Spring is finally here, and you can draw inspiration from the hundreds of new varieties you’ll see at California Spring Trials (CAST) 2016. The annual exodus to the West Coast is coming up, but before you hit the trail, check out the slideshow to see some of the new annuals making their debut to the trade this spring. Because so many annuals are revealed at CAST, we had to build two slideshows — one for the Northern Region and one for the Central Region. Last week’s focus was on the Northern Region, but this week we’re highlighting annuals that will be showcased in the Central Region.
The first red angelonia, a color breakthrough in the class, Archangel features large-size blooms and excellent heat tolerance. This variety is a great season extender.
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Suntotis Arctotis (Suntory Flowers at GroLink, Oxnard, CA)
Suntory has improved arctotis by increasing flower count, reducing leaf size, and making plants more compact with shorter stems and superior branching. Native to South Africa, arctotis thrives in dry conditions. Suntotis debuts with three colors – Orange, Pink, and White.
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Bacopa ‘MegaCopa’ (Burpee, Ball Horticultural Co., Santa Paula, CA)
This new series of bacopa is notable for its well-branched habits, large flowers, and improved heat performance. ‘MegaCopa’ offers a controlled habit that is grower-friendly and offers better centerfill. Large, showy flowers cover the plant, driving impulse sales at retail. (Pictured: MegaCopa Blue)
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Begonia Megawatt (PanAmerican Seed, Ball Horticultural Co., Santa Paula, CA)
Plug into huge growing power with Megawatt, a super-uniform and programmable begonia series that glows with premium, easy color in landscapes, baskets, and big tubs from spring through fall. Its sturdy stems hold flowers above the foliage for superior show.
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Begonia ‘Tweetie Pie’ (Dümmen Orange, BarrelHouse Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA, and Edna Valley Vineyard, San Luis Obispo, CA)
An absolutely striking new begonia just in time for National Garden Bureau’s Year of the Begonia, ‘Unbelievable Tweetie Pie’ from Dümmen Orange is a must for spring and potted programs. This variety features hybrid breeding for better branching and a medium-compact habit. Bright-yellow, double blooms are prolific and pop against dark-green foliage.
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Calendula Power Daisy (Kientzler at Windmill Nursery, Buellton, CA)
Calendula Power Daisy is shaping up to be one of Kientzler North America’s featured introductions. This plant was bred by David Kerley, who normally focuses on petunia breeding. Calendula Power Daisy is a sterile line of calendula with longevity of blooming and handles spring cold temperatures and early summer heat. Expect to see this product in gallon containers to 8-inch pots to hanging baskets.
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Calibrachoa Aloha Ultra Yellow (Dümmen Orange, BarrelHouse Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA, and Edna Valley Vineyard, San Luis Obispo, CA)
‘Aloha Ultra Yellow’ is a top performer with large flowers and a trailing habit. A new introduction for 2017 from Dümmen Orange, this vivid variety is ideal for basket production and pairs especially well with reds, purples, and oranges.
A new orange variety adds to the Cabaret series, to provide a full-color series that is super-uniform and easy to produce and ship all colors at the same time. It’s a great choice for calibrachoa mixes.
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Calibrachoa ‘Cruze Red Delicious’ (Green Fuse Botanicals, Santa Paula, CA)
The Cruze series has extra-large flowers and is bred to possess a more mounded plant form. They fill hanging baskets quickly and play well with other genera in mixed containers. New this year is a red and burgundy colored selection called Red Delicious. Finish height is 4 to 6 inches.
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Calibrachoa StarShine (Selecta, Ball Horticultural Co., Santa Paula, CA)
This new calibrachoa series features novelty colors that are truly striking in hanging baskets. StarShine has a stable star pattern and strong garden performance, and it’s grower-friendly, too.
Cannova is the first seed-grown F1 canna series that offers a wide range of strong, solid colors, including new Orange Shades and Mango for 2017.
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Catharanthus Soiree (Suntory Flowers at GroLink, Oxnard, CA)
Completely transforming the common vinca, Soiree catharanthus debuted last year with three series: Soiree Crown, Soiree Double, and Soiree Ka-wa-i-i. New colors for 2017 are Double Orchid, a light bluish purple color, and Ka-wa-i-i Pure White and Ka-wa-i-i Pink Peppermint.
The Twisted series of celosia offers outstanding, bold colors that meet the demand for distinctive varieties in the marketplace. New for 2017 is ‘Twisted Orange,’ a great choice for fall color or mum programs.
This variety adds depth to coleus programs with the addition of a bold pink center. The familiar pattern resembles seed coleus, but more vigorous and much later flowering.
