Friday, February 26, 2010

"Pretty Cool" Products

It's jeans Friday, lunchtime and Cleveland's just reached the halfway point of a forecasted "snowicane." Greenhouse Grower editor Kevin Yanik is braving the elements and kindly picking me up a sub from Subway. It's actually not that bad out there.

I figure if I'm having lunch al-desko, I might watch an episode of The Office (BBC version...so much better), but do this first - blog about some pretty cool new products I've seen this week and last month.

In chronological order, I'll start with AmericasMart. In the temporaries at the Gift Market, we came across Artscapes cool solar-powered flowers. Alan from Artscapes said they've been getting great feedback from them. They also come in a few different colors. Check out the vid I took:

Then just last weekend I made a trip to Anthropologie with my girlfriend. We have one store in the Cleveland area and it's a pretty sharp, high-end place. Top-notch merchandising; and a nice side-note, spring was the theme and gardening displays had a lot to do with that. While patiently waiting, a 12-inch pot and one particular add-on really caught my eye.

I think this notepad is something EVERY garden center should have on their checkout counter. An awesome impulse item.

And new in at Gali's Garden Center this season are the Bellingham Leather Gloves. Selling Christmas trees this past winter I used the brown leather Bionic gloves. They were awesome and super durable, but a little pricey. I think they retail for around $50. I haven't had a chance to test out these Bellingham's for durability, but they are probably the most comfortable gloves I've ever tried on and they're half the price. They felt like thick golf gloves.
And last but not least, Good Earth Manufacturing's Olde World Hanging Garden, which actually comes to us by way of Gregg Curtis, owner of the Revolutionary Good Earth Garden Center in North Little Rock. He's pretty excited about it and when we got it in the mail today, we were sold on it, too. Pots rest easily and securely in the hanger and would be ideal for hanging baskets.