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Archives for 2008

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Industry Leader Launches Sustainable Plant Program

One of the exciting new plant programs during 2008 came from Overdevest Nurseries, the founder of the Garden Splendor® brand of plants. The new program includes a line of sustainable plant products under the new Footprints™ brand name.

Footprints™ is considered to be among the first product lines in the industry to be fully sustainable. It is a new line of decorative, eco-friendly patio plants. The program is being made available to independent garden centers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast for spring 2009.

This program is truly sustainable, not just in part, but fully “green.” We give kudos to Ed Overdevest, founder of Footprints™, because the plant varieties are grown using sustainable practices such as compost made from renewable soil ingredients and recycled irrigation water. Best of all, the plants are potted in natural-component containers and labeled with tags that are biodegradable. Bamboo stakes are even used for the tags, rather than plastic. For online information, log onto www.footprintsplants.com or contact us here at Eberly Public Relations.

https://eberlycollardpr.com/2008/12/748/

Meet Dan!

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With 32 years of experience in the Horticulture Industry, Dan Heims researches, speaks, writes, and stands at the forefront of the horticulture industry as president of Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. Over the past 13 years, Terra Nova Nurseries has grown to become a world leader in plant breeding, introducing over 550 exciting new varieties to the global market, 498 of which include granted and pending patents in the United States, Europe and Japan. Heims has been an integral part of the company’s growth and success from its very beginning.


As an educator, Heims is known as a knowledgeable enthusiast in all things horticulture. He has spent years lecturing all over the world, including the United States, Japan, England, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Tasmania, Australia, and Canada. From breeding to growing, Heims teaches people about his experiences in the industry.

And, now, you may be able to visit Dan at one of his upcoming lectures around the United States. A few talks in 2009 include the following:

• 2009 Great Lakes Trade Exposition on “Containers and Small-space Gardening” on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
• The Summit County Master Gardeners of Ohio on “Containers and Small-space Gardening” on Saturday, Jan. 24, and Sunday, Jan. 25.
• Yard, Garden and Patio Show on “New Perennials from Around the World” on Friday, Feb. 27.
• 2009 American Begonia Society Convention: the West Palm Beach Branch on “California Dreamin’ (Plant Discoveries in California’s Hot Spots) on Thursday, April 30.

More about Terra Nova Nurseries:
Terra Nova Nurseries is a world leader in plant breeding and genetics which has introduced over 460 captivating, robust and innovative varieties of annuals and perennials for the landscape and garden to the marketplace. The Terra Nova Nurseries team produces dozens of hardy new selections each year through expert flower breeding and laboratory research. These varieties are then propagated through tissue culture in state-of-the-art labs to make large quantities of healthy plants available to home gardeners, independent garden centers, growers, and landscape professionals throughout the world.

~Leslie

STEPABLES Selects Independent Garden Center Contest Winners

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Drum-roll please…

STEPABLES officially announced the names of three independent garden centers that received first place honors in respective plant display categories as part of the second annual “We’ve Got Sole” contest. The winners include Deneweth’s Garden Center, Heights Flowers and Natorp’s Mason Garden Store.

Deneweth’s Garden Center of Macomb, MI, won the first place prize for “Best Definitive Display.” As a result, a check for $5,000 was presented to the charity of their choice, Komen Detroit Race for the Cure, on Aug. 5, 2008. The display exemplified their imagination, showing eye-catching ways of presenting Good For Your Sole® point-of-purchase materials on traditional tables and other platforms. The winning display also integrated various landscape applications of STEPABLES plants throughout the designated area, including between pavers and on green roofs. In addition, the Deneweth’s Garden Center team was inspired by the contest to raise an extra $1,100 on their own for Komen Detroit Race for the Cure.

Heights Flowers of Peoria, IL, came in first for “Best Use of Space,” maximizing the use of designated floor and shelf space to boost sales. Heights Flowers prioritized information sharing in their design, providing a working computer within the display for customers to visit the STEPABLES Web site to utilize the online tools for selecting the right plants for their specific lawns and gardens.

Natorp’s Mason Garden Store in Mason, OH, triumphed in the category of “Best STEPscapes Display,” which utilized STEPABLES plants in a multi-tiered landscape application to show customers the many ways creeping perennials can be used as solution plants. The design showed customers how to plant between stepping stones, create a lush seating area, use creeping perennials in beds and borders, replace turf with a creative low-growing plant pattern, and build a rock garden featuring STEPABLES.

