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Today’s demographic shift toward younger gardeners has prompted Proven Winners to connect more closely with members of this particular group and to reflect their interests. According to Dirks, “almost all of Proven Winners’ consumer marketing efforts are targeted toward design: how to best make plants work and how to make them visually exciting in a garden.”
As a prime example of this approach, Proven Winners publishes a booklet, called the ‘Gardener’s Idea Book’, featuring a huge array of stunning container combinations and garden display ideas to inspire gardeners. Over 10 million copies have been distributed across North America. If you request one from their website, they’ll mail a copy to you.
In addition, their website, provenwinners.com, allows consumers direct contact. Last year, Proven Winners answered over 15,000 questions by email.
Proven Winners continues to expand into many varied garden products, from premium soils and plant foods to containers, drip irrigation systems and Proven Harvest seed packets.
Proven Winners has introduced a great selection of vegetable plants also branded as Proven Harvest. They’re especially suited to containers. Tempting Tomatoes ‘Garden Gem’ produces flavourful, small round fruit, and ‘Garden Treasure’, a large round tomato, is easy to grow, incredibly delicious and very disease tolerant. Fire Away Hot and Heavy is a mid-sized pepper with multicoloured fruits that are a little hotter than jalapenos. Their Berried Treasure strawberry collection produces attractive flowers in white, pink or red and yummy small fruits. Their Amazel Basil has excellent mildew resistance, and because the flowers are sterile, the tasty leaves just keep producing.