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!

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Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 3:37 PM

Correction about Vinca Jams ‘N Jellies Blackberry

In my last post about the new AAS winner Vinca Jams N Jellies Blackberry, I’d stated that it is a F1 hybrid. Well, I’ve just learned that I was mistaken, JNJ Blackberry is an open pollinated variety. So I wanted to set the record straight to my readers. How will this variety perform under cooler growing environments? We trialed this variety for two years here in Rochester and it performed quite well throughout the summer up to the end of September when we removed the plants from our garden beds. So I have no doubt that it’ll thrive throughout the gardening season. The bottom line is I’m still sold on this garden vinca because of its novel color and performance.

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Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 4:44 PM

A Black Vinca – No Way!

All-America Selections just announced a new AAS winner last week at its Annual Open Meeting in Tampa, Florida. Vinca Jams N Jellies Blackberry is a very cool, novel garden Vinca that will attract both garden groupies and novices alike. Alright, it’s not black, but it’s such a dark purple it’s pretty darn close! The unique velvety deep purple flower color drew a number of positive comments from both judges and visitors to the various AAS trials across the country. As an AAS flower judge myself, I’m always drawn to high performing and unique varieties, so I was very happy to see it win an award.

It was a little difficult to see its true potential when we looked at it in the field trials because the dark flowers blended so closely with the soil. To create the most impact I recommend growing it with other annuals that have nice contrasting flower colors. Try pairing it with white vinca, or perhaps other heat loving varieties that are bright pink or lavender.

Plant height is 14-16” and figure on 10-12” garden spacing. Blooms are about 2” wide with overlapping petals. Most Vinca thrive in hot sunny areas, but because JNJ Blackberry is a F1 hybrid its tolerance towards a cooler growing environment is greater than open pollinated varieties. That’s a real plus for those of us who live in the north.

If you like fun and funky flowers, definitely give this new variety a whirl and let me know what you think. We’ve just put it up on our website so seed is available for sale!

Image courtesy of All-America Selections

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Posted by Harris Seeds Ornamentals at 8:30 AM