Mar 12, 2019

A Sneak Peek at Spring Trials — Vol. 4 By Jasmina Dolce

The final stretch is here! The 2019 California Spring Trials kicks off in just 11 days. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been sharing some exciting new introductions with you that will be on display this year along the coast. And I’ve got just one more installment left for you.

The exhibiting breeder companies have a ton of new varieties and programs in the works, and they’ve been kind enough to share some of their latest and greatest with me.

For those of you not attending the event, be sure to check your inbox daily. We’ll be sending you updates from every stop along the way. And be sure to follow us on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages for even more posts from the road.

If you are attending but have yet to finalize your itinerary, be sure to check out GPN’s California Spring Trials Companion. We’ve compiled all the exhibitor locations, contact information, driving directions and even restaurant recommendations for you in this handy guide.

In the meantime, here’s a final sneak peek into what’s in store at this year’s trials.

New Guinea impatiens ‘Roller Coaster Hot Pink’
Dümmen Orange

The new ‘Roller Coaster Hot Pink’ features beautiful double flowers atop dark green foliage. It’s a vigorous plant with outstanding garden performance. This flower is an excellent choice for late spring and early summer for larger container sales for premium dollars at retail.

Begonia ‘Tophat Rose Bicolor’
Syngenta Flowers

The Tophat series is bred to have the largest blooms in the class of vigorous interspecific begonias. New for the 2019 season is Rose Bicolor. It has striking, extra-large bicolor flowers that are white with a distinct, deep rose edge.

Artemisia ‘Sea Salt’
Westhoff

The FanciFillers program gets a few new additions including artemisia ‘Sea Salt’. It is a heat and drought tolerant plant. It’s eye-catching silver foliage is perfect for combination plantings.

Leucanthemum ‘Madonna’
Kieft Seed

‘Madonna’ offers better uniformity in height and habit over comparable varieties, with hardiness to Zone 5a. This shasta daisy features excellent vigor and leaf quality during production for optimal finishing in quarts to large containers using multiple plugs.

Portulaca ‘Pazzaz Apricot’
Danziger

Create mounds of striking, heat-tolerant color with the Pazzaz series. This early-blooming, moderate trailing series fills gallons, baskets and large containers with amazing color. ‘Pazzaz Apricot’ has a luminous orange-apricot flower with a unique ring pattern in the center of the bloom.

Wax intergeneric ‘Rey’
Nir Nursery

‘Rey’ is a completely new and unique intergeneric cross. It has a distinctive combination of attractive foliage and clusters of crown-shaped flowers that bloom with a vivid fuchsia-pink color. The stem structure makes it easy to work with and create wonderful bouquets and arrangements.

I hope you’ve enjoying learning about these new introductions over the past few weeks. Now it’s time to start preparing and packing!

Will you be traveling to California? If you see the GPN team along the way, be sure to stop and say “Hi!” We’d love to catch up with you and compare notes.

— Jasmina