August 2007
It’s the Time of the Season By Catherine Evans

Summertime in this industry is one of my favorite times of year because it is garden center tour time. This year, the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA) and Garden Centers of America (GCA) once again put on some great tours. I spent eight days touring garden centers in the Seattle, Wash. area with ANLA and the Minneapolis/St. Paul area with GCA during the last two weeks of June.

It was very interesting to tour garden centers in such different regions. Both areas were full of great materials, great stores and great people. The trips were extremely educational and provided excellent networking opportunities.

All of the locations we visited were so gracious to have us (the tours had three and four buses each) with so many people walking in on a busy day. I would like to take the time to thank both association staffs and volunteers — you did a great job. I also would like to thank all of the sponsors — without you, these tours wouldn’t be possible. I hope to see you all next year; it is a great time that no one should miss.

However, since they were tours I figured it was easier to talk about the trips with photos instead of giving you a play by play of each stop. So enjoy the photo gallery of trends and neat things to learn from. Contact ANLA (www.anla.org) and GCA (www.gardencentersofamerica.org) for more information.