Beginning this coming year, the National Garden Bureau (NGB) will manage the California Spring Trials, the long-standing industry event formerly known as the Pack Trials. After 50+ years of successfully operating as a collaborative breeder event, National Garden Bureau is committed to elevating the experience for all participants by managing the event’s website, marketing, and registration.
The goal is to make registration quicker and easier through one central registration point. This will help more industry members experience the value of connecting with the breeding community at a unified, streamlined event that will continue to be held in locations throughout California.
The dates for California Spring Trials 2025 are March 26-29, 2025. The website for the event, including registration details, will launch this fall. Registration for the 2025 event will open shortly after the new year.
“CAST needs a management organization to grow, and since almost all of the participating breeders are already members of National Garden Bureau, it makes sense to offer this as another member service,” NGB Executive Director Diane Blazek told Greenhouse Grower. “In prior years, it was difficult and time consuming to register separately at each different stop and/or breeder. And for the breeders, it was a time-consuming process to manage each registrant.”
NGB will offer a single registration system for all stops. An attendee will log on, choose their day and time for each breeder they wish to visit, then submit.
“Knowing one’s travel schedule before registering is important, but overall, it will save attendees time and make it easier to make sure you hit all the stops,” Blazek said. “We know that at some locations, especially when there are new companies participating, they may get overlooked. With this new registration system, each breeder at each location will be listed and each attendee will choose the time to visit each breeder. “
For her part, Blazek looks forward to seeing the new plants each year.
“We feature those new varieties in our New Plants program and also host webinars for garden communicators and consumers, so seeing them live, in-person is a big help for us to successfully run that program,” Blazek said.
