Overview (All sessions)

Finding the right accent in the landscape can enhance your garden and bring its aesthetic to new heights.  Whether you are sequencing the right addition to an existing garden or starting from scratch, we often forget about the possibilities that using bulbs, annuals, and even artwork can have when done throughout the season.

Owning your own business is challenging, but it comes with the awesome potential to build a highly valuable asset and gain your financial freedom. To do this, you must master your finances and turn your company into a highly profitable entity.

Jeffrey will guide you on which financial key indicators to manage, and how to engage your team in order to win at the game of business. He will show you the secrets that highly successful landscape entrepreneurs use to achieve a higher return-on-investment, and to ultimately gain their financial freedom.

Ficaria verna (Lesser celandine) is a perennial ground-covering plant native to northern Europe, newly found to be invasive in the Great Lakes region. F. verna forms a dense mat in the early spring, outcompeting native ephemeral species, many of which are already threatened. It can be identified by its small (1-4 cm), lobed leaves growing in clusters with 7-12 petaled, glossy, yellow inflorescences (2-5 cm). After blooming, F. verna forms clusters of small bulblets and tubers which spread and easily propagate if disturbed.

The year of 2024 will certainly go down as one of the most challenging turf management years in recent memory. Summer conditions could generally be described as uncomfortable. Hot, wet, humid conditions resulted in an abundance of turfgrass diseases including red thread, dollar spot, brown patch, and pythium blight.

This presentation will recap 2024 and discuss both cultural and pesticide recommendations for managing turf in less-than-ideal conditions.

Why should you stay ahead of garden trends? It's straightforward: understanding trends allows businesses to align with consumer interests, driving sales and fostering growth. Join us for a cutting-edge session, where the spotlight will be on the latest in garden trends.

Learn how to encourage repeat visits, raise your average ticket amount, and nurture customer loyalty with proven secrets from e-commerce marketing programs. You don't have to have e-commerce to grow your business while using e-comm strategies. Most of the technology is just as applicable to brick-and-mortar retail, and you might already have access to it and not realize it. There are easier ways to make more money without doing more work. This session will include real-world examples from other garden centers using these tricks. Leave with new initiatives to try this spring.