How to Improve your seasonal color

It’s the middle of May and your crews need 100 trays of pansies. Now. At this point, it doesn’t matter what you slam in the ground – your clients are going to be mad if they don’t see beds teeming with annuals soon. But every other contractor in town needs flowers, too, and the growers don’t have anything left.

You aren’t happy. Your clients aren’t happy. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Installing seasonal color is a great add-on sale for any company. In fact, 82 percent of landscape firms offer it as a service, according to the 2010 Lawn & Landscape State of the Industry Report. But often, contractors leave the choice of flowers to the last minute.

“It’s not like you’re running into the dealer to get a gasket for a mower. They’re a support team, an extra pair of hands, especially as far as plant knowledge. You can look at catalogs all day, but a grower can give you that information on what’s performing,” says Polly Bailey-Rule.

Before she joined Four Star Greenhouse as landscape account manager, Bailey-Rule spent seven years in Colorado running her own landscaping company. 

“I’m amazed with the number of contractors who don’t know what growers do,” she says.

Here, she offers her suggestions on how contractors can work better with their color suppliers, get the best flower installations possible and boost sales.

– Chuck Bowen

Illustration by Vic Kulihin

1. Before the season gets into full swing, sit down and look at how much seasonal color you’ll do. If you have a standard plant palette in many designs, jot down what you like to use.
2. Develop a relationship with your grower. In the early winter months, stop in or call to discuss the types of plants you’d like to use in spring. “We would love to see our contractors much more often than the second week of May,” Bailey-Rule says. “We can have exactly what they need at the price and size and color (they want).” If you establish a relationship now, you can get help planning for the season.
3. Once you’re into the season, try to think about what you’re going to need when you come in. Plan your combinations out and bring a list. “At least call a couple days ahead so the grower can figure it out,” she says. Stopping in without any real idea “brings things to a grinding halt. You can’t fill orders or trucks if you’re taking care of one customer.”
4. Be on time. Contractors need to arrive when they say they will to pick up plants, or at least call ahead. “Everyone fully understands this is a weather-dependent industry. If it’s raining, that’s a given. If there’s a hang-up on the job, you need to let the grower know,” she says. “Every contractor should put their grower’s number on their speed dial.”
5. During and after the season, let your grower know how the plants are doing. Did things look OK through July? How did the petunias handle the drought? Growers can also help diagnose and treat cultural problems, so give them a call. “We want to know the customer is pleased. How did the plants do?” Bailey-Rule says.