By Richard Helling We often hear surprising things when talking with clients and potential clients, often involving insights into the green industry.   One such instance happened recently when we were meeting with a garden center client. Just in passing, he mentioned that he had great sales of Christmas trees at that location, but he had pretty serious trouble a couple of years before because of a seemingly innocent change in his delivery policy. He had noticed, quite accurately, that his Christmas trees were more expensive than just about any other place in town. They were more expensive because he had … Read more

from the Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES – Government-backed loans to the nation’s small businesses dropped sharply last month after a key federal program ran out of money. The reduction in lending comes as officials are scrambling to find a way to stimulate the small-business sector. On Monday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said loosening credit to small businesses should be a priority for banks and policymakers. “Making credit accessible to sound small businesses is crucial to our economic recovery, and so should be front and center among our current policy challenges,” Bernanke said at a meeting on small-business … Read more

Ron Edmonds of The Principium Group was interviewed for an article entitled “M&A Upsurge” in Landscape Management magazine’s June 2010 issue.  The article, by Landscape Management editor-in-chief Nicole Wisnewski is included in the special section on the LM150, the 150 largest companies in the industry.  Here is a link to the article.