Put down the pink petunias; give up the red geraniums.

If you're reaching for common plants for your garden again this year, it's not your fault.

Garden centers are boring local gardeners to death by offering the same plants every year. Nothing new and exciting ever graces their shelves, and most of the people who work there are barely even knowledgeable, much less passionate, about the plants they sell.

The resulting diminished sales in the garden industry and declining traffic in garden stores is leading to a crisis in horticulture.

That is the premise of a talk scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 20, at Delaware Valley College.

The guy delivering it might come dressed in a Philadelphia Folk Festival t-shirt, sporting whiskers reminiscent of Jerry Garcia. But don't let his relaxed looks fool you.

Lloyd Traven runs a thriving, high-tech plant business a few miles north of Doylestown. With his wife, Candy, and a full-time staff of six, the place that started out as "the little greenhouse on the hill" now reaches around the world.

A guest on The Martha Stewart Show and a frequent lecturer, Traven has been spreading his thoughts on innovation in the gardening world for years.

The biggest problem facing the gardening industry today is the lack of a relationship with the buyers, whether they are passionate gardeners or weekend dabblers, he asserts.

"We've stopped asking 'What's new?' We've stopped presenting 'new' to the garden centers," Traven said recently, as he showed a guest around his greenhouse operation. "But here's the problem. The consumer didn't. The consumer is saying to themselves, 'What's new?' the answer is, not much. It's all the same stuff.

"So if it's all the same stuff, at every garden center they go to, they might buy something, but they might not," he continued. "That means that there is no loyalty, no relationship, nothing that makes that customer want or need to come back.

"It's truly a crisis, and we have to stop it, now, before it's too late."

The National Gardening Association shares his worries.

Though people are spending more time gardening now - saving money on lawn care by doing it themselves and growing more of their own food - they are spending less money on garden supplies and plants, the association found in a recent study.

Households spent an average of $81 less last year - declining from $444 in 2009 to $363 in 2010 - on lawn and garden activities, the study found. The total amount spent in the U.S. on lawn and garden activities decreased to $30 billion last year from $36 billion the previous year, a drop of 16 percent, the study concluded.

The only area of noticeable growth in the industry has come in food gardening, the association said, where 5 million more households last year tried to grow some of their own food than had done so the previous year.

From humble beginnings to worldwide business

On a peaceful looking side road in Nockamixon Township, not far from Lake Nockamixon, stands a sign post bearing the standard for Peace Tree Farm. Even if you haven't heard of it, you've probably seen - and maybe even bought or eaten - some of the more than 1 million plants that start their lives in this state-of-the-art greenhouse operation.

International customers include nurseries and greenhouses from Canada to Japan.

Closer to home, the Travens' farm sells plants to community supported agriculture, or CSA, farms all over Pennsylvania, including Blooming Glen Farm in Hilltown, Traven said. It also supplies herbs to Geerlings Garden Center in Buckingham.

It has also provided plants to the New York Botanical Garden, Winterthur Museum, Washington National Cathedral and the Smithsonian Institution, among others.

"When you go to Longwood Gardens at Christmas and see the begonia tree, that's us," Traven said.

Peace Tree Farm began in 1983 when the Travens bought the land in Upper Bucks.

Lloyd had graduated from DelVal in 1979 and then studied floriculture and ornamental horticulture at Cornell University graduate school. He worked for Ball Seed Company in the 1980s. Candy is similarly rooted in the garden industry, after having managed a retail plant store, worked as an interior plantscaper and as a plant breeder at Cornell.

Together, the duo search out, acquire, breed and raise exotic relatives of the common garden plants that stock most garden stores' shelves.

No pink petunias lurk on their 25-acre farm. But you will find black striped petunias, a Chenzo black chili pepper plant and the black-leaved Kennedy Irish Primrose. They're all being grown to show on an upcoming episode of Martha Stewart, Traven said.

The greenhouse is packed full of hundreds of thousands of plants, from seeds sprouting in trays to young plants in containers to finished container arrangements.

Peace Tree specializes in herbs, one of Candy's passions, and begonias, Lloyd's specialty. At Christmastime, exotic varieties of poinsettias take center stage.

You probably won't find many of these plants at your corner garden center, though. With the economy still putting the damper on consumer spending, many store buyers aren't willing to take a risk by trying something new, Traven said.

Yet, he know there are buyers out there who want to try unusual plants, grown through sustainable, organic methods. So he's taking the message directly to the consumer.

"My job is to create that excitement," he said. "We're using social media, reaching out to people who follow us on Facebook."

Traven praised three particular garden centers in the area for "getting it." They hire knowledgeable staff, he said, and try new things. They are nurturing gardeners' passions and using sustainable business practices. They are Primex Garden Center in Glenside, The Living Earth, at 234 West Bridge Street, New Hope, and The Rhoads Garden, in North Wales.

Sustainability is important to the Travens. Peace Tree earned organic certification in 2009, and launched its One Earth plant line shortly thereafter.

Peace Tree sells wholesale only. To find a local retailer carrying the farm's plants, check out the store locator on its website.

Traven's lecture starts at 7:30 p.m. in Room 114 of the Mandell Science Building. It is part of DelVal’s Founders Lectures and is free to Schmieder Arboretum members and DelVal students. Tickets are $5 for nonmembers.