Penn State Variety Trials - Landisville Penn State SE Research & Extension Center 1446 Auction Road Manheim, PA 17545 2009 Weekly Update

Introduction:

Welcome to the Penn State Horticulture Variety Trial webpage. Our goal is to update
this page frequently, every 2-3 weeks, showing the status of the plants, picture of
varieties that attract attention and listing of events.

The objective of the trial is to test vegetative and seed varieties for outdoor
performance of flowering annuals in the hot, humid mid-Atlantic region. Trial gardens
are open to the public 8 am - 3 pm, Monday through Friday.

Update September 2, 2009:

Following are some photos of the Ball Horticulture Variety Trials in West Chicago, visited by Alan Michael on Friday, August 21.
The key thing about this trial is that they have individual varieties in beds and planters plus they use them in landscape situations.
These pictures highlight some of those better plants and their uses.

In-ground trial beds with Alan's granddaughters, Kaira and Gabi, who kept him company on the trip and made the trip exciting.	'Jade Princess' - "It feels fluffy just like a cat's tail" Gabi said.
Susan Schmitz, Trial Director, in front of a living wall, was my tour guide.	Another view of 'Jade Princess'
Here's a great use of coleus as a landscape plant
Here is an All America Winner galardia, which is also in our trial.
SunPatiens in beds
'Tiger Eye Gold' - We have rated as one of our better plants
This is a new seed zinnia 'Benary Giant Wine' - we don't have this in our trial but it is a really good looking plant.
Landscape display using Starlight Rose Zinnia	Flowerbed using 'Star Gold Zinnia', 'Angelmist Purple Angelonia', 'Breathless Blush' and 'Blazin Lime'
'Redhead' coleus and 'Fanfare Orange' impatiens
This is a new plant for 2009 which we did not have in our trial - 'Ignite Scarlet Red' hypericum

Update August 21, 2009:

This is the way the trial looks this week...we've had lots of rain and are starting to see differences; foliar diseases are starting to develop. This
is a good time to see varietal differences in summer performance. This week we will focus on the following:

• the new Arboretum at Penn State and photos of containers and flowerbeds on campus.
• Begonias
• New Guinea Impatiens
• Sunpatiens (these perform well in full sun)
• Fanfare (also perform well in sun)
• Geraniums
• Seed Geraniums

Arboretum at Penn State -

Begonias :

'DragonWing Red' (from seed) - Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses
'Big Red with Bronze Leaf' (from seed) - Gro-n-Sell
'Big Red Green Leaf' (from seed) - Gro-n-Sell
'Volumia Pink' (from seed) - Syngenta
'Volumia Scarlet' (from seed) - Syngenta
'Million Kisses Romance' (tuberous begonia) - Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses

New Guinea Impatiens:

Some of the new introductions for 2009:
'Celebration Icy Blue' (Celebrette) - Ball FloraPlant	'Celebrette Appleblossom Improved' - Ball FloraPlant
'Harmony Fuchia Cream' - Danziger Flower Farm	'Harmony Orange Red' - Danziger Flower Farm

New Guinea Impatiens from Seed
'Divine Lavendar' (New) - PanAmerican Seed
'Divine Orange' (New) - PanAmerican Seed
'Divine Pink' (New) - PanAmerican Seed

Sunpatiens:

Overview of Sunpatiens - These perform well in full sun
'Spreading Salmon' - Sakata Seed America
'Spreading White' - Sakata Seed America
'Compact Orange' - Sakata Seed America
'Compact Coral' - Sakata Seed America	'Compact White' - Sakata Seed America

Fanfare:

Overview of Fanfare - These also perform well in full sun
'Fanfare Blush' - Ball FloraPlant
'Fanfare Orchid' - Ball FloraPlant

Geraniums - These have had a difficult time this year. June was wet and cool, growth was slow, flowering was irregular. In July, it warmed
up somewhat but had heavy rains, flowers were feavily covered with botrytis and August started to see improvement. The following photos show
some of the best this season.

