One of the highlights of going to the Tropical Plants Industry Exhibition (TPIE) is heading down the coast to Costa Farms in Miami. The innovative grower hosts the Season Premier Trials there, which includes a night of breeder presentations to the grower councils for big box retailers like Lowe’s and The Home Depot. During these presentations, breeders reveal new variety introductions and growers then determine what varieties to grow and trial for the big boxes. It’s sort of a season kick-off for new varieties. The next stop: California Spring Trials.
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Costa Farms' tropical oasis
Costa Farms' Season Premier Trials are a tropical oasis in late January, especially for visitors from Northern climates.
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Costa Grows Perennials, Too
Costa Farms showcased its perennial varieties, grown at its new facility in Georgia.
"The industry thinks of Costa categorically as an annuals grower but we have a full selection of perennials, as well," says Justin Hancock from Costa.
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Trial Plots
Trial plots provided good comparison trials during Costa's Season Premier.
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Hanging basket trials
Costa Farms' hanging basket trials focused on begonias and geraniums, two consumer favorites.
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Costa's Deck Trial
Where better to show off container veggies than on a deck? That's where many consumers are growing them these days.
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Tomatoes and gerbera
Tomatoes planted with gerbera provide interest, texture and plenty of color.
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Basil with calibrachoa
Veggies and herbs can be grown together with flowers for more color and interest, like this basil grown with calibrachoa.
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Retail benches
Retail trials show how plants perform under retail conditions, jammed on benches and watered once a day for two weeks. These had been there for just two days and still looked pretty fresh.
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Retail set-up
At Costa Farms' Season Premier, retailers like the Home Depot and Lowe's were able to see some nice garden center displays for the upcoming season.
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Drop & Grow
The new Drop & Grow program from Costa Farms offers a new solution for consumers and landscapers. Costa displayed an attractive Drop & Grow display in the retail trial area of its Season Premier gardens.
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Drop & Grow convenience
Drop & Grow allows consumer and landscapers to set flats on top of the soil, fill in slightly around them, water and go. They provide instant gratification with color and uniform plantings.
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Drop & Grow roots in fast
Drop & Grow flats root in fast. These were planted about two weeks before the trials.
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Drop & Grow variety
Drop & Grow can be used with monoculture crops or a mix of different varieties, from annuals like coleus and petunias to succulents and groundcovers.
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Drop & Grow Sign
Drop & Grow solves problems for both busy consumers and landscape professionals looking to make fast installations.
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Drop & Grow Adds Interest
Consumers and landscapers can buy this attractive bicolor Irish Moss in Drop & Grow flats for quick installation.
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Drop & Grow Tag
Drop & Grow comes with attractive signage, tags and POP displays.
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Garden Retreat
Justin Hancock of Costa designed this relaxing garden retreat to show that it's easy to add color and interest with plants, without a lot of work.
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Relaxing spot at Costa
Wouldn't you like to sit here and read a book - or even answer some eMails on your tablet?
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Cut flower garden
Costa showcased several idea gardens, including cutflower gardens.
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Retail idea garden
This idea garden could be planted at retail to show consumers just how to put plants together.
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Mailbox garden
Plant Your Mailbox. Another idea garden at Costa Farms shows the beauty of adding plants to even the most mundane areas.
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Unusual combinations
Who puts a houseplant like sansieveria in a combination? Costa does, and it looks great!
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Go vertical in the garden
These high-end pots make gardens go vertical and add interest.
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Tropical demonstration garden
In Miami, foliage provides a great deal of color and interest. This tropical garden paradise on Costa's trial grounds was like another dimension.
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Tropical demonstration garden
The tropical garden offered a good demonstration for how consumers can incorporate color in their gardens.
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Orchids in the trees?
Yes, those are orchids in the trees. If you grow orchids and you are located in a warm climate, like Costa Farms, you can do that.
Costa Farms grows new varieties in a two-acre garden, where they are presented in traditional trial plots, landscape beds, idea gardens, containers and hanging baskets. This year’s hanging basket trial focused on begonias and geraniums, because they are so popular among consumers, says Costa’s Consumer Marketing and Digital Specialist Justin Hancock, who designed the trial gardens.
Lowe’s and The Home Depot also get to see a retail set up for their respective stores, where varieties are presented on retail benches and left for two weeks, with only one watering per day, Hancock says. The gardens included a deck with container-grown vegetables to present the way consumers are growing their produce, and included ideas for incorporating veggies and herbs with flowers for attractive and delicious-looking combos.
2024 Garden Symposium Set by the CCE-Chautauqua's Master Gardener Program
Costa Farms also takes the opportunity to premier some of their new ideas and products. This year’s cool new offering was the Drop & Grow flats – “plants for creative gardening and landscape trouble spots.” Drop & Grow allows gardeners and landscape pros to drop flats of plants onto the garden bed and fill in soil gently around them, water them in and go, Hancock says. Flats can be monoculture crops or combos. Costa trialed these among pavers to show how they take the work out of planting flower beds, both for the gardener and the professional landscaper.
015Costa Farms' Season Premier Trials Shows Off Cool New Plants, Products And Ideas
February 4, 2014 
