Aris Replaces Blooms with Rozanne

Chris Beytes

Aris is launching two plant brands, both perennials. One, called Must Have Perennials, will be for the trade; the other, called Rozanne and Friends, will be for consumers.

Why these new brands? Because there’s no longer any support for the Blooms of Bressingham brand, which Aris (and before them Yoder Bros.) has licensed for more than 20 years. It originated with the UK’s Adrian Bloom, who launched a garden center chain of the same name. Adrian sold the garden center business and the brand to a competing chain, which then sold it to a third chain.

“Over time, with each successive sale, the Blooms of Bressingham name got less attention because the acquiring groups had their own name and brand,” explained Bill Rasbach, vice-chairman of Aris. Aris was still paying an annual licensing fee and royalties, hence their decision to cut ties to Blooms and launch their own in-house brands.

Why two brands? Simple. MustHavePerennials.com will be for the supply chain: licensees, breeders, growers and retailers looking for technical information on varieties, royalties and other stuff that would only confuse the consumer. There will also be a link to the consumer site.

Ms. Consumer, meanwhile, will go to RozanneandFriends.com (an upgrade of rozanne.com, which promoted Geranium Rozanne), where she’ll find loads of variety and gardening tips and ideas.

Bill says Rozanne and Friends will build on the successful social media promotion of Geranium Rozanne, which he says has almost 70,000 likes on Facebook.

“We’re developing a following, so we decided we wanted to keep that approach going with going directly to the consumer.”

Both brands will have the same plants, starting with all the former Blooms of Bressingham perennials, including Geranium Rozanne, which they claim is the world’s top-selling perennial. But they plan to expand that out to “the best perennials for the gardener in eight regions across the country,” Bill says. They’ll start in the Northeast and Midwest and branch out from there. Not necessarily new genetics, but the best genetics for the garden, by region.

“The distinguishing thing about this [brand] is it’s not about the newest or the promotion of any [specific] breeder’s genetics. It’s going to be about promotion of genetics that are best for the garden.”

Bill says they’ll develop the regional plant list with the help of their licensees around the country. He hopes to eventually build a “council” of garden centers that specialize in perennials and gardening with them. GT