Fruit Trees
Another gardening staple that has become an orphan left on the doorstep are fruit trees.
The quality, varieties and overall selection of fruit trees in many garden stores has eroded to little or nothing during the past ten years. Most of this lack of interest has been customer demand. Many homeowners simply did not want to fool with them. It has been a race to the bottom with fruit trees varieties and qualities offered to the gardener and homeowner. Recently, the tide has changed. The dismal economy has seen homeowners turning their attention to backyard harvesting of food. All the gardening suppliers are back at it again (for now).
Fruit trees are another one of those offerings that brings the gardeners and homeowners to us season after season. We offer a wide and deep selection of those varieties of fruit trees that will grow and produce in each of our store locations throughout the
They are;
Apple
Cherry Sweet and Pie
Peach
Pear, European and Asian
Prune
Apricot
Nectarine
Grapefruit
Lemon
Lime
Banana
Fig
Persimmon
Pomegranate
Olive
Almond
Walnut
Filbert
Pecan
Chestnut
Hazelnut
Hican
Do you carry all of these varieties of fruit trees at green garden gates?
It depends on the growing zone needed for the tropical varieties and the “chill days” needed to produce fruit. It does our gardening customers no good to have an apricot or filbert tree in the home orchard that freezes each year in a late spring cold snap and gives nothing but leaves. We offer every fruit tree that will grow and produce in each of our store locations.
What size of tree do you offer?
We want a stout and impressive tree to give our gardeners a good start. We stock trees that are 3/4 to 7/8 inch to 1 inch caliper, 5-7 feet in height and well branched. With some unusual exceptions, we will not carry any tree smaller or a poorly branched plant. Sometimes the varieties, by their vary nature, are smaller. In these cases, we look for a “select” grade for our inventory.
Still waiting for those fruit trees to bear?
How many varieties of each fruit tree do you stock?
For the most popular fruit trees, we will stock 20 trees with each 8-10 varieties. Some, like Red Delicious apple or Bing cherry, we will have a total of 50 trees on hand during the spring season. For the specialty fruit trees, we may have only 1-2 varieties and a total of 5-10 trees for sale.
Do you purchase them pre-potted or are they brought in and potted bareroot?
We bring all of our trees into our stores bareroot. We pot the plants on-sight. It has been our experience that pre-potted trees have had the roots and scaffolds severely cut to fit into small pots and for shipping. They take much longer to perform for our gardeners. By potting ourselves, we are able to control the pruning and dressing of the tree for presentation and performance. There are some exceptions to this. Citrus trees are purchased pre-potted, as well as fruit trees that have been espaliered.
Do you do any selling of bareroot fruit trees, just heeled into bins?
We do not. We have found that the window of selling bareroot and the need for the tree to get into a pot is very short. We pot all of our fruit trees.
What about special price promotions for fruit trees?
We understand that many of our gardeners will be planting more than one fruit tree. We have specials for multiple purchases: if our customer purchases 5 or more trees at one time mix and match, they received one half price on the lowest priced tree in their selection. If they purchase ten or more trees at one time, mix and match, they receive the lowest priced tree at not cost to them. Of course, these purchases are also are eligible for our bonus bucks program with points accumulated for the fall purchases.
We also understand that developing a home orchard may be over a period of seasons. If the customer is registered in our bonus bucks program and in our computers, they may accumulate fruit tree purchases each season to be eligible for the 5 and 10 specials.
Once the ten fruit trees have been reached, the number reverts back to zero and the customers builds the purchases again. The computer also recognizes the 5 special and calculates accordingly when the customer reaches 10 or more trees.
The purpose is to keep our customers returning year after year to use our trees for their home orchard.
Where do you purchase these fruit trees for your store?
We first look to local sources for our trees (refer to our program with the purchase of vegetable and herb plants in this section. Our approach to fruit trees is similar)
There are several national growers that we like for our stores. They have been historically consistent in their quality and selections over many years
carltonplants.com
baileynurseries.com
Do you have other events that feature fruit trees and the entire group of edibles?