'Allure Red Passion' - Ball FloraPlant
'Designer Light Pink Sizzle' - Ball FloraPlant
'Fantasia Violet' - Ball FloraPlant
'Showcase Rose Sizzle' - Ball FloraPlant
'Survivor Salmon' - Red Fox by Dummen USA
'Survivor Dark Red' (New) - Red Fox by Dummen USA
'Savannah Pink Sizzle' - Red Fox by Dummen USA	'TexMex Fire' (New)- Red Fox by Dummen USA
'Merifire' - Fides North America	'Master Idol Red' (New) - Fides North America
'Master Idol Orange' (New) - Fides North America	'Master Idol Rose' (New) - Fides North America
'Patriot Rose Red' - Paul Ecke Ranch	'Patriot Bright Red' - Paul Ecke Ranch
'PAC Superstar Red' - Paul Ecke Ranch	'Global Red' - Paul Ecke Ranch
'Global Light Lavendar' - Paul Ecke Ranch	Overview
'Caliente Hot Coral' (New) - Syngenta Flowers	'Caliente Orange' (New) - Syngenta Flowers
'Caliente Pink' (New) - Syngenta Flowers	'Caliente Rose' - Syngenta Flowers
'Calliope Dark Red' - Syngenta Flowers
'Americana Pink' - Syngenta Flowers	'Americana Dark Red' - Syngenta Flowers

Seed Geraniumns:

Overview	'Pinto Pink' - Syngenta Flowers
'Pinto Salmon' - Syngenta Flowers	'Orbit Synchro Apple Blossom' (New) - Goldsmith Seeds
'Orbit Synchro Scarlet' (New) - Goldsmith Seeds	'Daredevil Rosita' - Proven Winners
'Orbit Synchro White' (New) - Goldsmith Seeds	'Daredevil Salmon' - Proven Winners

Update July 29, 2009:

This week we are going to address the following items:

• Field Day
• Consumer Field Day
• Alan's Top 2 Picks this week
• Best of the Best of several plants
• Problems in the field
• Odds and Ends

For the Field Day on July 23, we had 330 people attending, an excellent crowd except for when it got dark and then rained and
rained and rained.

So then we moved to the barn:

Warren Goll, retired extension educator, teaching	Nora Catlin, floriculturalist from Long Island

Photos of the Consumer Field Day on July 25:

Alan's Top 2 plants for this week:

Rudibeckia 'Tiger Eye Gold' (from seed) - Goldsmith Seed
Ornamental Millet 'Jade Princess' (new) - Ball Horticultural

Some of the best calibrachoa and double calibrachoa:

'MiniFamous Pink' - Selecta First Class
'MiniFamous Tangerine' - Selecta First Class	'MiniFamous Double Blue' - Selecta First Class
'MiniFamous Double Lemon' (new) - Selecta First Class	'MiniFamous Double Orange' (new) - Selecta First Class

Some of the best bacopa:

'Snowstorm Blue' (new) - Proven Winners	'Snowstorm Pink Improved' (new) - Proven Winners
'Abunda Giant White' - Ball FloraPlant

Some of the best argyranthemum:

'Angelic Magenta' (new) - Danziger Flower Farm	'Angelic Creamy Yellow' (new) - Danziger Flower Farm
'Angelic White Chic' (new) - Danziger Flower Farm

Some of the best of the angelonia:

Angelonia is outstanding, in full flower, compact and reaching their peak...	'Serena Lavendar' (from seed) - PanAmerican Seed
'Serena Purple' (from seed) - PanAmerican Seed	'Serena White' (from seed) - PanAmerican Seed

Some of the best of the dahlias:

'Dahlinova Hypnotica Bronze Bicolor' - Fides North America	'Dahlinova Carolina Orange' - Fides North America

Some of the best of the lantana:

Lantana - 'Landmark Citrus' - Ball FloraPlant This has rated high for 3 years
	Lantana - 'Landmark Peach Sunrise' - Ball FloraPlant

Some of the best of the coleus:

Coleus - 'Henna' (new) - Ball FloraPlant
Coleus - 'Indian Summer' (new) - Ball FloraPlant	Coleus - 'Mint Mocha' (new) - Ball FloraPlant
Coleus - 'Red Head' (new) - Ball FloraPlant	Coleus - 'Chocolate Splash' (new) - PanAmerican Seed
Coleus - 'Trusty Rusty' (new) - Ball FloraPlant

Problems we saw in the field the last 2 weeks are:

Damage on calibrachoa. Western Flower Thrips causing leaf bronzing. Left photo - underside of leaf, Right photo - top of leaf
Herbicide 2,4-D-type chemical damage on tomatoes
Some iron deficiency on pin-oak (iron chlorosis)

Odd and Ends:

Lobelia is holding up under heat	A new ageratum from Syngenta Flowers - 'Patina Purple'
Passion Flower - Purple (Passiflora caerulea) - Briar Rose Greenhouse	Osteospermum - 'Margarita Yellow' - Fides North America
Osteospermum - 'Serenity Sunset' (new) - Ball FloraPlant	Osteospermum - 'Ostica Lemon' (new) - Danziger Flower Farm

Update July 14, 2009:

Here are 2 Overviews of the Trials:

New Guinea Impatiens	Upper area in trial.