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Under The Sea Coleus Collection (Hort Couture at GroLink, Oxnard, CA)
Six new varieties in the Under the Sea Collection are truly dwarf varieties. Sea Monkey is a group of dwarf coleus that are perfect in small container gardens, terrariums, and fairy gardens. There are three colors: Apricot, Purple, and Rust. The Sea Urchin varieties have mophead foliage and are very compact. There are three colors in this collection: Neon, Red, and Copper.
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Fuseables Paradise Island (PanAmerican Seed, Ball Horticultural Co., Santa Paula, CA)
As the first Fuseables multi-pellet seed combo to contain the first seed calibrachoas, Paradise Island includes ‘Kabloom Yellow’ plus ‘Kabloom Denim and Rose.’
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Garvinea Sweet Caroline in border
Intensive plant breeding, interspecific hybridization, and tissue culture propagation have combined to make Garvinea Sweets the first truly carefree garden gerbera with an excellent rebloom habit. Sweet Caroline produces large, summery-orange flowers for plenty of color to enjoy. Blooming from early spring until late fall, they generate four to five times more flowers than other daisies to brighten your garden and container plantings.
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Gerbera Garvinea Sweet Memories
Intensive plant breeding, interspecific hybridization, and tissue culture propagation have combined to make Garvinea Sweets the first truly carefree garden gerbera with an excellent rebloom habit. Sweet Memories is the sweetest color in the assortment, with big, light-pink flowers and a crested white ring around the center, this variety blooms from early spring until late fall.
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Impatiens SunStanding Series (Dümmen Orange, BarrelHouse Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA, and Edna Valley Vineyard, San Luis Obispo, CA)
A standout solution for grower and landscape programs, the SunStanding series of New Guinea Impatiens from Dümmen Orange has been carefully selected for compact uniformity without PGR requirements. Brand new, vibrant color selections for 2017 complement the already diverse color assortment. The assortment is flexible in application and thrives in a wide variety of planting locations.
Bright Coral is an important bold color introduction for the series. Bounce provides a shade alternative with the habit and flower count of standard impatiens, with downy mildew resistance and proven performance in sun and heat.
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Isotoma ‘Fizz-N-Pop Glowing Violet’ (PlantHaven at GroLink, Oxnard, CA)
Outrageous, large, five-petaled flowers in an iridescent violet purple tone have cheery, yellow eyes, and bloom from summer to fall atop cut foliage with feathery, mid-green leaves. This plant’s tidy, compact, rounded habit reaches 12 inches in height and spread, and grows best in full sun to part shade. With nectar-rich blooms, it’s great for beneficial pollinating insects, and thrives in containers, borders, and planted en masse in the landscape.
The Lucky series of lantana stands up to heat, drought, and other stressful conditions. The new Red is a striking hot red. Lucky is part of the Season Extender collection for Ball FloraPlant.
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Suntory Lobelias (Suntory Flowers at GroLink, Oxnard, CA)
New breeding for heat and weather tolerance have made lobelias an essential, versatile vegetative annual. Suntory has two series: Suntory Lobelia Trailing and Suntory Lobelia Compact. New varieties include Trailing Purple with Eye and an improved Compact White.
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Nemesia ‘Nessie Plus Berry Delight’ (Kientzler at Windmill Nursery, Buellton, CA)
Nemesia ‘Nessie Plus Berry Delight’ is a unique, strawberry bicolor plant. Berry Delight’s size performs well with other Nessie Plus varieties. It’s a great cultivar to grow in 6-inch or gallon containers, as well as baskets.
The popular bicolor trend is now available in premium spreading/trailing Cool Wave pansies. Cool Wave has superior overwintering as one of the earliest pansies to return in spring, and nicely fills out trailing and filling containers.
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Pericallis ‘Senetti Ruby Red’ (Suntory Flowers at GroLink, Oxnard, CA)
Ruby Red is a breakthrough color in Senetti pericallis, which is best known for vivid blues, purples, and magentas. Ruby Red’s flowers have solid, deep wine-red petals with dark centers. Plants match the original Senetti series in growth habit.
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Petunia ColorRush (Ball FloraPlant, Ball Horticultural Co., Santa Paula, CA)
A new vegetative petunia series with big vigor and even bigger garden performance, ‘ColorRush’ provides mounds of color and holds up in the heat and rain. It is ideal for landscapes and large baskets.
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Petunia ‘Good and Plenty Bubbilicious’ (Green Fuse Botanicals, Santa Paula, CA)
Bubbilicious showcases a bright-pink flower that will highlight any container or garden. The Good and Plenty line is early to flower with a mounded, semi-trailing habit. This versatile series can be finished in 4-inch containers to 13-inch hanging baskets. Finish height is 4 to 6 inches.
