GrowerTalks - Green Profit - Inside Grower

10/08/2025

GREEN PROFIT'S buZZ! E-NEWS IS OUT! Read & Subscribe at https://www.greenprofit.com/Newsletters/View/?article=5066

Our very own Jen Polanz just got back from The Garden Center Group Fall Event in Raleigh — and wow, what a trip! From unique garden centers to powerful talks on culture, AI, and creating standout customer experiences, it was an event packed with inspiration.

One highlight? 🌲 Homewood Nursery & Garden Center — serene, rooted in Raleigh, and beautifully shoppable. Their “Rooted in Raleigh” message says it all.

💡 Jen also floated a great idea: a Garden Pro Program where customers can learn to “think like a pro” (hands-on, of course!). What do you think—would your shoppers dig that?

But that’s not all this week:

🥗 Botanical Bento – the next big trend from Garden Media Group’s 2026 report! Think “garden in a box” — curated, mindful, and totally Instagrammable. Perfect for a winter houseplant workshop.

💘 A Fine Romance – Turns out, romance is trending! From books to blooms, people are craving real connection. How are you bringing a little love story into your displays?

💻 Webinar Alert #1: Garden Center to E-Commerce Powerhouse
👉 October 20 @ 1 p.m. ET – Learn how Bast Brothers grew their business online.

🌸 Webinar Alert #2: America In Bloom: Year-Round Container Programs
👉 October 14 @ Noon ET – Learn to build beautiful, community-wide color displays all year long (and it’s free!).

🍺 10-Cent Beer Marketing Magic:
A California brewery’s 10¢ happy hour is turning heads—and creating community. Maybe there’s a “super-cheap, super-short” promo idea waiting for your garden center, too.

📍Next year’s Garden Center Group event? Cleveland, OH — get ready to rock it!

10/07/2025

ACRES ONLINE E-NEWS IS OUT—AND IT'S A POWER-PACKED EDITION! Read & subscribe at https://www.growertalks.com/Newsletters/View/?article=5064

Topics include:
🏆 Last Call for CEAs!
Controlled-environment growers — don’t miss your chance to enter the Cultivating Excellence Awards 2026! Winners will be celebrated at Indoor Ag-Con in Las Vegas, Feb. 11–12.
👉 Nominate your company today!

♻️ Reusable Plant Trays in Action
Royal FloraHolland is testing Europe’s Euro Plant Tray — a big move toward eliminating single-use plastics. Could this be coming our way next?

🥞 Cracker Barrel’s Branding Crash Course
Turns out, you can take the “country” out of Cracker Barrel … and nobody’s happy about it. A $700M rebrand gone wrong = lessons for all of us in knowing your audience.

💡 Branding Wisdom from Pen & Petal
Your brand isn’t your logo — it’s your story. Be consistent, authentic, and engaging to create customers for life.

🌸 Benary’s New CAST Home
After years in Watsonville, Benary is moving its Spring Trials to Por La Mar Nursery in Santa Barbara. New location, same legendary creativity (and maybe another Begonia Beer?).

🎨 Color-Matching with Terra Nova
Terra Nova pairs perennials with 2026’s trending paint hues — from Melodious Ivory to Warm Mahogany. Plant design meets interior design!

🎙️ Congrats to Bill Calkins!
200+ episodes of Tech on Demand! That puts him in the top 1% of all podcasters. Listen to the latest episode featuring Syngenta’s Dr. Brian Krug and Dr. Jamie Gibson.

🎉 55 Years of Ball Publishing Dedication
Cheers to Bill Calkins (20 years), Adriana Heikkila (20) and Kim Brown (15) — all celebrating (career at Ball) milestones in 2025

🌿 Register Now for MANTS 2026
Don’t procrastinate — January 7–9 in Baltimore. Early Bird rate: $20 until Dec. 5. It’s where serious green business gets done.

🪴 Wholesale, Meet Digital: Selling via Faire
Growers are finding new customers (and sales) through the wholesale platform Faire — one Apopka grower sold $100K in nine weeks!

🎬 Finally … Watch “Women’s Work”
A new PBS documentary celebrates America’s female farmers. Airing on public TV starting October 1, with special showings Oct. 12 for National Farmers Day.

10/03/2025

PHOTO DROP! First ever (and second day of) the Ball for Fall event hosted by in West Chicago! Featuring Ball Mums and other mums from different breeders. Along with fun fall combo inspiration. Over 100 growers and sales reps on an unseasonably warm early October day. 🌞

10/02/2025

Trending Now: Discover new cutting-edge high tunnel greenhouse technology with Harnois’ TunnelPro Plus! Join senior editor Bill Calkins and Harnois VP of sales Félix Chassouant as they explore innovative solutions for climate resilience and crop production. Perfect for growers seeking efficiency and sustainability. Watch now and think about the options TunnelPro Plus will offer!

GrowerTalks Senior Editor Bill Calkins talks to Corenthin (Felix) Chassouant, the VP of Sales—Poly Greenhouses at Harnois Industries, about the company’s new...

