Those of you who frequent the trade shows have most likely met Lynne’s mom, Val Johnson (wife of Rod, who is the son of Dorothy Biddle).  She’s been helping out for years, and this Friday, February 1st, she celebrates her 80th birthday.

And where will she be?

Why, with Lynne at the New York International Gift fair, of course!  If you’re stopping by please be sure to wish her a Happy Birthday.  She’s going to kill me for saying that…but I couldn’t help myself.

Val is an amazing woman…friendly, caring, intelligent, independent, skilled crafter and seamstress, world traveller, Red Hat Lady…she even lent me her copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  All of us here can only dream of sustaining such vitality throughout our lives, and we’re grateful she’s a part of our team. 

Greetings from the freezing Poconos…is it March yet????

Atlanta and TPIE were decent this year…thanks to all of you who turned out.  Any orders placed are on their way, unless you’ve requested a future ship date or we ran short on an item (all should be in stock within the week).

We’ll be at the New York International Gift Fair, but we’ll be in General Gift, Booth Number 7042 instead of on the Pier because the powers that be moved Floral and Garden to Javits.  Hope to see you there!

 For more info:  http://nyigf.com/

Or, the Tropical Plant Industry Expo if you prefer…Lynne is setting up our booth right this second.  If you’re around, stop in and see her!

http://www.fngla.org/tpie/

We require a username and password to access our wholesale ordering area, mainly to keep pricing confidential for our customers.  If you are already a DBS customer, whether you’ve ordered online or off, you may login immediately by using your DBS ACCOUNT NUMBER as the username AND password.  It is case sensitive, so be sure to use caps.  If you have no idea what the heck your DBS account number is, check an old invoice or call/email and we’ll scare it up for you.

If you’re new to us and are just ‘checking things out’, email me or call and I’ll provide you with temp login for immediate access.

If at any point you have questions, don’t hesitate to call 888-712-3239 and ask for me…I’ll be happy to walk you through or troubleshoot with you.  My normal hours are 8 AM to 4 PM Monday through Friday, Eastern time.

Amy Keane, manager & internet specialist (don’t you love that title????)

Lynne is in Atlanta setting up our booth at AmericasMart…stop in and see her if you’re in town, booth number 2-C-17.  She’s got all our new items with her so you can check them out ‘in person’.

Here’s the link to the AmericasMart site:

http://www.americasmart.com/

Hi all!

The 2008 catalog is in the hands of our printer and should be going to press tomorrow.  You should have a copy in your hands within the next two weeks or so.  Lynne has decided that for our 2009 edition we will try our very best to have it in the mail by the end of November or so, as we’ve found most of you are planning your spring orders earlier and we want you to know what we’ve got that’s new before you make your final choices.  Traditionally we’ve been getting it out before the end of December, with some spill over into the new year.  And once in Februrary…but we try to pretend that didn’t really happen. 

Since you came here from the main site you’ll most likely have noticed that all the new items are up there, and they are also ready to order on the ‘cart portion’ of the site.  Some really great stuff this season…finally, a PERFECT apron (bib OR waist style!) and new garden totes to replace the ones we loved that are no longer being made.  The Gardener’s Color Wheel is my favorite…such a cool idea, and one less thing to have to think about, which I’m all for these days.

Hope this new year finds you well, and that your holiday sales were what you wanted them to be.

I’m going to try my darndest to update this every day, and Lynne has her own login so she can add her goodies as well.  If nothing else we’ll entertain you a little, eh?

Until then, wishing you the best!

Amy