GrowerTalks @ The Garden Center Show

The Garden Center Show: The premier event for IGCs -- STAY CONNECTED!
The Garden Center Show for independent garden center (IGC) owners and professionals brings together the brightest minds and hottest products in one place for a conference and exhibition. All attendees receive access to the exhibit hall, keynote sessions and the networking reception.

Preview Our Company, Product Showcase / Meet Our Team / Schedule a Visit, DEMO
GrowerTalks gives readers almost 470 editorial pages per year. The competition averages just 241. Green Profit averages 360 pages of editorial per year. The retail competition averages just 157—that’s less than half the content.

Your complete information source for the horticultural industry.
Today, more than 82 years later, GrowerTalks may be the best-known greenhouse trade publication in the world. While it’s published in America’s Midwest, just outside of Chicago, its reach and influence is global, with its editors historically on the road and in the air to find the stories, trends and news. From the days of George and his sons traveling across the country, to today’s editors visiting trade shows and greenhouses on nearly every continent, GrowerTalks is there, in the greenhouse and garden center, bringing you the latest growing and retailing information.

GrowerTalks gives readers almost 470 editorial pages per year. The competition averages just 241. Green Profit averages 360 pages of editorial per year. The retail competition averages just 157—that’s less than half the content.

Address: 622 Town Road West Chicago, IL 60185
Email: info@ballpublishing.com Contact:
Phone: (630) 231-3675 FAX: (630) 231-5254

Ball Publishing .... Your complete information source for the horticultural industry.
Commercial greenhouse growers and garden center retailers enjoy how GrowerTalks|Green Profit combines the best in growing, retailing, and consumer insights into one premium monthly publication. Our magazines, newsletters, online resources, videos and webinars provide the horticulture industry with the best, most up-to-date information on the latest crops, culture and innovations.

All the Best and Nothing Else.
Ball Horticultural Company is a leader in all facets of horticulture. Our global family of breeders, research and development teams, suppliers, and distribution companies has a strong presence on six continents in 20 countries. We live by our founder’s motto: “All the Best and Nothing Else.”

Flowers to Fit Lifestyles --- Our plants and products are making history in the world of gardening. Among these are award-winning flowers, vegetables, perennials, roses and shrubs recognized worldwide for their performance and consumer appeal. The latest products to fit the needs of today’s gardening lifestyle include flowers to fit small or indoor spaces, top-rated vegetables and herbs, low-maintenance succulents, and other plants with a purpose.

Address: 622 Town Road West Chicago, IL 60185
Email: jmcdonough@ballhort.com Contact:
Phone: 630 231-3600 FAX: 630 231-3605

Who owns Ball Horticultural Company?

Ball Horticultural Company was founded in 1905 by George J. Ball. The company remains family owned and has a global presence on six continents in 17 countries. The current President and CEO is Anna Caroline Ball, third-generation leader of Ball Horticultural Company.

I'm a home gardener. Can I order seeds and plants from Ball?

Ball is a wholesale seed and plant distributor to the commercial horticulture industry. Unfortunately we do not sell directly to home gardeners. However, you can find our fabulous flowers, vegetables and shrubs at your local garden center. Visit our home gardening websites to locate a store near you:

Wave-Rave.com
BurpeeHomeGardens.com

I'm having trouble with my plants. Can you offer advice?

Greenhouse growers can explore plant culture, Grower Facts documents, trial research and more through a plant search atBallSeed.com, or through any of the marketing websites of our breeding companies. For a specific problem affecting your greenhouse production, please contact your Ball Seed sales representative or regional technical product rep. Please request a call from our experts at our Contact Us page.

For advice on home gardening, please visit our consumer websites:
Wave-Rave.com
BurpeeHomeGardens.com

How do I locate a sales representative in my area?

North American growers of all sizes are serviced by an expert and dedicated sales force through Ball Seed and Ball ColorLink. Please call our Ball Seed customer service department for assistance locating a sales rep in your area: 800 879-BALL.

Visit our Contact Us page and select your global region for sales service outside of North America.

How do I request a catalog?

Visit our Media Room to browse or download the latest North American catalogs and brochures. Information and literature can also be found at our companies' websites. You can also contact our customer service department to request a printed copy: 800 879-BALL.

Can I have access to the images in your photolibrary?

The Ball Horticultural Company image library is readily available for promotional use. Photos may not be licensed or resold. The correct variety name and series name must be listed with any reproduction.

Visit the Press & Photos page to search and download available photography. To request specific images of Ball products, contact the Image Archive Library at photolibrary@ballhort.com.

Can I order or print Point Of Purchase signage?

Ball offers extensive marketing support for its products. From bench cards to cart banners and fence signs. Point Of Purchase (POP) signage can be ordered through our graphics partners or requested through your grower and sales rep. Browse availability, or create and download custom signs through the Retail section of BallSeed.com.

What employment opportunities are available at Ball?

Current job opportunities are posted at the Careers at Ball page of our website. Please mail your resume to:

Ball Horticultural Company
622 Town Road
West Chicago, IL 60185
Human Resources Dept.
Attn: Mike Williams

Fax your resume to 630 231-3592, or email your resume to careers@ballhort.com. Resumes are kept on file for six months.

Do you accept applications for internships?

Ball Horticultural Company encourages the next generation to explore the world of horticulture. Each year, internship opportunities are available in North America in our many business divisions: product development, marketing, research, sales, garden design, and more. Contact our Human Resources department.

Can I visit The Gardens at Ball?

