STEPABLES Archives

Color Series: September Amethyst

September 9, 2009 By Don Eberly Leave a Comment

The September 2009 issue of House Beautiful greatly inspired us at Eberly and Collard Public Relations to continue looking at color with an in-depth approach and assessing what it means for every season. We deal so often with color design and conceptualization in this field – speaking on the topic at varied events and assisting our designer and product manufacturer clients – we have decided to begin sharing our experiences with color and our thoughts on how it can help enliven interior design, outdoor living and the landscape.

Color has the ability to drastically change a room. Without touching the accessories or furniture, paint can transition the entire ambiance of a room and make everything appear new and fresh. Or, with just a few colorful accessories, a room can take on new focal points and draw the eye into undiscovered corners.

Some colors make a room feel calm and tranquil, while other colors can spice up a space with a bold blast of energy. Every person is different, as is each room and garden, and that is why color selection is so very important.

For September, we thought we would discuss one of the many colors House Beautiful touched on in its special fall color issue – amethyst. A transparent violet, amethyst is a warm, soft addition to the home inside or out. September is the perfect time to use this color in the décor, as it spruces up a space with a last-minute splash of summer color as fall begins to approach.

What does amethyst mean?

The color of amethyst is often associated with stability, peace, balance, courage, inner strength, sincerity, and calm disposition. Amethyst in design offers soothing vibes, and has been linked to tension and headache relief. People have also claimed the color can help with sleep deprivation when painted as an accent wall in bedrooms or placed on beds in the form of throw pillows.

A few ways to use Amethyst:

In the Home: One of my favorite things about this color is that it can complement existing décor items from 2009. A warm yellow was determined earlier this year as Pantone’s color of the year, and amethyst is the perfect complement. Many designers suggest placing this light purple tone near yellow throughout the house to make both colors pop. For example, one interior designer we know recently added light yellow-accented draperies to a client’s living room infused with pale purple shades. By doing so, the result was a narrow yet creative color palette.

In the Landscape: Summer heat does not mean the planting season has to end. There are several lovely amethyst flowering and foliage varieties that are perfect for the garden bed such as the very heat-tolerant Heuchera ‘Sugar Plum’ from Terra Nova Nurseries and Mazus reptans ‘Purple Mazus’ from Stepables. For the landscape designer or architect, installing purple plants enhances or balances all of the surrounding greenery, a means to use opposite sides of the color wheel to develop harmony.

Our favorite shade:

Soft Amethyst by Glidden is a fantastic shade of amethyst – bold enough to make a statement, but soft enough to not overpower the area. Glidden certainly seems to have done its trend-based homework given the inclusion of this specific color.

As color palettes range in new directions, using amethyst as an accent or focal point is setting trends in today’s interior and exterior rooms.

How have you used or plan to use amethyst in your design work this year? What other colors are you seeing set new trends in interior design and outdoor spaces?

Watch our blog and follow our tweets for more about our take on color and the ways in which industry designers and manufacturers are coloring our world.

~ Leslie

Country Living Writes About STEPABLES

August 13, 2009 By Don Eberly Leave a Comment

Even after a few years of belonging to the STEPABLES team, we still find ourselves amazed at just how useful, resilient, low-maintenance, eco-friendly and quite beautiful creeping perennials can be.

Country Living recently featured STEPABLES in a syndicated article online and in its magazine, written by Melissa Ozawa, about these unique plants that allow for foot traffic. Check it out HERE.

~Leslie

STEPABLES Selects Independent Garden Center Contest Winners

November 14, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

Drum-roll please…

STEPABLES officially announced the names of three independent garden centers that received first place honors in respective plant display categories as part of the second annual “We’ve Got Sole” contest. The winners include Deneweth’s Garden Center, Heights Flowers and Natorp’s Mason Garden Store.

Deneweth’s Garden Center of Macomb, MI, won the first place prize for “Best Definitive Display.” As a result, a check for $5,000 was presented to the charity of their choice, Komen Detroit Race for the Cure, on Aug. 5, 2008. The display exemplified their imagination, showing eye-catching ways of presenting Good For Your Sole® point-of-purchase materials on traditional tables and other platforms. The winning display also integrated various landscape applications of STEPABLES plants throughout the designated area, including between pavers and on green roofs. In addition, the Deneweth’s Garden Center team was inspired by the contest to raise an extra $1,100 on their own for Komen Detroit Race for the Cure.

Heights Flowers of Peoria, IL, came in first for “Best Use of Space,” maximizing the use of designated floor and shelf space to boost sales. Heights Flowers prioritized information sharing in their design, providing a working computer within the display for customers to visit the STEPABLES Web site to utilize the online tools for selecting the right plants for their specific lawns and gardens.

Natorp’s Mason Garden Store in Mason, OH, triumphed in the category of “Best STEPscapes Display,” which utilized STEPABLES plants in a multi-tiered landscape application to show customers the many ways creeping perennials can be used as solution plants. The design showed customers how to plant between stepping stones, create a lush seating area, use creeping perennials in beds and borders, replace turf with a creative low-growing plant pattern, and build a rock garden featuring STEPABLES.

