The Value Of Spring Trials

California Spring Trials are but a distance memory now, but the experience is as alive today as it was in March. It seems as if I’ve been attending these events for decades–hmm, actually I have–and every year, I, along with thousands of other attendees, am suitably impressed.

I have seen the trials change from true “pack” trials of seeded bedding plants like impatiens, to plug trials of seed items, to vegetative material and now to mixed containers and mixed plugs. Now, there’s a recent and significant emphasis on marketing.

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The event changes every year, but there is not a single year I remember seeing “bad” trials. I, however, also hear many other comments, oft repeated, every year. Some are fair, some are not. Here is a sample.

The Comments

No. 1: Why is Spring Trials held at the busiest time of year for growers and retailers? I can’t get there!

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We have gone back and forth on this. There does not seem to be a “best” time to accommodate the breeders creating the displays, as well as those wanting to buy and decide next year’s mix. We tried the fall–nobody attended–and earlier than March would be more difficult for breeders to have their material ready.

Early spring is a better time for retailers and landscapers, and as far as growers are concerned, when are they not busy?

The bottom line is no date will please everyone, and those who believe the trials to be important will figure out a way to get there.

No. 2: We see the plants in the spring in California, and we’re told how wonderful they are. How can I trust that the plants are equally good for my customers in Maine or Missouri?

If you believe everything you see or hear at the trials, I have some nice Florida swampland to sell you. Nobody is telling lies, but to expect the Syngenta girl or the Floranova guy to guarantee that the plant is excellent in Sioux City or Boston or Miami is ludicrous. Give them a break–get off your duff and visit a trial ground in your area. There are some excellent sites all around the country, and most have data online to answer the question above.

No. 3: How can we balance the unnatural perfection of Spring Trials with the flooded mess of reality?

A reader sent this question to me from the flooded streets of Ohio. Extended winter temperatures, endless gray skies and rains and floods are bound to dispel the perfection of all those videos and photos streaming from sunny, balmy California. The retailers are where the “rubber hits the road,” and if they are staring out the garden center window at torrential rains or waiting for a glimpse of blue sky, you can be sure they are waiting there alone.

No matter how wonderful the plants appear in California, the reality is we are all farmers, dependent on good weather to have people harvest our crops. However, if there is one group of people that’s optimistic, it is growers and retailers–they must be. The good news is that the consumers of our products–gardeners–are even more optimistic. So when spring does erupt, they will come.

No. 4: It is a lean year for new introductions.

This is hardly true when you see the bevy of new plants from nearly all the breeders. This comment is more predicated on the lack of blockbuster newbies, and those are hard to come by year after year.

I believe the emphasis on marketing and merchandising by all companies–from combination plugs for containers and baskets, to green products like pots and labels, to additional consumer information like scannable labels and pots for smartphones–have made this a better and more credible industry.

If you still don’t think there are many new introductions, come see the 75 new geraniums, 50 new calibrachoas and the gazillion new petunias in our trials at the University of Georgia. Nothing is perfect, but the Spring Trials are reasonably close. Where else can you see what’s new in a few days while traveling along the coast of beautiful California? If you haven’t been there already, do it once and cross it off your bucket list.

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