Spread the word

The vehicle in which marketing messages are delivered to the consumer has reached a speed worthy of the Indy 500. To keep up with that pace, it’s imperative the green industry present a clear and continuous voice that reaches the end consumer. To be successful, the wholesale grower must maintain a dual responsibility of producer and marketer.

Growers sending messages directly to the consumer is a relatively new practice in this industry. There was a long stretch of the grow-it-and-they-will-buy-it mentality, because it was true. The nursery market was booming, and no one wanted to prepare for the alternative. Since then, not only did the economy change, but so did the consumer. Money and time are limited, and cell phones and social media changed the way consumers engage with products, brands and stores.

You don’t have to go it alone. There are groups who help advance the horticulture industry’s products and the benefits of those products directly to the consumer. But you need to do your part to help.
 

Community planting

There are plenty of reasons people should be more excited about horticulture. Areas with more green space and ornamental plants are proven to provide health benefits, economic benefits and even crime prevention benefits. Plants can increase the quality of people’s lives and increase the economic sustainability and viability of the communities in which they live. That’s why groups like America in Bloom are pushing a particular message: more plants equals more happiness. However, for people in the industry, more plants equals something else: more money.

Katy Moss Warner, vice president of America in Bloom, says it all comes down to the power of plants.

“That is why our people are in the industry,” she says. “They believe in the power of plants. They could have gone into any business, but they chose to go into the plant business.”

When Warner and her compatriots at AIB speak about the power of plants, they often focus on the one-on-one relationship people have with plants. But when dealing with an entire community, they realized there is an impact plants have on individuals within a whole community.

“It is inspiring and encouraging and makes it really obvious that our industry, if they play a role, can benefit from a focus on the importance of plants,” she says.

AIB is an organization that is committed to encouraging beautification within a community because of this direct connection to quality of life and economic viability and sustainability. The program has spread to cities in 40 states. It is also an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, so contributions are tax deductible. Warner is the president emeritus of the American Horticultural Society (AHS), another national, non-profit organization with a focus on beautification.

“When we talk beautification, we’re talking horticulture,” she says. “We’re talking about trees, landscape areas, and floral displays, but we are also talking about context.”

Continuity is important, and so is the whole picture. Hanging baskets, planters, trees and shrubs don’t take care of themselves after the nursery drops them off or the landscaper installs them.

“So many times nurseries are asked to donate plants for projects, and that’s all well and good,” she says. “But if there isn’t a mechanism to keep those maintained, that project can start looking bad in a very short time.”

Stratton Greenhouses used to donate plants for 24 flower pots on Main Street in Findlay, Ohio. Co-owner Susie Stratton says it was a way to show the people of their community that the business was not just in it for a paycheck. Three years later, the small business couldn’t afford to provide and maintain the plants for free. So they asked the local businesses to sponsor the baskets at $100 each. The first year, they had 38 sponsors. The next year, they had 50.

“We’re not making a penny off it, but the community is invested in the success of the program, therefore they are invested in us as a grower,” she says.

Bobby Barnitz was donating hanging baskets on quaint Americana main streets before America in Bloom was even created.

“It would help beautify the town but more importantly it would show the consumer our products that the industry has to offer,” he says. “We would maintain, take care, fertilize. In a way it was a marketing tool to promote the products that we grow.”

The vice president and part owner of Bob’s Market & Greenhouses is now in his third year on the board of AIB, and currently works with nine communities in West Virginia and Ohio. He says the AIB model is especially suited for a business like his, a young plant producer with several retail locations. Although these days, as the program has grown, local businesses purchase the baskets on their own, and town merchants’ associations often come up with enough funds for proper maintenance.

“Once they get the fever, they’re in it for the long haul,” Barnitz says.

Stratton believes America in Bloom fosters a strong connection between growers and their cities. The family business was mired in low-margin work as a grower for big box retailers.

“We had to find another way to survive,” she says. “We had to change, for our own mental health.”

Susie’s husband Steve is the head grower, as well as the co-owner. Susie handles the retail operations and is the “mouth of the greenhouse.” She racked her brain for ways to attain higher margins, and kept coming back to their experience at the University of Findlay. For the last 10 years, Stratton Greenhouses has grown the plants for the campus. She had heard of the AIB program and convinced the university to take part. After taking home a top award, she noticed the pride from the university community began to ripple into the city of Findlay. That became her next goal: getting the city involved.

“When I got them involved, I became such a believer in what AIB stands for that I became a judge for AIB. I’m passionate about how AIB can change the entire outlook of a community and its residents. There is so much pride that comes along with the beautification and urban forestry,” she says.

Now, the business has abandoned the “rat race” of big-box retail and focused on communities. The economic downturn was the logical time to reinvent their business. It was a struggle, but the Strattons are happy growing for six communities in the region surrounding their home base.

