Grower Gary Mangum offers his view on the importance of farm diversification and why growing medical marijuana could be a positive for the agriculture industry.

Costa Farms has acquired the business, assets and brands of Hermann Engelmann Greenhouses, Inc. of Apopka, Fla., one of the country’s premiere small-foliage growers. Costa Farms will continue to support the Exotic Angel brand and look to build on its heritage, legacy and portfolio of more than 400 plant varieties.

Young plant grower EuroAmerican Propagators has found that in shipping plants to its grower customers, necessity is the mother of invention. Two solutions to grower problems are proving successful and may be available to other growers in the future. EuroAmerican highlighted these at its Spring Trials display at the Ventura Botanical Gardens.

Today’s visits were a lot of fun, with breathtaking views of both California and incredible plants at the various Trials we toured.

For the past four years, Vegetalis has presented container vegetable crops at Spring Trials, and while growers and retailers have been excited about Vegetalis’ offerings, there haven’t been enough sales. So this year, the company is working on a few new marketing concepts to bring Vegetalis’ considerable number of container veggies to retailers nationwide.

Embrace and understand these concepts to create a mobile website that reflects your commitment to improve user experience.

Allan Armitage found several plants while visiting Syngenta, SHS/Griffin and Proven Winners Trial sites that he wants to try at home.

After wandering through the California Spring Trials, Allan Armitage recalls which of the hundreds of ideas and plants appealed to him during his visit.

These creative displays from breeders at Spring Trials work to show off the beauty of the products and give consumers ideas that they can use as well.

In his latest blog posting, garden center consultant Ian Baldwin says even if you don’t know the answers to your customers’ questions, ignoring them is not an option.

Greenhouse Grower editors visited Danziger, Golden State Bulb Growers, Benary and Pacific Plug & Liner, some of which hosted other breeders as well, on Day 1 of 2014 California Trials. Find out what they learned about the new introductions and marketing ideas.

Breeders are creating remarkably strong displays full of ideas to promote a love of plants and gardening. Here are some highlights from Spring Trials sites at Danziger, Benary, Golden State Bulb and Pacific Plug & Liner.

Social media is a tough thing for growers to use well, but Sakata’s Spring Trials displays offer ways – and reasons – you can and should give this marketing tool another look.