Why 2023 Was a Milestone Year for Plant Trials at Welby Gardens
November 23, 2023 Note: Information for this trials report was provided by Dan Gerace of Welby Gardens.
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In Colorado, we had a rainy and cool growing season (from January to June, Denver had more moisture than Seattle), and overall less sunlight made for softer plants that need to be trimmed more regularly.
For our evaluation day, we had 825 varieties from 16 different breeding companies, and just about every genera timed well for our event on Aug. 9. We had 325 people vote on their top 5 plants. The highest votes are as follows:
#1 Dahlia ‘Miss Mandy’ (Syngenta Flowers)
#2 Coleus ‘King Henry’ (Benary Plus)
#3 Petchoa ‘Supercal Premium Red Maple’ (Sakata Ornamentals)
#4 Dahlia ‘Venti Red White’ (Selecta One)
#5 Digitalis F1 ‘Deep Rose’ (Takii)
#6 Coleus ‘Saturn’ (Benary Plus)
#7 Coleus ‘Volancia Solar Flare’ (Ball Flora Plant)
#8 Gazania ‘Sterling Silver Burgundy Stripe’ (Green Fuse Botanicals)
#9 Rudbeckia ‘Sunbeckia Mia’ (Bull Plant Genetics)
#10 Coleus ‘Talavera Moondust’ (Syngenta Flowers)
#11 Petunia ‘Crazytunia Cosmic Violet’ (Westhoff)
#12 Rudbeckia ‘Sunbeckia Laura’ (Bull Plant Genetics)
#13 Dahlia ‘City Lights Purple’ (Selecta One)
#14 Petunia ‘Hells Ember Red’ (Westhoff)
#15 Agastache ‘Sunrise Salmon Pink’ (Green Fuse Botanicals)
#16 Petunia ‘Double Jewel Frost Sapphire’ (Ball FloraPlant)
#17 Celosia ‘Flamma Orange’ (Sakata Ornamentals)
#18 Dahlia ‘Venti Passion Fruit’ (Selecta One)
#19 Rudbeckia ‘Sunbeckia Luna’ (Bull Plant Genetics)
#20 Salvia ‘Icon Blue Bicolor’ (Dümmen Orange)
This year is the 75th anniversary of Welby Gardens, and we had a great turnout of suppliers, customers, and our employee with some of the best-grown plants we’ve ever turned out.
Weather was probably our biggest issue, but by having the plants indoors we were able to make correction quickly, and everyone on staff pulled together to put on an excellent show.
We want to specifically call out the Dahlia ‘Miss Mandy’ that Syngenta Flowers named for our family member Mandy Gerace. Mandy worked at Welby Gardens/Hardy Starts for 13 years and Syngenta for 2.5 years. Her passing away this year was stunning. Miss Mandy has a vigorous and well branched habit with extra-large peach bicolor blooms. The breeding coming from the Sincerity Dahlia, released a couple of years ago, and shows promise of more to come.
The Petunia ‘Crazytunia Cosmic Violet’ from Westhoff was my next best plant of the trials. When I first saw this at the California Spring Trials (CAST) at the end of March, I fell in love. In our trial it stood out all year, with the dark-violet center and the lavender edge vein pattern the flowers really appear to glow.
This year we really focused on putting the plants in the correct environment. All too often space is a premium during the season, and trials often take a back seat in a production operation. With some coordination, we were able to carve out three environments and group the plants according to their needs, and it really paid off.
If you get a chance, come to Colorado Destination Week. The greenhouse grower industry, Denver Botanic Gardens, and Colorado State University have been working together to make this a flower destination.
Click here for results from more 2023 field trials.
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