2024 California Spring Trails preview

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

For more coverage of the plants showcased at CAST, visit bit.ly/CAST_2024. You can also sign up to receive coverage directly to your inbox at bit.ly/greenhouse-management-news

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. (Electro Pink, Flares Catch and Flares Time)

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. (Compact Juliana [double magenta], Compact Nicola [double magenta and white bicolor] and Compact Victoria Imp [double baby pink])

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.