Following are the best of the new petunias. These photos were taken July 8. The petunias were glorious in flower shape, habit
and overall garden performance.

Overview of Petunias
'Suncatcher Purple Rose' - Ball FloraPlant
'Suncatcher Red' - Ball FloraPlant
'Cascadias Ann Wood' - Danziger Flower Farm
'Cascadias Noble Blue' - Danziger Flower Farm
'Littletunia Red Energy' - Danziger Flower Farm
'Littletunia Sweet Purple' - Danziger Flower Farm
'Littletunia White Grace' - Danziger Flower Farm
'Petitunia Cranberry Dream' - Danziger Flower Farm
'Petitunia Pink Splendor Dream' - Danziger Flower Farm
'Petitunia Rim Purple Dream' - Danziger Flower Farm
'Potunia Lobster' - Red Fox by Dummen USA	'Potunia Piccola Hot Pink' - Red Fox by Dummen USA
'Potunia Piccola Strawberry' - Red Fox by Dummen USA
'Potunia Piccola White' - Red Fox by Dummen USA
'Sweetunia Caramello' - Red Fox by Dummen USA
'Debonair Dusty Rose' - PanAmerican Seed	'Dreams Coral Morn' - PanAmerican Seed
'Debonair Lime Green' - PanAmerican Seed
'Suncatcher Yellow' - Ball FloraPlant	'Pretty Much Picasso' - Proven Winners
'Supertunia Lavendar Skies' - Proven Winners

A few other plants that are doing well at this time are:

Gazania - 'Big Kiss Yellow Flame' - Goldsmith Seeds
Gazania - 'Big Kiss White Flame' - Goldsmith Seeds
Euphorbia - 'White Manaus' (new) - GroLink	Euphorbia - 'HipHop' (new) - GroLink
Euphorbia - 'Breathless White' (new) - Ball FloraPlant	Euphorbia - 'Breathless Blush' (new) - Ball FloraPlant

Selecta First Class has been selling pre-made combinations (Trixi). John Bare from Ashcombe's Farm and Greenhouses
submitted these plants to see how they performed in the trial.

'Trixi Cotton Candy'	'Trixi Spring Valley'
'Trixi Carribbean Cocktail'	'Trixi Sweet Candy'

Update June 26, 2009:

This is our second update. All signs and labels are complete. We have 1206 cultivars that have been planted since May 21
and in pots for 5 weeks. They are starting to show differences and for those who are interested in seeing growth changes,
now is a good time to visit.

Anne Hawk plotting and getting ready to place signs in trial	Anne Hawk and Carol Lee Shirk doing their work for the variety trial
Overall view of trial

The following pictures are a few examples of plants to look for when visiting:

Cuphea
Euphorbia	Euphorbia - Ball's 'Breathless Blush'
X Petchoa (calbrachoa x petunia) - Sakata Seed America 'SuperCal - Vanilla Blush'(new)	X Petchoa (calbrachoa x petunia) - Sakata Seed America 'SuperCal - Terracotta' (new)
Danziger Flower Farm - 'Calitunia Pink' (new)
Proven Winners - 'Pretty Much Picasso' (new)
Coleus - We have a nice selection of coleus this year with 32 entries from Proven Winners, GroLink, BallFloraPlant, Pan American Seed, and Paul Ecke Ranch	Lobelia - Overview
Angelonia - This is a good time to see flowering and habitat comparisons

Update June 5, 2009:

Over 90 volunteers, master gardeners and advisory committee members helped to plant the over 1200 entries for the
2009 variety trial on May 19, 20, and 21.

The pots all have their temporary labels, permanent signage should be complete by June 19. If you want to visit, the plants
should start to be filling in by end of June.

If questions, call Alan Michael : office 717-921-8803 or cell 717-503-3547

Additional Information:

• Penn State Horticulture Trial Gardens
• Year End Report for 2007
• Best Cultivars for 2007

For 2008 Archival photos and summaries, click here