Attract Foodies To Your Store With These New Edibles
Providing new edibles can be a great way to bring new customers, especially younger ones, into your garden center. From berries to leafy greens to herbs, check out this photo gallery of 11 new edible varieties recently introduced by leading breeders.
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Blackberry ‘Prime-Ark Traveler’ (AgriStarts)
Traveler is primocane fruiting, and has the ability to produce both in summer and fall. It has a very desirable upright growth habit. It produces in Zones 4 to 9.
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Sweetberry Honeysuckle ‘Sugar Mountain Blue’ (Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs)
This is an easy-to-grow, hardy home-grown fruit. Reminiscent of raspberries and blueberries, this new selection from the Czech Republic gives bigger, tastier berries on an easy-to-grow hedge. Much easier to grow than blueberries, this native shrub is super hardy and needs no special soils.
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SimplySalad Kale Storm (PanAmerican Seed)
The first all-kale multi-pellet, SimplySalad includes an attractive mix of textures and colors, including purple, green and blue. It lasts longer in the container than lettuce and won’t bolt, and can also be planted in the ground for an all-season, nutritious harvest.
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Crisphead Lettuce ‘Queen of Crunch’ (Renee’s Garden)
This exclusive variety is perfect for gardeners who love really crispy lettuce. ‘Queen of Crunch’ is a heat-tolerant, sturdy lettuce that grows quickly and matures into attractive heavy rosettes.
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Fig ‘Little Ruby’ (AgriStarts)
A dwarf tree from fig expert Denny McGaughy, ‘Little Ruby’ bears unique maroon-colored, bite-size figs. This petite tree is known to produce two crops a year, even in cool climates. It is cold hardy to the upper 20°F range.
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Thai Basil ‘Sweet Thai’ (Botanical Interests)
Thai basil is a popular herb in Southeast Asian cuisine and is a flavorful garnish served with Vietnamese dishes. It holds its flavor and texture better after cooking than other basil varieties and adds a kick to salads when sliced and eaten fresh. It is a terrific container variety.
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Strawberry ‘Montana’ (ABZ Seeds)
The medium, compact plants of ‘Montana’ produce an abundance of large, snow-white flowers and sweet-flavored fruits during the whole summer. These characteristics make ‘Montana’ well suited for combined culture with the FleuroStar-winning strawberry ‘Toscana.’
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Strawberry ‘Ruby Ann’ (ABZ Seeds)
‘Ruby Ann’ is an eye-catcher with its ruby-red flower color. Compact plants produce a cascade of flowers and sweet fruits during the whole summer. The medium-sized fruits have a typical strawberry-like conical shape. ‘Ruby Ann’ is suitable for hanging baskets in the ornamental market.
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Basil ‘Dolce Fresca’ (PanAmerican Seed)
A 2015 All-America Selections National Winner, this mid-sized plant has a unique bushy habit and shorter internodes to keep it from getting tall and leggy. It maintains a traditional basil flavor and leaf size, but shows better at retail than traditional basils and holds its controlled size in the garden with more usable leaf yields.
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Blueberry ‘BrazelBerries Perpetua’ (Fall Creek Farm & Nursery)
‘BrazelBerries Perpetua’ is a true double-cropping blueberry that sets one crop of fruit in mid-summer and then flowers and fruits a second time to provide ripe fruit in the fall. The leaves are dark green, somewhat shiny and curly or twisted in the spring and summer, turning to deep reds and greens in the winter. The new canes are bright yellow and red in winter. Perpetua has smallish berries that are mild and sweet. It will grow 4 to 5 feet tall with an upright, vase-shaped habit in Zones 4 to 8.
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Lemon Basil (Botanical Interests)
Lemon basil makes a great pesto or chiffonade to top fish or shrimp, is an excellent accompaniment to light pastas and adds a tangy note to citrus or blueberry desserts. It is more compact than many other basil varieties, so it’s perfect in small spaces. It can be grown indoors in a warm, south window.
View all
Blackberry ‘Prime-Ark Traveler’ (AgriStarts)
Sweetberry Honeysuckle ‘Sugar Mountain Blue’ (Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs)
SimplySalad Kale Storm (PanAmerican Seed)
Crisphead Lettuce ‘Queen of Crunch’ (Renee’s Garden)
Fig ‘Little Ruby’ (AgriStarts)
Thai Basil ‘Sweet Thai’ (Botanical Interests)
Strawberry ‘Montana’ (ABZ Seeds)
Strawberry ‘Ruby Ann’ (ABZ Seeds)
Basil ‘Dolce Fresca’ (PanAmerican Seed)
Blueberry ‘BrazelBerries Perpetua’ (Fall Creek Farm & Nursery)
Lemon Basil (Botanical Interests)
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Brian Sparks is senior editor of Greenhouse Grower and editor of Greenhouse Grower Technology. See all author stories here.