Independent nursery retailers in New Mexico have won the right to reopen for business, provided they do it via curbside pickup and/or delivery service only. The state government had previously left garden centers, retail nurseries and retail greenhouses off the state’s list of essential businesses, although farms — a category that includes wholesale growers — were […]
Garden centers must remain closed in Pennsylvania
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The Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association (PLNA) submitted a request that independent, family-owned garden centers be considered essential businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, but received a response that no change would be made, according to the association website. Other states in the northeastern U.S., including Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio, have allowed […]
One-stop national nursery industry resource for COVID-19 launches
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The Nursery & Landscape Association Executives of North America (NLAE) have launched a one-stop tool for green industry businesses to see how operations and shipments to and within various North American states and territories are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Agriculture is essential, and nurseries are a part of agriculture,” Margaret McGuire-Schoeff, executive director of […]
Little Prince of Oregon creates retail referral program
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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, OAN member Little Prince of Oregon Nursery (Aurora, Oregon) has created an online affiliate marketing program called Garden Center 911. Under this program, retailers refer customers to the wholesale grower’s consumer website, www.littleprinceplants.com. Little Prince sells the plants and ships to the customer directly, and the retailer gets a 20% commission on each […]
SBI Software creates no-contact retail pickup program
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Nursery inventory management and sales software developer SBI Software (Portland, Oregon) has created a no-contact plant ordering portal in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It allows retailers to upload inventories and pictures to a website (www.nocontactplantpickup.com) where customers can then order and pay for the plants online using their computer, phone or tablet. After ordering, the […]
24,000 people register for OSU Master Gardener vegetable course
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The chance to learn more about vegetable gardening has proved irresistible to people who are spending copious time at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the Oregon State University (OSU) Master Gardeners began offering their online vegetable gardening course for free, more than 17,600 people signed up as of April 1, an OSU Extension […]
OAN promotes ‘Safer Shopping’ garden retailers
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As a bittersweet side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are spending more time in their yards and gardens. They are eager to still tend their gardens, put in vegetable starts, beautify their yards, try new things and enjoy healthy outdoor time. But they also want to observe social distancing. To help them, the Oregon […]
Charlie Hall updates economic projections amid COVID-19
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A U.S. economy that already had several telltale signs of a possible recession has now likely entered one for sure, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, green industry economist Dr. Charlie Hall told listeners at a Monday webinar presented by AmericanHort and the Nursery and Landscape Association Executives (NLAE). “Our economy was functioning, we’ve had a […]
