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Add-On Biz: Seasonal color
1 Feb, 2006 By: LM Staff Landscape ManagementThis additional service is pretty for your customers, pretty for your bottom line.
Any service you can offer that keeps customers happy and gives you reasons to visit the site has to be a pretty good one, right? If that service helps differentiate your business and grow profits, all the better. Maybe it's time to add some seasonal color to your portfolio.
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"There are many low-maintenance annual varieties on the market that can make things easier for landscape crews," says Barb Terrell, landscape program manager for Ball Horticultural Co. in West Chicago, IL. "The key is putting the right plant in the right place."
With seasonal color it's vital to learn which plants thrive best in your climate and in the property micro-climates you serve. Under the wrong conditions, all plants can fail.
Business benefits first
Arm your employees with the right mix of technical expertise. It requires well-thought-out and systematic procedures, in this instance, for bed prep, installation, fertilization, mulching and pest controls. This type of work generally is performed best by employees who are detail-oriented and efficient.
Color Burst, founded in 1987 and operated by Joe Burns, plants more than 1.9 million flowers annually for a range of clients, both commercial and residential. Based in Atlanta and with branch locations in Birmingham and Huntsville, AL, and Charlotte, NC, it provides bed design, and seasonal flower installation and maintenance services across most of the Southeast.
Clients primarily include property managers, commercial properties and residences.
"Sometimes we like to do the unusual," Burns says. For instance, his company does the beds at Jordan-Hare Stadium, home field for the Auburn University Tigers football team. Burns, a graduate and season ticket holder, sees that the beds sport the university's orange and blue, with T-I-G-E-R-S spelled out in flowers, of course.
The more profitable end of the service usually turns out to be maintenance. Even the best-prepared bed will need tidying and weed control.
Plan change-outs
"In the North, spring through summer is prime time for annuals. The cooler temperatures in early spring and autumn provide the opportunity for additional change-outs to include cool-weather annuals like pansies, dianthus, snapdragons and mums," says Jessie Atchison, industry communications manager at Ball.
Terrell advises landscapers that they don't have to wait for an annual bed to look bad before changing it, especially when they're looking for ways to improve the bottom line. "Many clients are receptive to the idea of changing colors to reflect the season," she says.
Arm yourself with info
Consider several critical factors when choosing annuals, advises Terry Howe, product representative and station manager with PanAmerican Seed. "One is sun versus shade. Then pay attention to watering regimes, like heavy versus light, for example. Many landscapers struggle with watering zones or timing that can be in conflict with what they're used to doing for turf. Landscapers also need to know the most appropriate season for the annuals they choose. Cool versus hot season is important in the South, and hardiness, or frost tolerance, is crucial in the North."
Contact your state association to find professional grower associations for tips on what works best in your region.
New for this year
If you want to wow your customers this year, offer deep, bold colors like burgundy and black, or brights like yellow, orange and fuchsia. These are upcoming color trends, say the experts at Ball. "Foliage is very popular too," Atchison says. "More and more annuals are coming to market that are grown for their foliage rather than their flowers, so it's easy to add big color to plantings without relying on the plants being in bloom." Two Ball brands, Wave petunias and Fanfare spreading impatiens, remain popular for their weather tolerance and growth rates, Atchison adds.
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