Friday, January 21, 2011

Dreamin' Of Spring

Ok, enough with the winter wonderland, we want to get out and work in our gardens! 
After the holidays, there is an excruciating lull before springtime, and you need something to fill the void!  I have two hobbies- gardening and baking- so you can guess what I do when I am stuck in the house for extended periods of time.  Well, baking cookies and watching movies is fine for awhile, but if I want to fit into my jeans this spring, I better get off the couch and do something more productive (and non-fattening!)  I love to look through my gardening books and see what new plants I might want to try out this year, or how I could re-design an area to make it more low maintenance.  One thing I do know from my early gardening years  is: avoid the temptation to go out and randomly buy a plant and stick it in your yard—you’ll save a lot of money and headache in the long run if you have a plan to work from!
I have plenty of time now to work on landscape designs, whether it is the entire yard or just a ‘problem area’.  I’d like to hear from some other desperate souls who need something to chew on until spring planting time.
Here’s the motivation:  the first person to set up a design appointment will get a 20% discounton their design!  The next 5 people will get a 15% discount. 
My e-mail is:  gardencenterlmh@aol.com.   I look forward to helping you!
Lisa Denison
Landscape Designer
Georgia Certified Plant Professional

Monday, January 17, 2011

To Market To Market We Go

Made our bi-annual trip to the Atlanta Gift & Merchandise Market.  This is where we purchase a lot of the cool items that we sale in our store.  For those of you who don't know, Atlanta has one of the largest Wholesale Gift Markets in the United States.  There are 4 HUGE BUILDINGS, with 18 floors covering an entire block in downtown Atlanta and over 3000 vendors.  It can be overwhelming.  (we get lost a lot).

The vendors range from large multi million dollar companies to someone like Moe's BBQ Sauces run by a couple from Cartersville, GA.    We are always searching for products made in Georgia to support our local economy.  We get asked a lot about how we decide what to purchase for Lavender Mountain - its simple, we have to be genuinely excited about the product before we put it in the store.  This usually works, if we love it our customers will too. 

New Spring arrivals for Lavender Mountain will include, Mad Mats, outdoor rugs made from recycled plastic, Ibis & Orchid marble night lights,  Striplings Beef Jerky (made in Georgia), Picnic At Ascot collapsible coolers and picnic baskets, Swann Creek soy candles, Angela's Garden hats, gloves, aprons, Pretty Tools and lots of iron garden arches, benches, tables, and wall art  all from Iron It Out located in Canton, GA. 

Thursday, January 13, 2011

January Snow in Northwest Georgia

This is the fourth day of the January snow event in northwest Georgia.   All of us in Rome and Armuchee have very vivid memories of the blizzard in '93.  Because of this, Lavender Mountain Hardware & Garden had record sales the weekend before the snow.  We sold out of rock salt, snow melt, anything that would melt snow and ice, all fuels and fuel burning heaters, batteries, flashlights, candles and sleds.  We could have sold 100 sleds.  Propane, was our biggest seller, over 2000 gallons in two days.  Everyone in Armuchee should be able to heat their grill all summer.  Last night the big Do It Best Truck pulled in with stock to replenish our shelves.  We now have all those items we sold out of last weekend including sleds.  There's still snow on the ground - grab a sled and have some fun.