PlantAmerica NewsRoom

PlantAmerica, an expanding green industry technology firm, has acquired the Garden Center Management Group (gcmgroup), a consulting company formed in 1999 by three industry experts to help independent garden centers improve profitability through a complete range of financial, marketing, and management resources.

“Our partnership with the gcmgroup is a win for PlantAmerica, the gcmgroup and, most importantly, the independent garden center retailer,” said PlantAmerica Chairman Rick Webel, ” “We believe strongly in the importance and viability of the independent garden center and the gcmgroup has proven to be a strong business resource and a great ally in the increasingly competitive marketplace,” he added, noting that PlantAmerica solutions will “provide new and powerful support to the retailer.”

The gcmgroup currently provides services to independent garden centers from a network of providers, led by Robert Hendrickson, who provides personalized marketing and merchandising counsel through the Garden Center Marketing Group, and Kurt Fromherz, who offers garden center marketing communications tools through Sunrise Marketing.

Clint Albin, the third gcmgroup partner, became president of PlantAmerica in August and will focus on helping to grow this business into leading source of green industry Internet solutions.

PlantAmerica was co-founded in 1995 by Rick Webel, managing partner of Innocenti and Webel—Landscape Architects, Architects & Strategic Planners, and Dr. Michael Dirr, horticulture professor at the University of Georgia and author of over 300 publications, including the Manual of Woody Landscape Plants.

The company has become a key resource for the professional horticulturist, nurserymen, and design professionals, by providing an exclusive source of CD-based plant references based on the works of Dr. Dirr and Dr. Allan Armitage. PlantAmerica is currently expanding its management team and resource base to provide real-world Internet tools for the green industry.