The “We’ve Got Sole” contest is offered annually to independent garden centers as a fun way to develop plant displays that can boost sales and brand recognition while simultaneously giving back to the communities in which they are located. Each winning store was awarded a STEPPY Award as well as gift cards for a company party. To see photos of these displays, information on the garden centers and chosen charities, and contest details, visit http://www.stepables.com/garden-center-contest.asp.

Congratulations to you all!!

~Leslie

A Day in the Life…

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The 2008 GWA Symposium in Portland was truly a memorable experience. Great weather, great plants, and great friends is a tough combination to top. I especially enjoyed my visit to Terra Nova Nurseries. What a treat it was to spend the afternoon amidst the horticultural wonders of Terra Nova Nurseries and Dan Heims. The gardens and greenhouses were filled with so many delightful plants; I do not know where to begin.

I was particularly impressed with Terra Nova Nurseries’ vast collection of heuchera. Shade or sun, purple or chartreuse, ‘Southern Comfort’ or ‘Peach Flambé,’ there was certainly a heuchera for every taste. Thanks to the folks at Terra Nova Nurseries, gardeners are no longer limited by zone to enjoy these diverse beauties because many heuchera from Terra Nova are now bred to thrive in the heat and humidity – a very unique quality in these good-looking foliage plants. My favorite heuchera had to be the ‘Amethyst Myst,’ which I can now happily grow in my home city of Atlanta.

Check out the purple metallic tones of the ‘Amethyst Mist’

Heuchera may have stolen the show but another somewhat
“aristocratic” plant stood its ground. The fiery red, green-veined Begonia ‘Madame Queen’ was a marvelous new variety. What’s a queen without a poodle? I am not sure but, the Echinacea ‘Pink Poodle’ was quite stunning with double blooms that make it a first of its kind.

Terra Nova Nurseries is a magical place, and I am looking forward to my next visit.

With all the breakthroughs in tissue culture and breeding; what will Terra Nova Nurseries think of next?

~Adam


Inspirational Color

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Delilah Onofrey, an editor with Meister Media Worldwide, and a horticulture lover, was honored recently with “Best Use of Color” in the seventh annual Westlake In Bloom competition. With her family, she planted flower beds with lively color varieties such as petunia Easy Wave ‘Blue,’ gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun,’ Disco marigolds, verbena ‘Aztec Red’ and purple perennial salvia for height.

Westlake, Ohio, was one of the first cities to participate in America In Bloom in 2002 and won its population category that year. The city enjoyed the program so much that it has grown its local program seven fold in seven years from 38 to 300 entries, including 224 raised flower beds.

The value of this vibrant program isn’t lost on anyone in the Westlake community including their mayor, Dennis Clough. “We knew Westlake In Bloom would be a great idea because so many in the community enjoy getting involved,” he said. “It has enhanced the quality of life we all enjoy in the city of Westlake.”

What an inspiring and creative way to brighten a community and garden. Congratulations to Delilah, her family, and Westlake, Ohio!

~Leslie

Greenhouse Grower Sports New Online Look

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Greenhouse Grower, a much-admired Meister Media publication, recently upgraded its Web site to provide readers a fresh, user-friendly, and interactive news source on all things relevant to horticulturists, greenhouse growers, and members of the industry.

The new Web site contains many helpful features to assist garden centers, growers and other agribusiness professionals access the “Whats?”, “Hows?” and “Whys?” of the Green Industry – quickly and easily. The site includes:

· The latest news and trends in the greenhouse world

· Informative viewpoints from industry professionals, gathered and written by Delilah Onofrey, Sara Tambascio and others at Meister.

· Special reports section on topics like “Top 100 Growers” and sustainability

· “Ask the Experts” section where greenhouse and nursery professionals can interact with OHP experts

· An archive of articles providing the green industry a multitude of resource materials and information on many important and helpful topics of interest…including article contributions from our own Don Eberly and Jeff Collard.

Good job, Sara and Delilah…as always.

Check out the great new site at www.greenhousegrower.com

– Adam

Some Things I picked Up on at OFA 2008

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I feel so fortunate to be in a position where I am able to interface with so many of the “movers and shakers” in this industry. In spite of some of the national media’s coverage of economic forecasts—our industry is committed to move forward and is refreshingly optimistic.

Below are a few highlights of things that were shared with us and our own observations at OFA 2008:


  • Almost all of you with whom we spoke said that sales were forecasted to meet or exceed the numbers from the previous year.

  • It appears that the new trend of the “staycation” could certainly help the industry, as people reduce summer travel and stay home, thus increasing the nesting process, which creates a process of the consumer enhancing his / her surroundings by purchasing home and garden products.

