The Value of Growing Petchoa SuperCal®

Last winter I wrote a blog post about this relatively new genus and series. Now that the growing season has begun for next spring, it’s definitely worth revisiting the SuperCal series as they continue to grow in demand and popularity.


SuperCal Terracotta

What makes SuperCal unique is that they’re a genetic cross between the Petunia and Calibrachoa genera. What makes them a value is that the cross brings the best characteristics of each genus to the series, and pretty much gets rid of the icky traits. Examples: Large showy flowers (petunia genetics), non-sticky leaves (Calibrachoa), flower power (both), tolerance to high soil pH (petunia), self-cleaning plants (both), excellent performance in both cool and warm environments (both).



SuperCal Neon Rose

We conducted a thorough container trial of the SuperCal’s this summer at our facility here in Rochester, NY. Our unusually hot and dry summer really put this series to the test, and I must say we were very pleased with the overall results. The advantage for growers is the SuperCal’s can be grown cool, so that’s a nice energy savings. For the end user, the good news is they performed exceptionally well in high heat and direct sun! The claim of self-cleaning was evident in our trials throughout the summer. We never had to deadhead the plants – EVER. Consider that a nice energy savings on the consumer side!
 

My favorite of the series is Neon Rose. The containers were packed with flowers and the color really popped – two great traits. Rest assured there are several other colors that round out the series, such as new Blushing Pink, Blue, Cherry, Terracotta, Violet, and more.



I could go on and on about the SuperCals… and I will, but not today! You’ll be seeing more details about the SuperCal series as we progress towards spring. As a professional grower, if you haven’t added the SuperCal’s to your product line, here is a strong ‘heads up’ to consider them. The liners are available through our Plug & Liner program. 



SuperCal Blue

For home gardeners, be sure to ask for the SuperCal’s by name at your local garden center next spring. We are also working on a home gardener mail order transplant program that will include the SuperCal’s. Details of the program should be available by late November.

10 comments

Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 11:27 AM

That’s right! Even MORE New Flower Introductions for 2013!

In my previous 2 posts a few of the many new flower seed and vegetative introductions were highlighted that will be available for the 2013 gardening season. Today highlights even more new flower seed and plug varieties that are available to grow this season. All are available through our seed or plug programs. Clicking on the links below will give you even more detail.

Flower Seeds and Plugs

• Santa Cruz Sunset Begonia – The first B. boliviensis type begonia from seed, Santa Cruz Sunset has already won gardening awards this spring and summer. It’s an excellent item for hanging baskets and containers. Can be grown in full sun.

  

  Santa Cruz Sunset Begonia

• Sophistica Blackberry and Sophistica Lime Petunias – Both of these new Sophistica varieties held up well in our hot summer. I was pleased to see that Blackberry did not fade out at all, but rather became richer and deeper in color as summer progressed. Sophistica Lime held its lively yellow lime color all summer long.

• 

  Sophistica Blackberry and
  Sophistica Lime Petunias

• Picobella Cascade Petunia – This brand new series demonstrated very nice performance this summer. I would place it in the same class as the Shock Wave series. Both have tighter internodes resulting in a bushier spreading habit and smaller blooms than typical spreading seed petunias.

  

  Picobella Cascade Petunia

• Cheyenne Spirit Echinacea – This brand new AAS winner for 2013 is already the talk of the market. It possesses an excellent color range for Echinacea Mix from seed.

  

  Cheyenne Spirit Echinacea

0 comments

Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 9:33 AM

More Enticing New Flower Introductions for 2013

In my last post a few of the many new flower seed introductions were highlighted that will be available for the 2013 gardening season. This post spotlights a sampling of the many new vegetative introductions that are available to grow this season. All are available through our plug & liner program. Clicking here will give you even more detail of the varieties below.

Vegetative Liners

• Calipetite Calibrachoas – Wow, did these turn our heads in trials this spring! Calipetite offers neat bursts of color in pots, containers, and window boxes.    

