Sleigh the holiday season

Poinsettias are synonymous with the holiday season all over North America, offering bright, cheery pops of color, often in the traditional Christmas red. But there are new developments in colors, breeding and combinations that add a little flair to the holiday staples.

Mike Gooder, president of Plantpeddler, has been heading up the company’s poinsettia trials for years, and he’s excited about some new plants on the market — plus some coming to market soon. The new ‘Kayla Red’ from Beekenkamp was No. 1 in the Plantpeddler poinsettia trials last year and its dark, almost black, foliage was a standout.

“It’s a very impressive plant,” Gooder says, noting that while Beekenkamp has been a primarily red poinsettia company, it’s branching out into other colors with the Robyn series.

There have been significant improvements in true whites as well. Lazzeri has some groundbreaking white varieties like Alaska and Alpina, Gooder notes.

And breeder Steve Rinehart has some special white options coming to market as well. Pure White, which came out a couple of years ago, is a tall, thick-stemmed white option, and Jack Frost is a stark white option that stands out.

“What’s important in some of the new whites is that they have thicker bracts,” he says. “A lot of the whites need that thicker bract. Thinner bracts are much for fragile and susceptible to bract necrosis and diseased tissue.” Plus, thicker bracts increase transport success and better harvest life.

“The important thing from a production standpoint and modern genetics is taking inputs out, taking cost of production out, taking applications out,” he says. So options that are naturally well-branched are attractive to growers so that they can grow efficiently and sustainably.

Two of the most basic improvements Gooder has seen in poinsettias over the past few years are ease of production and decreased cost of growing.

“That’s especially true of the reds,” he says. “There are some just unbelievably great reds right now and they continue to improve on reds. They’re much easier to produce and they’re much more consistent, less applications of PGRs, which is important because they’re expensive.”

Opportunities in colors

Suntory also has some exciting colors coming to market in the next few years, Gooder says. “The interspecifics are becoming more novel with what they’re able to do. Their Pure White is a very, very white set of white and now they’re looking at steering the color palette to place we haven’t been before.”

Plantpeddler has some new developments from Lazzeri in trials that have been released in Europe but aren’t available in North America just yet. The Superba Poker series consists of four unique varieties — Dark Glitter, Pink & Marble, Red & Pink and Red & Marble — that should be hitting the U.S. market in 2023. “So it’s like a crap shoot (going back to gambling) of what comes out. So these are really unique and very beautiful,” Gooder says.

When it comes to those glitter and marble patterns, and unique colors, Gooder sees opportunities for smaller growers and grower-retailers to stand out.

“In general, what we’ve seen is the big-box stores are really being driven by a dominantly red market with only white and maybe some pink in programs,” he says. “So I think this is a great opportunity for those mid-size grower and grower-retailers to have a diverse mix because it’s not as much price point driven when you get into some of the unique and novelty. You don’t see the unique glitters or the new marble types in the volume programs. It’s really an opportunity for people in the middle.”

But it’s important to stay true to your brand. Glitter, marble and colored poinsettias don’t fit the brand at Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar, California, so the garden center doesn’t carry those options. Staff also remove any pot covers and stick or hang tags that are off-target for their customers. “We have very focused and well-defined guest personas and a corresponding brand harmony,” says Ron Vanderhoff, general manager and vice president. “If a product falls outside of this, it isn’t a part of our offerings.”

Bigger might be better

Both Plantpeddler in Iowa and Roger’s Gardens across the country in California, are seeing a trend toward bigger poinsettias (8 inches or larger) instead of 6-inch.

“Historically for us, the slightly larger sizes are a sweet spot,” Vanderhoff says. “The slightly larger size is also less price-sensitive than the 4-inch and the 6-inch plants that flood the market. “

Roger’s Gardens has shifted toward larger poinsettias as well due to continual price cutting that has devalued poinsettias to the point that they’re only marginally profitable. “With the flood of super low-priced plants streaming through the market, the perceived value of a poinsettia is now quite low,” Vanderhoff says. “Rather than chase this spiral down a rabbit hole, we made a decision a few years ago to go in the opposite direction, with a completely different poinsettia.”

Roger’s now promotes “straight-ups” — unpinched plants with three, five or seven plants per pot with enormous heads. “They are two or three times the price of pinched plants, but quite unique and more on-brand for us,” Vanderhoff says.

However, the state of the economy may have an impact on what customers are shopping for this year as inflation affects wallets.

Mix it up

The Illinois Extension reported last year that mixing poinsettias with other potted flowers like orchids, amaryllis, cyclamen, tropicals or pine was a big trend for the holidays. Roger’s Gardens has seen this trend on the West Coast for a while, building their own combos specifically for their customer base.

“Most of those in the wholesale market do not match the taste, styling and price points of our shoppers, so we build our own, have been doing it for decades and have been quite successful,” Vanderhoff says.

And they’re selling well. Vanderhoff says sales of the IGC’s planted and arranged poinsettias, along with other holiday gift plants, rival the number of individual plants.

Plantpeddler is providing combinations as well, typically with 4-inch poinsettias, mixing them tropicals, hiemalis begonias, cyclamen, frosty ferns and cypress. “Those types give it very much a holiday look and definitely have added value,” Gooder says.

Besides poinsettias, Roger’s Gardens is seeing good sales of amaryllis, florist-quality blooming hydrangeas (especially white), small potted cypress, paperwhite narcissus, cyclamen and a few others. Orchids, which are sold year-round, are the IGC’s second best-selling holiday plant.