This is really good info. -thanks! I am getting a bonus this Friday (apparently it's like a belated Christmas bonus) so aside from paying some bills I could really use a few things like some kind of drip irrigation (a flat irrigation hose, for example) and a regular hose. And, last year my husband built me a little copper trellis using the "make your own copper trellis instructions" - maybe if the prices are really really good I will get some more copper to build another one. Thanks again, Rose

The website doesn't list breadfruit Apples (Low Chill varieties) Dwarf Mangoes Atemoya Macadamia Nut Avocado Malay Apple Banana Miracle fruit Barbados Cherry Mulberry Bay Leaf Monstera Blackberry Papaya Black Sapote Passion fruit Blueberry Pineapple Carambola Plantain Caimito Peaches (Low Chill) Canistel Pears (Low Chill) Cashew Persimmon Cherimoya Plum Coconut Pomegranate Figs Pummelo Grapes Raspberry Grumichama Rio Grande Cherry Guava Rollina Jaboticaba Sapodilla Jackfruit Soursop Jujube Star Fruit Kumquat Strawberry Longan Sugar Apple Loquat Surinam Cherry Lychee Wax Jambu Mangoes White Sapote

I don't know about Princeton Nurseries but that is certainly the case with Hines.......they have been struggling for a number of years, apparently to no avail. Much of that they brought on themselves - over-rapid expansion, a revamping of their business model away from independents and heavily to the box stores, a nearly constant restructuring of their corporate profile (thereby losing a good many longtime, valuable employees) and just a general lack of attention to their customer service. But the local landscape and nursery industry is certainly stressed, both by the weather and economics. Our truly awful spring and summer had a big impact on sales as well as a changing demographic that is moving away from serious hobby gardening to the immediate gratification of "instant" landscaping that requires no or minimal hands-on interaction. And these are the customers that tend to be most impacted by economic swings - very light business activity and no project backlogs seem to the norm for a lot of local landscaping companies. I'd expect to see more smaller companies and mom and pop independent nurseries bite the dust in the coming year. Sales of gardening products (both plants, materials and accessories) are on a declining trend.

Not so strange, actually. They have to sell out store fronts, storage rooms and the warehouse...not to mention anything that's already on order from suppliers. Notice the article below says "third-party firm," meaning they've already hired a liquidating company to handle the closing. When Shabby Chic decided to close, the stores were open for 3-6 months before doors closed. S&H will start closing some faster than others (depending on lease, sells and location). The store employees won't know about further discounts until the liquidator tells them - usually the day before another mark down. It will be done on a store-by-store basis, for the most part. Here is an article emailed to us from the Birmingham Business Journal on Thursday: Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. announced plans to shut down its 56-store Smith & Hawken chain by the end of the year. The chain has a store at The Summit in Birmingham. Jim Hagedorn, CEO of the Marysville, Ohio-based lawn and garden giant, said in a statement that "the combination of a weak economy and the lack of scale proved too great to overcome." For a year, Scotts had been exploring options for the high-end garden brand it bought in 2004 for $68.5 million but decided closing the business was the "best option available," Hagedorn said. Smith & Hawken is based in Novato, Calif. Scotts on Wednesday said storewide sales across the chain will begin Thursday and will be managed by a third-party firm. Orders on Smith & HawkenÂs Web site, catalog and call center will be discontinued Thursday. The company in its last annual report said the chain has consistently underperfomed since it was acquired nearly half a decade ago. Scotts "corporate and other" segment, which consists of Smith & Hawken and administrative expenses, posted a 23 percent decline in sales at $51.2 million for the six months ended March 29. That segmentÂs operating loss for the six-month period totaled $75.4 million, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Scotts expects to take a $25 million after-tax hit on the closure of the chain, mainly tied to terminated leases and severance costs. Most of those charges, the company said, will be taken on by the end of the year. Scotts (NYSE: SMG) in the year ended Sept. 30, 2008, lost $10.9 million on $2.98 billion in revenue. The company has about 6,400 full-time workers worldwide.