DAYTON, Ohio -- Bailey Nurseries unveiled its latest blockbuster hydrangea during this week’s ANLA Retail Roadshow. This one’s a lacecap that will debut next spring.
Hydrangea macrophylla Twist-n-Shout produces lush flowers on both old and new growth all summer long. It was developed by Michael Dirr and owes its combination of features to its parents, Penny Mac and Lady in Red.
You can bet this introduction will pack the same marketing punch as its predecessors. “I’m still refining my media buy, but I think it will include HGTV and DIY networks, and maybe some chick stations like Lifetime and a couple of others,” said Bailey marketing manager Jonathan Pedersen.
Pedersen envisions spending $1.5 million next year on print media for Twist-n-Shout, plus $800,000 for television.
It will be sold only to independent garden centers during its first year, and all 20 Endless Summer growers are providing plants to the independent channel. Still, Pedersen encouraged retailers to pre-book orders early. “At Bailey, our pre-numbers are going fast, and I expect it to be another sellout during the pre-book stage,” he said.
The advent of another must-have hydrangea begs the question: do retailers, and the public, really need another hydrangea?
“We do have to be careful as retailers,” Dan Mulhall of Mullhall’s Nursery in Omaha, Neb., said. “Even though we can say that these new varieties that come with such sophisticated marketing actually pull their own weight, they obviously do take up space on the shelf. All of us have to be careful about the number of SKUs we have, and every time there’s something new, it does need to take the place of something else so we don’t get out of control with our inventory.”
-- Kevin
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