General Discussion & Chat: What do you want out of a Nursery?, 1 by salvia_lover

salvia_lover wrote:
Here are some things I thought about (in no particular order):

1) Plants arranged in a system that makes sense to customers and easy to navigate

2) healthy plants with weed seedlings regularly removed

3) a good selection of unusual things each season

4) knowledgable staff (this is #1!!!!!)

5) a play house or other such area to keep kids occupied while I browse through the flowers (especially helpful on a hot day in a greenhouse!!!)

6) benches situated here and there so kids or the elderly (or even us healthy adults) can sit and rest now and then) ... especially if it's a large garden center

7) willingness to special order plants that aren't carried normally by the GC

8) unusual color combos with the "usual" plants .... for example, fun new color combos with Pansies

9) a personal touch with regular customers (for example, when I mentioned to the manager that I really enjoy the sound of their frogs in the GC and wish I had frogs in my garden, he immediately said "I'll fish out some tadpoles for you in a few weeks when they hatch out in the pond". That was nice. :-) On another occasion, the asst manager made a special effort to point out a new Salvia they'd gotten because she knows I like Salvias. I feel like I'm more than just a dollar to them when I get this kind of service.

10) willingness to recommend another plant supplier or to get plants from such a supplier if your own GC doesn't carry what the customer wants. For example, my favorite GC carries cactus and succulents, but only has a small section devoted to them. They were more than willing to send me to a cactus and succulent market that I hadn't heard of....they know sending me there isn't going to mean I won't come back and shop at their GC too :-). This is more common in the US (like going to Sears, asking for XYorZ and having the clerk say "we don't have that, but next door at JCPenny they do".....this kind of service means the dollar goes out the door this time, but will come back twofold because of the helpful friendly service).

11) opening hours that are convenient. I understand that GCs like to be open early to get deliveries and such. My GC is open at 7am. But they close at 4 in the afternoon. This means that if I need or want something in the afternoon, I'm out of luck til the next day. Wanting flowers isn't something urgent, but if I see I've got a snail infestation suddenly, I want to be able to take care of it "NOW". So staying open til 5-6:30 or later would be more helpful...even if it's with a reduced staff.

12) no one telling me I can't take photos. Of course, the staff in my GC know me and know that it's just a hobby for me and I'm not a spy from another GC. So I guess this one does require some thought. But if, for example, someone came in and wanted to take a pic of a certain plant to show to their spouse for a second opinion, they shouldn't be harrassed and made to feel like a criminal for taking pics in the GC. I say this because another GC here DID do that to me.

13) Plants MUST be labled so customers don't constantly have to ask "what's this?". Something my GC does that I really really really aprpeciate is that they have a line strung behind each row of plants and ont eh line they hang a 5x7 card with a pic of the plant and a care description "Genus species, Common Name, full-partial sun, height 2 meters, girth 1 meter, perenniel, average water needs, evergreen, flowers May-July" for example. Here's a pic of such a card:

if I think of anything else I'll be sure to post again :-)

-Julie