  

  Calipetite Calibrachoas

  
 
• SunPatiens® Compact Electric Orange New Guinea Impatiens – This new, high-impact color lights up SunPatiens’ 2013 line. You’ll be hearing more from me about the entire SunPatiens series during the course of the season!

  

  SunPatiens® Compact Electric Orange New Guinea Impatiens

  
• Calliope® Hot Pink Geraniums – The award-winning interspecific Calliope series welcomes three new colors, including bold Hot Pink. Superior branching fills containers quickly for a premium finish. 



Calliope® Hot Pink Geraniums


• Colorblaze® Keystone Kopper Coleuses – This new Proven Winners® sun coleus will catch your eye with its rich, deep copper foliage. It makes a great landscape coleus. Also be sure to check out its new companion Colorblaze Marooned!

  

  Colorblaze® Keystone Kopper Coleuses

  
• Petunia Ray Sunflower – It’s unique alright. Check out the dark maroon and yellow starred pattern of this conversation-starter!

  

  Petunia Ray Sunflower

  
• SuperCal® Artist Rose Petchoas – The SuperCal’s are gaining in recognition, and deservedly so. New Artist Rose provides a nice color addition to this fantastic series. You’ll be hearing more from me about the entire SuperCal series during the course of the season!

  

  SuperCal® Artist Rose Petchoas

  
• Lanai® Candy Cane Verbenas – I’ve really enjoyed the color pattern of this addition to the Lanai series. It’s performed beautifully all summer long in a hanging basket at home and put a twinkle in my eye.

  

  Lanai® Candy Cane Verbenas

  
• Pardon My Purple Monardas – This new Proven Winners® Monarda caught my attention with its nice short plant stature. It can be grown for the fronts of perennial gardens and used in mixed containers.

If you’re a home gardener, be sure to bookmark this page so you can ask for the varieties by name next spring at your local garden center!

0 comments

Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 5:12 PM

Exciting New Flower Introductions for 2013

After a full spring and summer of viewing and trialing new flower varieties, it’s exciting to bring you some highlights as our commercial grower customers start preparing for the 2013 spring selling season. Clicking on the links below will give you even more detail!

Flower Seeds and Plugs

• Serenita Angelonia – Bred to be shorter than the Serena’s, the series will be particularly useful in the South. Serenita Raspberry a unique color with a great habit and long lasting flower power.

  

  Serenita Angelonia

  
• Chocolate Covered Cherry Coleuses – I really like the color combination of this new sun coleus from seed, and was pleased to see that the color didn’t fade during our unusually hot and dry summer in our container trials. I recommend growing and selling it in large containers on its own, and not mixed with other annuals. 

  

  Chocolate Covered Cherry Coleuses

  
• Spring Matrix Pansies – This new pansy series was bred to flower up to 2 weeks earlier than Matrix. It will be a nice addition for the spring market primarily in the northeast and mid-west where the pansy selling season is short and sweet.
   
• Shock Wave Deep Purple Petunias – This is a great addition to the Shock Wave series, with a fantastic deep purple flower color. Use this better performing variety to replace the discontinued Shock Wave Purple. (Note: this variety is also available in Harris Seeds home garden packets.) 

  

  Shock Wave Deep Purple Petunias

  
• Happy Trails Portulacas – This is a nice new trailing Portulaca. I saw little difference in habit or performance outdoors compared to Sundial, but they are earlier in packs and pots for retail. Happy Trails also has a deep red color which you’ll not find in Sundial.

  

  Happy Trails Portulacas

  
• Cora Red Vincas – This is long awaited new color for the Cora Series vincas. It really was outstanding in the outdoor trials I visited this summer, with bright snappy color on a nice uniform plant habit. 

  

  Cora Red Vincas

  

If you’re a home gardener, you may want to bookmark any flower varieties in this list that interests you so you can ask for the varieties by name next spring at your local garden center. Stay tuned for my next blog post that will highlight some intriguing new 2013 vegetative annuals!

