Just in case you couldn’t get away, Today’s Garden Center was there for two of this summer’s best garden center tours, and the ideas we brought back are too good to keep secret.

Choosing the respite of an air-conditioned bus over an air-conditioned office, I was lucky enough to attend two retail tours this summer – the GCA Summer Tour in Orlando and then the OFA Short Course garden center tour in Central Ohio. Check out some of the souvenirs (ideas) I brought back for you.

	GCA Summer Tour Dead ends hinder the flow at a garden center. To improve the shopability at Kerby’s Nursery, the team there installed a new boardwalk that meanders throughout and ensures customers get to see every inch of the operation.
	Kerby’s Nursery along with Earthscape Garden Room know how to barter with local businesses. The impressive water feature at Kerby’s was installed and maintained by a professional ponding company at no cost. In return, Kerby’s promotes the company with a sign next to the pond. Earthscape works with an outdoor audio company in a similar fashion.
	Attendees saw that Florida’s summer heat can’t be ignored. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Rockledge Gardens, both stops gave visitors a cool-down option with good margins.
	Some of the signage at Busy Bee Lawn & Garden Center fell victim to the harsh Florida sun. Garden center consultant Sid Raisch noted the pricepoints at this stop ended in 88 cents (instead of 99 cents), leaving a good chunk of change still on the table.
	At the colorful Rockledge Gardens, in-house signage frames made of PVC pipe and a coat of matching paint do an excellent job bringing out the color in their professionally printed four-color banners.
	Only one word comes to mind when trying to describe the signage at Lukas Nursery – comprehensive. It’s clear the signage goal at Lukas is to answer most questions before a patron turns to an employee for additional advice.
	OFA Short Course Tour Tired of squirrels and other rodents shoplifting your birdseed and making a mess in the process? Oakland Nursery was and that’s why they decided to sell their seed in bulk and store it in these aluminum trash cans.
	Some people (many of your customers) hate numbers and might be terrible at math. Oakland Nursery kindly recognizes that and created this easy to read discount sign. Now customers can see the deal they are getting well before they reach the checkout counter.
	Trial gardens, like this one at the Franklin Park Conservatory, are a great way to check on the performance and hardiness of the industry’s newest and hottest varieties.
	If the custom-welded hanging basket trees aren’t enough, try the deMonye’s Greenhouse shoe planters on for size. The deMonye’s team rescued 150 pairs of children’s lightly-worn shoes from area thrift stores, planted them up with succulents and sold the pairs like hotcakes – priced between $9.99 and $21.99.
	Our stop at Darby Creek Nursery piqued the interest of many on the mid-Ohio tour. A few years ago, and after much research, Darby Creek owner Jeff Turnbull decided to open up seasonal/pop-up retail locations. Presently, this Hilliard location has eight temporary outlets and the placement of each pop-up is designed to take business away from the big boxes. And for the highest margins, the bulk of what is sold at the off-site locations is Darby Creek grown.

Would you ask your customers to do-it-themselves? How about hanging Adirondack chairs from a tree with rope? Check out our last two garden center stops of the tour.

Click here to view a slideshow from Day 3

From sun-worn signage to cool concrete to colorful fixtures, Day 2 had tour attendees' on the lookout for some great garden center visuals. 

Click here to view a slideshow from Day 2

A Walt Disney World start to this year's GCA Summer Tour made us feel like VIPs at 7 a.m.

One of the big perks to going on a GCA garden center tour is the access...the VIP access. Our first stop of the tour was a behind-the-scenes tour of Walt Disney's "show" production area and Animal Kingdom. From there we went on to visit two garden centers - Kerby's was neat and organized, while EarthScapes offered a place to escape (and plenty of places to sit). 

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The Disney production area was between shows, but there was still plenty of "character" behind the scenes.