Costa Farms 2013 Summer Blind Trials

Summer Showdown 2013 Angelonia and Lantana Trials

Angelonia and lantana

are two of the best low-maintenance plants for end consumers. They offer a host of benefits, including: · Long bloom season · High-impact colors · Attractive to butterflies · Tolerance of neglect Because the plants are so good in landscapes, we performed a blind trial of 57 varieties of angelonia and 60 varieties of lantana—both seed and vegetative series.

The varieties were grown in 6-inch containers (the way they’d be found at retail for home gardeners and professional landscapers). All were transplanted into the blind trial row beds week 26.

The angelonia or lantana varieties were not pinched/deadheaded in the garden. They were given an application of slow-release fertilizer at planting time; liquid fertilizer week 30; and then more slowrelease fertilizer.

The plants had to hold up during an hot, humid, rainy summer in Miami. Graphs to the right detail environmental conditions.

While the summertime conditions in Miami don’t match the rest of the country, extremes create a baseline for landscape performance in more other regions. However, the heavy rains may have impacted the blooms, especially angelonia, more so than in a normal summer in other areas.

Angelonia and lantana cultivars were evaluated on flowering and overall appeal/performance. We required at least 50% bloom by week 37, clean foliage (little to no disease, insect, or heat damage), and look like an attractive plant that would appeal to home gardeners and commercial landscapers.

Temperature (F) and Relative Humidity (%)

100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65

Avg Temp

60

1.8

Min Temp

Max Temp

Rel Hum

Rainfall - Summer 2013

1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6

2m Rain tot (in) 2m Rain max over 15min(in)

0.4 0.2 0

Rain 2013 Rain 2012 Rain 2011 Rain 2010

Rainfall Comparison - 2010 to 2013

4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 7/7

7/14

7/21

7/28

8/4

8/11

8/18

8/25

9/1

9/8

AngelMist Dark Pink Offering a compact, mounded habit, AngelMist Dark Pink has many uses in the landscape, including garden beds and borders, mixed containers, and hanging baskets. It bloomed consistently all summer and kept a nice-looking habit.

Serenita Raspberry Showing off short stalks of medium-size, medium-pink flowes, this variety also had an impressive short, mounding habit that makes it a good option for the front of the landscape bed/ border, as well as in containers and hanging baskets.

Sungelonia Deep Pink Showing off dark rose flowers, it offered outstanding bloom count and maintained an upright, open habit. Best suited for large containers and beds and borders, the sturdy, relatively long stems offer potential as a cutflower to home gardeners.

AngelMist Dark Rose Compact varieties of angelonia certainly have their place—but so do the big old-fashioned types that have such a presence in the landscape. AngelMist Dark Rose came to the top because of its consistent flowering and excellent upright habit.

Angelina Dark Rose Another tall, upright variety showing off spires of bright pink flowers, Angelina Dark Rose bloomed consistently through the rain and kept its dense, lush look through the end of the trial. The big flowers stood out, putting on a good show for consumers.

Serenita Purple One of the best-flowering purple varieties, Serenity purple offered an outstanding number of spikes bearing big purple blooms. Its a good fit for the back of the border or in large containers. This variety should have especially good appeal to commercial landscapers.

Serena Purple A medium-size angelonia, Serena Purple should offer lots of versatility to home gardeners and professional landscapers: Grow it in the middle of beds and borders, as a specimen or accent plant in containers, or as a showstopper in a large hanging basket.

Serena Blue Though it doesn’t have true-blue flowers, the blooms’ violet flush is attractive. And that’s good because there are a lot of them.

A little more loose and open than Serena Purple, it still makes for an attractive plant in garden beds and borders.

Serena White Though white flowers don’t offer the same appeal those in shades of pink and purple, they’re some of the best accent plants. And Serena White was one of the most floriferic in the trial. It makes for a good choice for beds and borders, containers, and hanging baskets.

Awesome Angelonia Angelonia offers an abundance of applications in gardens and landscapes. To maximize consumer appeal, promote qualities such as its heat tolerance and ability to attract butterflies.

The upright flower spikes add textural contrast to mixed containers and plantings, especially against mounding and trailing plants.

Professional landscapers and home gardeners alike enjoy the fact that angelonia performs well without deadheading or pinching after planting.

