At the Southern Plant Trials, annual introductions offer vibrant colors and improved performance.
I attended the southern plant trials at Young’s Plant Farm, University of Georgia-Athens, and Metrolina Greenhouses the last week of June following a week of rain and cloudy weather in the southeast. This weather pattern continued the three days I visited the trials. This was the first time after many years of trial visits that I did not see the sun, and it rained every day. The trial plants held up surprisingly well, and this was an excellent opportunity to evaluate weather tolerance and rain recovery.
The focus of this article is new annual introductions that manifested adaptability to challenging conditions, durability, vivid flowers and a prolific flower canopy. Many of these exceptional introductions were trialed in all three locations and demonstrated consistency and unsurpassed performance.
1. BEGONIA ‘STONEHEDGE LIGHT PINK BRONZE LEAF’
This interspecific begonia series is comprised of two colors for 2024, Bronze Leaf Rose and Bronze Leaf Light Pink. The begonia Stonehedge Light Pink was in both the Young’s Plant Farm and Metrolina trials and demonstrated the attributes of superior vigor, prodigious multiflora flowers, upright habit, lustrous leaves with a serrated margin and adaptability in sun or shade. Application will include large patio containers and specifically landscape beds where these plants will really maximize their potential by reaching 40 to 48 inches and flowering prodigiously. We have a plethora of interspecific begonias in the market, and this series provides another option with size and a free flowering multiflora canopy. Three Stonehedge green leaf varieties will be added for 2025.
2. NEW GUINEA IMPATIENS ‘SPECTRA PINK BICOLOR’
Syngenta introduced this interspecific vegetative series in 2022 with five colors: Bright Red, Magenta, Orange, Pink and White. The Orange has been improved for 2024 to match the series, and Pink Bicolor is a new introduction. The Pink Bicolor really popped with its eye-catching, fan-shaped light pink flowers suffused with dark pink centers. The breeding goal for this series was early flowering, versatility in sun or shade conditions, a mounded habit, and extraordinary branching, resulting in a profuse flower canopy of intense flower colors. ‘Spectra Pink Bicolor’ produced the most impactful and dramatic color pattern in New Guinea impatiens in the southern trials. This series offers production versatility in multiple container sizes including quarts, gallons, mixed containers and baskets. It is adaptable in sun or shade, which gives consumers application flexibility.
3. PETUNIA ‘SUPERTUNIA SAFFRON FINCH’
In the Costa Farms trial in late April, Saffron Finch demonstrated vigor, floriferousness and highly saturated bright yellow petals with a deeper yellow throat. Saffron Finch was entered
in all three trial sites in the Southern Plant Trials — in baskets, containers and trial beds — and it demonstrated the attributes listed above as well as exceptional heat and rain tolerance. Yellow is a powerful color and this introduction will become an integral component in bundled combination kits as well as in the branded Proven Winners container program.
4. IMPATIENS ‘BEACON LIPSTICK’
The award winning impatiens Beacon series needs no introduction. It has become ubiquitous in the market since its introduction, offering a series of eight highly powdery mildew resistant colors including the new Lipstick fo
r 2024. ‘Beacon Lipstick’ was entered in all the trial sites, flowered consistently and manifested a highly saturated deep fuchsia color. It flowered earlier in the trial compared to many other colors and had a tight, mounded habit with a floriferous canopy. This is an important color addition to the series. The Beacon series offers so much versatility in the market with production in quarts, packs, mixed containers and hanging baskets. In addition, three color Beacon Mixes are offered for the 2024 season.
5. PETCHOA ‘ENVIVA PINK’
This is a vegetative petchoa/calibrachoa cross available in four core colors for 2024: White, Blue, Red and Pink. The attributes of this series are a mounded growth habit, consistent flower size, uniformity and exceptional weather tolerance. My favorite color is the Pink, and it did not disappoint in this trial. It was floriferous with vibrant bright pink flowers and a yellow throat. I am utilizing it in my containers as a filler, and it is flowering profusely and providing a mass of color. The accompanying photograph is from the basket trial at Young’s Plant Farm.
6. BRACTEANTHA ‘GRANVIA CRIMSON SUN’
‘Granvia Crimson Sun’ demonstrated excellent branching and dazzling bright red flowers with yellow centers in the Youngs’ trial. The series is comprised of Harvest Orange, Peachy Keen, Pink, Gold, and the new varieties, White and Crimson Sun. The attributes of this series are vigor, heat tolerance, color retention and large stunning flowers that rise above the foliage canopy. This series has manifested exceptional summer performance in bed and container trials and offers a range of production applications in container gardens and landscapes. ‘Granvia Gold’ has excelled in multiple trials since its introduction and has won many performance awards. I expect the same results from the current and new varieties.
7. SCAEVOLA ‘SCALA BLUE BIRD’
Dümmen Orange has upgraded the Scala series for 2024 with four introductions: Blue Bird, Blue Jay, Pink Bird and White Dawn. The improvements include increased heat tolerance, improved branching and a more prolific flower canopy. These improvements were on display in the trial beds at Young’s Plant Farm and Metrolina. The ‘Scala Blue Bird’ was exceptional in the trial with tight internodes, a dense habit and the most colorful scaevola flower canopy in both trials. There are many choices in scaevola and varieties with a controlled growth habit are essential in production programs and consumer mixed containers.
