Just in case you missed my article in Green Profit in their April issue, here is a link. Don't get thrown by the title, I just wanted to emphasize that we need to understand how out retail customers are looking at our displays.
"Treat Customers Like Toddlers"
http://www.ballpublishing.com/GreenProfit/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=18418
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
PanAmerican Seed
PanAmerican Seed- PanAm pulled together a very solid showing of new colors added to existing series , a couple full series upgrades and a few unique foliage items added to their Fantastic collection.
Torenia Kauai series- (? Is Nathan really leading off the PanAm visit talking about bedding Torenia?)
What I found interesting on our tour was the time we spent on the new Torenia series Kauai. Not that fact that PanAm took time to show us a new Torenia series, but the fact that our group took time to ask questions and take pictures. I think we understand ,as do the retailers, that NEW is good on some of these old classes, it gives the opportunity and excuse to re introduce an underutilized crop. There are not to many free flowering shade items. By no means am I saying cut back Impatien production to add Torenia, but that the Kauai's are a good enough improvement over the Clown and Queen series, that they give reason to consider offering Torenias again.
Super Elfin Impatiens- There is a new color added to the Super Elfin line, which I really like. It reminds me of Tempo Peach Butterfly. This new color is used in the new tri color mix, SE Sedona Mix.
Hibiscus Mahogany Splendor- I am always amazed by the number of Hibiscus Maple Sugar liners I sell each year. Not that it is a huge item, just I don't personally like it. The dark leaf, large vigor and excellent heat tolerance sells the cutting Hibiscus. Now you have an option to grow the similar specimen from seed or plugs that can save on cost. Mahogany is similar than Maple Sugar as it tops out around 48" in the garden.
Torenia Kauai series- (? Is Nathan really leading off the PanAm visit talking about bedding Torenia?)
What I found interesting on our tour was the time we spent on the new Torenia series Kauai. Not that fact that PanAm took time to show us a new Torenia series, but the fact that our group took time to ask questions and take pictures. I think we understand ,as do the retailers, that NEW is good on some of these old classes, it gives the opportunity and excuse to re introduce an underutilized crop. There are not to many free flowering shade items. By no means am I saying cut back Impatien production to add Torenia, but that the Kauai's are a good enough improvement over the Clown and Queen series, that they give reason to consider offering Torenias again.
Kauai Deep Blue
Super Elfin Impatiens- There is a new color added to the Super Elfin line, which I really like. It reminds me of Tempo Peach Butterfly. This new color is used in the new tri color mix, SE Sedona Mix.
Hibiscus Mahogany Splendor- I am always amazed by the number of Hibiscus Maple Sugar liners I sell each year. Not that it is a huge item, just I don't personally like it. The dark leaf, large vigor and excellent heat tolerance sells the cutting Hibiscus. Now you have an option to grow the similar specimen from seed or plugs that can save on cost. Mahogany is similar than Maple Sugar as it tops out around 48" in the garden.
Viola Sorbet series- The Sorbets added three new colors this year along with some upgrades too. The Fleuroselect Winner- Delft Blue, and the Lemon Blueberry Swirl had outstanding crisp colors.
Delft Blue
Lemon Blueberry Swirl
Alyssum Easter Bonnet series- This popular dwarf alyssum added two very nice colors in Peach and Lemonade. The additions of the these two colors to the formula mix for Easter Bonnet give the mix a feeling of a pastel needlepoint in your garden.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Day 4 to be continued
I will finish up my posts tomorrow of Day 4. Still to add: PanAmerican Seed, Darwin Perennials, Burpee Home Gardens & Ball Ingenuity
Multi-cuts BFP & Selecta
As I had mentioned previously, the Dummen Utility patent forced Selecta's Trixi liners to adjust their production scheme.
The old model was to stick 3 cuttings into the same 50 or 72 cell. The new model of production has each item propagated individually and then on week 3 of production, they will combine the 3 rooted cuttings into a larger tray. During the next 3 weeks of production, the individual cells will continue to grow and their roots will grow into each other, binding the 3 cells together for easy planting.
MixMasters- BFP has now entered the party with their own collection of 12 multi-cut mixes.
