“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?”
“Oh, to climb the ladder of success only to find it was leaning against the wrong wall!”
Our entire industry should focus on one thing: the success of plants in the landscape.
What good is it for a breeder to unlock a novel flower color (or any other attribute) if the plant stinks in the garden? Too few breeders are concerned about the big picture, and far too many new introductions amount to little more than crap (not “steak”) that “sizzles.”
What good does it do for “Brands” to put plants in fancy-colored pots if those plants aren’t any better than the old tried-and-true varieties? It’s foolish to package with “sizzle” when the steak’s no good.
How sad is it to see growers cut corners, to hear them say, “How good is good enough?” From the substrate to the fertilizer to the spacing and the pruning, growers are increasingly focused on quickly getting crops to be “retail ready,” and give less and less concern over how well their “babies” will survive once they leave the “nursery.” It takes a discerning buyer to recognize true, lasting quality from the impostors: nice looking plants heading downhill fast. While “disposable goods” have been the mark of our consumerist economy, and repeat purchases are the desire of every business, wisdom says too much short-term strategy leads to over-expansion and then, all too quickly, erosion. It’s just not sustainable. Plants should be an investment, not a disposable good. Plants should grow, not die.
What does it profit a garden center to have retail displays that “wow,” but customer’s yards that flop? What good is it to have ideal traffic flow in the store while homeowners plant with no design plan at all? Is it right to care more about the “point of sale” than the “probability of success?”
And what good does it do for landscapers to install plantings that look like magazine-quality, mature gardens the moment they are planted, but become overgrown and unmanageable in just a few years?
And, just to make sure I upset everyone out there, what good is it for native plant advocates to demand a neutered, impoverished plant palette that most people simply don’t want?
Who’s responsible for the end result?
This is the main question I take with me to Columbus this weekend, and what I will be asking at the OFA Town Meeting. Who makes sure the steak is satisfying, and not just sizzle? Who’s job is that? Is it the breeder, the grower, or the retailer? Like you, I am tempted to say, “It’s everyone’s job.” But then I remember a bit of wisdom that I have found to be true, “If it’s everyone’s responsibility, then it’s nobody’s responsibility.”
Who’s job is it to see that the plants succeed in the landscape?
Thanks for reading! See you in Columbus! ~Art
Do you ever ponder, if you were not in the green industry and had access to pretty much any typical plant you’d find at a garden center for wholesale cost (or free), would you actually go shopping and plant like you do now? We often go to the garden center (both IGC and box store) for accessories and tools and ponder how many plants we would buy if we did not have access to them for free or at cost. The honest answer is, as much as we both love plants to our very core, we’d probably purchase and plant a whole lot less than we do now. (Even now our vegetable garden and fruit plantings vastly outnumber our plantings of anything else). Why would we plant so much less?
Cost is certainly a factor. We are both in our 30s and can think of a lot other ways to spend our money at this point in our life! If I were to tally up the real cost of the plants we have, had we purchased them from a garden center…holy cow! No way would I have spent that much. Well, maybe if I spread out the cost over 10 or 20 yrs.
Also-I have to say, I HATE shopping in 95% of garden centers. They are a mess, not logically laid out, disorganized, I get rocks from the walks ways stuck in my sandals. Who the heck shops for a plant alphabetically by their scientific name? The shopping experience alone (or lack thereof) is enough to keep me from going. We (women in particular) are spoiled by some many great shopping experiences from clothing stores to grocery stores. I am not inclined to spend my money at stores that are not somewhat thoughtfully laid out and user friendly, adding some ambiance never hurts either. Maybe that is partly why online plant sales have been successful lately?
This year I was on a mission to find some plants that I could set on our pool deck, in the hot sun, baking, and they would be OK with mainly just rain water and occasionally splashes from dives into the pool. I know there are plants that would be perfect for this purpose but it took forever to find them and I had to put together my own pot/plant combo which took way longer than I expected. Is it crazy to put together products for a purpose? Perhaps that would ultimately lead to better success? “These pots over here are for baking in the hot sun on your deck…these are for the dining room table, these are for your kitchen windowsill…here is one that is great for filling a large space” (I am sure there are people way more creative than me that could think of better ideas) Some of these plants are already on the market, but they are all in black pots, lined up alphabetically by scientific name which helped me nada.
To your point: If a plant doesn’t work for my husband and I, maybe it dies after a year in the garden, we do not sweat it. It just did not work or we did something the plant did not like. So, we try a different plant. We do not spend too many hard earned pennies. As a non-hort person, I could see the lack of success as being a big issue, regardless of whether it was because of a ‘bad plant’ or user error. Yet-when has a breeder or new plant introduction company done enough trialing? We tend to harp on breeders for introducing poor preforming landscape/garden plants, saying they have not been trialed enough but I think that is a bit vague, if we say they should be doing a better job, what exactly are we expecting them to prove before the plant is worth selling?
Take care, Ab.
Amazing comments, Amanda! Thanks so much for sharing.
To your points: Yes, I do try to think like an “outsider” as much as possible, though it does get uncomfortable sometimes, doesn’t it? I kill a lot of plants; I think we all do. It gets easier and easier, you feel less and less guilty, less and less like a “failure” as you shrug it off, “Oh well, that didn’t work! Better luck next time!”
Interesting comments about garden centers… You “HATE” 95% of them? Ouch! (Hope they aren’t your customers.)
Are retailers equipped to “put together products for a purpose?” Your ideas about this remind me of IKEA.
Breeders. I don’t really mean to bash any group in particular. New genetics have in many cases dramatically improved landscape performance. I was trying to call us all out for the short-sighted things we do that may be leading us to ignore the ultimate goal of plants living up to their promise once they hit the landscape. Too often, homeowners are digging graves and planting plants designed to fail.
Trialing. I don’t know. The trend is a LOT less time in trails, not more. What must they prove? Excellent question. I don’t have an answer!
Thanks again for your challenging comments. You are welcome any time!
Art
I believe it is the retailer since that is the last person the user has contact with. Here is what every grower can do to – to provide the best plants and chance of success for the end user.
http://www.americasbestflowers.com/benefits.html
Well said, Ed!