Masterpiece Flower Power

Hello everyone! We are going into the holiday weekend, and I would like to post a general overview to set expectations. There will be no floral delivery until Tuesday the 5th, when floral will be delivered. I do not have official word yet on when garden delivery will be next week, but I am assuming we should continue to plan for Wednesday. I have scheduled for Wednesday deliveries at the moment, but I will update those who need updated when I hear more.  Friday - please focus on getting garden centers set for the holiday weekend. We will likely see increase in walk throughs just due to people have the day off, but I would not expect to see a large customer base overall. July 4th is not a big flower holiday. I want to remind everyone that the company is calling on us to make sure we are taking the time to get rid of the product isn't fresh. Be real, and don't hold on to things that are obviously not looking great. Let's save the space and hassle for the product that still ...

 We have a delivery in garden today. All stores are getting 3 racks with the exception of Canal Winchester, who is getting 7 racks.  I have noticed overall that it seems like we are all losing our momentum coming into these slower weeks. I totally get it. I want everyone to know that I get it. Sometimes coming in and just watering the F out of a bunch of flowers can be mundane. These are the times where I encourage you to pop in that earbud and find your happy place. Do your watering, and spend the rest of the time cleaning up areas, condensing your product, and reorganizing to make displays look full and neat. Try to find some pride in walking away from a well watered and good looking garden center. Here is some notes sent directly over from my big boss man, and maybe that will help you in your understanding that it’s okay to get rid of the ugly stuff so we can focus on the good stuff. 

 Good morning and hello to a new week!  No garden delivery today, garden delivery is on Wednesday again this week Floral deliveries  Gahanna 114 2 pallets - delivered Lancaster 144 1 pallet - delivered Reynoldsburg 212 2 pallets - delivered Grove City 234 1 pallet - delivered Canal Winchester 246 2 pallets - delivered  Floral deliveries looking pretty normal for this Monday - a little small for some but not too bad. I haven’t been able to spend much time in floral departments lately because of the big need in garden. I would love to see pictures of your set ups. For those who consistently send me pictures of your displays, thank you. :) In garden we need to continue focusing on making sure that product is well watered, getting rid of old product that is no longer fresh, and condensing/reorganizing our tables for whatever works best. We should continue to refresh our front displays, especially those that have been sitting around for too long. Keep changing it up.

Good morning! The main goals for this weekend is to make sure that things get watered completely and continue to clean up our garden centers.  1. Do not trust the stores watering. It is our product and we need to make sure that it is getting watered to our standard. Hanging baskets should be watered, up and under to get under the flowers, until water starts to run through the bottom. Patio planters should be doing the same. All of it, really. Water evenly and slowly over flats and 6/8pks  2. Condensing seems to be a big issue lately. Most stores are not going through their proven winners and garden exclusives to condense and pull out bad product. Some product has been overwatered and is very yellow and some has been overwatered and has rotted. Some has even been underwatered and is now a crumbly mess. These things should not stick around.  3. Even if you aren't changing the displays, you should be cleaning them up so that they are straightened and appear full.  Last ...

 Good morning! It’s Friday. Here is what I’m seeing in stores that every store needs to continue working on -  Watering has been inconsistent. I’m seeing a lot of signs in store that we are allowing product to get too dry before we water it. Allowing product to wilt completely between watering is not beneficial to the plant at all. This is shocking the roots and will essentially cause product to decrease in overall value a lot quicker - it also kills off good blooms quicker. Less blooms = less appealing product = slower sell thru = higher toss. Let’s discuss how to prioritize our watering. 1. Take the time to look over all of your product when you first get in and visually inspect each area. Do you have product by your front doors? What sections look the most dry, based off the appearance of the plants? What areas don’t get hit by the sprinkler system? Do you have spots in your sprinkler systems that don’t hit your inside tables? 2. Prioritize watering product based off this i...

Rack counts for delivery today  114 Gahanna 5 racks  144 Lancaster 6 racks  212 Reynoldsburg 6 racks  234 Grove City 5 racks  246 Canal 8 racks Rain coming around 2pm- check your radar and hourly to confirm. It's looking like a thunderstorm so garden centers may need to close down. Please plan to finish your work before then if possible. I need all stores- first in- check all watering needs. Water anything that is overly dry to prevent it from sitting dry all day before the rain starts. Otherwise, let the rain do your watering today. Make sure to water all racks and anything under an overhang that doesn't get hit by rain.  Most stores are receiving a little bit over everything on this delivery. Some more hanging baskets, some instablooms, more heatllvers, and then some newer patio planters. A lot of us are lacking on front end cap worthy product so this is going to be a good day.  Store specific- I'll be at gahanna today so no specific notes about Gaha...