The old model was to stick 3 cuttings into the same 50 or 72 cell. The new model of production has each item propagated individually and then on week 3 of production, they will combine the 3 rooted cuttings into a larger tray. During the next 3 weeks of production, the individual cells will continue to grow and their roots will grow into each other, binding the 3 cells together for easy planting.
Starting cell tray (left), Multi-cut tray (right)
1 +1+ 1= 1 Multi-cut
Cells rooted together for easy pulling
MixMasters- BFP has now entered the party with their own collection of 12 multi-cut mixes.
Tropical Punch
Candelight
Ball FloraPlant
Ball FloraPlant
I must admit I was a bit scared about this stop. After the banner year BFP had last year with the introduction of three Black Petunias, I was worried that there would be a bit of a let down.... Silly me, this stop was full of new introductions that look very cool.
Angelonia Archangel Series- This new 4 color series is a replacement for the old Angelmist Compact series. The main upgrade is a much larger flower on each variety. The taller Angelmist varieties (16-18" height) are still around. What makes this Archangel series interesting is that it has the large flower size of the PW Angelface series, but whats it so much improved compared to the Angelface is that its buds spacing on the flower spike is much tighter, creating a glowing spike of color.
Still use the tall Angelmist varieties for your height elements in containers and the Serena for your 6-packs, but the Archangel are the best out there for your 4.5" production.
Coleus Wasabi- From the same breeding line of Henna and Red Head, this new full sun landscape coleus is a perfect match to the other coleus in this line as far as habit and versatility. This 18-24" tall lemon/lime coleus can be grown in 4.5" pots or be used in large containers, and has been bred to minimize flowering.
Petunia Pink Lemonade- This variety looked great, and I was very impressed. When I saw an early photo of Pink Lemonade I was a bit skeptical of this bi-color, but what I saw was that the marketing photos are not a good representation of what makes this variety special. You will see in a catalog a picture of a petunia with a yellow color and a pink picotee. This pink picotee was fainter than in the picture, but the yellow was even more impressive.
I must admit I was a bit scared about this stop. After the banner year BFP had last year with the introduction of three Black Petunias, I was worried that there would be a bit of a let down.... Silly me, this stop was full of new introductions that look very cool.
Angelonia Archangel Series- This new 4 color series is a replacement for the old Angelmist Compact series. The main upgrade is a much larger flower on each variety. The taller Angelmist varieties (16-18" height) are still around. What makes this Archangel series interesting is that it has the large flower size of the PW Angelface series, but whats it so much improved compared to the Angelface is that its buds spacing on the flower spike is much tighter, creating a glowing spike of color.
Still use the tall Angelmist varieties for your height elements in containers and the Serena for your 6-packs, but the Archangel are the best out there for your 4.5" production.
Coleus Wasabi- From the same breeding line of Henna and Red Head, this new full sun landscape coleus is a perfect match to the other coleus in this line as far as habit and versatility. This 18-24" tall lemon/lime coleus can be grown in 4.5" pots or be used in large containers, and has been bred to minimize flowering.
Fantasia Dark Red Geranium- This is an excellent addition to the Fantasia line of dark leafed zonals. In a flat geranium market the dark leaf series continue to have growth every year for BFP. The Fantasia Cardinal Red is the #2 varieties for BFP behind #1 Designer Dark Red. We are told that this variety has a similar color to the Dark Red Calliope, but without a sample plant to compare, I can't say for sure. From my first take, it is the darkest red in the BFP zonal catalog, but a shade or too lighter than the Calliope and new Cumbia Dark Red from Dummen.
Where this has a place is that I continue to get grower comments that the vigor of the Calliope is a hard to control for 4.5" production. The whole Fantasia series is the most vigorous of the different dark leafed series available but it is still more compact than most green leafed series, which makes it perfect for 4.5" and 10" baskets.
Fantasia Raspberry Twist Geranium- Raspberry Twist has the same flower pattern of the popular Designer Peppermint Twist, but this variety has dark green foliage and a hot pink variegated petal.