0 comments

Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 3:37 PM

News from OFA

It’s mid-summer and we’re in the heat (so to speak!) of launching our 2012-13 growing and gardening season. Between planting and growing trials, preparing our two professional grower catalogs for ornamentals, and attending trade shows, there’s barely time to take a breath!

Members of the Harris Seeds staff are in Columbus, Ohio attending the OFA Short Course, probably the largest and most comprehensive trade show in the U.S. for the ornamentals business.

Jonathan Jones, our Southeast Regional Account Representative sends you the following message:

Hello grower and gardening friends from beautiful, sunny Columbus, OH!  As the morning sun rose on Sunday, I was reflecting on our first day at the OFA Short Course Conference. OFA (Ohio Floriculture Association) is an association of horticulture professionals, and every July they host the premier show for greenhouse operators and nurserymen. Growers and suppliers come from across the nation to find out what is new and exciting for the upcoming 2013 season. 

And what excitement there is!  This year alone there are well over 200 new varieties of plants from around the world.  New varieties range from indoor house plants to the best of varieties for the garden. The buzz of our booth so far has been about new Petunia Sophistica Lime Green.  The exceptional color of this grandiflora petunia has attendees stopping in their tracks. Whether used in mixed containers or even as a stand-alone garden element, it will have customers and gardening friends stopping for a closer look. 

Stay tuned to for more news from OFA in the next day or two!

Jonathan

0 comments

Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 8:46 AM

Last Day of California Spring Trials – Thursday – Part 2

My previous blog post covered our visit to the Proven Winners group on the last day of our California Spring Trial tour last week. We also visited Benary, Suntory, and The Plug Connection that same day. All are located down in the San Diego area.

Without a doubt, the standout introduction at Benary’s trial was their new Begonia boliviensis Santa Cruz Sunset. The flower form is different from what we’re accustomed to, and has recently become more popular. The vigorous plants fill out hanging baskets and large planters for a stunning display of color. Note that Santa Cruz Sunset is the first boliviensis type Begonia available from seed!

Suntory had a few new additions to their renowned Calibrachoa Million Bells series that are worth noting. Million Bells Tropical Delight made a great presentation with its contrasting red eye and veins against the yellow background. Also new is the very attractive Million Bells Bouquet Amethyst.

  

Visiting The Plug Connection’s trial was a great way to for us to recap the trip because they are a grower who brings in the new introductions from the breeding companies and compares them against commercially available varieties. It affords us an opportunity to see how they truly size up to what is already on the market. Also, each year they take one vegetative genus and grow a complete trial of it. For the seed part of the trial, I was especially interested to see how the new genetically dwarf petunia Duvet and EZRider series performed against the already established Limbo series. Based on pack and pot performance, my observations were that the Limbo’s still appeared to be as dwarf or more compact than either of the two new series. But I’m also waiting to see how all 3 series perform against each other in our garden trials this summer. The Plug Connection grew the compact versions of Calibrachoa for their specialty trial this year. It was an excellent comparison to see the Callie, Noa, Million Bells Bouquet, Lindura, Minifamous, and Calipetite series all grown together. I have to say I was most taken with the Calipetite series. This series is bred by Sakata, and although I hadn’t mentioned it in last week’s blog when we visited Sakata, we did notice it at their trial. What stands out about this series is how truly compact it is. While everyone assumes Calibrachoa is trailing and vigorous, Calipetite appears to be sweet, neat and petite! They are perfect candidates for using on their own in pots or as a component in combo planters for a touch of bright color.

    

The Plug Connection (one of our plug and liner suppliers) also introduced their Mighty ‘Mato grafted tomato program last year. It’s been very well received and their plan is to expand the program to include a few more tomato varieties and also bring in Eggplants and Peppers.

This wraps up our annual California Spring Trial tour. As much as I enjoy this trip to observe each season’s new products and catch up with industry colleagues, it’s always nice to return home to terra firma! For more pictures of our last day of trials, be sure to visit us on Facebook!

