Ellison’s & Valleybrook Join Hort Couture
November 7, 2007 Ellison’s Greenhouses in Brenham, Texas, and Valleybrook Gardens in Canada have joined the Hort Couture grower network to promote premium plants as high fashion.
Although Ellison’s may be best known for poinsettias, especially at this time of year, the operation is always alive to new crops and opportunities.
“I am extremely excited and enthusiastic about Hort Couture,” says CEO PJ Ellison-Kalil, who was our Grower of the Year in 2002. “I believe it is a fabulous positioning vehicle that can revitalize, rejuvenate and take our industry to the next level. The possibilities will just escalate as people of passion and integrity join together in the pursuit of excellence and making a positive difference. I for one think the sky is the limits and can’t wait to make possibilities into realities.”
Valleybrook Gardens operates two nurseries in Canada, one in British Columbia and the other near Niagara Falls, Ontario. The company was started in British Columbia in 1980 by John and Kelly Schroeder, and has grown to become Canada’s leading perennial producer. The company ships throughout Canada, the Western as well as the North East and Mid-Atlantic regions in the USA. The customer base is almost exclusively the independent garden center.
Valleybrook was a pioneer in the plant branding industry, introducing Heritage Perennials ® in 1986, grown in trademarked blue pots. In recent years, Valleybrook Gardens has added the very successful Jeepers Creepers® ground cover line, and most recently, Rock Stars®, a line of rock garden and alpine plants.
“Hort Couture is an excellent initiative for us to be a part of”, says John Schroeder, President of Valleybrook. “We recognized the need for, and benefit of, good branding, packaging and merchandising many years ago. Hort Couture has developed an excellent product, with great design and presentation”.
Collections under the Hort Couture brand include Tender Perennials, Avant Garde Annuals, Tres Chic Tropicals and Sunny Succulents packaged in sophisticated Hort Couture pots complete with Lady Hort Couture tags.
Subscribe to eNewsletter
