3/1/2021
NGB New Additions
Jennifer Zurko & Jennifer Polanz
National Garden Bureau Executive Director Diane Blazek recently announced new additions to the NGB Year Of … program, as well as some items of note for the All-America Selections program. First, the NGB news:
• Starting in 2022 NGB will add a Year of the Houseplant category. This joins Year of the Flowering Shrub, which was added in 2020, as well as annual, perennial, bulb and edible categories. The houseplant for 2022 will be Peperomia.
• Social media grew rapidly for NGB in 2021, with Instagram traffic increasing by 317%, as well as 75% growth in their emails, 22% growth in Pinterest and 15% on Facebook.
• NGB is partnering with kidsgardening.org and cross-promoting their grant programs.
On the AAS side:
• The organization announced its first Gold Medal National Winner in 17 years: Zinnia Profusion Red Yellow Bicolor from Sakata Seed America.
• AAS is still using Jonathan Bardzik as a celebrity chef to promote AAS winners and they might enjoy an elevated audience with the launch of Jonathan’s new show on Amazon Prime called “Jonathan’s Kitchen: Seasons to Taste,” scheduled to launched February 2021.
• Scott Rusch, general manager of BloomStudios, the new cut-flower division of Ball Horticultural Company, is the new president of AAS, and Alicain Carlson, technical scientist at Syngenta Flowers, is vice president. Jim Devereux from Green Fuse is past president. GP
Pictured: Zinnia Profusion Red Yellow Bicolor from Sakata Seed America.