As promised, this week I am featuring the products that won the Retailer’s Choice Awards at Cultivate’22 a few weeks ago. Just to reiterate, these awards are not given to products (or plants, too, for that matter) that are necessarily new. The awards are given to items that the garden retailer judges see, perhaps in a new light, and are intrigued by enough to think, “Yes, I’d do a good job selling that.” Those retailer judges, by the way, are organized by The Garden Center Group’s Danny Summers to walk the aisles and take note of those “Why, yes!” moments. From what I understand, those folks combined had a list of more than 100 items. They whittled it down to 15. Last week I presented the nine plant recipients and this week, if I do my math correctly, I have six products to bring your way.

Speaking of seeing a product in a new light, I think that was the case for the Assorted Bamboo from the folks at Bamboo Supply Company. The judges loved all the not-necessarily-new shapes and sizes of the different bamboo items. If I think of it, with the popularity of climbing/vining/sprawling houseplants, tropical plants and items like mandevilla and dipladenia, I bet these retailer judges did, in fact, see this bamboo gear in a new light. The judges especially liked the 100% Natural Plant Tag Holder, which is simply a solid round bamboo stake with a notch to securely hold tags. www.bamboosupply.net.

Another product that might not be necessarily new but is more and more necessary as wild areas become scare for wildlife, is the Unique Deer and Small Animal Repellents from Bobbex. It has a No. 1 rating in effectiveness, is eco-friendly—even for the animals it’s repelling!—and won’t wash off in precipitation, making it a long-lasting product with value. It’s also protein-based. I gotta get me some of that for bulb-planting season—the chippies removed every one of the 200 tulip bulbs I planted last fall! www.bobbex.com.

You’ve seen the Instagram Reels of Hilton Carter taking a water meter to each of his many houseplants and checking to see if they need to be watered. It takes time, it’s a process and I’m not a fan of inserting and removing a probe into the soil all the time—it can get messy. Perhaps the roving band of judges saw this next Retailer’s Choice Award winner as a solution. It’s called the SUS-Tee Aquameter from the folks at Cabinotier Co. out of Japan. It is small, light and doesn’t look like much, but inside it has a unique wick that detects moisture. If the top of the wick is blue, it’s fine with moisture. If it’s white, water. Also, no batteries needed! www.Sustee.jp/en.

SUS-tee in action

I was talking to a colleague at the start of Cultivate about Proven Winners’ Aquapots. He loved the look and the concept, but said they were a heavy, a bit expensive and availability was tricky due to their being made in and shipped from Vietnam. Lo and behold, the new Aquapots Kits solves those problems. This new version comes as a kit that you can insert into either their new resin (and therefore lighter) pots available in several different colors and sizes, or into your own pots (!). It comes as a round, self-contained reservoir with a telescoping watering tube and an adapter so it can fit inside of a square pot. This kit is less expensive than the still-available original version, due to the materials, and the kits are more readily available. www.provenwinners.com.

Bossman Beytes was keen on this Retailer’s Choice Award winner due to it fitting into a tool category. The Rotoshovel is an automatic, battery-operated handheld shovel that drills into soil. The powerful auger is semi-enclosed by a collar that protects your hands. And it has an auto shut off mechanism for added safety. I like that it comes in a carry case for it, the charger and a replaceable 12-volt battery. www.rotoshovel.com.

And the last winner of the Retailer Choice Awards is a product I’ve mentioned here before when they exhibited at Floriexpo, We The Wild Plant Care. Aside from being an organic plant food and protective spray, the judges thought the packaging itself was a real winner, too, because it has a clean look to it. As a refresher, the three 100% organic We The Wild products are an 8-oz. Grow Concentrate, a 17-oz. Protect Spray with Neem and a 14-oz. Enrich Powder. They also have a bundle that contains all three. www.wethewild.us.

My own picks, that is—not my own products!

Dramm’s Tripod Sprinkler is not your grandfather’s sprinkler. Made out of aluminum, it’s surprisingly light. “But if it’s light, it’s gonna blow over!” you’re saying. Nope. It has these retractable spike-like stakes at its feet, kinda like Wolverine, that secure it in place. So much has changed since my grandfather rigged up something to elevate his sprinkler from what I swear were Oldsmobile parts. www.dramm.com.

I quite liked some of the new pots that The HC Companies had. The Orion Pot comes in 6-, 8-, and 10-in. sizes and three colors.

The line of Sprite Pots gets a tray, because no one wants to hang out alone …

And the Borden Planter and Box, in several sizes, have a two-piece rim to help prevent it from bowing outward. www.hc-companies.com.

