Revolutionary 100 & Reader's Choice Awards
Thank you Sauk Valley for making this possible!
Each year in August the Today's Garden Center Magazine puts out a call to all garden centers to fill out a lengthy survey on what they are doing and how well their business is thriving. This past year amidst getting ready for Gardenstock, I took the time to fill it out. It's actually a helpful survey. It forces you to evaluate how well you are conducting business. Are the finances in order are the greenhouses well stocked, are you actively engaged in your community; these are some of the topics covered.
I always feel a bit intimidated because we are such a small operation. And when going up against some really impressive and quite large businesses it's easy to feel, well, inadequate. But there was one area surveyed in which I did and do feel confident. And that has to do with our commitment to our gardeners and our community. The people in our community are the key reason we operate this small business.
So for at least that community part, it was a happy day. And the time was well spent getting me to think more closely about how we conduct business and where we could improve. So off it went, out of sight and out of mind until mid November when we received notification that we were to be named one of the Revolutionary 100 Garden Centers in the country for 2015. To say that was a shocker was a huge understatement. I had always filled out those surveys with the hope that I would learn something about how to better do business, not ever once, thinking we would get the call.
The 2015 Revolutionary 100 Awards program is run by the garden retail trade magazine Today's Garden Center and is sponsored by AmericanHort, the national association for the garden industry.
It's great to be acknowledged for hard work, but even better when it comes directly from the people you serve. For this year, I think we're starting out of the blocks on a positive note. In addition to the Revolutionary 100 our local community here in the Sauk Valley voted us #1 Favorite Landscape Contractor. That is a first! Bud and I are so proud of our landscape crew, Quin LeFevre, Jay Pauley, Josh Chastain, and Ryan Hermes. Those men work their tails off each season. We couldn't do it without them!
Pictured left to right:
Quin LeFevre and Jay Pauley hold up the Sauk Valley Media Reader's Choice Award delivered in late February.
DISTINCTIVE GARDENS
2020 Lowell Park Road
Dixon, IL
HOURS
By Appointment
Curbside Pick Up
Apr 1- May 31
Nov 15 to Dec 17
Wed, Fri & Sat 10:00 - 5:00
FAQs
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Curbside Pick Up
There are 8 tables that are assigned after your order is placed. We send out an appointment that details your time and table for pick up. Confirm this appointment.
Look for two emails:
- Order Confirmation
- Appointment Email
Appointments offered in 30 minutes appointment blocks. 1:00p, 1:30p etc.
We try to get as close to your preferred Pick Up time as possible. Please confirm by clicking "Confirm Booking" link in your Appointment Email.
If you need to change your appointment please call or message us on Facebook. Thanks!
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Delivery
Order Online. During checkout select "Delivery". Select your preferred date/time. Bud calls everyone to confirm. If you need a special date/time he'll take care of that request during the telephone call. Hope this helps!
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Redeeming Gift Card
During online checkout fill in the 16 digit number on the back of your gift card in the field that says, "Enter Gift Card Number"
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Redeeming Loyalty Points
Make sure you log in to your account in order to see and use your points.
Loyalty points show up during check out. If you have any to use you will see, "Pay Through Loyalty Point. Current Point Balance Is..."
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Ordering Online
We offer online shopping for curbside pick up or delivery depending on time of year.
Check out Instructions
- Select Pick Up or Delivery.
- Select preferred date/time.
- Order Confirmation
- Appointment Email
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Limited quantities. If you put multiples of an item you want and we only have one in stock an alert will pop up on the desktop site telling you it is out of stock. That means the quantity you selected is higher than the available inventory. For example, Tufa Troughs are all unique. There is only one of each. Each week we take an inventory and add back products that might show as sold out. We’re doing this so we don’t oversell by mistake. So our product availability will change weekly.
iPad shopping. We learned that the pop-up screen where you enter your credit card info was a problem for some. At times the credit card fields were way at the top of the screen and some could not see where to enter their information when shopping on an iPad. This happened especially when they had big orders. If you have problems please message our Facebook Page. We’re learning right along with you and want to help.
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VIP Pricing
Special Pricing. Every now and then we run thank you specials for our loyal customers. When we do, special pricing will show only for you once you log in to your account. This special is unique to you.
Instructions
How To Access Special “Thank You” Pricing
- Click “LOG IN”
Or…
If you didn’t create an account when you shopped,
- Click “Forgot Password”
- That will allow you to set up a password and create your account. Then log in. This will gain you access to special pricing.