NGB Offers “Year of” Materials

Ellen C. Wells

Our industry gets so caught up in the latest and greatest new introduction that it can lose sight of the fact that lots of cash-carrying consumers—the folks ultimately paying the bills—have never heard of a petunia. Promoting a new variety is fine, sure. But let’s introduce them to a crop they may never have heard of in the first place.

The National Garden Bureau has been on this educational crusade for a while. Part of the organization’s efforts includes its “Year of the” program, which helps expose consumers to four featured crops each year.

For 2017, those crops include:

Annuals: Year of the Pansy

Vegetables/edibles: Year of the Brassica

Perennials: Year of the Rose (pictured) (In cooperation with the American Rose Society)

Bulbs: Year of the Daffodil (In cooperation with the American Daffodil Society)

To help you spread the word and the use of these crops, NGB has these materials available:

• Free promotional materials for garden centers and nurseries, including printable fact sheets to photos and logos. These resources are available on the National Garden Bureau’s website: ngb.org.

• Bench cards and vinyl banners available for a small fee from GardenCenterMarketing.com.

• Free presentations for brassicas, daffodils, pansies and roses.

• A Year of the Brassica YouTube video produced and starring cook, author and storyteller Jonathan Bardzik. GP