Travels on Highway 101, Part I

Pack trials this year seemed a lot like our national outlook: cautious and playing to its strengths. There was a lot of wonderful material, but it was toned down a bit from last year. There seemed to be more improvements on existing series, and fewer off-the-wall new plant introductions. Guess that is to be expected given the economic climate of 2003.

I feel very fortunate to be able to work in the new crops area of our industry; however, by three days into pack trials, I found myself more interested in the display containers than in the plants that fill the pots. This year was a tough one for the marginals I like so much.

Regardless of my preferences, I'll be the first to admit we wouldn't have an industry if it weren't for the generic bedding material; it just gets a little hard to compare very similar plants at different locations and then remember why this red (insert generic crop) is so vastly different from the other 15 red (insert generic crop) series you saw yesterday. Pack Trials attendees are treated to a mind-numbing array of improved geraniums, New Guinea impatiens, bedding impatiens, begonias, vincas, petunias, etc. -- all of which are very good.

Sorting out differences between plants became even more important this year, as I was touring with the editors from GPN, some of which were getting their first exposure to the diversity of our industry. By the end of day two, everyone was overloaded with cultivar names and struggling to get through to the real issues involved with all these crops.

Almost everyone we saw had a good representation of plant materials, but color and name aside, the real issues come down to crop scheduling, time to flower, patented or unpatented materials, and specific production requirements. By the end of Pack Trials, both Pooh and June (names changed to protect the innocent) were asking the right questions. It is really a matter of cutting to the chase or drowning in information that, in the end, isn't critical. It was a real education to travel with the GPN crew, and I earned a new name "Richard Cranium," I think because I was the resident "know-it-all."

Sunsatia Nemesia

This series of nemesia from Proven Winners reports combining the colors of the old Nemesia strumosa with the hardiness of the Nemesia fruticans group. In summary, while the N. fruticans group is tougher and easier to produce, it is limited to shades of blue and pink. While the N. strumosa group has a broader color range that includes reds and oranges, it requires such cool conditions that its uses are limited.

The Sunsatia series has a brilliant crimson, as well as yellow and white tones. Plants are a bit finer textured than N. strumosa, but with large flowers and strong growth. I think this series will definitely open up this crop to growers who might not have tried it before. For Southern growers, this entire genus has huge potential as a winter flowering plant. We are currently trialing some of the Sunsatia in our spring trials. While they are doing well, our heat has already begun to kick in, and it will be interesting to see how much they can handle. Northern growers would have a much longer spring season to work with, and these plants are easy to produce!

The Sunsatia series currently includes: 'Sunsatia Banana', a medium yellow; 'Sunsatia Coconut', a cream; 'Sunsatia Cranberry', a cranberry red; 'Sunsatia Lemon', a bright yellow; 'Sunsatia Peach', a light yellow and soft violet bicolor; and 'Sunsatia Pineapple', a pale yellow.

Intensia phlox

OK, we use Phlox drummondii for a highway wildflower here in Florida, and I was a little skeptical of what this series might do. So far, they are one of the stars of our spring trials and have been in constant flower since planted March 31. Intensia from Proven Winners is basically a larger flowered hybrid with a slightly grayer leaf color and a prostrate growth habit. All varieties in the series are compact, low growing and spreading. The entire canopy is covered in blooms and has been for six weeks. Intensia has sailed through our 90º F heat wave and continue to show no signs of losing steam.

This is another easy and very rewarding crop to grow, as it began flowering quickly and would have a very short crop time. Again, primarily a spring crop, but it will be interesting to see how much heat it'll take when the summer rains kick in, and I hope they will have enough frost tolerance to enter the winter season market as well.

Verbascum

Verbascum, common name Wooly Mullein (Verbascum thapsus), has species native to almost every state in the union. These are great drought-tolerant, upright-flowering plants that deserve the attention we give foxgloves and delphinium, whose growth habit they share. Verbascum have little to no chilling requirement, prefer poor soils in the landscape and can be grown by anyone enterprising enough to try them out. An advantage over their more popular cousins is that they have a strong foliage interest, as well as beautiful flowers. The more unimproved species have small flowers on upright spikes over silvery Á foliage. In most flowering cultivars, you'll find the silver hairs reduced and the flower colors from red, purple and pink into yellow and white.

I found two verbascum at this year's Pack Trials. The first is Verbascum bombicyferum from Benary. With silver foliage and a strong rosette shape, this plant makes a beautiful foliage accent. The second is the 'Southern Charm' series (hybrids of Verbascum phoeniceum) from PanAmerican Seed. The series is actually sold as a cut flower mix but can be produced in 1-gal. containers. Colors in the series range from white through purple reds and are very attractive. A side note, backpackers use Verbascum thapsus as toilet paper, so even if your crop doesn't sell, it always has a backup use! Just kidding, but as with any new crop, start small and grow the crop once you have the market for it.

Next Month

Recommending new crops can always be a little tough, especially for a marginal crops guy like me. Hope you find these few varieties useful. They really are winners. I'll be highlighting additional varieties next month.