I left you retailers hanging last week when in my review of Dümmen Orange’s CAST happenings I said, “keep an eye out for my upcoming Tropical Topics newsletter coming out later this week, in which I’ll show you a few other new items.” They’ve picked up two new categories with flowering tropicals and houseplants.

The flowering tropicals category currently involves hibiscus and Dipladenia. The Caribbean Collection of hibiscus are bred in Spain and the Netherlands, which they say has resulted in varieties that can handle a broad range of environments. They also said this line is less susceptible to bacterial leaf spot. Currently the Caribbean Collection contains six colors with more colors on the way.

The Dipladenia is so new it doesn’t have an official name. They have two types of Dipladenias—one type is a bushy form and one is a more vining style.

Next up, Dümmen’s new indoor foliage program called Welcome to the Jungle. The program has 50 varieties of popular houseplants such as peperomia, tradescantia, crassula and what I call “strings of things,” all of which are available as unrooted cuttings. At least part of the stock source is from Antigua (in Guatemala, not the island). If you’re one of those retailers who has found it difficult getting sufficient supplies of houseplants, it looks like Dummen’s entry into the category should help.

Take a look at the Welcome to the Jungle program catalog. Flip through it HERE.

Two of their houseplants are offered through the Sprouts program, which is a way to offer certain varieties with the cost savings of a cutting but the benefits of a liner. They are essentially rootless baby plants that are multi-stemmed and multi-leaved, pre-callused and ready to stick. Three peperomia varieties are available as sprouts—Leap Frog, Raisinet and Rosso. More Sprouts will be added as they continue to test varieties in this form.

Remember the Sakata SuperCal container I shared with you folks last week, the one that touted the plant’s weather performance right on the pot? Jerry Schmitt of Stein’s Garden & Home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, wrote in with a comment about this and other CAST-featured packaging and branding initiatives:

“It is quite often that as I travel CAST (and other trials and shows), I see a lot of really neat packaging/branded pots that I say that I want—take the SuperCals as an example. The unfortunate part, however, is oftentimes the minimums for pots for even multi-store garden centers such as us are way more than we can support, even working with growers who have multiple chains/garden centers that they sell to. Now, it could be argued and I would agree, it’s really about the plant and how it shows in the garden center, how we merchandise it, talk about it in social media, etc. that sells the plant. I give the breeders a lot of credit for putting their product out there with the branding, just to execute is often the challenge for non-box store garden centers.”

As I replied to Jerry, I feel this is a problem that some savvy industry person will look at and say, “Well, why don’t we just do XYZ?” to come up with the solution. Or, maybe I’ve been listening to too many “How I Built This” podcasts—the one featuring the CAPTCHA guy seems apropos here. How do you feel about branding and packaging programs whose minimums are too max? Drop me a note about it HERE.

It’s good to have a sense of normalcy back, and by that I mean holding in-person industry events. Such as the ever-anticipated Darwin Perennials Day! It’s back and in-person and happening June 22 in The Gardens at Ball.

It’ll be a full day of perennials education, networking with peers and discussions with suppliers. And of course there are the Zone 5 overwintered trial garden comparisons, too, allowing you to judge the varieties on what is most important for your customer. 

Bring yourself and your team for:

• Visits with +25 perennial suppliers in the tented showcase
• Exciting plants in the New Variety Courtyard
• Browsing extensive perennial garden beds from leading perennial breeders
• Visiting education stations: “When to grow seed or vegetative Echinacea”; “How callused cuttings are changing propagation”; and “Tips and tricks from experienced perennial growers”
• Taking guided tours of The Gardens and the Ball Helix Central Research & Development Center

You’ll also get a chance to listen to Suzanne Wainwright-Evans of Buglady Consulting give the day’s keynote presentation, “Implementing Bio-Control Agents.” Both breakfast and lunch are included, so plan to spend the entire 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. on the Ball Horticultural campus.

Registration is now open. Get your name on the list by registering at www.darwinperennialsday.com.

And then there’s the Big Daddy of the perennial meetings, the Perennial Plant Association National Symposium. After a two-year hiatus, it is now slated for August 1-5 and taking place in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It’s going to have all your old favorites—tours of public and private gardens, educational opportunities, a trade show and a boatload of networking and social events. The tour attractions include a private home foodscape garden, Rock Lititz, the Donald Pell Gardens, Quality Greenhouses and Stoneleigh Garden, not to mention evening pleasure visits to Longwood Gardens, Chanticleer and North Creek Nursery. And the speakers! Such a good line-up with Longwood’s Paul Redman, Mt. Cuba’s Jourdan Cole, Phyto Studios’ Claudia West, Terrain’s Melissa Lowrie and Jared Hughes of Groovy Plants Ranch.

Go ahead a sign up now as registration for the event is now open. And keep in mind you have two registration options—the week-long event or the three-day event that covers the core elements of the symposium. For more information about PPA’s National Symposium and to register, head over to HERE.