“AIB is a platform for growers,” she says. “Communities ... will take care of their plants because it’s a reflection of their community. I don’t know why more growers don’t get involved with AIB.”
 

The landscape view

Mark Ahronian is the president of Ahronian Landscape & Design. The Massachusetts-based designer often partners with growers on America in Bloom projects through the Boston area and Cape Cod.

“Designers like me know growers well, so partnering with them is very easy,” Ahronian says. “Growers love to support AIB projects because it promotes what they sell in a positive way. We are solving today and tomorrow’s environmental and design problems using plants, whether it be to show sustainability, or how to make something look more inviting. Plants help with capturing a feeling that the designer is trying to create. Plants exercise the senses like nothing else. A designer can make you feel relaxed or invigorated. There is nothing like plants to help create this. Growers understand this like no one else. They love to grow plants, and we designers love to arrange plants in such a way to accomplish complex goals.”

Ahronian agrees that the organization’s mission of promoting the power of plants is a potent one.

“AIB shows how to better use plants, and space to create happy spaces where people congregate, socialize, and relax. AIB connects the dots, and offers a path to take for the future of plants, and communities of people to coexist in a harmonious way. AIB is therefore increasing the value of what my company has to offer.”
 

New player in the mix

The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture is a relative newcomer to the industry, but stands to bring an impressive strategy to reaching the end consumer.

The initiative was first discussed during a southern region meeting of the American Society of Horticultural Science.

It was the brainchild of Ellen Bauske, the Public Service Associate at the Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture (University of Georgia) and Lucy Bradley, associate professor of horticultural science at North Carolina State University.

“A group of us who’d been working in the southern region of ASHS were tasked with finding funding resources for consumer horticulture,” Bradley recalls. “We found there was very little funding targeted for consumer horticulture.”

Tom Bewick, the National Program Leader – Horticulture at the USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture, explained to the group that the only way to get funding is to have clear objectives, goals and strategies, she says.

“He also explained to us that consumer horticulture needed a unified voice instead of each individual state trying to get funding,” Bradley says.

With that, the members of the ASHS southern region decided this was a necessary step for consumer horticulture nationwide, not just the south. And the National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture was born. Bewick agreed to facilitate the process of writing a strategic plan, and the many other requirements needed of such a large project.

The NICH’s goals are evolving as the draft of the strategic plan gets reworked.

NICH currently has a steering committee made up of several members of academia, a major plant brand and allied associations. The committee is currently developing an organizational structure.

The first thing the group did was define consumer horticulture. “Consumer horticulture is the cultivation, use, and enjoyment of plants, gardens, landscapes and related horticultural items to the benefit of individuals, communities, and the environment. These activities rely on the understanding and application of the art and science of horticulture.”

Next they developed a mission and a vision statement. The NICH mission: “Growing a healthy world through the art and science of plants, gardens, and landscapes.” The group’s vision: “The percentage of U.S. households participating in consumer horticulture will increase from 70 percent in 2014 to 90 percent by 2025.” The 70 percent statistic was taken from the 2014 National Gardening Association’s National Gardening Survey, which revealed that 70 percent of U.S. households participate in one or more types of indoor and outdoor lawn and garden activities.

While the NICH’s goals are evolving, as is the strategic plan, the group currently has seven goals, each with their own set of objectives. Some of the goals are: experience a “thriving consumer horticulture economy;” help “policy makers understand the value of consumer horticulture;” and “consumer horticulture will be adopted widely as an effective tool for improving human health and well-being.” To read each one, visit www.consumer hort.org/goals.

“We received a lot of feedback from the industry during our November meeting, so it’s likely some of those goals and objectives will evolve,” Bradley says.

For anyone who wants to get involved, visit consumerhort.org/join-us. The steering committee welcomes nursery, greenhouse, landscape and retail participation.

“It’s going to be a partnership,” Bewick says. “Industry contacts are important to make it successful. Once our organizational structure is in place, I encourage growers to get involved in our working groups.”

Bradley also wants to see more nursery production people involved.

What’s at stake? Millions of dollars in federal and state funding. Consumer horticulture represents a huge economic impact to the local, state and federal economy, but only receives a small piece of the funding pie, Bauske says.

The group will also help spread the message – with the help of stakeholders and volunteers – of the importance of consumer horticulture to state and county legislators, where funding is also available, Bewick says.

Bewick is the director of the Specialty Crop Resource Initiative, which awards $80 million a year in grants, he says. SCRI grants support research and extension that address key challenges of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of food and agriculture. Some $75 million in specialty block grants are doled out per year, some of which are already going to nursery production, he adds.

“There’s a lot more out there that will help address the unique needs of consumer horticulture, and soon we’ll be in a position to use those resources to fulfill our mission, vision and goals,” he says.

For more: America in Bloom, www.americainbloom.org; National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture, www.consumerhort.org.