Chris: Compared to yesterday’s laundry list of exhibitors at our three stops, today was a relative piece of cake …
Ellen: You can find a food reference for every occasion, can’t you, Beytes.
Chris: Oddly enough, I can. And I’m not even hungry after the great fish and chips at Spencer McKenzie’s in Ventura—highly recommended. But as I was saying before I was interrupted by my Bobble-headed friend, our three stops for Monday (Day 4 of our trip) were fairly straightforward: Greenheart was mostly roses; Dummen had loads of great genetics plus a display by the new HGTV brand; and Floranova, being a smaller company, had a very manageable list of intros. All told, a not-overwhelming day. Now, pass me the wine and a cookie.
Ellen: Yessiree. But first, let me get rolling on our first stop: Greenheart Farms. What stood out for me is their passion for roses. And that passion for the product is just one of the reasons they’ve seen growth of 25-30% each year for at least three years.
Chris: They’ve just added 50,000 sq. ft. of Richel greenhouse to accommodate the growth.
Ellen: The other major reason is the products themselves and their slick marketing programs. Garden Treasures, for one, and it’s new tri-pot pack (below, modeled by Bill De Vor). More than a quarter-million are going into Walmarts this spring—and that’s just a test run!
They’re really working hard to push roses for all-season use, not just the normal holidays—hence their “Roses 365” trial theme. And they’ve got genetics that make it easy for growers to do just that. For instance, their Balconia collection is hanging basket roses. It gets three new colors: Solero (yellow), Chipotle (orange) and Pepita (pink). BTW, they were displayed on a cool A-frame rack from Cherry Creek Systems—I’ll find out more about that.
Ellen: The hulthemia rose Greenheart debuted last year—the rose with the cool eye in its center—gets two new colors: Pomegranate Lemonade and Melon Lemonade. They join the original Lemonade.
Chris: New is great, but what I like is how Greenheart is rejuvenating an old brand: Sunblaze miniature roses. That line was launched almost 30 years ago. Greenheart has taken it over, upgraded all the genetics, and developed all-new POP for it. And all the roses can be used as miniatures for pot plant sales or as garden plants.
Ellen: Conard-Pyle had a display at Greenheart again this year—and they had more than just roses this time. They showed a nice line of perennial salvias called Suncrest, along with some flowering shrubs and a sweet little nepeta, Junior Walker. Oh, and yes, one new addition to the Drift groundcover roses—Popcorn, which, with its yellow buds and pale yellow flowers, really does look like popcorn kernels. We were told they’ve been working on the perennial line for three years now—it’s their own breeding. And they’re working on a line of woody ornamentals, too.
Chris: That’s Greenheart in a nutshell. If you want to see more, check out our video HERE. Next, we headed across Highway 101 from Greenheart to Dummen, which is again exhibiting at the lovely Edna Valley Vineyards. We didn’t ask how many introductions they had, but it was a ton: the entire center island of the greenhouse was floor to ceiling with new varieties—way too many to list here. So Ellen, I’ve got an idea: Dummen was asking folks to vote for their top three introductions. Let’s do the same and each list our top three introductions.
Ellen: Cool. I’ll kick it off then, with Confetti Garden Fall. You guessed it—it’s an “autumn appropriate” line within their Confetti Garden mixes of multi-species liners. Golds, browns, oranges and purples are the color schemes, and it turns out these mixes are also available for spring, as well. Four heart-warming colors are available. This one is Tangerine Tango.
Chris: You kicked off with a good one, but I’ll follow up with the inspiration for their ’50s theme: ivy geranium Great Balls of Fire. This is a true ivy, not a cross, and the series was selected in the heat and humidity of Florida and Texas, where they were able to screen out any plants that showed a tendency toward edema. The result, they say, is a truly edema-resistant series. It starts with seven colors (this is Dark Red).
Ellen: My next pick are the Aloha Konas, a subseries within the Aloha calibrachoa series. Konas are bred to be more compact and have more flower power than the straight Alohas, and they create a nice mounded basket. Little to no PGRs for you growers! Eleven colors available.
