California dreamin’

California Spring Trials returns this year with exciting new varieties and colors for the 2024-25 year. Check out some of the highlights for this year’s stops here, and don’t forget to mark your calendars for March 20-24.

To make appointments, contact each individual breeder. For the full list of varieties that will be on display in California from each of these breeders, head to our website at bit.ly/2024CAST. You can also sign up for coverage directly in your inbox at bit.ly/GardenCenterDaily.

1. AMERICAN TAKII:

a. Nasturtium Baby Red: Produces vibrant red flowers and joins the other two Baby varieties, Rose and Orange. The series features plants with a unique mounded shape and are perfect for small gardens and containers.

b. Petunia Trilogy Red Gen 2: Has a deeper red color than Trilogy Scarlet. Plants are compact, with a tidy mounded habit and uniform, with an upright flowering habit.

2. BALL HORTICULTURAL COMPANY:

a. PanAmerican Seed: Dianthus Dart series: This new series doesn’t require heat for production, compared to other early-spring products, and its natural versatility fits it into more pot sizes with fewer to no PGRs. Dart shows much more color at retail. Launches with five colors: Pink Magician, Purple, White Picotee, Scarlet and White

b. Selecta One: Calibrachoa MiniFamous Evo series: New series from Selecta One that expands the company’s popular MiniFamous assortment. Evo will be prized for its double blooms, no pinch/no PGR labor savings and pot-tight production. Available in five colors to launch the series: Blue, Magenta, Red, White and Yellow.

c. Ball FloraPlant: Interspecific Geranium Solera series: Brand-new series of dark leaf, medium-sized mounded plants that keep their blooms all season long. Excellent garden performance in a habit easy to control in the greenhouse. This new interspecific breeding means great heat tolerance and longevity in the landscape and containers.

3. BENARY:

a. Begonia BIG White Green Leaf Improved: Phenotype perfectly fits the BIG series. Flower timing fits the other varieties. Extraordinary branching. Impressive large flowers. Uniform plant habit. Outstanding field performance. Existing White Green Leaf is still available on demand.

b. Lobelia Masterpiece: The first Lobelia hybrid from seed. Well formed, mounding growth. Excellent heat tolerance. Impressive field performance compared to competing varieties from seed. Early flowering with large flowers. Good branching. Perfect for pot and container production. Suitable for landscape applications.

4. COHEN:

a. Petunia Tumbelina: Bred by Kerley & Co (UK). Classic double trailing petunias with good pot performance. Excellent weather resistance, medium-early flowering. Compact in pot and basket, early and free flowering. Mildew-free. In Compact Juliana (double magenta), Compact Nicola (double magenta and white bicolor) and Compact Victoria Imp (double baby pink).

b. Dahlia Mystic: The Mystic Dahlias Collection includes trendy plants perfect for modern gardens. These special flowers stand out because they have fancy dark red to black leaves and vibrant blossoms. Unlike older types of dahlias, they don’t need support sticks to grow. They also have lots of small, pretty flowers in many beautiful colors that can be used in various ways. In Electro Pink, Flares Catch and Flares Time.

5. DANZIGER:

a. LIA Abstract Lemon Cherry Calibrachoa: The bold and bountiful blooms of LIA Abstract Lemon Cherry Calibrachoa make it a standout new introduction. Loads of brilliant, golden yellow flowers feature an extra special sparkle with a striking splash of cherry. This medium vigor calibrachoa is the perfect addition to hanging baskets and combinations.

b. Sol Luna Prime: Sol Luna Prime Hybrid Impatiens is a breakthrough new series that offers a shorter cycle, blooming up to seven days earlier, with excellent uniformity across the colors. It adapts to weather conditions and home gardener needs as well, with outstanding wilting recovery, and its ability to thrive in both sun and shade. Available in six colors including Orchid, a vibrant deep pink selection.

6. DÜMMEN ORANGE:

a. New Guinea Impatiens Roller Coaster Hot Magenta: This new color in the Roller Coaster series of New Guinea Impatiens will add a pop of color in shaded locations. Like the rest of the series, its unique ruffled petals create an almost three-dimensional look.

b. Begonia I’Conia Miss Milan: Fill your premium basket needs with the newest addition to the Begonia I’Conia series. Miss Milan gives fully double, Peach Fuzz-colored blooms, set on longer stems, and pop against dark-green, serrated leaves. Works equally well in both full sun and partial shade.

