Thanks as always for reading! —Jane
- You may recall the recent kerfuffle when Monrovia, strong-armed by its creditors, began selling unbranded plants in Home Depot. Independent garden centers were not amused, but Monrovia argued that independents alone could not move the volume of material they needed to sell in order to stay afloat. Now there is a new arrangement: Monrovia will pull out of Home Depot and sell through Lowe’s, but this time they’ll be under the Monrovia brand. Lowe’s will not, Monrovia claims, have access to exclusive or the newest varieties, and won’t be given the kind of deep discounts that allow big boxes to undercut the little guy. The full story is in Today’s Garden Center.
- Also in TCG, HGTV HOME expands its line to include flowering shrubs.
- This is an inspiring story, and our very own Bill Valavanis is mentioned. From the NYTimes, “Through the Lens, a Passion in Full Bloom.“
- Here is a piece by Karen Miltner, in the Democrat and Chronicle, about the new garden at Rochester’s Good Luck Restaurant and a film and food (and drinks!) event taking place on September 10 as a part of the Greentopia Festival. I’ll be there. I rarely pass on a chance to hit up Good Luck, baby.
- This blog post is about seeing income inequality in cities from space, the premise being more trees means more money. Here is an example from the Boston area, first Somerville (poorer) and then West Cambridge (way wealthier).
I can’t let this go by, though, without mentioning my own pet interest, which is what happens when abandonment lets wild urban plants take over. Like this, a loading dock turned marsh in Detroit.
- These flower pot lampshades seem easy to make and would be great garden center décor.
- Trees that spit methane gas? Hmm. “The Secrets of Hissing Trees,” from the Times.
- I haven’t seen it done much, but this article about selling plant collections—a package of a specific number and variety of plants—in American Nurseryman makes me wonder if it might not be such a bad idea. Catalogs keep doing it, so it must be working for them. Is this something you’ve done or seen done?
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