EuroAmerican hosts landscapers

BONSALL, Calif. – EuroAmerican Propagators, part of the Proven Winners plant brand, hosted landscapers, greenhouse growers and garden center operators at its Bonsall, Calif., headquarters earlier this summer.

The second annual event brought together about 100 green industry professionals during three days of education.

During the landscape day, Curtis Brooks, a production specialist with the Brickman Group, explained how he and the company's San Diego branch worked with Proven Winners to renovate and redesign the gardens at the Hotel Del Coronado, one of the first of Proven Winner's Signature Gardens.

Brooks and the team at EuroAmerican worked with staff at the Del for a year and a half to put together a plan to redo the hotel's once-famous gardens. In recent years, the landscape had been "piece-mealed" and was in disarray – 70 varieties cobbled together without an apparent plan, Brooks said.

The team at Brickman renovated the hotel's Windsor Lawn area, which had very compacted soil (it hosts receptions during the season and doubles as an ice rink in the winter months).

Siena Randall of EuroAmerican and Curtis Brooks of Brickman talk during landscape day.

"We took baby steps at the Hotel Del," Brooks said, describing his efforts to renovate the gardens and introduce branded plant material. "Their budget is very tight. (The project) was a great way to be proactive with the client."

The project was a pilot for Proven Winners, which has recently made efforts to court landscape contractors. The company, a partnership of EuroAmerican Propagators in California, Four Star Greenhouse in Michigan and Pleasant View Gardens in New Hampshire.
 

OWN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. Contractors in attendance also heard Shirley Bovshow outline her tips for landscapers to target their marketing efforts to individual streets. Bovshow hosts garden/landscape TV show "Garden Police."

Bovshow said that landscapers can make their clients feel special, satisfy the curiosity of the neighbors and leverage their body of work to get more business. Here are her suggestions:

1. Create an online photo album on Photobucket, Flickr, etc. that your client can share with their friends and family to update them on before and after, as well as status of the job.
    
2. Shoot a "nosey neighbor" video update. It doesn't need to go viral worldwide, just up and down the street. Push it out through social media outlets.
    
3. At the beginning of the job, or the day before you start, introduce yourself to four neighbors. Talk about the hours your crews will be there, the noise. Give them a one-sheet with your website, a before and after picture and your cell phone number. That way they call you with complaints – not the HOA.
    
4. Create an artistic garden plaque if the HOA won't allow signs. Name the garden, include the year and (smaller, tastefully) your company's name.
    
5. Throw a garden party when the project's complete. Ask your client to invite their friends and neighbors to check out the new installation. Ask a vendor to help spring for the food and drink. On the way out, hand everyone a small potted plant with your business card in it.

The author is editor of Lawn & Landscape. He can be reached at cbowen@gie.net.

Visit www.lawnandlandscape.com to watch videos that explain Brickman’s work on a Proven Winners Signature Garden, a primer on PW’s plant trialing process, and an outline of the succulents in PW’s collection.