Ivy Geranium Precision Series- Unfortunately Ivies continue to decrease each year, I attribute this to the rise of the interspecfic geraniums and just so many other options for the consumer to purchase. This series is new breeding along with the top varieties selected from the Selecta Royal series and BFP Colorcade series. If you wanted to carry a small collection of the colors from the series, I would go with the Blue, Pink, Ruby & Red Ice, that would cover most of the needed colors. This series was bred under high oedema pressures, so it is not oedema resistant, but is one of the most tolerant series out there.
Osteospermum Serenity Magic Rose- I wish Osteos were bigger in our market, they always look so amazing at the California trials. New Rose Magic is early to flower, but standard heat tolerance. Still Voltage Yellow remains as the only osteo that will flower through the entire Michigan summer. Hopefully they will add more colors for the Voltage series someday. I also found three colors in the Serenity series that have identical habit and flowering so if you wanted to do a mix 3ppp -8" mum pot: Lemonade, Pink & White.
Voltage Yellow looking amazing again!
What is exciting is the mounded/trailing habit and health vigor this plant showed. In all the mono-culture and mixed pots it just looked healthy, which is so important because yellow petunias continue to be the worst performer of any petunia series. BFP said this variety has been an excellent rooter in all of the trials too.
This is one of the top varieties I am excited to grow this summer and view at local trials to see how it performs.
Selecta
3D Osteospermum- This new introduction of 3 colors is a game changer in the Osteo world. I know Selecta has labeled this an Osteo, but it really needs to be reclassified to a Spring Daisy. These huge flowers are 3" in diameter and the fully double center keeps the blooms from ever closing. In an interesting demonstration by the Selecta team, they boxed up multiple 3D Osteo pots in a cardboard box for 48 hours; when opened in front of us, the blooms looked perfect and fully open.
I am getting samples shipped to me this summer to trial and I will let you know about heat tolerance. FYI, Pink is not as bright as it looks in the catalog, it is more of a soft lavender, still a very nice color and different enough from Purple that you should carry all 3 next spring.
Moonlight Lavender Evol Geranium- I have a few requests each year for the most lavender/ blue flowered geranium. I really liked the color of this variety against the dark green leaves.
I am getting samples shipped to me this summer to trial and I will let you know about heat tolerance. FYI, Pink is not as bright as it looks in the catalog, it is more of a soft lavender, still a very nice color and different enough from Purple that you should carry all 3 next spring.
Pink
Silver
Purple
Moonlight Lavender Evol Geranium- I have a few requests each year for the most lavender/ blue flowered geranium. I really liked the color of this variety against the dark green leaves.
Day 4
Day 4- This entire day is focused on Ball corporate product and program training at the Santa Paula facility for PanAmerican. This is the first year I have been here that the mountains surrounding the greenhouses are snow capped. I hate to complain about heat while there is still snow in Michigan, but in was 85+ and sunny in the greenhouses and I was over heating.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
**Mid-day Update** Multi-cut
I wanted to make a quick amendment to my post about the status of the multi-cut liners for next season. Previously I stated that the Syngenta Kwik Kombos and Selecta Trixi liners were business as usual, but I have now learned today that the Dummen Utility patent has forced some changes to the Trixi Liners, that actually is a great improvement for that program.
In order to not be affected by the patent, the Trixi Liner is now individually stuck in a mono-culture tray, then combined of week 3 in to a 50 cell tray and then finished in the production tray for 3 more weeks before shipped to a rooted customers.
What this means is no misses in a 50 liner (1 item dies in production), better and faster rooting due to the smaller initial cell size, and lastly each species can be treated early in production based on its specific needs. All three of those will make a superior product to last years Trixi Liners.
This technology and process will also be utilized in the new Ball FloraPlant MixMaster program that will include all the great BFP breeding lines.
I will update with pictures later.
P.S. Beautiful here today again.
In order to not be affected by the patent, the Trixi Liner is now individually stuck in a mono-culture tray, then combined of week 3 in to a 50 cell tray and then finished in the production tray for 3 more weeks before shipped to a rooted customers.
What this means is no misses in a 50 liner (1 item dies in production), better and faster rooting due to the smaller initial cell size, and lastly each species can be treated early in production based on its specific needs. All three of those will make a superior product to last years Trixi Liners.
