Plants Nouveau News
The Plantarium Catwalk
“I’m a model you know what I mean,
and I do my little turn on the catwalk.
“Yeah on the catwalk, on the catwalk
yeah I do my little turn on the catwalk.”
~ Right Said Fred
I’m writing from the Plantarium plant fashion show in Boskoop, The Netherlands. They don’t call it a plant fashion show, but it truly is a fashion show, all about plants.
This is where the new plants for 2011 are being debuted. Every new selection to come from the Netherlands, our horticultural Mecca for new plants, is displayed here – in high fashion.
I call it a fashion show because, if you’ve never been to a trade show for plants in Europe, you might not realize the glamor and color associated with exhibiting and marketing plants over here.
Europeans are certainly not afraid of color. Everything is so colorful. There’s never this much color at a trade show in the U.S.
Why are Americans afraid of color?
Imagine lime green walls and purple carpet. I always get the same comment about every booth I’ve ever set up. People say, “It sure is colorful”, as if that’s a bad thing. They believe it is. I think people are drawn to it.
The problem over here is everything is so colorful, that you need even more color to stand out.
I applaud the Plant Publicity Holland group, the organizers of this show, for the way they celebrate the plants as fashion accessories for your home and garden.
Of course, since we are in Holland, a few miles from the famous Alsmeer plant auctions that deliver cut flowers to most of the World, there’s also a lot of flower arranging and fun stuff being done with cut flowers as well as all of the fruits and flowers from the garden plants being displayed at the show.
Here’s a picture from the “Plant Glamour Show”, or the plant catwalk, where they hire professional models to wear and model the new plants being introduced for the next season.
It’s fun. Our trade shows are boring. There’s no passion whatsoever. It makes me mad.
For a booth to stand out in this show, it needs to be over the top colorful, like the award winning cut flower and shrub breeding company Kolster B.V. . They chose deep orange and bright, eggplant purple for their booth and it truly does stand out in a crowd.
Kolster also had this masterpiece created for the center of their booth. Most of the plants featured in the masterpiece were introduced by Kolster’s fine family of breeders.
In the AB-Cultivars booth, there’s lots of color too, but it comes form the fabulous new coneflowers, astilbes and campanula selections they are introducing.
Here’s a picture of Arie Blom, the breeder from AB-Cultivars and I standing with our new introduction for 2011, Echinacea ‘Southern Belle’.
Isn’t it lovely? Looks like a peony on top of a coneflower.
Arie wanted to tell you all about the two unique new selections he selected for future introduction, so we made a short video of Arie talking all about them.
I’ll have pages up for them in the next few weeks with lots more information, but I wanted my loyal readers to be the first to see them. I also added in a few things I saw that caught my eye.
I must admit I had a little technical boo-boo when uploading this video. I accidentally uploaded it to my husband’s YouTube channel. Oops! I just couldn’t bear to wait any longer to upload it again. Enjoy!
Back to the fashion show…literally. Here’s a little catwalk video to show you how it truly is a fashion show to remember. House music and all.
I also loved seeing how the floral designers used our coneflowers in their arrangements. There was a lot of Echinacea ‘Coconut Lime’ used, with and without the dangling ray petals. ‘Pink Double Delight’ also made quite an impression with the designers. It was in so many arrangements.
Awards were given to the best plants. This is a high honor and the firms who win tell the World.
Sadly, we didn’t win this year, but Kolster won two awards for their new hydrangeas. The Magical series seems to be mystifying all who see them. They are magical colors and they are touted to bloom all summer and have wonderfully tight blooms that are also favored by floral designers for wedding arrangements.
I hope you’ve had fun on your virtual visit to The World famous Plantarium. I know I’ve had fun sharing it with you.
I’ll be back in town on Wednesday night when I’ll switch gears to prepare for our favorite show of the year, the Garden Writers Symposium. I have a special pink tutu made from 60 yards or organza to wear and we’ll be serving decadent treats in the booth to celebrate the introduction of Echinacea ‘Raspberry Truffle’ and Heuchera ‘Dark Chocolate’.
I’m looking forward to it and to seeing many of you there.
Take care, have a great week and….
Happy Weeding!
Angela Treadwell-Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau
Recent Weeding Gnome Articles by Angela:
Where Have All the Flowers (I mean tall plants) Gone?
A Harlequin Romance in the Vegetable Garden
For more articles, please visit the Plants Nouveau Archives
A rant on the all-mighty horticulture industry, and a dash of pop
culture mixed with what’s happening in the new plant world.
Our FREE weekly newsletter will show you how Plants Nouveau is working to shape the way new plants are introduced – responsibly.
“I’m reading your newsletter and loving it.”
~Stephanie Cohen, Author, Lecturer, World renown perennial expert
Welcome to Plants Nouveau
We introduce novel, NEW plants; Can give you and your plant Worldwide recognition; Pay for all introduction costs, so there is NO cost to you; Evaluate all new plants in sites around the world to ensure success; and have the premier horticulture e-letter.
