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MEMBER 



PROFILE 



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The 4" annuals sell to the beach 

 crowd (Hampton Beach is a few 

 miles away) after school is out and 

 jumbo annuals — three-to-six 3" 

 plants — cleomes, cosmos — per mum 

 pot — sell well into August. 



For fall sales, jim buys in asters 

 and consolidates the nursery in or- 

 der to grow 5000 mums After the 

 first year of hand-watering, he's in- 

 stalled drip irrigation. Last year, he 

 tried using biologicals — ladybugs — 

 on his mums ("the customers loved 

 it"). 



They buy in most Christmas ma- 

 terial, but grow their own poinset- 

 tias. This is Jim Churchill's crop and 

 he does this one from start to fin- 

 ish. He grows mostly Freedom, 

 started from rooted cuttings. The 

 look is old-fashioned — a high per- 

 centage are not pinched and several 

 of these in a pot produces a very 

 large plant — good for businesses 

 and large-scale private residences. 

 Exeter has some of both and these 

 do sell. "They're different, "|im says; 

 "It's good not to look like every- 

 body else." 



Christmas is busy and Moser is 

 willing to accept January and Febru- 

 ary as quiet — a space in which to 

 begin preparing for spring. 



NATURALLY, WITH NEW OWNERS, 

 there are changes. There's more 

 emphasis on perennials. |im buys in 

 perennials — a high percentage of 

 them from Walters Gardens in 

 Zeeland, Michigan. An unheated XS 

 Smith house has been set up be- 

 hind and perpendicular to the pro- 

 duction houses for use as a cold 

 frame in early spring (and as stor- 

 age in winter). They're given 

 ozmocote first ("they're not using 

 much early in the season"), then 

 liquid feed once they're on the 

 benches that fill one side of the 

 driveway or in the display gardens 

 directly behind the shop. (Prices are 

 shown by color — each pot has a col- 

 ored tag — each color indicates a 



price.) 



The selection of trees and shrubs 

 has also been expanded. Space is 

 limited and, as this is only Moser's 

 second year, the question of 

 whether to stock basics or more un- 

 usual hard-to-find types is still be- 

 ing decided. 



"PEOPLE DEFINITELY LIKE TO PICK 

 OUT THEIR OWN" and customers 

 can go into any of the production 

 houses ("they have the run of the 

 place"), but every effort is made to 

 bring material to the front and dis- 

 play it there to advantage. Hangers 

 are hung from lattice set onto the 

 crosspieces in the display houses 

 and from hooks on a newly built 

 porch. 



The 15'x65' porch is the most ob- 

 vious physical change made since 

 )im Moser became owner. Made of 

 rough wood, it runs along the entire 

 front of the shop. There are sky- 

 lights in the roof, a lot of hooks ev- 

 erywhere, and a rail on which a vari- 

 ety of window boxes are set. In 

 front of the porch, a three-foot wide 

 bed of bark mulch is used to dis- 

 play potted trees and shrubs. In 

 April, pansies filled the window 

 boxes and azaleas, forsythia, magno- 

 lias, and weeping cherry — all in 

 flower — filled the bed. A few hang- 

 ers were displayed, but the empha- 

 sis on those will come slightly later: 

 "On busy spring days, I have some- 

 one do nothing but fill empty 

 hooks." 



These displays are important. 

 The Hampton Road is busy and traf- 

 fic is fast. A large, straight-forward 

 sign — lit at night — is set on poles in 

 a bed of bulbs and shaped yews by 

 the roadside. Between this and the 

 building is parking. The friendli- 

 ness of a porch and the additional 

 color have definitely attracted more 

 customers. 



THE SHOP IS CHANGING AS WELL. 

 The 40'x60' area is divided into sev- 



eral smaller sections. The hardgoods 

 section is more compact ("We can't 

 compete with the big supply stores, 

 but we should offer the basics") to 

 open up space for other items: a 

 broad selection of clay containers, 

 bird houses, bird seed, and bird-re- 

 lated books — and unusual things — 

 like weather vanes 



In a separate room, "The Gift 

 Garden" — a new gift area — is evolv- 

 ing. Everything here is garden-re- 

 lated — sometimes by no more than 

 having a floral design printed on it 

 (clocks, T-shirts, pillows) or by 

 somehow using "natural" materials 

 (scented candles). There's a nostal- 

 gic tone: gazing globes — spheres of 

 mirrored glass set on stands and 

 used as ornaments in Victorian gar- 

 dens (Moser remembers one in his 

 grandmother's garden) — are popular. 

 On one wall, a facade of a house 

 has been constructed — the un- 

 painted clapboards add warmth to 

 the room and the steps leading to 

 the door and the flower box at each 

 window are used for display. The 

 tone of the room is one of the tex- 

 tures and tones of a garden. 



Jim and leanne hope that 

 Churchill's will evolve into more 

 than a place to buy plants. They 

 see it as a place to linger and en- 

 joy. They envision a park-like atmo- 

 sphere, with more display gardens, 

 benches and fountains. Already 

 there's a fish pond with waterfall 

 and koi. In the corner is a play- 

 ground for children — [im and 

 Jeanne's, but for other children too. 



As Moser says, Churchill's was al- 

 ways a good business, but even the 

 best need to evolve to order to sur- 

 vive. In this new world of trends 

 and niches and aggressive mass 

 marketing, a place of pleasure is a 

 good thing to be. (B.P.) 



{Cfturchill's Garden Center is on Route 

 lOIC, Exeter, NH 03833; ]im and ]eanne 

 Moser and ]im and ]udy Churchill can be 

 reached at 603-772-2685.) 



IDNE ♦ I U LV 1996 



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