Happy Sprinter! That’s what you get when you combine spring with winter, which is the type of weather many of us are experiencing around the country. That clever term comes from Lee Gamin of Gamin’s Garden Center in Connecticut, who scored his weekend a mediocre 5. Overall, the U.S. scored 6.2 and Canada scored just 4.4. Not pretty when you compare it to 2021's 8.9/10.0. However, that was Easter weekend. The pandemic year of 2020 scored 5.7 and 3.8; 2019 (when the first weekend of April was April 6-7) scored 7.2/5.9. However, 2018's first week of April was also an Easter weekend; it scored just 5.3/6.4, so maybe we're on track to be back to normal!

Anyway, here’s the map:

That’s based on 65 scores from 34 states and four provinces.

All in all, it was not a terrific weekend nationwide, although regionally some of you did very well. Seven of you scored it a perfect 10 and four of you gave it a 9 (four of you also gave it a dismal 1).

Nine states scored 8 or above: California, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.

The upper Midwest and Ohio Valley sent the kinds of scores I expect to see in early April—1, 2 and 4 from Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota, respectively. But I was surprised to get an 8 from Massachusetts, where Michael Paduch from Crystal Lake Garden Shop forecast, “Looks like it’s gonna be an early one here.”

Same in western New York, where Kathleen Kepler of Sara’s Garden & Nursery also sent in an 8, a solid score “considering how early it is in the season for us with our limited days of happy weather.” She continued, “… plenty of pent up enthusiasm and totally ready for spring and no mentions of inflation/costs ... well, not yet anyway.”

The scores weren't as strong as I’d hope for across the mid-South and Eastern Seaboard. Virginia was 5.4 (but the scores ranged from 2 to 8), North Carolina was 7.3, Alabama was 6.5. But Louisiana scored 9.3 (two 9s and a 10). And Texas was 8.5 with two 10s and two 7s.

In the Pacific Northwest, Washington scored a strong 8.3 with a 10, two 8s and a 7.3. But further north in British Columbia it stank at 4.5 (three 5s and a 3).

All in all, it’s still early. Also, last year the first weekend of April was Easter. And remember, a strong start to a season has NEVER guaranteed a strong finish. There’s lots of season ahead of us.

California (10). “One of the best weekends ever—and our season is just starting."—Tom Courtright, Orchard Nursery

Texas (10). “Couldn't have been better, as we sold everything that was ready. Now going on to sell prefinished.”—Patrick Steward, Plant Masters Wholesale Nursery

Louisiana (9). “Clegg’s Nursery (Baton Rouge) had a great weekend. Prior weekend was a solid 10, as was the weekend prior. March 26-27 set our all-time sales records. A few weekdays have been like Saturdays. Rain has been mid-week except for showers on Saturday April 2 in the a.m. Half the normal rainfall for the year. Crazy busy, directing parking, tight shrub market, some mulch materials back-ordered until May, most greenhouse growers in the area were temporarily out of some veggies (and one greatly needed veggie truck cancelled delivery) due to strong sales the prior two weeks. Tropical truck from Florida that was to arrive Friday April 1 (no fooling) arrived today (Monday, April 4) instead.”—Allen Owings, Clegg’s Nursery

Nevada (8). “Drought, inflation/price increases, pandemic fatigue, war, staff short-handed, etc. … hard to judge if a continuation of strong results is still in the cards? March was up strongly, but helped by price increases and more inventory, as transactions fell a bit. We were/are holding our breath, but weekend No. 1 was strong, over a strong previous year and transactions increased nicely. Who knows what lies ahead? But this is a solid start for Spring 2022!”—Bruce Gescheider, Moana Nursery

Washington (8). “Better than last year, but down to plan.”—Helen Stauffer, Molbak’s

Colorado (7). “Not as good as last year, but good."—Gene Pielen, Gulley Greenhouse

Idaho (5). “Spring has sprung a little earlier than usual. Highs were in the low 50s this weekend after upper 60s last weekend. Garden centers are just starting to order, so we are hopeful. It is expected to be 75F this coming Saturday, followed by 48F on Sunday. Our biggest problem so far is finding drivers.”—Dave Holley, Moss Greenhouses

British Columbia (3). “Slow start here in BC. Very cool, wet weather so far. We are strictly wholesale to IGCs. Not only have sales been slow, but our crops are also lacking color because of dark weather. As a grower, there is no substitute for sunshine. While we’ve had the occasional nice day/afternoon, nights are very cool yet. Hopefully, with a later start the season will go longer.”—Philip Pannekoek, Panamera Acres

Thanks to all of you who sent in scores. And if you didn't, please do! Watch for my Monday (or Tuesday, if I forget on Monday) special Acres Online asking for your weekend score. The more who contribute, the more accurate my "amalgamation of opinions" (as Dr. Charlie Hall describes it) will be!

