Happy New Test Garden Year

We are full swing in for the 2013 Test Garden Season and have started receiving plant material to propagate for our April 29, 2013 garden planting date. Right now we are up to 971 items planned so it should be a really interesting year of new items. 

We are very excited to have all the new Proven Winner items in the garden. An armored car will be bringing them to us after they are announced at the California Flower trials :) !

Hort Geek Items on the list so far:
1. A Cistus from TerraNova Nursery sounds really interesting.
2. An Alonsoa from Plant Haven-picture looks pretty.
3. Five new Pentas from Syngenta (we tested last year in the confidential garden and they were great).


Fall and Winter Test Garden
Currently in the garden we have the Fall annual trial going on. This is mainly a Pansy and Viola trial that we planted in the garden on October 29, 2012 and will keep in the ground till April.

We did a rating last week and some stand outs were:

Velocity Violas from Ecke

These are violas from cuttings and  have done very well in the cold weather. These were started from quart pots (where the rest of the garden was from 606 flats) so they were bigger at planting but they are doing great.


Brazen Brass Mustard from Sakata
This looked rough when we planted (see below) them but has quickly filled in and taken off. This has great foliage color and habit.

At Planiting

Last Week

Cool Wave Yellow
Cool Waves from PanAmerican Seed were the big news in Pansy this fall and has been well received by gardeners. Cool Wave Yellow has nice flowering and has continue to grow under the NC winter conditions. 

At Planting

Now

Fall Trial 2013-14
Next years fall trial we are going to change up a little. We are going to move the planting date up to week 39 so we get the plants better established before going into the cold. When we have the pansy open house (10/17/2013) you will be able to look at all the new items plants in pack and in then in the ground.

This Week In The Trial Garden Sep 7, 2012

This week we have made the final ratings and pictures of the 2012 Test Garden season. We will be preparing the garden for the Fall Trial where we will be evaluating over 500 different varieties of pansy, viola, dianthus, snapdragons and others. We are transplanting everything in the greenhouse next week and will have the Fall open house October 17. Planting in the garden happens the next week. We will be looking at them monthly and do the final rating in April.

Plant of the Week

I was a little jealous of how good the Celosia looked at the Ball Trial Garden when we visited two weeks ago. I think the cooler temperatures and shorter day lengths probably allow them to do better in their garden than in ours. 

This year however Celosia Kelios Purple from Beekenkamp has done incredible in our garden. It was a little slow to get started but has done very nice all season. As you can see in the picture it has taken over the bed and is a mass of bright purple flowers.

Vinca

Vinca is always a great plant for the hot summer season and this year is no different.

The Cora Series from Syngenta was an innovation in plant breeding when it came out a couple years ago. The plant breeders found a way to make Cora's resistant to a disease that kills vinca plants. This year they added a new color to the line, Cora Strawberry. This new color has done excellent in the garden and really stands out.

This Week In The Test Garden-August 31, 2012

Plant Of The Week: Bacopa Betty White

I am sure all the other breeding companies are thinking "why didn't we use that name" but Greenfuse beat them to it. Betty White has been one of the nicest of the 17 new bacopa we have in the trial this year. In our garden bacopa tend to go out of flower in the heat of July. While Betty had less flowers it was still blooming to an acceptable level. This looks to be a very good improvement in Bacopa.

Ball Trial Garden: Last week we made a quick visit to Balls trial garden located in West Chicago, IL. It is a very pretty garden with some good head on comparisons.

 I saw the Danziger Cleome (the tag was missing but I am pretty sure it was due to the lack of thorns) doing very nicely which was a good confirmation. This was one of our early plant of the weeks. In our garden it has grown to a huge size and needs more than the 12" by 12" spacing we gave it.

The Archangel Burgundy, another one of our past plant of the weeks, was also looking nice.and continues to look nice in our garden and out performs the other new Angelonia. This is a good confirmation that it will work in a wide range of climates.

The Week In The Trial Garden- August 24, 2012

Plant Of The Week: Calibrachoa

This year we have 66 new or improved Calibrachoa we are testing in the garden. Most are holding up very well even after 4 months in the garden. Like the petunias, the new raised beds are really letting the plants thrive.

One great color all season has been the IGeneration Deep Yellow. This has been a mass of color all season.

Another great color is Aloha Tiki Mango. This bright orange color really catches your eye.

The Trial Garden however is still finding the weaker varieties. This one died a few weeks ago during the heat wave.