Yes, we have a successful event every Wednesday during the active planting weeks in each store. It is called "Harvest Garden Wednesdays". Growers and suppliers of all our plants that produce edible crops are present to answer questions about their plants and products. Fruit tree growers provide our customers with free samples of the fruits that their trees produce. Suppliers of garden care products also give samples of their products. Often, there is a presentation by the local county extension agency or a local gardening personality about growing fruit trees in the home garden.
How do you connected with your gardeners on their success with fruit trees?
No person wants to go to the trouble of caring for fruit trees and end up harvest little or nothing or worse yet, a bunch or wormy apples. Our employees are charged with keeping a close watch on their customer’s successes and failures. We have set a goal to allign each purchaser of fruit trees with one of our guides. The guide notes in his or her personal notebook, the items purchases, a contract telephone number and problems that arise in the development of the home orchard. That material is entered into our computer system for a historical record. With this record, we can steer the customer to success in producing an orchard of pride. The guide is encouraged to contact the customer occassionally to follow the success or failure of the home orchard.
Keeping the apple polished
It is difficult for our customers to connect a little pear tree (any fruit tree) in a pot and their first bite of a crisp sweet Comice Pear as it is snapped from the branch. At green garden gates, we want to keep that vision alive and lock in our customer to our stores as the place to buy and care for their home orchard, season after season. This is how we “keep the apple polished”
First, we have partnered with a number of regional and national orchardist to help us say “thank you” to our customers and remind them of our commitment to their success with their newly purchased fruit tree. The partners are provided with small gift boxes (think of the classy box, printing and presentation that came with your iphone).
Let’s say our customer purchases a red delicious apple tree from our
Three premium Red Delicious apples carefully wrapped in pastel paper.
With multiple fruit tree purchases, only one variety is selected.
A personal thank you note from the salesperson at the store together with a price reduction offer for a future purchase of another fruit tree
An envelope with coupons from our suppliers of products needed for the success of the tree.
Second, we have partnered with suppliers of plant care products. During the season, the suppliers will direct ship small samples of their latest products to the customer, for example, a new organic fertilizer designed for fruit trees. There is a coupon enclosed with a price reduction for the product at any green garden gates store in the
During our “
We understand that there are logistical issues with these promotions, but the payoff in making a quality attempt secures our relationship with the fruit tree customer for the overall group of green garden gates stores.
There is a movement to have the large standard fruit trees in home orchards. Do you carry those standard sizes in your selection?
We like to stay with the semi-dwarf varieties of fruit trees because they do so well in the home orchard environment. We do, however, move to some dwarf rootstock, particularly the genetic dwarf fruit trees, like North Star Cherry.
How about specialty grown trees, like espaliered trees, columnar trees and combination fruit trees, several varieties on grafted to one standard or fruit trees suitable for patio pots?
Yes, we do carry all of these in our selection as featured items of interest in our store. We don’t carry a lot of them because they are often more novelty than functional.
Garden store owners are fond of saying that owning a combination of varieties on one tree is like having all the relatives living in one house. It never works out that well!
Some stores sell fruit trees with the roots wrapped in a plastic roll. Do you sell those "packaged" trees?
We do not. We are satisfied with selling potted trees for our selection.
We toyed with the idea of selling trees that way. Nick Hudson has had great success in the past with these young packaged fruit trees. They have the advantage of easy handling by the customers. Homeowners can place four or five of them in a shopping cart and be on their way. The survivability is remarkable quite high and the price is right for the gardener.
There are disadvantages. The roots have to be cut severely to fit into the plastic wrapping. Also, producers of these trees often use their lowest grade of tree for the packages. There is also the problem of life in the bags. The remaining trees will have to come out and be potted into a permanent container and that is quite soon after they arrive at the stores.
Where are the fruit trees located in the green garden gates stores?
They are located in the rear of the courtyard, grouped all together with the plants and products for a home harvest garden. We have back stock of the trees located in the receiving and processing area of the store. Fruit trees are included also in displays throughout the store for developing a "harvest garden". This placement gives our customers a line of sight view of our varied selection of all trees, forming a hedge of green and leaf color surrounding the courtyard. This area is not covered by nicotarps, leaving just the framework open. Plenty of natural light is needed to keep the trees healthy and robust throughout the season. This area and the enclosed walkways behind are called "The Harvest Market". Customers can shop all fruit trees and edibles in this area as well as purchase products that will make their gardens successful
The location of the fruit trees seems like a long distance and somewhat isolated from customer traffic?
