For nearly 100 years, horticulture research has been conducted at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center (WCROC) in Morris, MN. With more than 4 acres of impressive public display gardens, including 400 annual cultivars, WCROC offers an educational landscape for home owners, master gardeners, growers, and flower enthusiasts alike to see just how annual flowers perform under Minnesota’s unique growing conditions.
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Begonia x benariensis 'Big Pink Bronze Leaf'
Begonia x benariensis ‘Big Pink Bronze Leaf’ offers striking, continuous flowers that cover the plant with vibrant color throughout the summer with no deadheading. It has sturdy flower stems that hold flowers above the lush foliage. This variety performs equally superior in the garden as well as in a large container, and is well-suited for sun or shade.
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Calibrachoa 'Cabaret Good Night Kiss'
Calibrachoa ‘Cabaret Good Night Kiss’ has an attractive, eye-catching flower pattern featuring a star center. This semi-trailing calibrachoa has excellent garden performance and grows evenly and uniformly in a large hanging basket.
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Calibrachoa 'Superbells Watermelon Punch'
Calibrachoa ‘Superbells Watermelon Punch’ was a favorite out of the nearly 20 calibrachoa trialed in 2019. It provides continuous, abundant coral pink with black eye flowers all season long. ‘Watermelon Punch’ proved to have a higher tolerance to the fungal diseases that often can affect calibrachoa.
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Coleus 'Heartbreaker'
Coleus ‘Heartbreaker’ is outstanding in both a large container and in the garden landscape. This low maintenance yet vigorous coleus doesn’t fade; its bright lime green and raspberry colored foliage stayed true throughout the growing season. ‘Heartbreaker’ is easy to grow, very uniform in growth, and performs equally well in sun or shade. It’s also a complement to other plants in the landscape.
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Impatiens 'Beacon Salmon'
Impatiens ‘Beacon Salmon’ thrived in a hanging basket in a semi-shaded area. Of the six Beacon series impatiens in the 2019 trial, this variety had more vigor than the other five. These low-maintenance plants are perfect for gardeners looking for impatiens that offer high resistance to downy mildew disease.
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Marigold 'Big Duck'
Marigold ‘Big Duck Orange’ is an All-America Selections (AAS) winner that bloomed throughout the entire growing season. Four-inch, full double orange blooms paired with clean, deep-green foliage provided a stunning display during the summer. This marigold is perfect for the gardener looking for an easy-to-grow annual from seed.
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Petunia 'ColorRush Pink'
Petunia ‘ColorRush Pink’ produced a prolific number of eye-catching blooms all season-long. Its leaves remained clean and green in color throughout the season. ‘ColorRush Pink’ fills a 3-foot space with exceptional no-fade color, all without spreading out of control.
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Petunia 'Supertunia Mini Indigo'
Petunia ‘Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo IMP’ is another cultivar that does very well in both a large container and in a garden bed. ‘Mini Vista Indigo’ was completely covered in blue-purple flowers all season long. Maintenance is easy with this annual; it is self-cleaning with no deadheading necessary.
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Verbena 'EnduraScape Pink Bicolor'
Verbena ‘EnduraScape Pink Bicolor’ is a continual long-blooming verbena that was named an AAS winner in 2017. ‘EnduraScape Pink Bicolor’ makes for an exceptional edging along a walkway or border. Its soft pink blossoms are a real eye-catcher.
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Zinnia 'Magellan Pink'
Zinnia ‘Magellan Pink’ is a vigorous variety that had good disease tolerance during a wetter than normal 2019 growing season. ‘Magellan Pink’ is a compact bushy plant, 12 to 18 inches high and 15 to 18 inches wide, and is smothered all season with daisy-formed blooms. Plant in large groupings for best effect. For optimum performance, plant zinnias in a well-drained garden soil.
Spring weather conditions were finally favorable for planting trial plants in late May 2019, even though the month of May was the second coldest on record, according to Steve Poppe, Horticulture Scientist at the University of Minnesota. June and July had about average temperatures, while August had below-normal temperatures. May through August had above-average precipitation. Weather data has been taken daily at the WCROC since 1885.
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In 2019, WCROC trialed 410 annual flower bedding plants, representing nearly 20 plant breeding companies from around the world. Flowers were planted into garden beds, handing baskets, and containers. Annuals flowers were evaluated multiple times throughout the growing season based on characteristics, performance, color, and vigor. Only the top-rated flowers are considered for the distinction of being a Top Ten Performing Annual, and the 2019 Top Ten varieties are featured in the slideshow above.
In addition to the Top Ten, there were other annuals that received excellent ratings in 2019. Most of the seeded Impatiens, including the Beacon, Super Elfin, and Imara series, had above average or excellent ratings throughout the growing season. They were all equal in performance, vigor, and flowering ability, and had no apparent symptoms of downy mildew. Also, many of the seeded Vinca flowered continuously, looked healthy, and were a real eye-catching annual flower in 2019. Trial managers were surprised by their performance since the growing season was wet and Vinca tend to like it a little drier.