Good morning! We have a garden delivery coming tomorrow, so today is a great prep day.  -continue to condense and reorganize to make space on your displays for new product. I do not have ASN yet but I will get it sometime in the next few hours. I imagine we will likely need to plan for more hanging baskets, more 6pks, and more heat lovers. I'll update that when I know more.  - watering is a big issue overall. I believe we aren't watering early enough to prevent product from wilting. Everytime a flower wilts, it makes it less strong. It may bounce back, but after a few times, it's going to not come back. The roots can only withstand so much. Staying on top of our watering is key.  -save your time when you are watering. Don't watering things that don't need it. If you are watering hanging baskets, lift up from the bottom. If it feels heavy, don't water it. Do the same for the patio planters by tiping them to their side slightly to feel. Lift trays up for traded pr...

 Hello!! I have a store specific post today. You only need to read your specific section.  Gahanna - Chey and Atira! Watering of course is a major concern. Moises will not be in the store on Saturday and Brad is on vacation. Moises has raised concerns about all product getting fully watered when he is not in. Let's please do him a favor and keep our eye on watering for Meijer product and Sawyer product as well. I do not expect us to spend a lot of time doing this ourselves, more so making sure that the sprinklers are getting turned on in the morning and that meijer employees see that product need watered. If they are not going to do it, lets do Moises the favor and get it done please. Some of our racked product is getting missed in our day to day - we need to make sure that we are spending the time to get racks well watered. Especially any product that may be in the middle of the racks.  Otherwise please - deadhead and prune geraniums, sunflowers, and easy daisy baskets....

​Hopefully everyone has been safe and cool during these last couple of days. I have been lucky enough to be unaffected by the power outages but I’m doubtful that is true for everyone.  Depending on your store, you may have a different load of work today.  Some stores were able to start working through their garden delivery product, some were not.  We need to make sure we are prioritizing our watering as normal, and working on building our displays. Overall we should be taking the time to see what toss we can do to help make space. We should be more selective on our 8pk flat varieties to focus more on the 6pk flat varieties. Corporate has said to worry about focusing on FRESH product. So if something is old, looking meh, etc- it’s time to get rid of it. Please feel free to send me a text with a photo if you feel unsure about anything.  Please do your best to keep new product onto your front tables. Typically it’s at its best when it arrives (other than the times it co...

 If you are reading this, you should have read the weather notice. We have a few hot days coming. Tomorrow is the hottest day of the week. It is also our delivery day. I am not planning on working the entire delivery tomorrow, due to the heat. My current plan is to have people come in early if at all possible, get everything watered well, including the racks. We want to make sure to get the items off the top of the racks and off the top shelves so they don’t bake on the racks.  The deliveries are big,  Rack counts (please remember this is tomorrow) Gahanna 114 7 racks Lancaster 144 4 racks Reynoldsburg 212 7 racks Grove City 234 7 racks Canal Winchester 246 15 racks So today we should get getting everything well watered if needed. There was some rain last night so we need to be doing our checks. We can do table clean up, reorganizing, condensing if possible to prep for tomorrows delivery. Remember, I don’t expect anyone to be working much today if they don’t want to. Thos...

Hi all, I wanted to touch on a few relevant concerns with this upcoming heat. We are seeing some really hot days coming up this week. Yesterday, today, and Wednesday are all pretty bad. Thursday isn’t great but at least some relief from almost 100 degree weather. It’s important that you know how to take care of yourself in these situations and understand my main priorities.  PLEASE make sure to stay hydrated. You should be brining in a water bottle, and refilling it throughout the day. Worse case, go refill from the water in the coke machines inside the store. I will be sending out an email to the stores reminding them to refill their coolers in the garden centers if applicable. You are permitted to use this, just be respectful.  Dress appropriately. Wear light clothing, shorts, short sleeves, a hat if possible and sunscreen. Remember that tank tops and crop tops are not permitted. Wide strap sleeveless shirts are allowed, just keep to the three finger rule like in high school...

 Good morning! Sorry I’ve been lax on the posts the last week. Posts will start to slow down a little as we get more into our day to day maintaining schedule. I will always try to keep a post for delivery days and I’ll start doing a summary post early on in the week, hopefully Monday/Tuesday to give you an idea of how the week is looking.  Today there is no garden delivery, only floral. Garden is going to be continuing to maintain our displays, keeping to fresh product, putting the nicest and newest stuff up in front of our end caps, and really looking to get our QUALITY high. We are going to see our sales dropping because people are not planting as much, so we really need to make sure that what we have looks it best.  Floral is in, and looking like we might not have as many delays today as we have been doing. I personally sent ASNs to floral merchandisers. My inbox for work was full and it stopped me from getting more emails. I probably deleted about 8000000 old indeed a...

No delivery today, some rain came last night. Floral is being caught up today. Save on hours if you can, otherwise condense, reorganize, check watering and make sure displays are set up correctly 

Big garden shipment today!  Rack counts  114 Gahanna 11 racks  144 Lancaster 9 racks  212 Reynoldsburg 12 racks  234 Grove City 9 racks  246 Canal Winchester 10 racks  Big restock! Major focus on today is the new SUPERCAL program. Here is a screenshot from my corporate guy's email.  So we are looking to move it to the front so we can see it and let it sell!! Give it it's own designated from table in full sun. Get it priced and looking great and then snap me some clear photos so I can show the company!! (Mandatory - not a request.) I would like to post every photo on here tomorrow to show off everyone's hard work.  I think a few of our front displays have gone stale so it might be a good day to rearrange a few things. Think about what you have that is new, fresh, and looks good. Heat lovers, different variety of hanging baskets, whatever is coming in on this delivery. If you need some ideas, give me a call! You know I'll accept a c...