The "Harvest Garden" area with the displays of the fruit trees and the vegetable plants are quite a distance and can be easily overlooked by our customers. We do several large “teaser” displays of the trees and plants in strategic highly visible locations with clear directions on how to get to our full inventory of the items. It helps that the location of the fruit trees and vegetable plants are in the same location in all of our stores. Our customers, throughout the
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Men, the tomato plants, and their little pocket knives
It’s the men who pick the tomato plants.
Women did the shopping for the flowers, but those tomato plants belong to the guys.
They move cautiously toward the tomato bench with a seriousness of purpose as if they were buying a new Buick. They lift the plant high, holding it to the light, rotating it carefully, inspecting each leaf.
They hold their prizes closely as they move through the checkout. They watch carefully that their beauties are lovingly placed back in the carry trays for transport.
And if there are four tomato plants in a pack, out comes the trusty pocket knife. There is a glance to be sure the deed is not noticed and one quick draw across the plastic, leaving the other three for the uneducated.
Maybe it’s primal thing. Maybe it’s in the genes of men to harvest the best and the sweetest tomatoes on the block.
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Vegetable and Herb plants
Anybody can sell seedlings plants of vegetables, herbs and flowers in May. Damned near everybody does it.
It’s easy. Buy a couple of racks, roll them by the front door near the coke machine, hook up a leaky hose, flood the poor little things with water, scrawl a price on some cardboard and watch them bake in the sun for a couple of weeks. Give most of them away to the relatives and toss the rest in the dumpster. Success! Order double the next season!
This practice is not just for the convenience stores. Surprisingly, the fancy garden centers, which treat their flower bedding plants with extreme care, do not do much better than the in-outs with their vegetable and herb plants.
Gardeners who work their butts off getting the vegetable garden patch ready for the seedlings expect the garden store owner to treat their selections with the same care. No gardener wants to see tomato plants so overgrown that they are doing triple gainers and half twists just to get to the sunlight. No gardener wants to guess the varieties when the tags are missing. The darned vegetable garden is a lot of effort and a fine selection of seedlings is what the gardener will demand.
At green garden gates, we offer our customers with vegetable and herb plants that are consistently high quality, accurate, and always presentable. Gardeners can rely on these plants in any green garden gates at any time of the season.
What sizes of plants do you sell?
Our standard mult-pack of plants is a recycled plastic three pack with large cells for vigor and survivability during the season. We try to offer these multi-packs, in some quantities, during the entire season. (we wish we could offer the old “six paks” if plants for our gardeners, but the plant just do not hold up during the season)
Our next size is a five inch container that is biodegradable and plantable, with any signing or marketing on the pot also biodegradable. (The large box stores have taken the lead on this biodegradable pot and it has become a huge success). We also offer a two gallon and later a five gallon container, also biodegradable and plantable. We have a special large biodegradable herb assortment container that fits easily into a decorative container in assorted colors.
Where do you purchase the plants?
We regard the growing and care for these vegetable and herb seedlings as a specialized area. Because we don’t regarding “growing” as part of our model, we rely on three avenues of purchase. First, we have national contracts with United States growers to supply our needs in with these plants. National growers are only a fallback position for us as we are committed to locally grown products for each of our stores.
We sweep the locality for established growers who are willing and able to adapt to our requirements of designated pots and pot sizes.
However, our goal is to have specialized growers in the area who do just that; grow vegetable and herb plants for only us. We believe in becoming a grower of ornamental horticulture is a worthwhile, profitable and satisfying career.
