As many of you know, the world of gardening is constantly changing. Every year, brand new plants are released into the market as are new soils, fertilizers and gardening accessories. With all of the new products on the market these days it is hard to keep up with what will perform and what will fall short of our expectations. The best way to succeed in gardening is through knowledge and to help our customers succeed, Cerny’s Greenhouse sends a group of the workers down to Milwaukee for a two day event called the Garden Center Symposium (GCS). The GCS is a large trade show that is held for industry professionals and many of the year’s new products can be found there. From the season’s hottest pottery styles and colors to the latest craze in seed sowing—the Garden Center Symposium is a great place to find knowledge on how well things perform.
So, on January 25th, five of us piled into the car and headed off to Milwaukee to expand our knowledge of gardening and also so that we’d be able to bring knowledge back up to the Northwoods for you, our customers. We learned a lot, but one of the biggest things that I brought away from the GCS is that the gardening industry is not fair to novice and experienced gardeners alike. We all want to try the new cultivars of plants, but if our customers fail in producing a plant that looks just like the picture on the tag, he or she may feel like they are doomed to a life having a “black thumb”. This is simply not the case! The place that the customer purchased the plant from has to share some of the blame because it is the job of the seller is to educate on the care of the plant.
I’m not saying don’t try the newest plants—we’re going to be growing some new varieties of plants this coming season that we’re pretty excited about. However, knowledge is key. This spring, the Cerny’s Crew is going to be making an extra effort to educate our customers and friends on their plants so that even the novice gardener will have success.
