Western Pulp is introducing a revolutionary product to the nursery industry: our new clip-on nylon hanger. Until now, hanger installation was often a bottle-neck in the process of planting molded fiber hanging baskets. Our new hanger removes that bottle-neck, increasing installation speed by as much as 50 percent.

Chris Beytes profiles a unique program at Pahl’s Market in Minnesota for GrowerTalks.

“Amy is one of more than 1,000 customers who planted 1,250 hanging baskets during Pahl’s 15th annual Moss Basket Day, an event that lets consumers design and plant their own large hanging basket (a moss basket in the beginning, but today they use Western Pulp fiber baskets). Amy, her daughter, two sisters and a niece have made this a 10-year family tradition.”

Save on Western’s superior quality molded fiber by ordering June 1 through July 31, 2012. We ship June 1st to October 31st, 2012. Note: You must take delivery when your order is ready. No Payments until November 2012. Ask your distributor about extended payment terms for established accounts.

MINIMUM ORDER REQUIRED TO QUALIFY FOR PROGRAM. Contact your distributor for details.

Ask your Distributor for program details, or call Western for a Distributor near you!

If your business hand-packs cases of wine and ships them by the pallet load, the Vintner’s Choice case pack divider can save you a significant amount of time, money, and space while reducing your impact on the environment. Projected availability in June 2012. Contact us for samples.

We have updated our line of premium hanging baskets and extra strong nylon hangers. Our molded-fiber baskets now have a rounded or “rolled” rim, de-nesting lugs, and an optional reservoir bottom. To further increase speed and ease of hanger installation, we made 3 improvements to our hanger. An infographic and video clearly explain these improvements.

Traditional sympathy tributes have long been a staple in the local flower shop. Our customers continue to order them, our
sales staff continues to sell them and so our designers continue to create them. What exactly does the term traditional sympathy tribute mean?

From Wine Business Monthly:

“When it comes to image and consumer perception of a shipper, molded pulp earned the highest rating, closely followed by corrugated cardboard (chart 8). While all four shipper types earned similar ratings for bottle/label protection, foam/EPS led the group by a small margin.” … “In terms of environmental friendliness, wineries of all sizes rated molded pulp the highest (4.1 percent), closely followed by corrugated cardboard (3.9 percent). Plastic inserts and foam/EPS rated much lower at 1.9 and 1.6 percent, respectively.”

Floral designs continue to be an important element in the grieving process so it is only natural that florists are keeping pace and promoting their sustainable, eco-friendly design elements…

Effect of biocontainer type on shoot and root growth of tomatoes and coir pot effect on field establishment of tomato plants.

From the Abstract: “We designed a trial to test the effect of biocontainers on shoot and root growth, and for the degradability of the pot in the soil. We tested four types of biocontainers, DOT pot, CowPots, paper pulp pots and coconut coir pots and compared them to black plastic pots.

From Wines and Vines:

“Pack n’ Ship will use whatever materials the client requests, but a conversation with Jeff Weiss, operations manager, and Rick Gant, from the company’s supplier Landsburg Packaging Plus, revealed a strong bias for old-fashioned, biodegradable molded fiber “laydown” inserts. Pack n’ Ship sources the familiar “egg carton” trays from Western Pulp Products Co., which uses a minimum of 99% post-consumer recycled paper, verified by Scientific Certification Systems, for its patented Vintner’s Choice wine shippers.

Gant, introduced as “more partner than supplier,” said bluntly that while his company can provide wineries with any current shipping option, “I would recommend pulp.” Though bulkier than corrugated inserts (a serious consideration for the smallest wineries), Weiss said that all-corrugated shippers are heavier, weighing down the bottom line and the carbon footprint by as much as two pounds per shipment. Corrugated manufact urers also have imposed “three major price increases this year,” Weiss said.”

The new 3-6-12 XL was designed to be a single tray solution to the problem of fitting unusual and extreme bottle profiles, including those with large diameters, high shoulders, tall, slender lengths.

