This is a free webinar every garden center owner and manager will want to attend!

After all, who doesn’t want to increase revenue and customer visits? And I suspect it will be of interest to you growers, too—you can share the ideas with your customers.

This Green Profit webinar is slated for Thursday, January 9 at 1 p.m. Eastern/Noon Central

We’ve got two experts from the payment platform Square who say they know the secrets to using their technology to encourage repeat business, build a loyal customer base and increase revenue. This free webinar will highlight the ways retailers can modernize with Square to achieve these goals. (And click the link above for a special deal on Square.)

Our guest experts will be Katie Miller, Product Marketing for Square and Thomas Doumalin, Product Specialist for Square. And we’ve got a special guest: Amanda Thomsen, owner of Aster Gardens in Lemont, Illinois and author of that “funky, punky” Kiss My Aster column in Green Profit magazine.

The whole shebang will be moderated by Green Profit managing editor Jen Polanz. (I’ll be there, too, behind the scenes, pushing the buttons and making things go.)

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Did I mention it’s free? Such a deal! Don't miss out—sign up now!

That is the title of the press release I just got from one of our premier associations, the Society of American Florists. It states:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced the launch of the Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program, allocating $2 billion in direct payments to specialty crop growers, including floriculture businesses. Eligible growers can receive up to $125,000 per applicant to help offset rising input costs and expand market opportunities.

The USDA is accepting applications for the program now through January 8, 2025.

Nice! The release went on to say that this is only the second time in history that the USDA has provided direct financial assistance to the floral industry, a milestone achieved after SAF successfully advocated for the inclusion of floriculture growers in the CFAP2 pandemic aid program in 2020.

“We’re thrilled that floriculture growers are once again recognized as essential contributors to the agricultural economy,” said SAF’s CEO Kate Penn. “This program offers much-needed support to offset rising costs and strengthen the industry’s future.”

Oh, it covers nursery crops, too. And Christmas trees.

MASC supports specialty crop producers facing increased marketing costs due to factors such as:

- Perishability of crops like fruits, vegetables, floriculture, and nursery plants
- Specialized handling and transportation with temperature and humidity controls
- Protective packaging to prevent damage during shipping
- Moving perishables to market quickly
- Higher labor costs

Like any government program, there’s a lot of paperwork—I think I counted eight forms. And you’ve only got until January 8! I guess the holiday break is as good a time as any to dig into the opportunity, eh? A generous eggnog might help you through those forms.

Find all the details HERE.

The American Floral Endowment caught up with the editors of our Bloom Beat newsletter, Lindsay Daschner and Tater, for an interview about running their cut flower farm, Forget Me Not Farms in Ottowa Lake, Michigan. It was published December 13. Hortistician Marvin Miller turned me on to it, saying, “This is a good read.”

He’s right, it is!

Read the whole piece at the link above. But here are some select tidbits.

Lindsay offers some good words about the romance of owning a cut flower farm vs. the reality:

“People see the videos and images on social media, and they think, ‘Oh, I’m going to be wearing a sundress with a wicker basket, and I’m just going to be casually cutting these flowers and frolicking through the fields.’ [Laughs] It’s like, no, if you can’t cut ten stems of dahlias in less than two minutes, that’s not winning.”

This is one truism that many private equity groups and venture capitalists have learned the hard way:

“Be aware that greenhouses are crazy expensive to buy new, but the resale value is nothing. The greenhouse only has value if you can operate it right.”

Great advice for anyone considering owning their own business:

“Knowing your own goals and personality is key. I think people need to look at themselves in the mirror and decide, ‘Do I really want to manage people? Or do I just love the flowers?’ There’s a difference between loving being a technician – the person actually planting, growing and cutting the plants, versus being the owner of the farm and the business. It takes that soft skills piece to have a successful operation.”

I love this story, which sums up Lindsay's and Tater’s relationship:

“Eventually, we had more than we needed to supply our initial clientele and Tater and I would load up the truck with flowers and visit new flower shops to introduce ourselves. I’d walk in with a bucket of flowers in one hand and Tater on a leash in the other. I’d say something like, “These are the best flowers ever—please support Tater in the lifestyle she’d like to be accustomed to.” It worked surprisingly well! If someone didn’t want to interact with her, I figured they weren’t the kind of florist I wanted to sell to anyway.”