The current rating (5=outstanding 3=average 1=dead or unacceptable)

Series	Average Rating
Aloha Pink Vulcano	4.0
MiniFamous Double Deep Yellow	4.0
MiniFamous iGeneration Deep Yellow	4.0
MiniFamous iGeneration Purple Sand	4.0
Aloha Tiki Mango	3.7
Celebration Ocean Blue	3.7
MiniFamous Double Rose Chai	3.7
MiniFamous iGeneration Orange	3.7
Westflowers 9-979	3.7
Aloha Cherry	3.3
Aloha Kona Cherry	3.3
Aloha Kona Midnight Blue	3.3
Aloha Neon Vulcano 60	3.3
Aloha Rose Vulcano 64	3.3
Celebration Banana	3.3
Celebration Mozart	3.3
Celebration New Dark Blue	3.3
Celebration Ocean Pink	3.3
Celebration Peach Cobbler	3.3
Celebration Purple Rain	3.3
Celebration X-treme Blue	3.3
Celebration X-treme Pink Improved	3.3
Noa Black Purple Improved	3.3
Noa Deep Purple	3.3
Noa Red Improved	3.3
Aloha Kona Mango	3.0
Aloha Tiki Lychee	3.0
Aloha Tiki Soft Pink	3.0
CA 09 1298 NA	3.0
Aloha Compact Tiki Soft Pink 62	2.7
Aloha Kona Milk and Honey	2.7
Aloha Kona Mandarin	2.0

Van Wingerden International Trial Garden:

Last week I visited the trial garden at Van Wingerden International near Asheville, NC (4114 Haywood Road, Mills River NC). This is a very nice raised bed and container trial garden. They had just replanted the garden three weeks ago for a fall show they were doing for their customers.  Everything was looking good for being in the garden a short time.  I

They had 3 of the new Proven Winner items in their garden. The Blue-My-Mind Evolvulus (Left), Picasso In Pink Petunia (middle), and Sunsatia Lemon Nemesia (right) are new items from PW that were looking good in the garden. The Nemesia was probably the slowest to be getting established but did look healthy.

Next Week: My visit to the Ball Trial Garden 

This Week in The Trial Garden August 17, 2012

Plant Of The Week: Caladiums for the Shade

Last week we looked at the 14 sun Caladiums we are growing in the garden. In addition to the sun caladium varieties from Classic Caladiums we evaluated 9 different ones in our shade garden. Like the sun ones we tested, the shade ones are doing great.

The top rated shade variety is Tapestry (http://www.metrolinagreenhouses.com/testgarden/8504.aspx). This is a great color and has filled in its bed space very nicely.  The ones in the container trial are doing great as well.

Strawberry Star is another very nice color with specks of red mixed in the white back ground. (http://www.metrolinagreenhouses.com/testgarden/8065.aspx)

Pink Splash is an interesting pink color that started off a little slow but is finishing the season very nicely (http://www.metrolinagreenhouses.com/testgarden/9232.aspx)

Caladiums for the Shade Current Ratings

Name	Rating
Tapestry	4.7
Strawberry Star	4.3
Cherry Tart	4.0
Moonlight	4.0
Garden White	3.7
Pink Splash	3.7
Royal Flush	3.3
Tricolor	3.3
White Butterfly	3.0

Dahlia Trial Garden

This week we made a stop at Carolina Dahlia Society’s trial garden in Cashiers, NC. It was little disappointing in how well it was marked and looked to have been just planted last month (ie do not make a special trip to Cashiers NC to see it). The varieties in this trial are much more vigorous than the typical ones we are doing (ok they are like shrubs) so it will take some work to get them to market. The flowers though are really cool.

The most interesting looking Dahlia was called Baron Keith.  The plant was about 3 feet tall and had the huge flower.

Another interesting one was called Show Time. The plant was very ugly but had huge beautiful flowers that really catches your eye.

Another huge flower one called Sugartown Sunrise. Again a rough look plant with a great flower.

This week we also made a visit to a Van Wingerden International Greenhouse trial garden in Mills River, NC. I will report more on that next week.

Regards,

Mark Yelanich Ph.D.

Past Plant of The Week!

Week 32: Sun Caladiums

Week 31: Top Petunias

Week 30: AAS Canna and Echinacea

Week 29:Trailing Begonia  ‘Santa Cruz’ Sunset from Benary

Week 28: Gomphrena Experimental from Sakata

Week 27:  Cleome Clio ‘Magenta’  from Danziger

Week 26: Angelonia Archangel Raspberry Improved from Ball FloraPlant.

Week 25: Open House Week

Week 24: Incarvillea (Incarvillea delavayi) Cheron Pink from PanAmerican

Week 23: Mecardonia  Magic Carpet Yellow from Sakata Ornamentals.

Week 22: Hibiscus “Mahogany Splendor” from Pan American Seed

This Week In The Trial Garden August 10, 2012

Plant Of The Week: Caladiums for the Sun

This year we received 14 caladium varieties from Classic Caladiums to trial under full sun condition and North Carolina heat and humidity. To summarize: THEY ARE AWESOME! The plants have filled their beds space and are free of any sun burn or leaf damage. They have gotten better and better as the season progresses and have been at their peak for two months.