Although innovations like recycling are still taking place in the firmly planted roots of plastic containers, there are a number of alternative choices, collectively termed “biocontainers” or “biopots.” It is not uncommon to produce or market herbs and vegetables in these containers. Recent studies have focused on trialing biocontainers for use in bedding plant production, typically with a four- to six-week turnover. But growing and selling a long-term crop such as poinsettia or cyclamen in a container that has the tendency to “return to nature” is potentially more challenging.

Biodegradable horticultural containers predate plastic but are capturing fresh interest from growers, retailers and consumers. One company that has seen sustainability come full circle is Western Pulp in Covallis, Ore.

Starting with a bushel of old magazines and $250 for homemade experimental equipment, in 1954 Ralph Chapman was the first to bring fiber molded floral containers out West. Western Pulp’s current owners purchased the business in 1958 and now have operations in six states. Even back then, before the environment was a societal concern, Western Pulp was diverting tons of paper from landfills.

Insights from The Hartman Group:

“While it’s the intrinsic contents or use of a product that determines a purchase, consumers within the World of Sustainability (who make up 88% of our population) view sustainable packaging options as “simple” measures that all manufacturers can take; therefore, it is a minimum requirement for all products, even if the products themselves don’t resonate as sustainable.”

Consumer Attitudes on Packaging & Sustainability, a new report commissioned from GfK by Pro Carton, shows unequivocally that sustainability in packaging is important and consumers are interested in, and concerned about, this issue. More than 64 percent of respondents said that packaging should consist of environmentally friendly materials and more than 55 percent felt that packaging should contain as little plastic as possible. People are aware that cartons are made from a renewable resource and that they can be recovered and recycled more effectively than other materials. As one respondent says, “Cartons or paper can be reused in various ways. Furthermore, they are produced from renewable resources.” Consumers also felt that cartons made of cartonboard were easier to recognize on the shelf and one said “plastic harms the environment and the look of a product.”

“Most people expect EPS to be a far better thermal insulator than paper molded pulp trays. A February 2009 Wine Business Monthly article suggests that the belief that EPS is a superior insulator for wine shipments is widely held by people in the wine industry. I decided to conduct some tests to determine which packaging material is best at protecting wine from heat.”

Without a doubt, a holiday means celebration. Yet in this day and age, everyone has different ideas about just what “celebrate” means! As designers, we need to be able to create at all levels—whether that means designing an arrangement that’s more casual, more elaborate—or something entirely fresh and different.

Our new Celebrations 300 Vase, not only replaces our weighted vases in form and function, but offers a clean modern contemporary design and much more.

We recently released our Vintner’s Choice 1.5 liter Magnum Wine Shipper. Like our other Vintner’s Choice wine shippers, the Magnum was developed with input from leading consumer-direct fulfillment and supply chain services for the wine industry. The new 1.5 liter biodegradable molded fiber shipper is the latest response to feedback from such leaders.

In takes a lot to pull off a Grand Event: those mark-your-calendar parties, receptions, corporate events and weddings where the flowers, theme and décor must all work together seamlessly.

What makes a wedding wonderful? The setting, the music, the guests… and of course, the flowers. As an AIFD designer and presenter, I’ve had the opportunity to create floral designs for weddings and events all over the world.

Ready to use, economical, and easy to install, their use protects against prying by hand trucks and reduces hinge damage.

As an industry, we are struggling to grow our consumer sales, some of our largest customers have declining same-store sales, and the consumer is under more economic pressure than at anytime in recent history. Now is the time to do everything we can to provide products that ensure consumer success. Provide retailers with products that say “wow,” making it hard for the consumer to pass up.

You’ve spent the last three months planning a large corporate event. Everything has gone relatively smooth during the planning stages. A few changes along the way, but no big deal. You are quite pleased with the floral product that arrived. All of the centerpieces have been completed, the delivery van is loaded and on the way to the even for set-up. So far, so good.

Here's to inventions and reinventions. That's what many people and companies are in the process of doing today - reinventing themselves, their products and the way they do business. This is not to say that florists have not been reinventing themselves throughout history, but more likely were experiencing an evolution of the industry.