GrowerTalks

August 2025 Issue

Vol. 89 No. 4

See the Digital Edition

The Reward is Worth the Wait

by Jeb S. Fields

NEWSLETTERS

Read and subscribe to a variety of Newsletters tailored to your industry interests.

COVER STORY

Modernizing the Classics

Story & Photos by Chris Beytes, Bill Calkins & Jennifer Zurko

Plant breeders and suppliers continue their strong focus on perennials, so the second part of our coverage of the California Spring Trials features many exciting new introductions in this category.

FEATURES

Connecting the Multi-generational Green Industry

Paige Franks

Emotional intelligence across the ages.

Perennials Section: Bulking Best Practices for Perennial Growers

ThinkPlants Team (Anik Graves, Zoltan Kovacs & Joey Wisema

Bulking is an essential stage of perennial growth. Whether you’re growing first-year flowering perennials or vernalizing and overwintering your crops, developing a healthy root system and vegetative growth (or “bulk”) is necessary to ensure a healthy, even finished crop.

Perennials Section: Cold Has a Purpose

Paul Pilon

Understanding how vernalization and dormancy impact perennial plant quality is critical. Similarly, cold protection strategies can make or break your crop—especially in colder regions.

Perennials Section: Getting Beyond the Juggling Act

Katie Miller

A case for perennial early season color.

Perennials Section: Managing Weeds in Perennial Production

Broch Martindale

Weed control in perennial production is both an art and a science.

Perennials Section: Overwintering Checklist

Compiled by Bill Calkins

Follow these best practices to optimize your approach to overwintering perennials.

Perennials Section: Overwintering vs. FYF Perennials: What’s Right for Me?

Chris Fifo

Success can be achieved growing perennials traditionally—fall planted and overwintered—or using first-year-flowering strategies. The trick is knowing your crops and leveraging resources.

Perennials Section: Vernalizing Perennials: A Grower's Guide to Successful Overwintering

Drew Koschmann

For many perennial growers, planting late in the summer is a strategic move to meet the high demand of early spring sales. Whether supplying landscapers or filling garden center shelves, the goal remains the same: deliver healthy, robust plants just as customers begin preparing their gardens.

Planning Email Campaigns for the Future

Katie Elzer-Peters & Heather Prince

Act NOW to get spring marketing done.

The Reward is Worth the Wait

Jeb S. Fields

A look into shrubs hitting the market in 2026 and what it takes to get there.

Through the Pores

Jeb S. Fields & Kristopher S. Criscione

The last part of our in-depth series on concepts for pore science.

Wave Around the World

Sarah Makiejus

We partied in pink across the globe to celebrate 30 years of Wave Petunias.

CULTURE NOTES

The Surprise Behind Prickly Pear

Lowell Halvorson

It’s both surprisingly beautiful and a surprise because you don’t expect cactus as display color. But there it is.

Growers Talk Production

You’re Not Born With Leadership—It’s Developed!

Austin Bryant

Developing leadership skills can be hard—just as hard as breaking old bad habits and replacing them with better ones—but that’s exactly what you’re doing.

PEST MANAGEMENT

Target Scale Insect Crawlers to Prevent Sticky Situations

JC Chong & Zee Ahmed

There are about 1,100 scale insect species in North America and each feeds on one or more plant species, and many of these plant species are what we grow.

COLUMNS

Inside Look

Easter Eggs, Breadcrumbs & Golden Nuggets

Jennifer Zurko

How often do we put Easter eggs throughout GrowerTalks and Green Profit?

Acres & Acres

Washtub or Teaspoon?

Chris Beytes

Uncertainty isn’t a signal to wait—it’s a cue to act. While others clutch their teaspoons, grab your washtub.

Paul's Pointers

Summertime: It’s Exponential

Paul Pilon

Although I think you deserve a break and suggest you find time for relaxation with what’s left of this summer, I also encourage you to not become complacent and be aware of how challenging summer production can be.

Growers Talk Business

A Peek Behind My MASC

Art Parkerson

In case you haven’t heard, just about every ornamental nursery and greenhouse in the USA just had a pile of cash dropped in their laps, all thanks to the USDA’s Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crop (MASC) program.

DEPARTMENTS

JZ on D.C.

Grow Influence Where It Matters: Invite Your Member of Congress for a Visit

Jennifer Zurko

Most elected officials have limited knowledge of the horticulture industry—what we grow, how we operate and the challenges we face.

