Interview: Chris Heckle from Johnston's Greenhouses

Ian
With a long history in the family run business I would consider Chris at Johnston's Greenhouse a new age garden center owner, so I do not think there is anyone more suited for this question. Chris what would you consider now to be the homeowner's number one landscape concern in regards to landscaping as opposed to concerns presented years ago?
Chris
I think today's homeowner's number one concern is a lack of time to garden. We are constantly being asked for low maintenance gardens that are appealing throughout the seasons. Years ago homeowners had more time to look after their gardens and favored more complex gardens. I have also noticed a significant interest in people growing their own vegetables.

Ian
I imagine homeowners in this new economy are under a lot of workplace stress and have a limited schedule to donate to the garden, so when it comes to caring for their garden what plant selection options do you have to alleviate some of the gardening tasks so they can relax and enjoy the garden?
Chris
We encourage our customers to bring photos and a site plan of their problem areas so that we may help them. At Johnston's we steer customers to low maintenance plants such as ground covers, repeat blooming daylily's, ornamental grasses, hydrangeas ... we have a palette of plants that offer high appeal but will fill in quickly and dependably so that less time is needed in the garden.

Ian
I imagine springtime if a busy place in the Garden Center business and you have many promotions and featured items that will be available to potential and existing clientele. Can you give us a hint to what you have planned?
Chris
We are excited to offer our "win a dream garden" contest to anyone that emails us with their biggest gardening challenge, it can be a one word problem or a story. The winner receives a landscaping package of $2000.00 our goal is to identify the top 10 challenges that gardeners face. Some featured plants this year are: "twist and shout" hydrangea's available only at independent garden centers, a new clematis collection exclusive to select garden centers.
We are trialing new plants from goldsmith seeds that will be available, we are carrying a new variety of impatiens called "sunpatiens" that thrive in hot sunny conditions. Johnston's has expanded our vegetable seedling options to carry 22 varieties of tomatoes and 15 varieties of peppers including heirloom varieties.

Ian
We always hear an "Educated consumer is our Best Customer" so what methods are in place to update consumers to new gardening trends and to inform them of plant maintenance pitfalls?
Chris
We send out newsletters by email to our database customers that educate, excite and inform them, run seminars at the greenhouse on new trends and dilemmas that gardeners face. Plus we send out information regarding the top 10 garden problems and solutions for them. Our advertising tries to solve problems or talk about trends we see as well.