0 comments

Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 8:04 AM

California Spring Trials – Tuesday

It was a full flower trial day on Tuesday with visits to Gro Link, Westhoff, Plant Haven, and PanAmerican Seed, all located in the Ventura area.

Gro-Link is a leading breeder of Chrysanthemums, so we spent a fair amount of time reviewing the new introductions as well as learning which series or families are bred for early, mid and late season flowering. Although yellow and red are the 2 top selling ‘mum’ colors, I have to admit my favorite new variety for 2013 from their trial is Magnus Violet, which was really more in the rose-pink color range. A close second is Staviski Yellow.

Westhoff is always fun to visit because of their wonderful selection of annuals. I was most taken with their Verbena Estrella series, especially the new Estrella Voodoo Pink Star, and an as yet unnamed lilac-hued variety. Awesome color! Their new Calibrachoa Celebration Peach Mango also caught my eye with its consistent orange eye on a creamy yellow background.

  

We stopped by Florist Holland, the breeders of the magnificent large outdoor Gerbera Patio series. Nothing new here, but they are well worth considering with their huge, semi-double blooms. Look for names like Bryce Canyon or Everglades, all are named after National Parks, etc. The Flori Line series of Gerbera are also worth considering. They are more of typical Gerbera flower size, but have a vast array of flower types and colors. New this year is a nice pastel, FloriLine Midi Monet.

Our last visit for the day was PanAmerican Seed where we had a thorough tour of their new seed introductions. We also had a chance to look at the new vegetative material from Selecta. Highlights at PanAm included a new dark purple to almost black Petunia Sophistica Blackberry. Its plant habit is more open with a few less flowers than most of the other Sophistica grandifloras, but it’ll look great when it’s interplanted with other petunia colors like the new Sophistica Lime Green. Other PanAmerican highlights include trailing Pansy Cool Wave, Coleus Chocolate Covered Cherry and Petunia Shock Wave Deep Purple.

  

Selecta is well known for the great combinations in their Trixi Liner program, and they’ve added 5 new blends to their lineup. My favorite of the new group is ‘Out of the Blue’ featuring Bidens Namid Yellow, Lobelia Magadi Dark Blue, and Verbena Lascar White. Their new double Osteo 3D Berry White is also not to be missed, combining creamy outer petals with a violet center.

  

For more pictures be sure to visit us on Facebook!

0 comments

Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 10:59 AM

California Spring Trials – Monday

Yesterday we visited Sakata Seeds in Salinas and Floranova in Lompoc. At Sakata, I was very pleased to see that they’ve added more varieties to their Petchoa SuperCal® series. The varieties in this nice series are crosses between Calibrachoa and Petunia. If you haven’t tried them growing them yet, you’ll want to in the future, because they exhibit all the best traits of both genera. The SuperCals have the flower power and non-sticky leaves of Calibrachoa, and the better pH adaptablilty and larger flowers of Petunias. New for 2013 are 3 varieties: SuperCal Artist Rose, Blushing Pink and Violet. SuperCal’s make great baskets and containers, but also have proven performance in garden beds.

We also spent time discussing the attributes of the sun-loving New Guinea Impatiens series called SunPatiens®. They’ve been on the market for a few years now and are increasing in sales momentum as growers, landscapers and home gardeners gain experience growing them. SunPatiens come in 3 different types: compact, vigorous and upright, so there is a place for them in just about every setting. We learned that the SunPatiens varieties are not only unique because they thrive in full sun, but also their root system differs from other New Guinea Impatiens. They form more of a columnar root that can grow down to almost 2 feet, helping them to become more firmly established. New in SunPatiens this upcoming year are Compact Electric Orange, Vigorous Blush Pink and an improved Compact White.

Floranova’s trial this year featured their recent foray into home garden vegetables with their Vegetalis patio vegetable product line. Be sure to check out Cayennetta Pepper, a 2012 All-American Selections winning cayenne chili pepper, a nice patio pepper that is loaded with colorful fruit. I was intrigued with the newest addition to their Ikon begonias called Ikon Bronze. The plants are vigorous and produce pendulous pink blossoms that nicely offset the dark bronze foliage. It’ll be a great item for large patio planters and hanging baskets.

