Stop Stressing About Perennial Production! (A Panel Discussion)

This episode is a bit different—because it’s a live recording from a panel moderated by host Bill Calkins at the Darwin Perennials Day event in The Gardens at Ball on June 18, 2025. The audio quality is not as good as you’re used to hearing from this podcast, because it’s pulling from microphones in a tent with lunch being served and hundreds of growers in the background chatting about the plants they saw that morning and meetings with more than 30 leading perennial suppliers in the Ball Seed network. That said, the panelists were excellent, and the content is fantastic.

The topic was error correction—common challenges in perennial production that can be easily fixed to avoid running into the same issues year after year. The panel included Chris Fifo from Darwin and PanAmerican Perennials, Drew Koschmann from Walters Gardens and Nathan Jahnke from Ball Seed Technical Services. Some of the frequent pitfalls discussed included best practices for overwintering and bulking perennials, why input selection is critical, evaluating perennial plug and liner quality, managing tough environmental conditions and new research into no-pinch production strategies. We also solicited questions from the crowd and covered about 10 of them before closing.

If you missed this year’s event, that’s OK. Darwin hosts it every year! Mark Wednesday June 17, 2026, on your calendar and come check out the Gardens at Ball with thousands of perennial plants in bloom. As it get closer to the event, you’ll find all the details at https://www.darwinperennialsday.com/.