Spring 2014

20
May
2014

Petunia ‘Supertunia Flamingo’

PET Supertunia-Flamingo-00Petunias are fashion forward, with new varieties appearing almost weekly it seems. Yet, as it is in other fashion-driven businesses, the real money to be made is in supplying good quality basics: the classic blue suit, the little black dress, the white collared shirt or blouse. For many garden centers and landscapers the standard moneymaker is the pink petunia and this year we offer a new one—‘Supertunia Flamingo’. Why would we need a new version of this classic? It turns out there are several good reasons.

12
May
2014

The SunPatiens®

SP-mainSunPatiens® is a hybrid impatiens developed by the Japanese breeder Sakata specifically to improve the performance of impatiens in hot sun and humid conditions. By blending a great deal of New Guinea genetics into the basic impatiens they’ve delivered a plant with larger flowers and stronger stems but with the color firepower of traditional impatiens. As it turns out, this breeding work also enabled SunPatiens® to escape the worst of the downy mildew problem so we recommend it as a standard impatiens substitute in sunny locations.

05
May
2014

The Magnum New Guineas

Magnum mainIn short, Magnums are extremely effective at doing the job that New Guineas are called on to do. A New Guinea impatiens in an 8-inch pot is the all-purpose shade plant: its task is to provide continuous color in a wide range of shaded and semi-shaded garden scenarios, from landscape beds to patio containers to mixed combos. To accomplish this it should provide extra-large rounded flowers with a heavy display across the top of the plant. Not all cultivars of New Guinea fulfill this requirement.

28
April
2014

Geraniums in the Landscape

Geranium00We discussed the Rocky Mountain geranium back in the winter. This landscaping variety grows much bigger than the usual geranium. Rocky Mountains are now shipping, so we thought we would review what makes them superior geraniums, especially well suited for extra large containers and oversized gardens:

21
April
2014

The Verbenas

Verbena mainOften following on the heels of pansies is verbena, a decor plant that thrives in the cooler spring weather. It is not frost-tolerant like pansies and violas, but it doesn’t mind the chill in the spring night air plus it blooms throughout the summer. We are shipping several series and cultivars of verbena this week, so today we will review what each brings to the table.

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