PIGGY BACK FARM: GROWING NEW PLANTS THE OLD FASHIONED WAY

By Matt Ross

At Piggy Back Farm Nursery they do things a little differently; they specialise in growing and supplying new release plants to independent garden centres in Victoria, NSW and Canberra.

Established in 1979 in North Croydon by father and son, Henk and Wayne Koster, it’s now a three-generation business, with Shaun and his dad, Wayne, running things. Based in Woori Yallock since 2011, they grow everything outdoors on the two acres surrounding their retail garden centre.

Fifteen years ago, they identified a gap in the grower market to work exclusively with new release plants supplied by Ball Australia. And that partnership and focus is still going strong today.

They pride themselves on growing the highest quality plants and love what they do.

“We do things the old-fashioned way. We control everything and hold ourselves accountable to that. We pot by hand, pull stock with trolleys, load by hand and me or dad deliver. We see every plant that comes in and triple check them before they go out. There is no excuse for bad stock leaving our nursery. We don’t want to change that way of working because the quality of plant we produce is so high. It also helps that we love what we do,” enthused Shaun.

Last year they grew 190 varieties of plant and each year they come together as a team to select three new plants to grow. That decision is based on their own instinct, viewing the plants at Ball Australia’s impressive Trials Week displays and what the market wants.

“Choosing new plants to grow and which plants to drop is key to what we do. Me and dad have different tastes but that makes us really question our decision making in a bid to get it right.

We’re also very mindful to be objective, to an extent it doesn’t matter what we think of a plant, we grow what the market wants. And that fluctuates, plants come in and out fashion.

Ball Australia are also fantastic at informing our choices and giving us the insights, we need to grow an outstanding plant. We’ll visit them over a number of days during Trials Week to see how the plants perform from day to day and understand their growing habits,” said Shaun.

One of their recent plant choices was to start growing three varieties of Petunia that were new to the market last spring and they’re proving to be a big hit.

Petunia ‘Pink Diamond’, Petunia ‘Midnight Gold’ and Petunia ‘Blueberries & Cream’, supplied by Ball Australia are now amongst Piggy Back’s best sellers.

“They grow so well, really vigorously. They don’t need too much attention and the breeding is getting stronger as the years go on. Which gives you confidence as a grower. We’re delighted with them.

Visually they’re very different from other Petunias, in terms of the colours and the ruffled, double flower, and thankfully the market has responded really positively to them.

Another benefit of working with Ball Australia is the marketing support they provide, through purpose designed labels and advertising, they really put a lot of energy into helping their customers to sell the product,” said Shaun.

Like with all growing, there’s also challenges and risks of working exclusively with new release plants. You have to buy in big numbers and back yourself that you can grow them. You then need to convince the customer that there’s a consumer market for something new or unconventional.

But they’ve been at the top of their game for a while now and they don’t make many mistakes.

“We wouldn’t change anything. We love being part of this industry. We have a real belief in what we do and how we do it. And we stand by the quality of the plants that leave our nursery.

And in this moment, with all that’s going on in the world, it’s nice to do something that brings genuine happiness to others. It’s very satisfying.”

These days, there’s a fourth generation getting around the nursery, with Shaun’s four-year-old nephew showing some early interest and aptitude. And if he does choose to step into the family business one day, he’ll be in good hands.

Plant profile:

‘Midnight Gold’, ‘Blueberries & Cream’, ‘Pink Diamond’ Petunias

The breeding company Miyoshi, based in Japan, have a long relationship with Ball internationally and it is through this connection that the three Petunias have been made available to the Australian market. They are all grown from vegetative cuttings from Miyoshi’s own motherstock that is renewed yearly to keep the material fresh and disease free.

Each petunia has been showcased and released to Ball Australia’s grower network at the Ball Grower Trials with Petunia Midnight Gold being the first in 2018. From it’s success followed Petunia ‘Blueberries & Cream’ in 2019 and Petunia ‘Pink Diamond’ in 2020 – which is going to be prominent at garden centres this spring and summer for 2021.

The habit for each has been bred to be compact and tighter, masses of flowers with new blooms covering old flowers for a fresh-looking plant all season. The double flowers are neat and hold their shape well and work really nicely in small spaces as well as larger, more showy displays. For growers this makes growing them highly presentable for retail.

There are more colours to be released from Miyoshi and Ball Australia are excited to be showcasing these at this year’s Ball Grower Trials.