We just learned that foliage, tropical and succulent young plant supplier ForemostCo and the folks at Ball Seed have entered into a co-exclusive agreement that will, hopefully, help to meet the market’s growing demand for houseplants.

What the agreement will do is help provide all the great stuff ForemostCo offers—from cuttings and liners to bulbs and rhizomes—to the grower market via Ball Seed’s state-of-the-art systems, sales teams and service model.

The press release quotes Ball’s sales director Jim Kennedy as saying that Ball Seed is, “thrilled to have a trusted source like ForemostCo supplying the plants today’s consumers are demanding. Their full selection, wide range of forms and commitment to service are a perfect fit to Ball Seed and will help make our customers’ businesses successful.”

Getting the plant materials you need faster and more reliably is a good thing for you and your customers, surely. Maybe it’ll also have an impact on a little issue rampant in the foliage world— availability.

I also got my hands on the latest Ball Seed ForemostCo brochure. It’s 79 pages, and quite comprehensive! Give it a look-see HERE.  

It’s August, so that means it’s the perfect time to talk about indoor blooming houseplants appropriate for winter sales. At least that’s the case for Sam Cowie of Leaf & Limb, a wholesale orchid grower located in Kin Kin, Queensland, Australia. It was a balmy 7C, or 44F, in Kin Kin. It's not only winter down there, it's already tomorrow!

“Read your bit about the Phals in popcorn-like boxes,” he wrote. Sam was referring to my piece in Tropical Topics from the beginning of July, in which I mentioned Dümmen Orange’s new packaging for their small-flowered phalaenopsis line called Popcorn. Here’s what it looks like again, to jog your memory.

Sam wrote to say he totally agrees that packaging and labelling sell product. They had just created a label for their new Oncidium and “It works wonders for our retailers,” he wrote. “Some are even selling them without flowers open. One client even commented that it’s the first orchid he’s sold where the clients come in and ask for it by name.”

In the horticulture world, where customers are accustomed to requesting flowers basically in kids’ terms (“I’m looking for blue daisy flowers”), having folks request plants by brand name is impressive. And mostly because of packaging! Notice how the tag doesn’t even have a photo of the orchid, but of raspberries dripping with chocolate sauce. First, yum! Second, that’s a bold move. Sam says the name and subsequent packaging fits with the current food and cooking craze.  

Houseplants and tropicals are trendy, for sure. But what else is trendy? Knowing some answers to that question can help us figure out how to make our plants and products even more appealing.

To that end, let’s dive into what is currently trending on the mother of all vision boards, Pinterest.

Cowboy stuff. Searches for the cowboy aesthetic are up 160%, and that includes subcategories such as campfire cooking, western boot outfits and cowboy art. Time to put some cowboy hat and boot tchotchkes on those succulent and cacti planters.

Foyer décor. A search of this topic is up 330% in Australia‚ maybe because it’s winter there. Pretty much all of those associated pins have a  plant in the picture. Are we targeting that space adequately in our marketing efforts?

Concrete in house design. Whether it’s interior or exterior, concrete is up 494% year over year (ask me how energy efficient my home’s concrete floors are). Indoor plants and tropicals go a long way in warming up that cool look. And it seems that cement planter searches are up 88%, too.

The Greek aesthetic. Blue and white, it’s all the rage— up 115% year over year.

What have you been searching for on Pinterest? Maybe others are, too. Can you apply it to tropicals?

It’s coming up during the third week in September, so that would be September 15-21. Hopefully you have some plans to hawk your houseplants, promote the heck out of your book or just generally encourage the consumption and use of plants indoors.

No? No plans? Maybe you’re fresh out of ideas. In that case, I have gathered some for you from what a few others are doing. For example:

• Author, consultant and plant expert Leslie Halleck will be posting on multiple social channels, as well as on her blog (lesliehalleck.com) about indoor gardening tips and benefits of bringing nature indoors. She’ll do giveaways of her two books ("Plant Parenting" and "Gardening Under Lights"), and she’ll encourage folks via Instagram to swap plants with new #plantfriendsirl.

• Lisa Eldred Steinkopf, author of "Houseplants" and "Grow In the Dark," will be giving away copies of her book and will blog post about houseplants.
• Peace Tree Farms is participating in the Collegiate Plant Initiative’s Plant Drop at Cornell. They’ll be giving away Pilea peperomioides, Curly Bonnie Spider, Albuca spiralis Frizzle Sizzle and other plants. A thousand of them (and in logoed quart pots, too)! Sounds like a great opportunity, huh? Find out how you could get involved by emailing Virginia@CollegiatePlantInitiative.org.

Got another idea other than book and plant giveaways? Let me know about it so I can share it in the next Tropical Topics, or reach out to me about it so I can promote it to the industry on Facebook.