Chris: I’ll vote next for the new Potunia petunia colors. I’ve always dug how Dummen brings out unusual colors, and they did it again this year, with Potunia Plus Banana (“Plus” is a subseries that is 20-25% more vigorous than regular Potunias). Banana is unique in that it gets more pinkish in cool conditions and more yellow when its warmer. But most unusual is the color of Potunia Mochaccino, which has hints of yellow, pink and burgundy that somehow combine to an overall effect that does seem like a tasty Starbucks mochaccino.
Ellen: Two new additions to the XXL series of double dahlias round out my top Dummen picks: XXL Taxco and XXL Alamo. XXLs have blooms “as big as an editor’s head,” as you say, Beytes. Oh, and they have a new single dahlia series, too, called Dreamy. Dreamy Passion, Dreamy Eyes and Dreamy Fusion have awesome colors offset by some really nice deep-green foliage.
Chris: Lastly, another petunia, Surprise Midnight Cowboy, which Dummen’s Sue Di Staulo described as “deep, deep purple.” That’s how I wrote it down; Ellen wrote down DEEP purple. Any way you spell it, this is as rich and velvety a purple as you can have without it being black. Which it’s not, it’s purple. If you want to see if and a bunch more stuff, our video is
HERE.
Oh, and we’ve got to mention the new HGTV Home Plant Collection, which was exhibited by Agricola Management, the firm that has licensed the brand from HGTV. Agricola is responsible for both the Southern Living Plant Collection and one for Sunset Magazine, so they know how to translate corporate brands into plant collections. This one should be good, because as they learned, HGTV has 95% brand recognition. This spring will see a soft launch with 375 retailers on board, including some well-known IGCs and a few chains, including 205 Menards, 20 Meijer stores in Michigan and 141 Shopko stores. The plant material in the collection reflects “smart and stylish,” they say. It’s a six-year agreement, and Agricola says HGTV has been very involved with all aspects of developing the brand. They’re looking for breeders, grower and retailers to participate, so if you want to get on board, contact Agricola's Randy Hunter at rhunter@agricolamanagement.com.
Ellen: Speaking of on board, let’s get movin’ on to our next and last stop of the day: Floranova. As Beytes said, a small stop with a manageable number of intros. What caught your eye, Chris?
Chris: Simple: The new series that they say has gotten the most attention: Wallflower Sugar Rush (below). The name is odd but describes the series; it’s sweet-smelling and fast to grow. Floranova says it doesn’t require any vernalization, which means you can produce it for early spring sales or for fall. There are three colors: Yellow, Primrose and Purple Bicolor, plus a formula mix. A red and an orange should join the series next year. Ellen, what did you like at Floranova?
I liked their hot pepper intro called Cayennetta, which also happens to be an AAS winner for 2012. It’s not TOO very hot at 1,800-2,00 Schoville units, but the plant produces a ton of fruit so you can use those peppers in salsa liberally. And as an AAS winner, it was chosen with fruiting, habit and performance in mind.
Chris: I’ll wrap up Floranova and our day with an old-fashioned plant: streptocarpus. They’re launching a series called Cape Cool. It’s a seed series, which means it’ll be less expensive than any from leaf cuttings or other vegetative forms, and that means you could consider it for mixed containers or even flower beds. Seed has 90% germ, too. The series gets four rich colors. Our Floranova video is currently appears first in the list at our YouTube page,
HERE.
Okay, that’s that. We jumped into the family truckster and drove from Lompoc an hour south to Ventura, where we’re set to visit Fides and Ball Tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Ellen: Remember to check out all our Spring Trials videos at www.youtube.com/growertalks. We’re posting at least three a day from the road and will continue to post more in weeks to come. And we’re doing our best to get our photos into nice, neat photo albums on Facebook at www.facebook.com/springtrials.
Chris: And tell us what you think of the trials if you’re out here and of our coverage if you’re not. Email us at cbeytes@ballpublishing.com or ewells@ballpublishing.com.
See you tomorrow!
Chris and Ellen
Chris Beytes
Editor & Publisher
GrowerTalks and Green Profit
Ellen Wells
Editor-at-Large
Green Profit
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