18 Holiday-Themed Plants to Boost Sales
With Christmas over, the New Year offers terrific opportunities to create fresh, holiday-driven consumer marketing campaigns tied to unique, interesting plants. While poinsettias and paperwhites will always grace December displays, what if you could generate sales tied to holidays throughout the year, featuring plants that serve multiple purposes — ones that work beautifully as indoor décor, dressed prettily on porches, or designed in holiday-themed beds?
Get out your calendar and circle the following dates, because Concept Plants created holiday-themed plant pairings for you!
Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14
There are many tried-and-true standbys when it comes to Valentine’s Day. But why not try something new? Instead, promote beautifully blooming plants that last for years as the perfect way to show your Valentine some extra love.
With beautiful blue-purple flowers appearing in summer and autumn, clematis ‘New Love’ is certain to win hearts. The elegant, compact, softly scented perennial sports strong, upright growth with no need for trellising. Perfect for containers, perennial borders, or mass plantings, ‘New Love’ returns each year to remind gardeners of their favorite Valentines.
Earth Day, April 22
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in 2020 and encourage your customers to join in the movement! Showcase your pollinator-friendly plants, adding informational signage about the importance of a well-balanced ecosystem, and highlight plants that clean the air, prevent erosion, and feed wildlife.
Diervilla rivularis Honeybee provides a striking display to attract your customers’ attention. With gorgeous bright yellow foliage and abundant flowers, Honeybee is a magnet for bees and butterflies. Plus, this low-maintenance shrub offers great disease tolerance — meaning less use of chemicals in the garden. Good for the Earth, good for the gardener!
Mother’s Day, May 10
Moms never want their kids to waste money — which is why a gorgeous, blooming, long-lasting plant is the perfect gift! Cut flowers fade, but a beautiful perennial shows Mom how much she’s loved year after year. With double, rosette-shaped, light pink flowers, hydrangea macrophylla Love is the perfect plant to promote for Mother’s Day. A Gold Medal winner at the National Plant Show, this stunning hydrangea blooms on new and old wood, making sure that Mom’s gift always blooms beautifully.
National Pollinator Month, June
Creating displays that promote your bee-friendly blooms helps educate consumers about the need for pollinator-friendly gardens. With abundant large, purple flowers, Agastache Beelicious Purple provides the perfect addition to your display to promote National Pollinator Month — bees and butterflies will flock to it on your shelves and in customers’ gardens! The compact, bushy plant works beautifully in containers and looks great in garden beds. Flowering in summer and autumn, Beelicious Purple buzzes with action for months.
Independence Day, July 4
Red, white and blue petunias in a hanging basket may be a best-selling tradition, but think outside the basket for additional sales opportunities. Create a display of perennials that work well together in containers and beds, like Festuca ‘Beyond Blue’ — a stunning blue grass that maintains its color all season — with Agapanthus ‘Ever White’ and Dahlia ‘Dreamy Flame’. Mixing red, white and blue perennials provides outstanding options for displays and encourages consumers’ creativity.
Halloween, Oct. 31
Hay bales and pumpkins will always add a festive feel to fall displays, but with Halloween second only to Christmas in dollars spent on seasonal holiday decorating, it’s time to branch out and promote additional fall planting options.
For instance, Leucothoe keiskei Leafscape Halloween offers gorgeous orange-red foliage in a compact habit that’s perfect for adding a fall feel to mums and pumpkins. Great in a container or in beds, Halloween prefers sun or part-shade for best performance.
Likewise, Leucothoe fontanesiana Leafscape Little Flames turns up the heat in autumn gardens, with its fine, red foliage, bushy habit, and low maintenance. Winner of the Bronze Medal at Plantarium 2012, consumers will appreciate its gorgeous color and disease resistance.
For a haunting Halloween combination, pair heuchera ‘Dark Secret’ and heuchera villosa ‘Kassandra’ for a spooktacular display. The strong, heavily ruffled, dark purple-bronze foliage of ‘Dark Secret’ contrasts gorgeously with the bright orange leaves of ‘Kassandra’ — showing off the fabulous foliage of two perfect perennials meant to partner for Halloween!
Topping off the fall foliage display, add Carex morrowii EverColor ‘Everglow’. A Gold Medal winner at Plantarium 2018, this gorgeous evergreen provides interest all year long. Summer’s foliage begins green with a hint or orange, but as the seasons change, the foliage morphs into a stunning sunset orange hue. A great addition to living walls, mixed containers, roof gardens, and borders, ‘Everglow’ is easy to grow and low maintenance. Your customers will love the spectacular color.
Christmas, Dec. 25
Sure, poinsettias steal the show during December, but try adding these long-lasting beauties to promote interesting holiday décor:
Senecio ‘Angel Wings’
Like a beautiful angel Christmas tree topper, Senecio ‘Angel Wings’ adds bright, cool light to holiday displays. The silky, silvery white foliage contrasts beautifully with red poinsettias, creating a pretty arrangement of traditional Christmas colors. Or surround blooming paperwhites with ‘Angel Wings’ for an elegant, monochromatic display.
Gaultheria procumbens Peppermint Pearls
For indoor décor that looks good enough to eat, introduce your customers to Peppermint Pearls. The plant’s glossy, deep green foliage accessorized with pure white berries makes a gorgeous holiday display — but not only is it beautiful, the berries are edible, too! They can be used in ice cream, candy, tea, jam, and even aromatic oils.
Vaccinum vitis Red Candy
The epitome of holiday décor — rich evergreen leaves sporting bright red berries — Red Candy makes a beautiful display. Also known as lingonberry or cowberry bush, the berries taste tart eaten straight from the shrub. Combine with sugar, however, and Red Candy berries become sweet treats. Lingonberry jam is quite famous in Sweden.
Ilex aquifolium Golden DJ
Why use craft store holly leaves when the real thing is so much prettier? Ilex Golden DJ offers beautiful foliage for holiday decorating. With refined, dark green foliage brightened by yellow, serrated edges, this beauty adds a bright bit of holiday cheer inside or out!
Hydrangea macrophylla Peppermint
Who doesn’t love the cheerful, bright stripes of candy canes during the holidays Your customers can enjoy the same pretty striped pattern in a sugar-free display with hydrangea macrophylla Peppermint! A perfectly sweet addition to indoor décor or a gorgeous hostess gift — or holiday “thank you” for a favorite teacher — Peppermint provides a beautiful burst of color. Bicolored blooms flower on both new and old wood.
Hydrangea macrophylla Peace
What better name for a fabulous flowering holiday display than Peace? Celebrate the season by adding this stunning white hydrangea to your displays. With delicate double flowers that start out pale green and mature to white, Peace creates a gorgeous, lush living decoration. Strong flower heads appear on both new and old wood and make beautiful additions to bouquets.
Celebrate the New Year and resolve to promote perfect plants for increased holiday sales with these festive offerings!
For more information about Concept Plants or to view all of our varieties, visit conceptplants.com.
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