This was the weekend where I decided to ask you how the week was. After all, “Every day is a Saturday” has become your slogan for 2020, with some of you reporting Tuesday sales that meet or beat a good Mother’s Day Saturday.

So how was the week that ended with the weekend of May 16-17?

Stunningly, overwhelmingly, record-smashingly good. The national averages? 9.4 for the U.S and 9.5 in Canada. That included 61% 10s and 21% 9s. That’s the highest-ever scores for both countries at the same time since I started this survey in 2011. The next best was Mother’s Day 2018, which rated 8.8/9.5, with 45% 10s and 23% 9s. The only other time the U.S. has scored over 9 was May 2-3 of 2015, with a 9.1 (Canada scored 7.4 that weekend).

Here’s the map (as blood-red as it’s ever been!):

That’s based on 113 scores from 45 states and five provinces.

Here’s how it broke down regionally:

South                           9.5
West                            9.5
Midwest                      9.2
New England              9.6
East                             9.4
Mountain                    9.6
Plains                          8.8
Northwest                   8.8

I don’t have to go back through my spreadsheets to know that’s the highest regional scoring ever in one week—generally one spot gets rained out. But not this season—even a miserable Sunday in the Midwest couldn’t stop us from scoring 9.2.

Don’t take my word for how amazing the week was. Here’s how you described it:

Abe VanWingerden, Metrolina Greenhouses, North Carolina:
“The last three weekends combined are best we have ever had together.”

Michele Andre, Ball Seed Sales Representative for Louisiana and Mississippi:
“One of my growers said it is the best spring he has had in 35 years!”

Brad and Kim Grant, Strait Gate Greenhouses, Ohio:
“Sales are still going super strong. Can hardly keep enough product in the greenhouse.”

Cathy Hedge, Ivy Trails Gift & Garden, Wisconsin:
“Best sales day in 21 years in business on Saturday. Sunday’s bad weather could not take away the 10.”

Chris Rogers, B&M Greenhouse, Virginia:
“Mother’s Day Weekend again this weekend. Fantastic and exhausting!”

Chuck Lehotsky, Chuck’s Greenhouses, Ohio:
“Saturday was our best non-Mother’s Day Saturday on record. It was almost on par with an average Mother’s Day Saturday.”

Dave Cederoth, Mini Earth Greenhouses, Illinois:
“The whole week was nuts. Had a record day Saturday and a record week!!!! As much sales as we did, things went smoothly … no issues … a miracle!!! Can’t wait to see what’s next.”

Jeff Jones, Great Gardens, Wyoming:
“10+ for fifth week in a row. Friday all time Friday record, Saturday all time daily record.”

Jim Jonker, Jonker’s Garden, Michigan:
“Saturday was a record in all respects. It was two times our previous record of all time (probably 2008) for the day before Memorial Day and nearly three times last year’s take for this date … Sunday was rainy all day and cool, so we only matched our previous record.”

John Crook, Town & Country Gardens, Idaho:
“Great week once again. Not quite as busy as Mother’s Day week, but still the best in 10 years.”

Lee Ganim, Ganim’s Garden Center, Connecticut:
“Biggest week and weekend in our 52-year history.”

Matt McElroy, Newton Greenhouse, New Hampshire:
“We are operating near 100% growth over our best year ever. In business for our 49th year. Could sell anything right now.”

Mike Koetsier, Koetsier’s Greenhouse, Michigan;
“Haven’t seen days with numbers this high in over 10 years. Maybe you should do an article called, ‘How COVID-19 saved the floriculture industry.’”

Paul Westervelt, Saunders Brothers, Inc., Virginia:
“Such an outlier that it’s not fair to recalibrate the scale with last weekend as the new 10. Our sales team got more calls and emails (some after 10:00 p.m.) on a Sunday than they can ever remember. Customers are buying anything they can get their hands on. And this buying frenzy at the start of a week with an 80% chance of rain for three and a half days straight starting tonight. Historic. Mind-blowing.”

Well, that’s a bit of an overstatement. Still, if feels like 9 has become a “meh” score for many of you who’ve been sending in 10+ for three weeks in a row. I felt like some of you were apologizing for the slowdown. For instance, Bruce Gescheider wrote of his 9 from northern Nevada, “It was a very good week, but maybe lacked a little of the excitement and frenzy of the previous three exceptional weeks.”

The U.S. had actually averaged 9.5 until someone from Pennsylvania sent in a 4, the lowest score of the week (I also got two 6s from Missouri and Kansas). Which reminded me that not everybody is reaping the benefits of this record-breaking spring. Pennsylvania garden centers, which fall into the category “Lawn & Garden Equipment and Supplies Stores” (code 4442), aren't considered “life-sustaining” by the Governor and so weren't able to open (although businesses could file for an exemption, and one list I saw in the Philadelphia Inquirer revealed several florists and at least one greenhouse that had been granted one).

But recently, the state has begun opening up on a county-by-county basis—the so-called “yellow phase”—where a county can allow some businesses to reopen provided the infection rate in that county is below a certain level. As of May 15, some 37 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties were in the yellow phase. Twelve more are slated to join them May 22. That still leaves out those in and around Philadelphia and the eastern portions of the state.



The PA Landscape & Nursery Association website has a load of info specifically for retail garden centers and greenhouses outlining how they should go about reopening safely and within the state’s strict sanitation and social-distancing guidelines.