Sometimes rumors (when they turn out to not be rumors) take a while to confirm.

Back in January at the Tropical Plant International Expo in Tampa I heard a rumor that Altman Plants might be purchasing the former Mid-American Growers/ColorPoint facility in Granville, Illinois, from Red, White & Bloom (RWB), a Toronto-based cannabis company.

That seemed odd to me, as RWB had just bought the big, beautiful facility in 2019. Were they out of OPM (other people's money) already? I suspected the rumor involved not the Illinois greenhouse, but ColorPoint’s Kentucky greenhouses, since I knew it was up for auction.

But. nope, the original rumor was on target, and Ken Altman was finally able to confirm the news (he explained that he had to wait until the deal was finalized). The transaction is closing next week.

Wrote Ken in an email to me last week, “We are very delighted to acquire it. It is over 80 acres of greenhouses and warehouse buildings. It was mostly designed, built and operated by Nick Van Wingerden. Later it was operated and added onto by Art and Ken VanWingerden. In our minds, all three are geniuses in their ability to put together first-rate facilities and we want to give them props for what they have done.”

Ken went on to say that RWB were “excellent stewards” of the facility. (Which is good to hear, as often these cannabis outfits think they know more about greenhouses than us greenhouse folks.)

Yup, it's a nice facility.

“It is a tremendous engine for plant production and that is what we enjoy doing. It will also put us closer to some of our markets, reduce our cost of distribution and help us to serve customers even better.”

I asked Ken to elaborate on that point.

“We have products, like our succulents, that we ship nationally, and this will help for any of the stores that are closer to Illinois than our other locations,” he answered. “We will also be able to increase our production of young plants for internal use.”

Lastly, one of the tidbits I’d heard during my research on this story was that Canadian ornamental grower Fernlea Flowers had leased some of the greenhouse space from RWB. Ken confirmed that and said they’d be honoring that lease. Altman will use the remainder of the space.

Ken concluded his email to me with this humorous weather note:

“One other thing—the first time Matt and I went there it was 14 degrees outside, which is pretty much a tragedy for a couple of California guys. But inside it was extremely comfortable, which is more kudos to the builders and portends happy days for our crops to come.”

Welcome to the Midwest, Ken and Matt!

That is a piece of the story that has not yet revealed itself. A press release from May 28, 2019, said this:

Toronto-based multi-state marijuana company Red White & Bloom Brands secured a $60 million loan, then signed a definitive agreement to acquire an Illinois medical and recreational cultivation facility for $32.5 million.

Another portion of the same release stated:

According to the Brightfield Group: “CBD is growing faster than cannabis in the U.S. and the hemp-CBD market alone could hit $22 billion by 2022. It’s been flying under the radar, but is set to explode, having profound impacts on CPG and Pharma.”

Anchored by the Illinois facility, RWB intends to establish large-scale production capabilities focused on hemp extraction and product manufacturing within the United States. Management’s experience in creating the first standardized cannabis production facility in Canada will allow it to establish this state-of-the-art Illinois facility as the bellwether for standardization of premium hemp CBD, and CBD-derived medicines and products.

Of course, the hemp business in the U.S. has hit many snags, including weather, crop quality, processing bottlenecks, regulatory hurdles and roadblocks … let’s just say it hasn’t panned out the way the pundits predicted back in 2019. And while Ken Altman didn’t disclose any financial details of the transaction, something tells me he got a great deal.

Normally, fellow Bobblehead Bill Calkins and I would use the end of our final Acres of buZZ! newsletter from Spring Trials to give a bit of a recap to what we saw. But to be honest, this year we were so fried from the thousands of flowers and 18-hour days that it was hard to process what I'd seen. It took being home a few days staring at a gray wall so my eyes and braincells could recover for me to summarize the event. Here are a few thoughts, after the fact:

- The mood was good, but not as effervescent as last summer’s CAST when folks were overjoyed to be back out seeing things in person instead of on Zoom. I guess we’ve gotten used to being able to travel once again. Still, folks were happy to shake hands, hug and be mask-free if desired.

- It seemed to be the year of the cut flower, the houseplant, the lavender, the echinacea, the multi-colored petunia and calibrachoa, and the pepper. That’s a lot … perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was the year of a wide range of random items covering every category—I keep looking for a theme or common thread between trials, but can’t find one.

- There WERE innovations. In the last day of our Acres of buZZ! coverage, I stated, “Looking back over the week, I can’t recall any individual introduction that’s going to change the industry.” I’ll be honest, I’m not smart enough to predict that because there were some exciting new products to be seen, such as Dümmen Orange’s TMV-resistant Smartunia; PanAmerican Seed’s new sun-loving New Guinea impatiens, Solarscape, which is from seed, not cuttings; Syngenta’s XDR Cora Cascade Vinca with the same aerial phytophthora resistance as regular Cora; Plant Development Services’ “Better Boxwood,” which are said to be blight-resistant; and Ball FloraPlant’s IDM-resistant double impatiens, Glimmer.

