Simplifying the combo conundrum

Saturday, 30 June 2007

Combination containers have gone mainstream. Each of the three big-box retailers (Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe’s) included how-to information on combination planters in their spring sales circulars. And if consumers didn’t feel inclined to create their own combo planters, each retailer offered finished containers for sale.

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it is editor, Greenhouse Management & Production.

Most of the companies at this year’s California pack trials displayed an assortment of containers and baskets to show how their plants could be combined. These combinations ranged from the simple (two varieties with two plants each) to the elaborate with as many as nine varieties and 19 plants in one container. While a 19-plant combo might be a little overwhelming and pricey for the average consumer, the wide range of combinations on display offered visitors plenty of ideas on how to produce and market these products.

Several companies put together take-home booklets for visitors to show them specifically what went into each container. Fischer’s color booklet, Goldfisch Combinations, showed photos of each of the plants along with suggested names for the combinations (Butterfly Kisses and Acapulco Escape).

Goldsmith Seeds’ EZ program is just that, two harmonizing or contrasting plants that do best under the same climate conditions and have similar cultural needs. Goldsmith prepared a four-page pamphlet showing 14 EZ Combos, along with point-of-purchase products.

Although not a combination program, S&G Flowers’ Floral Fever mono-crop mixes should help to reinforce the combination mentality. Originally called Scrumptious Blends, this prototype program consists of 29 mixes and features six crops (alyssum, impatiens, pansy, petunia, snapdragon and verbena). Some of the Floral Fever names are repeated for the different crops, i.e. Tickled Pink (pansy, impatiens and petunia) and Blue Me Away (alyssum, pansy, petunia and verbena). POP materials can be produced through any tag manufacturer.

Container complacency

The demand for combination planters should increase as the big-box stores become more comfortable offering a higher-end product and consumers become more comfortable with growing a multi-crop container. Combination planters are also an easy way for non-gardening consumers to feel like they are gardeners. Could combination planters eventually become a separate crop category in the USDA Floriculture Crops survey?

Consumer success with combination planters should increase as more plant companies provide growers and retailers with information on plant compatibility and new marketing programs to promote them.

Even with the success that the floriculture industry is experiencing with combinations, we can’t afford to overlook the importance of using many of these same plants in the landscape. The concern is whether the plant introductions are adequately trialed to withstand the rigors and extremes that can occur when planted directly into the ground. With the increasing focus on water availability for outdoor landscaping, weather- and drought-tolerance are going to become critical issues as to how new plants will be used.