Cover Story

Putting Your Best Foot Forward

Jennifer Polanz

New benching can have a multitude of benefits aside from just looking great.

Features

Adapt or Die: Connect Online Shopping to Your Store

John Stanley, Sid Raisch & Dries Jansen

Before you sell a single plant online, your shop is already talking.

Features

Added Benefits Under Cover

Jennifer Polanz

I talked to four retailers about their new greenhouse structures and what benefits they’ve gained from the additional space.

Features

Attracting Hummingbirds

Andrew Bunting

Plant suggestions for bringing around these beautiful, speedy feathered friends.

Features

Professional Development That Pays Off

Megan Taylor Morrison

How to maximize the impact of coaching and offsites.

Features

The Free, Organic Myth

Joel Horwitz

What garden retailers get wrong about customer acquisition costs and how to reframe the concept.

Features

The Greenhouse That Was Almost Condos

David Williams

At La Serra Gardens, the goal is to make customers feel at home with music, a cafe, and beautiful plants and gifts.

First

Refresh and Renew

Jennifer Polanz

I wanted to highlight some ways that making investments can change not just the look and feel of your store, but the whole vibe related to customers and employees.

Friel World

Simmering Summer Potpourri

John Friel

Clearance sales are a two-edged sword, a necessary evil, a self-inflicted wound—but low prices still beat the Dumpster.

Front Lines

All Sorts of New from Espoma

Ellen C. Wells

The organic fertilizer company Espoma has several new things—people, products and such—to tell you about.

Front Lines

Cool New Plant Alert

Jennifer Polanz

A hardy snapdragon series, Terra Nova Nurseries’ first foray into snaps, seemed like a worthy news item to share.

Front Lines

Curb Appeal as Self-Expression

Ellen C. Wells

Online local services marketplace platform Thumbtack recently released their 2026 Curb Appeal Report and found something quite interesting.

Front Lines

EHR’s 22nd Annual New Varieties Report

Ellen C. Wells

EHR takes the work of sorting through new variety events out of your hands and does it all themselves.

Front Lines

Goth Garden Components

Jennifer Polanz

While “goth gardening” isn’t just for fall or Halloween, now is a great time to think about the components of a goth garden for those fall perennial sales, as well as mixed containers that correlate to the upcoming holiday.

Front Lines

Moana Nursery Ladybug Event

Jennifer Polanz

Deanna Gescheider, owner of Moana Nursery, wrote in to let us know about a very successful event they held at all three of their Reno and Sparks, Nevada, locations.

Front Lines

Pets on the Payroll

Jennifer Polanz

This handsome gentleman with the white mustache is Boots and he’s turning 11 this month.

Front Lines

Terrain’s Container Book

Jennifer Polanz

The ever-stylish Terrain recently announced publication of a new book that highlights 100 container garden recipes.

Guest Column

Creating, and Sticking With, a Plan

Sarah Beach

Start with small tweaks that you can do easily—a new coat of paint, a new benching layout, one extra piece of marketing.

Kiss My Aster

Suddenly, This Summer

Amanda Thomsen

Someone told me it was like presenting your P&L in the nude. It is EXACTLY like that.

Profit

AI Can Be Your Friend. Really.

Bill McCurry

Rory’s main theme is to consider the constraints that keep your business from doing what you need.

Web Exclusive

Orlandelli Group: An Extended Interview on Benching and Merchandising

Edited by Jennifer Polanz

Marco Orlandelli talks displays, layout and flow, durability and more in this extended interview.

Web Exclusive

Poly-Tex: An Extended Interview on Benching and Merchandising

Edited by Jennifer Polanz

In an extended interview, Jayson Olson, VP of sales & marketing at Poly-Tex talks about visual merchandising, add-on sales, the importance of mobility and more.