Staff — July 27, 2015
Retailers’ Choice Awards™ at SNA 2015 were presented to nine exhibiting firms during a presentation on the SNA Stage. The Garden Center Group’s Sid Raisch led the retailer search. Products were selected specifically for garden retailers in search of the best new products both live goods and hard goods for their stores. Following is a list of firms and their products receiving recognition:
Granite Industries
Overland Electric Carts
Website: http://www.overlandcarts.com
With increasing labor challenges, this electric powered material mover has a place in the garden center as well as with the serious gardener.
Available in 7, 8 and 10 cu.ft. models, plus 4wd and power dump hydraulic options. Can run up to 7.5 hours continuously on a single charge
GrowTech, Inc. – Booth 513
ARS General Purpose Hand Pruner
Website: http://GrowTech.com/HP-‐130DX.html
High quality hand pruner with consumer appeal. Available in six colors. Great for the serious gardener who doesn’t want cheap throwaway tools.
High Caliber Growing – Booth 608
Smart Pot Big Bad Bed
Website: http://bigbagbed.com/
Growing fabric raised beds in various sizes. Currently available in black and purple with other colors to come soon.
Silver Bait, LLC -‐ Booth 211
Wormganic Worm Castings
931-‐692-‐8001
Worm castings are a staple of organic gardening. America’s largest producer of worms and worm castings promises to bring the cost down competitive with other materials. 25# 1 CF bags.
First Editions -‐ Bailey Nurseries – Booth 501
Vitex ‘Blue Puffball’
Website: http://www.firsteditionsplants.com
Unique to the world of Vitex, this compact, 3 foot by 3 foot, densely branched shrub, produces copious blue flowers in summer. Foliage is a rich glistening blue-‐green with resistance to leaf spot. Flowers develop on new growth, so prune spent flowers to induce another flush of bloom. Quantum leap forward in Vitex breeding and will be available in 2016.
Ball Ornamentals – Booth 613
Mandevilla ‘Summer Romance Double Pink’
Website:
http://www.ballseed.com/Growers/plant_info.aspx?phid=040507000004085 Summer Romance Dipladenia and Mandevilla offer a fresh take on this tropical looking plant! Mandevilla Summer Romance Double Pink is truly a unique option for growers and gardeners. This varieties has a large, double pink flowers that instantly catch the eye of any gardener. Summer Romance Double Pink growers very similar to Mandevilla Alice Du Pont. The vigorous viner, will agressively climb any trellis or structure close to it and will thrive in the heat and humidity all the way until fall!
Proven Winners/Spring Meadow/Hackney Nursery – Booth 521 Lorepetalum – Jazz Hands Variegated
Website: http://springmeadownursery.com/plant/53420
http://www.hackneynursery.com/
Jazz Hands Variegated is the first ever variegated Loropetalum; its new growth is splashed with pink and white variegation, while mature foliage is a rich purple color. This distinctive plant may be used as a specimen or a hedging.
Plant Development Services Inc. – Booth 721
Mahonia ‘Marvel’
Website: http://plantdevelopment.com/
Statuesque and upright, Marvel’s large frond-‐like leaves develop in whorls along coarsely branched stems. Gorgeous sprays of fragrant, yellow flowers appear in late fall or early winter. Flowers develop into grape-‐like clusters of wax-‐coated black berries by late summer and autumn.
Walters Gardens – Booth 704
Hibiscus ‘Starry Starry Night’
Website: http://www.waltersgardens.com/plants/view/?plant=2597 Dark, almost black foliage. 7-‐8” pink flowers produce along the stem rather than just at top.