Even though it’s October 29, I feel that we’ve skipped over Halloween completely. Christmas is fully installed in the big box stores, and even last weekend’s TV commercials were stepping gingerly into the holiday waters. And the newest FedEx commercial (a take on American Ninja) flat-out had the messaging of “you better get your gift packages shipped early.”

It’s the time of year that sees the folks at M&M Wintergreens knee-deep in all their holiday greenery. Even so, they’ve still taken the time to promote pine cones and crafts that have an educational component for kids. Remember last week I asked what folks were doing to support teachers and classroom curriculums? M&M’s VP Shannon Kuhrt wrote in to share what they are doing:

“Our Cones Pinterest board has lots of educational pins along with fun crafts with pine cones. Things like ‘Pine Cone Math Station,’ ‘Pine Cone and Elastic Band Fine Motor Activity’ and ‘Simple Science—Why Do Pine Cones Open and Close?’ I share some of these pins periodically on our Facebook page, too. We like to share ideas with teachers and educators because I want to foster a love for fresh winter greenery in the next generation of kids!”

You can find M&M Wintergreens' Pinterest board HERE.

How are you promoting wintertime gardening-based educational activities along with actual products for the holidays? Tell me what you’re up to HERE.  

Here’s another book you might want to stock for the holidays: “Grow Your Own Spices” by Tasha Greer. Many gardeners have grown herbs, but spices? (Well, coriander does come from cilantro, so …). This book will give you and your customers the knowledge to cultivate and harvest more than 30 different spices. Here’s some of what the book offers:

• How to cultivate your own saffron, the world’s most expensive spice
• The best way to grow tropical spices like ginger, turmeric and cardamom even in cold climates
• Easy-to-grow beginner spices
• How to cultivate root spices, including horseradish and chicory
• Tips for harvesting your own capers, mustard, sesame seeds, and even paprika

The book is from Cool Springs Press and will be published the first week in December. Get your order in soon! Direct your sales inquiries to Monica Baggio, monica.baggio@quarto.com, 978-282-3576.

Bossman Chris Beytes broke the news last week that Grimes Horticulture will be closing after 95 years in business. The news came in an email to a few suppliers from the co-owner himself, Gary Grimes:

“After 95 years in business, Grimes Horticulture is shutting down. Grimes managed the timing of this carefully and have paid over 95% of our obligations to vendors. 

We are extremely proud of our exceptional employees, who have been as dedicated and productive as any company could possibly ask for.

Owners Gary Grimes and Rod LeDrew will assist our employees to help seek new positions of employment. Grimes will see that plant orders, already placed for the current season, will be fulfilled. We will also follow up to assist with seed orders that have been placed with us. Questions should be directed to Bill Steen.

We could not be more appreciative of our wonderful, valued customers, who will be intensely missed. It has been an honor to get to know and work with so many of you in this wonderful industry.

The reason for the closure, as Chris found out, was due to an embezzlement, the depths of which they could not escape from. Doesn’t matter who or how much really; it was enough to close the company for good. Some employees, including the company president Bill Steen, have already found positions elsewhere in the industry.

Grimes was a go-to for the smaller grower-retailer crowd. If you were a customer, get your ducks in a row with this new information before going all in on what’ll likely be a superb Spring 2021.

What might the social media marketing landscape look like in the coming year? The folks at Talkwalker partnered with HubSpot to investigate where that road might be headed from both experts and those working the frontlines of that marketing genre.

Like social media-savvy companies do, they compiled all that info, found 10 trends and presented it in an infographic. Here it is:

Too small to read? Me too. Here are their Top 10.

#10: Remixing is the new UGC (user-generated content).

#9: Coronavirus content will focus on the four Cs—community, cleanliness, contactless, compassion. 78% of consumers want brands to help them in their daily lives.

#8: Messaging will become more memetic.

#7: Nostalgia marketing will engage your audience (nostalgia mentions increased 88% during lockdown!).

#6: Conversational marketing will drive sales. That’s right—have real, actual conversations via the socials!

#5: The line between social media and gaming will blur.

#4: Old-school marketing will be the new “new.” 55% of Americans now listen to podcasts. Video didn’t kill “radio” after all!

#3: Social media giants will adapt to the new normal.  

#2: Digital disinformation will be tackled.

#1: Audiences will be more socially conscious. Consumers are now more aware of global issues and how brands tackle them.

Will these all come true? Unlikely. But I can tell you this: I’ve been off of social media except Instagram for 6 weeks now (I just couldn’t anymore) and I’ve lightened my being by about 1,000 pounds.

Talkwalker.com has made it so you can download the full report. Do so HERE.

We’re all trying to figure out how to engage all of 2020’s 16-20 million new gardeners. Now that they’re growing plants, folks will want to grow them better. And what’s a major component of that? Soil health.

So when I received an email from an Australian company saying they’ve created a “COVID-proof” product that has seen massive U.S. growth and it’s a composting system, I got interested.

The product is called Subpod and it’s a vermiculture (worms!) system that is contained (mostly) underground. This subterranean hangout for scrap-fed worms means the worms deliver the nutrient-rich effuse directly to the gardens’ soil. One less thing the user has to do means it’s convenient. And according to the company, it can process 30 pounds of food in a week. That’s a lotta scraps!

“Subpod is a way almost anyone can take personal responsibility for the environmental pandemics of food waste, landfill and greenhouse gases,” Subpod CEO Saadi Allan says in the press release. These aren’t just good for the soil, they are good for the whole environment. They divert 109,000 tons of food waste from landfills and diverted 77,000 tons of CO2 from the air.

The company is working on other products in the sustainable gardening product category. We should be seeing them soon!

Perennials are a mainstay in the garden—and in the garden center. And the Perennial Plant Association’s two upcoming webinars, both events in the PPA: Virtual Edition, bolster that proposition, for sure.

For your favorite stylish mask/face covering! We’re gathering these for Green Profit’s December Style issue. Have a favorite mask? Send it along to Jen Polanz at jpolanz@ballpublishing.com.

One time I asked someone what a grand jury was, and the very next day I received a grand jury summons in the mail. Another time I wondered how to make a bit of extra money in two months and magically, I had a long-term Airbnb request that turned out to fill that gap. Good luck, right?

Well, not all of these thoughts of mine turn out rosy. For instance, managing editor Jen Polanz just pointed out to me that this was the headline and lede for my December 2019 Green Profit Buzz Worthy column:

I even mention the word plague! But to my credit, my column was fairly upbeat. Here’s the last few sentences:

“If the world were perfect—whether it’s the world in general or just your little corner of it—what would compel us to get out of bed each morning and give our all to make it better? Humans are at their best when adversity or a challenge is present.”