National Garden Bureau announces 'Year of the' Crops for 2014

The National Garden Bureau, the non-profit organization promoting gardening on behalf of the horticulture industry, announced its the three crops that will be featured in the 2014 “Year of the” program.

For annual flowers, 2014 will be the Year of the Petunia.
For vegetables/edibles, it will be the Year of the Cucumber.
For perennials, it will be the Year of the Echinacea.

As always, the NGB selects crops that are easy to grow, 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 2014 season as the publicity generated from this program is substantial. To view the publicity generated from the 2013 and 2012 programs, visit the National Garden Bureau website and click on “Press Room”. http://www.ngb.org/press_room/index.cfm

By November of this year, National Garden Bureau will have photos of numerous varieties of all three crops (provided by members) posted on the website. NGB also provides PDF’s of fact sheets, flyers, handouts, signage etc. After Nov. 1, all of the above can be downloaded at no charge from the NGB website. These tools will help the home garden industry promote the crops to consumers and encourage gardening with these specific crop classes. 

Garden writer publicity will begin in September 2013, and consumer publicity will begin in January 2013.

For more information about this program and/or membership in National Garden Bureau, please contact Diane Blazek at dblazek@aas-ngb.org or stop by booth #1935 at the OFA Short Course.