The 2026 California Spring Trials (CAST) take place next week (click here for registration information). Whether you’re planning your own trip or just want to know what’s new in the world of floriculture, we’ve got you covered.
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Camellia Early Surprise (Plant Development Services Inc.)
Deep coral-pink blooms
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Sunflower Always Sunny Gold (PanAmerican Seed)
Tall and strong-stemmed, these golden-yellow flowers are highly branched for stunning landscape displays. Blooms are 100% pollen free but contains lots of nectar to feed pollinators and beneficial insects. Makes a great home garden cut flower as well.
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Sedum Spectacular (PanAmerican Seed)
A seed alternative to vegetative S. spectabile with a more compact habit and sturdy flower clusters. Spectacular has strong stems and less breakage, making this sedum perfect for smaller spaces. Supply is more programmable and flexible with seed plus good plug quality, seeding uniformity, and a convenient multi-pellet seed form.
Get season-long color interest with crisp steel-blue foliage shaped like a broad arrow. This Little Bluestem flowers August through October with delicate spikes that wave in the wind. Available in three varieties: Blue Arrow®, Comet® and Mystic Purple™.
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Salvia Living Large Dark Sky (Walters Gardens)
Salvia ‘Dark Sky’ makes a striking addition to the garden. Tall flower scapes rise above a dense rosette of large green leaves, creating a magnificent floral display. Later to bloom than other perennial Salvias, prolific secondary branching extends the bloom season with the deepest indigo-blue flowers in the series.
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Petunia Surfinia Heavenly Blue Violet (Suntory Flowers)
Surfinia Heavenly petunias are the happy medium with a controlled semi-trailing habit and outstanding garden performance. New to the series is Blue Violet, with large, bluish purple blooms and dark throats. Another new Surfinia Heavenly variety is Peach Horizon with multitonal peach blooms, bringing the series to eight colors.
This latest color for the E3 Easy Wave family is a mid-blue-and-white bicolor pattern. Flowers are cold durable with a 9-hour photoperiod for production in early spring markets.
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Petchoa CitraNova Lemon Zest (Ball FloraPlant)
Combines the best attributes of petunias and calibrachoas with large flowers in vibrant colors and a strong root system. CitraNova creates full hanging basketsand bountiful patio pots. Plants have a semi-mounded and spreading habit, so containers are covered with blooms that last longer into the summer season.
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Panicum Dream Catcher Smoky Rose (Darwin Perennials)
This compact P. virgatum displays billowy, smoke-rose flowers from mid-Summer until Fall. Looks wonderful mass-planted as an accent or as a companion plant in mixes.
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Mandevilla Sun Parasol XP Maui Sunset (Suntory Flowers)
With big kahuna color, Sun Parasol XP Maui Sunset brings the luau to your landscapes and containers. Bushy plants produce large, orange pinwheel-shaped blooms. The breeding is in between Sun Parasol Original and FiredUp. XP stands for extreme performance and flower power.
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Mahonia Silver Caress (Plant Development Services Inc.)
Silvery-green foliage with yellow blooms
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Lavandula Summer Serenade (Walters Gardens)
‘Summer Serenade’ forms a well-rounded mound, ideal for the front of the border. Among the earliest Lavenders to show color, it produces spikes of true lavender blooms that continue to fill the plant as summer progresses. Selected for its compact, landscape-ready habit, it flowers reliably without vernalization.
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Hemerocallis DayScape series (Darwin Perennials)
An outstanding new garden daylily series,DayScape blooms multiple times during the season and is among the earliest to bloom in spring. Plants have proven to be highly resistant to diseases and insects. The series launches with nine colors to choose from.
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Heliopsis Forged in Fire (Walters Gardens)
‘Forged in Fire’ is a mid-sized false sunflower with a dense, dark habit and large burnt-orange eyes. The eye zone is most striking at bloom, starting deep burgundy and lightening as flowers mature. Semi-double petals extend bloom longevity while remaining pollinator-friendly, and dark green foliage offers strong mildew resistance.
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Fuchsia Blue Radiance (Ball FloraPlant)
Early-flowering plants stand up to spring weather conditions. Blue Radiance has great branching, is free flowering, and easy to grow. Enjoy mounding color from top to bottom. Ideal for larger pots and baskets.
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Dahlia City Lights Magenta (Selecta One)
A new series size enhances the City Lights assortment from Selecta One. City Lights is known for its dark foliage, which contrasts beautifully with its bright floral blooms; this series is more compact. The flowers are a magnet for butterflies and birds, and the plants are a well-branched garden powerhouse.
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Cyclamen persicum Metis Rosy Glow (Morel)
With its soft pastel pink petals, Metis Rosy Glow recalls the elegance of Japanese cherry blossoms (Sakura). Beautiful small, dark leaves create a strong contrast with the flower color. Vigorous, ultra-rounded habit with exceptional uniformity. Ideal for early-season and autumn flowering
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Cyclamen persicum Macaron (Morel)
Excellent growth performance even in high temperatures. Ideal for blooming from late summer onwards. Very easy and programmable flowering
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Cyclamen persicum Latinia Absolu Sublima (Morel)
The First Scented Victoria F1, now in Maxi flower. Vibrant fragrance, 100% VICTORIA elegance. Subtle lily-of-the-valley scent for a gentle, refined touch. Distinctive colored crown for extra visual appeal. Dense, dark foliage provides strong contrast with Victoria-type flowers. Early flowering ensuring large blooms from the start of the season
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Calibrachoa MiniFamous Uno Purple Strike (Selecta One)
A stunning novelty pattern that is less sensitive to PGRs than other commercial varieties with a similar pattern. The series is early-to-finish with a medium-compact habit and uniformity in flower timing. All MiniFamous Uno are screened for powdery mildew resistance.
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Azalea Encore Autumn Velvet (Plant Development Services Inc.)
Opulent magenta blooms
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Catharanthus Soiree Double Rosy Red (Suntory Flowers)
Essential new color brings new possibilities in Soiree Double catharanthus – Rosy Red. Unique flower form and bushy habit is more shrub like than a typical bedding plant vinca. Imagine the possibilities for red-white-and-blue summer combos! Additional Soiree Double colors are Orchid Improved, Pink Improved, Appleblossom and Pure White.
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Camellia Early Surprise (Plant Development Services Inc.)
Check out the slideshow above for a closer look at new varieties from Suntory Flowers, Walters Gardens, Plant Development Services, Morel, and Ball Horticultural that will be on display. Once CAST kicks off, be sure to watch for daily highlights from the Greenhouse Grower team on GreenhouseGrower.com, in our newsletters and across our social media channels.
015Check Out Part 3 of Greenhouse Grower’s California Spring Trials 2026 Preview
March 18, 2026 
