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A True Test for Liquid Fence Yard Net!

We've been chatting up Liquid Fence's products here on the GMG blog for several months now and I really wanted to share the latest "WOW!!!! It really does work!" testimony.
Tuesday night (Jun 30) we celebrated my daughter's 15th birthday party with about 30 of her friends. We live in a rural area with a creek running through our property and mosquitoes LOVE our backyard!



An hour before the first guests were to arrive I remembered to grab the Liquid Fence Yard Net. I sprayed the area of the yard where I knew the teens would be hanging out. The first thing I have to say is the ease of use of the spray bottle. The bottle is pressurized and you literally just move in a back and forth motion over the area with a fine mist.



Once down on the ground there was virtually no odor to speak of. The guests arrived and we had a wonderful time well past 10 pm. Normally I'd have been eaten alive by the pesky mosquitoes as they usually snack on me within minutes of stepping out of my house. As we cleaned up and headed into the house I realized I had not one bite. Nothing! I was amazed and thrilled!



I picked up my daughter from another gathering last evening and as I stood in the foyer waiting for her to gather her belongings I was a late night snack for several mosquitoes and shared with the mother hosting the party of my experience and she is adding Liquid Fence Yard Net to her must have for party shopping list. I would recommend Liquid Fence Yard Net to EVERYONE hosting an outside event. I am even taking the bottle with me to the fireworks display this Saturday night! Here's to summer fun, wonderful barbecues and happy guests!

~Tracey

Mark Highland in Green Scene Magazine

Check out this great article in Green Scene Magazine about Mark Highland and The Organic Mechanics Soil Company!

Landscape Designers Gather in Portland

Bringing green design, majestic nature and urban pioneering together is the theme of this year's Association of Landscape Designers' annual conference July 13-19 in Portland, OR. Voted the most sustainable city in the US in 2008, Portland's city planners have been thinking green since the 1970's.

Open to the public, the conference features talks, tours and a trade show. The talks range from edible gardens and what makes an award winning design to green roof designs and the sustainable design movement. Tours include Portland landmarks such as the famed Classical Chinese Garden to fabulous private retreats. The conference closes with the annual awards banquet and 2oth anniversary celebration at Portland's landmark Governor Hotel.

So if you are in the area and want to tour great gardens and learn from professional landscape designers, Portland in July is the place to be. For more information, click here.

Welcome APLD to the GMG Family

We're thrileed to have The Association of Professional Landscape Designers join our family of green clients. Formed in 1989, this international organization represents and promotes more than 1,200 professional landscape designers through certification, networking, education and advocacy.

Members practice in both design only and design/build companies. They may be sole practitioners or work for a larger company. Project management is offered by most firms. Other members work for nurseries and public and private gardens. Educator members teach at a wide range of educational institutions. They work on large scale residental and commercial projects to small garden "fixes" to bring style and design to any landscape.

Organic Mechanics AND Organic Gardening Magazine

Buy Two bags of Organic Mechanics Soil and get a FREE year subscription to Organic Gardening Magazine! Offer Ends August 1, 2009!

The winning backyard for an American Beauties Makeover!

Check out the 'BEFORE' picture of the winning backyard of the American Beauties Native Plants Backyard Makeover! Stay tuned to see the 'AFTER.'

Morgan Graduates

Stacey's darling little girl Morgan graduated from kindergarten last week. I can't believe she is going into the first grade! Karen, Lynne and I joined Stacey and Jeff to cheer on her accomplishment.

Our little red head was named "Future Architect" of her class. Maybe she'll be designing green roofs one day!

Morgan, we all are very proud of you!

Could Rocket Science Revolutionize Gardening?

Check out Chris Beytes' article about Costa Farms' new AquaLok sustainable watering system in Acres Onlin: I rarely hype new products in Acres Online—“Let ‘em buy an ad!” about sums up my philosophy. But if it’s cool enough, or revolutionary even, I’ll bring a new technology to your attention.AquaLok looks to be one of those hype-worthy products.

What is AquaLok? It’s a foam, originally developed to keep jet fuel from sloshing around in the wing tanks of F-16 fighter jets. But it also has almost magical powers for growing plants with very infrequent irrigation applications. Tests indicate it can cut watering frequency for some plants in half or more … down to once a month in some cases. And it cuts fertilizer use, too. Talk about a labor- and money-saver for growers, retailers and gardeners!

I talked to Joe Byles, an aerospace engineer and the developer of AquaLok, for the details.Along with being an inventor (he has 16 patents), Joe also happens to be a Master Gardener. While testing the aerospace foam, he found that, in a sealed situation (like an airplane wing) it was impossible to drive all the air out of it, even when it was saturated with liquid. Since they could control the pore size of the foam during manufacture, he got to wondering: If he made the pore size the same size as a sandy loam soil, and put it in an undrained container, could he grow plants in it? Turns out he could!

“So I took this [foam] matrix and put plants in it, and they were growing like crazy!” Joe says. “I was growing tomato and basil in the back of my pickup truck, in a liner, in two inches of the material.”

What’s revolutionary is that Joe says 2 in. of the foam holds the same amount of air and water as 2 ft. of soil! Yet because you can’t drive all the air out of it, it’s impossible to overwater the plant.