Read what The Weeding Gnome FREE subscribers are saying….
Our New Plant Introductions:
Echinacea ‘Marmalade’ – New for 2011
Echinacea purpurea ‘Avalanche’
Echinacea purpurea ‘Coconut Lime’
Echinacea purpurea ‘Milkshake’
Echinacea purpurea ‘Pink Double Delight’
Echinacea purpurea ‘Raspberry Truffle’ – New for 2011
Helianthus x multiflorus ‘Sunshine Daydream’ – New for 2011
Heuchera ‘Dark Chocolate’- New for 2011
Heuchera ‘Stainless Steel’ – New for 2011
Lobelia cardinalis ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’
Phlox paniculata ‘Lord Clayton’
Diva-rellas series of clumping Tiarella cordifolia – New for 2011
The River Series of Tiarella cordifolia
Tiarella cordifolia ‘Delaware’
Tiarella cordifolia ‘Octoraro’
Tiarella cordifolia ‘Susquehanna’
Tiarella cordifolia ‘Wissahickon’
Verbascum ‘Flower of Scotland’
Why Plants Nouveau?
Founded by Angela Treadwell-Palmer, Plants Nouveau has the expertise and worldwide contacts to successfully introduce your new selections to the World. Negotiating legal issues, creative marketing, researching production protocols and establishing and maintaining world wide relationships is what we do.
Evaluation Is a Top Priority!
Plants Nouveau will evaluate your selection in many different regions of the U.S. and abroad to achieve maximum exposure to extreme climatic conditions.
We Pay for Everything!
When you choose Plants Nouveau, we pay for all costs associated with protecting and marketing your new selection. There is no cost to you. Just sit back and collect your share of royalties.
At Plants Nouveau we realize they are YOUR plants and we know we would not have the honor of introducing them for you if YOU hadn’t given them to us so, PLEASE…call every day, email every hour, request visiting rights. Don’t be afraid to ask ANYTHING! Our main goal is to have open communication with our breeders and for them to be happy. If they are happy, they keep coming back to us with new plants. See, it’s easy to do that when that’s your main goal, so choose Plants Nouveau for that very reason – We LOVE our BREEDERS!
And finally since the motto of Plants Nouveau is “Responsible introductions. Sustaining tomorrow’s gardens”, we will not EVER introduce a plant that may harm or have the potential to harm wild lands. We will make every effort to avoid introducing invasive plants (in accordance with the Center for Plant Conservation regulations).
Here’s a bit valuable information on what NOT to do if you think you’ve discovered a new plant
Attention Growers!
Buy our new plant introductions from the following wholesale nurseries:
Attention Homeowners:
Buy Plants Nouveau new plant introductions from the following mail order nurseries:
Plants Delights |
Great Garden Plants |
Dutch Gardens |
White Flower Farm |
Park Seed |
Klehm’s Songsparrow Farm |
— Angela’s Garden Notes —
Echinacea purpurea ‘Milkshake’ – The best double white coneflower for the mid-border
Here’s another fantastic new double white coneflower. This one surprised even me. At first glance, I was not a fan, but having grown it in my garden, I now think this could be the best double white selections for the mid-border. Another piece of brilliant breeding, I present Echinacea ‘Milkshake’, from Arie Blom of AB-Cultivars. Milkshake is “regular” sized. It’s not tall, it’s not short, it’s just the right size for all you coneflower traditionalists out there.
The trait that surprised me the most about Milkshake is that the blooms DO NOT age. Seriously…I’ve never seen anything like it. It started blooming in June, 2007 in my garden and I thought, it’s a taller, poor man’s ‘Coconut Lime’, but then all of the heavy, seriously double, white pompom blooms opened fully and there they sat, perfectly white and untouched through June, through July through August and even September. They show no signs of browning or petal discoloration. It’s as if they are fake flowers. This would be a fantastic cut flower because it would last in a vase for 8 weeks. Imagine that!
Size: 30-36” tall by 24-36” wide
USDA hardiness Zones: 5(4) – 9
Sun/shade: Full sun.
Soil: Average garden soil, well drained.
Moisture: moist, but well drained to get established, once established, it is very drought tolerant.
Disease and Pests: None known.
Landscape use: Mixed border, foundation plantings, mass plantings, urban gardens, cutting gardens.
Market appeal / Uniqueness: Pure white, fully double blooms are held high atop strong, sturdy stems that do not age until fall. It’s as if they are fake flowers.
Propagation methods: Tissue culture
Bloom time: Late June for 14 to 16 weeks.
The plant is also very sturdy and strong. Each mature plant holds 40 to 50 blooms (the same ones since early June…) high with great confidence and no sign of flopping. The blooms are the size of Coconut Lime’s , but they are almost true white, with a hint of say, french vanilla milkshake-y-ness. The ray petals are long and drooping and the cone has white to creamy white, double flowers covering the entire surface.
Follow Plants Nouveau on Twitter
Sign up for The Weeding Gnome RSS Feed