Garden writers love it, too. Kathleen Childers, editor of Gardening How-To magazine, says: “It provides nonstop, prolific, and longlasting blooms all summer and requires virtually no care. I can’t help but smile every time I look at mine because it’s so beautiful and just keeps giving and giving.”

Most angelonia varieties bloom in shades of purple, pink, and white. They mixes well with other plants that have flowers or foliage in those shades, including: · Elephant’s ear · Ornamental pepper · Pentas · Persian shield · Scaevola · Sun-tolerant coleus · Sweet potato vine · Vinca

Play off the power of contrasting colors by pairing angelonia, especially varieties that have saturated purple blooms with contrasting yellow or orange, including: · Celosia · Coreopsis · Dwarf canna · Gaillardia · Gazania · Lantana · Marigold · Sun-tolerant impatiens

Starfruit Dense and compact, Starfruit demonstrated an excellent habit all the way through the trials. It also produced impressive numbers of medium-sized, lemonyellow blooms. This selection is particularly well suited to mailbox plantings and along driveways.

Santana Gold Covering itself in bloom this summer, Santana Gold had excellent uniformity, an upright/ spreading growth habit, and large clusters of saturated goldenyellow blooms. The flower color is especially appealing to younger consumers.

Bandana Orange Sunrise Earning high marks for its upright, mounding habit, Bandana Orange Sunrise also had nicely colored golden-yellow blooms that mature to soft orange. The flower clusters were quite large, helping this variety put on a good show in the landscape.

Lucky Pot of Gold One of the most compact varieties in the trails, Lucky Pot of Gold flowered profusely through the summer (even with all the rain) and kept its compact habit. It produced medium-sized clusters of soft yellow blooms that were attractive to butterflies.

Santana Red Orange A medium-sized selection with an open, spreading habit, Santana Red Orange has potential for jumbo hanging baskets. There were large numbers of big flower heads and rich yellow blooms that transformed to orange and bright scarlet red as they matured.

Bandana White Showing off an outstanding habit, Bandana White made a low, compact mound covered in large creamy-white blooms.

White is often planted as a component color, and the plant’s small size makes it appropriate for containers.

Love for Lantana

Landmark Peach Sunrise An alternative for consumers who don’t like bold shades of orange and yellow, this selection offers soft peach and apricot tones. The habit is upright and mounding, but not as dense as many other varieties. It looks especially good paired with purple foliage.

A tried-and-true garden favorite, lantana has earned a spot in home gardeners’ hearts because it is so easy to grow. One of the most resilient annuals around, end consumers can forget to water lantana from time to time during hot weather­—the plant doesn’t skip a beat. And, it’s rarely eaten by even the hungriest deer and rabbits.

Its mounding habit makes it a fine pick for the front or middle of garden beds or borders, depending on variety. Larger varieties are sometimes referred to as “55-mile-per-hour plants” because they offer so much impact that they can be seen from a distance.

There is a considerable difference in habits between the compact selections and full-size lantanas. The plants look similar in pots at retail; as an industry, we need to do a better job teaching end consumers about the differences to ensure they’re getting the right variety to meet their expectations.

Lantanas are also especially on trend with consumers because they attract hummingbirds and butterflies­—a trait highly valued by consumers. Because of the many advantages lantana brings to the landscape, it’s often written about in gardening publications such as Better Homes and Gardens and HGTV, as well as covered by bloggers.

Complement the hot colors of red, orange, and yellow lantana varieties by pairing them with: · Celosia · Coreopsis · Dwarf canna · Gaillardia · Gazania · Marigold · Sun-tolerant impatiens

Luscious Pina Colada Offering outstanding bloom power through the summer, Luscious Pina Colada showed off large clusters of creamy flowers over rich green foliage on an upright, densely mounded plant.

It’s suitable for large containers, beds, and landscape borders.

Complement varieties that bloom in cooler shades of pink, peach, and salmon by pairing similarly colored varieties of flowers, including: · Celosia · Daylily · Garden phlox · Globe amaranth · Hibiscus · Ornamental pepper · Verbena

There’s no denying attracting butterflies and hummingbirds is important to end consumers.

With the decrease in bee populations, a growing number of end consumers is also cognizant of planting for those creatures. Lantana matches up with the following for such programs: · Agastache · Asclepias · Butterfly bush · Cosmos · Dahlia · Lobularia · Pentas · Petunia · Rudbeckia · Salvia · Verbena · Yarrow · Zinnia