Tap into deep pockets

In May, I visited the firm that’s coordinating the Orange County Great Park and left dazzled with the ambitious plans under way.

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The Orange County Great Park, which occupies the land formerly used by El Toro military base, aims to be as vital to its community as Central Park is to New York, except with modern needs in mind. It has used focus groups of various citizens throughout its planning program. Sports groups, cultural leaders, family organizations, wildlife federations and environmental groups have all helped shape what the park will be to the community.

It’s an exciting plan that will take at least 15 years to complete, probably longer. As I listened to ideas, it struck me that garden centers do not take advantage of the opportunity that public gardens and sustainable organizations present.

Experts on call

National gardens and other programs have deep pockets and access to the world’s top thinkers on various projects. Part of these public projects’ mission is to teach.

Figuring out how to run a sustainable store can be overwhelming. It’s not just a matter of ordering “green” products. It’s also reducing water and electricity use, recycling and so on. It’s also processing all these concepts enough that you can translate the issue (and your efforts) to your customer in an approachable manner. Not an easy task.

Organizations like the Great Park have the same challenge on a much bigger scale and can tap into resources you can only dream about. Even better, they are willing to share what they know. Missouri Botanical Garden’s Steven Cline has had visitors from all over the country who wanted to examine how the garden handles recycling horticultural pots. Cline sees sharing what he has learned as part of his job. He’s not just willing to teach others, he wants to do so. And now recycling programs modeled on Missouri Botanical Garden are under way all over the U.S.

Retailers can do the same thing in other areas. For example, the Great Park is using photovoltaic film on its main entrance. Want to know if the film really works, if it’s cost effective? Just ask the park after it has had the film in place a few months, and the staff will tell you what you want to know.

Chances are, just about any project you are contemplating has been tackled by some business or group with deeper pockets than any independently owned garden center’s. Why not pay them a visit and benefit from their research and expertise?

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- Carol Miller

August 2008