The Plant Hunter’s checklist

Tim Wood travels the world in search of new plants for Spring Meadow Nursery. He also writes the blog The Plant Hunter. Today, Tim talks about characteristics that make for winning plant introductions.

Each year at the ANLA Management Clinic in Louisville, Ky., Nursery Management & Production magazine hosts its New Plant Pavilion where growers and breeders showcase their newest offerings. This year the pavilion featured 42 new plants. That's right -- 42 new plants! There seems to be no shortage of new varieties.

While at the conference I heard someone say that we have way too many new plants. In some respects I agree -- there are too many new plants. The problem is that there is no way that people, let alone nursery professionals, can digest so many new introductions, let alone grow them.

I see the same thing when I travel overseas. New plants are a dime a dozen. As I've said before, the difficulty is not finding new plants, it's finding new plants that are better and superior, and that people will want to put in their yard.

To make matters worse, in one of the clinic lectures one retail expert said that garden centers need to cut back on the number of plant varieties they offer. His point was that by offering so many choices we are overwhelming the consumer. Again, in some respects I agree. Unless a garden center has a customer base of avid gardeners and plant collectors, too many plants can make it overwhelming for casual shoppers.

So what’s the answer? In my opinion the free market will solve the problem. The best plants will rise to the top as growers, retailers and consumers vote with their pocketbooks. With this in mind, it’s very important for growers to be careful in introducing new plants or they’ll soon discover that they’ve wasted a lot of time and money.

To help me avoid making these kinds of costly mistakes, I’ve developed a checklist that reflects the plants attributes I feel are needed to be successful. Here’s my simplified checklist that I use when considering a new plant:

More color. The trend in gardening -- or more correctly yard decorating -- is color. Plants with a longer bloom season, multiples seasons of color (flowers, fruit, fall color), colorful foliage that lasts beyond the flowers, etc. are all high on my list.

Easy to grow. The majority of people do not know much about gardening. They want to plant it and enjoy it, so I look for shrubs that are dwarf or compact that require little or no pruning. I look for plants (particularly roses) that do not have to be sprayed. And I look for plants that do not require special fuss.

Lastly, I look for plants that connect with our emotions. In other words, plants that make us feel good. Everyone likes to feel good. Who can resist the sweet fragrance of a lilac or the joy evoked by a flock of brightly colored butterflies darting about a butterfly bush? Not me, and I suspect most people feel the same way. Certainly a rose connects with our emotions, but the need to spray it can negate those feelings -- so even plants that connect with our emotions must be easy to grow.

The days of breeding plants strictly for bigger flowers are long gone. Sure, big flowers are great. A dahlia has a remarkable flower, but only the rare enthusiast is willing to overlook its ugly habit and excessive need for care. Times have changed, and so must the nursery industry.

What do you think?

-- Tim Wood

Comments

[shey]

thanks, that was a very enlightening post!

[karen]

There is such a fine line for the retailer between having too many plants and having a great selection. I would think there are times in the season when you want a huge variety of plants then taper off as the season progresses. It is so hard to please all your customers and attract new ones. So often the media plays a part by featuring some hot , new plant which leaves the retailer trying to source that one plant that everyone has read about. Your checklist is a great idea on terms of editing buying choices but can be tough if you don't know enough about the new varieties and are relying on the advertising and news release that accompanies new plants.

[bill]

It also comes back really to the wholesale growers and propagators....
Every grower wants something to make his operation stand out....and as a consequence the proliferation of new introductions rests squarely with the likes of the liner suppliers...

[Eddie Anderson]

New plants are not just about new. They are also about great marketing. Sometimes the tried and true with great marketing can be more important than the new. One thing is for sure, if the consumer is not successful with the plant everone looses.