Greenhouse Grower‘s Evening Of Excellence reception is rapidly approaching. Here, you can learn more about the varieties that are finalists for the Medal Of Excellence Editor’s Choice and Industry’s Choice Breeding Awards. Thank you to the 2015 sponsors of Greenhouse Grower‘s Medal Of Excellence Awards, Landmark Plastic, Nufarm and Stockosorb.
This special Asclepias is a vegetatively produced annual milkweed that provides outstanding foliage and flower color. We saw it last year as a pre-introduction, and it's very timely with all of the focus on pollinators in recent years. ‘Monarch Promise' has dark, variegated leaves tinged with red, orange and pink, and its bright, orange-red flowers bloom for a long time. This plant is a magnet for Monarchs and many other species of butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. It’s versatile in that it can be used in the landscape or in container gardens to bring life to the patio, for its amazing color and to attract pollinators.
The stunning new basil variety ‘Balsamic Blooms’ is both fabulous and functional, because in addition to looking good, it also tastes good. Not only is it completely edible, but it grows leaves and blooms simultaneously. The deep-purple flowers last for weeks and are pollinator magnets, perfect for mixing with other bedding plants or veggies. Its flavors range from minty flowers to softer, sweeter basil leaves, making it double-functional as an attractive, ornamental edible. ‘Balsamic Blooms’ has great potential as a season-extender and a gateway plant for new gardeners.
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Bidens BeeDance Series (Suntory Flowers)
Industry's Choice Finalist - Bidens BeeDance Series (Suntory Flowers)
Warm up combinations with sunny BeeDance Bidens from Suntory Flowers. Available in two striking bicolors, Red Stripe and Painted Red, this early-flowering series is sterile so it doesn’t set seed, but it stays in flower. The flowers on Red Stripe start out yellow and are accented with red, especially in cooler temperatures. Painted Red won the Innovation Award at IPM Essen in January for an outstanding new variety, and its petals are half red-orange and half yellow, becoming more red-orange over time. The series offers dense branching and a manageable growth habit, due to short internodes and superior branching. BeeDance varieties are selected for short days, and they look incredible in combination baskets.
‘Dragon’s Breath’ Celosia from Sakata Seed is a stunning, seed-propagated, plume-type Celosia that produces a vast swath of color in the landscape. Its vibrant, red foliage provides color, texture and interest in containers and the landscape, and it is said to thrive and bloom more under low-water conditions. This extra-large, late-flowering variety shows fantastic performance in heat and humidity. Minimal nitrogen is needed during the growing period, which means less fertilizer and irrigation is required during production.
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Dianthus Jolt Series (PanAmerican Seed)
Editor's Choice And Industry's Choice Finalist - Dianthus Jolt Series (PanAmerican Seed)
Jolt is a new, two-color interspecific Dianthus series in Pink and Cherry that truly boasts “shocking” color, and has crazy stem strength. It is sterile and flowers constantly, with new buds always forming. Pink is a 2015 All-America Selections National Winner. Extremely heat tolerant, Jolt Dianthus grows well in the summer landscape and in premium choice container programs, providing a powerful surge of season-long performance and electrifying color. It’s highly durable with few disease issues, grower-friendly and well-branched, requiring little to no PGRs.
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Lobelia 'Starship Deep Rose' (Kieft Seed)
Industry's Choice Finalist - Lobelia 'Starship Deep Rose' (Kieft Seed)
This variety’s unique color attracts gardeners and pollinators, with plenty of deep-rose flower power on every plant. ‘Starship Deep Rose’ from Kieft Seed makes a striking container or garden selection and is well-suited to high temperatures and higher humidity. Early flowering and finishing, it offers improved branching, low stretch and a uniform habit. This first-year flowering perennial is supplied as pelleted seed.
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Salvia Grandstand Series (Green Fuse Botanicals)
Editor's Choice Finalist - Salvia Grandstand Series (Green Fuse Botanicals)
This new Grandstand series of Salvia splendens offers large-flowered, vigorous, upright Salvia genetics in Red, Lavender and Purple. Salmon and the fabulous Blue Bicolor are pre-introductions that are available this year for grower trials. More experimental colors are on their way, including a Red variety with a white sparkle. Bred by Garden Genetics, the Grandstand series is more day-neutral than the seed series and flowers continuously until autumn frost. Expect highly branched plants and extra-large flowers that create tremendous color in the landscape.
Check out the incredible habit on ‘Kudo Pink’ Scabiosa. It’s very compact but extremely vigorous, and covered in buds that bloom into large flowers. ‘Kudo Pink,’ offers a long flowering period, and good heat and drought tolerance. It’s a low-maintenance perennial that provides nice color with bright blooms that are magnets for bees and butterflies. This terrific looking plant will be ideal for beds and borders, and can be used as a cut flower.
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Vinca Valiant Series (PanAmerican Seed)
Industry's Choice Finalist - Vinca Valiant Series (PanAmerican Seed)
Valiant Vinca is a brand-new series for the landscape, with an emphasis on consistent vigor and disease resistance. The F1 series provides growers and landscapers with another option where aerial Phytophthora is a concern, as good survival rates have already been proven in field trials. Varieties in the series are well-branched and vigorous and have market-ready plants with large flowers that deliver a big color impact. It’s available in the key core colors including Apricot, Burgundy, Lilac, Orchid, Punch, Pure White and a Mix.
Highlights From Greenhouse Grower’s April 2024 Issue
Join us Monday, July 13 in Ballroom 2 at the Columbus Convention Center to find out which varieties will receive the coveted awards. The reception begins at 5:15 p.m. and the ceremony starts promptly at 6:00 p.m.
Greenhouse Grower’s Medal of Excellence Awards has been the floriculture industry’s premier awards and recognition program for more than 25 years. Three awards are presented for Breeding, including the Editor’s Choice Award, chosen by Greenhouse Grower Editor Laura Drotleff; Industry’s Choice Award – based on a selection of varieties chosen by an industry panel during California Spring Trials; and Readers’ Choice, in which breeding companies submit varieties for readers to vote on their favorite new introduction.
Many thanks to Greenhouse Grower’s Industry’s Choice Panel for 2015:
The Metrolina Team: Abe Van Wingerden, Sim McMurry, Mark Yelanich
The Welby Gardens Team: Al Gerace, Marty Gerace, John Gerace, Mandy Foster, Victor Vargas, Elena Vargas
The Mast Young Plants Team: Jim Raterink, Laura Robles, Brian Weesies
The Raker Team: Susie Raker, Steve Reed, Greg Michalak
The Armstrong Team: James Russell, Heather Hydoski, Anthony Pytel, John Mellon
Vaughn Fletcher, McHutchison
Mike Duvall, The Home Depot
Tim Runte, Calloway Gardens
Dr. Allan Armitage, Professor Emeritus of Horticulture, University of Georgia
Laura Drotleff, Greenhouse Grower