Egads, I have found more in my notebook!

Soul of the Party is a supplier of 100% cotton macrame hangers. Based in California, the owner (dagnabbit, I didn’t catch his name!) designs all of the styles himself—he has more than 100!—and sources them in China, these are 100% cotton hangers. Very en vogue. www.soul-of-the-party.com.

The last one for today is Captain Carp plant food. As you can guess from its name, it’s a fish-based fertilizer. Nothing new there. But what I like about it is that it’s made from carp that are invading U.S. waterways. This is one of those “this and …” products that the younger generations are interested in. It’s a fertilizer and it is helping to control an invasive species. Organic certification is pending. Available in quarts all the way to bulk orders. www.captaincarpfertilizer.com.

Colleague Jen Polanz asked the Ball Publishing editorial staff to start thinking of what we’d like to include in our yearly “Stuff We Love” article (coming your way in the October Green Profit). It got me thinking that while the season started off really great albeit a little late, there’s not a lot to love about how the garden looks right now.

Rather than launch into a paragraph-long complaint about the causes of its decline, I’ll ask you instead: What are the plants or products you are loving this season? This would not be to fill in for my submission to the piece that Jen requested—I’m sure I can find a thing or two. Rather, I’d love for you to share your successes so I can feel good that at least someone is doing well this summer. Drop me a note about the stuff you love HERE.

Along those same lines, how do you chose not only the stuff you love, but the stuff you’re going to buy to grow and sell to your customers? Last week I passed along a question about this from National Garden Bureau Executive Director Diane Blazek, who was wondering how garden centers and growers decide which new varieties they grow and/or carry. I’d love to know this, too! Drop Diane a note about it. Or me, too!

The Perennial Plant Association announced at their National Symposium in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, this week that Rudbeckia American Gold Rush is the Perennial Plant of the Year for 2023. Introduced by Brent Horvath of Intrinsic Perennials Gardens in Hebron, Illinois, American Gold Rush’s bright golden-yellow 3-in. flowers cover this plant that reaches only 22-27 inches tall. And at 40-in. wide, it’s a bit squat for a rudbeckia, I’d say! But the mounding shape is quite nice.

Photography Credit: Intrinsic Perennial Gardens

Here’s the thing about its green leaves and stems: They are not only covered in hairs that give them a lovely silvery tone, but they are resistant to Septoria leaf spot, which causes black spotting and premature seasonal decline (I’ve had that on celery and it’s just awful).

PPA suggests it is a stunning focal point in borders and meadows, and makes for a great pairing with alliums, asters, sages and native grasses such as little bluestem and prairie dropseed. Turns out that American Gold Rush was also a 2020 All-America Selections winner.

Photo courtesy of Richard Hawke of Chicago Botanic Gardens.

Read more about Rudbeckia American Gold Rush on the PPA’s PPOY page.

It’s the top of the month and I should tell you about the educational opportunities available to you at Portland, Oregon’s Farwest Show, happening at the bottom of the month—August 24-26, to be exact.

Here are just a few of the line-up of speakers for the conference. I bet these names ring a bell:

• Anne Obarski, founder and CEO of Merchandise Concepts, presenting sessions on improving your workplace culture, creating an astonishing customer experience in your garden center, and merchandising your sales floor for maximum impact;
• Alison Kutz, biocontrol advisor and owner at Sound Horticulture, presenting two sessions on beneficial insects;
• Dr. Josef Racsko, technology manager at Mycorrhizal Applications LLC, presenting on plant growth regulators,
• Danny Summers, managing director of The Garden Center Group, presenting on the future of retail;
• Nancy Buley, communications director at J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co., presenting on the development and breeding of climate-resistant urban trees;
• Dr. Ann Chase, cofounder of Chase Agricultural Consulting, giving updates on plant disease control products; and
• Timothy Howard, president and founder of Clarity Connect Inc., presenting on putting your company’s best foot forward on the web, as well as how to reinvest in your business to improve its future performance.

The good news is that all of the seminars offer some degree of professional development credit—10 of them toward pesticide certification alone! Head over to www.farwestshow.com to learn more about the seminars and to register. Need a place to lay your head? Find hotel info HERE.

Bossman Beytes and videographer Osvaldo Cuevas put together a rad video featuring all 15 of the Retailer’s Choice Award winners. I will not forget to link to it a second week in a row!

Thanks for stitching the film together, fellas!

Oh, right! The video! Here IT IS!