National Garden Bureau announces 'Year of the' crops for 2012

National Garden Bureau, the non-profit organization promoting gardening on behalf of the horticulture industry, has announced the three crops that will be featured in its 2012 Year of the program.

For annual flowers, it will be the Year of the Geranium.

For vegetables/edibles, it will be the Year of the Herb, which will be promoted in partnership with the Herb Society of America.

Also, for the first time, there will be a perennial in the program. For perennials, it will be the Year of the Heuchera.

NGB selects crops that are easy to grow and genetically diverse with a lot of new varieties to choose from. Breeders, growers, brokers and garden centers are urged to consider these flowers and plants when planning for the 2012 season as the publicity generated from this program is substantial, according to the NGB. To view the publicity generated from the 2011 program, visit here.

Later this summer, the National Garden Bureau website will host photos of numerous varieties of all three crops, provided by our members. This fall, NGB will also post PDF’s of fact sheets, flyers, handouts, signage etc. Both the photos and POP materials can be downloaded at no charge from the NGB website. These tools will help promote the crops to consumers and encourage gardening with these specific crop classes. 

Announcements to garden writers about the 2012 program will begin at the Garden Writers Association Symposium in late August.  Consumer publicity will begin in January 2012.