This technology and process will also be utilized in the new Ball FloraPlant MixMaster program that will include all the great BFP breeding lines.
I will update with pictures later.
P.S. Beautiful here today again.
Multi-cut programs
I thought it would be interesting to note that since the Dummen Confetti Liner Utility Patent, some suppliers have changed their tune.
For those not aware of that Patent, it states that no supplier can sell a liner with multiple species cuttings in the same cell without paying a royalty to Dummen.
While the Selecta Trixi liner and Syngenta Kwik Kombo programs are business as usually, smaller breeders like Fides are making it a point out to customers that their mix programs are only recipe ideas and in no way are they promoting the sticking multiple cuttings in the same cell during production.... interesting.
I am not sure of the outcome of this patent on our industry, but we should find out this year.
For those not aware of that Patent, it states that no supplier can sell a liner with multiple species cuttings in the same cell without paying a royalty to Dummen.
While the Selecta Trixi liner and Syngenta Kwik Kombo programs are business as usually, smaller breeders like Fides are making it a point out to customers that their mix programs are only recipe ideas and in no way are they promoting the sticking multiple cuttings in the same cell during production.... interesting.
I am not sure of the outcome of this patent on our industry, but we should find out this year.
Ball Seed
Ball Seed- This is day one of our two day stop. Of course I may seem biased, but please believe me that the Ball stop in Santa Paula is beautiful in plant quality and layout, and my favorite stop for a eighth year in a row.
This is a huge stop representing the following programs: Ball FloraPlant, Selecta, PanAmerican Seed, Keift, Burpee Home Gardens, Ball Ingenuity and Ball Ornamental.
Tomorrow we will go in depth with product training but today was more of a quick overview. One of the biggest new launches is the addition of Flowers to the Burpee Home Garden program. My day 4 post will go in to more detail as I learn more too.
This is a huge stop representing the following programs: Ball FloraPlant, Selecta, PanAmerican Seed, Keift, Burpee Home Gardens, Ball Ingenuity and Ball Ornamental.
Tomorrow we will go in depth with product training but today was more of a quick overview. One of the biggest new launches is the addition of Flowers to the Burpee Home Garden program. My day 4 post will go in to more detail as I learn more too.
Fides
Fides- A new stop for us a few years back and it continues to put out a few new exciting intros each year. As I stated in our Oro visit, Fides purchased Oro and the Fides production will be moving to the Oro facility. We have been assured that top Oro management has been retained to make this a smooth transition.
Petunia Fortunia Purple Heart -This new addition to the Fortunia series caught every ones attention as we walked through the door. I have been seeing an increased interest in the last two years of veined vegetative petunias, especially in the use of combos. This color is more intense than Daddy Sugar and more purple/lavender that Bordeaux. Long story short- Very impressive color. Please remember that the Fortunia series is not a trailing petunia, it has more standard blood in its veins(sorry for the pun), that means it is upright mounding. It will cascade but don't expect much trailing. With the popularity of Bordeaux this could be an exciting intro.
Petunia Fortunia Purple Heart -This new addition to the Fortunia series caught every ones attention as we walked through the door. I have been seeing an increased interest in the last two years of veined vegetative petunias, especially in the use of combos. This color is more intense than Daddy Sugar and more purple/lavender that Bordeaux. Long story short- Very impressive color. Please remember that the Fortunia series is not a trailing petunia, it has more standard blood in its veins(sorry for the pun), that means it is upright mounding. It will cascade but don't expect much trailing. With the popularity of Bordeaux this could be an exciting intro.
Growlink
The Growlink stop was very well grown, but there really wasn't anything new to speak of. The mum trial was well grown and I took notes, but I always wait till I talk to Ed Higgings before I recommend anything. Ed is the Mum Master, and his word is golden. Trust his integrity and vast knowledge of mums when he makes his recommendations in the Ball Mum catalog and his 3 breeder Mum Grid, which is essential when creating a mum program.
Food: Barbecued Tri-Tip, potato salad.
Food: Barbecued Tri-Tip, potato salad.
Floranova
Floranova- A breeder from across the pond continues to become more relevant in new introductions each year. They were the first to focus the industry on the promotion of vegetables in containers and this year the have added some fun new items to their collection.
