National Garden Bureau announces four classes for 2018 'Year of the' program

July 5, 2017 – Downers Grove, Ill.
National Garden Bureau, the non-profit organization promoting gardening in North America on behalf of the horticulture industry and its members, is pleased to announce the four plant classes that will be featured in the 2018 “Year of the” program.

For the bulb crop, 2018 will be the Year of the Tulip. 
For annuals, 2018 will be the Year of the Calibrachoa. 
For vegetables/edibles, 2018 will be the Year of the Beet. 
For perennials, 2018 will be the Year of the Coreopsis. 

Both members and non-members are encouraged to take advantage of the publicity this program generates by using the logos in their 2018 catalogs, websites, advertisements and other marketing materials.

National Garden Bureau is making the announcement now, in advance of Cultivate’17, the largest all-industry trade show in North America. Stop by booth #1313 to learn more about this comprehensive program.

As always, the National Garden Bureau Board of Directors selects crops specifically for the North American market that are easy to grow and genetically diverse with a lot of new varieties to choose from. Breeders, brokers, seed companies, growers and garden centers throughout the U.S. and Canada are urged to highlight these flowers and plants when planning their marketing for the 2018 season as the publicity generated from this program is substantial. 

By mid-November 2017, National Garden Bureau will have photos of numerous varieties of all four crops (provided by NGB members) posted on our website. NGB also provides PDF’s of fact sheets, flyers, handouts, signage etc. After Nov. 15, all of the above can be downloaded at no charge from the NGB website. These tools will help the North American home garden industry promote the crops to consumers and encourage gardening with these specific crop classes.  

Garden writer publicity will begin in September 2017.
Consumer publicity will begin in January 2018.

For more information about this program and/or membership in National Garden Bureau, please contact Diane Blazek.

Photos courtesy of the National Garden Bureau.