Good morning!  Reynoldsburg, Lancaster, and Canal should be completing their floral delivieres today. Grove City and Gahanna should already be completed.  No garden delivery today. It's tomorrow. I don't know if I said if was today on yesterday's post... if I did sorry I was confused.  Chance of rain this afternoon, keep it in mind but don't rely. Many places had good rain last night. Please check all your areas and don't overwater if you are well watered. The high today is 78 so we may not see a lot of stuff in need of a full watering but it is still up to us to do our weight checks and make sure.  We are dwindling down in our delivieres. Hours will start to decrease here soon if they haven't already.  Please do some extra cleaning around your store today. I'll be dropping into random stores so please be doing your best.  Thanks all. 

Floral delivieres  Pallets count is listed by memory. Please check ASN for accuracy.  2 pallets canal not deliviered until late today  2 pallets gahanna deliviered  2 pallets Reynoldsburg not deliviered until late today  2 pallets Lancaster not delivered until late today  1 pallet grove city deliviered  No garden delivery. Rain on and off all day. Remember not to rely on the rain. You still need to check entrance displays that may not get hit by rain, any product still displayed on racks. Please continue to try to get product off racks. Make sure it gets moved around. Heat lovers can go on front tables. Make sure hanging baskets are towards the front and organized by type and price. Like prices over like price as well as type whenever possible. Organization day is crucial because we are getting in a delivery tomorrow.  I will be out today, im not feeling well. If I don't answer your text or call, I may be asleep. Have a good day

No delivery today.  High is in the 80s, no chance of rain.  Hanging basket sale has ended. Please make sure all sale 2/$14 signs are removed from their displays ASAP.  Condense, reposition product to make full displays again, water.  If you are watering early. Remember that smaller potted items like 8pks and 6pks, etc may need watered in the afternoon if they are in direct sun.  Check weird spots in hanging baskets- sprinklers dont hit everything  We should not have hanging baskets on the second rod unless necessary and we should be bringing up hanging baskets from the second rod to the first rod whenever possible.  If you don't have anything to do - please take some time to clean. I have noticed that some stores are not cleaning around our displays. We should be getting a broom and sweeping up excess leaves and dirt, on the walkways, under the tables, around the bricks. This all ends up adding to our overall appearance.  If you have items on rack...

Good morning!  There is no garden deliveries today or tomorrow. We are at a maintaining period, which is important because it gives us the chance to sell what we have before we receive new stuff.  Many of you are dealing with limited table space and how that might affect your overall appearance of the garden center. Remember that we can merchandise on racks if we need to, but it's not the ideal location. We should be continuously working to figure out how we can move product around to get off of the racks. We should always be removing product from the top shelves first. Logically speaking, you can't sell it if no one can reach it.  I am noticing that the begonia baskets (9.99) are not looking great. Some of this is likely due to overwatering. Remember that begonias should have time to dry slightly before watering. If it is super wet, don't water it again.  Pruning is a major factor right now. Geraniums, petunias, marigolds, these are all flowers that need continuous ...

Good morning!  There are no more delivieres this week in garden.  Canal, Lancaster, and Reynoldsburg should be completing their floral delivieres today due to the truck delay.  We are at the point in the week where we focus on quality product and building good displays - this is what will sell our product. We are not receiving any new product until at least Tuesday, next week.  Watering is going to be one of our largest concerns. We need to make sure that we are evenly watering items. I do not like walking through a garden center and feeling uneven watering. I expect random situations here and there - but if one out of every three to five items are light, that tells me we aren't watering right.  One thing we need to consider is when we are watering. Especially with smaller soil items, like the 6pks. The smaller the soil mass, the quicker the item is going to dry out. If we are watering early, we will likely need to water again before we leave for the day.  ...

 Good morning! Floral needs should be met unless we have spoken specifically. Garden delivery today. Rack counts are as follows 114 3 144 2  212 4 234 3 246 6 There is a big chance of rain this afternoon but it doesn’t come until late so please water as normal.  Work on your regular stuff as normal. I’m working on some back end stuff currently. Something that I would like to touch base on today - when I hired everyone, I should have set an expectation. June is when hours will start to wind down. This means that hours will start to drop as we work through the last of the planting season. Deliveries will not stop, but we will have less of them and less product to manage, which means that I will not need as many people. I will have to start working on a small round of lay offs. Part of the issue is the late start of the season, which has caused an excess of used hours in the beginning of the season. To avoid a miserable mess in the end of the garden center, I need to make su...