Cannor Nursery

This particular Cannor Nursery store has the right attitude when it comes to marketing and branding. The garden center really wanted to emphasize its focus on water gardening, so it created Wildwood Waterscapes. Giving the water gardening department its own name shows it’s not simply an auxiliary product category for Cannor – it’s something the garden center really focuses on.

Another cool venture Cannor is participating in is the “100th Monkey Effect.” The story behind the “100th Monkey” comes from Lyall Watson’s book “Lifetide,” which describes scientists studying macaque monkeys on the Japanese island of Koshima. Every day, scientists delivered sweet potatoes to the sandy shores to feed the monkeys, who ate the sandy potatoes for weeks, until one day, one of the monkeys washed the dirt off. A few days later, the monkey had taught his mother to wash her potatoes, too. Eventually it spread, and a group of 100 monkeys followed suit. After the “100th Monkey” tipping point, the whole colony was washing the sand off their potatoes before eating them.

The story is meant to be taken to heart and considered in the context of climate change. When will there be enough people concerned about the planet that we’ll reach a tipping point?

All the proceeds from the purchase of these cute monkey statues (pictured) go directly to the David Suzuki Foundation, which uses science and education to promote solutions that conserve nature and help achieve sustainability within a generation.

Butchart Gardens

We began day two of the IGCA tour at 5 a.m. to catch an early morning ferry over to beautiful Vancouver Island, which is home to the capital, Victoria.

Our first stop was Butchart Gardens, which were absolutely breathtaking. Words can’t really do these gardens justice, so here are some photos!

Capilano Suspension Bridge

Capilano Suspension bridge, built in 1889, spans 450 feet across and 230 feet high. Below is the beautiful Capilano River, and at the end is a lush rainforest filled with old cedars, hemlocks and Douglas firs, some as old as 500 years.

The walk across the bridge is a little frightening, as it sways from side to side, making it difficult to keep your footing. But Jim and Mary Wallitsch of Wallitsch Garden Center in Kentucky (pictured on the bridge) and I made it across, one wobbly step at a time!

It was all worth it at the end, where we got a fantastic nature tour and learned all about the history of the First Nations (the area’s indigenous people). Interesting tidbit: banana slugs (which can be up to a foot long), found in the area, have yellow slime that acts as an anesthetic. If you touch it, your finger will go numb. The First Nations would simply slap a little of that banana slug slime on their teeth if they had a toothache and not feel a thing.

Fortunately (or unfortunately?), we didn’t encounter any banana slugs while we were there.

Southlands Nursery

Nothing is out of place at Southlands Nursery. The garden center is meticulously laid out and merchandised. The owner Thomas Hobbs was a florist before entering the retail garden center business, and it shows. His artistic approach to merchandising makes Southlands a delightful place to shop.

Items like old windows and doors jazz up displays and add a whole new element of interest to plants and pottery, inspiring customers. And, if customers are especially intrigued by certain displays, they can even purchase the old windows and doors for their own gardens. Everything at the garden center is for sale. Southlands even make use of broken pottery, planting it up with stunning combinations of succulents and other varieties.

The team at Southlands has mastered branding, too. Boxes and paper bags adorned with the garden center’s logo are somewhat pricey, according to Hobbs, but it’s worth the investment for the opportunity to be constantly reinforcing your brand.

Maple Leaf Garden Centre

Nestled in the foothills behind a stunning, mountainous backdrop in West Vancouver, Maple Leaf Garden Centre caters to a high-end demographic in a neighborhood filled with beautiful, historic homes.

With an elegant yet rustic atmosphere, the garden center certainly fits in with its surroundings. They’ve dressed up some ordinary hoop houses with attractive, cedar facades, which help add value while creating a richer ambiance and more enjoyable shopping experience.

Exquisitely planted containers throughout the garden center include recipe cards so customers can easily recreate them in their own gardens.

IGCA Congress - Stop One: Art Knapp's Urban Garden

More than a dozen different countries are represented on this year's International Garden Center Association (IGCA) Congress. The three tour buses full of people visiting Vancouver's finest garden centers are melting pots of garden retail for the next five days. The tour promises to provide of host of ideas for everyone to take back home to their own operations, and day one certainly did that. The first stop was Art Knapp's Urban Garden.

Art Knapp’s Urban Garden is located in the heart of downtown Vancouver. A unique atmosphere and product mix cater perfectly to the garden center’s demographic – young urbanites and condo dwellers.

Because of the recent explosion in high rise condo construction over the last few years, The Urban Garden has adjusted its product inventory to include more home décor pieces and indoor/tropical plants (or, living art, as they call it). There are also plenty of cool containers planted up for condo owners looking for something easy but different to drop on the balcony.

The garden center also does a particularly good job of promoting the benefits of indoor plants, effectively using signage to tout plants’ ability to clean the air we breathe.

Don't Forget About My Mom

There's a lot of talk in the industry lately about how to attract Generations X and Y. That's great. We absolutely should be coming up with ways to attract new gardeners. But not at the expense of the seasoned ones.

Take my mom, for example. She's retired, but not tired. In her case, 67 is the new 47. She's always on the go, but she also spends a considerable amount of time in her garden. I'm sure she would love it if her local garden center offered classes that catered to her generation. Perhaps a session on low-maintenance plants? She is spry, but that doesn't mean she enjoys lugging a heavy watering can or hose around the yard twice a day to keep her water-guzzling plants looking good. Or, if you offer ergonomic gardening tools, what if you offered a pruning demonstration session in which you used some of these tools? That surely has the potential to beef up your tool sales, I would think.

The other thing my mom loves are Wednesdays at Kohl's. Why? Because it's Senior Discount Day. All she has to do is flash her driver's license to save a few dollars on her purchase. Even if she doesn't need anything at Kohl's, if it's a Wednesday, there's a good chance you'll find her there, and Kohl's has gained a sale it otherwise might not have. Just a thought ...