GCA (Garden Centers of America) Tour
June 25th thru June 28th
June 25th thru June 28th
by Alec Charais & Tamara Parrilli
Thursday, June 28th
It's our last day on the tour, I can't believe it's almost over. What an experience. We toured some of Detroit's most successful and inspirational garden center stores. Alec and I encourage you to use some of the impressive display ideas featured in these photos and hope you enjoyed reading our blog. The weather was incredible and we're going to miss the great people we met on this tour.
It’s going to take us a while to sort through all of our photos that were taken on this tour. If you are interested in seeing or hearing more about the GCA tour, be sure to come to our Summer Expo in Minnesota on July 19th – Alec will be showing more photos, ideas, and highlights from the tour that we hope will inspire you.
Bordine's, Rochester Hills
This store is completely redone twice a year to inspire and dazzle customers. Everything changes, from the products to the wall color, furniture and lighting.
Bordine's, Rochester Hills
And now a word from our sponsor. Darrin provides his take on the Endless Summer Collection.
Ray Weigand's Nursery & Garden Center
This garden center has been around for almost 70 years with beautiful product, friendly and very helpful staff. They are committed to quality and have more than 100 full-time and 200 part-time employees, 30 of their employees are Michigan Certified Nursery professionals. In the summer months they have a two week rotational “layoff” for their seasonal staff allowing them to take some vacation yet still keep employed, and a portion are not asked back until the fall season.
Check out their butterfly house that is home to over 200 Michigan native butterflies.Children and adults alike can observe and interact with them.
Ray Weigand's Nursery & Garden Center
Deneweth's Garden Center
Is committed to being a leader in creating a sustainable environment, and strives to teach customers to be successful gardeners. They have an Idea Center were customers can drop off planters and create beautiful planters. They also have a pond area which is quite tranquil. Deneweth's Garden Center
English Gardens
This was our last stop, and what an ample garden center location. The store added a 20,000 square-foot greenhouse housing green goods and seasonal decor 7 years ago. You will also find stylish handbags and hats by Vera Bradley in their gift department along with comfortable and contemporary outdoor furniture. We enjoyed wine tasting presented by Home & Garden Showplace and was able to listen to the groups interesting ideas on this year's tour.
English Gardens, Clinton Township
Wednesday, June 26th
Day two, and we are having a blast on the GCA tour, meeting all kinds of amazing people on this trip. Sally Gill from Gill Landscape Nursery from Corpus Christi, both her and her husband are the owners, they have two boys, and her husband surfs a good wave when he can. George Gentry from San Antonio, TX who owns Rainbow Gardens, a really funny and a very passionate guy! Geri Nolan from Fruit of the Bloom Garden Center from Wisconsin, she has really cool outfits and she was also a teacher. Seth Reed from Burpee Home Gardens who has a 19 month old daughter, Saddie. He definitely has the gen y personality, very confident guy and kept me laughing with his dry sense of humor.
For those of you who haven't been on a tour, you need to experience it. And anyone who is interested, should contact Jeff Morey for next year's tour. So, today I woke up and the bus headed over to The Henry Ford Assembly Plant. The rest of the day includes the Planterra Conservatory, Detroit Garden Works, English Gardens, and dinner in Greek Town.
The Henry Ford Assembly Plant
We had an opportunity to tour the Henry Ford Plant, we were able to watch from an elevated walkway as Ford F-150's are assembled. We also viewed the 10.4 acre "living roof" from an 80-foot observation deck.
Planterra Conservatory
We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at this 11,000 sq. ft.boutique retail, showcasing very unique botanicals in an enclosed glass conservatory. It was a chic shopping experience within a beautiful garden setting.
Planterra Conservatory
Detroit Garden Works
This garden center was named one of America's top 25 garden stores by Garden Design magazine. 14,200 square feet of garden containers, furnishings, accessories, ornament and sculpture. Beautiful home decor and antique table and chair sets. Featured in Martha Stewart Living magazine's "The Garden 50:" 50 favorite products, project and places inspired by the world of gardening.
Detroit Garden Works
English Gardens
This is their flagship store that was designed after European stores, one of the largest in the Midwest, located on 5 acres and featuring 81,000 total sq. ft. Beautiful flowers to incredible landscaping. Amazing displays and encaps that help inspire their customers.
