Spring Trials Day 1: Welcome to the California Daily

The 2016 California Spring Trials (#CASpringTrials for all of you on social media) has officially begun, and we welcome you to the first edition of The California Daily, where we'll bring you the latest news from the road. Click on the video "The California Daily" to learn more.

Although we officially started this year's California Spring Trials on Saturday, we made time to visit EuroAmerican Propagators' trial gardens at a site south of Los Angeles on Thursday. Trials manager Amanda Flint told us that they hope to encourage industry visitors to return to the southern locations like EuroAmerican. Flint said that one of the biggest trends that she's seeing is landscaping for both looks and sustainability in drier climates, and bringing color to water-wise plants. One example of this is Aloe Sassy Grassy, which features bright orange blooms that resemble kniphofia.

Our official first day of Spring Trials began on a rainy Saturday morning at Ball Horticultural. Ball FloraPlant emphasized the new MegaCopa Bacopa as a heat-tolerant plant that will retain its color throughout the summer. In speaking of color, the new Megawatt begonia Pink Bronze Leaf features a lighter pink than what's found in most begonias on the market.

PanAmerican Seed's Cheni Filios gave us a tour through the new tomato and cucumber varieties, including a currant tomato that's perfect for snacking, an orange sauce tomato that adds unique coloring to mealtime, and two high-yield, bitter-resistant cucumbers, one for slicing and the other for pickling. Burpee's Scott Mozingo highlighted the new Take 2 tomato duo, a combination that includes a slicing tomato type and a small-fruited tomato that grow and ripen on the same schedule and in the same container.

At Green Fuse Botanicals, president Steve Jones showed us a solid season extending plant line that works well together in combination planters, called salvia Grandstand (see “A grander salvia”).

The rain hadn't yet abated when we got to our last stop of the day, GroLink, but that didn't stop us from learning more about the Watersaver varieties offered by PlantHaven (see "Save the water"), and Culinary Couture, a revamped ornamental edibles collection by Hort Couture, which includes a new colorful tomato line called Mixology. Suntory Flowers was excited to debut a new offering in its Surfinia line-up, Heartbeat, which features heart shapes on the petals, Florist Holland showcased how garvineas, which last longer than gerberas, can be an eye-catching thriller in mixes (see “Mix and Mingle”), and Flamingo Holland told us about a new grower program that makes it easier to obtain new varieties from around the world at a reasonable cost.

See video coverage of Day 1 of the trials with the following links:

• The California Daily
• A grander salvia
• The rise of Night Sky
• Save the water
• Mix and mingle
• Better color, even earlier

Pictured: Flamingo Holland's SoCal display at the GroLink tour stop.