Who will be the New Product, New Plant winners at GLAS 2019?

The Hydrangea Runaway Bride (Garland Hydrangea) from Rentes Plants, winner of the Best New Plant Award at GLAS 2018. Photo: Peter Stears.

The quality of the new plants and new products at GLAS never fail to impress, with less than a month to go until GLAS 2019, the Best New Product, Best New Plant Awards will prove to be a stand-out feature.

Horticulture

20 June 2019

The 2019 Garden Landscape and Amenity Sportsturf (GLAS) trade show will once again see the return of the much anticipated, and exciting Best New Product, Best New Plant Awards showcase.

GLAS, the one-day trade-only event, annually celebrates an array of new products and new plants which have been whittled down from a large number of worthy contenders, to form the New Product, New Plant Awards Showcase.

The New Product, New Plant Awards Showcase displays the finalists, of which one new product and one new plant will be expertly judged as the Best New Product and Best New Plant.

Previous winners

At GLAS 2018, six new products and four new plants made up the New Product, New Plant Awards Showcase. At 11am in Theatre 1, the finalists gathered together to await who would be crowned the winners.

Gerry Daly, expert judge of the awards, and editor of The Irish Garden Magazine and garden,ie, declared Hydrangea Runaway Bride (Garland Hydrangea) from Rentes Plants as the Best New Plant, and the NemaTrident range of Bioinsecticides from Bionema and Prograss as the Best New Product.

John McDonald, GLAS and Roy Rentes, Rentes Plants Ltd., winner of Best in Show, New Plant. Photo: Joe Keogh.

Commenting on winning the Best New Plant award at GLAS 2018, Roy Rentes, director of marketing at Rentes Plants said: “It means a lot to win this award. Quite often when we introduce a new product which becomes popular, the rest of the market follows suit, so we are always on the lookout for the next big thing to keep ahead of the crowd. Customer reaction has been brilliant with almost universal praise for this stunning new variety.

“While we don’t have Runaway Bride available for sale right now, we will have 3000 units available from mid-May, with expressions of interest already received for well over this number. The plant rights holder is anxious for good growers to spread the variety around Europe, and we aim to increase our volume with him by doing this new variety justice for 2019, and gain access to other special lines for 2020 and beyond.”

Nearly one year later, and with Runaway Bride now available to the market, the plant was an outstanding success at Bloom 2019, having sold out.

Commenting on winning the Best New Product award at GLAS 2018, Dr Minshad Ansari, CEO and CTO of Bionema said: “We are very proud to have been selected for this prestigious [Best] New Product Award. Our focus within the programme is to develop non-toxic bio-based technology for control of major horticultural insect pests which cause significant damage worldwide. Certainly, the award has provided recognition within industry and has helped raise our brand awareness.”

Carol Marks, Bord Bia and Minshad Ansari from Bionema. Winner of Best in Show, New Product. Photo: Joe Keogh.

Elisha Daniels the marketing manager with Hygeia Garden Care, who won Best New Product at GLAS 2017 said: “These trade shows, and in particular GLAS, are a really nice way to get exposure to retailers that we want to reach; independent garden centres would be a really important sector for us to reach and we can do that here. To win Best [New] Product at GLAS gives us great confidence in a product that we already really believe in anyway, but to get recognition from adjudicators here at GLAS gives us even greater confidence to sell it to our retailers and buyers.”

The New Plant, New Product Awards will be an unmissable feature at GLAS 2019. For the trade interested in knowing more about the New Plant, New Product Awards be sure to contact the GLAS team. Thinking about exhibiting at GLAS? With 46% of visitors last year attending to ”meet new suppliers”, click here to find out more on how GLAS can help your business succeed.

The features at GLAS 2019 won’t just stop at the New Plant, New Product Awards however. The one-day trade show will offer attendees world-class presentations from leaders across all sectors of the horticulture sector in two Learning Theatres, sponsored by Bord Bia and Teagasc; an innovative retail merchandising display and information section; an expansive sportsturf village and machinery park area, showcasing an impressive array of the latest machinery available to the market in 2019; Bord Bia’s Thinking House, providing the horticulture industry with invaluable and unrestricted access to the latest global trends, research, consumer insights, and industry innovations; and of course, over 150 exhibits from some of the leading nurseries, product, and service suppliers on the market.

To further expand on the offering, GLAS will have two brand new features for 2019: The Careers Hub, and The Landscape Show.

A visit to GLAS is essential for seeking innovative solutions and cost saving ideas – to discover products, services and concepts that will help you and your organisation.

Taking place on Thursday, July 18, from 9am to 5pm, at the Citywest Event Centre and Hotel, Saggart, Co Dublin, GLAS promises to be an unmissable event for the trade. Be sure to pre-register for GLAS 2019 here and to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.