7. GREEN FUSE:

a. Leucanthemum Kilimanjaro: Kilimanjaro is the largest flowering shasta daisy in the world. With an aggressive habit for easy large container fill and daylength neutrality, Kilimanjaro (Zone 5) is ready to bring massive color to any perennial program any time of year.

b. Begonia Rex Dibs Amber: An all-new addition to the Dibs Series, Amber shows it trendy colors of deep honey with a dark red underside. A traditional “escargot” type leaf has consumer recognition, while an aggressive habit delivers for the grower. Equally happy indoors or out, Dibs Amber is a true Lifestyle Plant.

8. HEM GENETICS:

a. Snapdragon DoubleShot Yellow Red Heart: Snapdragon DoubleShot Yellow Red Heart is the newest color added to this new series of tall (20”) garden snaps, with prolific branching and strong stems even when grown under short days. This one is a lemon yellow with a large red center to each floret; flowers are double and open-faced.

b. Ageratum houstonianum Kona White: Ageratum Kona series is the most compact and earliest flowering Ageratum on the market today. We introduce Kona White to complement Kona Blue. Part of our “Low Grow Approved” product line, they normally do not require PGRs in production. Kona is ideal for production in packs through 4-½” pots.

9. HISHTIL:

a. Lavandula angustifolia BeeZee: A new hardy, compact and exciting angustifolia series with similar characteristics and masses of flowers that will attract and keep the bees busy during the long flowering season. Includes Dark Blue, Light Blue, Pink and White.

b. Scabiosa incisa ‘Kudo Blue’: A magnet for bees and butterflies and ideal for beds, patio containers and borders, this hardy perennial offers a long season of color, with delicate lavender blue blooms adorning the plant from June to October. Its beauty doesn’t end with summer — ‘Kudo Blue’ transitions into lovely seedheads for added winter interest as autumn arrives.

10. JALDETY:

a. Delosperma lehmannii: Decorative succulent plant. Gray-green, thick, fleshy texture foliage. Dense, compact, cushion habit. Low maintenance, easy to care. Drought tolerant. Great houseplant next to a window, for use in containers for patio and decks and water-wise garden planting.

b. Bouvardia ternifolia Firecracker: A spectacular shrub with continuous, profuse, bright scarlet red-orange clusters of blooms from May until first frost. Attracts hummingbirds and other pollinators. Heat and humidity tolerant, easy to grow. Stunning specimen plant, terrific addition to containers, mix containers, patios, beds, borders, mass planting and sunny gardens.

11. SCHONEVELD:

a. Gerbera Joybera series: The most impressive colors shine with the new Gerbera series called Joybera. There are currently eight colors available. This series has been developed with flower count, usability and uniformity as a focus. It is typical for the plant to provide three flowers immediately from the first flowering. Shelf life for this product is outstanding.

b. Illusia persicum series: Illusia is a flowering pot plant that’s been highly appreciated since its first introduction in September 2023 in Japan. Illusia is a one-of-a-kind product with a unique flower shape. Breeders succeeded in creating a true novelty of extraordinary quality. Illusia has unfolded and reversed flowers with a beautiful contrast in colors. Pink is the first color to be introduced in this series. The details, like the little beard in the flower, make it a joy to look at.

12. SUNTORY:

a. Mandevilla ‘Sun Parasol Original XP Bluephoria’: An exciting breakthrough blue variety in the Sun Parasol Original XP series from Suntory Flowers, the plants are self-branching and loaded with blooms, with bushy, attractive foliage. Pink buds open to mesmerizing shades of blue.

b. Pericallis ‘Senetti Blue Spoon’: This new Senetti plant with spoon-shaped flowers has bright blue spoon-shaped blooms with contrasting white quills. Plant habit is more upright and vase-shaped than mounding. Perfect for cool season sales.

13. SYNGENTA:

a. Sunfinity Double Sunflower Helianthus annuus: Double the sun and double the garden fun with this truly innovative double flowered vegetative sunflower. Vigorous plants with well-branched habits are versatile in both large patio containers and in-ground.

b. Painted Love Petunia × hybrida: Painted Love’s unique bicolor flower pattern presents a dramatic new look in the garden, planted alone or in combinations. Its mounded habit makes it perfect for hanging baskets and patio containers.

Emily Mills is associate editor of Garden Center magazine. Chris Manning is managing editor of Greenhouse Management magazine. Contact them at emills@gie.net and cmanning@gie.net.