The Niagara Pack Trials: Heading North
June 16, 2008 Would you really like to see the new varieties at California Pack Trials, but can’t get away from the greenhouse in April? Is California too far to travel? A new solution is the Niagara Pack Trials, a showcase of flower breeders and their new introductions. Retail-ready greenhouse plants that will be ready to ship in spring 2009 will be on display.
This, the second year of the event, will take place at trial sites all within a 90-minute drive in the Niagara region of Ontario. There is no charge for growers or retailers to attend the event. This year’s Niagara Pack Trials will take place June 25-26.
“Niagara Pack Trials will be held in several greenhouses in a beautiful part of North America, just minutes from upstate New York and down the road from dozens of vineyards, great theater, Niagara Falls and the city of Toronto,” says Laurie Scullin, who is coordinating exhibitors for the event. The Canadian Ornamental Plant Foundation (COPF) is the not-for-profit company behind the event. COPF has helped connect the world’s best new breeding with greenhouse and nursery growers in Canada for the last 40 years.
About COPF
Canada had very different plant patent rules compared to the United States and COPF helped growers access new genetics.
As the rules evolved, COPF has worked with breeders on projects based on helping connect growers with genetics, not only in Canada but in the United States, as well, Scullin says.
“The Niagara Pack Trials is part of the outreach that COPF is looking at to get growers closer to new genetics,” he continues. “We all love the California Pack Trials, as it is the time that industry introduces the ‘new’ stuff. But growers are all generally too busy to get away in April.”
For more information on the Niagara Pack Trials, stay tuned to www.copf.org.
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