several times each day.

“We’ve got full confidence and control with our inventory numbers,” Petitti says.. In addition, Petitti says the system gives him all of the numbers he needs to run his business, from landed costs to sell-through percentages to margins and more.

The system’s dashboards are extremely valuable to Petitti, but that’s “just a portion of it,” he says. “The team really loves it. There’s tons of reports and tools in place for the buyers. If you really take the time to set it up well, it’s got all the horsepower you need to really run the business from purchasing to receiving — all the way through.”

Reliability is a key feature for Petitti as well. The IGC knows it can depend on the accuracy of reports, as well as the general stability of the system. If a POS system goes down, the disruption can be “all-consuming,” Petitti says.

With timely numbers, Petitti is able to pivot quickly to meet new or unexpected demands. For example, this year, the patio category took off and by checking inventory numbers and looking at the rest of the inventory on the way, the IGC was able to react quickly and place orders.

“It helps us make better, smarter decisions,” Petitti says. “With good information, you can figure out where you want to place your bets. If you think a category is going to expand or if you were up 30% in a category, it helps you prepare for that. If you’re selling through things very quickly, you want to reorder. Between this year and last year, having that information and being able to access it, react to it and make good business decisions off of that, we were up 40% last year. And a big part of it was just being able to get the information, react to it and make decisions based off of it.”

The need for up-to-date numbers means system glitches or downtime can be huge problems for IGCs. The Epicor team not only keeps Petitti’s POS up and running, but it also helps the garden center optimize its performance for the regional chain’s needs. A specialist comes out twice a year to re-optimize the system and make sure everything is working as it should.

“It’s been great,” Petitti says. “It’s an investment that pays off because you know that you’re always doing the best practices and getting that expertise.”

Located in East Concord, New York, Waterman’s Greenhouse has been in business for more than 30 years. Greg, Donna and Ethan Waterman have evolved a small garden center into a successful 40,000 square-foot retail garden center. Half of our space is covered greenhouses, with outdoor areas for perennials and mums.

Waterman’s Greenhouse has partnered with Eckert’s Greenhouse for more than seven years. We love and highly recommend all of the H2O Labor Saver Hanging Baskets. In front of our greenhouse, we have 10 28” Wrap Around containers and 30 23” Labor Savers displayed in Flower Towers. Waterman’s Greenhouse supplies more than 10 municipalities in the surrounding areas with their hanging baskets and combination planters. These are all planted in Eckert’s Greenhouse’s 23” Labor Savers. We highly recommend these containers because of their durability and their ability to reduce watering times, plus the risk of a basket suffering from underwatering is greatly reduced. The 23” Labor Savers are the perfect size for many main streets. They bring a sense of grandeur and style to an ordinary space.

The Eckert’s team is always very friendly and helpful. The entire team is very knowledgeable, not only about their products but also regarding which plant materials will thrive in their H2O Labor Saver baskets.

One of the top reasons we love Eckert’s Greenhouse hanging baskets is because they are reusable. This wouldn’t be possible without the high quality and durable material the containers are created with. Waterman’s Greenhouse strives to be an eco-friendly agribusiness and we are taking initiatives to support sustainable farming practices. In early 2020, during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, solar power was installed to help reduce our energy consumption rate. In our hemp fields, we use biodegradable plastic to help stabilize the roots, preserve nutrients and improve the stable development of the plants. Drip irrigation waters our fields and is the most efficient water and nutrient delivery system.

In our covered greenhouses, we supply our customers with the 16” Weekenders. Not only do the Weekenders retain water to help reduce everyday watering, but the containers are also reusable year after year.

Waterman’s Greenhouse is dedicated to reducing the use of single-use plastics in agribusiness. Our customers purchase the planted 16” Weekenders in the spring and bring them back in the fall after the growing season has finished. We offer custom replanting with our H2O Labor Saver Hanging Baskets. Our customers appreciate the versatility of the containers year after year.

Here at Waterman’s Greenhouse, we can’t say enough great things about Eckert’s Greenhouse and their H2O Labor Saver hanging baskets. We personally use all three sizes in our displays, our municipalities and with our customers.

More often than not, the phrase ‘holiday plant’ still means poinsettia. Come October, November and December, shelves at independent garden centers are stocked with poinsettias, primarily in traditional red with more colors being added over time.

“We haven’t seen anything of significance rise to replace it,” says Plantpeddler owner Mike Gooder. “And I think in the consumer’s eye, the poinsettia is the plant for Christmas.”

There are changes in the market, however. There is no replacing the poinsettia, but changes are occurring and developing on the margins. For one, more colors — whites, greens, oranges and more — are being bred and trialed, and then reaching consumers. Poinsettia growing season is changing too, with the hope that poinsettias can be sold in early fall and after Christmas in colors that fit those times of year.

“They are getting harder and harder to sell,” says Nicole Bent, president of Shelmerdine Garden Centre (No. 75 on the 2021 Top 100 Independent Garden Centers List) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. “I look at them as a commodity plant that you can find in any big-box store — Walmart, Safeway, wherever. It’s harder for the garden center to sell them without making them look like something above and beyond what is available at a big-box store.”

New ways to merchandise

According to Bent, one of the steps Shelmerdine has taken in recent years is to begin “dressing up” poinsettias more.

“We have gravitated to using better pot covers and using glitter to make them look like the special plant they are,” she says. “You have to watch your pricing too because when you can buy a poinsettia at Walmart for $9.99, why would you spend $14.99 at a garden center?”

Pricing she says, has to be monitored carefully as to not be too far out of line with what customers can buy at a competitor, even if what Shelmerdine offers is more unique.