J. Berry Nursery, the folks who have brought you some cool shrubs such as the Black Diamond Crape Myrtles and Déjà Bloom Azaleas, has entered into a new licensing partnership with PlantHaven International, Inc. This agreement improves access to popular genetics like the ones above and others, such as Summer Spice Hardy Hibiscus and Season to Season Gardenias. It also assists in boosting the supply chain of popular J. Berry plants.

“We have had a great relationship with PlantHaven for many years as a licensed grower,” says Jim Berry, co-owner and founder of J. Berry Nursery. “I’m extremely proud to have PlantHaven represent J. Berry genetics and brands to their customers. Their influence, reputation and credibility within the nursery industry is stellar. Our cooperation will lead to many opportunities for consumers, growers, landscapers and of course for those who seek the best as they do business.”

J. Berry Nursery is not a young plant producer, so this relationship with PlantHaven will ensure that growers needing liners can easily access J. Berry genetics through PlantHaven’s network of young plant producers. In other words, the supply will be there! As for J. Berry’s Hollywood Hibiscus brand, that will continue to be represented in-house by Jesse Hensen, Global Supply Chain Manager at J. Berry Nursery. For more information about J. Berry Nursery, visit www.jberrynursery.com, and you can read up on PlantHaven HERE.

In what I think will be my last intentional posting in my series of employee-focused topics, let’s focus on the Gen Zers, or Zoomers as some article anointed them last week. Anyway, those Gen Z employees are a new breed of worker, and to keep them on board once hired is important to you—namely, because finding workers nowadays is a difficult thing. The talent acquisition company Lever recently released the results of a survey of 1,200 fully employed adults of all ages that asked how employers can best attract and retain workers through this difficult hiring year. The report focused mainly on the responses of Gen Z-aged employees, as they are the largest demographic of hiring age.

Here are a few key findings of what Gen Z wants and needs from an employer:

Career flexibility. The study found that 40% of all employees plan to stay at their current company for less than a year. For Gen Zers, that percentage increases to 65%. Also, 41% of all employees who do plan on staying will ask for a role change at work. In fact, the flexibility and work-life balance they hope to achieve through a role change is so important to them that 31% would take a pay cut to make it happen.

Removing roadblocks to mobility. 21% of employees overall and 37% of Gen Zers don’t feel they can openly discuss moving to another role or department with their employers, because many (33%) feel the company doesn’t encourage role changes. Lever suggests employers be proactive in their current employees’ awareness of open jobs and have open conversations about career development.

What motivates current and future employees. While 48% of all full-time workers would rather be at an organization that pays them more, 39% would rather have a sense of purpose at work. But when it comes to Gen Zers, that percentage jumps to 42%. When it comes to other generations, 49% of Millennials are motivated by higher compensation, while that number jumps to 56% for Gen Xers. Said Lever about the importance of understanding motivating factors, “Being able to align each candidate’s goals to the opportunities at their company gives recruiters a leg up in the hiring process.”

It’s also the last intentional posting of my series about today’s consumers. And again, Gen Z is a big deal here. A recent edition of my new favorite newsletter Morning Brew says that “maximalism” is the latest trend to reshape retail, thanks to Gen Z. “They look for products with attitude and personality,” said Hamish Campbell, VP Executive Creative Director at brand design agency Pearlfisher.

Some of the must-know points in the article include:

• Products that appeal to this generation are designed to recall toys of Gen Z’s youth.
• Product are designed to stand out among other products in the store and on the screen.
• Beauty brand Youthforia founder Fiona Co Chan says she designs her cosmetics with TikTok in mind, making sure the colors and fonts pop—“something that you can read if I’m holding things up, moving it through a video.”
• Fonts are once again meaningful to a brand, with the trending typefaces being expressive, flashy, super-high contrast, tight spacing, weird proportions, mismatches and ’70s psychedelic shapes.
• Some companies are developing two versions of their logo—one that reads better on packaging and one that is easily and quickly legible on screens.

Read the full article here and go down that rabbit hole of links to what companies are doing along these lines. You’ll definitely come away with some ideas for how to appeal to the younger audiences.

You or someone on your team could be an award-winning writer or communicator. In the vein of my favorite marketing campaign ever (New York Lotto’s “You can’t win if you don’t play), you could indeed be an award winner if you put your hat in the ring, or your hand in the air or perhaps your name on the nomination submission form. Entries are now being accepted for the 2022 Garden Communications International Media Awards, and they have a category specifically for garden trade communicators.

Are you on a marketing/communications team for a garden center, grower or breeder? If so, you’re likely eligible for a number of category awards. In fact, GardenComm has added three new award categories, including social media. Other categories that folks involved in the trade are eligible for include newsletters, brochures, catalogs, press kits and special projects (newsletters, eh? Hmm.)

These GardenComm Media Awards include more than 50 categories, all primarily focused on horticulture and gardening topics, and it’s likely that you or someone you know is more than qualified. All individuals, companies and publishers can throw their hat in the ring regardless of GardenComm membership status.

Time’s a-wasting! The deadline for entry is Friday, April 15. Find out about entry details and submit your information HERE.