It used to be the only mobile device you could bring to the garden was a wheelbarrow. But we’re not living in the stone age anymore, thanks to Cole Gardens, which recently launched a brand-new mobile app to make your gardening experience more interactive than ever.
Available from the Apple Store and on Google Play, the app is a way to always have Cole Gardens at your fingertips without supergluing your hand to the greenhouse. We’ve definitely arrived in the garden center future.
“It’s information at the palm of your hand,” Charlie Cole, owner of Cole Gardens, said. “It’s fun, it’s different; we’re just trying to keep up with the times, more or less. There’s so much information on your phone, and we wanted to be part of that and help you be successful in the garden.”
Literally, as it turns out. Getting expert answers to your gardening questions has never been so easy, thanks to a function in the app that allows you to snap a picture of whatever you are curious about and send it directly to Cole Gardens, where the pros can respond with the answers you need.
“People have so many questions about what is this, how do I take care of that, where can I plant this, what’s wrong with that?” Cole said. “There’s a button that says, ‘Ask Us,’ and you can take a photo from the app – of a bug or a tree or a plant or the soil, whatever it is – and it gets sent directly to us so we can help you.”
The app also rewards those who download it with deals and discounts. A download earns you a reward of one free herb, and you get punches for your purchases, earning $5 off a purchase of $20 or more after receiving six punches. There is also a news section connected to the Cole Gardens Twitter feed.
Also, download the app and you’ll never have to miss out on Cole Gardens special again.
“What’s really cool is if we want to run a special one week or a reward for those members, we can easily do that with a push notification,” Cole said. “As a garden center manager I can say, ‘we’re a little long on lilacs, let’s put those on special’ and I can send it out to them so certain people can get a reward.”
