Simply Beautiful partners with Calloway’s Nursery to benefit charity

Ball Horticultural Company recently partnered with Calloway’s Nursery to host a Simply Beautiful Container Contest to benefit the Lena Pope Home, a local Fort Worth, Texas, charity. This is the third Simply Beautiful contest that’s benefited local charities in 2009. The contest not only provided a significant donation to the Lena Pope Home, but also helped build momentum and demand from gardeners.

"Calloway's strives to engage with Texas gardeners to make gardening fun and easy," said Kimberly Bird, vice president of retail marketing. "The Simply Beautiful Container Garden contest that we hosted was well received by customers and helped raise funds for a very worthy cause."

The event attracted gardeners of all skill levels who had fun creating mixed containers for the charity. Each contestant was given 45 minutes to plant a 14-inch container, which was then judged on style, color and creativity. With more than 15 different Simply Beautiful varieties to choose from, the contestants really turned up the creativity, combining colors and textures, as well as some decorative elements like gourds and mini pumpkins.

“This contest certainly demonstrated that there’s plenty of exciting plants available in early Fall to refresh and replant containers that have fizzled out over the summer,” said Bill Calkins, Simply Beautiful brand manager.