Steve VanderWoude

Increasing sales and reducing labor are two topics that you seldom expect to find on the same page let alone in the same paragraph.  Yet if you sequence you can expect to see higher sales without any real increases in labor.

How can this be true?  Sequencing allows you to increase the number of ‘bloom days’ that you have on your sales floor.  By increasing the number of days that you have plants in flower you are increasing the impulsivity of your product mix.  We all know that if it is in bloom the consumer will buy it.

The concept is very simple and to some degree all of use are doing it to some degree whether we realize it or not with perennials.  By their nature they flower sequentially all season long and we know for a fact that when a plant is in flower either in the landscape or the garden center they sell.  Yet how many of us have taken the time to harness this incredible power and sales potential such that we are actually order with the intention of having a core group of plants in flower at all times for displays and endcaps.   How many of you have an Excel spread sheet that lays out a genus or a group of plants in this manner and then makes their buying decision based on this spread sheet.

Imagine doing this, better yet take you complete list of the plants you sell in one of the following genera, Hydrangea paniculata, Syringa, or Azaleas & Rhododendrons and list them by when they flower.  How much overlap do you have of the bloom times.  If we look at lilacs probably 80% of the lilacs you carry flower in the same 10-14 day period because they are all French Lilacs.   For Azaleas and Rhododendrons 65+% of your product mix is going to flower from mid May to early June, a four week period of time.

Sequencing for more profits sounds almost too easy to be true.  The concept is a simple one there are some opportunities out there that we are missing.  After all everyone is sequencing perennials to some degree just by bringing in plants that are in flower.  Yet are we doing it intentionally?   When you order daylilies do you make sure you have various reds that will be in flower over the whole summer, or do you just order the ones that you like?

If it works so well for perennials why not do it with other plants like Lilac, Azaleas & Rhododendrons and P.G. Hydrangeas. 

So again the question is why tie up your money in inventory that is only going to be in flower for as short period of time when with just a little effort you can bring in product that will be in bloom for twice as long.

Understand that the fault lies to some degree with growers.  They have a limited palette.  Yet the only way that is going to change is if you stop buying and start asking them to grow a more diverse product mix.

Azaleas & Rhododendrons:

How many of you have ordered essentially the same Rhododendrons and Azaleas for the past five to ten years.  By and large these plants all flower in a 3-4 week period and then you end up with a large inventory of beautiful evergreens but no flowers.  Flowers sell plants so why place all of your eggs in “one basket”.  There are wonderfully hardy Azaleas and Rhododendrons out there that flower from April all the way through into mid July.  The last time I checked that amounts to over 10 weeks of flowers and impulse sales.  Granted consumer traffic in the garden center declines in late June and July, however, there is a saying that is as solid as bedrock, “ If it is in flower they will buy it!” 

Hydrangea:

Consider P.G.  Hydrangeas.  How many of you are still selling primarily P.G. Hydrangea and Hydrangea ‘Tardiva’?  Neither plant is in flower in July and Tardiva doesn’t really begin flowering until mid-August in the mid-west (zone 5).  So wouldn’t you rather be selling varieties like Hydrangea paniculata ‘Kyushu’ a glossy leafed version of Tardiva that begins flowering in July, or how about Hydrangea pan. Limelight.  Limelight is a non-flopping version of P.G. Hydrangea that possess iridescent lime-green to cream white flowers, a current really hot color thanks to Martha.  Then there are others like Hydrangea p. ‘Pink Diamond’ and ‘Unique’ that also flower early.  The question remains would you rather have Hydrangea paniculata flowering in your garden center in July or not until mid August.  Six weeks of impulse sales or ten to twelve?  The best part is if you are in the Midwest and you bring plants in from a grower in North Carolina there is a chance you could have P.G. Hydrangea in flower on July 4^th which traditionally is a good weekend for plant sales.

Lilacs:

Lilacs are the perfect impulse plant because they are full of nostalgia, fragrance and flowers.  We all remember the lilacs that our mothers or grandmothers grew and how those lavender/purple trusses filled the house with their fragrance in May.  These wonderful memories probably came from the common lilac (Syringa vulgaris), one of a very large group of lilacs better known as  “French lilacs.”  Today your customers fascination with lilacs continues because fragrant flowering plants are still a hot trend. This leads me to raise the following question: Why settle for just two weeks of flowers?  Certainly we would love to sell more lilacs over a longer period and that is exactly what sequencing can do for you.

Imagine if you would that wonderful fragrance and then picture it filling your customer’s house or yard for six weeks instead of the two that common lilacs traditionally flower.    By carrying the right species and cultivars you can actually provide your customers with up ten weeks of these wonderfully fragrant flowers.  Even better is the fact that you are ensuring yourself of 10 weeks of impulse sales instead of two to three.