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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

The Time Warp with Terra Nova Nurseries!

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So, for those of you who passed by the Terra Nova Nurseries booth, you may have noticed a couple of themes – the past and the future!

Revealing a unique marketing spin with cleverly-edited, 70’s album covers on their catalog and bright shag carpets throughout their booth, Terra Nova Nurseries showed off their newest plant introductions for 2009.

Some of the plants to look forward to in the upcoming year from Terra Nova and their grower- and garden center customers:

  • Agastache ‘Cotton Candy’
  • Begonia ‘Curly Fireflush’
  • Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’
  • Echinacea ‘Mac ‘n’ Cheese’
  • Echinacea ‘Pink Poodle’
  • Heuchera ‘Plum Royale’
  • Heucherella ‘Tapestry’
  • Tiarella ‘Mystic Mist’

Just goes to show you – Without fun, inspirational pasts, we have nothing to build the industry innovations of the future!

What inspires you?

~Leslie

Top Attention-grabbers…

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At OFA this year, Novalis announced two new and very cool 2009 exclusive plants that were supplied by network grower Bailey Nurseries.

Officially, the names of the plants are: Hydrangea paniculata ‘HYPMADI’ (PPAF) White Diamonds™ and Diervilla sessilifolia ‘LPDC Podaras’ (PPAF) Cool Splash™ Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle. – I call them, Gorgeous!

Bailey Nurseries joined the Novalis grower network in 2007. Since then, Linda Guy, director of new product development for Novalis and Jonathan Pedersen, brand and business development manager for Bailey Nurseries, have worked closely to facilitate the introduction of White Diamonds™ and Cool Splash™.

The plants will serve as two of the top exclusives for Novalis® Plants that Work® growers nationwide and will be available to local independent garden centers and professional landscape companies beginning spring 2009.

Developed by the Landscape Plant Development Center, Cool Splash is the first variegated bush honeysuckle and is a colonizing shrub ideal for mass plantings.

White Diamonds™ is a new hydrangea with glistening-white panicles showcasing in summer and fall. Smaller and more manageable than most hydrangea paniculatas, it boasts dark-green, leathery foliage that provides increased heat and drought tolerance.



The image is of Cool Splash…and I am sure it’ll make for a BIG Splash with IGCs and homeowners this spring.

Learn more about what’s coming in 2009 from Novalis Plants that Work and Plants that Work by Color at www.novalis.com / www.plantsthatwork.com.

~ Don

A Man Who Needs No Introduction… But We Are Doing it Anyway.

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With 32 years of experience in the horticulture industry and a bachelor’s degree in communications and botany from the University of Oregon, Dan Heims researches, speaks, writes, and stands at the forefront of the horticulture industry as president of Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc., a company praised for innovative, new plant introductions. Over the past 13 years, Terra Nova Nurseries has grown to become a world leader in plant breeding introducing over 460 exciting new varieties to the global market. Heims has been an integral part of the company’s growth and success from the 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.

Dan Heims will be leading several speaking engagements throughout the remainder of June and into July – come by and join in!

  • Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society “WHPS Meeting” on June 17, 2008. The lecture will be at the Janesville, WI, Monoria Community Center at 7 p.m.

  • My Garden Nursery “Heuchera and their Allies” on June 28, 2008. Heims will speak on “Heuchera Happening” in Mill Creek, WA from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

  • OFA “Plants for Containers (and Small Space Gardens)” on July 12, 2008. Heims will give two lectures at the Columbus, OH, tradeshow, including a panel discussion on “What it takes to make it in horticulture.”

  • Perennial Plant Association “New Plant Introductions” on July 24, 2008. This annual presentation is given at the convention in Columbus, OH, announcing nine of the newest Terra Nova Nurseries varieties.

~ Leslie

Novalis Recognized for Show Booth and Marketing Efforts at 2007 OFA

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Novalis, the national grower consortium responsible for the Plants that Work brand, was recently honored with two awards at this year’s OFA trade show in Columbus, OH.

Left: Delilah Onofrey, J. Guy, Novalis, Sara Tambascio, and Jim Frederick, Landmark Plastic. Novalis won the Medal of Excellence Marketer of the Year Award.

First, Novalis was recognized for its marketing efforts by receiving the Meister Media/ Greenhouse Grower Medal of Excellence for Marketing. The wonderful folks over at Meister provided a great evening and awards reception, including video presentations for all award nominees. The Medal of Excellence Awards are being called “the Oscars of the industry”. We certainly enjoyed it.

One the last day of the show, Novalis was awarded the “Best Booth” award by Branch-Smith Publishing. They were excited and honored for the recognition and encouragement from many within the industry. At the show, we heard comments like this from attendees and exhibitors alike:
 “It’s a tree house.”
 “You can’t call that a ‘booth’.”

“I went to bed in Ohio and woke up in Charleston.”


The Novalis booth at OFA.

– Sally

I'm Thinking of Fall.

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Even though it’s July and 90 degrees outside, I’m thinking of fall. I’m already dreaming of crisp mornings and cool autumn breezes. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays (As the hysterical Kathy Griffin says, “Food is my thing. I don’t smoke or drink, so food is my vice.”). Watching fall tones appear and the changing colors of leaves and foliage is my favorite seasonal transition. The current sweltering heat and humidity, along with the dehydration and wilting of every living green thing around me caused by the drought, has given me a constant internal heat wave I’m far too young to experience.

I was recently surprised to learn, from my favorite source, Wikipedia, that Heat waves are more lethal than I thought: “Heat waves are the most lethal type of weather phenomenon, overall. Between 1992 and 2001, deaths from excessive heat in the United States numbered 2,190, compared with 880 deaths from floods and 150 from hurricanes. The average annual number of fatalities directly attributed to heat in the United States is about 400.”

I think the part I like the best is: “In addition to physical stress, excessive heat causes psychological stress, to a degree which affects employee performance, and is also associated with an increase in violent crime.” Who knew?!

But, as I said above, we humans are not the only living things struggling with the enduring summer heat. I was visiting with my mother a few weeks ago when she showed me the hostas her landscaper installed in some bare beds around the front of the house. One group of about 6-8 plants sits nicely under a young Dogwood and near a few foundational shrubs (rhododendrons). They are adequately shaded by the Dogwood and have done well with the mediocre waterings they’re getting this summer. But, two of the hostas that the landscaper installed near the front entryway, in the same bed as the others, have been zapped! They only receive an hour or two of more morning sun than those under the cool shade of the dogwood. But, it just goes to show you that even an hour or two of summer sun can be deadly. I recommended to my mom that she dispose of the two deceased/ scorched hostas and wait it out a few months, when she could install something with great color for fall that has more direct sun tolerance.

On a lighter note, it wouldn’t summer without OFA (an Association of Floriculture Professionals – the association’s annual trade show event in Columbus, Ohio) which is where I’ll be tomorrow through Tuesday (7-14 to 7-17). I hope to keep you updated with OFA/ industry happenings, news, and events via this blog each day so check back soon!

Sally