So to our brethren in those locations still in red—hang in there! You’ve got friends across the country who will support you. And I fully suspect that your customers will, too. Spring will continue for as long as consumers want it to and I suspect there’s going to be lots of pent-up demand.

Now, if you can just find plant material to sell …

It was the long bank holiday weekend in Canada—the equivalent of our Memorial Day—and all regions that reported in were obviously blessed with great weather and great sales. Alberta turned in two scores, both 10. Quebec had three scores—two 10s and a 9. Manitoba had a 10, while British Columbia, where most of my Canadian scores come from, rated three 10s, a 9 and an 8, for a 9.4 average.

Only Ontario struggled, a bit, with a score of 10, plus a 6.5 from a reporter who rated Friday and Saturday 10/10, but Sunday and Monday 3/3 due to cold and rain. I added them up to 26, then divided by 4 for that 6.5 average for the long weekend.

But perhaps that was harsher than sales warranted. If I drop if from the spreadsheet, the Canada average jumps to 9.8!

The next big question you're asking me is how do we keep all the new customers we seem to have gained this spring? They could primarily be vegetable gardeners, but it’s hard to imagine everyone only buying tomatoes and basil and skipping over all the pretty flowers. Some Wave Petunias and Proven Winners had to make it into the carts of the newbies, right? So how do we get them to come back next spring when (hopefully!) there’s no pandemic urging them on?

I’ve heard no better advice than to follow up with whatever classes, newsletters and in-store signage you can dream up about summertime garden maintenance and challenges. Veggie gardening is easy in June, but by July and August when drought hits and horn worms show up and leaves start to look strange, the fun can turn to frustration. This is when you need to be coaching your new gardeners through the challenges.

Then comes harvest time, when (hopefully!) that flat of tomatoes (you told them a flat was too many) starts to yield a bumper crop, and you can coach them on cooking, canning and donating to local food banks.

After that, it’s garden cleanup … but wait, it’s also fall gardening in much of the country! Plus, pots of herbs for the winter windowsill … In other words, engage your customers, new and old, with a constant barrage of timely and helpful information.

And most of all, let them know that everybody kills plants. It’s just an excuse to buy three more to replace it!

Did we really need them to tell us that? We KNOW it’s good for the mind, spirit and body. But having university types confirm that never hurts, and it might be yet another way to keep those new gardeners gardening and maybe even attract some more.

The research, published in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning, found that the level of emotional well-being, or happiness, reported while gardening was similar to what folks reported while biking, walking or dining out (and you don’t have to leave a tip!).

Interestingly, home gardening was the only activity out of the 15 studied for which women and people with low incomes reported higher emotional well-being than men, and medium- and high-income participants. Funny, my wife and I both like gardening equally. However, the amount we spend on the hobby has probably turned us from high- to medium-income people. (Have you seen my wife’s collection of terracotta?)

Some of you, a bit concerned about how this pandemic thing was going to impact your business and that of your customers, cut back on the fall mum order. Oops! With sales going like gangbusters, was that a mistake? Should you beef it back up? But what’s this? No cuttings available? What now?

We’ve got a possible answer. Senior/Digital Editor Bill Calkins did a video interview with Cindy Drumgool, the Ball Mums Business and Product Manager, to find out how you might fast-crop some fall mums to meet expected demand. She shares some keys to a high-quality crop, the three mistakes to avoid, planting schedule for various sizes, and a list of mid-season varieties she suggests. Watch the 11:19 video HERE.

I’m hearing that Impatiens Downy Mildew (IDM) is rearing its ugly head again in some markets (doesn’t it know we’re already dealing with coronavirus and don’t need other diseases to think about?). But to that end, Bill Calkins is once again on the job, this time with Dr. Will Healy, Technical Services and Research Manager for Ball, who has the scoop on some newly revised IDM guidelines that will help you build a successful and efficient fungicide rotation. Watch the 30-minute video HERE.

For more great opportunities to connect with your peers and product experts, join Ball’s new digital community for greenhouse professionals. Greenhouse Tech Team is a closed Facebook Group facilitated by Ball that encourages greenhouse professionals to engage, interact and share tips and tricks so we can all grow the best crops to color the world! All industry professionals are encouraged to join— just visit Greenhouse Tech Team on Facebook. After answering three simple questions, an admin will approve and you’re in the conversation!

If you’ve had enough crop culture for now and want to do a little traveling of the world to seek out cool new plants, then you’ll enjoy this video featuring Mike Rimland, “Plant Hunter” for Costa Farms. Mike has almost half a century in the Foliage industry and he talks about what he looks for when hunting for new foliage plants, and what it takes to get them into the Costa pipeline for production and sale. Watch it HERE.

I’ve always liked dining in a greenhouse. My first experience was eating hoagies with Laurie in our Florida foliage house during the rush of holiday truck loading. A notch or 10 up the classiness scale is De Kas, a fine-dining restaurant in Amsterdam that’s housed in a beautiful greenhouse. I’ve enjoyed meals there several times (most recently with the aforementioned Mike Rimland and his wife, Sandra).

But who knew dining in a greenhouse could save you from COVID-19?

It’s an idea from—where else?—the Netherlands, where the restaurant Mediamatic ETEN has been testing these cute couple-sized “Serres Séparées” (separate greenhouses) as a way to socially distance from strangers while dining out. The test has been a roaring success, with every dinner seating sold out through the end of June. Read more HERE.