Feb 27, 2020

Countdown to Spring Trials 2020 — Part 3 By Jasmina Dolce

The California Spring Trials kicks off in just 30 days! In a few weeks, flower breeders and industry suppliers will set up shop along the California coast to showcase their latest and greatest. Will you be there?

If you’re a procrastinator and have yet to finalize your itinerary, you may want to check out GPN’s California Spring Trials Companion. We’ve mapped out the locations, compiled contact information and driving directions, and even put together some dining recommendations for you. Just click here to access our handy guide.

I’m super stoked to find out what all the breeders have been up to and learn about and admire all the gorgeous new variety introductions coming next season and beyond. I have been in touch with the exhibitors, and they’ve been kind enough to share some sneak peeks with me of what attendees will get to see next month in California.

So here’s a handful of beauties to get you through the next 30 days. There’s nothing like seeing these varieties up close and personal, though. So I hope you plan to attend the trials. If so, be sure to stop and say hi along the way if our paths cross.

Torenia Vertigo
Ameriseed

Ideal for pot and landscape production, Vertigo is a continuously flowering type of torenia. It produces glossy green foliage and features a compact plant habit. The blossoms do not fade, even when exposed to strong sunlight.

Tagetes Happy
Syngenta Flowers

This new series offers just the right amount of vigor to perform beautifully in hot, harsh garden conditions. It is compact, with superb basal branching and fantastic uniformity in the pack. Five colors and a mix are available; ‘Happy Harmony’ is pictured.

Petunia ‘Easy Wave Rose Fusion’
Wave

Always a standout, the Easy Wave series offers a wide array of decorator colors — like the new Rose Fusion. The midrose-colored blooms have deep rose veins, and its nine-hour short-day flowering requirement creates early-season opportunities. This variety was named by the Wave Fan Club!

Isoplexis ‘Bella’
Flamingo Holland

‘Bella’ boasts gorgeous apricot-colored blooms. It branches well and flowers from May through October. Perfect for gallon production, it is available as TC or liner. It is hardy to Zones 5 through 9.

Silene Carol Jean
Green Fuse Botanicals

This all new summer-blooming ground cover boasts clean white or intense pink flowers. Carol Jean will come into bloom as Phlox subulata goes out of bloom. This means customers are in stores when it is naturally in color. Its heat and humidity performance will have consumers loving it all summer long.

Cyclamen Victoria
Schoneveld Breeding

Victoria is a new color type within the Super Serie Verano collection and is characterized by the slightly serrated edge in combination with a colored eye. Verano Victoria is suitable for pot sizes 2.5 to 5 inches, depending on climate.

Begonia Groovy
Benary

The Groovy series is a new compact boliviensis series from seed. Its mounded, semi-trailing habit makes shipping easy. Its bigger flowers and shorter internodes present more color at retail. The series thrives in full sun to partial shade.

Will I see you along the coast next month? What are you looking for in new introductions? Shoot me an email at jdolce@greatamericanpublish.com, and let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

— Jasmina