10/01/2025

Artificial Intelligence in the Green Industry (Part 1) ft. Clint Albin

Explore the future of horticulture with our latest episode of the Tech On Demand podcast! Join host Bill Calkins and industry strategist Clint Albin as they explore how AI is transforming garden centers and greenhouses. Discover insights on customer feedback, inventory management and the power of innovation in our industry. This podcast is the first in a miniseries that complements articles in Green Profit.

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KIut9nP7cIfU8263KmOTW?si=ba0291165ff74c81

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-on-demand-brought-to-you-by-growertalks/id1523055762

Why You Need AI, No Matter Your Size (ARTICLE): https://www.greenprofit.com/Article/?articleid=27544

09/30/2025

VIDEO JUST RELEASED! Growing Your Best Begonias with Syngenta’s Brian Krug & Jamie Gibson

https://youtu.be/1EFmmDbfB7A

Syngenta Flowers’ Dr. Brian Krug and Dr. Jamie Gibson joined host Bill Calkins to discuss the exciting world of begonias, focusing on both vegetative and seed varieties. They explore the latest introductions, production best practices and the importance of lighting and PGRs in growing high-quality begonias. The discussion highlights the growing popularity of begonias in gardening and their versatility in various applications.

One of the top new introductions at California Spring Trials in 2025 was iCandy, a vegetative series of hybrid begonias for quarts and up—with double flowers and dark foliage—and Brian spends time detailing production best practices before moving on to other vegetative series including Adora (perfect for baskets), Birthday Bash (more traditional, waxy foliage and double flowers) and Florencio (a boliviensis hybrid).

Then Jamie goes through tips and tricks for producing a few newer seed-raised series from Syngenta including Bossa Nova (boliviensis types), Bionic (large, interspecific landscape type) Tophat (early-to-flower interspecifics with huge flowers) and Limitless (tuberous).
For each series, Brian and Jamie discuss production recommendations from propagation through finish—including lighting protocols, PGR regimes, temperature requirements and much more. Strategies to reduce the risk of blind cuttings are also shared.

Syngenta Flowers’ Dr. Brian Krug and Dr. Jamie Gibson join Tech On Demand host Bill Calkins to discuss the exciting world of begonias, focusing on both veget...

09/30/2025

PERENNIAL PULSE E-NEWS IS OUT! Read & subscribe at https://www.growertalks.com/Newsletters/View/?article=5060

🌾 The Rise of Infertile Grasses
Not all ornamental grasses are created equal! Fertile grasses can spread aggressively and even become invasive. That’s why breeders have been developing sterile and infertile options—and they’re looking better than ever.

✨ Benefits of sterile grasses:
• No unwanted seedlings
• Stronger growth & vigor
• Longer bloom time
• More landscape-friendly choices

🌟 Featured standouts from Emerald Coast Growers:
• Zig Zag (Blue Grama) – compact, drought-tolerant
• Bandwidth (Miscanthus) – bold golden striping
• Cabaret – tall, dramatic variegation
• Scout – elegant pink-beige plumes
• Cayenne & Praline (Fountain Grasses) – bold red plumes or compact, taupe seedheads

💡 Want to boost profits? Check out Bill Calkins’ crash course on grower math and cost accounting to make smarter, more profitable production decisions.

📈 Looking ahead: Don’t miss AFE’s free webinar Trends to Watch in 2026 on Oct. 14 with Dr. Charlie Hall & Dr. Melinda Kluth.

🛠️ Grow smarter with tech: Biobest’s FREE Side Effects App helps you protect beneficial insects while managing pests.

09/29/2025

Our Tech On Demand podcast celebrated a milestone!

Go back in the archives to find 200 episodes covering a wide range of topics for greenhouse, garden center and CEA professionals—crop specific plans from leading technical experts, big-picture chats with industry leaders, insect/pest/disease management strategies, crop nutrition, media, lighting and so much more!

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-on-demand-brought-to-you-by-growertalks/id1523055762

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KIut9nP7cIfU8263KmOTW?si=3fec2c9b65a64f98

09/26/2025

Here's what you'll find in the Tech On Demand newsletter this week.

Read: https://www.growertalks.com/Newsletters/View/?article=5056
Subscribe: https://www.growertalks.com/Newsletters/Signup/?newsletter=techondemand

09/25/2025

You Can Be an Award-Winning Company!
https://indoor.ag/ceas-2026/

Make sure your commercial growing operation or ag tech company is recognized in front of the whole industry at the 2nd annual Cultivating Excellence Awards (CEAs) from Inside Grower and Indoor Ag-Con at this year’s event in Las Vegas February 10-11.

Fill out the nomination form today for one of three categories:

Operational Excellence Award—for commercial produce growers who excel in their field
Good Stewardship Award—for commercial produce growers who can show a dedicated commitment to environmental and community stewardship
Product Innovation Award—for agtech products that solve critical industry challenges and drive customer value

Don’t delay, the nomination window closes October 1! Here’s the link: https://indoor.ag/ceas-2026/

09/25/2025

Photo drop from Logan's Garden Shop and DeWayne's Home & Garden Store on The Garden Center Group Event tour!

09/24/2025

Green Profit Editor Jen Polanz is currently on the Garden Center Group Fall Event tour in North Carolina - first stop Homewood Nursery & Garden Center!