Page 36 - MNLGA Free State Summer 2021

FEATURED MEMBER (Continued)

pesticide applicator license. partnering with a grower,” Scanlon continued. “By

Scanlon prepared by working at a popular garden center partnering, we’d have a better sense of what they have or
where she learned about customers’ preferences and will have, which would allow us to plan more effectively.
goals while helping them choose the right plants for Right now, there are times when we have to make
the right places in their landscapes. She also earned a substitutions or get very creative, but that’s not always
certification from Proven Winners. bad.”
Both women completed a Landscape Technology “We’re constantly picking up new plants from growers
Certificate and earned a Certified Professional so we have whatever looks best at that moment,” she
Horticulturist designation from the MNLGA. added. Buying by the flat was risky in the beginning. Their
marketing was not out there, and they had a lot of plants
For both women, having a steady income from her left as they headed into July. So, the women applied a
husband made the business venture possible.
creative solution.
“We’ve been able to do this without borrowing,” Lessne
said. “That’s been both a blessing and a curse. We’ve “At the end of the first year, we started going to farmers’
grown in small increments, doing things step by step. And markets with our surplus plants. We sold mini planters that
it’s working.” customers could design themselves and carry home,” said
Lessne, “We call it our ‘Make & Take booth’.” Customers
Lessne said, “Garden sPOTS has a lot of customers who choose one of our colorful 12-inch planters and four plants
used to be gardeners, but they’ve downsized and may from what we have on hand,” added Scanlon. “Often they
only have a small balcony. They’re not used to container have their kids design it. We explain why we add fertilizer;
growing. They don’t want to haul bags of soil. We either it’s educational. We’ve gotten a lot of good feedback and
deliver a completed planter or, if necessary, bring the pots a lot of people have come back to order online. We are
and everything needed, build the container there and able to rotate our plant materials, build brand awareness
take the trash away.” and make customers happy. It’s a win-win-win!”
Other customers are novices in the world of growing, so The women started in Scanlon’s garage but quickly
Garden sPOTS focuses on plants that are super easy to outgrew the space. They now have access to a hoop
grow, with few pests and no deadheading required. Some house, which they share with a couple who leased 40
customers complained the first year of bugs eating holes acres to start a native tree business. The couple only
in their sweet potato vines, for example, so they aren’t in needs the hoop house in the winter; Garden sPOTS needs
the company’s offerings anymore. it in the growing season. The arrangement allows them to

One thing that makes the Garden sPOTS’ business buy earlier, store more and plan for extended seasons.
plan financially feasible is purchasing in bulk. “Plenty of “Spring and early summer are our busiest times for ready-
landscapers can fill a pot, but they have to go to a garden made planters but we’re developing products that will
center to buy a few plants at contractor prices, which is keep us working year-round,” said Scanlon.
not wholesale,” Lessne explained.
According to Lessne, one way of extending the Garden
To fulfill the initial rush of online orders, the Garden sPOTS sPOTS season is to do fundraising projects in schools.
team purchases more than 100 flats early in the season Again, they offer Make & Take materials, and the children
and supplements with additional flats each week as the make their own containers. “We provide gloves and talk
season continues. “We’ve discovered we have to have a them through doing the planting themselves. We do
relationship with the grower. When only buying a few flats the same in the fall, and we plan to take the concept to
each week, having a relationship makes it easier when we apartment complexes and social groups.”
need something at a moment’s notice,” Lessne added.
Scanlon added, “We developed science kits for schools
“Ideally, we’ll increase our vertical integration by with pots, soil and seeds, which we sell in January and

36 SUMMER 2021 • Free State News