Every year, it's a challange to figure out where to put plants in the greenhouse. In the past, we have set out plants based on growing conditions - the cooler houses got cool loving plants. However, this was a little difficult since the only real people to knew what plants were in what places were the ones who set the plants out in the first place. We had a map at the beginning of the season which worked quite well, but as things moved, it quickly fell apart

We needed to make some sort of change. Because we're a growing facility it's not feasible to re-organize plants regularly. So what was the solution? We stopped for a minute and thought about the process of planting your garden, in it's most basic form. The primary condition in planting your garden is light. While shade plants were typically mixed all over the greenhouses, we made an effort to move all the shade plants over to the "short" side of our greenhouse. That means, for the most part, all shade plants are on the right when walking down the main aisle of the greenhouse.

What would be the next condition to what you plant in the garden? This became a toss-up in a way. Either it's type of plant, or it's colour theme. In the end, the idea of colour theme won out for two main reasons. First, if you know the plant you are looking for, you typically know it's colour. Second, it divides the greenhouses into large blocks so if another crop is ready, the plants can be placed within that block and still maintain a reasonable amount of order in the greenhouses throughout the season.

In the end, most of our greenhouses were organized by colour starting at greenhouse #7. Greenhouses one to six contain plants with different growing conditions, like Geraniums, New Guinea Impatiens, or Non-Stop Begonias. Foliage plants and Herbs are also in the first span of greenhouses. From seven to fourteen, greenhouses are labeled by their colours. Greenhouse fifteen contains the tomato and vegetable plants.

So if you're coming to the nursery planning a new garden, simple pick a colour scheme, then head to the appropriate greenhouse for your plant selection. If you're looking for a specific plant, first choose a colour, then you only have one greenhouse to look in (two if you want a mix). Though it may be difficult to find one very specific variety of plant, it makes it much easier for staff who are not specialized in annuals to be able to help you out more.

Since this is our first year doing this new system, the road will be a little bumpy. We've already learned from a few mistakes and have notes on what to change for next year. In the end, though, it's you, our customers, we want to hear from. What do you think of our new greenhouse layout? Do you think it will help? How can we make it better? We'd love to hear your feedback!