And another humorous one featuring Tater (who is obviously Lindsay’s secret weapon):

“The thing that people don’t realize is that people buy you as much as they buy your product. When people make the decision to buy flowers from our truck, it’s not just buying the flowers, it’s buying something from Lindsay and Tater. And I’ll tell you, I’ve never had any trouble with collections or anything because it’s like, man, you do not want to be known as the person who took food out of Tater’s mouth.”

Two things: First, it is amazing that Martha Stewart remains a garden fashion icon well into her 80s. Then again, why not? Her style is classic and timeless. She has never dealt in fads. Second, I would have thought she already had her own roses … in fact, I would expect her to have bred it.

Regardless, she finally does have one, thanks to Star Roses and Plants and French rose breeder Meilland, which has allowed their Jean de La Fontaine rose to be launched in North America by Star under the name Martha Stewart (who is much better known than M. La Fontaine, a 17th century poet and “fabulist”*). Star will introduce it for the 2026 gardening season.

Martha Stewart (the plant) is a hybrid tea rose described as having “over 100 petals unfurling in shades of ballet pink and apricot. It is beautifully scented with notes of citrus and honeysuckle. It’s a truly spectacular addition to any rose collection.”

Martha was apparently involved in the selection, as she wanted to find a rose that would symbolize her life-long devotion to gardening, a rose that possessed her favorite characteristics: a gorgeous apricot-pink color, a full bloom, and an excellent fragrance.

I wonder if Snoop Dogg is next?

*A writer of fables. I was today years old when I learned that.

I’ve been flying a drone for photography and video purposes for more than a decade, so I know how good the technology is as a super-tall tripod. And on occasion, I’ve tried flying inside greenhouses, but it’s just too sketchy to risk—the structure interferes with the GPS guidance signals; airflow makes the drone bounce around a bit, with little room to spare; and there’s a lot of stuff to potentially crash into, not the least of which is the crop. So do I think drones have a serious place in greenhouse production? Nah. I think they’re a bit of a technology fad.

But I could be wrong!

I just finished a story for the Spring edition of Inside Grower magazine on the viability of flying drones in greenhouses. IG focuses on controlled environment agriculture—aka greenhouse and vertical farm veggies. And what I learned, to my surprise, is that some companies I know are testing and using drones over their crops. Here are four examples:

- Ter Laak Orchids in the Netherlands (an International Grower of the Year winner) has started a pilot program using drones to scout for diseases in their greenhouses.

- Dümmen Orange is using drones to autonomously scout the growth of osteospermum cuttings in their greenhouses in Kenya. They’re focusing on identifying leaf discoloration and detecting dry pots. And they’re training the system to recognize flower induction on cuttings. I was told that, “While it has taken significant time and effort to set up the infrastructure (including QR codes and mapping), the system is now operational and showing promising results.”


Dümmen's drone taking off from its special landing pad.

- PanAmerican Seed started with drones in Costa Rica and are now implementing them in Guatemala, flying over petunias to estimate labor needs for pollination.

- Baas Potplanten in the Netherlands uses drones to calculate seed germination and to measure the size of mums. Dieter Baas says, “We scaled up significantly last year, with more areas to cover.”

There are dozens more greenhouse drone stories out there, so growers are at least intrigued by the opportunities they seem to offer. I’ll try to keep an open mind on the topic.

National Garden Bureau and All-America Selections are now accepting nominations for the 2025 Medallion of Honor. Established in 1936, this is a prestigious service award given to individuals who have contributed to the advancement of horticulture and have worked to raise the visibility of All-America Selections and to AAS Winners in an exceptional manner.

