With every passing year, breeders develop flowers with new colors, patterns, shapes, and more. This progress is critical to the industry, but also makes breeding more challenging in the future. As companies across the globe make new strides each season, it becomes more difficult to introduce something unique that growers and consumers haven’t seen before.
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Hydrangea ‘Eclipse’ (Bailey Nurseries)
Eclipse is a breakthrough in foliage color that is also a great grower, easy to propagate, easy to finish in a pot, and is designed to look great for the growers customers.
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Philodendron ‘Golden Crocodile’ (Costa Farms)
Lime-green is a trending color in houseplants for 2024, and this plant brings it. Showing off long, narrow, serrated leaves, it’s an eye-catcher for bright spots. It’s been commercially rare, but now it’s becoming available to plant parents everywhere.
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Calla 'Mario' (Flamingo Holland)
This variety has a special color, new to the market: white with pink edge bicolored and produces a large flower.
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Bouteloua 'Zig Zag' (Emerald Coast Growers)
'Zig Zag' stands out for its compact foliage in the early season and its profusion of brown eyebrow-like flowers that ripen to off-white seed heads that hold on the plant through winter. ‘Zig Zag’ has at least three times more flowers and seed heads than regular grama grass and is a tight, tidy grower that needs very little extra irrigation once established.
This variety is known for its unique shape, stunning blue leaves with very bold imprints on them, and deep red and gold tips. Easy to grow, fast grower and cold-hardy to freezing temps.
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Rosa Romantica Ball Gown (Star Roses and Plants)
As suggested by its name, this rose has an incredibly romantic appeal with intricate visual interest and an unmistakable perfume that made it an immediate addition to the Scentables program. More than 100 petals form each bloom, like intricate pleats of a couture gown.
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Caladium Heart to Heart Rain or Shine (Proven Winners)
This is one of the most unique and vigorous caladiums Proven Winners has ever trialed. Large, bronze pink-red leaves with soft pink speckles and black veining stand out easily on grower and retail benches. Good sun tolerance expands this variety’s uses.
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Ilex crenata Glow Stick (Spring Meadow Nursery)
'Glow Stick' naturally grows as a narrow column, just 1 foot wide, for practically limitless landscape possibilities and more inputs per square foot. Bright-golden foliage has shown no signs of sunburn or winter damage, even in full sun conditions.
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Sedum Mocha Magic (Terra Nova Nurseries)
Sedum ‘Mocha Magic’ features chocolaty leaves and stems topped with frothy mocha flowers, sprinkled with a cinnamon-like color. Its tight, naturally dense crown is a standout feature, along with its unusual foliage and flower combination.
Breeders often see this as a challenge, not an obstacle. No matter what is already in the market, breeders are committed to developing something special, introducing it to the market, and helping consumers succeed with it.
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Not all breeders travel to California Spring Trials, but undoubtedly introduce popular new varieties. Check out the slideshow above for a few highlights among new introductions in 2024, and watch GreenhouseGrower.com for more!