Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers Names the 2023 Cut Flowers of the Year
May 17, 2023 The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers, Inc. (ASCFG) recently selected varieties of cut flowers in four categories — bulb, fresh, foliage, and woody — as its Cut Flowers of the Year for 2023.
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Varieties are nominated based on their ease of culture, productivity, and marketability. Many of them are noted as top performers in the ASCFG’s Cut Flower Trials program. The ASCFG’s nearly 3,000 members vote for their choices based on their experience growing and selling each species or cultivar.
This year’s winners are:
Fresh Cut Flower: Lisianthus ‘Voyage 2 Champagne’
The Voyage series offers huge, ruffled blooms of blushy golden pink. The flowers are ideal for wedding bouquets. ‘Voyage 2 Champagne’ is consistent with its ruffled blossoms and superb stem length and strength. This lisianthus provides a perfect color choice for later summer or early fall floral designs.
Woody Cut Flower: Hydrangea’ Pinky Winky’
One of several excellent Hydrangea paniculata varieties, ‘Pinky Winky’ features two-tone flower heads with both white and pink florets if harvested before all florets turn pink. Plants are adaptable and durable from zones 3 to 8. Cut them back hard after harvest is complete to encourage long, non-branchy stems. Cut flower growers love the structure of these blooms, which provide gorgeous blooms, whether used fresh or dried.
Bulb Cut Flower: Double Tulip ‘Dream Touch’
Long, strong stems and a unique, moody flower color combination make this a favorite of both growers and florists. The variety has a long postharvest life. Some tulips are challenging to design with, but the more rigid stems of ‘Dream Touch’ are perfect for bouquets. Bulbs are consistently productive.
Foliage Cut Flower: Eucalyptus ‘Silver Dollar’
Eucalyptus is in high demand as a specialty cut, and ‘Silver Dollar’ fits the bill with its extremely long stems that are easy to work with in bouquets and wedding designs. Customers rave about its unique silvery color. It’s more fragrant than most eucalyptus, making it the most popular to sell retail. This variety is also known for overwintering in plastic tunnels in Zone 6, making it easy to grow and extremely low maintenance. It is also disease and pest-resistant and can last as long as two weeks postharvest.
Learn more at ascfg.org.
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