Trials and Tribulations

I usually only make it out to California once a year for the California Pack Trials, but the extra trip I'm currently on (yes, I am writing this from the shade of a palm tree at the Ecke Ranch on a beautiful Southern California day) has me thinking back to those frantic two weeks in April and all those plants we oohed and aahed over.

Whatever happened to all those new introductions? Did they make it to production? Did they perform at production? (After all, everything looks great in California in April.) Are they on order lists for the coming spring season? Choosing varieties is a tough decision to make because, for example, much of this year's best introductions are unfamiliar crosses or new species, and even many of the "old standards" often have special production requirements.

So I'm sitting here at a company known for innovations -- a company that takes an active part in offering a lot of new varieties each year -- and I'm wondering what growers are supposed to do about all this great new material available to them. There isn't a single operation in the country large enough or profitable enough to devote all the necessary space to trialing each and every new introduction each year. Are we doomed to make random selections?

Fortunately not. We already have the university trialing system in place, and there are great trials across the country that are accessible to everyone (see page 22 for Part II of the University of Florida spring trial results and page 46 for The Ohio State University's winter pansy and viola trial report). These trials are a great first step, but they're not all we could do. If you visit one of the trials, you get great information on the varieties and how they compare. If you don't visit the trials...

At the risk of stepping on someone's toes, much of the information released from the trials is skewed toward the positive by highlighting just those varieties that performed well; the rest is often not related. We've tried to address this lack of complete information with our annual bedding plant trial reports (see the December issue), which includes charts and reasons why this variety received a high rating while the other didn't.

I guess I'm just wondering if we could do more as an industry? Woody ornamentals do. New introductions are trialed at both universities and arboretums/botanic gardens to get input from more sources and to eliminate biases. I know of several good grower trials that are already in place and would encourage everyone to visit as many trials as you can -- at least until we can get another trialing system worked out.

GPN weekly?

That's right. Based on feedback from many of you, GPN has launched a weekly e-newsletter. To be published 48 weeks out of the year (we figure no one else is working on Christmas and Thanksgiving, why should we!), our e-newsletter will bring subscribers the kind of quality news readers of GPN have come to expect: important developments in horticulture, the latest from our associations and the wider governmental and economic information that will affect our businesses.

This is a totally new concept for horticulture that will fully explore the news that affects, or will affect, all of us, plus give you references to learn more on your own. Included will be second-day looks at some of the recent developments in our industry and how they played out after the initial announcement and tips from industry professionals on operating your business.

Our first issue should have already reached subscribers by the time you read this, but it's never too late to subscribe. Simply go to our Web site, www.gpnmag.com, and click on the link for newsletter subscription.

A quick Thank you

I want to quickly thank the companies that were nice enough to show me around their facilities on my recent trip: Ecke Ranch and EuroAmerican Propagators. I didn't mention before, but I was in California for the Euro open house, which I'll share in more detail with you in next month's news.