Plenty of New

Chris Beytes

Spring Trials 2015 are “all over but the shoutin’,” as my Louisiana father-in-law used to say. But our coverage of the flower industry’s fashion show is just beginning. Yes, we wrote from the road six days (nights, actually) straight, but that was just a quick skim of the highlights. Now we can sit back, digest what we saw and make some more meaningful observations.

Looking back, what do I recall about the 2015 Spring Trials? I think everyone who attended (roughly 1,100 to 1,200, based on numbers I heard) would agree that it was a good, solid year of introductions.

Granted, there wasn’t any one new variety that will change the face of horticulture. That’s what we all hope for, but how often does that happen? And do we even recognize a groundbreaker when we see it? When Proven Winners introduced Million Bells Calibrachoa at their debut trial in 1997, I called it “a petunia look-alike” and lumped it in with Temari Verbena and Fall Magic accent plants. Nobody knew the how big the class would become.

What about excellence in existing classes? I’d say Sakata took that one with Dragon’s Breath Celosia, a big, vigorous plumosa-type with bright red plumes that only get bigger and fluffier with age. Great name for a great plant.

Then there are color and pattern breakthroughs. The most interesting was Selecta’s Night Sky Petunia, the flowers of which look just like a Hubble telescope photo of a distant galaxy.

The problem with both of these excellent introductions—and many more that are only slightly less cool—is that if retailers don’t play them up in the garden center, they’ll get lost. You MUST sell Dragon’s Breath under that name, and ideally with plenty of POP, to help customers recognize the cool factor. Otherwise, it’s just another celosia … and there’s nothing cool about celosia. Same with Night Sky; shove it in the back or up high with all the other petunias and all that good breeding work has gone to waste. These are endcap items, meant to be displayed front-and-center, with lots of hoopla. Think spotlights and velvet ropes. And higher prices!

The “best” variety at any given trial is often overlooked. Such as Westhoff’s Hot Snow White Lobelia. But Hot Waterblue is Westhoff’s best-selling single variety, so I know a white version is going to automatically garner plenty of sales.

What about branding? Proven Winners no longer has to prove its viability as a brand, it just needs to keep introducing cool genetics and keep spending  $8 million to $9 million per year on radio, TV, billboards and other marketing efforts. There are few retailers where you don’t find some PW-branded pots. Burpee Home Gardens, HGTV HOME Plant Collection and Hort Couture continue to fight for their share of the branded plant pie. But new brands? Nope. The days of several new brands a year are behind us.

POP offerings are slightly stronger, but only slightly. I mentioned Dragon’s Breath; it was in special pots by MasterTag, but they’re optional, and as I said before, if you don’t promote the name via pots, bench cards, bench tape, signs and every other means, you might as well not bother stocking it.

As for the trials themselves, they all looked excellent. I can recall only one or two that had to make excuses for some less-than-perfect plants. The growing season must have been good, as everything seemed perfectly timed.

As for the stops, there are too many. It’s impossible to get to every trial location and see every company and do them justice. We had to rush to get our work done, which meant we were missing networking opportunities or possibly a cool variety lurking around a corner.

In the end, Spring Trials is an event with which Ellen, Jen and I have a love-hate relationship. It’s six 18-hour days in a row, but we spend them telling stories about flowers, so how bad can it really be? And the story this year is that there will be plenty of “new” for you to grow and sell in 2016. Just don’t expect it to sell itself. GT