Grower News

In the first article , we discussed 30 new and notable varieties that excelled at the Sawaya Garden Trials this past year. In this second part, we will explore the remainder of my selections and highlight how they could benefit your operation. The following varieties are listed either alphabetically or grouped with similar varieties, and not listed in any order of importance or by popularity. Geranium Zonal Dynamo Orange (31) is one in a range of colours for this medium-habit series. Its leaf zoning and high degree of flower power are musts for both sales appeal and for garden performance. Consumers look for colour, and the more of it there is, the faster the product is sold. For good garden performance, fast flowering is needed in geraniums because after every rain, almost all of the open flowers need to be removed to prevent the spread of botrytis. Typically, if no deadheading is done, the entire plant will be dead. Dynamo recovers faster than other geraniums after a rain due to its ability to produce lots of flowers. Impatiens Beacon White (32) and Impatiens Walleriana Imara Orange Star (33) are two colours from the Beacon and Imara series, long awaited to replace older impatiens genetics. In our trials, the Beacon and the Imara did very well all summer long without any signs of impatiens downy mildew (IDM) and with good garden performance. The double impatiens, such as Impatiens Double Fiesta Coral Orange (34) , also did not display any IDM but showed great garden performance with huge double flowers that looked like multiflora roses due to the cooler nights compared to other summers. In comparison, Impatiens walleriana Xtreme (35) was covered with IDM. Hence, even when environmental conditions were favourable for IDM, the Beacon and Imara impatiens were resistant to it. New Guinea Impatiens Super Sonic Orange Ice (36) and Magnum Fire (37) were not susceptible to (IDM). They performed very well in the trials, which raises the question as to why we need Walleriana impatiens. The New Guinea impatiens perform very well in gardens, with larger flowers and resilient […]

Source: www.greenhousecanada.com