New Tropical and Foliage Plants That Offer Hidden Benefits
Tropical and foliage plants can offer extra paybacks to your customers with health-promoting benefits like filtering the air, reducing stress, and absorbing noise. Studies show that being around plants can help people concentrate in the home and workplace. One study conducted in 2008 by psychology researchers Marc Berman, John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan at the University of Michigan found that memory performance and attention spans improved by 20 percent after people spent an hour interacting with nature. And researchers believe that plants can help with mental fatigue. Therefore, offering tropical and foliage plants for the home and landscape has hidden benefits that offer added value to your customers. Consider these new varieties for your product mix in 2017.
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Alstroemeria ‘Rock & Roll’ (Anthony Tesselaar Plants)
The variegated foliage of Alstroemeria ‘Rock and Roll’ is a distinctive yellow fading to white with a green edge, while the flowers are a brilliant red. This color combination — green, white, and red — make ‘Rock and Roll’ ideal as an occasion plant for Christmas and an attractive, long-lasting specimen as a cut flower. ‘Rock and Roll’ flowers from spring through early autumn, providing an eye-catching display of flowers and foliage that stand out in any surrounding.
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Begonia ‘Harmony’s ‘Ray Glo’ (Ag3, Inc.)
This compact growing rhizomatous begonia is a superb year-round performer. In cooler temperatures, it is bright chartreuse with red to burgundy spots. Warmer temperatures bring out an orange to red blush. Growing 18 inches high and 24 inches wide, 'Ray Glo' is great for containers and the landscape.
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Canna ‘Cannova Bronze Scarlet’ (Ball Ingenuity)
The earliest of the new cannas grown from seed, Bronze Scarlet adds interest to the garden from May to October. Its large bronze leaves contrast spectacularly against scarlet, lily-like flowers. Reaching 30 to 45 inches tall, these fast growing, well-branched, upright dwarf plants impart color, texture, and vertical interest to the border, patio, and landscape. In larger mixed containers, Bronze Scarlet will make a dynamic thriller. It is offered through Eason Horticultural Resources and Ball Seed.
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Colocasia ‘Aloha’ (Plant Haven)
This sturdy, well-branched selection has medium-dark, glossy foliage with attractive contrasting light green veins and mid-ribs. It is held on sturdy stems. The breeder thinks it is a tetraploid, which gives it extra hardiness and vigor. Plants are hardy to Zone 7b and have great full-sun performance. Use them in containers, garden borders, and mass landscape plantings.
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Colocasia ‘Tropical Storm’ (Plant Haven)
‘Tropical Storm’ has small, dark foliage with bold, central white markings. It is held on dark stems and has a great multiple clumping habit. Plants work well for premium gallon containers, due to their small mature size (ultimately 24 inches by 24 inches). ‘Tropical Storm’ has good seasonal interest and is hardy to Zone 7b. Similar to other Royal Hawaiian selections, when it is cut back more shoots that are lateral will emerge.
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Cordyline ‘Festival Raspberry’ (Anthony Tesselaar Plants)
‘Festival Raspberry’ is a compact, clump-forming cordyline that cascades into a round-ball shape. It has strappy burgundy foliage with a bright raspberry edge. It is ideal to plant either in a pot or as a dramatic color highlight with other plants in gardens and landscapes. ‘Festival Raspberry’ grows in full morning sun and is a great shade plant. It is hardy in Zones 8 to 11.
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Dieffenbachia 'Tropic Marianne' (Ag3, Inc.)
This fast growing, sturdy ‘dumb-cane plant’ will brighten up any area. Dark-green margins surround a bright-yellow center with some green highlights in its venation. 'Tropic Marianne' grows to 3 feet high and 2 feet wide. It grows best indoors or on a shaded patio.
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Dipladenia ‘Sundenia Coral’ (Suntory Flowers)
‘Sundenia Coral’ features a unique new flower color and has 3- to 4-inch blooms that are a brilliant rich pink with red undertones and contrasting golden yellow throats. Sundenias have high flower counts and a long bloom time from late spring until freezing temperatures in the fall. Plants work well for patio pots and hanging baskets. ‘Sundenia Coral’ is offered by Eason Horticultural Resources.
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Dipladenia ‘Sundenia Crimson’ (Suntory Flowers)
Sundenia Dipladenias produce larger, mandevilla-sized flowers on compact dipladenia growth. ‘Sundenia Crimson’ joins the line, bringing a deeper color than ‘Sundenia Red’ does. It works well for pots or hanging baskets, and can be trained to a trellis or grown as a full, bushy plant.
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Hibiscus ‘Disco Belle Rosy Red’ (Sakata Ornamentals)
‘Disco Belle Rosy Red’ is a compact hibiscus, growing 24 to 32 inches tall with saucer-sized flowers up to 8 inches across. It is a great choice for consumers looking for big color in smaller spaces. It can be grown in areas with a short summer season, and plants are highly useful for growing in large pots or gallon containers.
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Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Fiesta’ (Monrovia)
‘Fiesta’ has vibrant, two-tone, orange-colored blooms with crinkled edges. During the bloom period, the eye zone changes to a blush red on a white background. ‘Fiesta’ is a tropical evergreen shrub in Zones 10 to 11 that features excellent bud/bloom count throughout the summer. It is offered through Eason Horticultural Resources.
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Mandevilla ‘Sun Parasol Pure White’ (Suntory Flowers)
‘Sun Parasol Pure White’ features elegant pure-white flowers. Even the throats are white instead of yellow. Pure White joins the Sun Parasol Giant Group. Its flowers span 3 to 5 inches. Plants are natural climbers and thrive in the heat, putting on a sensational show all summer.
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Nephrolepsis exaltata Boston Fern (Vitro Plus)
Boston Fern is distinguished by its vigorous growth. It will fill up the pot quickly and keeps doing this even after older leaves start dropping. This fern is actually the origin of many other Nephrolepis varieties that were created later through mutation. This fern is better known as ‘True Boston.’ The fronds of ‘True Boston’ do grow a little more hanging than the ones from ‘Nevada,’ for some basket growers this could make a difference when choosing ‘True Boston.’
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Nephrolepsis exaltata ‘Nevada’ (Vitro Plus)
'Nevada’ has a lovely dark-green color and does well when planted in larger pots. It has a rapid growth habit, uniformity, and sturdy, erect fronds. Although not fully hardy, 'Nevada' will thrive on the patio.
View all
Alstroemeria ‘Rock & Roll’ (Anthony Tesselaar Plants)
Begonia ‘Harmony’s ‘Ray Glo’ (Ag3, Inc.)
Canna ‘Cannova Bronze Scarlet’ (Ball Ingenuity)
Colocasia ‘Aloha’ (Plant Haven)
Colocasia ‘Tropical Storm’ (Plant Haven)
Cordyline ‘Festival Raspberry’ (Anthony Tesselaar Plants)
Dieffenbachia 'Tropic Marianne' (Ag3, Inc.)
Dipladenia ‘Sundenia Coral’ (Suntory Flowers)
Dipladenia ‘Sundenia Crimson’ (Suntory Flowers)
Hibiscus ‘Disco Belle Rosy Red’ (Sakata Ornamentals)
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Fiesta’ (Monrovia)
Mandevilla ‘Sun Parasol Pure White’ (Suntory Flowers)
Nephrolepsis exaltata Boston Fern (Vitro Plus)
Nephrolepsis exaltata ‘Nevada’ (Vitro Plus)
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Brian Sparks is senior editor of Greenhouse Grower and editor of Greenhouse Grower Technology. See all author stories here.