GT IN BRIEF

22-acre Greenhouse Collapses in the Netherlands

AmericanHort Invites You to Talk to Sage

Floragard Growing Media Now Available in the U.S.

Happy 40th, Vis Seed!

Jose Smith Jr. Named President of Costa Farms

LiveTrends Earns Top Target Vendor Award

New GrowWise Smart Spectrum From Signify Boosts Crop Growth Up to 6%

New Private Group for Container Nurseries

On the Move

Save the Date for the Northeast Greenhouse Conference

Syngenta Flowers Partners With Tapp

COLUMNISTS

Chris Beytes

Jen Zurko

Albert Grimm

Art Parkerson

Paul Pilon

Stan Vander Waal

Susie Raker

Austin Bryant

Tabitha Samuels Slattery

Stephanie Saccomano

VIDEOS

Watch More

Trending Now: Corteva Summer Crop Protection

Trending Now: PDSI's Blast From the Pastel Hydrangea

Trending Now: CREO Greenhouse Forever Forward Pots & Trays

Trending Now: Bailey Nurseries’ Endless Summer Addition for 2026

Trending Now: Adhesive Labels For Onsite Inkjet Printing from MasterTag

GrowerTalks magazine tours Cultivate'25

Darwin Perennials Day 2025

Safely Managing Whitefly (and more) on Poinsettias with Broch Martindale

Dynamic Combos for All Seasons with Syngenta’s Lauren Kilpatrick

NF Wood Products Improving the characteristics of growing media

The newest in sustainable pots and irrigation from Proven Winners

Hollywood Hibiscus, from Proven Winners

New black and creme (brulee) caladiums from Proven Winners

Walters Gardens Perennials from Proven Winners for 2026

New Annuals from Proven Winners for 2026 and Beyond!

CAST 2025: Israeli Propagators

CAST 2025: Benary

CAST 2025: ThinkPlants

CAST 2025: Danizger

CAST 2025: Syngenta

CAST 2025: HilverdaFlorist

CAST 2025: Takii

CAST 2025: Kienztler

CAST 2025: Du¨mmen Orange

CAST 2025: Sakata

CAST 2025: Green Fuse

CAST 2025: Beekenkamp

CAST 2025: Westhoff

CAST 2025: Schoneveld

CAST 2025: Hem Genetics

CAST 2025: PDSI

CAST 2025: PlantHaven

CAST 2025: Pacific Plug & Liner

CAST 2025: Suntory

CAST 2025: PanAmerican Seed

CAST 2025: Ball FloraPlant

CAST 2025: Darwin Perennials

CAST 2025: Selecta One

CAST 2025: Morel

Our Visit to DRAMM's New(ish) Location

Trending Now: PDSI’s Screen Play Ilex

Trending Now: PDSI’s Clean Sweep Snowbank

N.G. Heimos Poinsettia Open House 2024

Caladium bulb harvest at Classic Caladiums

The Robo Cut Autonomous Tissue Culture Propagation Robot

TRENDING NOW

Darwin Perennials
First-Year-Flowering Tool

Corteva
XXpire

MasterTag
Thermal labels

Our American Roots
Big Time Happy

SePRO Corporation
Topflor

Dümmen Orange
Dümmen Orange

Emerald Coast Growers
Agastache Beelicious Pink Agapk

Bartlett Instrument Company
Headgrower

Donahues Clematis Specialists
Baroness Fookes EviGsy156(PBR)

Nature’s Generator Inc.
MyGrid 10K

Signify
GrowWise

Nominate a Young Grower Today!

Congrats to the 2025 GrowerTalks/Ball Horticultural Company Young Grower Award winner:
Isabela Chamorro from Mahoney’s Garden Center, Woburn, Massachusetts!

Do you know of an excellent, hard-working professional under the age of 35? You should nominate them for the 2026 GrowerTalks/Ball Horticultural Company Young Grower Award! For the last 21 years, we’ve recognized young horticulturists for standing out from the crowd in this tough business, who—for whatever noble reasons—have chosen to have a career in this industry.

After three finalists are chosen, each is asked to write guest editorials for the June issue of GrowerTalks, gets a free trip to Cultivate’26 and, while they’re in Columbus, attend a special dinner with Anna Ball and other industry luminaries. The winner is announced at the Unplugged event during Cultivate’26, will be the subject of our September issue cover story and serve as one of our judges for next year’s award.

An extra special thanks goes to Ball Horticultural Company, BASF and AmericanHort for sponsoring this year’s award!

This Month ...

The Reward is Worth the Wait