More to Muse on: Part 2 of CAST Coverage
After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the team at Lawn & Garden Retailer hit the road in late March to attend California Spring Trials (CAST).
Not only did we witness some breathtaking plants in the pipeline for 2023, we also were inspired by the displays put together by the plant-breeding companies. Here are photos of some of those displays and marketing concepts — we hope they serve as a muse for your own retail displays. This is the second in a series of ideas gathered from that trip.
The Shop within a Shop
At Syngenta Flowers, the team set up a false storefront inside its greenhouse to showcase its cut flower offerings. It created a sense of space on the greenhouse floor and signaled that something different was going on behind the facade. On the other side was a counter with the cut flowers on display and a staff member ready to wrap up fresh stems.
Synergy in Cross-Promotional Opportunities
You can’t drink the flowers, but Suntory Flowers tapped a beverage brand its parent company has part ownership of, Orangina, for a cross-promotional opportunity with its sunset-colored flowers, ‘Million Bells Orangina’. The drinks handed out by Suntory made the flowers hard to forget. You could say it left a good taste in our mouths.
Get Comfortable
Could you see yourself lounging on this patio setup? The garden scene at the Ball Horticultural Co. showcased varieties from several of their companies including Darwin Perennials and Pan-American Seed. We kept looking around for a grill, but it turned out the food was elsewhere.
A Home Away From Home
Dümmen Orange also used a homey setting to present its plants. While it was actually outdoors, Dümmen’s display used a faux window and sofa to create an indoor display for its line of succulent plants, called Welcome to the Jungle. It got us thinking about our own window sills and coffee tables back home.
The Red Carpet Treatment
Another group of exhibitors grabbed a great venue — nothing less than the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club — and then created a planted stage and backdrop for the visitors. We felt like winners standing up on that stage. And just like that, all these companies’ logos and their flowers had worked their way into our personal photo albums. Congrats to Suntory Flowers, PlantHaven International Inc., PP&L, Vivero International, the Sunset Plant Collection and the Southern Living Plant Collection.
Setting the Scenes
Syngenta Flowers set up several displays setting the scene for its many horticultural offerings.
Syngenta Flowers’ pastel-colored HI Hydrangeas took to the clouds with inflatable jetliners and a cloth-lined sky.
Lantana Bandolista flowers — they come in Coconut, Mango, Pineapple and Red Chili colors — were set in a scene stylized to the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday, where skeleton couples swooned to music played by skeleton mariachis. T-shirts with the same design theme and plant name were handed out to visitors.
Syngenta Fun House Papaya and Fun House Potpourri flowers were set off by plantings in stylized planters (Were they hot air balloons, or gondolas on a Ferris wheel?) and a funhouse mirror.
Zinnia Zydeco’s desirable traits include its tolerance of heat and drought, which make it a good offering for the South. Syngenta presented the plants with a backdrop of a plant-laden ironwork balcony typical of historic buildings in the South. Added to this was a piano painted a shade of blue that complemented the plants
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