Garden centres still growing strong

How do you social distance in a space that’s tight already? With the recent announcement by the Province of Manitoba that garden centres can now open their doors to the public, small family-owned garden centres and their loyal customers are about to find out.

For independent garden centres, big or small, figuring out how to make social distancing work is the least of their concerns. They’re not too worried either about the need for proper signage or fulfilling the requirements for wash-stations, supplies of hand sanitizer, one-way aisle systems or floor markings. With the help of the Manitoba Nursery Landscape Association, garden centre owners are well on their way to figuring out all the necessary protocols for business-not-as-usual during COVID-19.

The hard part, according to all the garden centre owners I talked to recently, is building an e-commerce platform and point of sale system that can handle huge volumes of online sales. Colin Rémillard, co-owner of Jardins St-Léon Gardens, 419 St. Mary’s Rd., said it best, "Selling plants both online and in-store has the potential to cause logistical nightmares when it comes to tracking inventory of 2,000-plus varieties of plants that come in and out of stock dozens of times daily."

Rémillard has a degree in marketing and his sister, Janelle, who is also a co-owner, has a degree in small business management. Both are Asper School of Business graduates. These young owners have got this covered: Jardins St-Leon Gardens launched its online marketplace last October. The owners of Fryfogel Flowers in Dugald, Glenlea Greenhouses, Ste. Agathe, Van der meer Garden Centre in Ile des Chenes, and Jensen’s Nursery and Garden Centre in Winnipeg are also thanking their lucky stars they made the decision some years ago to create an e-commerce platform.

With or without a feature-loaded online marketplace, garden centres across our province have been deftly processing a multitude of plant orders for several weeks now. How are garden centres responding to the different needs of their customers?

In addition to phone and online orders, Jensen’s Nursery is offering contactless curbside pick-up and delivery of all greenhouse orders. Susan Jensen says that every customer has expressed their appreciation and shown their willingness to follow the rules so that the process of picking up plants or accepting delivery is completely contact-free. Jensen admits there are moments of chaos. Working with only a limited staff — five in total — daily tasks include maintenance of hundreds of individual plants, creating hanging baskets and ready-made container displays in addition to processing online orders that come fast and furious as well as delivering plants, often on the way home. "Then we have dinner followed by two or three hours updating online inventory and then we’re up at dawn the following day," says Jensen. For garden centre owners at this time of year, the cycle repeats itself seven days a week.

Jensen’s typically opens on the first day of March each year but decided to close their doors to the public about two weeks before the province announced mandatory closures of garden centres. "We knew we could not afford to get sick," says Jensen, who added closing their doors was the right thing to do, so staff members could stay healthy, protect the valuable greenhouse crop and not risk losing their business.

"We purchased our annual plant plugs last October," says Jensen. "There wasn’t the option to cancel because we depend on our suppliers and they depend on us," she says. The plants have been in production for several months now and are lush and lovely. The news that Jensen’s can now open their doors to the public means everything. "We want to survive and are determined to do our best," says Jensen.

Don Fryfogel, Fryfogel Flowers, has been encouraged by the number of online orders and has already sold more than 20 per cent of his crop. Fryfogel is getting ready to post images of all his hanging baskets on his website. He encourages everyone to support local garden centres. "Retail garden centres are not high-profit businesses," he says. "Most people in the green industry love what they are doing." In addition to online and in-store sales, Fryfogel will continue to offer curbside pick-up and plans to offer the option of scheduling individual appointments before or after hours for customers who are concerned about venturing into crowded places.

Glenlea Greenhouses has maintained an extensive online listing of plants for several years. Some plant varieties have already sold out. "We normally don’t have more than 20 people in the whole store on a busy day so it’s a nice shopping experience," says Sue MacLeod, co-owner. Glenlea will provide curbside pick-up throughout the growing season and is also offering the option for individual appointments.

Dorinda Penner, Sunshine Greenhouse, Steinbach, was overwhelmed by support from local shoppers during the busy Easter season and sold three times the number of Easter lilies and potted hydrangeas compared to last year. As she prepares for in-store customers, Penner is focused on innovative solutions and how to make all the protocols work as smoothly as possible. "It’s a learning curve but there is positivity, too — we are learning to be more efficient."

What are some of the annual plant varieties to look for this spring? Jensen’s is carrying the new I’Conia Portofino hybrid begonia series. Hot Coral and Sunrise boast extra large double flowers above dark green foliage.

Galaxy zonal geranium is also new for 2020. The series includes Watermelon, a totally unique colour in the geranium market. In addition to superior garden performance, Galaxy has exceptional branching and large, semi-double flowers that bloom all summer long.

Is it alright to touch the flowers when you are at the garden centre? This week in the U.K., two major retail outlets are asking shoppers to only touch items they intend to purchase. We may want to emulate this directive. If you happen to brush your fingers against the new SuperCal Premium Petchoa series (a cross between petunia and calibrachoa), the first thing you’ll notice is that the petals have a completely different feel to them. Petchoa is a new non-stick petunia, says Jensen.

Salvia Purple and Bloom is a fabulous new annual. I trialed it in my garden last year and was very impressed by its height, sturdy dark stems and rich purple flowers. Pollinators love Black and Bloom. Duayne Friesen, Ball Seed representative, recommends pairing Salvia Purple and Bloom with Heliopsis Suncredible Yellow. Both are easy to grow and flower non-stop from early July to October.

Whether customers choose retail-to-go or prefer an in-store-shopping experience, it’s important to follow the rules when visiting garden centres this spring. Guy Dowhy, president of the Manitoba Nursery Landscape Association (MBNLA) says that independent garden centres and nurseries are an important component of the Manitoba economy. The MBNLA which has lobbied extensively on behalf of the green industry in our province, states on its website, "Please keep in mind that government directives always supersede industry guidelines." In other words, what government giveth, government can taketh away. If retail garden centres survive economically in COVID-19, their success — and lessons — will be a valuable blueprint for going forward.

colleenizacharias@gmail.com