Our Gardens in West Chicago, Illinois have been the evaluation and testing grounds for the world’s wealth of horticulture since 1933. Visits to The Gardens at Ball are encouraged for customers of Ball Seed and industry partners. Please call the Ball switchboard at 630 231-3600 to set up an arrival date and time.

Garden Clubs and Master Gardner groups can arrange a visit through our Education and Trials Manager Susan Schmitz (ext. 3289). Garden writers or members of the press should contact Public Relations Manager Katie Rotella (ext. 3296). Open days for the general public are reserved for Saturdays in August each summer.

Where can I find Ball products outside North America?

Ball has a strong presence of breeding and distribution partners on six continents, and we encourage you to contact your regional distribution company for availability of plant products from Ball Horticultural Company. You can locate your nearest distributor from the list at Our Companies page, or by selecting your specific region on the Contact Us page.

What are your newest plant introductions?

You can browse and download our latest catalogs in the Press & Photos section of this website. Each of our breeding companies' websites also showcase the newest plant introductions. Find access to all of our breeding companies in the Our Companiessection.

Ball Publishing coverage of The Garden Center Show -- Meet Our Team:
Chris Beytes, Paul Black, Kim Brown, Bill Calkins, Jennifer Polanz, Ellen Wells
As editor and publisher of GrowerTalks and Green Profit, I’m proud of the staff here at Ball Publishing, and with good reason: You won’t find a sharper, tighter, more dedicated crew anywhere! We’re lean (there’s just seven of us, plus two off-site, full-time freelance editors) but we’re good—fast, efficient and responsive to your needs. They keep things operating smoothly while I’m touring greenhouses in Alaska, China and other far-flung locales. In fact, I suspect things work MORE smoothly when I’m on the road! — Chris Beytes

Paul Black, Publisher
Phone: (630) 588-3301 .... Email: pblack@ballpublishing.com
As publisher, Paul occupies one of most important seats here at Ball Publishing, overseeing all our advertising and sponsorship sales. But while he’s got 20 years of professional sales experience, including a stint in technology sales for the grocery industry, he’s a horticulturist at heart, having graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in environmental science. He keeps busy with a wife, two kids, and a guitar. He also enjoys coaching his son and daughter’s sports teams, and serves his community as a board member of the Geneva Baseball Association.

Kim Brown, Account Manager
Phone: (630) 588-3433 .... Email: kbrown@ballpublishing.com
Kim has one of the biggest jobs: advertising sales—which she does alongside Paul Black (they make a colorful duo, eh?). Kim is an account manager veteran: her background includes sales for HGTV Network, The Family Channel, and A. C. Nielsen as well as planning and buying national media with stints at J. Walter Thompson and DDB Needham Worldwide. She believes in creating advertising plans that meet an advertiser’s specific needs and will assist in growing their businesses for the long term. She has two middle initial (“R” and “L” – Real Lucky to work here?), but if that is her most serious quirk, she'll be considered the normal one here.

Jennifer Polanz, Managing Editor-at-Large—Green Profit
Phone: (440) 749-2131 .... Email: jpolanz@ballpublishing.com
Jennifer comes to the magazine with nine years of green industry experience ranging from editor of a garden center trade publication to freelance writing, editing and public relations for industry businesses. She has traveled extensively to garden centers around the U.S. and abroad to find new solutions for retail profitability and to uncover upcoming trends. Jen has a Master's degree in Journalism from Ohio University and currently resides in a Cleveland suburb with her husband, two children and a cat.

Ellen C. Wells, Editor-at-Large—Green Profit
Phone: (617) 501-7766 .... Email: ewells@ballpublishing.com
We consider Ellen an expert in horticulture, as she has a master’s degree in horticulture from Cornell University. But writing is her real talent and calling, and so she applies her knowledge of green industry with her love of storytelling into the perfect retail communications package. A city girl, Ellen lives in downtown Boston where she can vigorously root for her beloved Red Sox. It’s also a convenient location for her to cover the active northeastern horticulture industry. That’s why her weekly news and commentary e-mail. BuZZ!, will often include references to both. She also keeps our readers up to date on the world of tropicals with her bimonthly newsletter, Tropical Topics.

Chris Beytes, Editor
Phone: (630) 588-3401 .... Email: cbeytes@ballpublishing.com
As your faithful scribe, I’ll put myself last and least among the crew above because I couldn’t do it without them. However, I have learned a little bit about the industry since starting my horticulture training in 1981 at the University of Florida, where I earned a degree in journalism and a minor in ornamental horticulture. My wife, a UF hort grad, and I opened our own wholesale greenhouse in Merritt Island, Florida in 1983, two weeks after graduating. Called Indian River Ornamentals, we grew weekly potted plants for the local florist and garden center trade—not an easy thing to do in hot, humid, bug-infested Florida! (You haven’t seen whitefly on poinsettia like I have!) I’ve been with Ball Publishing since 1993, where I started as Managing Editor of GrowerTalks. I helped design and launch Green Profit, and I've served in every editorial capacity possible with GrowerTalks, Green Profit and FloraCulture International, and I now occupy the hot seat of Editor. But my passion will always be visiting and writing about greenhouses and garden centers around the world. I had the pleasure of working with the late Vic Ball for four years, and there was no finer mentor. If you don’t know me from the pages of GrowerTalks, you probably know me from my weekly news and commentary e-mail, Acres Online, which reaches more than 27,000 industry folks around the world. I’m known for a uniquely irreverent style—I can ask the tough, controversial questions, but I look for the light, humorous side of the industry, too. Oh, on the personal side? A wife (Laurie) and an excess of grills, guitars, drums, garden implements and power tools.