Tomato Cherry Falls- Floranova is the breeder of the Tumbling Tom series and this new line of the Falls are trailing as well, but the size and quantity of the tomatoes are both significantly increased. Fruits are ~1.25" in size. I snuck a sample and it was very tasty.
Tomato Sunset Falls- This will be a Ball Seed Exclusive. This is different that the other new trailing intro of trailing tomatoes, Sunset Falls has more of a plum shape and has a very cool yellowish/ orange vertical striping of the skin. The color pattern gives it the look of the heirloom variety, Red Zebra, but with all the benefits of a hybrid, plus it trails! It looks to have less fruit than the abundance that Cherry Falls has, but the striping pattern makes up for any loss in production. I know there is a sign that tells you explicitly not to eat, but that is like telling me not to breathe... I snuck another sample, and it too was tasty,
Tomato Mega Bite- This was a last year intro for a 2" determinant growth tomato. Perfect for 12-14" containers. Plus they were promoting customers to sample this one, so I felt obliged to try this :) Nice flavor, very meaty flesh with not to much seed juice.
Pepper Basket of Fire- This is the first trailing chili pepper. Along with the culinary use of this variety the peppers change color while maturing, so you get a great basket of 4-5 different colors. Floranova introduced 2 other trailing peppers this year, but this was the most interesting. Did not sample this. I like spicy Indian and Thai food, but can't handle hot peppers by themselves.
Corn Field of Dreams- This was a late intro this winter and seed is available to ship and there is plenty of time for a crop of this due to is super fast grow time. 1 seed per 4", 3 seed per gallon. The corn has a variegated green/white/pink leaves, and the tassels and corn are a dark burgundy. The height an growth is reminiscent of the original Purple Majesty Millet (4'-6' garden height). This is a good large combo item or use as a height element in a landscape bed.
Now that I am finished blogging about the Floranova stop, I am shocked that the ratio of the square foot of the display greenhouse we toured and the size of my post. You could attribute this depth to my love of food, but it is also fun to see new innovative products, and Floranova had a lot of them.
Food: 1 Cherry Falls Tomato, 1 Sunset Falls Tomato, 1 Mega Bite Tomato & some salsa made from their assortment of vegetables.
Tomato Cherry Falls- Floranova is the breeder of the Tumbling Tom series and this new line of the Falls are trailing as well, but the size and quantity of the tomatoes are both significantly increased. Fruits are ~1.25" in size. I snuck a sample and it was very tasty.
Tomato Sunset Falls- This will be a Ball Seed Exclusive. This is different that the other new trailing intro of trailing tomatoes, Sunset Falls has more of a plum shape and has a very cool yellowish/ orange vertical striping of the skin. The color pattern gives it the look of the heirloom variety, Red Zebra, but with all the benefits of a hybrid, plus it trails! It looks to have less fruit than the abundance that Cherry Falls has, but the striping pattern makes up for any loss in production. I know there is a sign that tells you explicitly not to eat, but that is like telling me not to breathe... I snuck another sample, and it too was tasty,
Tomato Mega Bite- This was a last year intro for a 2" determinant growth tomato. Perfect for 12-14" containers. Plus they were promoting customers to sample this one, so I felt obliged to try this :) Nice flavor, very meaty flesh with not to much seed juice.
Pepper Basket of Fire- This is the first trailing chili pepper. Along with the culinary use of this variety the peppers change color while maturing, so you get a great basket of 4-5 different colors. Floranova introduced 2 other trailing peppers this year, but this was the most interesting. Did not sample this. I like spicy Indian and Thai food, but can't handle hot peppers by themselves.
Corn Field of Dreams- This was a late intro this winter and seed is available to ship and there is plenty of time for a crop of this due to is super fast grow time. 1 seed per 4", 3 seed per gallon. The corn has a variegated green/white/pink leaves, and the tassels and corn are a dark burgundy. The height an growth is reminiscent of the original Purple Majesty Millet (4'-6' garden height). This is a good large combo item or use as a height element in a landscape bed.
