 Joe Gray |
Whether you’re a small business or a large landscaping company, you can increase your profits by suggesting plants to your customers that bring life to their landscape and deliver great looks and color with ease.
Homeowners and businesses are looking for quality and value not only in installation and maintenance, but also with plants that perform well and improve their property value. Recommending the right plants for the right place that have been bred to perform in their climates and soil conditions is a good starting point.
Bottom line: They want their property to show well without a lot of work.
Teamwork
You and your customer are a team. Assessing the home’s style and architectural features opens options for customers to discover new plants that will perform in their landscape and enhance its features.
For instance, Margie Grace, of Grace Designs, a member of APLD, who’s both a professional landscape designer and landscape contractor, says customers are looking for simple and creative solutions and recommends plants that “don’t hug your house’s foundations but enhance the lines with color, style and great attributes.” She suggests customers might “try crape myrtle to soften a corner or plant bougainvillea as a foundational plant for great color.”
Since the trend toward less lawn and smaller gardens is on the rise, shrubs for smaller spaces remain popular. One new option on the market is the Bambino Bougainvillea Series, which offers a variety of colors and various foliage patterns.
Eco-friendly
National trends have fueled an interest for plants that require less water and attract wildlife. Clients want exciting cultivars that are great looking, eco-friendly and attract pollinators like butterflies and birds. Savvy customers want plants that are attractive as hedges, borders and embankments and are heat tolerant and require less water.
One example: The new Buddleia hybrid Flutterby Series – a compact-growing series that features a dense growth habit and continuous showy blooms ranging from lavender, pink and white, throughout early summer until frost, in USDA Zones 5-10.
Plants like these butterfly bushes deliver what people demand – attractive, low-growing shrubs that require less water and look great in borders or embankments.
Stay in the zone
Keep abreast with trade shows, publications, webinars, social media sites, and with growers who can provide you with information on the latest plant material and best production plants for your zone.
Even if your customers insist on plants they’ve seen in a magazine, your role as a team partner is to guide and educate on the best plants that fit their home or business’ architectural style and perform well in the soil conditions and climate.
Above all, keep your eyes open for new plants that deliver what they promise and use fewer resources to get and maintain satisfied customers on your winning team.
Joe Gray is the chief operations officer for Hines Nurseries in Houston.
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