8. HELIANTHUS ‘SUNMAZING YELLOW’
Westhoff has entered the competitive helianthus market with SunMazing for 2024. This annual sunflower introduction has received three years of trialing before its introduction and release for next year. This selection was impressive in the Metrolina trial. It is self-branching, possesses a mounded habit, dark green foliage with serrated margins, large yellow ray flowers and it is extremely floriferous. The breeding and introduction of new helianthus seed and vegetative annuals and perennials has been fast and furious the past few years. The National Garden Bureau declared 2021 the Year of the Sunflower, and since that time multiple breeders have introduced new selections that offer important attributes for the consumer such as a more compact habit, multiple branching, heat and drought tolerance, continual flowering, and unique colors. I have evaluated many new introductions in regional trials and have grown many of the new varieties as thrillers in containers the past few years. I am impressed with the compact habit, floriferousness and extended flowering of SunMazing.
9. COLEUS ‘TALAVERA BURGUNDY LIME’
‘Talavera Burgundy Lime’ demonstrated consistency, non fading foliage and striking distinct chartreuse leaves with burgundy venation in all three locations: Young’s Plant Farm, UGA, and Metrolina trial. This new vegetative coleus series was an important introduction by Syngenta Flowers to broaden its extensive vegetative portfolio and add a dynamic coleus series to compete with the current options in the market and complement them with new foliage patterns and colors.
10. BIDENS ‘CAMPFIRE MARSHMALLOW’
Proven Winners
Bidens ‘Campfire Marshmallow’ is a vigorous, heat tolerant selection that flowered prolifically in the southern trials. The large, pure white flowers with the golden yellow centers withstood wet conditions with minimal deadheading, and the vigorous habit and heavy branching with low seed set resulted in a vibrant canopy. This selection is larger than ‘Campfire Flame’ and produces a dense mounded habit. I received samples of ‘Campfire Marshmallow’ this spring, and I incorporated the plants with other components in 22-inch containers. They flowered early, prolifically and have continued to flower profusely. I did trim them occasionally to maintain a balance of color in the mixed containers.
11. PETUNIA ‘DISCOBALL PURPLE’
Westhoff
The unique flower patterns in the Westhoff petunia portfolio are well-known, and the Discoball series expands the diversity of color patterns and offers three compact and mounded plants for quarts, mixed containers and mixed baskets. I was impressed by the performance of ‘Discoball Purple’ following a period of wet conditions at the Metrolina trial. The plants were flowering prolifically, the flowers were upright and possessed a deep purple color and the white speckled pattern was quite pronounced. Westhoff has introduced many distinctive petunia series over the past 10 years, and these three Discoball colors — Pink, Violet and Purple — provide another choice for petunias with the speckled flower pattern.
12. SALVIA ‘RED HILL’
This seed variety was exceptional in the Young’s Plant Farm and Metrolina trials, and is a vigorous variety, maturing at 20 to 24 inches with strong durable branching, exceptionally long dense flower spikes and dark green foliage. It is day length neutral and displayed outstanding heat and rain tolerance in the trials. ‘Red Hill’ was stunning and eye-catching in the salvia trial beds. Production and consumer application includes quarts and gallons, a thriller in patio containers, and background plantings in landscape sites.
13. PETCHOA ‘CALIBURST YELLOW’
PanAmerican Seed
This standalone petchoa seed introduction was eye-catching in late April with bright, highly saturated flowers, dense habit and a prodigious flower canopy. This consistency continued in the southern plant trials where ‘Caliburst Yellow’ was grown in baskets and trial beds. I was impressed by the flower recovery and plant performance under extremely wet conditions. I am growing this variety in my container trial, and what is striking is the tight internodes, dense habit, color intensity and the strong color retention. This is a high impact and stunning introduction with production versatility in quarts, mixed baskets, containers and landscape sites.
14. PETUNIA ‘SWEET SUNSHINE BLUEBERRY VEIN’
Selecta One
Sweet Sunshine was on display in baskets at Young’s Plant Farm, containers and baskets at UGA, and trial beds at Metrolina. This series is advertised as durable and tough and, based on performance in all three trials, it “walked the talk.” ‘Sweet Sunshine Blueberry Vein’ is semi-trailing with midsize double flowers that are positioned above the foliage. Conspicuous in the trials were the color retention, flower texture, double stability, durability, tight internodes and a well pronounced flower pattern. There are now seven varieties in the series: Blueberry Vein, new Pink+Red Vein, Burgundy, Light Pink, Magenta, Provence and Magenta Sky. This series has excellent application in quart and basket production.
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Vaughn Fletcher
Vaughn Fletcher is president of Fletcher Consulting. He has been in the horticulture industry since 1971, working in many areas including landscaping, garden center and greenhouse production, greenhouse, and nursery sales and sales management. He can be reached at vfletcher9@gmail.com.