Now that I am finished blogging about the Floranova stop, I am shocked that the ratio of the square foot of the display greenhouse we toured and the size of my post. You could attribute this depth to my love of food, but it is also fun to see new innovative products, and Floranova had a lot of them.
Food: 1 Cherry Falls Tomato, 1 Sunset Falls Tomato, 1 Mega Bite Tomato & some salsa made from their assortment of vegetables.
Day 3
Day 3 starts early and another great day of weather awaits. We have four stops going from Pismo Beach down to Santa Paula.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Hanging Basket Contraption
On the display side, Sakata used a very inventive way to show two levels of hanging basket at lowers levels that seemed very inviting and drew a lot of attention. This did not seem like it would be hard to build, but it did take up some space.
Dummen
Dummen- This was a wow stop last year, and they keep this as a top stop this year too. The amount and quality of intros has made this the most interesting stop yet. They seemed to add good colors to every series, including a Dark Red replacement for Ivy Geranium Barock that Syngenta dropped last year, and two new colors to the Magnum series, the largest flowering New Guinea Impatien on the market. The Magnum series still does not have enough colors to replace any other large flowered basket New Guinea but it has a good start.
Interspecific Geranium Cumbia Series- Watch out Calliope, the Cumbia Dark Red was identical in color and vigor to the Calliope Dark Red, and the Cumbia series also has a Hot Pink/Rose that matches the Dark Red in vigor unlike the Calliope Scarlet that is a smaller variety.
Perry from Dummen says the big difference is the number of flws in the umbels in the two series. In the picture below you can see this. Cumbia on left, Calliope on right.
Petunia Sweetunia Series- A lot of new and exciting colors in this smaller flowered mounded/trailing petunia. The three biggest colors to catch my attention, were the Burgundy, Orange Flash and Black Jack. I think the Burgundy really was a great combo item in their displays.
Petunia Potunia Series- Three new colors were added to the compact mounded series, this and the Sun Spun still remain the top two series for a petunia to use in a 10"combo that won't take over the basket. My favorite of the new three was a soft lavender with deep lavender veining.
Confetti Mixes- The confetti mixes were celebrating their 5th bday this Pack Trials and Dummen was celebrating this and their new Utility Patent. About 4 new mixes that all looked great. Kir Royal was my favorite of the new intros.
Upright Fuschia Artes Mojo- You wouldn't think an upright fuchsia (4" or combo pot production) would make it in to a select few I would talk about at this supplier, but this variety scream Easter Basket color! Every combo they used it in looked great.
Food: A lot of different appetizers, halibut, risotto, green beans and birthday cake. And a cool glass of lemonade meet us at the door when we got there, which hit the spot... It got warm today.
Interspecific Geranium Cumbia Series- Watch out Calliope, the Cumbia Dark Red was identical in color and vigor to the Calliope Dark Red, and the Cumbia series also has a Hot Pink/Rose that matches the Dark Red in vigor unlike the Calliope Scarlet that is a smaller variety.
Perry from Dummen says the big difference is the number of flws in the umbels in the two series. In the picture below you can see this. Cumbia on left, Calliope on right.
Petunia Sweetunia Series- A lot of new and exciting colors in this smaller flowered mounded/trailing petunia. The three biggest colors to catch my attention, were the Burgundy, Orange Flash and Black Jack. I think the Burgundy really was a great combo item in their displays.
Petunia Potunia Series- Three new colors were added to the compact mounded series, this and the Sun Spun still remain the top two series for a petunia to use in a 10"combo that won't take over the basket. My favorite of the new three was a soft lavender with deep lavender veining.
Confetti Mixes- The confetti mixes were celebrating their 5th bday this Pack Trials and Dummen was celebrating this and their new Utility Patent. About 4 new mixes that all looked great. Kir Royal was my favorite of the new intros.
Upright Fuschia Artes Mojo- You wouldn't think an upright fuchsia (4" or combo pot production) would make it in to a select few I would talk about at this supplier, but this variety scream Easter Basket color! Every combo they used it in looked great.
Food: A lot of different appetizers, halibut, risotto, green beans and birthday cake. And a cool glass of lemonade meet us at the door when we got there, which hit the spot... It got warm today.
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