News

Emerald Coast Growers debuts mobile website
Florida-based Emerald Coast Growers has enhanced its website with a mobile version designed to better serve its tech-savvy customer base.

"Nearly 90 percent of smart phone users access the Internet on their handheld, and a quarter of them say they most often use their phone, not the computer, for the Internet," said Cheri Markowitz, sales manager. "With our new mobile site, we're making it easier for customers to do business with us — a hallmark of Emerald Coast Growers."

As part of the new development, the company has also created a QR code that gives smart phone users immediate access from their mobile device.

Emerald Coast Growers' new mobile site gives smart phone customers a full range of functionality including checking availability. Customers also have the options of searching plant descriptions, ordering plants or tags, learning what's new and much more.

For more: www.ecgrowers.com

Proven Winners offering free branded containers and trays
According to Proven Winners, 364 growers participated in its branded containers sampling program last year. Now the company is looking to expand that number by offering growers this opportunity for the second year in a row.

When placing their liner order with a Proven Winners propagator, growers can request a case of free Grande containers and trays. Each participant will receive 440 containers and the trays they need to go with them. At the end of the season, those participating will be asked to complete a survey. Those who have previously participated in this offer cannot do so again.

This offer only applies for Proven Winners annuals, and free containers cannot be used to fulfill complete package program container requirements as stated on the website.

For more: www.pwcertified.com/free

BFG Supply Co. unveils new website
BFG Supply Co. unveiled its new website. This online resource includes account management tools, information on all the company's product lines and the new "BFG Plant Connection" section.

Last month BFG Supply also announced its acquisition of J.R. Johnson Supply of Roseville, Minn. In August, BFG officially announced the acquisition of Wetsel Inc., an organization with a 100-year history in the industry.

For more: www.bfgsupply.com/index.html

Another illegal Knock Out rose propogator found
The Conard-Pyle Co. recently reached a settlement with a nursery in central Louisiana found to have infringed its plant patent rights on the popular Knock Out roses. Conard-Pyle required the nursery to immediately destroy all infringing plants and to sign a binding agreement, which carries substantial penalties if the nursery is found doing it again in the future.

According to a press release from Conard-Pyle Co., the nursery was in violation of United States plant patent laws that state that no one may asexually propagate or sell any patented plant without the permission of the patent owner. The nursery found in violation has been warned in the past and Plantwatch, the monitoring program that is helping Conard-Pyle as well as other nurseries to enforce its intellectual property rights, was able to confirm the infringement.

For more: www.conard-pyle.com