Petunia ‘Pink Dream’; photo: Robin Siktberg
While Westhoff was planning its 2025 California Spring Trials (CAST) display, the team was also brainstorming for next season and beyond. According to Westhoff Sales Manager Bart Hayes, the goal was to consider the current and future needs of the garden consumer, what growers are looking for, and how to best connect Westhoff’s products to growers and the broker sales force across North America.
Westhoff decided to put its focus at CAST on petunias, while presenting products in their boldest format and also displaying in retail-ready formats like quart pots and cart programs.
“Now that Westhoff and Selecta have come to a resolution, we presented the DiscoBall Petunias (again) to the market,” Hayes noted in an email message to Westhoff’s customers. “These plants have the characteristic bright color with white speckles, but what separates DiscoBall from all the other spotted type Petunias on the market are the neat tidy, habits they exhibit, as highlighted on the grower cart in quart stadium pots. In our experience, we find that a good number of these novelty color/pattern petunias are sold in smaller pots, so a more controlled habit is called for, especially since plant growth regulators can negatively impact the pattern.”
Updates from the Supply Chain
Westhoff continues to grow and expand to meet the demand for its varieties, and as part of that, the company added a new licensee and expanded its assortment through its established supply network.
Quality Cuttings Team (QCT): “Our show neighbors and long-term partner, QCT, added Calibrachoa to their unrooted program for spring 2025, and announced that they were expanding again with Westhoff Petunias for spring of 2026. All of their cuttings will be supplied out of their facility in Mexico.”
Vivero International: “Our partners at Vivero have been supplying Westhoff cuttings for years and each year they add more, but this year is particularly important as they are expanding to a new product category: Begonias. After several years of building and testing, Vivero is ready to ship vegetative Begonias for spring 2026. This includes all of Westhoff’s Begonia varieties and a select few from our partners at Rieger Begonia out of Germany, with whom Vivero has been working closely to refine their procedures. This marks a true sea-change in supply of vegetative Begonias for the North American market by opening a new, convenient, and reliable supply partner for this critically important crop that has been plagued by reliable supply for years.”
Savannah Flowers: “We are pleased to announce that Westhoff now has a fifth licensee to also supply the North American market with the addition of Savannah Flowers out of Kenya. Not only does this bring increased capacity for all of the classic Westhoff items, but Savannah was recently granted permission from the USDA to export Westhoff’s Dianthus, the Best Friends Forever series, from their facilities to the U.S. Savannah has been a reliable supplier to Europe for years, including to Westhoff, but this expansion marks a big push into the North American market.”
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