FROM THE BOARD 



The Best Way to "Guarantee" Success 



TIM WOLFE 



Recently, my family's retail gar- 

 den center has been grappling 

 with the question of whether or 

 not to guarantee plant material. 

 Some of the biggest problems we 

 have in deciding to do so are the 

 reasons why people return plants. 

 These include improper watering, 

 improper fertilization, poor choice 

 for the location, and mechanical 

 damage. These are all issues that 

 could be avoided and, if avoided, 

 would give the plants a good 

 chance for survival. 



So how do you get your cus- 

 tomers to understand and practice 

 the correct concepts of plant care? 

 Educate, educate, educate!! I feel 

 as though I'm constantly clobber- 

 ing new and unknown customers 

 with these basics. It seems as 

 though the most commonly asked 

 question is, "How much do I wa- 

 ter it?" Well. ..that depends on a 

 lot of things. Is the plant going 

 into a container or in the ground? 

 What time of year is it? What is 

 the plant's exposure? What are the 

 soil conditions? What is the 

 weather that day? Week? Month? 

 Then, keep in mind that, as the 

 plant grows, its requirements 

 change as well. All these questions 

 must be asked to arrive at a gen- 

 eral answer. Then the customer 



still has to process the information 

 and — more importantly — go home 

 and practice it! 



I am also often presented with 

 brown branches or burnt foliage. 

 After discussing water conditions, 

 we move on to investigate fertiliza- 

 tion. I used to recommend incor- 

 porating granular fertilizer into the 

 planting hole until one day, a cus- 

 tomer insisted that she had planted 

 a row of arborvitaes according to 

 my instructions. Yet the whole row 

 was failing. Baffled, I drove to the 

 site to investigate. Upon removing 

 one of the plants from the ground, 

 I found a quarter-inch layer of 10- 

 10-10 fertilizer directly on top of 

 the root ball! Now, I stress the use 

 of fertilizer after backfilling. 



From this experience, it is evident 

 that employees need to be very clear 

 when giving advice and instructions. 



Advising customers on material 

 selection is no exception to this ei- 

 ther. Again, a customer's success is 

 quite often determined by the 

 questions asked of them. Many 

 people want to put that hanging 

 impatiens on the lamp post in full 

 sun. After they go away for a 

 weekend in July, they come home 

 to find it sunburnt and dried out. 

 Then they give the already com- 

 promised plant a foliar feed on a 



95-degree day to try to save it. 

 This pushes it to beyond salvage- 

 able, so it comes back to the gar- 

 den center. The customer's dis- 

 gruntled and so am I! Our label 

 recommended it for shade-to-part- 

 shade: they put it in the sun. Even 

 though they ignored a clear label, 

 I am held responsible and so is my 

 business. Why couldn't they have 

 picked a geranium? 



I am also often held responsible 

 for mechanical damage. An un- 

 knowing home-owner uses his line 

 trimmer around the base of his 

 newly planted cherry tree. After a 

 couple mowings, the tree is com- 

 pletely girdled. Even though I 

 know the tree left here in good 

 condition, the customer insists the 

 plant should be guaranteed. 



In summary, you will need to 

 know how and if you "guarantee" 

 your plants. No matter what your 

 decision, remember that educating 

 your staff and customers can only 

 help bring success and enjoyment 

 in gardening — and save you a lot 

 of headaches! 



Tim Wolfe is at Lake Street Garden 

 Center in Salem. Should you note a 

 peculiar crinkling on your petunia 

 leaves, Tim can be reached at 

 6o3-8p3-s8^8. 



The More You Qdw, The More You Know. 



«eo„»e (^ ^orth east Nursery, Inc. 



'Ty coveR II C "^JL^ Supplying I 



lals and ^^^ j ^ - 



:r many I ^- 



g for all J 



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W-, 



;ve been in iJiis business a long lime. We know our 

 customer's needs and demands. Ii dosen'i make a difference 

 lime of year or ttie size of the project. Northeast Nursery 

 all Witli the widest selection m wholesale plant matenal 

 landscape supplies in all of New Kngland it's no wonder 

 consider Northeast Nursery the best One-Stop shoppin 

 your landscape and green supplies. 



Fine Plant Material & Landscape Supplies 



234 Newbury Street, Rt. 1 South 

 Peabody, MA 01960 

 508) 535-6550 Fax (508) 535-5247 



JUN&JllY 1999 



