Several years back we had a friend who owned a small shop in a mall that sold decorator items and the newest, trendy, items for decorating the home. She would always attend her buying shows in Atlanta months before the items were needed and she was always on top of the latest trends and especially colors. When she returned from her buying trips we would always call her and ask what the hottest color would be for the year. Our hope was that the popular colors in home interior would also be popular colors for decorating our outdoor living areas. We would work hard to make sure these colors were available in our combos. Some years it worked, others not so much.
Pantone color of the year for 2015: Marsala
We'll have several clematis that fall into the Marsala color scheme such as Alannah and Rosemoor. We'll also have the new Easy Wave Burgundy Velour petunia. This one will be spectacular but only if you put it in a big, big, pot or better yet plant it in the ground to cover a 4 feet circle. An absolute explosion of marsala color. Another marsala petunia new for this year will be Proven Winners Supertunia Black Cherry. We have it in a combo that is spectacular.
We believe this year will also be like last year and the pastel colors will still be very popular. The trend last year was for a pot with some really bold colors that pop from a block away and other pots in coordinating colors of pastel. We'll have them all. Some combos we grow 200 pots, others we only grow 42 pots. The best color selection is always early in the season as the most popular color combos sell quickly. We believe we have good inventory of popular combos but coming early will assure that you get the pick of the litter.
The hottest trend in horticulture now is the vegetable garden. Across the industry, people are buying vegetables and planting gardens in a huge way. As always we will have a huge selection of tomatoes and peppers. Tomatoes of every style and peppers of every color. Colored peppers have been very popular and we do a market pack where you buy six sweet bell peppers, all a different color. I would highly recommend the white diamond pepper. It is delicious and they always come back and ask for "that delicious white pepper you sold me last year." We'll have heirloom tomatoes, grape, cherry, slicers and sauce tomatoes. My recommendation for a slicer is a Biltmore. Ten ounces, not a blemish on it, meaty with few seeds and a delicious taste. Visit our facebook page at Bump Up Pot NE to see more pics of this one. Another tomato that has delicious taste is an heirloom called Nebraska Wedding. It is longer season, 105 days, but the wait is worth it. I have heard from several that this tomato is the best tasting tomato of any.
Biltmore Tomato grown by Raymond R. of Shelton
