Discoveries at a Nursery Trade Show
Every January I spend a day at the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) in downtown Baltimore, lured by the people I’ll run into as much as by the actual products and companies on display. I’ll let...
View ArticleA Gardening Boomer’s Equipment Wish-List
Guest Rant by Shenandoah Kepler I’m a Baby Boomer and am told that just as we changed the work environment as we entered it, we’re now changing the nature of retirement and aging. So, have you noticed...
View ArticleHere’s what I don’t like about fairy gardens
A tiny garden I like The desire to create a miniature world makes perfect sense to me. This is why we have dollhouses, train sets, collections of tiny objects, and boutique dictatorships. Daily life...
View ArticleImpatiens FAIL—regrets or good riddance?
Fusion impatiens are also prone to the mildew. For the last couple years, I have been reading ominous reports of downy mildew decimating impatiens plants. As most of you know, it’s more than just...
View ArticleSusan Morrison’s Incredibly Cool New Garden App
We here at GardenRant World Headquarters have not had much luck with gardening apps so far. They seemed so bright and shiny and new and full of promise at first, but then–meh. The thrill faded...
View ArticleArmitage makes an app
In the early days of the iPhone, we were ravening for gardening apps. After a while though, the craving just seemed to go away. I have several theories on that. It could be that our devices have...
View ArticleCapture the lightning
On a recent afternoon, after a day and a half of strenuous garden work, Professor Roush quit working and took a number of photos to convince himself, and all of you, that spring was beginning in...
View ArticleWhen Master Gardeners Break the Rule and say they’re Master Gardeners
Master Gardener Clinic at a local Farmers Market Not long ago we had a lively discussions here (145 comments!) in answer to the question: What do we think of Master Gardeners?” Much of the criticism...
View ArticleWon’t get fooled again
Flower drawing courtesy of Shutterstock Increasingly, entire sectors of the plant world have become invisible to me. They cluster in colorful masses on garden center tables, but I walk by without a...
View ArticleOkay, I Love Columbus!
Invited to visit Columbus during its really big gardening trade show and then shown a fabulous time in their clean, beautiful city, how could I not write good things about it? I’d never taken part in a...
View ArticleMonday peeves
Blooming in Buffalo It was a beautiful weekend and I spent most of it outside weeding, planting, deadheading, and enjoying the scent of oriental lilies. So what do I have to complain about? Not much,...
View ArticleTotally Silly?
Like most of humanity, I am a largely inexplicable and highly individual mixture of profligacy and frugality. I think I should only wear the nicest Italian shoes, which are no longer affordable for...
View ArticleSeen at the “OFA Short Course”
Welcome to the business side of gardening – the trade show! First let’s get the name out of the way first – because what kind of name for a trade show is “OFA Short Course”? See, it started 85 years...
View ArticleHow Flora Grubb and an Airport DJ Saved My Soul
I never saw it coming. Flora Grubb, the pioneering urban gardener and style maven, convinced me—to my great relief—that the Millennial Generation is beginning to shop for plants. Meanwhile DJ Juice...
View ArticleSmart Remarks from the Seasonal Department, or How to Not Get Promoted at the...
Following years of selling to and then working for independent garden centers and landscapers, I went to work for a mass merchandizer – the seasonal department of Home Depot, the other half of the...
View ArticleCould the bulb campaigns be paying off?
Bulb image courtesy of Shutterstock Shortly after mocking this marketing effort, I heard via email from some industry insiders that the big bulb houses were desperate—bulb sales had slumped along with...
View ArticleSerenity now
Who knew that this forward-thinking garden center was only 15 minutes or so from my house? Make no mistake, Western New York is relatively wealthy in excellent independent garden centers and...
View ArticleOverpriced, useless, or just plain bizarre: an anti-garden gift guide
Gnome image courtesy of Shutterstock (Only kidding on this one. I heart gnomes.) Inspired by the wonderful Haters Guide to The Williams Sonoma Catalog, which you have no doubt enjoyed via its...
View ArticleGarden in a gun
While some conspiracy theorists believe that shadow organizations such as the Illuminati or the New World Order or the American military-industrial complex are heck-bent on taking over our lives,...
View ArticleEastern Gardener ISO Desert Plants
One of the many press releases coming my way recently was from High Country Gardens, and I found myself wanting all of its new introductions, especially the Salvias. Loved by hummingbirds but NOT by...
View ArticleSightings at a Trade Show
Every January I attend the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) in Baltimore and even if nothing were new there of interest to me or my imagined readers, I’d love the dose of plants and plant talk...
View ArticleIt’s Valentine’s Day. Do You Know Where Your Roses Came From?
Beautiful selection and variety of groses grown in California’s Monterey Bay region at Pajarosa Farms. Guest Rant by Debra Prinzing Earlier this week, Libby Francis-Baxter, owner of The Modest Florist...
View ArticleThe brand that dares not speak its name
Plant graphic courtesy of Shutterstock Remember subliminal advertising? One of the books that exposed it is Subliminal Seduction, by Wilson Brian Key. The examples in the book use the eternal themes of...
View ArticleIs Your Local Garden Center Taking Action on Neonicotinoids?
What’s killing the bees? The pesticide neonicotinoid, for one thing, and it’s routinely used on plants for sale and earlier in the plants’ lives, at the wholesale growers’. That discovery has led to...
View ArticleGardening Under The Affluence
Versailles, the fanciest garden of them all. Image courtesy Wikimedia commons I’m getting a little uncomfortable with something, and I’d like the Ranting World to let me know if I’m on point or...
View ArticleWhere’s the Wow? The Green Industry Takes Stock.
