This summer, Bloomin’ Easy® brought home multiple honors from three of the industry’s most respected stages: the University of Georgia Trial Garden Open Houses, Cultivate ’25, and the Farwest ’25 trade show. These awards aren’t just feathers in our cap—they’re strong validation that the genetics graduating Bloomin’ Easy trials are among the best available from breeders across the globe and offer growers, retailers and landscapers extraordinary performance and value.

The recognition this summer further reinforces our focus and mission to make gardening easier and more inviting for young homeowners as we do everything we can to achieve it through the best genetics, savvy marketing and the most innovative care support tools among major plant brands.

At the UGA Trial Gardens, Solar Sisters™ Rudbeckia made a statement, winning both an Industry’s Choice Award and a People’s Choice Award. With bold color, season-long performance, and easy-care appeal, Solar Sisters embodies what Bloomin’ Easy is all about: plants that offer incredible beauty, performance and easy success.

The momentum continued at Cultivate ’25, the industry’s keystone summer show, where Solar Sisters™ Rudbeckia also earned a Retailer’s Choice Award. Recognition from retailers themselves underscores that this variety has strong retail appeal and proven potential to generate excitement and sell-thru.

On the West Coast, the Farwest ’25 trade show brought further validation. Bubble Bath™ Hydrangea paniculata received an Award of Merit, highlighting its unique value, in a busy category, and consumer-friendly qualities. Meanwhile, MoonShadow™ Morello Hibiscus moscheutos captured a Retailer’s Choice Award, confirming its standout presence and market-ready appeal.

Together, these awards showcase the strength of Bloomin’ Easy’s pipeline of genetics. They reflect our commitment to working with top breeders worldwide to bring varieties to market that are not only unique and beautiful but also align with the needs of today’s industry partners and modern consumers—plants that are simple to grow, perform consistently and look outstanding at retail.

For our grower and retail partners, this recognition translates into confidence. Confidence that Bloomin’ Easy varieties will deliver at every stage and confidence that our brand will help you connect meaningfully with the next generation of gardeners.

Bloomin’ Easy Plants, Inc. is excited to announce the addition of Poplar Ridge Nursery to its network of Licensed input suppliers. Known for high-quality grass and grass-like varieties, Poplar Ridge will be a primary supplier of Bloomin’ Easy grass and sedge inputs, starting with ‘Red October’ Andropogon, ‘Little Red Fox’ Schizachyrium, and ‘Sandhill’ Schizachyrium.

These attractive, easy-care native grasses bring unique color, structure, and movement to modern outdoor spaces, aligning perfectly with the Bloomin’ Easy brand, which focuses on low-maintenance beauty and after-purchase support for young homeowners and emerging gardeners.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Poplar Ridge Nursery to the Bloomin’ Easy family of Licensees,” says Bloomin’ Easy Plants, Inc. Director of Operations, Kevin Cramer. “Their reputation in ornamental grasses makes them a perfect partner as we expand our lineup. Launching with new and improved non-exclusives ‘Red October’, ‘Little Red Fox’, and ‘Sandhill’ is just the beginning of what we see as an exciting new chapter for Bloomin’ Easy.”

Bloomin’ Easy Plants, Inc. partners with top breeders across the globe to introduce and market improved low-maintenance genetics. With 76 exclusive shrubs and perennials and innovative after-purchase care support like AI Chatbot, Daisy Digs and Care+ App, its Bloomin’ Easy® brand aims to make gardening easier and more inviting for young homeowners that fear failure and seek to Plant, Water, Relax®.Poplar Ridge is accepting orders for Bloomin’ Easy grasses now for delivery starting summer 2025—visit poplarridgenursery.com to order. For more information on Bloomin’ Easy, visit bloomineasyplants.com or contact Kevin Cramer at kevin@bloomineasyplants.com or 604-996-1909.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – July 21st 2025 – GardenChoice™ is pleased to announce that Bloomin’ Easy Plants, Inc. has joined as a full partner. GardenChoice’s mission is to bring leading edge genetics from independent breeders to the global market. It is a strategic alliance between Rick Grazzini’s GardenGenetics® LLC, global lily leader Zabo Plant Inc., perennial input producer Pioneer Gardens, Inc., and now Bloomin’ Easy Plants, Inc., the brand for young homeowners. The group made it official on July 15 at Cultivate ‘25 in Columbus, Ohio.

