Houseplants on the horizon - Garden Center Magazine

2021-12-24 07:58:25 By : Ms. Coco Liu

Here’s a sneak peek at the trends retailers can expect for the coming year.

The houseplant category racks a major profit for most garden centers, and like any business, trends and preferences tend to shift from year to year. Floral arrangement website FlowerCard.co.uk combed through 10 years’ worth of Google data to determine the latest houseplant trends and here’s what they found:

We spoke with Dimitri Gatanas, owner of Urban Garden Center and Heidi Coscia, sales associate at Rolling Green Nursery, to shed some light on the trends for 2021, and if the data mirrors what they see at their IGCs.

Snake plants will always be a houseplant staple, and their popularity isn’t dying any time soon. According to Gatanas, “people can’t get enough of them” and he estimates that it’s probably one of the top sellers at Urban Garden Center, as it comes in a variety of shapes, sizes and hybrids. Sansevieria cylindrica, which is a cross between a succulent and a snake plant (also called African spear, skyline spear, cylindrical mother-in-law’s tongue or spear orchid), is especially popular right now, he says.

“It’s the sleepiest plant ever in history. It's been around forever. Nobody ever really paid attention to it. But if you really think about it, everywhere you go, you see more,” Gatanas says.

Coscia also says the snake plant is a big selling category at Rolling Green Nursery, as it tops the list in air purification.

Of the top trends for 2021, Gatanas and Coscia both confirm that string of pearls (or string of dolphins, hearts, etc.) are experiencing a popularity surge. Market these with hanging planters or other wall décor items to inspire customers to make their own unique green living spaces.

“It seems more people are getting back to macramé hangers and the strings are a great size hanging near a window (not huge like a spider plant),” Coscia says.

Look for the rest of this story in the April issue of Garden Center, which will also contain the full houseplant report for 2021. You can take a look at last year’s report by visiting the link here.

For the full report on 2021 houseplant trends, click here.

Spotz joins the association with a strong regulatory and technical background, along with manufacturing experience.

RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment) welcomes Kristen Spotz as its senior director of regulatory affairs. She joins the association with a strong regulatory and technical background, along with manufacturing experience of various Food and Drug Administration (FDA) products, where she specialized in quality control and quality engineering.

In her new position, Spotz will be responsible for RISE’s regulatory work, which includes providing strategic oversight for the development, implementation and management of effective policy strategies and tactics, and serving as the staff lead for the association’s Regulatory Affairs Committee.

“Kristen’s nearly 16 years’ experience in regulatory affairs makes her a great addition to our staff,” says Megan Provost, RISE president. “She’ll enable our association to proactively and productively engage with federal- and state-level regulatory agencies and our member volunteers on regulatory priorities in the specialty pesticides and fertilizer industry.”

Prior to joining RISE, Spotz worked as the manager of regulatory affairs at the Consumer Brands Association (CBA), formerly known as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents food, beverage and consumer packaged goods companies.

She served as the staff liaison for CBA’s Regulatory Inspection Compliance Committee and the Food Allergen Committee. Kristen was part of a team that managed numerous member-driven working groups that developed comments to the FDA on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the largest food safety regulation in more than 70 years.

Spotz grew up along the Florida coastline and earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of Central Florida. She’s a member of the Herndon Rotary Club and serves as treasurer of her homeowners’ association.

Kristen is based in the new RISE headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

Learn more about RISE at www.pestfacts.org and www.debugthemyths.com.

McEnaney is a fourth-generation leader and CEO of her family’s wholesale nursery business, Bailey Nurseries.

Terri McEnaney, CEO of Bailey Nurseries, was recently elected to a two-year term on the board of directors for the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association (MNLA).

McEnaney is a fourth-generation leader in her family’s wholesale nursery business. Since 1905, Bailey Nurseries has remained a family-owned company serving customers in North America and beyond.  In addition to their wholesale growing business, Bailey owns brands like Endless Summer Hydrangeas, distributed worldwide. McEnaney graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a degree in business with emphasis in accounting. After eight years working at the 3M Company, McEnaney has worked in various positions at the business before becoming the company’s first female president in 2001. She has served in various volunteer roles for MNLA in the past including participation on the government affairs committee.

John O’Reilly, Otten Bros. Garden Center and Landscaping of Long Lake was re-elected to the board this year as well.

