Got Any New Releases for 2025?

I wanted to start this newsletter off with a request: One of the most fun parts of running a trial garden is getting to see all the new plants. So many plants from so many different breeding lines come to the little town of Hammond, Louisiana, to explore their ultimate fate. There are winners, and there are losers, and seeing the plants separate themselves each year is exciting. While the losers give us a wealth of information, it’s the winners that are the most fun. So we are always excited to see what has graduated from our trials (and other trials, too, of course ... but ours are definitely the best …) and made it into the market.

With that said, I am writing a story for GrowerTalks on the 2025 shrub releases. I wanted to expand my horizons and look beyond the Deep South to talk about some of the new introductions that didn’t come through the Louisiana trials. If you are a breeder, or marketing specialist, or anyone in the know, please send me some information about your new introductions for 2025. I am compiling my favorites for promotion.

If you have any upcoming releases, please email me. I look forward to reading about all the varieties and new exciting plant materials we will be buying next year.

Proven Winners Welcomes 11th Signature Garden

A new high-profile designation has been granted to a garden in Willard, North Carolina. The Gardens of Southeastern North Carolina have earned the prestigious title of Proven Winners Signature Garden, making it the 11th so named in the country.

This signature garden has strong conservation goals, and with this new designation the leadership of the gardens will be able to leverage these goals with expansion to broaden awareness for those who love nature trails, wooded areas and waterways.

“The diverse balance of ornamental horticulture, engaging nature and a healthy calendar of agrotourism events promise to make The Gardens of Southeastern North Carolina a showcase destination for Proven Winners products and gardening ideas,” says Josh Miller, Proven Winners landscape manager.

The garden is supported by Johnson Nursery, which was founded by David Johnson in 1981. As the business grew, they soon developed a display garden, and The Gardens of Southeastern North Carolina were born. These gardens are open to visitors and encompass acres of native hardwood forests, with trails, creeks, and agricultural fields.

Cultivate is Comin’ to Town

Cultivate is a time to all gather around a table with friends and visit—maybe over a nice beverage of choice. Attendees will make new connections and maybe pick up a new toy. Although there won’t be a chill in the air, nothing says Christmas in July like Cultivate. We are just two weeks away from the biggest Green Industry event in the country, and I couldn’t be more excited. If you haven’t registered yet or are still on the fence about attending, I would encourage you to CHECK OUT the schedule.

I have talked quite a bit about the 150-plus educational sessions, but there is so much more: hands-on workshops, bus tours, and unique experiences at every corner. I promise that you will make connections and help your business grow.

You don’t have to leave the convention center, either, as they have educational opportunities woven into the trade show. Growers, distributors and landscape operations from across the country and world will be in attendance. Have you had a hard time getting a particular sales rep on the line? This is your chance to track 'em down in person!

If you are going, I would highly encourage you to cruise the website and pick out what you want to do before getting there, because once you’re at the show, there is so much to do it is easy to miss the specifics. That is why I highly recommend downloading the Cultivate App (available at the Apple Store or Google Play). Not only does the app have a floor plan and map, but you can save the events you want to attend, and it will remind you where to be and when to be there. It’s a gamechanger for people like me who want to take in as much as possible in a few short days.

While you’re at it, make sure you search for my name and put my events in the calendar—if you want to learn more about stratified substrates or managing substrate temperature.

See you there!

Women In Horticulture Luncheon

One of the things American Hort does well is promote women in the workplace—and for us that workplace is horticulture. A Cultivate luncheon program “Unlock the Power of a Positive Mindset” will be hosted by Women in Horticulture on July 15 at noon. This luncheon will be a journey towards success and self-discovery through the lens of “Positive Intelligence” as you connect with your green-industry peers.

In the luncheon, speaker Genieva McNeal will discuss the natural tendency for people to have negative self-talk, and how the judgmental undercurrents within often undermine peace of mind and success. Attendees will walk away equipped with techniques to combat these tendencies and replace them with objective, empathetic, self-affirming perspectives.

Tickets ($65) are required for this event, and can be purchased during registration. Tickets include lunch, so it is definitely worth the price of admission. You do need to register ahead of time for lunch count. Make sure you register by July 8.

Online Irrigation Tools for Nursery Growers

A few weeks back, I wrote about my trip to New Jersey for an annual meeting with my nursery scientist friends. During this meeting we all talk about what we have been doing for the past year and make plans for how we can collaborate in the future. One of the updates caught my attention and I thought it would be a great item to share with you.

Gerardo Spinelli—or Gerry as everyone calls him—works with UC Davis Extension as an Irrigation Master. I mentioned his Cultivate session last week, which will be a blast. However, it was something else that I thought might benefit you the most: Gerry has created a series of simple online tools for growers to use to get a better understanding of the details of their irrigation systems.

When designing irrigation systems, we often talk about distribution uniformity or “DU” as you might read it in most places. This is where you lay pans or cups out in a grid on your irrigated beds and then catch water. You measure the volume in each cup and calculate the average of the “lower quarter” and compare that to the overall average.

Have I lost you yet?

While the overall calculations are not difficult, keeping track of them can be annoying. Gerry’s calculator makes this incredibly simple: just put the numbers of each cup or pan into the tool and it will calculate your DU. That way you can do this quickly on your phone in the field, or as a double-check, which is always nice to have. I thought this idea was so simple but elegant. You can have your guys check the DU of an irrigation system easily with just a few pans.

What you do with the knowledge of your DU is up to you. We want to water everything as evenly as possible, so a higher number is better. What signifies a good DU? That is open for debate, and can vary based on your operation and location. I think the standard is anything above 80% (or 0.80) is good. If you are sitting at 75% I wouldn’t be too concerned, but if you get 40% you might want to adjust your sprinklers.

Even better, go to Gerry's Cultivate session and ask him for his expert advice!

If you're not attending Cultivate, you can always call your local extension office and get more information—something that growers do not do enough. We are here to help and want to get out from behind our desks any time we can!

The tool can be found HERE. He even made a Spanish version HERE.

Think big,

Jeb Fields
Editor-at-Large
Nursery & Landscape Insider

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