Pacific Plug & Liner (PP&L) packed its “Camp Perennial” with creative and eye- and mind-filling displays that drew the eye and emphasized plant function.

The grass display at Pacific Plug & Liner's (PP&L) "Camp Perennial" California Spring Trials site.

The hydrangea display at Pacific Plug & Liner's (PP&L) "Camp Perennial" California Spring Trials site.

Proven Winners’ Proven Pollinators retail concept addresses consumers’ concern over pollinator health. The company polled retailers to see if they’ll dedicate a section of their store to pollinator plants, and potentially sell the plants in other areas of the store, as well.

This push-up wildflower seed dispensary from Uncommon Goods is a fun idea for kids that’s being pushed through the Pollinator Partnership.

With more than 50% of consumers opting not to take vacation, generating memorable moments in the garden is more important than ever to offset their busy lifestyles. To help, Proven Winners is encouraging outdoor living to help families grow memories among plants.

Bailey Nurseries unveiled a first look at its new Endless Summer Hydrangea branding, and highlighted its First Editions personality, Ask Amy, which centers around showing the average homeowner how to plant landscapes.

Ernst Benary of America’s Spring Trials theme, Silicon Valley Meets Big Begonia, demonstrated how to marry consumers’ interest in technology with plants, to open their eyes to the real world
of gardening.

A new alliance with Skagit Horticulture will improve availability and distribution of plants from the Southern Living and Sunset collections. The program promotes plants with 10 full ad pages in Sunset and Southern Living magazines, social media and online content, and digital advertising on HGTV and DIY, Sunset and Southern Living networks.

This year Dümmen Orange displayed several new retail concepts for trialing, including the KinderGarden, which focuses on primary colors to attract kids, lower benches and shelves to allow kids to interact, and pollinator-friendly plants to educate kids on that issue.

Dümmen Orange displayed a foodie-inspired concept grouping herbs into three classes, for tea, grilling, and pizza. The graphics are clean and simple, relying on iconography and using the Pantone color of the year as a backdrop.

Inspired by Pinterest and consumers’ quest to achieve great-looking container gardens, Dümmen Orange developed a concept that deconstructs the different steps of the process, and allows consumers to choose media and pots, then decide on approved component plants, and finally put them all together to create a nice container.

Terra Nova Nurseries set up four vignettes based on consumer challenges that it has encountered, like choosing the right plants for easy care landscapes, selecting pollinator-friendly plants, and saving resources with water-wise plants.

Star Roses and Plants showed off its rebranding of Brazelberries — now Bushel and Berry — at California Spring Trials. Based on consumer feedback, the new name and packaging improvements to the brand includes a new logo, tags, and containers, which will be available at retail in 2017. Star Roses and Plants will also build a new website for the collection, BushelandBerry.com, which will launch in January 2018.

Capitalizing on a recent NASA study reporting that gerberas are the number one flowering plant for cleaning the air, Florist Holland’s Pure Blooms retail display and packaging concept encourages shoppers to purchase seed gerberas for their homes as living, air-filtering bouquets.

Hort Couture served up a stunning farm-to-table display at Spring Trials, with its new varieties as the main menu. The new varieties featured prominently in the place settings of a long table filled with flowers, herbs, and veggies. Pallet chandeliers hung over the table with some of Hort Couture’s mini plants in half-quart jars hanging down overhead.

PlantHaven is promoting the use of waterwise plants, using flowers more in green wall construction, and offering unique and interesting ideas to growers.

MasterTag and Summit Plastic Co. presented new products and marketing concepts at Sakata Seed’s trial site this year. Highlights include a new do-it-yourself (DIY) starter garden — a production-friendly, self-merchandising edibles garden kit, which retailers could pair with media, fertilizer, and containers for all-in-one-box promotions, similar to the Blue Apron meal service. The starter garden includes a six-pack of larger plants that makes it easier for consumers to get a jump on gardening.

A similar DIY spring garden kit was also displayed by MasterTag and Summit Plastic Co., with a handle presenting container-planting guidelines to make it easy for consumers and answer as many questions as possible.

Syngenta Flowers will back Sunfinity Sunflowers’ 2018 retail debut with a big branding push aimed at making it a name consumers ask for at retail. Tags (from MasterTag) are required with plug purchase, and Summit Plastics will provide optional branded pots.

Burpee has a new look this year to celebrate 100 years of breeding and give the brand a more modern design. Highlights include a new tag that first names what the product is, lists its name and what it is used for, and provides a photo of what the fruit looks like when ready for harvest. It answers all of consumers’ questions in order of priority. The brand also groups function by color, including the Boost antioxidant group in Purple, the Foodie collection in steel grey, etc.