Next week (June 19-25) is National Pollinator Week. Bridget has some ideas to help you highlight this notable week to customers. Keys to engaging customers include information about both food and habitat. Pollinators need seasonal nectar, so an emphasis on the flowering diversity of herbaceous and woody plants is helpful. One aspect of habitat might be to show them how to make a shallow bowl to fill with water and add stones on which to rest (like these cool Petoskey stones). While they've surpassed their goal of a million registered pollinator gardens, your customers may still be interested in the movement.

This week, Bridget talks about inspiring your customers to grow and used edible flowers. Her research shows that people who buy both flowering and edible plants derive more benefits than those who buy one type or the other. Inspire customers to share their uses of edible flowers on social media.

If you enjoy traveling to Europe and seeing some of the best garden retailers, you need to join the IGCA Garden Congress 2022. From August 28 to Sept. 2, you will visit some amazing garden retailers but also the floral auction at Aalsmeer and the Floriade. I'll be going and hope you might, too!

Bridget and Katie Elzer-Peters (Owner, The Garden of Words, LLC) had a chat recently about the June 2022 cover of Better Homes and Gardens. Katie said her two worlds collided in that cover. She and Bridget share some insight about what that cover means to our industry and how horticultural professionals can capitalize on the ideas behind it.

We want our customers to be happy with their purchases but Jessica Hicks DeGraaf (former M.S. student of mine) showed that it was customer delight (not satisfaction) that influenced people to buy a plant again. We revisited her work to better understand the role of plant benefits on customer delight (that feeling of joyful surprise) and making a subsequent purchase. 

Mother's Day is Sunday May 8. While this holiday is typically quite busy for most horticultural businesses, there are some things you might do to enhance your marketing. Could you entice some customers to buy mom (or grandma) a gift card and take them shopping at a less hectic time? Or, offer remote shopping by appointment (hopefully at a later date). Partner with a local food establishment? If mom goes out for lunch or brunch, you could get some additional exposure (and vice versa). Brunch and browse could combine two of her favorite activities! If there is a new child or grandchild in the family, why not suggest a tree be planted to commemorate the new addition? This is a GREAT holiday for a selfie station in the retail outlet, too! How about the gift of a custom-color-combo? Kids activities are great, but a challenge that weekend but something to consider offering.

Axiom Marketing Group published a study on March 2, 2022, about the top outdoor projects Americans plan to engage in for this year. Bridget talks about how to incorporate these planned projects into your marketing and merchandising efforts this spring. Plenty of opportunities will arise for bundling plants together or plants with hardgoods. There are also numerous potential partnerships with other professionals that may lead to future sales.