We look for an ambitious young man or woman in the area who has a sufficient amount of land or has parents who have this land for the project. We have designed a “greenhouse package” that is functional but of moderate cost, that can be installed as a starter for this venture. We train and prepare this young person for the career by interning him or her in a regional growing operation for a complete growing cycle of one year. We provide him or her with a “mentor” during and after the training. Green garden gates will fund the greenhouse installation and subsidize an income before and sometimes after production of the plants.
green garden gates agrees to purchase all the production from this venture for a period of five years to provide stability to the business. The owner of the land agrees to provide the property free of charge during these five years, regardless of any change in the young grower (sometimes, the young grower does not fit with this career and another young grower is installed. The land owner continues to provide the land free of charge during this five year period)
The project has been a huge success with sixty five of these starter greenhouse operations in place. Twenty six of the operations have been expanded to more growing houses. Ninety-two percent of the young growers are still operating their businesses. Twelve young growers have been hired by green garden gates to act as mentors for the new young growers in addition to operating their own greenhouses. All training now is done with these starter greenhouse operations that have been in the business over four seasons.
We have kept the focus on and attentiveness to vegetable and herb plants. We have added internet sales to their businesses, with green garden gates providing the marketing and the grower handling the shipping of the orders and each sharing in the end profits.
Do you experiment with unusual varieties of vegetable and herb plants?
We pride ourselves at green garden gates in being the national leader in new introductions of the entire range of edibles for the gardener. We watch closely and frequently what is arriving in specialty food markets; farmers markets, small ethnic stores, worldwide food outlets, organic markets and growers and breeders.
For example, we secured a source for unusual varieties of gourmet potatoes. We purchased small quanities of these seed potatoes for each store and packaged them in little burlap sacks with a laminated label. There are a hit with the adventurous gardener! We try to stock as many as 75 varieties of tomato plants, from the latest introductions to the antiques that are hard to find. We just have a lot of fun with edibles and that spills over to an enthusiastic band of gardeners who are eager to try the new stuff each season.
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Fear
A vegetable garden for every family was rural traditional America. The dirt rows of plants stayed with us in the depression and the “victory gardens” of the war. They sprung up again with the hippies on the communes. Those garden patches were all about saving money. This kind of gardening nearly vanished with the boomers; too much money, too much work, too little time. Now, it’s a whole new ball game and it has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do with fear.
We, now and forever, will fear the food we are offered, the chemicals, the handling, the shipping and the storage. A mother will stare into bright food displays of supermarkets and fear for the safety of her child. Gradually, ever so slowly, her anxiety will creep upward until she will finally decide that the only food that she can be safe with is the fruit from the plants in her own backyard. The backyard vegetable garden, large or small, will arrive again at the American home and this time it is here for keeps. It is simply all about fear.
Yes, the corporations see it and are quickly moving toward organic food. But fear will soon find its way into these shelves with media sound bites spread across the country of fraud and abuse of the label of organic. For many, the sad conclusion for many people will be that the only way to eliminate fear in food is to grow it, harvest it and prepare it from the backyard.
But, this won’t be “grannies garden” because saving money is not the motivation. An entire new industry will prosper that just takes care of these gardens leaving the family do nothing but pick the fruit. Strict new government regulations will enforce the purity of the products for these gardens. Fear will have very long coat tails.
We understand this at green garden gates. We must certify that each plant, each seed and every care product for this vegetable garden greatly reduces or entirely eliminates this fear.
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What kinds and varieties of herbs and vegetables do you sell and how are they displayed?
We try to offer for sale every kind of herb and vegetable that our customers will use in their home garden, any plant that will adapt to a pot and look good throughout the season. We would contact gardeners in the area to develop a list of the most successful crops and pattern our selection from these interviews.
“I once had a rich guy who shopped my store every season. He and his young children would plant a vegetable garden. When it came to planting the corn, the kids would dig in the seeds. Three days later, he would come to my place, purchase a bunch of pots of little corn seedlings and sneak out there at night replacing the seed with the corn transplants!”
Mable Thornton
garden store owner
Northern Minnesota
We just like the “library” look in our displays of these plants, on tiered benches right up to the customer’s eye. These plants are purchased one by one with lots of thinking before the purchase. We want each plant to be individually presentable. With tiered benches with no backstock behind, the plants will stand out for the gardener.
Where are the vegetable and herb plants located in the store?
The entire area outlined in yellow is our “market garden” area of our stores. 
We sign it and present it prominently for our customers to be directed to all of the “edibles” that we offer; fruit trees, small fruits, roots, corms and cuttings, and vegetable and herb plants. We also have a complete selection of seeds and seed supplies in this area as well as all products for the care of the plants throughout the season. The Harvest Market is a complete one-stop area for the edible gardeners.
