The Garden Centers of America 2007 Holiday Tour
The Garden Centers of America 2007 Holiday Tour visited six locations on Tuesday, Nov. 13: Tonry Christmas Tree Farm in Hampton Falls, N.H., Churchill’s Home and Garden Center in Exeter, N.H., the Christmas Dove Store in Barrington, N.H., Pleasant View Gardens in Pembroke, N.H., Cole Gardens in Loudon, N.H. and Mahoney’s Garden Center in Winchester, Mass.
Tour participants will return to their own businesses with great ideas for merchandising, new products and customer service – each bus was a flurry of conversation and comparing notes between stops.
Visit www.gardencentersofamerica.org for more information about the tour.
Striking a Pose
David Kirkpatrick is owner of Churchill’s Home and Garden Center in Exeter, N.H., and his wife, Diana, is the creative mind behind all the beautiful holiday vignettes in the center. Staff members clad in crisp red shirts and black pants were the morning’s “elves,” providing refreshments and answering questions for tour participants.
Poinsettias on Trial
After lunch, tour attendees were treated to a poinsettia trial at Pleasant View Gardens in Pembroke, N.H. More than 100 varieties of poinsettias from Dümmen, Ecke Ranch, Fischer and Selecta First Class were on display, including novelties and classic reds, pinks and whites.
Frosty Joins the Tour
The staff at Cole Gardens in Loudon, N.H., gave GCA Holiday Tour attendees a chilly welcome: Charlie and Doug Cole drove to a local hockey rink and hauled back enough snow to build a real snowman in time for the buses’ arrival. The store, which has been housed in a rustic barn since 2005, was stocked from floor to ceiling with color-coordinated ornaments and Christmas collectibles, festive wreaths and even “designer” painted poinsettias.
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