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Every time consumers visit a garden center, they expect to find new and improved plants. As sure as new SUVs adorn the dealer’s showroom every fall, new and different cultivars will brighten the garden center bench every spring. And you help make it so. Industry insiders often wonder: Do our ultimate customers know, or care, how it works? Like a magic act, a lot goes on behind the curtain to make all that color appear. And we’re the moving parts in the hidden supply chain.

Emerald Coast Growers has expanded its sales team with the addition of Katy Furnas, an experienced professional with more than a decade in the horticulture industry. “Katy’s experience enables her to understand and speak to each grower’s unique needs,” says Cheri Markowitz, Sales Manager. Katy’s career includes time in sales management and lead sales for Ag 3, Inc., and she grew up working in the family foliage nursery. Her background positions her well to provide the gold standar

WHAT LOOKS LIKE A GRASS, GROWS like a grass and SELLS like a grass...... but isn’t a grass? We have the answer -- several answers, in fact. Our ornamental lineup includes some great impostors, grass-like plants not found in the family Poaceae, the “true grasses.” But you’ll want them in YOUR lineup anyway. ACORUS (Sweet flag).Our smallest variety has the biggest name: ‘Pusillus Minimus Aureus’ stands just four inches high. Its bright yellow blades illuminate moist, shady spots. Mo

Huge potential exists from Perennial Plant Association (PPA) Perennial Plant of the Year™ winners that also happen to be natives, says John Friel, marketing manager for Emerald Coast Growers and a past PPA President. “Natives have been rediscovered. They’re very fashionable,” says John. “And when you add the assurance of the Plant of the Year recognition, you’ve got built-in sales appeal.” Some top picks: The 2011 Perennial Plant of the Year Amsonia hubrichti

Describing a color is like naming shapes in the clouds: No two viewers see exactly the same thing. A beautiful example: Living Coral, the Pantone Color of the Year for 2019.Coral pink with gold undertones, Living Coral conjures a range of impressions. What do you see? Sunsets? Apricots? Umbrella drinks?With its trademark enthusiasm, Pantone sees it as “nurturing... sociable and spirited.” It’s a “convivial” hue that “provides comfort and buoyancy.”What do we see? Flowers and foliage. We’re funny