Archives for July 2010

Trestle, drafting, card, coffee, dressing, dining, farm, library, tea, console, and buffet are but a taste of the types of tables homeowners have come use for practicality as well as pure decoration. “Who can enumerate the countless shapes and fashions of modern tables?” is a line that we came across doing research for this blog post. The quote comes from an author of a New York Times article entitled “Tables and Table Linens: History of the Table as a Household Necessity” published in 1882. How appropriate a topic for the media back then and even more so now for all the editors today. Readers nowadays enjoy understanding the reasoning behind design and the story behind furniture pieces. This knowledge makes investing in a large or small furniture item worthwhile as the piece becomes a treasured, focal point in any room.

Well, three popular types of tables not on the aforementioned list are side, hall and the highly regarded occasional. All integral design elements for a home, these types of tables are staple purchases for interior designers and homeowners alike. And, Englishman’s Fine Furnishings, a client of ours, carries beautiful lines of all three types. Pictured below are three new tables for 2011 that we captured at Englishman’s showroom in Atlanta: a mahogany Hepplewhite side table, a mahogany Hepplewhite hall table and a mahogany Pembroke drop leaf table with drawer.

Editors, we consider the possibilities for story ideas about the history of these types of tables to be a great concept for your readers. How the occasional table played as much a part in Roman households as did the dining table. Or, how useful side tables were to English royalty that the tables themselves were nicknamed, Queen Anne tables for example. Couple that kind of information with styling advice and beautiful high-resolution photos that we can gladly provide from Englishman’s for a story any reader could enjoy.

Feel free to leave comments or contact us for more information.

~ ECPR

As the summer months continue to be hotter, there is a delicate balance act between spending joyous time in the sunny outdoors and succumbing to the heat. A client of ours, Shade Pergolas, provides the perfect solution that marries the structural beauty of a pergola with the functionality of a retractable canopy system to help attain that balance for homeowners to enjoy summer. For outdoor space designers, this translates to a new category of shade product that can be specified in exterior design plans.

We are proud to share coverage from two trade magazines we obtained that spotlight the irrefutable benefits of Shade Pergolas, Landscape Contractor and Fabulous Floors. The articles delve beyond simple product details into Shade Pergolas’ creative use as an outdoor room feature. Click on the photos below for a closer read of the two articles. And, we hope everyone enjoys them!

Cover of Landscape Contractor’s July issue

This article focuses on using Shade Pergolas to create the perfect outdoor room where homeowners and guests can retreat from sun and summer rainstorms or enjoy the space with the canopy pulled back.

Shade Pergolas are a great resource for trade professionals, such as contractors, designers, or landscape architects.

Cover of Fabulous Floors’ Summer issue

As seen in this article, Shade Pergolas are completely customizable, from size and shape of the pergola to color of the wood and shade canopy.

Another perk about Shade Pergolas is that they can be built attached to a house or building as well as freestanding.

~ Sarah Kate

With so much hype buzzing around the gardening world right after OFA Short Course last weekend, we didn’t want this wonderful tidbit of news about Terra Nova Nurseries to get lost or forgotten. So, we take to our blog to report the most recent completed study that the Mt. Cuba Center performed, titled “Coneflowers for the Mid-Atlantic Region”. Mt. Cuba Center is a non-profit horticultural institution in northern Delaware that is, according to their website, dedicated to the study, conservation and appreciation of plants native to the Appalachian Piedmont region through garden display, education and research.

While the study can be easily found on Mt. Cuba’s website, we want to bring out the highlights surrounding Terra Nova Nurseries. The basics of the study are simple: three years involving 5 species and 43 cultivars of coneflowers. The end evaluation reflected each cultivar’s floral display, habit, hardiness, cultural adaptability and resistance to disease and insects. The results exalted two Terra Nova Nurseries’ varieties as the recommended coneflowers in the white and orange categories. Echinacea ‘Fragrant Angel’ was deemed the highest rated white coneflower due to its uniform consistency or growth and floriferous and fragrant nature.

And, Echinacea ‘Tiki Torch’ stole the spotlight as the highest rated orange coneflower based on its characteristics: stunning color; broad, sturdy petals; a relaxed and open habit; and increased vigor.

The study even noted Dan Heims from Terra Nova Nurseries as one of the six breeders responsible for some of these hybrid coneflowers that were studied. What an honor for Dan!

~ Sarah Kate

For those of you preparing for the July 11 to July 13 OFA Short Course event, we know your schedules will be packed full with educational sessions ranging many timely topics. There is one you should not miss. On Sunday, July 11, at 4:00 p.m. EDT, our own Don Eberly, president / CEO of ECPR, will be participating on an educational panel regarding branding. Don and the other panelists will address the all-important relevance of developing and managing brands that create positive perceptions on the part of customers.

After helping clients create national and international brands for many years, Don will be offering some of his insights on the topic. Specifically, he will touch on the importance of retailers defining their “core” brands (the primary or nucleus brand of the retail business itself) combined with the varied “pillar” brands the retailer sells and represents (which includes all of the individual branded product lines that make up an inventory). The panel will discuss how retailers’ core brands provide foundations for the pillar brands they sell, and, ultimately, the ways in which pillar brands sustain or fortify the core brands at large.

The panel session is entitled, “What does your brand do for you, and what can you do for your brand?” Panelists include the following:
• Bridget Behe, Michigan State University (Moderator)
• Don Eberly, Eberly & Collard Public Relations
• Marshall Dirks, Proven Winners
• Diane Hund, Ball Horticultural Company
• Pam Wasson, Monrovia

Want to know more? Attend the panel event in Room E 170, or contact us after OFA for informative articles written on this subject-matter or for interviews being conducted for post-event columns and features. – For those tweeting at or about the event, don’t forget to mention us @eberlycollardpr and tag OFA #ofashortcourse.

~ Jeff