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Spot trends at Expo 2010 |
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Written by Amanda Ryder
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Sept. 10, 2010 - The Window to the World opens on Oct. 19-20 to give thousands of buyers in Canada’s garden and floral industry one of the best opportunities to spot trends, source innovative, differentiating products, learn new business strategies and find vendor partners that will lead to growth and prosperity.
Expo, formerly Garden & Floral Expo, now in its 11th year at the Toronto Congress Centre, is a must-attend event for green retailers and mass merchants. Here they’ll discover the latest trends in product and plant introductions from over 275 suppliers, investigate and test hundreds of products, and learn from acclaimed retail experts from around the world.
Expo is produced by Landscape Ontario in partnership with Communities in Bloom – Ontario, Flowers Canada (Ontario) Inc., Master Gardeners of Ontario, Niagara Economic Development Corporation, The Canadian Academy of Floral Art (CAFA) and Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph.
Expo 2010 connects more than 3,000 industry professionals — retailers, growers, garden centre owners, florists, gift and mass merchant retailers plus landscape designers and interior plantscape professionals — in one of Canada’s largest horticultural events.
“If you are looking to get into the minds of your customers and understand them, then come to Expo,” invites Lorraine Ivanoff, show manager. “Here you’ll discover consumers’ new consumption habits and learn about how the consumer market is changing, and how to listen for insights that will lead to positive business actions and profits.”
Three Trends You’ll Spot at Expo 2010:
1. Seeds Your Customers Need
Every garden centre can create its own unique collection of heirloom or homegrown seeds from the options available from Expo 2010’s seed distributors.
Ontario Seed Company, Waterloo, Ont., Booth 116, for the past 100 years has provided the millions of packets of the best quality flower, vegetable and turf grass seeds to over 5,000 retail outlets for Canadians "coast to coast". www.oscseeds.com
Pickseed Canada Inc., Lindsay, Ont., Booth 136 is a leader in the development, production and distribution of turfgrass and forage crop seed. The company has a trusted and proven reputation for quality, agronomic advice and a commitment to research and technology. www.pickseed.com
Thompson & Morgan Seedsman Inc., Tipp City, Ohio, Booth 215, is one of the oldest seed firms in the business, started in the back of a baker's shop. The company has become one of the country's greatest seed firms with a reputation for introducing more than 8,000 species and varieties to the world through the T&M catalogs that are distributed in 163 countries.
www.thompsonmorgan.ca
McKenzie Seeds, Paris, Ont., Booth 619, helps Canadians go back to “Home Grown,” encouraging them to take pride in growing their own vegetables and flowers from seeds, to help them enjoy the little things in life and know they are getting the absolute most value for their dollar. The company offers a complete line-up of new items, including additional organic vegetable seed varieties and fun new flower seed varieties. www.mckenzieseeds.com
2. Shop Local Vendors
For independent garden centres or mass merchants, there are local Ontario growers eager to partner with you to grow your business profitably.
Valleybrook Gardens (Ontario) Ltd., Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., Booth 445, a leading North American horticulture enterprise, produces an abundant variety of native perennials and associated plants. The family-owned and -operated business, located near Niagara Falls, is best known for its Heritage Perennials, Jeepers Creepers and Rock Stars brands.
www.valleybrook.com
Lakeshore Inc., Jordan Station, Ont., Booth 315, is one of Ontario’s largest and most innovative plant growing companies and floral suppliers, dealing directly with supermarket and general chain retailers. It recently partnered with Seacliff Farms, an innovative Canadian company that employs a team of talented merchandisers who create dynamic displays of high visual impact, excitement and increase customer-merchandise contact. This partnership offers its retail customers quality plant products, innovatively merchandised to deliver higher garden centre sales. www.lakeshore-inc.com
Burns Water Gardens, Baltimore, Ont., Booth 726 operates an aquatic plant nursery offering a full range of pond supplies including liners, pumps, fountains, pond accessories, ceramic containers, tabletop fountains, gold fish and pond plants. The company focus is on growing hardy hybrid water lilies. In addition, they grow a variety of aquatic plants such as cattails, water iris, lotus, sweet flag, and bull rushes. www.burnswatergardens.ca
3. Fashionably Green Inside and Out
Fall is the perfect opportunity to investigate and purchase the products that will be ‘hot sellers’ in the 2011 spring season. What a great time to create festive holiday displays of greenery that will improve your customers' health and well being, beautify the home and satisfy growing consumers’ interest in sustainable products and practices for their homes — indoors and out.
The weather may turn and force your customers indoors, but you’ll keep them shopping year 'round with merchandise for home interiors. Exhibiting for the first time at Expo 2010 is Patty Rabin, vice president of Living Colors Nursery, Inc,, Homestead, Fla., Booth 271A, who has an ongoing commitment to a greener world. The company uses organic fertilizers on its ten-acre production nursery, primarily due to its passion for nature, the environment and positive responses from the plants — bromeliads and orchids. www.livingcolors.com
Introducing a newly invented green product, ideal for the environmentally conscious, is another new Expo 2010 exhibitor, Leaf-Pactor, Mississauga, Ont., Booth 165. The company offers a simple innovative hand-held compacting tool that compresses the volume of dry leaves in standard paper yard waste bags. When consumers use this tool, they’ll reduce the number of bags needed, save time and help the environment. www.leafpactor.com
Mel Bartholomew, innovator, businessman, and author of one of America’s best-selling gardening books, Square Foot Gardening, will make a guest appearance in Booth 150. SFG Manufacturing, Waterloo, Ont., holds the Canadian rights to manufacture and sell Bartholomew’s raised garden bed kits, known as the Square Foot Gardening System. The kit maximizes space creating a better way to garden, one that's more efficient, manageable and requires less work. www.squarefootgardening.com
Landscape Ontario gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our sponsors - Global Arch Inc., Greenstar Plant Products, Inc, and Turf Revolution.
Mark your calendar for the 11th edition of Expo:
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Admission to Expo 2010 is free until October 1, 2010. After October 1st on-site prices will increase to $15 for Landscape Ontario members or $20 for non-members. The three education programs being offered are ticketed events that are individually priced. Visit www.loexpo.ca to register online and for information on the symposiums and pricing.
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