Digger magazine

Written to make you a nursery industry expert.

You are here: Home / Archives for Retail Nurseries

March 2018

By — Posted

Growers and retailers are tapping into a renewed interest in indoor houseplants. For them, deciding what products will meet customer demands takes a bit of study.  In this issue: A houseplant awakening: Many businesses are making smart, interesting choices for choosing houseplants to sell. Plus, ten helpful tips for business owners who wish to target customers looking […]

A houseplant awakening

By — Posted

Growers and retailers tap into a renewed interest in indoor plants Lisa Eldred Steinkopf is addicted to houseplants and has a huge collection to prove it. She recently published a 272-page hardback book on the subject, Houseplants: The Complete Guide to Choosing, Growing and Caring for Indoor Plants. “If I had only paid a dollar […]

When simplicity beats creativity

By — Posted

At Pivot, the marketing agency where I work, I have the enviable (at least I think so) position of being on a creative team tasked with dreaming up creative campaigns for our clients. We’re the group that sits around bringing every resource to bear — clever plays on words, less clever puns, cultural references, eye-catching […]

Finding your way

By — Posted

Green industry professionals and the businesses they serve can thrive by cultivating strong relationships As the English poet John Donne wrote in 1624, “No man is an island, entire of itself.” The same could be said of a business. A thriving nursery needs its key relationships. It requires customers, vendors, suppliers and advocates. Just as […]

Inspiration in other gardens

By — Posted

Whenever I visit other people’s gardens, particularly at the start of the year, the conversation often turns to two questions. What new plants I am going to buy? And what were my favorite plants of the past season? I do not really have favorite plants for a season, but I might have a favorite plant […]

Who is the hero of your ads, and why does it matter?

By — Posted

Have you ever noticed how most Internet companies advertise their services? One company has super-fast speeds, one has ultra-fast speeds, one has blazing-fast speeds, and another has lighting-fast speeds. What’s the difference between super-, ultra-, blazing-, and lighting-fast speeds? Your guess is as good as mine. These companies are making a mistake many advertisers make […]

Specializing in the unique

By — Posted

They would never be called a “garden center.” They would not be a place to go to for buying annuals in the spring. They have very few hard goods; it is unlikely that a customer would find garden chemicals, fertilizers, gloves and other items. Their locations are usually not in a metro area and they […]

Open gardens, open minds

By — Posted

Gardening is a constantly changing hobby for many of us. When we visit garden centers, we are often not only buying plants that are familiar to us, but we are on the lookout for something new. Many private gardens have signature plants that might be a tree or shrub, or perhaps it is a plant(s) […]

Awe-inspiring vines

By — Posted

Gardeners are often awestruck when they experience climbing vines in bloom. “It takes so long for a plant to get out into the public,” said Maurice Horn, co-owner of Joy Creek Nursery in Scappoose, Oregon. “It takes an encounter to fall in love with it. You turn the corner, and there it is. Then you […]