Springing back into step

After a couple of years of changes, California Spring Trials is well on its way again — including reverting to its former Spring Trials schedule (March 30-April 3) from the one-time Summer Trials in 2021. Our editors will be there to check out which new varieties are hitting the market in 2022-23. CAST isn’t all about bedding plants. There are plenty of new perennials and tender perennials on display. Here is a peek at some of those crops.

For more plant previews and CAST coverage, visit bit.ly/CAST-2022. To learn more about the event and the participating breeders, visit www.2022CAST.com.

Ball Ingenuity

Dianthus Falling in Love Rosie

Dianthus Falling in Love Rosie is the first hanging basket-type dianthus on the market. Falling in Love Rosie fills out its containers quickly and features beautiful bright-pink blooms that cascade. It offers repeat blooming from spring through summer for a lasting stream of color.

Rudbeckia August is a series of eye-catching summer flowering perennials that show off masses of flowers in modern and appealing colors. The semi-double blooms grow beautifully in large containers for showpiece displays or make a great home garden cut flower.

Benary

Coreopsis Corleone Cream is a versatile addition to the Corleone Series. Its soft buttery yellow flowers look great alone, or in mixed combinations. Compact habit matches the rest of the series and won’t tangle on the bench. Outstanding outdoor performance. Perennial- hardy to Zone 4.

Double the color, double the fun, with the new Bidens Taka Tuka Double Yellow Red Center. The double flowers of this tender perennial (Zone 9) are sure to get attention. This brilliant new bicolor has an outstanding habit that is great in baskets or combos. Now the series has seven bold colors, sure to fly off your benches.

Echinacea PollyNation

This first year flowering Echinacea is from seed and sports large flowers in striking colors. Very early flowering, with a well branching plant habit, PollyNation makes a perfect patio and garden plant. Outstanding heat and drought tolerance for strong mid to late-season sales.

Lubega XL Fruit Punch is a stunning beauty and easy to grow — no pinching needed. The classic bicolor pink and yellow double flowers (same color as original Tropical Punch are huge and dramatic on the large well-branched plant.

Darwin Perennials

Veronica Skyward

Veronica Skyward offers a high flower count on a dense, upright habit and boasts continuous blooming. Its durability ensures plants grow and ship without breakage for more saleable plants. Available in Pink and Blue. Pollinator friendly and powdery mildew resistant for perennial gardener success. Hardiness Zone 4b-9a.

Polemonium ‘Golden Feathers’ adds showstopping, golden variegated color to your shade program. Bluish-purple flowers are a bonus in the late spring to summer months. Great accent plant in rock gardens, landscapes or small containers. Hardiness Zone 5b-9a.

Echinacea Sombrero Poco Hot Pink is the compact version of the popular Sombrero® Series of coneflower. The sturdy plants are covered in blooms with bright, rich colors. For spring 2023, Hot Pink joins the team and is well-matched in habit, timing and exceptional winter hardiness. Hardiness Zone 4b-9b.

Dümmen Orange

Lavendula LaDiva Imperial Early

LaDiva Imperial Early (pictured on next page) is the earliest flowering L. dentata on the market. With a medium-compact habit, this LaDiva variety is a standout through the summer, boasting extreme heat and humidity tolerance. Typically grown for its woolly gray foliage, LaDiva Imperial Early delivers an abundance of blooms for non-stop color all season long.

Welcome to the Jungle is the newest trend-savvy interior foliage program offered from Dümmen Orange. Boasting a full range of stylish foliage items for containers and baskets, Welcome to the Jungle is the answer for consumers looking to liven up their indoor spaces.

Green Fuse Botanicals

Streptocarpus Ladyslippers Azure

A classic house plant has all new life with Streptocarpus Ladyslippers Azure. Not only great timing for Pantone’s color of the year, Azure delights homeowners with dozens of blooms every day of the year. Extremely simple culture virtually guarantees grower and consumer success.

Tradescantia Pistachio White is a breeding breakthrough, which allows this all-new tradescantia to maintain heavy white variegation while still supporting vigorous growth. An excellent selection for monoculture in quarts through hanging baskets, as well an eye-popping combination item. Year-round sales are simple as a spring or foliage item.

