Growing and retailing plants together at Ball Colegrave

Growing and retailing plants… together

A visit to the living catalogue of summer bedding, edibles, shrubs and perennials at Ball’s site in Oxfordshire is proving to be an increasingly effective way for growers and garden retailers to plan ahead for 2023 sales.

Over three weeks in July Ball threw open the doors of its trials inviting the industry to see for themselves new cultivars, additional colours of old favourites and clever ways of merchandising.

Stuart Lowen, Ball’s Marketing Manager says the event is still popular with landscapers and local authorities, but visits from retailers and growers have risen sharply. Both are now using the trials to meet and discuss ranges for the coming years. “Some retailers will come up to three or four times with different suppliers,” he says. “This is an increasing audience and it’s great to see both growers and retailers working together.” Showing plants in a range of pot sizes is useful, explains Stuart, because both parties can see how differently they perform, for example in a 2-litre pot or a hanging basket, which can help to decide what to grow, how and when to retail.

The company is also helping with point of sale, brand awareness and messaging with a current priority being the promotion of a new range of double-flowered bizzy lizzy with high genetic resistance to impatiens downy mildew. Thankfully work behind the scenes has helped welcome this muchloved plant back into our gardens and in 2019 Ball Colegrave introduced Impatiens Beacon®, a single flowered range with high disease resistance. Now ready for 2023 is the Impatiens Glimmer® series with double flowers. “We have two messages,” says Stuart. “One for experienced gardeners who

Stuart Lowen concept point with Ball’s of sale.

remember growing impatiens and know how great they are in the garden. We need to tell these people the plants are healthy and to try them again. The second group have no experience of them at all so we need to introduce them to impatiens and show them they are the easiest plants to grow and are effective and flexible in any garden situation.” Glimmer impatiens are available in seven colours, with Appleblossom the benchmark for uniformity and performance, and more will follow in the future.

In the years while impatiens were not available, other season plants have filled the gap. Stuart says gardeners seem to have an insatiable appetite for petunias with novelties such as the spotted Sky series and relatives including calibarchoa and BeautiCals® fuelling interest. New cultivar Bees Knees is, according to Stuart, ‘the best yellow ever!’. “Most have a brown or lime undertone, but this one is a clean yellow which intensifies in full sun,” he says.

To help retailers keep plant interest high once summer bedding sales are on the wane, Ball has curated ranges of shrubs and perennials to compliment and extend sales. A range of edibles too, sold as Kitchen Buddies, has been chosen to suit patios, balconies, small gardens and windowsills. As well as considering size, with all plants tending to be more compact, plants offer additional elements such as snack sized fruits, thornless stems and, with strawberry Summer Breeze, flowers of attractive cherry red and soft pink.

Versatile Impatiens Glimmer series looking good in pots, patio containers and hanging baskets.

Strawberry Summer Breeze Cherry combines ornamental and edible benefits.

Merchandising support

Currently in the planning stage is a new concept for point of sale designed for Danish trollies. Stuart says when retailers are busy it can save time by enabling plants to be sold straight from the trolley or to increase sales areas when space it tight. Flexible, the point of sale is being trialled to help market by colour range, or themes.

“Retailers may want their own branding so we can develop a package for them, which can include labels, to improve the trolley presentation even further.”

Below: Petunia ‘Bees Knees’ with examples of merchandising and point of sale. Right: Still in its concept stage, point of sale to help merchandise plants directly from Danish trollies.