  

Highlighter (http://www.metrolinagreenhouses.com/testgarden/9214.aspx)  has done very well all season and has that nice bright green color.

Hearts Delight (http://www.metrolinagreenhouses.com/testgarden/9226.aspx) is another great variety with a nice red color.

Candyland (http://www.metrolinagreenhouses.com/testgarden/9217.aspx) is another fun color that has gotten better and better as the season goes on.

The weakest of the group has been Miss Muffet. This variety is healthy but just does not have the vigor of the others.

Caladiums for the Sun Current Ratings

Highlighter	4.3
Bombshell	4.0
Candyland	4.0
Celebration	4.0
Creamsickle	4.0
Heart's Delight	4.0
Summer Pink	4.0
Party Punch	3.7
White Dynasty	3.7
White Marble	3.7
White Wonder	3.7
Lance Wharton	3.3
Sweetheart	3.3
Miss Muffet	3.0

Regards,

Mark Yelanich Ph.D.

Past Plant of The Week!

Week 31: Top Petunias

Week 30: AAS Canna and Echinacea

Week 29:Trailing Begonia  ‘Santa Cruz’ Sunset from Benary

Week 28: Gomphrena Experimental from Sakata

Week 27:  Cleome Clio ‘Magenta’  from Danziger

Week 26: Angelonia Archangel Raspberry Improved from Ball FloraPlant.

Week 25: Open House Week

Week 24: Incarvillea (Incarvillea delavayi) Cheron Pink from PanAmerican

Week 23: Mecardonia  Magic Carpet Yellow from Sakata Ornamentals.

Week 22: Hibiscus “Mahogany Splendor” from Pan American Seed

This Week In The Trial Garden August 8 2012

Plant Of The Week: Petunias!

This is a few days late since I attended the 109^th annual American Society of Horticultural Science meeting last week. I attended over 100 talks and came back with great information to help us grow better plants.

In previous years the Metrolina Test Garden has been extremely challenging to petunias. By August in previous years most all of the petunias would be dead, mainly killed off from diseases. With the raised beds we are getting much better drainage and the disease pressure is much, much lower. However the Metrolina Test Garden is not a cake walk and we are still finding the weaker varieties. For example many of the Petunias in the Viva Series and especially  Viva Fire Rose has done poorly all season.

In previous years Blanket Purple has been a real champion (and the only petunia standing in September). They have made some improvements to the line and it continues to be a top performer.

The top performing petunia so far has been Whispers Star Rose. I have been very impressed with how this variety holds up after a heavy rain.

The top performing new or improved petunias are:

12BP04C-2 Simply Madness	3.7
Blanket Purple Improved	3.7
Easy Wave South Beach Mix	3.7
Easy Wave Sweet Tart Mix	3.7
Espresso Sweet Pink	3.7
Famous Pink	3.7
Picnic Light Pink	4.0
Picnic Purple	3.7
Picnic Violet	4.0
Picnic White	3.7
Pop Rocks Coral	3.7
Pop Rocks Lavender	3.7
Pop Rocks White	3.7
Sanguna Atomic Blue	3.7
Sanguna Blue Vein	4.3
Sanguna Burgundy	3.7
Sanguna Light Blue	3.7
Sanguna Lipstick	3.7
Sanguna Plum Vein	3.7
Sanguna Rose	4.0
Sanguna White Pearl	4.3
Shock Wave Buzz Mix	3.7
Shock Wave Rose Improved	3.7
Sweet Pleasure Patio Cassis	4.3
Sweet Pleasure Patio White Lilac Eye	4.0
Trilogy Lavender Blush	4.0
Trilogy Rose	3.7
Trilogy Salmon Morn	3.7
Trilogy White	4.0
Viva Burgundy	3.7
Viva Rose Star	4.0
Whispers Amethyst	4.0
Whispers Appleblossom	3.7
Whispers Bright Pink	3.7
Whispers Purple	3.7
Whispers Red 11	4.0
Whispers White	4.0
Whispers Star Rose	4.7

Regards,

Mark Yelanich Ph.D.

Friday: Sun Caladiums

Past Plant of The Week!

Week 30: AAS Canna and Echinacea

Week 29:Trailing Begonia  ‘Santa Cruz’ Sunset from Benary

Week 28: Gomphrena Experimental from Sakata

Week 27:  Cleome Clio ‘Magenta’  from Danziger

Week 26: Angelonia Archangel Raspberry Improved from Ball FloraPlant.

Week 25: Open House Week

Week 24: Incarvillea (Incarvillea delavayi) Cheron Pink from PanAmerican

Week 23: Mecardonia  Magic Carpet Yellow from Sakata Ornamentals.

Week 22: Hibiscus “Mahogany Splendor” from Pan American Seed