Continuing to serve on the board of directors, but not up for re-election this year are President Tim Malooly, Water in Motion of Minneapolis; Vice President Randy Berg, Berg’s Nursery, Landscapers/Garden Center of Austin; Treasurer Matt Mallas of Hedberg Supply in Plymouth; Jeff Pilla, Pro Turf of Lakeville; Nick Sargent, Sargent’s Landscape Nursery of Rochester; Faith Appelquist, Tree Quality LLC of St. Paul; and Patrick McGuiness, Zlimen and McGuiness PLLC of St. Paul.

The Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association is the state’s largest green industry trade association with more than 1,100 member businesses including garden centers; landscape contractors and designers; tree and flower growers; irrigation contractors; and lawn, tree, garden and snow services.

In 2019, Nursery Management presented McEnaney with a Horticultural Industries Leadership Award. Read her HILA profile here.

The company has created “Plant Profile” pages and “Grower Recipes” specific to these varieties so growers interested in orders can learn about growing habits, plant characteristics and more.

Announced via press release, Terra Nova Nurseries has released its list of plants for gardeners and growers that coordinate with PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray and PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating. This year’s reveal is the first time since 2016 Pantone has released two Colors of the Year, and Terra Nova’s catalog of plants offers consumers a plethora of options for synchronizing their gardens with the new pair of trendy colors recently recognized by Pantone. These many colorful variety options present growers and retailers with trend-color marketing and sales opportunities for 2021.

Corresponding in color to PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating are Terra Nova’s Agastache POQUITO Butter Yellow; Coreopsis ‘Citrine’; Corydalis ‘Canary Feathers’; Echinacea ‘Aloha’; Kniphofia ‘Pineapple Popsicle’; Kniphofia ‘Yellow’; Leucanthemum ‘Goldfinch’; and Leucanthemum ‘Luna’.

Terra Nova’s varieties coordinating in color with PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray are Begonia HOLIDAY ‘Jolly Holly’, Begonia SILVER ‘Lace’, Heuchera NORTHERN EXPOSURE Silver, and Heuchera ‘Glitter’.

“Everyone has feelings about Pantone’s color choices this year, but being that Terra Nova is located in the Pacific Northwest, we’re quite familiar with the daily gray colors, similar to PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray,” said Dan Heims, president of Terra Nova Nurseries. “We sometimes go for weeks without sunshine, but when it comes and glows like PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating, it can warm anyone’s skin, soul or spirt.”

Terra Nova Nurseries’ vast catalog of more than 1,000 cultivars allows the company’s licensees and customers to find close matches to any color recognized by Pantone in any given year. This is achieved through Terra Nova’s breeding efforts and a sense of upcoming trends in the horticulture and home gardening industries.

Terra Nova Nurseries has created “Plant Profile” pages and “Grower Recipes” specific to these varieties so growers interested in orders can learn about growing habits, plant characteristics, fertilization recommendations, water requirements, and other insights provided by the breeding team. These documents can be viewed and downloaded for printing here.

Growers can contact their Terra Nova Nurseries representatives or email the sales team at sales@terranovanurseries.com.

The event will be held on Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. EST.

Announced via press release, Pleasant View Gardens (PVG) has released the details of its second Virtual Market Series event for growers, brokers, retailers and gardeners alike.

The second of the PVGVirtual Market Series events will be held on Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. EST, where Pleasant View’s national sales manager, Andy Huntington, will host a Zoom conversation with a panel of industry experts from a variety of horticultural publications, including Garden Center and Greenhouse Management magazines, as well as Creekside Nursery and Proven Winners. The scheduled 55-minute discussion will focus on hot industry trends for the new year. And, as in past Market Series events, off-screen viewers can join from the comfort of their own desktop or mobile device and are encouraged to pose questions for the group to address live or as a follow-up. 

“The response to the content we provided during our Virtual Open House Week last year, as well as our first Market Series event just a few weeks ago has been tremendous,” said PVG president, Henry Huntington. “And we wanted to continue to provide our customers with the kind of content they need to grow their businesses.”

“Staying up on the trends is critical in our business. And we’ve brought together an exemplary group that can help communicate what those new trends mean to our customers, so they're better able to serve their own customers…and become even more successful themselves, “said Huntington.

For the full schedule of PVGVirtual Market Series events, visit the link here. To register for the Jan. 28 event, visit the link here.