Bent adds that, in recent years, the business has started to diversify what it offers around the holiday season. One project they’ve focused on is amaryllis bulbs — a trend they found was successful in Europe — and are hoping will translate to North America over time. The hope is that if the IGC is losing market share on poinsettias to big-box stores, offering amaryllis bulbs will help replace lost revenue.

“It hasn’t totally hit yet, but we think it will get bigger in the next few years,” Bent says. “One thing we really think will help is the wax bulbs that have been introduced over the last several years. It’s basically an amaryllis bulb that has been dipped in wax. Everything the plant needs to live is in that wax cover, so the bulb just grows. You can decorate around it, put it on a plate to showcase it and the flower just continues to grow and bloom.”

The only downside, Bent says, is that the wax-covered bulb will die after the holiday season ends unlike traditional amaryllis bulbs that can be saved and re-grown year after year.

“We did notice in 2019, the first year that we sold wax bulbs, that people just didn’t get it,” Bent says. “But last year, even with COVID and online ordering, they were totally sold out.”

As for poinsettias, Bent estimates that Shelmerdine produces around 10,000 poinsettias per year with 9,000 allotted for fundraising programs and the remaining 1,000 sold in store. That split has been consistent for the last 15 to 20 years.

In-store poinsettias sales are 75% red, 15% white and the remaining 10% a mix of “novelty” colors like pinks and burgundies.

Shelmerdine uses unique wraps to differentiate from the more standard design available at larger retailers. Smaller alternatives like Princettia and poinsettia trees have gained some steam, but have not made nearly the impact that poinsettias do on the bottom line.

“We also would have a hard time making a profit without the volume of the fundraising program,” Bent says. “And with new items, we have to keep looking for the next thing.”

Trialed improvements

At Cresco, Iowa-based Plantpeddler, Gooder and his team operate one of the biggest poinsettia trials in the United States. Over the past several years, he says poinsettia genetics available from breeders has improved greatly.

“Poinsettias can be a difficult crop to grow,” he says. “But in the last three to five years, a number of important enhancements have been made. People say ‘Oh, the poinsettia has plateaued,’ but that could not be farther from the truth.”

Gooder is seeing important incremental breeding improvements. “One of the things breeders are working on is early ‘blushing’ but late flowering,” he says.

The idea, he says, is that in the past, some varieties wouldn’t be ready to ship when the bracts began opening up, but the color wasn’t right. With new breeding, the plant won’t fully open up as early. “This means we can ship over a longer window,” Gooder says. “Instead of having varieties to gap multiple weeks, they can cover multiple weeks by picking [better genetics].”

Branching characteristics have improved too, he says, noting that branching has become more uniform.

The impact of color

According to Gooder, the biggest advancement in recent years has been in white poinsettias. Before, many of the poinsettias were what he calls a “dirty white.” Now what’s available is often brighter and features more of the clean, white look customers prefer.

Red, however, still remains king. Chris Berg, senior product manager at Dümmen Orange, says red remains the most common color in every breeder’s portfolio.

Dümmen, Berg says, also divides its poinsettia catalogue into different seasons. Reds, he says, primarily play for Christmas, with greens and oranges hitting the market aimed at fall consumers who aren’t looking for a Christmas plant just yet.

“It’s looking at the retail partners we have and looking into how we can tap into what they are doing and pushing,” he says. For Dümmen, breeding work occurs in Ecke, California, where Breeding Manager Ruth Kobayashi oversees efforts to bring new options to market.

“It’s a funny candy shop and there’s so much there to work with,” Berg says. “So we can go in there, see what’s available and match it with what’s been popular as far as holiday décor goes. From there, we can start working and sometimes fast track varieties that we think can make an impact for us.”

In Plantpeddler’s trials, Gooder notes that the best varieties available aren’t just coming from the biggest breeders in the industry.

“There are really great selections right now from every major breeder and every minor breeder,” he says. “Steve Rinehart, a new player who came from Ecke, has a few whites that we absolutely love. If you go program by program, there’s great stuff from Selecta, Syngenta, Beekenkamp, the Dümmen Orange program or Lazzeri, the new Italian breeder.”

“Gerbera ‘Red Glitter’ is the best glitter type, the best Jingle type, on the market in my opinion. It’s from Lazzeri, a new player. Those competitive dynamics help improve everybody’s game,” Gooder adds.

Extending the holidays

According to Berg, the biggest step forward for poinsettias is not so much increasing sales around Christmas and doubling down and what has been done already. It’s not even Princettia varieties or poinsettia trees. Instead, the idea is to expand the season over time with new genetics and new colors.

For example, this could mean developing more whites that fit the tone of traditional New Year’s décor vs. the reds of Christmas.

“For instance, the Ecke company was trying to develop that fall crop for years. And in some cases that has gotten really strong,” Berg says. “And we will see if we can extend into the New Year.”

At Shelmerdine, Bent says the holiday season has evolved over time for the business, with décor, ornaments and other items available at the garden center becoming more popular during the holidays. In recent years, she says that there has also been an interest in tropicals and succulents being given as gifts versus a poinsettia.

“But I don’t think we’d feel like a Christmas store — or that it would feel like Christmas — without us having poinsettias,” she says. “And we take a lot of pride in growing them in-house. It’s not a bread-and-butter crop like an annual, but this bridges us throughout the winter and allows us to keep people employed and our grower busy.”

Gooder, meanwhile, says that Plantpeddler will produce about 1.75 million poinsettias for the upcoming holiday season. Princettias and other novelties are showing good growth as well. Painted poinsettias and other novelties are around, but poinsettias still lead the way. He expects that to continue.

“For a crop that a lot of people say doesn’t make any sense and doesn’t make any money, there’s been a lot of money and time spent in breeding efforts to improve the product,” he says.

The author is associate editor of sister publication Greenhouse Management magazine.