  • J Guy, Manager and Founder of Novalis® Plants that Work® and Plants that Work by Color™ met with an economist form Wachovia Bank and he stated that “Oil is [estimated] expected to come down to $126 per barrel in the first quarter of 2009, therefore decreasing the price of gas which will allow the consumer to have some discretionary income to do things like gardening.”

~Jeff

Sustainability is HIP at OFA

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It appears sustainability was a huge hit at OFA this year with a significant share of the exhibitors at the tradeshow displaying eco-friendly plants, products and ideas.

Horticultural Identification Products (HIP) and several other companies were showcased at OFA’s sustainability exhibit. While some companies at OFA are relatively new to the sustainability movement, HIP has been a leader in introducing sustainable tag products for some time, including its EcoTag (a degradable alternative to plastic nursery tags), BioTag (a bio-degradable nursery tag) and Repel (a paper substrate for nursery tags).

HIP announced at OFA that it has met the standard specification set by ASTM International for its sustainable BioTag labeling products.

The ASTM specification establishes if products made from plastics will compost satisfactorily, including biodegrading at a rate comparable to known compostable materials. Meeting this specification is a sustainability breakthrough for HIP because it means the company’s BioTag product can be officially considered fully “compostable” based upon the composition of the product.



Side note: As HIP continues to ramp up its line of sustainable products, the company has freshened up its logo using a cool palette of blues and greens.

~ Audrey

Schmoozing with Raw Fish

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Some of my absolute favorite (yes, it deserves the bold!) hours during our trip to OFA were spent in an adorable little sushi restaurant named Haiku where Eberly PR hosted a media dinner for a few of our clients and some of our favorite members of the industry media!

I’m telling you; it’s hard to go wrong when you combine awesome people with delicious food and a few drinks. 🙂

What a blast! We were able to enjoy a lovely evening with industry leaders such as Dan Heims, Ken Brown and Dave Doolittle from Terra Nova Nurseries, Bob Lovejoy from Horticultural Identification Products (HIP), and Tom Kegley and Kim Cameron from Novalis Plants that Work / Plants that Work by Color.

Several of our trade media friends also attended such as Delilah Onofrey, Kevin Yanik and Sue Distaulo from Meister Media Worldwide, Ellen Wells and Jen White from Ball Publishing, Paige Worthy, Jasmina Radjevic and Darhiana Mateo from Scranton Gillette, and Meshele Conley from Garden Design!

What I learned at dinner:

  • We can all eat way, WAY too much food when we aren’t paying attention. I really don’t know where we fit it all.
  • Sue, Don, Jen, and Jasmina don’t like to wait for their dessert! They went straight for the Key-lime martinis.
  • Paige and Dan knew each other in a different life. Nothing else explains all the uncanny similarities!
  • We know how to close down a restaurant!

And, remember everyone – this is an annual event, so keep your calendars open for next year! For those clients and media members who did not join us, we hope you can make it next time.

~Leslie

And, the Award Goes to…

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Meister Media’s Medal of Excellence Awards event at OFA 2008 was its usual success…and very much the buzz of Short Course. After all, who wouldn’t have fun surrounded by the awesome folks from Meister and beautiful award-winning plants!?



First, I think the Meister folks deserve a big award for hosting the Medal of Excellence each year and being such tireless industry supporters! On behalf of EPR and our clients, many thanks to Delilah Onofrey, Sue Distaulo, Bob West, Richard Jones, Sara Tambascio, Ann-Marie Conroy, Laura Drotleff, Joe Monahan, Jeff Fenner and all the others from Meister…for always putting the rest of us first!

Second, there were several excited and well-deserving winners. Check out Meister’s “On Location at Short Course” blog to read about them and other people and happenings from OFA this year!

My personal favorite winner of this year’s award ceremony was the Reader’s Choice for Breeding, the new Rudbeckia ‘TigerEye’™ from Goldsmith Seeds. It is the first and only FI hybrid Rudbeckia with a never-before-seen uniformity on the bench and strength in the garden. Its long-lasting flowers are a rich yellow-gold featuring brown centers that will catch your own eye from a distance.



Some of its benefits include:

  • Uniformity formerly unknown in Rudbeckia
  • Excellent basal development
  • Incredible PGR response
  • Vigorous root development
  • Dense flower canopy
  • Reduced sensitivity to powdery mildew


‘TigerEye’™ offers retailers a compact habit and durable, eye-catching flowers…and is sure to be a hit for 2009.


Also, if you haven’t seen Goldsmith’s 2008-2009 catalog, check it out as soon as you can. The photography alone is enough to almost use it as a coffee table book, in addition to being a stylish sales and marketing tool. To learn more, log onto www.goldsmithseeds.com.


~ Don