I’m always hearing raves about Bailey Nurseries’ Endless Summer hydrangeas, the ones that bloom all summer on new and old wood.

Here’s an excerpt from Chris Beytes’ GrowerTalks newsletter with history on how they came to be—and how they came to be marketed so well:

“Bailey’s Jonathan Pedersen on Endless Summer
“A recent interview soon to make an appearance in GrowerTalks is with brand manager Jonathan Pedersen of Bailey Nurseries in Minnesota, whom I sat down with a couple weeks ago.

“First off, Bailey’s is one impressive place! Beautifully landscaped (as every floriculture business should be), the centerpiece is the original Bailey farmhouse, which now serves as the main office. The Bailey brand and message permeates everything. As I waited in the lobby for Jonathan I was surrounded by artwork reading “Our Roots Run Deep,” “Looking Back, Reaching Forward,” “Four Generations” and my favorite: “From our fields we can see the future.”

“I was there to explore the story of Endless Summer hydrangea and all the marketing lessons we can learn from Bailey’s success with the program. Here are a few points I picked up from Jonathan:

1. Dr. Michael Dirr named the plant. He was testing it in Georgia for Bailey, and he urged them to bring it to market. Jonathan recalls that Dr. Dirr said, “You really ought to introduce that plant. It really is an endless summer-flowerer.”

2. Consumers are buying the whole package, not just the product. “I don’t care what it is,” Jonathan says, “but [the package is] what the consumer is used to purchasing. A plant is no different, but when you’re a horticulturist, you have a hard time trying to figure that out.”

3. That said, “You’ve got to start with a great-quality product,” Jonathan continues. “You can’t put a so-so plant in a colored pot and think that you’re going to sell millions. You’ve got to start with a story. You’ve got to be able to differentiate your story. And it needs to be something they can understand and perceive as being an added value to them. If you can put those things in place, then you’ve got something you can build a brand around.”

4. Endless Summer was found in the yard of one of Bailey’s staff. They noticed that the plant bloomed prolifically every year. It spent 12 years or so in Bailey’s research area, but Bailey’s was primarily a bare-root company and not a hydrangea grower. It wasn’t until Dr. Dirr saw it and said “you’ve got something unique here” that Bailey’s decided to move forward with the plant as a finished crop. Jonathan’s first day on the job six years ago was spent in an Endless Summer planning meeting.

5. Originally it was going to be sold in an ordinary black pot. “I spoke up and said that was crazy,” Jonathan recalls. “It sounded to me like they had a pretty special plant and they ought to do something special with it.” He came up with the blue pot by trial and error, spray painting black pots in his yard until he found the right color.”