This retail program had significant sales growth in 2012, and that was lead by the new 'Boost' program (varieties selected for high anti-oxidants). It is a fantastic marketing program, but the varieties taste good too.
They added 3 new varieties to the boost program including the pepper Health Kick and the Tomato Tasty Lee. Both have good name recognition already and now the have the Boost program to support it even more.
Bumper Crop grafted tomatoes.
This is not a new product as last year Plug Connection rolled out their Mighty Mato program. The concept is you take the heirloom that people love because of their unique flavor and/or color, and graft it on a select rootstock that is resistant to late blight and tolerant to leaf spot. The special rootstock also increases harvest, Plug Connection trials show a 30% increase.
Last year I was very skeptical of viability of this program due to the high cost of the liner ~$2+ for a 102 liner. I am not usually a sucker for packaging but this pot and tag looked sharp and high end and the signage is great too. The picture below is a 102 liner grown for 4 weeks after transplant. I really believe that if you grow this for 5-6 weeks for a bulkier plant than below, it would sell for $10-12 at retail. The signage is key, the customer must be aware of the added value they are receiving.
Burpee Flowers
This will be year two for the flower program. Burpee heard the feedback of needing more exclusives for this program and came with two brand new flowering exclusives: one a very cool and bright begonia and the other a petunia that I like, but I want to see how the flower pattern looks throughout the summer.
Begonia Sparks will Fly- begonias are hot right now and this orange is deep and vibrant against a chocolate leaf. We have seen in the past that the chocolate bonfires were a bit less vigorous to their green counterparts, but this dark leaf seems to have a decent habit.
Petunia Blue a Fuse- this was described to us as 'having lots of drama in the flowers' and the flower pattern as 'stably unstable'.
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