A truly unique breeding selection will enter the Constant Cadence Series next season. Dianthus Constant Cadence Potpourri offers a multitude of color as the flowers open a deep fuchsia and fade to a bright rose. Many flowers are even half and half in this extremely stable selection. While zone 4 hardy, Potpourri also makes a beautiful potted plant crop.

A complete reinvention of the “crazy daisy” type of shasta, Leucanthemum Whisker White is completely day length neutral and requires zero cooling hours to bloom. This is scheduling ease for all growers. It’s massive five-to-six-inch flowers will continue in the garden all growing season.

An all-new selection to the wildly popular Staircase Series will explode onto the market next season. This bicolor Staircase promotes rose and yellow shades, clearly living up to its name. Lupinus Staircase Pink Grapefruit blooms via temperature and not cooling or daylength. It is ready to show off any time of year.

Hem Genetics

Lavandula angustifolia Lovely Sky is a first-year flowering perennial. This L. angustifolia is well suited for herb, courtyard and patio gardens, providing fragrance both in the garden or indoor, when dried after harvesting Plants are highly attractive for bees and other pollinators. Plant height is up to 12-16” tall and are ideal for 4-5” pots.

HilverdaFlorist

Salvia Salgoon

This year we’re going all out with five introductions in the Salgoon Series (pictured on next page). The Salgoon Series is known for its strong genetics, uniform growing habits, heat tolerance and has a heavy bloom set. The introductions are Lake Onega, Lake Baikal, Lake Titicaca, Lake Victoria, Lake Garda. The Salvia Salgoon really thrives in the garden but can grow in a large planter as well.

Echinacea MOOODZ

Cheerful and Devotion

Cheerful and Devotion (pictured on next page) are the new blooming introductions in the fast-flowering Echinacea MOOODZ series from tissue culture. Cheerful has bright yellow large flowers, an overwhelming first flush and compact growing habits with rich flowering. Devotion is the first red addition in the assortment, is fast flowering and creates an impressive floral display. They are more vigorous and create more flower buds compared to Echinacea from seed. These uniform varieties don’t require vernalization.

Beach Valley (pictured on next page) is the latest in the Summer Paradise - Valley Series. The Valley Series consist of compact garden Alstroemeria. Beach Valley has large elegant champagne-colored flowers and is a strong plant that is perfect for transport and different weather conditions. Beach Valley keeps on flowering until late in the season and creates a beautiful sea of flowers in every garden.

Garvinea Garden Gerbera Sweet Vibe, Sweet Sparkle & Majestic Purple

For the coming season there are three new varieties in the hardy Garvinea Garden Gerbera assortment. In the popular Sweet Series: Sweet Vibe and Sweet Sparkle. In the double flowered Garvinea Majestic Series: Majestic Purple.

Sweet Vibe is a strong yellow that truly stands out because of the dark center. You simply can’t take your eyes of it. Sweet Sparkle is a hot pink with large flowers. This color is new in the assortment. Majestic Purple has beautiful bright purple double flowers and has a very high flower count.

Garvinea is the only true Garden Gerbera. With great weather tolerance, Garvinea keeps on flowering for three seasons. This robust garden plant offers countless long-lasting large flowers. Garvinea attracts pollinators such as bees and butterflies, and at the same time, it’s highly resistant to pests and diseases.

Kieft Seed

Perovskia Bluesette

A novelty variety, Perovskia Bluesette has a controlled habit, early flowering and early finishing, making growing Perovskia for the consumer and landscape market easy. Bluesette works well at the front of the landscape, in a single premium patio container or in mixed combo. Produces a pleasing fragrance and attracts bees and butterflies. Hardiness Zone 4a-9a

Rudbeckia Goldblitz

Rudbeckia Goldblitz is a natural daylength growing solution. This first-year-flowering perennial provides a more economical input option for natural daylength growers, as the plugs do not require special treatment to perform to the same quality as Goldsturm. Hardiness Zone 3a-9b

Syngenta

Tidepool Sky Blue, Lithodora diffusa

Tidepool is a new class of perennial from Syngenta Flowers. Tidepool currently comes in Sky Blue in a tidy habit that is easy to produce, with fuller refined habit and flowers. Vernalization is required. Ideal for quart and 2.5-quart applications. Zone 5-9.

Available in one new color: Sky Blue.

All descriptions and photos provided by the breeders.