Editors’ Pick of the Pack

In order to get good coverage, GPN’s editors took the divide and conquer method — Brandi tackled the Northern sites and Bridget took the South. The following recommendations reflect this division. Those companies in the North were reviewed by Brandi, the south by Bridget. Our thanks goes out to all the host companies for their hospitality.

Southern California Breeders

Ball FloraPlant. With over 100 new varieties this year, you might think it would be hard to pick a couple of plants that stood out, but everyone in my group went crazy over the new Bacopa introductions, specifically the Jamesbrittenia Bacopa Breeze series. Fuller than Sutera Bacopas, Jamesbrittenia Bacopas make full, attractive stand-alone baskets. They feature good heat tolerance and a nicely mounding habit that leaves no bare centers. Available in Indigo, Lavender, Pink and Upright White.

The new Bacopa Breeze collection, as well as the Sutera-type Abundas, is part of Ball’s recently introduced Fall Color Program, a new marketing program that seeks to help growers capitalize on the popularity of fall gardening. Ball has gathered together plants that fit our ideas of fall, both in their color options as well as their environmental needs, and are providing growers the marketing and cultural information to move these plants at retail.

Benary. Maybe it’s the bright colors or the large flowers or the sheer variety, but in my mind, Benary’s annual Rudbeckias are the best available. Offerings include eight Fleuroselect winners and one AAS winner (see GPN May 2002 for full coverage). From the pale yellow florets of ‘Toto Lemon’ to the bronze and reds bursts in ‘Autumn Colors’, it’s all here. Benary offers five new Rudbeckias this year and one improvement: ‘Toto Lemon’, ‘Toto Rustic’, ‘Cordoba’, ‘Prairie Sun’, ‘Autumn Colors’ and ‘Goldilocks’ Improved.

One more quick mention from Benary is a new program they are calling FastraX. FastraX refers to a line of perennials that are easy to produce and flower without vernalization the first year from seed. With no extra cost for vernalization and quicker crop times, this program should allow more growers to make more money with perennials. Not all Benary perennials are in the FastraX program; your sales rep can detail the offerings.

Bodger Botanicals. Consumers go for the new and exciting; produce an odd new plant, and they’re excited. So what makes Bodger’s new pentas line so interesting? Because it’s the exact opposite. Amid all of the new forms and colors, pentas are a welcome bit of nostalgia, and Bodger’s pentas are outstanding. Available in pink (shown), rose, white (shown) and cerise, the Lava series features large plants with sturdy stems so the extra large flowers do not need staking, making these a perfect landscape plant. These are not your grandmother’s pentas — they are best in 4- to 6-inch production and should bring a premium.

EuroAmerican Propagators. Capitalizing on one of the biggest new gardening trends in years, EuroAmerican has developed a line they call “Black Magic and Purple Passion” — a collection of plants with dark foliage or flowers. Varieties include Ajuga reptans ‘Mahogany’, Coleus hybrid ‘Merlot’, Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Magic’, Graptophyllum pictum ‘Black Beauty’, Ipomoea batatas ‘Black Heart’ and Trifolium repens ‘Dark Dancer’. Debuting with six foliage/component plants, the line is expected to rapidly expand over the next few years, adding different textures and colors to the palette. With colors ranging from burgundy to purple to nearly black, this line should gain quick acceptance for the contrast it offers to standard green component plants, as well as the way it highlights bright colors like yellow and white.

Fischer. Known for their geraniums and New Guineas, Fischer did not disappoint this year. Fourteen geraniums and fifteen New Guineas were introduced, including what many believe is the biggest introduction in New Guineas since…well, since forever. Though circumstances didn’t allow Fischer to have a live specimen of their breakthrough yellow New Guinea at the Pack Trials, I was fortunate enough to see it last month and can tell you that it deserves all the hype. ‘Vision Yellow’s’ pale-yellow flowers are contrasted against dark green leaves for a totally new look.

With all the brightly colored New Guineas and geraniums around, it’s kind of hard to focus on something like packaging — after all, it’s not very “sexy”—but you need to hear about Fischer’s ener-G propagation system. Designed of heavy, 60-mil strips, the cells feature vertical ribs to direct root growth downward and into the plug and open bottoms for easier pruning. According to Fischer, ener-G plugs will cut 5-7 days off crop time.

GroLink. What could possibly be exciting about a mum? Innovation, irreverence, exploration. The past couple of years, GroLink has been gaining U.S. marketshare with varieties that are redefining the way we Á think about chrysanthemums. Their new leaf types, flower shapes and colors have been a much-needed boost to the sagging pot mum market. This year’s introductions show GroLink embracing traits and forms that don’t fall into the “traditional” mum category. One of the most interesting shapes at the trial featured clusters of flowers held upright over the foliage to form a tight flower canopy. And for you old mum growers out there, yes, these plants had been disbudded; this is just a different look in mums. Offerings include ‘Movie Time’ and ‘Babe Time’.

