First I want to know why you think part of the existing display was outdated. Wouldn't be any point in suggesting something else that you would also think was no longer relevant.

Some themes could probably be gotten just from looking at forum headings here.

I think the owner would like to showcase some newer cultivars of plants. He thought that his display garden ( some 20 plus years old needed to be "updated" a bit.

I guess he has many new cultivars that he is selling in his garden center and he would like to redirect customers to a place that shows them actually growing.
There are lots of overgrown plants that need removed - 20 years is a long time ! Just trying to please the client

Well then that dictates at least part of what you will be planting. There are probably numerous common themes that they could be grouped together in, like fragrant, winter interest and so on, even if the particular assortment might not lend itself to less obvious ones.

Periodic regeneration of a display garden is a very good idea - we cycle through new plants in ours at least once a season, sometimes more often for more seasonal selections, leaving only the major bones in place on a permanent basis. Many garden center customers have a difficult time envisioning what that tiny one gallon shrub or perennial will look like established and with some growth on it and a display garden is ideal for offering that view. They also offer an opportunity to view plants that look good in combination, often stimulating those customers who were looking for a just a single shrub to purchase a grouping of plants. And of course, many plants just don't show their best feature in a nursery can, needing time and development in the ground to really strut their stuff, like ornamental grasses, vines or shrubs and perennials that need time to establish before flowering.

Depending on how much space is available and how it relates to the nursery as a whole, vignettes may be difficult to pull off well in this setting. You run the risk of producing a quantity of unrelated and somewhat disjointed plantings that can be more confusing than helpful. As with design of a whole garden, there should be some sense of flow and continuity to a display bed, as well as a need for something this visible and significant to the property looking well-kept and tidy as much as possible. It is a form of product merchandising, afterall.

IME, vignettes are great and can definitely stimulate some planting ideas and therefore purchases, but might be best handled as individual and rather temporary displays in selected locations that can be changed out seasonally or as the intent changes, rather than attempting to establish a more permanent, in-the-ground series of scenes.

Yes: from your original description I thought you were going to have a way to separate each "vignette" from the next. You'll want to do that.

I helped do one at a neighborhood center her several years ago.
It was a good 10 car spaces long by 8 foot.
The whole thing was based around a continuing "S" path.
The path started out with solid flagstone,
then switch to seperated flagstone, to cobble stones
and the path finished up in brick.
At each "C" was a swing, a trellis, a corner of a wooden deck, or an ornamental tree.

They tell me when I go shop there,
how much business that display generated.........cheryl

"You run the risk of producing a quantity of unrelated and somewhat disjointed plantings that can be more confusing than helpful. As with design of a whole garden, there should be some sense of flow and continuity to a display bed, as well as a need for something this visible and significant to the property looking well-kept and tidy as much as possible. It is a form of product merchandising, afterall."

This is a good point.

After talking with the owner. The area will be close to the parking lot. It will be a long narrow ( about 25 - 30ft deep space and 200 plus ft long. He is flexible on the the different themes - which is good. I agree that there needs to be a flow as well some need for seperation between the themes.

My ideas -
Less themes are better - agree with gardengal it may begin to look like "somewhat disjointed plantings" The path will run the entire length. This may be one way to tie together. The underlying theme may be backyard gardens.
I will want some structures like an arbor or pergula so that the garden can be visible from a distance. Maybe some bright colors.
Themes that I am considering will include some dwarf conifer, weeping, maybe possible troughs, with some rocks, maybe a small patio
A place for nice combinations of shrubs and perennials, with annuals and fall plantings.
One or two small patio size trees and grasses.
Finally a planting of plants that may require less care and water. Or possible a native plant area. And if there is need for a another maybe a butterfly garden. People are often asking about wildlife.

Appreciate your thoughts

Have owned a nursery. Have helped several friends set up or revamp theirs. Display gardens are helpful. An entrance that says 'welcome' helps. Things on sale displayed at the entrance helps. Suggestion...try setting up two separate areas, one in shade the other in sun. Post a large sign on each that reads, "What's New?". Doesn't have to be a fancy set-up. Must have good plant labels/information with each plant. See what happens.

I would try to keep the displays in tune with whats for sale. If you incorporate a massive and elaborate fountain/pond set up but don't offer that equipment then I would downsize to whatever supplies you're most likely to sell. Maybe this sounds obvious but I've seen it too many times - the display features items the average home owner wouldn't install or couldn't afford.

Otherwise make it flashy, fun and flexible. I think even the poorly designed ones improve sales. It gives the customers a reference point.

I've waited on shoppers who couldn't understand how we could have a particular Japanese maple cultivar in the landscaping out front that wasn't in stock. You don't want to have that happen anymore than it has to. I'd definitely try to use plants that can be matched or substituted for as much as possible.