”We’re so excited to welcome Bloomin’ Easy Plants to our consortium,” said Ko Klaver, GardenChoice Chairman and Zabo Plant USA partner. “We’re all passionate about bringing the best genetics from independent breeders to the market, and Bloomin’ Easy strengthens our networks and broadens our ability to introduce these amazing plants.”

“Bloomin’ Easy Plants is so thankful to be welcomed as a partner with this group of entrepreneurs,” said DeVonne Friesen, Bloomin’ Easy Plants President. “Our mission to make gardening easier and more inviting for young homeowners aligns perfectly with GardenChoice’s dedication to bringing world-class breeding to market. Making it easier for homeowners who feel worried about having success with plants starts with improved genetics,” continues Friesen. “There is so much incredible work being done by independent breeders, and improvements like greater disease resistance, better flowering and new and exciting colors and forms are what the upcoming generations need to experience success with plants.”

Rick Grazzini, owner of GardenGenetics and himself a prolific plant breeder, has dedicated his life to improving ornamental and edible plants. “For anyone who knows me, they can corroborate my passion for improving plants and for supporting other breeders all over the world,” said Grazzini. “I think the GardenChoice team can do great things for breeders, growers and ultimately the people who buy these plants in garden centers. The energy fueling our mission keeps intensifying, and Bloomin’ Easy just adds to that. These are exciting times, indeed.”

Bloomin’ Easy Plants purchased the partnership stake in GardenChoice from Eason Horticultural Resources (EHR), a nationwide ornamental plant broker. EHR recently became an employee owned company and decided to sharpen their focus on their main product lines.

To learn more about GardenChoice’s plant genetics and how to access these improved plants as a grower or retailer, please visit www.garden-choice.com

For more information, email Kevin Cramer at Kevin@bloomineasyplants.com

ABBOTSFORD, BC – July 18th, 2025 – Bloomin’ Easy Plants, Inc. is thrilled to announce that its Solar Sisters™ Rudbeckia won a Retailer’s Choice Award during Cultivate ‘25, held July 13-15th in Columbus, Ohio. The Retailer’s Choice Awards are sponsored and hosted by The Garden Center Group, which has members that make up the panel of retail professional judges. These members walk the show looking for new plants and products they believe will be great sellers and successful in their retail stores.

“We’re proud and honored that Solar Sisters Rudbeckia was chosen among so many great new plants at the show,” says Bloomin’ Easy Plants, Inc. President, DeVonne Friesen. “It’s one of our most enticing new releases because the flowers are so bold and unique and it creates a striking retail presentation with the Bloomin’ Easy pot that commands attention and turns heads.”

Bubble Bath™ Hydrangea paniculata, one of Bloomin’ Easy’s new releases for 2026 also garnered a lot of attention during Cultivate ‘25. The playful concourse display, featuring a real claw foot bathtub filled with Bubble Bath blooms, led to high demand for youngplant inputs.

“The brightest star of our booth and Cultivate experience was most definitely Bubble Bath Hydrangea,” says Bloomin’ Easy Plants, Inc. Director of Operations, Kevin Cramer. “Despite Hydrangeas sometimes feeling like a full category, Bubble Bath’s unique value is clear to the growers we serve. It’s notably compact and vigorous at the same time, and it blooms so heavily all you can see is flowers.”

Solar Sisters™ Rudbeckia inputs are available in North America from Van Belle Youngplants and Pioneer Gardens. Bubble Bath™ Hydrangea inputs are available from Van Belle Youngplants. Contact your Bloomin’ Easy finished container growers for availability.

Bloomin’ Easy Plants, Inc. partners with top breeders across the globe to introduce and market improved new low-maintenance genetics. Paired with industry leading support tools such as augmented reality, Care Reminders powered by the Bloomin’ Easy Care+ app and AI chatbot, Daisy Digs, Bloomin’ Easy makes gardening easier and more inviting for young homeowners who seek to Plant, Water, Relax®.

The Celebration of Life service will be held at 10:30am at Living Hope Christian Reformed Church on Tuesday July 8th. The address is 34631 Old Clayburn Rd, Abbotsford, BC V2S 4H5. For those that can’t attend in person, the service will be live streamed at https://livinghopecrc.ca/.