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Petunia ‘Night Sky’ (Selecta, Ball Horticultural Co., Santa Paula, CA)
Selecta’s new Petunia ’Night Sky’ boldly goes where no petunia has gone before with a never-seen-before bloom pattern. ‘Night Sky’ matches the Headliner petunia habit and timing. It makes its official debut at California Spring Trials 2016.
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Petunia ‘QT Red’ (Green Fuse Botanicals, Santa Paula, CA)
The Petunia QT line is ideal for finishing in quart-size containers. They have a mounded, rounded plant habit and continue to hold their shape for an extended period of time, even as the plants mature. The QT selections are extremely floriferous with medium-sized flowers. Finish height is 3 to 5 inches.
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Petunia ‘Surfinia Heartbeat’ (Suntory Flowers at GroLink, Oxnard, CA)
‘Surfinia Heartbeat’ is an adorable novelty -- white flowers with a pattern of pink hearts. The hearts grow with love, care, and adequate fertilizer. Plants have a compact mounding and trailing habit and are charming in hanging baskets, containers and window boxes.
An addition to the Surfinia Sumo landscape class of petunias is Sumo Glacial Pink. Blooms are a light, frosty pink with vibrant pink throats. Vigorous plants create mounds of color that are perfect for landscape beds and very large containers.
This exciting new introduction adds a spark to the Hot Shot series. Flambeau Rose shows off a bright rose flower on its cream and green variegated foliage. Purslane are heat and drought tolerant, so include this item in combinations.
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Rex Begonia ‘Jurassic Red Splash’ (Ball Ingenuity, Ball Horticultural Co., Santa Paula, CA)
The Jurassic series of Rex Begonias is expanding with more unique, deep-shade foliage begonia offerings. Red Splash has a bit of sheen, and the plants are said to offer the same large foliage and outstanding garden performance as the rest of the series.
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Salvia splendens ‘Grandstand Red Pink Lipstick’ (Green Fuse Botanicals, Santa Paula, CA)
Grandstands are magnets for nectar-loving birds and butterflies. They grow into stately and full plants that remain in flower from early spring (day-neutral) until autumn frost. The new addition for 2016, Red Pink Lipstick has an exciting bicolor flower (hot rose-colored caylx contrasting the red flower). Finish height is 18 to 24 inches.
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Scaevola Surdiva (Suntory Flowers at GroLink, Oxnard, CA)
Suntory is rolling out a whole new generation of Surdiva scaevolas. Varieties are two weeks earlier, more densely branched and compact, and offer richer colors and superior floral coverage. Three new colors include Light Blue, Blue Violet, and Fashion Pink.
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Tagetes ‘Fireball’ (PanAmerican Seed, Ball Horticultural Co., Santa Paula, CA)
‘Fireball’ marigold offers multi-color blooms on the same plant. The flowers open red, then turn fiery bronze and dark gold as they mature. An all-new look for premium packs, pots, or decorative containers.
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Trixi Combos (Selecta, Ball Horticultural Co., Santa Paula, CA)
All Trixi combos are high-impact and well-balanced. There are six new and five improved mixes for 2017. (Pictured: Salt Water Taffy)
We asked breeders to share with us pictures and information on some of the great new annuals introductions they will debut at CAST 2016. They didn’t let you down. These new annuals introductions have all the great characteristics you’ve come to rely on from breeders — excellent branching, good uniformity, flower power, and most important, long-lasting garden performance. Which ones will you incorporate into spring production for 2017?
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In the coming weeks, you can also see new blooming potted plants, perennials, and woody ornamentals that will be presented at this year’s California Spring Trials. Also, look for our March issue to see these varieties, up close and personal, in Greenhouse Grower magazine.
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If you’re planning on attending California Spring Trials, find out how to make your appointments to visit breeder locations.
And don’t forget to join us for daily coverage of the 2017 California Spring Trials. Whether you make the trip or not, you can virtually hit the California Spring Trials trail with the editors of Greenhouse Grower. Editor Laura Drotleff and Managing Editor Janeen Wright, together with Dr. Allan Armitage, will visit every stop to bring you the latest varieties and breaking news. Subscribe to Greenhouse Grower‘s Benchrunner eNewsletter to make sure you get our daily updates while in California, April 8-14. In addition to our popular slideshows, full of photos and descriptions of the most exciting new varieties, we’ll also provide the latest news and industry insider perspectives on new introductions.
015California Spring Trials Central Region Preview: More New Annuals For 2017
March 15, 2016 
