What could be more green than a garden center? 

I don’t know about you but personally all this talk about green this and green that is getting a bit old.  Houses are “built green”, cars are green if they are hybrids, power companies are green if they use alternate sources of energy and even greenhouse growers are turning to green forms of pots that use less energy to manufacture and are completely recyclable or compostable.  This is all good stuff but after awhile you just have to wonder if most of it isn’t just fancy marketing to make you think certain products or services are better for you and the environment.  Then again, maybe I’m being too cynical.

It’s just that there is so much hype and so many companies are getting on the bandwagon that the whole message of going green feels like it is becoming trite and diluted.  I mean, just exactly how green can a hybrid SUV really be?  Give me a break.

But garden centers are a different story.  First of all, their actual products are green, as in the color green, so that alone puts them in the driver’s seat of greenness.  Add to that the fact the most of the owners of independent garden centers are very environmentally focused and it becomes a pretty safe bet that shopping at a locally owned and operated garden center is going to be good for the environment and the shopper.  I think this is known as a “no brainer”.

Garden centers have always been bastions for greenness.  Not that we haven’t had a few blemishes over the years.  DDT and Chlordane are two that come to mind.  More recently we could add Dursban and Diazinon to the list.  I am sure there will be more in the future because we are not perfect.  But we are honest.  We won’t sell you something that we don’t believe in just to make a buck or because we know the big box store down the street is selling pallets of it day in and day out.  Let me give you an example.

Weed and Feed is a nasty product.  It is grossly misused by the gardening public, mostly by fanatical male gardeners who are obsessed with a completely weed free lawn.  They will apply Weed and Feed virtually every time they fertilize their turf which results in excessive amounts of the herbicide seeping into the ground water or running down the street and into the storm drains and ultimately into the Sound.  Clearly this is not a green thing to do.  So generally speaking, you won’t find Weed and Feed products at most independent garden centers even though they are sold by the pallet at the big boxes.   Instead, you will find trained and knowledgeable employees that will advise the fanatical male gardener on how to culturally encourage their lawn to stay healthy and successfully compete against the invasion of weeds.  Mowing heights, alternative natural/organic fertilizers, aerating and de-thatching and spot spraying or pulling tough weeds will be woven into their sermon on turf management.  It will be delivered with passion and commitment, not because it is currently the “in” thing to do but because they have always considered it the responsible thing to do.  These responsible actions are now what is being marketed as “green” behavior.  It’s nothing new for us.

What has changed in 2008 is that being green is now so hip that it is being marketed to death.  Companies know that if they are perceived as being green they will likely receive more business.  So they will hire marketing firms to come in and put a program together that makes them look good to the consumer.  But with garden centers, our products speak for themselves.  Not only are they green but they will turn the planet green as well.  Plants, the core of our sales produce oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the air.  They trap moisture and help restore the water sheds.  They reduce erosion which helps keep our streams clean so salmon can breed.  They moderate the climate by shading our homes and provide shelter for our feathered friends.  I could go on and on but I think you get the point.

If you want to get in touch with true greenness, spend some time at your local garden center and see what I mean when I say “what could be greener?” 

Steve Smith is owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, a retail garden center celebrating their 60^th anniversary this year.