Today we’ll be visiting Gro Link, Westhoff, Plant Haven, and PanAmerican Seed, all located in the Ventura area, so stay tuned!

0 comments

Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 11:37 AM

California Spring Trials – The Weekend

This past weekend Dick Chamberlin and I stopped at 5 different sites, representing 6-7 different breeding companies in Watsonville, Gilroy, San Juan Bautista and Salinas. We visited Golden State Bulb Co., Syngenta Flowers, Danziger Flowers, Hem Genetics, Thompson & Morgan, and Takii.

  

We saw Calla Lilies in all different colors and sizes, including a very beautiful variety named Nightlife that throws off 7-8 blooms per bulb. Golden State had a great demonstration of growing Calla’s for cut flowers that we’ll be researching in more depth for our cut flower growers. There were wonderful new Kwik Combo’s from Syngenta that make super colorful statements in baskets and containers. Syngenta is also releasing a new ‘milliflora’ petunia series called Picobella Cascade, the first of its type from seed.

  

I loved Danziger’s new Argyranthemum called Pompon Yellow. It has a very compact, branched habit with lively yellow cushiony flowers. Very nice! At Hem Genetics the message was very clear – try to grow genetically dwarf annuals when you can – it helps reduce the use of PGR’s (plant growth regulators), simplifies production, and home gardeners will still enjoy a nice plant habit and performance in the garden. Hem Genetics has adopted the phrase ‘How Low Can You Grow’ for any of their flowers series that fall into this class, which I think sums it up perfectly! Examples are Petunia Limbo and Mambo, Salvia Reddy, and their 2013 introduction – the Nano series of Geranium.

Next season look for Triology petunias from Takii Seed. This full-fledged spreading petunia series boasts a plant habit with shorter internodes than most other trailing petunias, giving it a densely branched compact habit that will ultimate spread to about 30” in the garden or containers. I particularly liked Triology Purple with its bright purple blossoms that completely cover the plant. Their demonstration showed you’ll only need one plant to yield a full blossom covered 10” basket.

On Monday we visit Sakata Seed in Salinas, and Floranova in Lompoc., so stay tuned!

1 comments

Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 2:26 PM

What Makes SuperCal’s so Super

There’s a fairly new flower genus that’s making waves in the industry called Petchoa. It’s a cross between Petunia and Calibrachoa (commonly referred to as Million Bells). In our January newsletter I’d written in some detail about the benefits of growing the SuperCal series of Petchoa, regardless if you’re a commercial grower or a home gardener. I’m pretty high on the SuperCal’s because the varieties combine the best traits of its two parents: Large, showy flowers, tolerance to high soil pH, excellent performance in both cool and warm environments, no sticky leaves, self-cleaning plants, and more.

What I didn’t go into detail in the newsletter article is the fact that the SuperCal’s make such great baskets and containers. For combo’s planters try growing them with SunPatiens and white Alyssum (more on SunPatiens in a future blog!). They also make fabulous baskets when paired with other SuperCal varieties. Some tested and true combo’s are Vanilla Blush paired with either Blue or Purple, Neon Rose grown with Purple, or Terracotta with Blue and Neon Rose. Frankly, they are such prolific bloomers I think they also look great just as a single variety on its own. Figure about 3-4 plants per 10” basket, adding a plant for every 2” you increase in basket size.

The SuperCal’s are not available from seed, only from vegetative liners for commercial growers. There are currently 9 different SuperCal varieties available right now: Cherry, Terracotta, Neon Rose, Pink Ice (New!), Blue, Velvet, Purple and Vanilla Blush. Terracotta is a pretty fun color, and the new Pink Ice is eye-popping. And there are more on the way – can’t wait to see them! In the meantime, try out the current SuperCal’s – they’re gaining ground with good reason. Home gardeners - be sure to ask for SuperCal by name at your local garden center.

0 comments

Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 11:07 AM