4/29/2016
Fashion Week for Flowers
Chris Beytes
The California Spring Trials have been likened to New York Fashion Week as the place where the latest styles are introduced to industry movers, shakers and influencers. Benary brought the comparison to fruition by hosting a very convincing runway show of their new varieties, complete with cocktails and electronic dance music. Always critical of these sorts of time-wasting diversions away from the important and time-consuming work of actually viewing the trials, we humbly admitted that it was extremely well done, with every detail perfect—right down to the English accent of the presenter. We completely forgot that we were in a nursery production barn. And the whole thing only took eight minutes, leaving plenty of time to view the Trials.
Held April 9 to 14 at locations between Gilroy in the north and Oxnard in the South, the California Spring Trials drew an audience of some 1,100 or so distribution company sales representatives, growers, retailers, allied suppliers, press members and garden bloggers. This year’s Trials featured 16 stops—two fewer than last year—and nearly 60 exhibiting plant and hardgoods companies, including two new exhibitors: HMA Plants (vegetative young plants) and PRUDAC (vegetables).
There was also a new location for a key player: Proven Winners moved from Chaminade Resort & Spa in Santa Cruz to Kirigin Cellars Winery in Gilroy. The relocation saved attendees at least two hours of driving while giving Proven Winners plenty of flat, open land (soccer fields, actually) upon which to show their wares. And there’s the added benefit of wine for attendees.
Weather for growing the Trials was challenging, thanks to El Nino, which brought much-needed rains, but also variable temperatures and light. Setup days saw high winds and 90F temperatures for at least one day. The first few days of the trials themselves were overcast and even rainy—a rare occurrence even during non-drought years—but the remainder of the week was perfect.
As for memorable and important introductions, we saw some nice petunia color additions, including Surfinia Heartbeat Petunia by Suntory (pictured), which featured white flowers with pink heart-shaped colorations. Selecta’s stellar Night Sky Petunia got a full introduction after its trial year.
We saw a new category of dwarf coleus from Terra Nova Nurseries, some of which appear in Hort Couture’s Under the Sea Coleus line. Dümmen and HMA showed off extensive succulent collections. Syngenta introduced geranium Calliope Medium to go along with their very popular Calliope series (now called Calliope Large). Celosia was a popular introduction, but not as popular as dianthus, both annual and perennial.
All in all, it was a good, if not earth-shattering, year of introductions.
By the way, next year will be the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the California Pack Trials in 1967 by Glenn Goldsmith.
GT