Books and handouts on edible gardening
Pots and containers for seed starting and all season gardening
Fertilizers and other plant disease and insect control products
Tools and plant supports etc
Canning and harvesting supplies
The two connector buildings on each end of the area are used for special displays and seminars and presentations throughout the season on gardening with edibles. Large blown up photos are displayed in this area showing local gardeners and their prized crops over the years. Several flat screens are located and generated by our computer systems that inform and entertain the gardeners about edible gardening. Local edible gardening groups set up displays on high season weekends and “market garden Wednesdays” featuring their clubs, answer questions and give advise
As we discuss later, we have, in each green garden gates, a farmers market where small back yard truck farmers can display and sell their edibles. This area starts this process with the sale of early season crops. As the season progresses and the sales of plants diminish, this local farmers market moves to the front of the store for higher visibility. Our goal is to be the forefront in the gardeners’ mind that green garden gates has all he or she needs for successful edible gardening
The actual location for display of the veggies and herb in the covered area is outlined in red. The plants are protected against the elements in this house and can be displayed in a uniform, neat manner. As in all plants and products that are some distance from the major customer traffic, we have “teaser” displays in the heavy traffic areas that features samples of the edibles and directs the gardener to the Harvest Garden section of the store.
The green garden kids of “Farmer Frank” and “Farmer Martha”
“My children grew up in my garden store, helping sort plants and lifting bags of bark into our customer’s cars. They went to college because of those petunia dollars.
When my oldest boy bought his first house, he went right out and bought a new tree for the front yard. Where did he buy it? HOME DEPOT!!!. Jeez. When I asked him why he did not get the tree from the local garden store, he said that the thought never occurred to him. He did not even know if there was a local garden store. His brain just connected Home Depot….plants!”
Sue Alton
Garden store owner
Minnesota
How are we going to get these generations into our garden stores?
We believe that their kids are the pied pipers for their parents, the young Gen X and Gen Y homeowners. McDonald's figured it out years ago. Go right to the kids, attend to the children and they will insist on a happy meal or going down the slide at their Play Place.
In our Harvest Market area of our stores, we have targeted the kids for vegetable gardening with a program called “Green Garden Kid’s Club. A special section is devoted to containers, plants, tools, supplies, seeds and starting kits that relate to children.
On Harvest Market Wednesday’s, in each of our stores, we introduce them to “Farmer Frank” and “Farmer Martha” who teach them about seeds and soils and gardening. There is a new theme each week during the season. The children plant and take their pots home. There is a special radio button for children on our website devoted to kids and gardening.
Lowe's Home Center took the lead this season with a great display of children gardening products; pre-planted pots and containers, an animated selection for the little gardener.
We have a Facebook page for these kids and gardening. They can share stories and post pictures of their plants and harvests. There are large photos on display in our stores of the kids who have attended the classes and their prized vegetables from their gardens. The kids are given special Green Garden Kids Club pins to wear for the classes. Our suppliers have partnered with us by direct shipping to the green garden kids, products that will help with their vegetable gardening.
We enlist two volunteers to be Farmer Frank and Martha from gardening clubs in the local area. They are paid for the seasonal classes and given a discount on merchandise from the store.
The age range is from five through seven years.
The program begins at 6: oo pm and ends at 7:30 pm each Wednesday. The time is set to allow parents to attend the classes with their children the formal class lasts for one hour releasing the kids at 7:00pm to play with the trikes in the nursery.
Light snacks and a natural fruit drink are planned, prepared and provided by Frank and Martha to both the children and the parents. The snacks are nutritionally sound with a vegetable or fruit theme, sliced apples or fresh tomatoes etc. The store reimburses Frank and Martha for food costs.
We request that one or both parents bring their children to attend the classes. We emphasize the parents, rather than grandparents because we want these young mothers and fathers to experience green garden gates as potential customers.
Mom and Dad receive a special discount on store products and plants for bringing their kids to the event. While the kids are occupied with Frank and Martha, several guides are assigned to these parents to answer questions about their home landscaping projects.
Because of this program at our green garden gates stores, we have seen a 20% increase in purchases of Gen X and Gen Y homeowners.