English Gardens, Royal Oaks
After a full day of touring, the group had an opportunity to visit Detroit's historic Greek Town. I heard it's the best Greek food to be found. Welcoming eateries and Greektown Casino-Hotel. Alec and I enjoying a nice dinner with the gang.
Tuesday, June 25th
Summer Tour - Get Your Motor Running!
It's our last day on the tour, I can't believe it's almost over. What an experience. We toured some of Detroit's most successful and inspirational garden center stores. Alec and I encourage you to use some of the impressive display ideas featured in these photos and hope you enjoyed reading our blog. The weather was incredible and we're going to miss the great people we met on this tour.
It’s going to take us a while to sort through all of our photos that were taken on this tour. If you are interested in seeing or hearing more about the GCA tour, be sure to come to our Summer Expo in Minnesota on July 19th – Alec will be showing more photos, ideas, and highlights from the tour that we hope will inspire you.
Bordine's, Rochester Hills
This store is completely redone twice a year to inspire and dazzle customers. Everything changes, from the products to the wall color, furniture and lighting.
Bordine's, Rochester Hills
And now a word from our sponsor. Darrin provides his take on the Endless Summer Collection.
Ray Weigand's Nursery & Garden Center
This garden center has been around for almost 70 years with beautiful product, friendly and very helpful staff. They are committed to quality and have more than 100 full-time and 200 part-time employees, 30 of their employees are Michigan Certified Nursery professionals. In the summer months they have a two week rotational “layoff” for their seasonal staff allowing them to take some vacation yet still keep employed, and a portion are not asked back until the fall season.
Check out their butterfly house that is home to over 200 Michigan native butterflies.Children and adults alike can observe and interact with them.
Ray Weigand's Nursery & Garden Center
Deneweth's Garden Center
Is committed to being a leader in creating a sustainable environment, and strives to teach customers to be successful gardeners. They have an Idea Center were customers can drop off planters and create beautiful planters. They also have a pond area which is quite tranquil. Deneweth's Garden Center
English Gardens
This was our last stop, and what an ample garden center location. The store added a 20,000 square-foot greenhouse housing green goods and seasonal decor 7 years ago. You will also find stylish handbags and hats by Vera Bradley in their gift department along with comfortable and contemporary outdoor furniture. We enjoyed wine tasting presented by Home & Garden Showplace and was able to listen to the groups interesting ideas on this year's tour.
English Gardens, Clinton Township
Wednesday, June 26th
Day two, and we are having a blast on the GCA tour, meeting all kinds of amazing people on this trip. Sally Gill from Gill Landscape Nursery from Corpus Christi, both her and her husband are the owners, they have two boys, and her husband surfs a good wave when he can. George Gentry from San Antonio, TX who owns Rainbow Gardens, a really funny and a very passionate guy! Geri Nolan from Fruit of the Bloom Garden Center from Wisconsin, she has really cool outfits and she was also a teacher. Seth Reed from Burpee Home Gardens who has a 19 month old daughter, Saddie. He definitely has the gen y personality, very confident guy and kept me laughing with his dry sense of humor.
For those of you who haven't been on a tour, you need to experience it. And anyone who is interested, should contact Jeff Morey for next year's tour. So, today I woke up and the bus headed over to The Henry Ford Assembly Plant. The rest of the day includes the Planterra Conservatory, Detroit Garden Works, English Gardens, and dinner in Greek Town.
The Henry Ford Assembly Plant
We had an opportunity to tour the Henry Ford Plant, we were able to watch from an elevated walkway as Ford F-150's are assembled. We also viewed the 10.4 acre "living roof" from an 80-foot observation deck.
Planterra Conservatory
We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at this 11,000 sq. ft.boutique retail, showcasing very unique botanicals in an enclosed glass conservatory. It was a chic shopping experience within a beautiful garden setting.
Planterra Conservatory
Detroit Garden Works
This garden center was named one of America's top 25 garden stores by Garden Design magazine. 14,200 square feet of garden containers, furnishings, accessories, ornament and sculpture. Beautiful home decor and antique table and chair sets. Featured in Martha Stewart Living magazine's "The Garden 50:" 50 favorite products, project and places inspired by the world of gardening.
Detroit Garden Works
English Gardens
This is their flagship store that was designed after European stores, one of the largest in the Midwest, located on 5 acres and featuring 81,000 total sq. ft. Beautiful flowers to incredible landscaping. Amazing displays and encaps that help inspire their customers.