The Better Boxwood display.

How much impact each of these will have is hard to say, of course. For instance, some vegetative-to-seed annuals have really taken off, such as seed angelonia. But calibrachoa from seed hasn’t done as well. And certainly, disease-resistant plants are very much to be desired—provided they truly prove to be disease-resistant. So I hesitate to heap praise on products at first glimpse, preferring instead to let the market (you and your customers) decide if they work or not.

- If you haven't yet watched our 31 videos from the event, do so—they're better than ever, thanks to video producer Osvaldo Cuevas (aided by videographer extraordanaire Jen Zurko on the A-camera). And they're in technicolor 4K UHD, so you can enjoy 'em on your big Samsung! The full playlist is HERE.

That’s a question I asked last week after seeing two of them in vegetative rather than seed form. They looked nice—full and thick—but were classified as centaurea. One was Chrome Fountain (left) from Westhoff, the other was Mercury (right) by Jaldety.

I know Dusty Miller as Senecio sineraria. A bit of digging online uncovered the species Centaurea cineraria with the common name Dusty Miller … but according to the NC State extension, that was previously known as Jacobaea maritima.

I asked you via our CAST newsletter last week for some clarification. GardenGenetics breeder and executive director Rick Grazzini said he thought Dusty Miller was jacobea, adding, “But that could have changed overnight,” with a little smiley after it. I guess it did, Rick!

Dr. Richard Criley from the University of Hawaii made me feel better when he pointed out that “Dusty Miller” is a common name that can be applied to a number of different silver-leafed plants. He said the same is true of “ironwood” and “mock orange.” So me calling these two centaurea “Dusty Miller” isn’t incorrect.

Senecio, jacobaea, centaurea … does it really matter? No. Plus, these taxonomists can be wrong, too. Remember when our florist mums got changed from chrysanthemum to dentranthema? Probably not because nobody I know took to calling them “mas” instead of “mums.” Well, here's something I did NOT know: In 1999, the International Botanical Congress (a rollicking group, I’m sure) changed the genus back to chrysanthemum.

And there’s a few minutes of your life you’ll never get back …

The last time I attended the European Pack Trials was probably 2000 or thereabouts; after that, I thought the Flower Trials in June (also known as the Week 24 Trials) had taken its place.

That’s why when I got a press release titled, “Dutch Spring Trials to Take Place in Week 18,” I did a double take. Huh? The seed breeders are back with their own event? The release, which came from Fleuroselect, who also helps organize and promote Flower Trials, said this:

During the first week of May, eight breeders grouped together under the umbrella “Dutch Spring Trials” will be showing their assortment to growers, retailers and industry colleagues. These so-called pack trials have been a strong tradition going back many years, and are the perfect occasion to review the latest pot and bedding plants on the greenhouse benches while discussing business possibilities on a one-to-one basis.

ABZ Seeds, Benary, Hem Genetics, MNP/Suntory, PanAmerican Seed, Prudac, Takii and Syngenta Flowers/Floranova will be welcoming visitors by appointment only on Monday 2nd, Tuesday 3rd, Wednesday 4th and Friday 6th May. No visits are scheduled on Thursday 5th of May, as this is Liberation Day, a Dutch public holiday. Opening hours will be from 08:00 to 17:00 hrs.

Interested visitors are invited to make an appointment via the contact details below. Physical visits are preferred, however, a digital tour is also possible for those unable to travel. Please discuss the digital options with each company individually and upfront.

Hundreds of pot and bedding plants are waiting to be (re)discovered! Gear up for the upcoming season and book your appointment for the Dutch Spring Trials now!

Hem Genetics. Look at all those seed annuals!

Intrigued about the return of the European Pack … er, Spring Trials, I hit “reply” to the email for more details. Here’s what Anne Jennen, Fleuroselect’s Marketing & Communications Specialist, told me:

“Thanks for your interest! No, it is not new. They have been a bit on the decline in the sense that not all companies took part in the past years. There have been years were only some of them opened their doors and promotion was probably limited to their individual customer base. But I remember that when I started at Fleuroselect—now 10 years ago—I used to put an event page on our website and did an internal mailing to promote the pack trials with our membership. This year, the group of breeders asked us to provide them with a platform to discuss and we offered to assist them with a short press release. So it’s the good old Pack Trials, they just thought the name Dutch Spring Trials sounds better.”

Thanks, Ann! With so many events cancelled or postponed lately, it’s nice to see one making a comeback!

Click HERE for the details and links to each location.

Where am I off to this time? Jacksonville, Florida, and the National Greenhouse Manufacturers Association Annual Spring Meeting (I serve on the Board). No greenhouse visits planned, as it's a fairly quick trip, but then again, I might drop in on somebody if I find some free time!