July 2024
California dreamin’ By Teresa McPherson

While none of the leaves are brown and we’ve been treated to a number of blue-sky days here in western Pennsylvania, I’m still dreaming of my time spent in California this spring.

My travels first took me to Visalia, where I was immersed in one of Monrovia’s three growing operations. There, myself and several other garden professionals learned the ins and outs of Monrovia’s operations from its craftsmen — from propagation (35% of what Monrovia grows comes from tissue culture propagation) to grafting (they have three full-time grafters on site) to its famous topiaries (which can take up to eight years to be finished and ready for retail!).

Read more about how Monrovia is “Growing as a Craft” — and be sure to check out the video I took of its robots in action here.

And what’s an out-of-state visit without a garden center tour — especially one in a USDA Hardiness Zone so different from home? My self-guided tour took me around the Fresno area to three notable garden centers: Gazebo Gardens and Lotus Gardens in Fresno, and Willow Gardens Nursery in Clovis. Learn more about them all here.

After a brief stint home, I was back out West motoring down the coast for our annual visit to California Spring Trials. There, we saw not only merchandising inspiration (which I wrote about in the June issue), but also the latest-and-greatest genetics from a number of breeders. Click here for more.

Also In This Issue

Have you been wondering how to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) in your operations, but don’t know where to start? Lawson Thalmann, chief technology officer at Chalet, shares how he migrated their software to “the cloud” — aka where AI lives. Because of this, he writes, Chalet has the ability to integrate AI directly into its processes. Read more here, and be sure to catch Lawson’s presentations at The Garden Center Show, where he’ll discuss how you can harness the power of AI in your garden center.

Are you using AI in your operations? How has it benefitted your store? Drop me a line at [email protected] to let me know!