Le Grand Tour de Fleur

By Delilah Onofrey|June 12, 2008

At Greenhouse Grower, we look forward to giving you the world – a whole world of floriculture, that is – after spending a full week covering the California Pack Trials. More than 30 flower breeders and propagators rolled out their cutting-edge flower varieties and strategies during the ultimate road trip, March 29-April 5.

In addition to American companies, many of which are based in California, breeders and producers from as far as Japan, Israel, Germany, England and Holland camp out for a couple of weeks and make a pretty substantial investment in this event. Many exhibit at plug and liner growers, which also gives these growing operations an opportunity to showcase their facilities and product lines.

Many Pack Trials hosts reported record highs in visitation, which is encouraging. Nearly 2,000 plant seekers make this pilgrimage each year. While the majority are representatives of the broker distribution chain, busloads of growers travel with their big-box buyers. Many plug, liner and finished growers make the journey on their own.

This year, Greenhouse Grower was represented by Editor Delilah Onofrey, Group Editor Richard Jones, Contributing Editor Allan Armitage and Suzanne Di Staulo in our advertising department. Also traveling with us were our California Dreamin’ contest winners.

We’re always looking for ways to take our coverage of the Pack Trials to the next level. That’s why we produced this handy, digest-sized booklet as a New Varieties Guide. In addition to providing the highlights and introductions from all the participating companies, we present overall crop trends and the latest in sustainable packaging and marketing concepts. Turn to page 36 to see which varieties are being considered for our Medal of Excellence breeding awards this year, as well as our panel’s favorites from the trials.