2/28/2017
Filling in the Gaps for Spring
Chris Beytes, Ellen C. Wells & Jennifer Zurko
We did our usual treks around the country (and globe—Chris Beytes, we’re lookin’ at you here), to find out what’s smokin’ for 2017. You’ve probably done most of your buying by now, but here are some products and trends to fill in those gaps and make a difference this spring.
IPM Essen
From green wall experts GSky comes a small home version of a green wall that combines plants and rustic, wine-inspired décor. The Wine Crate Vertical Garden holds nine 4-in. pots in a special plastic holder inside the wood “Pomme-Rouge” frame. It’s suitable for flowers (if given plenty of light), foliage, succulents or herbs. Because the plants stay in their nursery pots, they’re easy to change out as needed. The inner tray holds water for easy care and also helps prevent spills.
www.gsky.com
Among LiveTrends Design Group’s myriad clever plant packaging ideas, we like Molten Fusion for what founder Bisser Georgiev calls its “artisan” appeal: Each molten glass bowl is individually formed over its own unique piece of wood, melding the two into one sculpted unit. The heat of the glass provides the charred “shou sugi ban”-style finish on the wood. Yet, despite the custom nature of each piece, they’re priced to sell!
www.livetrendsdesign.com
From fern specialist Casa Flora, this relative of the venerable Boston fern features a “fresh” green color, compact habit and much less shedding indoors or out. Company owner Richard Lim (left, with Kyler Davis), says Dakota is “fresh, vibrant, youthful” and the perfect houseplant for Millennials.
www.casaflora.com
Three From TPIE
Having just heard interior designer Jane Lockhart’s opening keynote, “Where Plants and Lifestyle Trends Connect,” I was raring to hit the trade show floor of the 2017 Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition (TPIE) to see if any of what the Canadian trendspotter had mentioned could be found in the flesh. And wouldn’t you know it—it could!
In Jane’s “Raw, Rusted & Refined” trend, Veradek’s Corten planters fit the trend with both the rusted texture and industrial design. Speaking with a representative, these metal containers are popular in urban residential and commercial settings, as well as hip suburban hangouts. Other key elements in the category are the colors turquoise, blue and pink and anything that exhibits strength and staying power.
Veradekoutdoor.com
My next spotting of a Jane Lockhart trend was the collection of black and white containers from the Jay Scotts Collection. These over-the-top vessels can actually be logged into two trends—the “Bold & Beautiful” trend of blacks and whites, bold stripes and high contrasts and the “Frosted Calm” trend that pairs high-gloss and matte finishes.
Jayscottsmanufacturing.com
Closely related is Jane’s “Modern Gothic” trend. While she says “black is the new white,” white is getting a gothic touch by being framed, etched or edged in black. This trend was visible in the displays at the LiveTrends Design Group booth and in the pottery at the Bunnik Creations booth, and even in the high-backed chairs at J. Berry Nursery’s Hollywood-style Oscar display. Take note that the gold in J. Berry’s display is also one of Jane’s trends—“Harmonious Luxe.” Bunnik had gold and bronze in pottery, too.
Bunnikcreations.com;
Livetrendsdesign.com;
Jberrynursery.com
MANTS 2017
We were tipped off ahead of MANTS (which had their highest attendance in eight years, by the way) to be sure we stopped by Primera Technology’s booth to see the GP3000 Color Tag Press (anything with “3000” in the name sounds cool). The reason you’ve never heard of Primera is because they’ve been making label printing equipment for a number of other industries, from education and healthcare to food service and cleaning products.
The GP3000 is the first printer they’ve designed for horticulture and they say this is the first of its type—the difference being that this printer prints both sides of a tag or label in full color. You can print tags in any shape or size and any amount you want. It not only prints photos and growing info, but really anything you want, including UPC bar codes.
The printer also has a built-in creaser/cutter, so you don’t have to ask one of your employees to sit there and cut the tags with scissors. You just tear and stick. And as a fully digital system, you can stop it and make changes on the fly. It’s Windows based and Primera provides the software, templates and substrates that are UV and water-resistant.
www.primera.com.
The Mika line from Pride Garden Products now features terrariums that also serve as tealights (you can use real candles or the light-up ones). They’re offered as cases of six for $4.69 each wholesale, but you can retail them for whatever price you think is fair for your market.
www.Pridegardenproducts.com
They started to promote it a few months ago, but MANTS was the official roll-out of Star Roses & Plants’ re-branding of the BrazelBerry line, now called Bushel & Berry. They had the attractive new teal containers with the new logo and tags in a front-and-center display. The new look is available for this spring and they just launched a new consumer website to support it:
www.BushelandBerry.com.
GP