Five Questions with Kristen Pullen

How long have you been breeding Hydrangea paniculata?

Star® Roses and Plants has been breeding in this class of plants since 2011. Sweet Starlight™ is our first introduction from this program, which we launched to the industry in 2023. It’s very important to us that any new product we introduce goes through extensive national trialing at growers and in the landscape to ensure it will be a success for our customer base.

What makes Sweet Starlight™ stand out from other Hydrangea varieties?

There are multiple breeding companies working on this class of plants, but what we wanted to focus on at Star® was solving problems for the grower and the homeowner. One of the most desired features of Hydrangea paniculata is their beautiful, large cone-shaped flowers. Unfortunately, many varieties have stems that are too weak to support the flowers, especially through any sort of wind or rain.

Sweet Starlight™ was selected for its sturdy stems that do not flop in the container or in the garden, so customers will continue to enjoy their flowers longer. In addition, this plant is an early bloomer, making it fast for growers to finish and ship into retail. It has done exceptionally well in national trials from 100 °F in Texas to zone 4 winters in Minnesota. Sweet Starlight™ also tends to start the pink coloration on its flowers earlier than other varieties.

What trends have you seen in the Hydrangea market?

We’re seeing a shift toward using Hydrangea less and less as landscape plants and more as gifting plants or throw-away decoration. Many of the hydrangea varieties that consumers buy at retail will look pretty for a time, but when planted in the landscape, they don’t flower strongly or struggle to survive over winter. We see this performance trend more in Hydrangea macrophylla at the moment but are starting to see it creep toward Hydrangea paniculata as well. With this in mind, our goal is to continue to bring truly reliable landscape hydrangea shrubs to our customers.

How do you help independent garden centers build custom shrub programs?

All of our shrubs at Star® are what we call “flexible plants,” which means we allow garden centers the freedom to use the pots and POP they feel will resonate best with their customer base. If a garden center is looking for a pre-built program, our Bloomables® brand is a perfect choice. Bloomables® offers a full branded package at retail with high quality pots and tags, as well as plant recommendations by region for stocking. This brand is backed by robust digital and print marketing campaigns, as well as a consumer-facing website.

If the garden center prefers to offer a deco-style pot, their own house brand pot or black pots, we allow our shrub genetics to be used for these in-store as well. It’s our goal to service our grower and retail customers with the fit that works best for them and provide the tools and support they need to succeed.

What resources does Star® Roses and Plants offer independent garden centers in terms of marketing and/or education?

Star® has a number of great tools to support our garden center customers and their programs. We offer free POP for all of our brands, including Bloomables®, to support the retail performance of plants like Sweet Starlight™. Our video resources are another place we’re investing, and we regularly release videos showcasing our newest introductions as well as how-to videos for both growers and consumers. In addition, we offer a full line of E-Retailer assets for our products, including high-resolution images, product descriptions, social media graphics and more to help any business pursuing online sales. Finally, we encourage garden centers to submit their retail location to our “Where To Buy” map found on our website. Simply submit a short form, and your store will be included when consumers search for retailers near them.

For more information: starrosesandplants.com/industry-professionals