Book Signing — David Austin and Rick Simpson for his daughter Ina Grace. 



It is awe-inspiring to see the retail 

 nursery areas. They have extremely 

 wide aisles, attractive benching, 

 beautiful displays, creative merchan- 

 dising, lots of pots, and surprisingly, 

 smaller than expected plant material. 

 Driving through England on a bus 

 helps to explain why the plant ma- 

 terial is offered in primarily one and 

 rwo-gallon sizes: small yards! 



Another consistent theme regard- 

 ing all this plant material is that it 

 is displayed off the ground: all on 

 attractive benches. The David Aus- 

 tin Roses were displayed on 

 benches. This arrangement elevated 

 the beautiful blooms and placed 

 them closer to their intended target. 



Speaking of David Austin Roses, 

 we visited David Austin's garden 

 center and nursery as well! Our tour 

 guides, Ian and Lisa Baldwin, have 

 led the England Garden Center Trip 

 for ten years. They have never seen 

 David Austin greet a tour as he did 

 for us this year. He has written a 

 new book on English roses and we 



were buying them up, hoping for a 

 chance at an autographed copy: One 

 of Mr. Austin's employees eventually 

 mentioned that he was coming out! 

 He made us wait. ..and wait. ..and 

 wait. It was like waiting for the 

 Queen. After about forty-five min- 

 utes or so he finally came out and 

 yes, we all got our autographs and 

 photos! 



Another highlight to the tour was 

 the attractions we visited in between 

 the scheduled garden center stops. 

 We saw the Hatfield House Palace 

 and Gardens, Litchfield Cathedral, 

 Warwick Castle and Windsor Castle 

 (Yes, the Queen was home.) We 

 also spent a wonderful day at 

 Wisley Gardens, home of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society. We were there 

 on September 1 1'*". With very short 

 notice, the folks at Wisley allowed 

 us to plant a tree on the property 

 in memory of those who died so 

 tragically in New York City and 

 Washington, D.C. one year earlier. 

 It was a touching gesture and a sol- 

 emn, heart-wrenching moment for 

 all of us. As the sun and the tem- 



perature began to drop, we observed 

 a ceremony that included a poetry 

 reading. The ceremony concluded 

 with each of us adding a spade-full 

 of dirt to plant the magnolia tree. 



Gardening is a way of life in 

 Britain. The southern areas that we 

 visited could be classified as zone 

 hardiness 6.5 to 7. People travel 

 long distances and spend several 

 hours, if not full days, at their fa- 

 vorite garden centers. There are 

 many ideas to be examined and 

 tried in our country. Which ideas 

 will succeed? Will restaurants and 

 cafes catch on? Will improved mer- 

 chandising and signage replace ag- 

 gressive salesmanship? It's already 

 happening on the West Coast! 

 Watch for trends and don't let the 

 moss grow under your feet! 



For more information about the 

 2003 fall tour, contact Nursery Business 

 Consultants at I -9 16-682- J 069. Con- 

 tact Paul Belhumeur, Bedford Fields, at 

 472-8880. 



WINTER 2003 



