Author: Laura Drotleff

The day the news came out about the name change of DNA Green Group to Dümmen Orange, and […]

DNA Green Group has a new name: Dümmen Orange. The company revealed its new name, logo and brand values at […]

Growing fresh vegetables in the Midwest is about to take a major turn in a new direction as […]

Pacific Plug & Liner’s theme this year, Labyrinth, a conservatory of the world’s most captivating plants, was perfectly […]

You name it, we saw it at Speedling’s California Spring Trials location in San Juan Bautista, where five companies showed off their new introductions for 2016.

Vaughn Fletcher with McHutchison Horticultural Distributors is part of Greenhouse Grower‘s Medal Of Excellence For Industry’s Choice Panel. Fletcher recounts some of the standout varieties he saw while visiting Danziger “Dan” Flower Farms and Beekenkamp during California Spring Trials.

Containers seem to be the name of the game for Syngenta, perhaps because the company knows that the […]

After a long day during California Spring Trials (CAST), Vice President of Marketing Chanochi Zaks highlighted the cream of the crop among Danziger “Dan” Flower Farm’s new varieties. Check out the slideshow to see the 10 varieties that CAST attendees were most excited about.

Since January, when I first saw celosia ‘Dragon’s Breath’ in the landscape at Costa Farms’ Season Premier, I […]

Tim Runte of Calloway Gardens is a member of Greenhouse Grower’s Medal Of Excellence For Industry’s Choice Panel. Here, he shares how he determines which plants shown at this year’s California Spring Trials will make the cut at his retail stores.

Michael Geary, CEO and president of AmericanHort, hit the road during California Spring Trials, and noted trends he saw at many of the stops. Here’s one that he says we’ll need to consider carefully.

When we visited Dummen’s site at Edna Valley Vineyard, the HGTV HOME Plant Collection display was teeming with excited visitors checking out the new varieties, designer mixes and concepts.

At two separate locations, the Dümmen Group presented its new take on several lines of plant genetics from the many companies under its brand umbrella. For the second year at Edna Valley Vineyards in San Luis Obispo, the Dummen Group presented new varieties of Red Fox plants, along with the HGTV HOME Plant Collection. Meanwhile, Dummen Group held its second trial location about 30 minutes up the road, at BarrelHouse Brewery in Paso Robles. Both locations were beautiful settings, but the vineyard provided especially lovely panoramic views through the tasting room window.

The Spring Trials exhibit at Windmill Nursery in Buellton is a fairly new location as of 2014, and it continues to evolve, with a number of new suppliers presenting their wares. Kientzler, Terra Nova Nurseries and PAC-Elsner presented new varieties while McConkey, Pelemix and Dramm promoted their products.

The new milkweed ‘Monarch’s Promise’ aims to improve butterflies’ forage options, and it’s already working. Plus, chck out the action from GroLink’s 11 displaying companies.

The team from Mast Young Plants, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., and part of Greenhouse Grower’s Medal Of Excellence For Industry’s Choice Panel, recounted their first day at California Spring Trials, and let us know what caught their attention. The team includes Jim Raterink, Laura Robles and Brian Weesies.

Floranova received some excellent feedback from the market about its Bossa Nova Begonia boliviensis series after introducing the first six colors in 2014. That recognition included receiving Greenhouse Grower’s Medal Of Excellence Editor’s Choice Award during Evening Of Excellence at Cultivate’14. At California Spring Trials, Floranova introduced six new colors for the Bossa Nova series that it will add for 2016, and whereas the original six were bright and vibrant colors, the new ones are softer, including a new White variety.

At the top of a scenic lookout on the grounds of the Ventura Botanical Gardens, guests said they felt a little more zen when they left the Suntory Flowers and EuroAmerican Propagators Spring Trials site. It could have been the delicious meal, the panoramic, ocean view or the four seasons garden trail highlighting the different uses of plants at the trials site. Or it could have been because of the buzz of all the bees attracted by Suntory Flowers’ new BeeDance bicolor bidens.

Representing eight breeding companies, Ball Horticultural Co. is the anchor of the southern half of California Spring Trials. It was our last stop on day one, and overwhelmed us with options and opportunities. Ball doesn’t do anything small, and California Spring Trials is proof.

Day one of California Spring Trials for the Greenhouse Grower team started off in Santa Paula, where Green Fuse Botanicals revealed its biggest new offering – programmable perennial combinations. Starting off with four named mixes, including Peach Cobbler, Bottle Rockets, Butterfly Alert and Mountain Sun, Green Fuse has taken all the guesswork out of which perennials will finish together to create high-value, high-margin perennial combos.