Garden suppliers’ sights are set on next spring. Last month, representatives from nurseries, greenhouses, independent garden centers and even Big Box Stores loaded up their cars, vans and trucks,...
View ArticlePossibilities vs. limitations
Field image courtesy of Shutterstock As I finish potting up bulbs against the winter, rejoicing in the new space for it I have now that I’m using the attic, it occurred to me that the effort to do...
View ArticleTreasure the Winter Farmer’s Market
The Farmer’s Market here in Boise lines the street for three city blocks and features local arts and crafts in addition to plant and animal products. Sadly, it is closed January through March; I can...
View ArticleScotts Miracle-Gro, you can stop asking.
Dear readers, I went through my in-box and discovered some delicious hate-reading! Ready? First, from somehow actually hired by Scotts Miracle-Gro to promote them, pasted below with commentary in...
View ArticleGratitude in the Eye of this Storm
This week I’m in a flurry — finalizing talks, sending off handouts and invoices, and making the last travel arrangements for presentations at spring events across the country. It’s amazing to think...
View ArticleThe Best Garden Show of All
Slug traceries — a morning delight in my garden. I don’t enjoy ranting and would much rather rave — about, for example, the glorious iridescent slug traceries on the pavers of my courtyard this...
View ArticleWatering tools I love, and why I hate the others
In honor of a day that doesn’t deserve it (the horrid Black Friday), here are some gift suggestions for the gardener on your list or your own list of wants. All my favorite gardening tools seem to be...
View ArticlePlants for crazy sports fans? Sure, why not?
Pete Gilmore for Sporticulture, at MANTS last month. Mums potted up in Ravens and Redskins containers for that special football-plant lover in your life? Okay, not necessarily those teams – these were...
View ArticleA trendy wish list for 2017
These were cheap and great from the botanical gardens sale. Not having even looked at any of the predictions or surveys regarding general gardening behavior, here is my wishful thinking for the coming...
View ArticleJerry Baker’s Quackery Lives On
Jerry Baker, the self-styled “America’s Master Gardener” and highly successful huckster for home-remedy books and products died in March of this year at the age of 85. I was curious to see how the...
View ArticleBrent and Becky’s Farm, Store and Knicknacks
I grew up near Richmond, VA, about an hour from Brent and Becky’s, the beloved flower bulb company in Tidewater, VA. I’ve even known Brent since I was a preteen and our families rented nearby beach...
View ArticleNavigating With Butterflies – Up, Up and A Weigh
As it turns out butterflies are not free. They can cost anywhere from $3 to $6 each. They will arrive at your doorstep in small white insulated boxes carried by FedEx trucks with purple and orange...
View ArticleWhat’s your corpse flower’s name? Ours is Morty.
It’s that time of year again. Our local botanical gardens has joined the ranks of other such sites across the US to introduce a titan arum (“corpse flower”) event, based on the bloom cycle of the...
View ArticleAmazon comes for the garden centers?
It’s been happening for a while. I am guilty of using Amazon for garden hardware that’s kind of boring to shop for in person, like hoses, nozzles, timing systems, and the like. I have never shopped for...
View ArticleIt’s Over: Ending 19 Wonderful Years in the Nursery Business
As anyone who has ever opened a small, home-grown retail nursery can tell you, the economic reality for such is straight out of the veteran horse gambler’s prayer: Lord, I hope I break even, I need...
View ArticleHelp a garden center get through the winter: buy a kokedama. Or an orchid. Or...
The next issue of the magazine I edit features heritage businesses in Western New York—the ones that have lasted more than 100 years. Amazingly, two we’re covering are garden centers (and there are...
View ArticleScenes from a Nursery Trade Show
The Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show is happening in Baltimore this week, and garden communicators (formerly “writers”) were there in droves! Here we all are at the breakfast event for media. Well,...
View ArticleGardeners Mourn the Closing of Beloved 89-Year-Old Garden Center
Yesterday my long-time favorite garden center announced it’ll close soon. Here’s my tribute to the company and its people on a local blog. I’m reposting it here for the Rant’s broader audience because...
View ArticleA Near-Miss in my Search for the Perfect Watering Can
Back in 2015 I wrote about my two perfect watering cans and one that I deemed “flawed,” according to the caption (above). I declared cans to be perfect thanks to two features I always look for –...
View ArticleThe Olive Garden of Eden, with Raised Beds
Garden centers, try using the words “Garden of Eden” in your marketing copy. In the age of Google, gardening businesses, like all businesses, want to know what search terms people are using to find the...
View ArticleThe Randomness of Branches
Ever look up at a grand old tree and marvel at the randomness of its branches? They dodge and weave. They angle off. They roam this way and that. The complexity is a wonder to look at. Exhilarating,...
View ArticleIs this about plants?
I love my new monstera but not enough to take a selfie with it. The question was staring at me from my Facebook feed, in the form of a hunky guy sitting with a medium-sized parlor palm (I think)...
View ArticleHire Help or Lose My Sanity. Confessions of a Garden Writer Who Doesn’t...
Guest rant by Marianne Willburn The office is lightly scented with pencil shavings and old coffee mugs this morning. Not an unpleasant smell, but an unfamiliar one. I have ignored this room for two...
View ArticleLiquor is essential. Is landscaping?
Hope I’ll soon be able to make a haul like this again, but safely. That was the question yesterday, as local green industry owners and employees were discussing whether or not garden centers were one...
View ArticleBuying Plants Locally During the Shutdown
Curb-side pick-up. Oh, the ethical turmoil I’ve been in! Should I stay home and shop for food only, or support other local businesses, too? Plus, it’s spring and we gardeners need to buy plants and...
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