NEWS GROW
Seeley Conference
on the
Announces Keynote Speakers
The keynote speakers for the 25th
From OFA to You
Introducing…
Garden Center Live!
By Danny Takao, president
To better serve retailers, OFA — an Association of Horticulture Profes-
sionals — is expanding its garden center segment programming at this year’s OFA Short Course, in three parts.
Garden Center Live! Merchandising Contest
The Garden Center Live! Merchandising Contest will consist of four
contestants, each sponsored by one of the garden center trade publica- tions, and three rounds. Rounds 1 and 2 will occur on Sunday, July 11. The win- ners from each round will advance to the fi nals on Monday, July 12. Building on last year’s excitement, par-
ticipation and feedback, a few changes to the contest have been made to simulate real and often last-minute garden center merchandising. Contestants
will
annual Seeley Conference have been confi rmed, according to organizers. The theme of the conference, which will take place June 26 to 29 in Ithaca, N.Y., will be “Floriculture’s Environ- mental Footprint: An Inconvenient Truth or Consumer Opportunity?” Kicking off the conference is Dr.
Ron Stavins, director of Harvard Uni- versity’s environmental economics program. Stavins’ opening keynote will provide an overview of the water- and carbon-related issues facing the United States — and the driving forces underlying these issues — which will set the stage for the entire conference. The next keynote will be delivered by Joel Makower, co-founder and
chairman of Greener World Media and executive editor of GreenBiz. com. The Associated Press has called him “the guru of green business practices.” Bob Dolibois, executive vice president of the American Nursery & Land-
scape Association, will deliver the closing address, which will highlight green industry participants’ responses to environmental issues, the impor- tance of consumer and legislator perceptions about our industry’s products and services, and how the industry is conveying our value proposition of enhancing the lives of consumers. As always, the think-tank atmosphere of the Seeley Conference will
not
know their display theme until two hours prior to their competition, nor will they be permitted to bring their own props.
Garden Center Live! Merchandising Concepts
Garden Center Live! Merchandising
Concepts, built by attendees of Sat- urday morning workshop, will feature several themed displays that use var- ious types of retail fi xtures. This year’s concepts include cause marketing and merchandising concepts
that
During last year’s merchandising contest,
Tina Bemis of
and sell to generations X and Y, edible gardeners and newbie gardeners. The Garden Center
Bemis
Farms Nursery created a whimsical butterfl y gardening display.
Concepts will be located in the con- course adjacent
the Garden Center Live! Merchandising Contest.
Garden Center Live! Interactive
Remember the old bookstore room? OFA is transforming that space
into Garden Center Live! Interactive, an intimate area for garden center retailers to mingle, demo products, and ask questions. This year Garden Center Live! Interactive will feature POS systems, cause marketing cam- paigns, eco-friendly container gardening examples and a showcase of inspiring ideas. Garden Center Live! Interactive will also feature infor- mation kiosks with take-home tips,
ideas and interactive mini-sessions
throughout the OFA Short Course. The OFA Short Course will take place July 10 to 13, 2010, at the Greater
Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. Check out the May issue of Lawn & Garden Retailer online for a full feature on this year’s OFA Short Course, or visit
www.ofa.org for more specifi c information.
www.gpnmag.com
allow for plenty of interaction with fellow industry leaders regarding these timely issues. For more information about this year’s Seeley Conference, visit
www.hort.cornell.edu/seeleyconference.
Fafard Introduces New Mixes
Growing-media producer Conrad
attract Live! Merchandising
Fafard, Inc. is introducing a full line of groundbreaking mixes this spring that the company says will transform how growers produce plants by changing the way they fertilize. Through an exclusive agreement with
The Scotts Company, Fafard has the sole rights to market Scotts’ new fertilizer technology in the United States, which lets Fafard add Osmocote Start to any of its mixes. Osmocote Start is a second-generation controlled-release fertilizer that pro-
vides complete, balanced feeding for up to six weeks; eliminates mixing and feeding mistakes associated with water-soluble fertilizers; reduces or elimi- nates labor and inventory costs associated with WSFs; and reduces nitrogen and phosphorus leaching and run-off. It was trialed and used in the European market for several years before coming to the United States. Fafard also con- ducted its own series of greenhouse trials. “Based on the research by Fafard and Scotts, growers can eliminate applying
water-soluble nutrients to many of their short-term crops,” said Jamie Gibson, Fafard’s director of research and development. Osmocote Start will be available only in Fafard-branded growing mixes —
loose-fi lled and compressed — from contracted Fafard distributors. These mixes are intended for fast crops grown in 4-inch pots or smaller, such as marigolds, begonias, vincas and impatiens.For more information on The Scotts Company, visit
www.ScottsPro.com or call 800.492.8255. For more information on Fafard and its line of growing mixes, visit
www.fafard.com or call 800.732.8667.
May 2010 GPN 7
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