Eye-Catching Favorites From Welby Gardens’ 2022 Plant Trials
November 15, 2022 Welby Gardens in Denver, CO, trialed just over 1,050 varieties at its open house event earlier this year. Around 400 people attended, with 250 individuals voting on their top five favorites. The top varieties shown in the slideshow below were the results of that voting.
View all
“The biggest challenge we had with our trials were that the plants were getting ready earlier than planned and required more maintenance and trimming,” says Dan Gerace, Production Manager at Welby Gardens. “Overall, I think we were successful in getting most of the plants to look their best. Our entire staff pulled together to work out every detail to make our open house a spectacular event.”
Gerace says the plant that stood out to him over the entire trial was Petunia ‘Flower Showers Golden Harvest’ from Westhoff.
“As soon as it started flowering, the orange/golden flowers, like a sunset, drew my eye from across the greenhouse almost every time I walked in,” Gerace says. “The entire series of Flower Showers was excellent with its semi-trailing habit and unique colors and patterns that came out of the Crazytunia collection.”
The Rudbeckia Sunbeckia series bred by Bull Plant Genetics was also stunning, with almost every variety getting high votes. Sunbeckia Laura landed in the top three items two years in a row.
“It has the largest Rudbeckia flowers I have ever seen,” Gerace says.
Petunia ‘Splash Dance Violet Vogue’ from Danziger was also among Gerace’s favorites this trial season.
“The deep violet appeared to have a velvety sheen, and the white speckles worked as an excellent contrast to make it pop, pop, pop!” he says.
Check out the top performers in the slideshow above.
Subscribe to eNewsletter