Tribute to Bill Van Belle

Even in the last few weeks before Bill Van Belle passed away, his passion for plants and the thrill of being part of the nursery industry was as strong as ever. In between his treatments for the cancer that eventually won out, he would feel strong enough to tour around the nursery by car or in his golf cart, still marvelling at the magic of plants rooting out in early spring. “It still gives me a thrill,” he would say. After reading a trip report from a Van Belle staff member talking about long travel days, diner food and the promising grower visits, he commented, “it still makes my adrenalin rush!” He lived out that passion for more than 50 years since founding Van Belle Nursery with his wife Grace in 1973. And that passion helped create a thriving business with a North American wide reach and a team of hundreds of industry professionals continuing to build the business, fueled by their own passion and wits. A fulfillment of Bill’s dream.

For anyone who knew Bill the nurseryman, you knew him as an optimist, a nonconformist, inventor, a joke-teller with a hearty laugh, a man of faith, and an occasional firebrand. He was also an aggressive but savvy founder who was comfortable taking calculated risks while understanding that mistakes were inevitable and even proof of pushing past too often accepted limitations. Bill would often remind his son Dave, current President of Van Belle, and the team of leaders, that “the guy who doesn’t do anything doesn’t make mistakes.” He operated that way himself through the years, and set this tone as part of his legacy, encouraging Dave and team to embrace the freedom to take aggressive but thoughtful action without being motivated by fear.

Bill, who immigrated with his family from Holland to Canada in 1949 at the age of four, recalls learning this way of living from his parents. After settling in Ontario with their four sons and one niece, his father Willem and mother Martha tried their hand at vegetable and cattle farming. Bill joked that his dad “didn’t know the front or hind end of a cow.” Bill’s father kept trying different ventures, and eventually the family found their way to growing ornamental plants, though that wasn’t always smooth either. But as Bill recalled, he respected his parents for pursuing different enterprises, and that they always found a way to make a living and support their family with dignity.

These experiences, along with his deep faith, allowed Bill to stay calm and think long term even when circumstances threatened the survival of the business. His son Dave recalls when in 2012 the powerful Fraser River, flowing very near the nursery, threatened to flood the entire valley. Bill said to Dave, “Well, if the whole thing floods, don’t worry about it, we’ll start over again. I already did it once.” It’s the kind of perspective that gives freedom to others to keep pushing forward even in the face of challenges.

In 1970, after earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and Spanish from the University of Waterloo, and a Certificate in Horticulture from the University of Guelph, Bill and his new wife Grace set off for a nine month honeymoon road trip all the way to the Panama Canal and back. This kind of big adventure kicked off a lifetime of travelling passion for Bill and Grace, and one he also instilled in his children and Van Belle as a company. Bill was a lifelong learner, and he and Grace loved to visit nurseries all over the world to learn from other innovators, discovering new ways to do things better. He had an inventive mind, which he used to inspire Van Belle to stay at the leading edge of innovation. Examples of this include being the first to install the largest outdoor rolling bench system of its kind in North America, making it more efficient for staff and for land use, the first to use rice hulls for top dressing plants, and the first to develop a potless, no-waste shipping system for shrub liners.

In 1973, after moving from Ontario to Abbotsford, B.C. and working for a local landscaping company, Bill and Grace decided to start Van Belle Nursery. Bill had discovered a strong Ontario market for nursery stock grown in B.C., and also a knack and love for rooting flowering shrub liners in their tiny backyard greenhouse. The business took its first big leap with the purchase of the original 10 acre Van Belle Nursery growing facility. And as the business grew, so did their family. They welcomed Dave, Carla, Juanita, and Rob who were taught the challenges and rewards of hard work at the nursery. The new farm was the first of several growing facilities, and led to growth allowing Van Belle to begin supplying larger customers like Canadian Tire garden centers, and eventually major big box retailers. Today, Van Belle Finished Plants serves major retailers throughout Western Canada and in the US from the Pacific Northwest to Midwest regions, supplying flowering shrubs, perennials, specialty annuals, tropicals and edibles.

