CAST 2015 At GroLink
Asclepias 'Monarch's Promise' from Hort Couture, an annual milkweed variety with variegated, red-tinted foliage and red and orange flowers.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Asclepias 'Monarch's Promise' from Hort Couture is providing forage for pollinators, and was bred by an independent breeder in Florida, who just broke into the market with this, her first plant.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Hort Couture's new 'Under The Sea Fish Net' coleus features purple coloring that intensifies in the shade.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Begonia ‘Little Lava’ from Hort Couture is a small, compact variety with major flower power and bright orange flowers.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Combos are a big deal at Hort Couture.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Merchandising is a specialty for Hort Couture, and it's now working with retailers to co-brand, with banners and other marketing collateral.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Attractive foliage combo from Hort Couture plays on the Under The Sea coleus theme.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
PlantHaven, featured its impressive new perennial, adenophera ‘Fairy Bells Gaudi Violet.’ Flowering from summer through fall, this elegant, upright performer will reach 18 inches tall and wide.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
The Penhow Cherry nemesia series offers naturally compact, small genetics that are ideal for quart pot production. The plants are bred without frutecans, which makes it flower and last longer. Available in Blue and Red, these varieties are tough and extensively virus tested, and they don’t fade or fizzle in the heat, so they’d make a great item for July 4 combos.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Dr. Allan Armitage talks with the breeder of the Penhow Cherry nemesia and Towers of Flowers diascia at PlantHaven.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Towers of Flowers diascia flowers up to week 20 and with a smaller leaf, stronger upright habit and several clear colors, it’s a good option for spring or fall color.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
‘Fanfare Citronella’ is a nice addition to PlantHaven’s gaillardias, and the breeder is now offering a large-flowered hydrangea 'Zorro,' as well.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Its new dahlia ‘Pink Flamingo’ was picked up by the HGTV HOME Plant Collection. A new white variety, Stargazer, joins the Dianthus Star Quartet series, a bestseller for PlantHaven.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Dr. Allan Armitage (center) with Diane Blazek of All-America Selections (far right) and the garden writers who accompanied her.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Salvia Love & Wishes, grown by Skagit Gardens.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Eryisimum 'Honeyberry,' grown by Skagit Gardens.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Vivero International, a cuttings farm in Mexico, produces a number of genetics, including Endisch, Westflowers, Syngenta Flowers and many others.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Westhoff genetics, like Crazytunias, are also produced at Vivero.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Florist Holland offers a new variety in 'Garvinea Sweet Spice' gerbera
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Garvinea Patios are another offering at Florist Holland, including this experimental variety.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
A new pink mix of Garvinea gerberas from Florist Holland.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Gediflora specializes in families of chrysanthemums in Belgium. Gediflora showcased two mum families – Staviski, the number-one seller, in strong demand for growing 8 inches and larger, and Jasoda, an introduction from later year – both in five colors. Both families require no PGRs and are rounded and flexible with no breakage. Six new varieties are available.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Mums from Gediflora are very strong and flexible, as demonstrated.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
See the difference between the two mums. On the left, a mum produced with the cutting placed deep in the center, so the leaves grow out of the soil. On the right, a mum produced with the cutting not placed deep enough. Simple, but this growing trick makes a big difference, Gediflora says.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Memories black calla flower and foliage from Flamingo Holland.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Three new series of freesia are avaliable from Flamingo Holland - Main Street, Lovely and Nano.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Main Street freesia in Pink.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Royal Van Zanten’s limonium ‘Salt Lake’ is a big draw for both consumers and pollinators. It’s genetically dwarf and good in the landscape.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Schoneveld’s Addenda campanula has been a hit since it was introduced at Spring Trials in 2014. HGTV picked it up, and it’s being sold at big box retailers. It's available in three colors.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Sprinkles ranunculus from Schoneveld
CAST 2015 At GroLink
AmeriSeed, which displayed for the first time at Spring Trials, is based in Thailand, and its breeding is particularly focused on heat and humidity tolerance. This salvia is particularly strong in hot climates, compared to other selections, because of where it was produced.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
AmeriSeed offers 10 colors in its line of Radiance petunias.
CAST 2015 At GroLink
Athena Brazil offers a new series of amaryllis, as well as a new line of perennials.
At GroLink in Oxnard, several companies came together for an incredible display of color.
Hort Couture is known as the fashionista of the industry, especially among the independent retailer set, as its varieties are completely exclusive to independents. Fifteen new varieties mostly focused on containers and combinations, including several foliage items. Two new Under The Sea coleus were eyecatchers, Copper Coral and especially Fish Net, with its green background and purple coloring that intensifies under shade and is truly incredible in a combination. Homacladium ‘Ribbons and Curls’ makes an interesting texture item for combinations and looks especially cool with other foliage intros.
The biggest introduction for Hort Couture was asclepias ‘Monarch’s Promise,’ an annual milkweed variety with variegated, red-tinted foliage and red and orange flowers. It is vegetatively propagated and tends to attract aphids; however, growers said that is okay with them because that way they can tell it hasn’t been sprayed. ‘Monarch’s Promise’ was bred by an independent breeder in Florida, who just broke into the market with this, her first plant.
“This is perhaps our most important introduction to date,” says Jim Monroe, founder and CEO of Hort Couture. “It is exclusive to independent garden centers and will give them a wonderful plant to raise awareness about the issues facing our Monarch butterfly populations in North and South America.”
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At PlantHaven, the Welsh breeder of the Penhow Cherry nemesia series and Towers of Flowers diascia series was on hand to talk flower genetics with Dr. Allan Armitage. The two had an engaging conversation about the direction these crops are going. In addition to several varieties of nemesia and diascia, PlantHaven’s variety introductions include an interesting perennial adenophora and new colors of existing varieties.
Florist Holland introduces new Garvineas, in its Sweet, Classic and Spider series, with Sweet Spice, Lydia (Classic) and Alexandra (Spider). A new peach-colored, large-flowered experimental variety is joining the Patio series.
Gediflora explained a common production problem that many American growers tend to have. The company, which specializes in mum breeding, growing, production and sales in Belgium, says growers need to plant their cuttings deep in the soil, with the first bottom leaves under soil level. This makes for a stronger plant that is more robust and uniform, and doesn’t fall over at retail.
Flamingo Holland showed off its new Speckle series of callas. All flower at the same time and are very uniform. The white variety is much more pure than those currently on the market. An all-black calla, from the foliage to the flower, catches the eye, as well. Three new series of freesia are available, as well — Nano, Lovely and Mainstreet — and represent different variety sizes.
AmeriSeed is new to California Spring Trials this year. As a breeder based in Asia that’s been selecting plants for humidity for the past 30 years, it had some interesting offerings, including an experimental, disease-resistant zinnia series in a Magellan form. Its red Solar salvia was bred for heat and humidity, so where some series might wilt under high heat, this one will perform. Radiance petunia with 10 colors is selected for disease tolerance, humidity and heat tolerance and its trailing habit.
Three growers also exhibited at GroLink, including Athena Brazil, Heritage Perennials and Vivero International, which produces annual cuttings in Mexico and supplies to the North American market.
Laura Drotleff is a former Editor for Greenhouse Grower.
See all author stories here.