Oglevee. One sure indication that a plant is making a comeback is several breeders with new color introductions, and this year, we saw at least three breeders with new regals. While this certainly isn’t a new category, the new introductions will make you totally forget the gangly, overgrown, sporadic-blooming beasts in your past. The most notable of this year’s new regal geraniums has to be Oglevee’s ‘Elegance Pink Chiffon’. The soft pink flowers have darker throats and epitomize the elegance characteristic of this plant type. Elegance Pink Chiffon has very large flowers and will grab attention at retail, especially when presented in larger formats.

Pan American. Pan American has put a lot of marketing muscle behind the Wave petunia, and consumers do recognize the brand. But every grower with Waves on their bench knows what a challenge they are to grow — very prostrate plants immediately send out runners, and the bench becomes a tangled mess. Not anymore. The next generation, the Easy Wave, promises ease of flowering and a more controlled habit during production. According to PanAmerican, Easy Wave petunias mound during production and only start the characteristic Wave spread at retail or in the landscape. Color options include Pink, Cherry, Shell Pink and White.

If you still need some control on the Easy Waves, PanAmerican has another new offering this year. They have collected together a seed culture research package that gives specific advice on PGR applications, light exposure and daylength requirements. This is not general culture information; it is quick, specific instructions for producing the best crop — “Apply B9 weekly at 5,000 ppm to Easy Wave to control plant size and promote branching.”

Paul Ecke Ranch. If you’re looking for a single genera with a wide color range, different flower forms and untapped market potential, you need to be looking at Ecke’s Argyranthemums. Six new additions to the line make for a total of nine offerings that range from white to hot pink and single to triple, and the daisy look of these plants is a consumer favorite. Features include an upright, mounding habit and good garden performance, and because Agyranthemums grow well under cool conditions, they are a great season extender. New varieties include ‘Bright Carmine’, ‘Strawberry Pink’, ‘Sunlight’, ‘Blazer Rose’, ‘Sugar Cheer’ and ‘White Crystal’.

Proven Winners. Thirty-six new varieties with four new genera made for an appealing presentation, and from my perspective, the osteos Á stole the show. PW adds two new color offerings to their popular Symphony series, ‘Peach Symphony’ and ‘Vanilla Symphony’, and even before its introduction, you can tell how successful the peach is going to be. The dark purple throat contrasted against the lighter petals make for a catching display, and as an added bonus, petals darken nicely with age from a creamy white to almost peach. Peach and Vanilla fit in nicely with the rest of the series, offering heat tolerance and a mounding habit.

Selecta Klemm. Among the great new Calibrachoa, New Guinea and geranium colors Selecta presented, their new direction in potted carnation breeding deserves some of the spotlight. Starting with next year’s introductions, this effort, started several years ago, will become more standardized as like colors are introduced in three sizes: compact, medium and vigorous. Pictured are some of the varieties to be released next year illustrating the different habits. This year’s pot carnation introductions include ‘Peggy’, ‘Hobbit’ and ‘Sarah’.

Twyford. If Calibrachoas have been a hot category, then Twyford’s new introductions are going to make the market sizzle. The new colors in the Starlette series, ‘Starlette Rose Pink’ and ‘Starlette Deep Yellow’ are nice, solid-shaded vivid colors, and next year’s introduction ‘Starlette Terra Cotta’ might be the best Calibrachoa color on the market. The variation from bright pink through peach to yellow will make an irresistible basket. The best of Twyford’s Calis, though, is a new line of minis being introduced this year with ‘Milky Way Light Blue’. Plants have a nice, mounding habit and are covered in blooms, and to make it nice for growers, they are very daylength neutral.

Northern California Breeders

American Takii. From afar it was apparent that American Takii is proud of its pansy collection, as a rainbow-shaped planting design drew the eye toward their multi-colored selection of these traditional favorites. Your eyes may glaze over at the mention of yet another new pansy, but Takii’s F1 Nature Series — a collection of mini pansies —deserves recognition.

Though a preexisting series, one of three new colors really caught my eye because I had not seen an orange pansy as strong as ‘Nature Orange’. The Nature series features the hardiness and free-flowering characteristics of a viola, along with earliness, a compact but vigorous habit and constant color. The series is also good for both spring and fall flowering in pots, packs and containers. Available in nine colors and a formula mix.

Dæhnfeldt. When you think of Denmark-based Dæhnfeldt, you naturally think gerberas, a category that continues to Á grow in popularity. If you’ve seen enough of Dæhnfeldt’s marketing materials, you probably also think of the Festival series’ signature ladybug logo. New to this series are spider-flowered varieties, in Yellow Orange, Salmon Red Shades and a Spider Mix. I was particularly enamored of the playful flowers in the Spider Mix, whose hues vary from a pale pink to yellow to red. These varieties exhibit Festival characteristics, including a 95-percent germination rate, uniform seedlings and a tight flowering window, saving labor in hand-selecting finished plants. This series also offers point-of-sale materials that present a selling advantage to retail customers.