The “We’ve Got Sole” contest is offered annually to independent garden centers as a fun way to develop plant displays that can boost sales and brand recognition while simultaneously giving back to the communities in which they are located. Each winning store was awarded a STEPPY Award as well as gift cards for a company party. To see photos of these displays, information on the garden centers and chosen charities, and contest details, visit http://www.stepables.com/garden-center-contest.asp.

Congratulations to you all!!

~Leslie

STEPABLES® Leads the Way

July 24, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

Under A Foot Plant Company™ and its national plant brand of creeping perennials, STEPABLES®, announced today the launch of an innovative marketing campaign designed to utilize new media, such as an interactive Web site design, instructional videos and informative blogs, to build brand recognition among its growers, garden centers and consumers.

As an award-winning marketing leader in the horticulture industry, STEPABLES® has designed the Web site to serve as the core of the new media campaign. The site now includes:

Hundreds of new images to show consumers and landscapers the most creative ways to use STEPABLES
Multiple forums for open discussion about anything the site visitors would like to discuss
Several instructional, how-to videos
A new blog written by Frances Hopkins, founder and president of Under A Foot Plant Company™
“Meet Fran” section that personalized the brand with a family behind the name
New media center with all current press releases
A help desk available to consumers, garden centers and landscapers
Design center with printable garden layouts
A STEPABLES® Fun Club to receive discounts on plants and merchandise

“I wanted to create a marketing campaign that reflected my enthusiasm for gardening and hopefully inspire those visiting the STEPABLES® site to try something new,” said Frances Hopkins, founder and president of Under A Foot Plant Company™. “I look forward to interacting more personally with anyone who visits www.stepables.com.”

Hopkins will be updating her blog regularly as a new medium for communicating upcoming STEPABLES® news and responding to commonly asked questions from homeowners and landscapers. The site also has a new guest blog where horticulturalists and experts are invited to offer advice and knowledge about their experiences with STEPABLES® plants.

Brief instructional videos are featured on the new STEPABLES® site for a quick look at how STEPABLES® can spruce up any landscape. In less than five minutes apiece, these four videos show imaginative possibilities with the STEPABLES® line such as learning the basics of container gardening, planting combination sensations with flower bulbs, creating accents with steps and benches, and replacing a lawn with these low-maintenance plants. Hopkins produced and starred in each of the videos to further personify the brand and educate her audience with these how-to STEPABLES® tips. Take a look at one of the videos, posted below, to see how you can plant STEPABLES® around benches or between steps.

Click on the links and video to see how this plant brand plans to remain at the forefront of marketing with the newest technologies in communication!

~Leslie

Stop Slackin’… Go Green!

June 6, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

Oh, “Going Green.” A term we hear so often, and yet, many of us still don’t know how to make our lives more environmentally friendly.

A book was recently published called The Everything Green Living Book…with, you guessed it… hundreds of simple tips to going green. Our favorite tip? The author, Diane Gow McDilda, recommends www.Stepables.com as a great resource for finding plants to replace your chemical- and water-hungry lawn.

Three, top reasons replacing your turf can do worlds for the environment:

1) Remove the need for a lawn mower – Creeping perennials from STEPABLES® never grow higher than a couple of inches, so get rid of those nasty fuel emissions!

2) Lower water usage – Choose the right plant for the right area, and many of these groundcovers can survive drought, humidity or your two-week-long vacation.

3) Lower (and sometimes remove completely) the need to spray dangerous chemicals in your landscape – STEPABLES® plants weave closely together, naturally blocking the growth of weeds!

For more information on how to select the right low-growing groundcovers for your lawn, visit the STEPABLES® Web site. For a sneak-peek at how to replace your own lawn, watch this instructional video.

*This message is Mother Nature approved.

Best,

Leslie

STEPABLES® Launches New Media Marketing Campaign

April 22, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

As an award-winning marketing leader in the horticulture industry, STEPABLES® has designed the Web site to serve as the core of the new media campaign. The site now includes:

Hundreds of new images to show consumers and landscapers the most creative ways to use STEPABLES
Multiple forums for open discussion about anything the site visitors would like to discuss
Several instructional, how-to videos
A new blog written by Frances Hopkins, founder and president of Under A Foot Plant Company™
“Meet Fran” section that personalized the brand with a family behind the name
New media center with all current press releases
A help desk available to consumers, garden centers and landscapers
Design center with printable garden layouts
A STEPABLES® Fun Club to receive discounts on plants and merchandise

~Leslie

There's nothing I like more than a little healthy competition…

February 18, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

In and around the industry, many of us talk about the need to have growers and garden centers working together to get consumers interested in plants and gardening again.

Well, this creative campaign from STEPABLES ® is doing just that! The Under A Foot Plant Company™ and its STEPABLES® plant brand have launched the second annual “We’ve Got Sole™” photo contest, offering independent garden centers the opportunity to win up to $5,000 for their favorite charities…with a twist!

Last year, independent garden centers were given a chance to partake in the contest by submitting digital images of their STEPABLES® retail displays using the Good For Your Sole® point-of-purchase materials and display gardens featuring STEPABLES® varieties. This year, participating garden center customers can join in by creating their own STEPscape™ designs at home! There are also more photo categories, more prizes and more opportunities for garden centers and consumers to get involved and give back to their communities.

Contests such as this are a great way to get garden centers interacting with their communities, their grower suppliers and their direct customers. Plus, who doesn’t like a little healthy competition?!