It will likely seem like a return to normal for regular attendees of California Spring Trials (CAST) later this month. CAST 2022 kicks off on March 30, and your experience will be different depending on which route you take along the California coast.
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Begonia Hula Series (PanAmerican Seed)
This is a unique spreading begonia series that looks great on the retail bench and amazing in hanging baskets and mixed containers. Hula is fast to fill in landscape beds, creating a blanket of flowers with high-impact color – launching with Red, Blush, Pink, and Bicolor Red White.
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Calibrachoa 'MiniFamous Uno White Gold' (Selecta One)
White Gold is a novel bicolor addition to this established calibrachoa series, MiniFamous Uno. It has clear white blooms with golden centers, allowing it to match well with other MiniFamous Uno varieties. Its medium compact habit makes it an ideal choice for baskets.
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Celosia Floriosa Series (Ball Ingenuity)
The C. plumosa Floriosa series is available in several colors. They shine from April as a cheerful spring bloomer to October as a rewarding fall décor program. If finishing before the end of May, Floriosa will require black cloth – an exciting extension for this plant.
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Coleus 'MicroBlaze Matchsticks' (Ball FloraPlant)
This micro-coleus has a unique foliage pattern with a habit perfect for small pot programs and decorative container mixes. It’s versatile for full sun and shade with stunning color and high impact.
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Dianthus 'Falling in Love Rosie' (Ball Ingenuity)
This is the first hanging basket-type dianthus on the market. ‘Falling in Love Rosie’ fills out its containers quickly and features beautiful bright-pink blooms that cascade. It offers repeat blooming from spring through summer for a lasting stream of color.
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Echinacea 'Sombrero Poco Hot Pink' (Darwin Perennials)
This is the compact version of the popular Sombrero series of coneflower. The sturdy plants are covered in blooms with bright, rich colors. For spring 2023, Hot Pink joins the team and is well-matched in habit, timing and winter hardiness. The hardiness zone is 4b to 9b.
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Double Impatiens Glimmer Series (Ball FloraPlant)
This new double impatiens series with beautiful rose-like blooms is highly resistant to Impatiens Downy Mildew. They can fill durable hanging baskets for shade and low-light gardens. Glimmer is launching for spring 2023 in seven colors only through Ball Seed.
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Impatiens Solarscape Series (PanAmerican Seed)
Solarscape is an interspecific impatiens from seed that provides vibrant color in full-sun landscapes and containers. It performs just like vegetative varieties with the flexibility of seed. Greenhouses that supply the professional landscape market will appreciate this option for non-branded needs. It is available in four colors plus one XL variety.
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Peppers from Heaven Series (Burpee)
Peppers From Heaven are small, sweet peppers great for hanging baskets and 6- to 7-inch pots. The compact plants produce lots of fleshy fruit that mature from green to glossy color (Red, Orange, and Yellow varieties are available). Plant three plants in one pot for a fuller look.
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Pepper Aleppo Series (Burpee)
Aleppo peppers have a sweet taste with a nice kick of heat on the back end. This very thin-skinned and thin-walled pepper is native to Syria and Turkey and is mainly used dried or crushed. The taste is slightly smoky, salty, sweet, and warming.
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Perovskia 'Bluesette' (Kieft Seed)
This novelty variety has a controlled habit, early flowering and early finishing, making growing Perovskia for the consumer and landscape market easy. Bluesette works well at the front of the landscape, in a single premium patio container or in mixed combo. It produces a pleasing fragrance and attracts bees and butterflies. Bluesette’s hardiness zone is 4a to 9a.
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Petunia 'Headliner Strawberry Sky' (Selecta One)
The Sky Petunia family expands in spring 2023 with Strawberry Sky, a berry hue speckled with the popular sky pattern. The Headliner series is a medium-vigor, mounded series with early flowering and a fast finish.
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Petunia SureShot Series (BallFloraPlant)
SureShot is a new grower-friendly petunia series that has a seven-day flowering time and matching habit, so all colors can be shipped to retail at the same time. All varieties mix well together to create a range of color combinations. SureShot is available in six colors. It is ideal for all pot sizes and hanging baskets.
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Polemonium ‘Golden Feathers’ (Darwin Perennials)
Add amazing color to your shade program with this exciting golden variegated Polemonium (Jacob’s Ladder). Bluish-purple flowers are a bonus in the late spring to summer months. Golden Feathers is a great accent plant in rock gardens, landscapes, or small containers. Its hardiness zone is 5b to 9a.
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Rudbeckia 'Goldblitz' (Kieft Seed)
Goldblitz is a natural day length growing solution. This first-year-flowering perennial provides a more economical input option for natural day length growers, as the plugs do not require special treatment to perform to the same quality as R. ‘Goldsturm’. The hardiness zone for Goldblitz is 3a to 9b.
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Rudbeckia August Series (Ball Ingenuity)
This series of eye-catching summer flowering perennials show off masses of flowers in modern and appealing colors. The semi-double blooms grow beautifully in large containers for showpiece displays, or make a great home garden cut flower.
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Tomato 'Blushing Star' (Burpee)
Upgrade your garden with heirloom tomato flavor and modern hybrid tomato performance. Blushing Star is an early-maturing, sweet and savory, pink beefsteak. Its fruit has higher yield potential and fewer blemishes than most heirlooms. It offers disease resistance to late blight and Septoria leaf spot, too.
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Tomato 'Sun Dipper' (PanAmerican Seed)
Just right for dipping, Sun Dipper’s elongated fruit can be held between your fingers for easy use with dips and sauces. The orange fruit looks great on a vegetable platter and tastes delicious. The durable plant has great resistance to in-ground diseases. Differentiate your vegetable program with this foodie option.
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Verbena 'Lascar Orange Lava' (Selecta One)
This is a fiery red verbena with a creeping and spreading habit – a garden spectacle, like lava oozing along the ground. It won’t fail to draw attention. Lascar is early-blooming and wide-branching. It grows beautifully in hanging baskets and in combos, too.
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Veronica Skyward Series (Darwin Perennials)
This veronica offers a high flower count on a dense, upright habit and boasts continuous blooming. Its durability ensures plants grow and ship without breakage for more saleable plants. Skyward is pollinator friendly and is powdery mildew resistant for perennial gardener success. It is available in Pink and Blue and has a hardiness zone of 4b to 9a.
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Begonia Hula Series (PanAmerican Seed)
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Calibrachoa 'MiniFamous Uno White Gold' (Selecta One)
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Celosia Floriosa Series (Ball Ingenuity)
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Coleus 'MicroBlaze Matchsticks' (Ball FloraPlant)
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Dianthus 'Falling in Love Rosie' (Ball Ingenuity)
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Echinacea 'Sombrero Poco Hot Pink' (Darwin Perennials)
Overall, plan on ten stops this year. PlantHaven, Pacific Plug & Liner, Southern Living/Sunset Western, Suntory Flowers, and Vivero Internacional plan to showcase their plants at the Santa Barbara Polo Club in Carpinteria. Kientzler will join Sakata at its venue this year. Finally, Dümmen Orange has a new location at Filipponi Ranch in San Louis Obispo. For more information on the stops along the route and participating breeders, visit 2022cast.com.
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Ball Horticultural is often one of the more popular stops along the way. Check out the slideshow above for a closer look at what you can expect from the Ball family of companies.
March 8, 2022 