Sold on its garden potential, Joe formed a company, Freedom Garden Products, to commercialize the foam. It’s been sold on QVC and the Home Shopping Network. Enter our industry . . . .

Costa Farms is testing it extensively in their own production right now, on everything from Boston ferns to hibiscus, and have signed a deal with Freedom Garden Products for the exclusive sales and marketing rights for North and South America. Don’t worry about it becoming an exclusive to one retailer: It will be available to all growers in all markets, they say. They’re working on developing pot and basket liners as well as prefilled containers.

We asked Joe why he partnered with Costa.

“Because of their marketing expertise,” he replied. “Costa is trying to take marketing to the next level. It seemed to make sense. There needs to be marketing behind the products to explain the technology and let the people know the benefits, in a succinct way. I felt they could reach the consumer with a good message.”

Finally, I’ll mention that the stuff is made from recycled plastic, and it’s reusable—Joe said he’s got flat sheets of it in his landscape that have grown four turns of annuals for seven years and they keep on going—the annuals develop such small root systems, they never clog the foam.

Anyway, if you’re curious about this new miracle product, Costa is planning a product-announcement reception at OFA—stay tuned for details. It could be your chance to get in on the ground floor of a revolution.

Lucy and Jack Come to Work

Today is Take Your Dog to Work Day, but since it is my day off and Karen is on vacation, all of our "working dogs" are at home with their moms! But here's a picture of Lucy hard at work at the office recently. She loves my couch.
Jack, the 5 month old Standard Poodle, has come a few times and loves it. He thinks we are an office of squeky toys since every time his teeth touch a hand someone yelps. This is what we learned at dog obedience to stop the puppy nipping. Jack is pictured here with one of his classmates, a Cavapoo. There only are three other dogs in the class, and they all could fit nicely in his mouth!
Have a great day with your dogs, all my pet loving friends.

Knock Out Fireworks for the 4th of July

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2009 Independence Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, the July 4th holiday is looking to be a well-celebrated event, with about 63 percent of the population having a cookout, barbeque or picnic.

That's 114 million people, about 5 million more than in 2008. Two reasons for the increase: July 4th is on a weekend and steadily rising gas prices has everyone taking “staycations” closer to home.

What will everyone be buying? According to the BIGresearch, burgers, ribs and all the trimmings for a July 4th food fest. And patriotic merchandise, of course. Lots of Americans already own flags, decorations and assorted red, white and blue stuff, but about 14% plan on buying more of it. This 4th of July you may want to take your outdoor holiday decorating up a notch.

We went to terrain at Styer’sfor some help creating a “green” red, white and blue “party decoration”. With help from Melanie Miller, one of terrain's garden experts, we paired a classic red Knock Out® rose with veronica 'Icicle', white calibrachoa and the new blue geranium ‘Rozanne'.

Here's the trick. Just put the Knock Out® in its pot in the larger container and arrange the other plants -- still in their containers – around the rose. Top dress with pine straw, moss, coco husk or just drape the trailing plants to cover the tops of the pots. Keep them watered and give them a shot of Liquid Fence Speedy Grow for a little nutrient boost.

With a little imagination, you can create an instant outdoor 4th of July celebration container that will last well past Labor Day.

ANLA Retail Roadshow

Get a peek at our clients' stops on the ANLA Retail Road Show. To see more pix, click here.

Welcome, ANLA Garden Center on the Philadelphia Road Show

Welcome ANLA Midatlantic Road Show to the Philadelphia area. See y'all tomorrow Thursday, June 18 at either of our clients, terrain at Styers or Gateway Garden Center.

Terrain at Styer's: One year in, discover what the corporate backing and talent of Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters has made possible, and what challenges remain. Outstanding merchandizing and a sophisticated gift selection enhance this ground-breaking garden center. http://www.terrainathome.com/

Gateway Garden Center.
Steve Castorani opened a design/build landscape company in 1977. At that time, Hockessin, DE was evolving from a rural farm community into a thriving suburb for Wilmington and Philadelphia. In 1986 they developed a small commercial lot (1.5 acres) as a garden center to support the landscape business, as well as provide plant materials to the growing suburbs.

The Garden Center is located on a main route that now accommodates over 20,000 vehicles daily. Specializing in unusual plant material, including a broad selection of natives, Gateway benefits from their association with North Creek Nurseries. Steve is owner of North Creek Nurseries, a grower of perennial plugs. This allows them access to garden tested, new introductions ahead of their competition. http://www.gatewaygardens.com/

GMG Named one of top 25 PR Firms in Philadelphia

Once again, IMPACT Marketing/Garden Media Group has been named one of the top 25 PR firms in the Philadelphia Business Journal's Book of Lists. The list is based on revenue billed in 2008. And look out. We're still growing and will be announcing yet another new client next week.

For a boutique PR firm located in the tiny, historic village of Chadds Ford, PA and specializing in gardening, this is quite an accomplishment.

And a huge tribute to Stacey, Karen, Lynne, Cindy, Tracey, Peggy, Kathleen and Rachel for all their hard work, creativity, dedication and great customer service. Thanks to you all for making us tops!

Cheers to the GMG Gals!!!!