coast to coast ‘23 New Varieties

Dahlia Revelation Series 18.

DUMMEN ORANGE | Introducing the Dahlia Revelation Series, the replacement for the Mystic series and a brand new lineup! These dahlias offer matching timing and habit, while being slightly less vigorous than their predecessor. With five stunning colors, dark foliage, and strong branching, they produce large flowers that make a bold statement, as we saw on display at CAST. The Revelation Series is also mildew resistant. Each 10” pot can accommodate three plants. Among the colors, Salmon Bicolor and Yellow stand out as favorite. Yellow showcases darker foliage compared to the others. For anyone seeking a dahlia that rivals the performance of Mystic Illusion will find the Revelation Series to be a promising choice. Its well-matched timing and vigor make it a delightful solution. Available colors include Pink, Red, Yellow, Soft Orange, and Salmon Bicolor.

DANZIGER | Like its series companions that debuted last year, Presidente THRIVES in the heat! It blooms in the spring and continues to flower throughout the summer, making it a season-long ‘bestie’ to hummingbirds. Well-suited for hot climates, it demonstrated an excellent performance in California even in the early spring. With short internodes, we expect an overall better plant habit. We’ll keep an eye on this variety, as it may be a quality alternative to other popular cultivars in the industry.

BEEKENKAMP | While Beekenkamp showed off a display of bold, vibrant colors at CAST, it was Red Ruffle of the Maggiore dahlias that really took the spotlight. A hot red-orange dahlia that demanded as much attention from the floriferous blooms as it did the large plant habit. Ideal for 8-10” pots, you can expect a sturdy, upright habit with solid stems that make this plant excellent in garden performance.

Hypoestes Impatiens

Lotty Dotty Series

WESTHOFF FLOWERS | Westhoff recognized the need for more shade options for the homeowner, particularly in the realm of foliage, meet the Lotty Dotty series. This line of vegetative hypoestes showcases twice the vigor as seed types and is selected not to flower. These upright plants exhibit an array of bright colors and consistent performance and uniformity to allow for easy mixing. They are the perfect choice for creating exquisite part-sun combination planters! While they fit for 4” production, their true beauty shines when paired with other plants in combos.

SunPatiens® Compact Red Candy

SAKATA | Much like our enthusiasm over last year’s Purple Candy, our interest is matched for the melty bicolor pattern of the Red Candy. Compact Red Candy combines a rose-colored base with a vibrant red star pattern. The dark, glossy leaves create a striking contrast with the eye-catching flowers. This variety offers excellent garden performance, thriving in various conditions. This will replace the previously introduced Pink Candy.

Today, many breeding companies and young plant producers are offering an impressive array of combos and mixes. The products they produce are not only better, prettier, and easier to finish, but also boast exceptional uniformity for the grower and end user alike.

Thanks to remarkable advancements in plant breeding, the components within these combos are now better matched than ever before.

Each plant complements and enhances the beauty of its companions, resulting in stunning displays that captivate the eyes and fill spaces with harmonious colors, textures, and forms.

In response to this growing demand and competition, breeders and producers are investing substantial time and effort into trialing their mixes, often spanning multiple years before adding them to their program. This rigorous testing ensures that only the most exceptional combinations make their way into the hands of avid gardeners and landscapers.

The recent CAST event was a treasure trove of new combos offered by breeders, with suggested planters gracing almost every stop along our journey.

Here are just a few of the combinations that caught our eye...

2024 Combinations Breeder

Begonia Hula™ Red and White Mixture

PanAmerican Seed

Confetti Garden® Hawaiian Kaihalulu Dummen Orange

Durabella™ Strawberry Taffy™ Danziger

Impatiens Beacon® Pearl Island Mixture

PanAmerican Seed

Impatiens SunPatiens® Compact Pink Beryl Mix Benary

Pelargonium Calliope® Mixes Syngenta

Petunia E3 Easy Wave® Sweet Taffy Mixture

PanAmerican Seed

Proven Winners Recipe of the YearSunshine State Proven Winners

Top Pick

Petchoa CALIBURST YELLOW

23.

PANAMERICAN SEED | The first petchoa from seed! We are very excited to see this variety take over the trials this summer, and as we expect, also future gardens and patios. With the vibrant colours from calibrachoas, the cold-durable production and short daylength requirements of Wave petunias, and the ease of seed, it’s the perfect formula for excellent Spring and Summer sales! Caliburst performs like a vegetative variety, with the flexibility of seed. With its controlled, manageable habit, it’s the coolest for combos and containers. At CAST, the yellow flower was vibrant with a tidy habit in pots, baskets, and combos alike. Add your bookmark now, this is one to add to your lineup.

Top Pick Top Pick

Mandevilla Ipomea SunParasol® Giant Peach Sunrise

Sweet Georgia® Heart Chestnut

GREEN FUSE BOTANICALS | This was perhaps the most unique vine or spiller that we saw at CAST 2023. The series was developed for uniformity among the series, all relatively compact with the exception of Green Splash. This newest introduction has foliage that opens as a chartreuse then maturing to a bronze. The internodes are tight so it will make for a perfect addition to combo planters.

Petunia Tumbelina® Series Additions

26.

COHEN/KERLEY | Introducing our favorite additions to the Tumbelina® series: Matilda and Scarlett Ripple. Bred by Kerley in the UK and exclusively produced by Cohen Propagation, these double trailing petunias offer exceptional pot performance and are known for their weather resistance. Scarlett Ripple stands out with eye-catching red-white bicolor blooms with a slightly more compact habit. Matilda, showcases a beautiful soft yellow hue with a compact trailing habit.

Fun In The Sun At Santa Monica Pier

As our California Spring Trials journey neared its end, we made our final stop at the iconic Santa Monica Pier. This lively destination became our playground for the day, as we immersed ourselves in the excitement of boardwalk games, delicious seafood, and the awe-inspiring beauty of the Californian ocean. We enthusiastically took on the challenge of shooting hoops, testing our aim by tossing rings on bottles, and embracing the competitive spirit of every boardwalk game we came upon.

SUNTORY FLOWERS | We all have come to know and love the SunParasol Giant series as the perfect choice for trellises and climbing structures. Joining the series, Giant Peach Sunrise boasts the biggest flowers in the series with the shared trait of a vigorous growth habit. It is an early bloomer compared to other Giants. You can expect the same superb disease resistance and hot weather performance. This variety is a great addition to the classic mandevilla series, offering faster crop time and the potential for darker flower colors in cooler temperatures, creating a stunning bicolor effect.

With sales representatives hailing from different corners of the country, including Missouri, Texas, Ohio, New York, Colorado, and Wisconsin, this was a unique opportunity for our team to come together one last time before resorting to Zoom meetings and emails for staying in touch and up-todate on our CAST findings.

Cheers to another unforgettable adventure down the Cali coast!