There Are No Magic Mushrooms, Unless You’re Killing Zombies

I’m sure all you plant geeks out there have played or heard of the game Plants vs. Zombies.

What? You haven’t? Really? Where have you been?

This was the hottest video game for 2010.

People who know nothing about plants and gardening are planting sunflowers to gain power from the sun to grow other vegetables so they can keep the zombies off their front lawn and more importantly to prevent said zombies form eating their brains.

It’s totally wicked!

My favorite vegetable is the magic mushroom. They start off spitting spores that infect the zombies and as you go up in levels, they develop super powers, eventually becoming zombie killing fungi.

But sadly, I must tell you there are no magic mushrooms…unless you are killing zombies.

When industry experts and your peers are telling you to look on the bright side or worse, that there is a magic mushroom that can fix it all (a.k.a. social media), you need to run the other way. I’m a firm believer that plants and the people who grow and love them are magical, but if I’ve learned anything through all of this, it’s that there’s no magic mushroom that will bring customers through your door.

If you are not ready to fix what’s wrong, and all you want to do is focus on what you’ve done right, do you really think that’s good business advice?

It might be good advice if you’re eight years old and you just lost a soccer game, but come one people – grow up and face reality. The entire business needs looking at or there ain’t going to be a future for many of you.

I hear garden center owners complaining on industry blogs about there not being any customers. Why not? Where did they all go?

People are flooding the malls and there’s still a 45 minute wait to get into any family restaurant on a Saturday night. Not much else in society has changed. People ARE spending money. How do we get entice them to spend their money in a garden center?

I love talking to people who love research as much as I do. Finally, I am meeting other people who realize the population has changed and isn’t going to be the same for a long time. Baby boomers had less kids, and those kids are grown up now and they will soon be your best customers. This generation isn’t having very many kids either, so that means populations of customers will be dipping down to lifetime lows for the next 10+ years.

If you don’t change the way you do business, there’s no hope. If you are not adapting to the changing population, there’s no hope. If you think you can sit back and rest on your laurels without future innovation, there’s no hope. If you think the economy is the only one to blame, there’s no hope.

Now more than ever, looking on the bright side and keeping your chin up – a.k.a. doing the same thing and hoping things get better won’t work. This industry of plant loving people who want so desperately to blame the economy for all that has happened and keep their fingers crossed that it will all go back to the glory days we saw in the early 2000’s is in for a shock.

And if you are keeping your chin up, emphasizing the positive and unwilling to accept what’s going on or hoping for that magic mushroom to come and keep the zombies from eating your brains, there’s really no hope.

Ask yourself and your team these questions:

* Who is your best customer now and who will be for the next 10 years?
* What do these new customers want to buy?
* Do you know their habits?
* Do you know what they want from life and what they expect from a retail store?
* Do you have a new marketing plan for selling plants to people who may not have a house or a yard?

It’s time to ask some tough questions. Change is good.

Keep that in mind – change is good – because next week, we have some really BIG news.

HUGE news…

Get ready for new ideas, new plants and new people– even a new logo – big changes at Plants Nouveau. I still can’t tell you until the papers from the lawyers are signed – or I’d really have to kill you, but you have my word that it will be worth the wait.

Happy Weeding! Enjoy all the spring flowers…

Angela Treadwell-Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau

P.S. Speaking of magic mushrooms…I really do have one group of plants that will solve all of your shady problems and I’d like you to promise me you’ll try to plant some for Earth Day 2011 and beyond…

I’m really sick of touting the benefits of Tiarella cordifolia species (heart-leaved foam flowers). I feel like I’m all alone.

Why is it that designers don’t specify these in designs? Why is it they are not used en masse in commercial landscapes? Why is it they are nearly impossible to find in garden centers after they stop flowering in May?

Shame on everyone…

Foam flowers are so incredibly beneficial to the Earth.

They soak up run off along stream banks and in newly planted shady areas. They attract multiple species of bees for pollination. They are a perfect native substitute for the ever-invasive English ivy (Hedera helix) and periwinkle (Vinca minor). Plus, they are practically evergreen in most hardiness zones and they have adorable masses of white and pink flowers in April/May. Sure, periwinkle flowers too, but the flowers are dark violet, and you can’t really see them unless you are right on top. Periwinkle flowers only last for a few days where foam flowers bloom for at least 4 weeks and sometimes even longer, depending on the selection. Ivy never blooms, but it sure is spread by seed – invasively.

For Earth Day 2011, please give them some respect. Have you ever been to Longwood Gardens in April to see the nearly one acre planting of foam flowers in full bloom in Pierce’s Woods?

OMG…it is a sight for sore eyes.

Why don’t we see more plantings like this? They spread easily and never need any care. You don’t have to divide them. They NEVER climb walls or trees. They have nice fall color. They are not eaten by deer…sure some bunnies may munch, but they never destroy them.

I’m pleading – for Earth Day next week, for all of the designers, home gardeners and land managers out there – please try to plant more foam flowers or growers will stop growing them because there isn’t enough demand. We can’t afford to let that happen. They are already on the endangered list in the wilds of two states. If we don’t start planting them – seedlings or cultivars – there may not be any foam flowers in the future.

If you need foam flowers that perform well in dry shade, please check out this new series bred by Sinclair A. Adam. You might remember me writing about Sinclair in a past issue entitled: Fall in Love with Natives. His love for ecology and horticulture guided him into a retirement career of breeding foam flowers for increased use in the landscape.

His River Series is chock full of selections that are tolerant of normal and dry shade and they spread quickly to cover the ground, reduce the runoff and make a lovely carpet below shade loving shrubs and perennials. Try them. I know you will love them.

‘Octoraro’ and ‘Susquehanna’ are the most vigorous selections in my terribly dry shade garden. They spread more each year and they bloom consistently, even under white pines and pin oaks. You can’t get much more dry than that…

So please plant some foam flowers – for mother Earth.