OFA Short Course Archives

OFA: Edibles and Other Must-haves with a Little Urban Zest

July 21, 2009 By Don Eberly 2 Comments

Personally, my absolute favorite aspect about OFA Short Course is the energetic buzz that emanates from every person walking the show hall – exhibitors, buyers, marketers, media, brokers, everyone. It is a refreshing energy unlike anything I’ve felt at another tradeshow.

Everyone is excited to introduce his or her new products and services, and start the new product year with a fresh start. It is an optimistic and positive attitude that, in my opinion, keeps this industry moving forward with innovative ideas and products. When I was a child, my father used to wake us up for school with the token line, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” And, this is the underlying mind-set I so enjoy at OFA.

With that said, OFA is always one of the best outlets for seeking out new trends in horticulture. The most innovative companies have had enough time to observe grower, retailer and consumer wants and needs, and are inspired to develop inventive ways to meet them directly. One example of this could be seen at Kurtz Farms’ booth with the Urban Gardener program.

To quote directly from the Kurtz Farms’ brochure, “Urban Gardener products and programs allow anyone to be a gardener regardless of time, space, agility or ‘know-how.’” Specifically, Urban Gardener products target small-space gardeners, busy homeowners, patio entertainers, outdoor decorators, children and first-time gardeners. I think this is fantastic.

The newest market of gardeners has less time to spend on gardening.

Developed by Jen Kurtz, the folks at Kurtz Farms have launched a product line that directly mirrors popular urban product and décor trends. From the trendiest Pantone color selections to the latest veggie / organic craze, Kurtz Farms has created a niche for the average Gen X and Y person…one who, perhaps, lives in a condo or small home, works 11 hours a day, and grew up in the suburbs or city without a garden. Each product is designed to be decorative and practical, and often sold in ready-made containers for a stress-free, low-maintenance purchase. Each product is tagged with a number internet-savvy buyers can easily use by logging onto the Urban Gardener Web site, for details on their exact purchases.

The product line includes annuals, perennials, tropical foliage, and edibles. The edibles encompass products such as eggplant, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, and herbs. There are also decorative options such as faux pumpkins planted with colorful mums and climbing clematis in urban-use cages perfect for indoors or out, and much more.

I look forward to seeing how Urban Gardener continues to develop new product trends in the coming months…while the Gen Y shopper in me truly hopes my local garden center brings in a few of those tomato cages.

P.S. Check out the Urban Gardener Recipes section of the Web site! I LOVE it.

~ Leslie

OFA: Let’s Start from the Beginning

July 17, 2009 By Don Eberly Leave a Comment

The ECPR team just arrived home after three days attending the prestigious OFA Short Course, where our minds were filled to capacity with new trends, new friends and new products. Because there is simply too much information to disclose at once, I’ll just start from the beginning by sharing a few important announcements from trusted breeder and grower, Terra Nova Nurseries.With 54 brand new plant introductions, five new breeding breakthrough collections, a brand new catalog, and an entirely new grower / IGC support system, I’ll surely be posting more Terra Nova Nurseries information and photos in the coming weeks. But, for now, I’ll just give you a quick overview regarding the latest growth changes to the company.

Terra Nova Nurseries is listening to what growers, landscapers and independent garden centers want and need to set themselves apart. In a lagging market, companies want to bring in profit as much of the year as possible – not just during those epic weeks of spring. They need alternatives to mums and poinsettias; they need plants that will not fail during unpredictable weather; and they need additional marketing and educational support.

Terra Nova Nurseries deemed this a “personal” challenge, and spent months (and in many cases, years) breeding, trialing and brainstorming to solve problems for these folks. This company is unique in that it has the breeding technology, staffing and resources to actually accomplish a feat this large.

This year at OFA Short Course, Terra Nova Nurseries announced its brand new Web site with a plethora of information for growers, retailers AND consumers. The company also has a brand new catalog that easily spells out where plants will thrive and how they compare to previous breeds. The staff at Terra Nova Nurseries has introduced dozens of new plants that have been specifically bred to solve problems wholesale growers encounter throughout the cultivation season. An example of this would be the brand new line of Winter Jewels™ Hellebores and the novel selection of Cyclamen forced to bloom in winter – all excellent, unique options that contribute to year-round retail. Terra Nova Nurseries is also now offering grower-customers free tags on shipments. Can you imagine how helpful these extra savings might help a grower looking for an edge?

So, it seems there is a lot more available here than just incredible new plants. In these times, Terra Nova Nurseries is a positive and supportive partner to its customers. It’s an invaluable trait to have in an industry where working together is imperative.

~ Leslie

Some Things I picked Up on at OFA 2008

July 25, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

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

July 25, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

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

July 24, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

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…

July 24, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

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!

July 24, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

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…

July 24, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

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

Ever so Striking – Ball Horticultural Company at OFA

July 24, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

Ball Horticultural Company highlighted their newest varieties from Ball and PanAmerican Seed at the OFA Short Course with a striking display of beds in realistic garden displays.

Using a faux walkway and large, wooden product islands, people were able to visualize various combination concepts they could utilize in their own gardens – or, more importantly, sell to their customers.

Just a few of their newest, must-see varieties include:

A wide range of new Coleus – ‘Dark Chocolate’, ‘Henna’, ‘Indian Summer’, and the Kong Series.
The intense Landmark™ Lantana ‘Pink Glow’
New Pansy varieties introduced in the Matrix® series – ‘Raspberry Sundae Mix’, ‘Rose’, and ‘Rose Wing’.
Ornamental peppers – ‘Calico’ and ‘Purple Flash’

For more on their newest varieties, visit www.ballhort.com.

~Leslie

Novalis Announces NEW Plants that Work …at OFA 2008!

July 24, 2008 By Jeff Collard Leave a Comment

And, wow, did they ever!

Novalis leaders, interns, sales staff members, marketing / admin managers, and network growers outdid themselves with one of the most beautiful exhibits at OFA Short Course this year! – Good job, Novalis.

It never ceases to amaze me how talented and passionate are the members of the grower consortium. They continue to cultivate gorgeous perennials, woody ornamentals, grasses, bamboos and annuals that are easy to love!

The plant palette they showcased in their booth at the show was diverse, colorful and insightful. The display maximized a winning expression of outdoor living at its best – from premium plant material in a variety of programs and selections to outdoor furniture and kitchen appliances.

Just some of the new exclusive Plants that Work highlights include the following:

Hydrangea paniculata ‘HYPMADI’ (PPAF) White Diamonds™
Diervilla sessilifolia ‘LPDC Podaras’ (PPAF) Cool Splash™ Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle.
Bletilla Ochracea ‘Chinese Butterfly’
Agave ‘Kissho Kan’
Thuja occidentalis ‘Fire Chief’™
Myrica cerifera ‘Arista’
Hydrangea ‘Mystical™ Opal’
Aloe Humilis ‘Hedgehog’
Phlox Candy Store™ Series