Spring
Spring!  The season of rebirth, green grass and – pots of blooming color outside restaurants, office buildings, and on patios.  The time when a young man’s fancy turns to……exterior containerized plantings.

How Do You Sell Exterior Blooming?
First of all, you are selling sizzle and instant gratification.  Forget the 4” starter plants, go right for the gusto.  Use 6”, 8” even 10” blooming.  I like to think of the container with exterior blooming as a New York deli sandwich – absolutely overstuffed.  Just like how the corned beef hangs over the bread and you can’t quite get your mouth around it – so should the blooming pot look on Day 1 – overstuffed!

Keep Scale in Mind
Secondly, use the proper scale.  Buildings are large, doorways usually double.  Small containers are lost.  Third, a maintenance plan is critical if you want to be profitable.  Figure out a way to maintain on your schedule, not the plants.  To do this you’ll need sub-irrigation.  Check out Planter Techs exterior line.  Fourth, look for new sales opportunities.  For instance, most states now forbid smoking inside restaurants.  This means that wherever possible restaurants have added patios or, even, just a few tables sidewalk style.  These spots simply cry out for potted foliage.  In some climate zones this is year round,in others – seasonal.  Wherever, you might consider leasing the containers, charging for the plant material and charging for the maintenance.  In off-seasons, you then remove the planters or fill with evergreens until the Spring.  Lots of opportunities – you just have to do your homework.

Symmetry vs Asymmetry
Both the Plants and the Containers should be the same on either side of the doorway, or placed equidistant along a fence or rail, or against a series of columns.   Within a linear or sequenced placement the planters could be the same while the plant material could alternate Short, Tall, Short, Tall etc.  Even the colors of the blooming could alternate for visual impact and variety.  Still, whichever way you so it, there has to be a harmony, a coherence and the containers need to be the same for consistency. 

Themes  
There are lots of opportunities to enhance an exterior with foliage and decorative Containers that enhance a particular period, architype, or theme.  For inspiration thumb thru some of the Shelter magazines and refer to Architectural Design Books.  Notice the difference in the Containers and Plants outside the Southern Mansion and the Italian Restaurant. 

Practice
We spend a great deal of time in our cars.  Just for the fun of it, visualize different plants and planters in front of different buildings as you wait for the light to change or drive along a road.  This kind of practice costs you nothing and gives you the opportunity to say, Great!", or "Eccghh".  It’s all a learning exercise.

Have fun with it—It’s Spring Now, Go out there and get ‘em, Tiger