English Gardens, Royal Oaks
After a full day of touring, the group had an opportunity to visit Detroit's historic Greek Town. I heard it's the best Greek food to be found. Welcoming eateries and Greektown Casino-Hotel. Alec and I enjoying a nice dinner with the gang.
Tuesday, June 25th
Summer Tour - Get Your Motor Running!
Hi, all, as I mentioned in our E-news letter last week that Alec and I (Tamara Parrilli) from Bailey Nurseries are at the GCA Tour in Detroit, Mich. Both Alec and I wanted to share with you our 3 day tour.
I am sitting on the bus on our way to our next stop, Detroit Garden Works in Sylvan Lake, Mich. Total retail space is 14,200 sq.ft.
The first day, we had an opportunity to visit the following garden genters: Bordine's Grand Blanc location, Zingerman's Roadhouse for lunch, Farmer John's Greenhouse, Plymouth Nursery and then to Four Star Green House, Proven Winners for dinner in their beautiful, unbelievable display garden. It was magical, to say the least. We are having beautiful weather! And we are on Robert Hendrickson's bus having a good old time!
A couple of things we saw that we would like to share with you..
First, I would like to introduce to you our bus driver, Darrin (Big Daddy). He has been an exceptional driver. Bus driver by day and comedian by night. I tried to take off, but Alec stopped me before I could get to the next stop.
Bordine's Grand Blanc
Summer is such a great time to get customers excited about the season and Bordine's is getting creative, showing such a colorful display with paint cans and sheer fabric to grab consumer's attention! Bordines
A great place to grab an excellent bite to eat, and a really cool open book business plan that operates 8 individual businesses to boot. Each in food, with the exception of their ZingTrain (a customer service training entity). Each business has managing partners and a collaborative management style with the other Zingerman's businesses and are strongly committed to their brand and follow up with rigorous training. We were the beneficiaries of "The Art of Giving Great Service" seminar just for the GCA tour.
Zingerman's Roadhouse
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This is a fun entrance and what a fabulous place to have lunch! The staff was incredibly nice!
A camper drive thru? A fun way to get your customers to remember you!
And look, the GCA tour gang is having a yummy lunch of pulled chicken and pork bbq sauce sandwiches.
Fun sign :-)
Farmer John's Greenhouse
Next stop, Farmer John's, excellent product quality, great customer service and lots and lots of varieties to choose from. This greenhouse was a present to his wife over 25 years ago.
Farmer John's Greenhouse
The Knock Out Family of Roses front and center. Great color!
If you are in the market for fabulous perennials, Farmer John's had a great selection!
What a beautiful assortment of Japanese maples!
Plymouth Nursery & Garden Showplace
This store underwent a recent renovation, and we don't know what it looked like before, but what a great looking retail space. They did a nice job inside the store with signage and displays to inspire consumers on how to use the products they are selling.
Plymouth Nursery Home & Garden Showplace
Alec here: I had to drag Tamara out of the chair! Imagine relaxing on this on a warm summer evening.
Here is a nice Encap display to show consumers combination plantings for their garden.
Nice clear directional signage that shows consumers were to go throughout the store. With all the busy renovation they still had time to add signage!
All I can say is beautiful color!
Four Star, Proven Winners Dinner
Farmer John's Greenhouse
The Knock Out Family of Roses front and center. Great color!
If you are in the market for fabulous perennials, Farmer John's had a great selection!
What a beautiful assortment of Japanese maples!
Plymouth Nursery & Garden Showplace
This store underwent a recent renovation, and we don't know what it looked like before, but what a great looking retail space. They did a nice job inside the store with signage and displays to inspire consumers on how to use the products they are selling.
Plymouth Nursery Home & Garden Showplace
Alec here: I had to drag Tamara out of the chair! Imagine relaxing on this on a warm summer evening.
Here is a nice Encap display to show consumers combination plantings for their garden.
Nice clear directional signage that shows consumers were to go throughout the store. With all the busy renovation they still had time to add signage!
All I can say is beautiful color!
Four Star, Proven Winners Dinner
Enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Four Star's display garden. It was an exceptional night with beautiful scenery.
Hope all of you will find out what garden centers we have in store for you tomorrow :-)
Cheers!