The nursery took its second big leap in 1994, with the purchase of its Youngplant facility. It was another example of Bill’s boldness and vision. He saw an opportunity and market need, and the chance to have greater control over the entire production process. Since that time, Van Belle Youngplants has grown into a major industry supplier of shrub and now perennial liners. The impressive facility is a few hundred yards from the original backyard where it all started, and reflects the full circle story of how Bill’s passion for plants led to building a business of people who share his boldness and bias for action.

Bill was always a strong proponent of contributing to local and national nursery and landscape associations, and was President of the British Columbia Nursery Landscape Association in the 1980’s. He believed that by partnering together with other nurseries, and celebrating each other’s accomplishments – competitors included – everyone could benefit more than by trying to do it alone. This fundamental belief in the power of partnership remains a living part of the company culture today. This long term commitment also made it even more special when the Canadian Nursery and Landscape Association named Van Belle Nursery the Grower of the Year in 2016. This made Van Belle eligible for the International Grower of the Year Awards, where they received the Gold in the Young Plants category, and a Silver in the Finished Plants Plants and Trees category.

Throughout the years, and right to the end, Bill would spend time walking and talking with the staff of Van Belle, and sharing a cup of coffee. Bill’s wife Grace, his life-long partner of 55 years, passed away in February 2025, and these interactions helped keep his spirits up during his last months. He would reminisce at times about the good times and the challenges, and talk about where he saw the market going, and what new industry trends might be on the rise. And he would always talk about the plants, and yes, those roots. But most of all, whatever he talked about, he offered a unique sense of time-tested comfort and inspiration. He was proof that there are many reasons to be hopeful about what we can all accomplish if we follow his lead of recognizing the value and beauty of our product, and if we keep a bias for action without fear, knowing not everything will work out exactly as planned. As Bill said, the guy who didn’t do anything didn’t make any mistakes. He was certainly a man who did a lot, and a man who will be remembered and missed deeply by his family, church community, hundreds of current and former employees, and industry partners all over the world.

Bloomin’ Easy is thrilled to unveil Daisy Digs, an artificial intelligence (AI) support chatbot ready to help anytime of day or night. Daisy is a fun-loving, passionate greenthumb with a youthful twist, powered by Scapify’s Master Gardener AI technology. Daisy will provide expert guidance to consumers when it comes to plants and landscaping. Bloomin’ Easy is the first among major plant brands to implement an AI consumer support chatbot.

“Daisy Digs takes Bloomin’ Easy customer support to new heights and adds another relevant channel to our growing suite of easy-to-use care support resources,” says Consumer Marketing Manager, Madison House. “Offering an on-demand virtual support team member like Daisy adds value for brand partners and takes us further in our mission to make gardening easier and more inviting for young homeowners.”

Daisy is ready to suggest the right Bloomin’ Easy varieties for your space or troubleshoot common gardening issues like pests or soil health. Consumers can easily access Daisy’s helpful advice through the Bloomin’ Easy Care+ app dashboard and bloomineasyplants.com or bloomineasyplants.ca in Canada.

To learn more about Scapify’s ecommerce and marketing tools, including AI software development, visit scapify.com. For more on Bloomin’ Easy and Daisy Digs, contact Bloomin’ Easy Marketing Manager, Kevin Cramer at Kevin@bloomineasyplants.com or visit bloomineasyplants.com.

By spring 2025, Bloomin’ Easy aims to offer augmented reality for more top sellers from its collection of exclusive, improved, low-maintenance shrubs and perennials within its Care+ smartphone app and branded variety tags.

“As a younger brand, it’s important that we continue to differentiate and offer the market unique, premium value,” says Consumer Marketing Manager, Madison House. “Young homeowners are already using augmented reality through retail experiences from Ikea and Nike—why not give them a fun try-before-you-buy experience with buddleias and hydrangeas?”

Bloomin’ Easy partnered with Home Outside to create its new AR experience. The designers and developers at Home Outside are led by Founder and CEO, Julie Moir Messervy, recognized industry wide for her high-profile design projects, international lectures and published works. Bloomin’ Easy sees Home Outside as leaders in bringing the latest landscape design tech directly to the booming group of young homeowners they’re each focused on serving.

Experience augmented reality for Bloomin’ Easy varieties like Grin and Tonic Hydrangea by visiting bloomineasyplants.com on your smartphone. For more information about Bloomin’ Easy, please contact Kevin Cramer at kevin@bloomineasyplants.com or visit bloomineasywholesale.com.