The list of previous winners is a veritable who’s who of floriculture: David Burpee, Takeo Sakata, Howard Bodger, Glenn Goldsmith (and his son Joel), John Waller, David Denholm, Friedrich Benary, G. Carl Ball (and his daughter, Anna), David Colegrave, Dr. Elizabeth Sahin …

But your last name does NOT have to be on the sign in front of a famous seed company for you to earn the medal. Just ask Dr. Allan Armitage, Barry Ruta, Al Gerace or Heather Will-Browne.

You can nominate your favorite notable (or even yourself) made by filling out THIS FORM and provide the nominee’s information and contributions to All-America Selections.

The 2025 recipient will be determined by the NGB Board of Directors, and the award will be presented in conjunction with the International Plant Trialing Conference in October 2025.

Deadline for nominations is January 31, 2025.

Got a question about the award? Ask Diane Blazek, Executive Director, at dblazek@ngb.org.

A few of you had comments about Pantone’s Color of the Year … which BuZZ! editor-at-large Ellen Wells says has been dubbed “Sad Beige” by some.

Renata from Grow and Gather in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, shared a link to a place called Chocolate Flower Farm, a garden and gift shop on Whidbey Island, Washington, which she says “has been living for this moment!” I checked the website, and indeed, Chocolate Flower Farm specializes in rare, dark-colored flowers and plants. And products infused with chocolate. (As a bonus, they also have goats, hens, geese and a miniature horse and miniature donkey.)

DeVonne Friesen, with Bloomin’ Easy Plants and Van Belle Nursery, also up in BC, thanked me for a Friday afternoon chuckle, then told me what he thinks of the “colour.”

“This segment and all the comments made me laugh out loud at the end of another busy week. My take? Maybe it’s too obvious to say, but ... we are all about playing in the rich, brown dirt. I’m willing to love this colour!”

Lastly, Chris Baker of Baker’s Acres in Ohio (aka “The other CB”), offered up a little play on words.

“Finally, PANT ONE picks a color of pants that I already have!”

At Griffin Greenhouse Supplies, that’s where!

I’m sorry, but that’s the headline and opening sentence that appeared in my little brain the moment the Griffin Greenhouse Supplies press release entered my inbox. It states that they (Griffin) had just acquired Waldo & Associates Inc., a Midwest horticultural distributor based in Perrysburg, Ohio.

Griffin, headquartered in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, is one of the country’s largest horticultural distributors, with 16 distribution centers covering the country. The purchase of Waldo “strengthens Griffin’s presence in the Midwest to give Waldo customers access to a wide array of new products and services—while maintaining the customer-first values that both companies share.”

Waldo is a local distributor and greenhouse manufacturer focused on the small and medium-sized business market who has grown relationships that span 40 years. Waldo says they pride themselves on the personal touch they offer each of their customers, reflecting the shared values that Griffin upholds and delivers.

“With this expansion, Griffin ensures a strong and personal presence in the Midwest region while adding a suite of services to the Griffin and Waldo customer base, continuing our strong vendor relationships, adding plant resources and grower supplies that serve a wider array of products faster and more efficiently,” said Griffin managing director Andrew Barry in the release.

Rick Cottier, president of Waldo agrees.

“The alignment of customer-first values and collaborative culture makes this a natural step for helping our midwestern customers to access the broad range of products and services both Griffin and Waldo can stand strongly behind.

I could go … I live just 45 minutes away from the Magic Kingdom … but at $119 a day plus an extra $45 and probably no option for a press pass … well, I’ll just take advantage of Mike at BlogMickey.com, who is apparently at Disney every single day sniffing out news and covering the happenings, one of which is a special holiday behind-the-scenes tour of the Living With the Land attraction within The Land Pavilion.

The Disney crew has added colorful lights and extra holiday flare to the attraction, making it both interesting and festive. Mike says the tour, which is offered at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., is well worth it, and it is still a good educational offering, providing unique, behind-the-scenes views that the traditional Behind the Seeds tour is known for.

Check out his full blog post HERE. Maybe it will give you some ideas for decorating your own greenhouse for the holidays.

I always enjoy Van Belle Nursery’s annual video Christmas card. There must be something in the water (or the baked goods) up in Abbotsford, BC that inspires wackiness. HERE is this year’s example, “How the Grinchy Year Found its Heart.”