A new Dæhnfeldt gerbera feature this year is the Festival Pro Coat seed coating, which helps avoid “double sows” and increases sowing efficiency by making seed separation easier by hand or automatic seeders. Pro Coat also decreases dusty conditions for the seeder and provides good visibility — bright yellow — in the plug tray.

Golden State Bulb Growers. Comprehensive would be the best word to describe Golden State’s calla trial. Though they only featured four new varieties, the way they had each variety organized — existing and new — made this trial rigorous. Each variety was represented in three tiers to indicate the target customer — florist, garden center and big box — so you could see differences in the tubers used.

My favorite was ‘Fire Glow’, with red-burgundy along the outer spathe that fades into a yellow-cream toward the center. The blooms, measuring 1 3/4-2 3/4 inches in diameter by 2 1/2-3 1/2 inches deep, are smoothly wrapped and well rounded. Foliage is full and somewhat upright, with arrow-shaped leaves that have variable spotting.

Fire Glow was one of four varieties that showcased Golden State’s new High Input Potted Product (HIPP) program. HIPP offers the most vigorous and cleanest-possible stock and allows the product to be tailored to the pot producer’s needs. Plants are more compact; require less Bonzi; produce an exceptionally high number of breaks with more, yet smaller, flowers; and allow the grower to get more plant using a smaller tuber.

Goldsmith. Goldsmith always puts on a good show, and the number of new varieties they had to offer this year — both vegetative and seed — was nothing short of amazing. The editor’s pick from Goldsmith was a difficult one, but I couldn’t help returning to visit the new line of vegetative, trailing snapdragons, the ‘Dragon’ series. The favorite color: ‘Dragon Bronze’, with dainty, salmon-orange flowers with bronzy centers. These varieties were bred to be earlier, offer uniformity in flowering time and feature a mounding habit covered with blooms. They’re ideal for 4-inch pots, larger containers and hanging baskets. All colors — Bronze, Light Pink, Pink, Rose, Ivory, Crimson, Yellow, Magenta and White — appeared uniform in flower coverage at the trial, although habits range from compact to vigorous.

Kieft Seeds. Kieft Seeds had 33 new varieties at the trials this year, including a new series of gerbera called ‘Revolution’ and many additions to their Prime Perennial Collection. My preference, however, was for an annual — the new Celosia ‘Kosmo Purple Red’. A genetically dwarf, spicata-type celosia, this long-flowering variety is perfect for 4-inch pots and packs. It has a central spike surrounded by many smaller spikes that creates bursts of color above deep green foliage. Purple Red does not require growth regulator or pinching and has good shelf life, color stability and excellent transport quality.

S&G Flowers. Bedding plants don’t have to be an old, tired category when the color is as vibrant as the Florever series we saw at S&G. Bred to be pollen-free, these geraniums don’t set seed so they flower continuously, from summer into fall. Early flowering gets plants off the bench early, and uniform flowering time makes shipping easy. Four colors are offered, including Deep Rose, Red, Salmon and Violet — the color that had the greatest “wow” factor. Violet is so bright it’s practically neon and has deep green foliage with a dark zone.

S&G also has a new Web site for placing and checking orders at GreenDemon.net. It emails your order confirmation in approximately 10 minutes, allows you to change orders and automatically filters out items that are no longer available.

Sakata. Who can resist ranunculus? Sakata added a new color to their F1 Hybrid Bloomingdale Series, Purple Shades, the 12th member of this group. This series was bred for short, sturdy flower stems with large, full, double flowers and small foliage. The plants are genetically dwarf and suitable for pots, patios and landscaping. Ranunculus love cool weather and will flower before most bedding plants, which will help save on heating costs.

Suntory. New calibrachoa appear to be popping up everywhere, but Suntory’s new ‘Cosmos Pink’ was particularly enrapturing with its mauvy, 1-inch flowers. With a perky, upright habit, Cosmos Pink’s form is identical to that of the golden yellow ‘Terra Cotta’. Also new to this series are ‘Red’, whose flowers are slightly smaller than Cosmos Pink, and ‘Trailing Red Purple’, whose trailing habit makes it perfect for containers and hanging baskets. All varieties in the Million Bells series bloom profusely into fall, have self-cleaning flowers and are hardy to 15° F.

Yoder Brothers. While Yoder is known for its pot and garden chrysanthemums, this company has many other great varieties that are gaining exposure through the Flower Fields brand, include angelonia, bacopa, calibrachoa and nemesia, as well as my pick — their dwarf dahlias, Dahlietta and Dahlinova. The most striking of the 10 new cultivars in this group was ‘Dahlietta Patricia’, which has a light orange flower with red variable stripes and spots, and medium-green foliage. The extra-large, double blooms on this plant grow up to three inches, will continue throughout the summer and are ideal for 4- to 5-inch pots or combination planters.