Yes please, for the sake of the sanity of the nursery staff, focus on plants that are readily available (although those which are used less commonly in your area can broaden the selection palatte) and make sure you keep them in stock. The owner of my nursery has a propensity for planting uncommon trees and perennials - stuff that he likes but uncommon in the trade - and it is a constant headache explaining to customers why that selection is not available for sale. I've considered hiding a robust clump of trillium in one display garden that is no longer commercially available - when it is in bloom we get dozens of requests for it and the owner will not hear of removing it :-( Ditto with an unusual evergreen form of maidenhair fern.

I would plant some nice dwarf conifers and japanese maples, but nothing we didn't have for sale at all times.
use a lot of mulch and use potted plants in the display that can be sold too. Also use a lot of preplanted containers that can be taken out and hanging baskets. Make sure the customers can "tear up" your display if they want something. If you plant a banana or tropical that is not usual for your zone, be sure and have some on hand to sell, even if they're not exactly the same size. Anything variegated or striped or purple...

Perhaps it might be possible for the display bed to not be 'permanantly' planted? With the ability to change it up seasonally and provide the customer to purchse from it IF a customer absolutley MUST have THAT plant? Having had a few years on both sides of the retail nursery market, I do agree that 'out of date' display beds are . . . annoying

Personally, I think a display garden customers can shop from is a disaster waiting to happen. Unless the same plants displayed in the garden are available as containerized samples close by. I can't imagine anything worse than hoards of customers rampaging through a display bed ripping up plants as they go. That's not the point of a display bed - it's to showcase how the plants may look in combination or in a similar situation in their own garden - a bit difficult to feature that if the bed is in a constant state of flux from customers opting for that shrub there, or this perennial and ornamental grass here. Shopable displays are a bit different - not planted in the ground, these are collections of various plants in their nursery cans that will echo the same sensibilities as a display bed, but without the size and establishment a display bed planting offers.

My favorite nursery here turned a large maple tree on their property into a great asset . They made a raised bed area around it (carefully so as not to hurt the tree) and then made a great display area for shade perennials by planting it up with a large assortment of plants that he always has in stock, done with some decent design in mind...some pots of those plants he leaves right there at the border of the bed....and some he has in their alphabetical spots in his nursery. Nobody can take them, they are planted in the ground there , yet they can reach for a pot of the plant they love, since they are sitting right there too.

Instant gratification...I bet this really works well for him! And I would think you can translate this to any sort of garden type.

In my experience, customers are always looking for what they refer to as "low-maintenance" plantings. A garden with a few shrubs that stay tidy with little or no pruning, and perennials that don't spread and need frequent dividing or staking/primping would be useful. Have all the plants labeled.

Another request I hear is for groundcovers, especially for full sun. A display of suitable groundcover plants for your area, sun and shade, would be nice. (Perhaps bypassing the vinca and pachysandra since everyone knows what they look like?) Some of the best groundcovers in my area - such as epimedium and 'Goldstrum' rudbeckia - are hard sells when the plant is in the pot because people have a hard time visualizing how they will look once they spread.

I wish my garden center had the space for more demonstration gardens!

I know this is an older thread, but I wanted to add a comment anyway. As a garden designer, I have shopped with a lot of homeowners. There are two things that I would find very helpful in a display bed. One is to show a weeping false cypreass like 'gold mops'after a few years of growth. The plant is so misunderstood in containers. The other would be to show a fall color plant, like maybe oakleaf hydrangea, in and out of shade. I also agree with the poster who said there is nothing more vexing than a display garden that has plants you cannot buy. Get them out! My friend grows all of his woodies in sunken containers around his rented houses; no reason a garden center could not do this in display beds.

A business featuring plants should have exuberant and stimulating (lavish) planting if it wants to excite visitors into parting with their bucks.

Thanks for many great ideas.

I prepared a draft plan for the owner of the nursery. I limited the display area to three different but similar theme gardens. I agree the low mainatence is a good place to start. I too get many requests for LM plant designs. I used conifers and some grases, with a small round patio, to display some of the stores nice wooden furniture. The other two areas will include an area with more color, some wooden structures and vertical elements like pergolas. This will be a place to showcase some special annuals or some more intense colors. The last area is more like a back yard area with a place to sit and maybe some native of less formal plantings.
The nursery manager and the Perennial Manager provided me with a list of plants that they would like to showcase and still have plenty of inventory through out the year.
I was not crazy about the idea of having customers being able to remove or shop from the garden. Although I did suggest that this area may be constantly changing (every few years) depending on what worked and what didn't.

There is a small path that winds through each area, so that it does not look like a large perennial bed. Also I will repeat some perennials through out to tie everything together.
Thanks again for all your help - there was many great ideas.