Last minute gift and marketing ideas for Mother’s Day!

By Gabrielle Stannus
 

The popularity of chrysanthemums for the Mother’s Day market is understandable as these hardy, flowering perennials are in season in Australia during autumn, making them an attractive offering both to the consumer’s eye and their hip pocket. However, our mothers come in all shapes and sizes, and their preferences for plants differ too, so it is great to see breeders and growers increasing the range of autumn flowering plants on the market.

LAVVINOVA® lavenders

Bred by Plant Growers Australia’s (PGA)’s InnovaBred program here in Australia, the LAVVINOVA® range means lavenders are not just a spring line anymore.

Plants Management Australia (PMA) has released four collections under the LAVVINOVA® brand in time for the Mother’s Day market: Ruffles, Fairy Wings, Lavender Lace and The Royals.

“Each of the varieties within these collections possess a compact, dense form, making them suitable for growing in containers,” says Bonnie-Marie Hibbs, PMA’s Communications & Marketing Manager.

The LAVVINOVA® lavenders include floriferous forms that bloom in the spring and flower throughout autumn, providing longer floral displays, with an extensive range of colours to choose from, both flower and foliage. Flowers range from creams, hot pinks, purples, blues and mauves.

The floriferous Fairy Wings collection is multi-hued and includes Radiance (lolly pink), Spellbound (deep mauve) and Whimsical (blushed pink). Each of these varieties possess smaller inflorescence bodies with long ribbon-like bracts held above the foliage. The Fairy Wings’ collection has demonstrated excellent cold tolerance in Australian trials and grows to a height of 70 cm with a spread of 70 cm.

The Royal collection includes The Princess (electric pink), The Queen (deep burgundy heads with lilac bracts), The Snow Princess (white) and The Silver Princess (candy pink). These varieties possess super-sized bracts (between 4-5cm) and grow 60cm tall and 90cm wide. The Silver Princess (Lavandula pedunculata hybrid) is a stunning silver leaf form. Growing to a height of 60cm with a spread of 90cm, this variety is suitable for use in containers and as low hedging.

LAVVINOVA® stock is available nationwide. “All our lavenders are bred in Australia for our climate conditions,” says Bonnie-Marie, “LAVVINOVA® can be grown all over the country, from Queensland to Tasmania.”

Pink poinsettias

Like many growers in New South Wales and across the border in Queensland, Jeremy Critchley has had a tough start to the year at The Green Gallery. Jeremy says the ‘wet season’ has devastated outdoor crops with losses including several thousand 140mm and 190mm pot Multiflora Chrysanthemums intended for the Mother’s Day market.

However, Jeremy has a range of pink poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) from Dümmen Orange whose size and flowering time make them ideal for Mother’s Day gifts. Jeremy claims that these poinsettias naturally flower in autumn/winter with minimal or little need for forcing as required for the Christmas market red poinsettias. This range includes the Amaris (Pink, Hot Pink and Lipstick), Premium (Picasso – Pink) and Luv U (Pink) poinsettia varieties, the latter which is being grown at The Green Gallery for the first time.

The Poinsettia Amaris (Pink) is the most floriferous of this crop, possessing many pink bracts and growing to approximately 30 cm. The Poinsettia Luv U (Pink) is the largest of this bunch, growing to an approximate size of 30 to 50cm, with the rest averaging between 20 to 30 cm.

Hanging baskets

Oasis Horticulture grow and design its Festival range of hanging baskets based on varieties that grow well together, with varieties assessed annually to create new and interesting arrangements. Whilst this range is normally promoted in the lead up to Christmas, Oasis Horticulture is marketing it this year for Mother’s Day.

“The Festival basket concept is a mixture of three different varieties married together to create a bouquet-like impression in a long-lasting hanging basket,” says Kathy Hill, Marketing Manager with Oasis Horticulture, “The beauty of this concept is it will last much longer than a bunch of flowers traditionally given on Mother’s Day.”

For Mother’s Day this year, Oasis Horticulture have released three hanging baskets under the Festival brand: Coaster, Blush and Butterfly Dream. Each basket contains a pansy (Viola x wittrockiana), Diascia ‘Piccadilly’ and Lotus ‘Red Flash’.

The pansy is the ‘thriller’ or hero plant of each basket, whilst a complementarily coloured Diascia ‘Piccadilly’ more than fulfils its role as each combination’s ‘filler’. The Coaster combination includes a Pansy Yellow, whilst the Blush includes a Pansy Spreading Rose Shades, and the Butterfly Dream has a Pansy Violet Wings.

Whilst not flowering at this time of year, the Lotus ‘Red Flash’ is the ‘spiller’ of these plant combinations, providing a beautiful trailing effect to round out the plant selection.

2021 Plant Trend Report

There are many other autumn flowering plants that could be marketed and sold to the Mother’s Day market. And indeed, a whole plethora of indoor foliage plants that are also proving popular for this occasion.

Before finalising your Mother’s Day retail campaign and associated visual merchandising, consider reviewing the 2021 Plant Trend Report to better understand why people are buying the plants they do.

Funded by Hort Innovation using nursery industry marketing levies, the report was developed through the ‘Industry extension and development of Plant Life Balance’ (NY18005) project, working to promote the value of greenlife in Australian homes, businesses and broader communities.

This report may provide you with useful information to better target your Mother’s Day campaign including:

• Where consumers are placing plants in their homes
• How consumers are utilising plants
• What consumers can learn from plants
• How consumers connect with plants

Many of the plants featured in this article are perfect for the entertainer audience described in the 2021 Plant Trend Report.

Alternatively, this report may provide you with some ideas on how you can market other plant varieties you already have in stock differently to give you the edge in sales this Mother’s Day.

Whatever greenlife you are selling this Mother’s Day, we hope it proves successful for your business!