MAX FACTS
growing tips, news and trivia
Enticing Garden Shoppers
Those tiny plastic inserts that served for years
as the sole means of identifying plants at
garden centers and educating consumers
about the plant’s needs have been
revamped over the last decade. New trends in
plant marketing have replaced the tiny tag with
a tidal wave of colorful, informative packaging
that has changed the appearance of garden
centers everywhere. The new tags are vivid,
with beautiful photographs and artwork
that provides a sophisticated look for an
increasingly demanding consumer. They
are larger, more informative and far more
attractive. Creating the right packaging
requires teams of graphic designers,
horticulturists, photographers, researchers,
engineers and machinists. The newer
tags aim to motivate consumers to use plants more
creatively. Ideas for companion planting, butterfly gardening and
deer-proof landscaping are some of the suggestions offered.
For a new generation of tech-savvy gardeners, a smartphone
barcode scanner will come in handy on some plant tags.
(Source: usatoday.com)
28
Maximum Yield USA | June 2014
Plants Evolve Ways to Control
Embryo Growth
A new generation of high yield plants could be created following a
fundamental change in our understanding of how plants develop.
New research provides the first evidence that plants have evolved
ways to control embryo growth and development by emitting
information from surrounding cells. The international study, headed
by Dr. Jose Gutierrez-Marcos from the University of Warwick’s
School of Life Sciences, revealed that female sex cells and the
placenta-like endosperm contained within plant seeds send out
specific signals to developing embryos to help direct
their growth. “This new information opens up
exciting avenues of research, which could
allow for the breeding and propagation of
plants that incorporate the most successful
characteristics of existing