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 from the one-time Summer Trials in 2021. Mark your calendars for Wednesday, March 30 to Sunday, April 3 to see what new varieties are hitting the market in 2022-23. All stops are listed in order from north to south.

To see more previews of the plants you can expect to see as you travel the coast, visit bit.ly/cast-2022. To view the full list of stops and breeders, visit 2022cast.com – Julianne Mobilian and Chris Manning

Danziger

4860 Monterey Road, Gilroy, CA 95020

The deep-violet blooms, looped with a distinctive white rim, make the new RIMarkable Petunia truly remarkable. This new standout variety will be the must-have petunia home gardeners want next season. RIMarkable features a mounding and trailing habit that makes it a perfect addition to larger premium baskets and combos.

If you’re looking for a perfect Pantone Very Peri to add to your lineup, COLIBRI Dark Lavender Calibrachoa is it. This calibrachoa features beautiful blooms that range from deep purple to light periwinkle. All the colors in the COLIBRI series stay compact with little or no PGRs. They create beautiful quarts, hanging baskets and pair well with other controlled growth selections for great combos.

Syngenta

2280 Hecker Pass Highway, Gilroy, CA 95020

Zydeco zinnia is a show-stopping double flowered zinnia with built-in disease resistance. This new seed zinnia series claims to have 25% larger flower than competitors, with fully double flowers that increase flower longevity in the garden setting. Rich, vivid colors with excellent disease resistance partnered with heat- and drought-tolerance provide superior season-long garden performance. Available in four new colors: Fire, Cherry (pictured), Deep Yellow and White.

Spreading intense color, Calliope Cascade Violet is an award-winning Calliope geranium series that continues to innovate with the industry’s first cascading interspecific geranium. This new Calliope Cascade series has large, intense colored semi-double flowers, blooms all summer, and has a vigorous spreading habit. Perfect for growing in high-impact premium hanging baskets, large pots or landscape plantings. Available in one new color: Violet (see pictured).

HilverdaFlorist

Five uniform introductions in the Salvia Salgoon series make Salgoon the only series with six unique colors, including last year's introduction Strawberry Lake, based on the same uniform compact growing habits. The Salgoon Series is known for its strong genetics, uniform growing habits, heat tolerance and heavy bloom set. The introductions are Lake Onega, Lake Baikal, Lake Titicaca, Lake Victoria and Lake Garda. The Salvia Salgoon really thrives in the garden, but can grow in a large planter as well.

Cheerful and Devotion are the new blooming introductions in the fast-flowering Echinacea MOOODZ series from tissue culture. Cheerful has large, bright yellow 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. The MOOODZ Echinacea are more vigorous and create more flower buds compared to Echinacea from seed. Combine these Echinacea in a garden or in a large patio planter.

Benary

195 Paulsen Road, Watsonville, CA 95076

Meet Ptilotus Joey’s beautiful and sassy sister, Ptilotus Matilda. A breeding breakthrough, this unique cut flower will be the center of attention! This sun- and heat-loving beauty has a long vase life and is available in ApeX Seed for a high percentage of transplantable plugs.

Pansy Cats is a completely new genetics of this popular series! Available in five vibrant colors, each with a distinctive “Whiskers” pattern, Pansy Cats is up to 10 days earlier than current Cats series and features an improved habit, earliness and branching. Great for fall and early spring sales!

American Takii

301 Natividad Road, Salinas, CA 93906

Petunia F1 Trilogy Silver Blotch is a unique color, adding sophistication to the Petunia Trilogy series. Trilogy is bred to help growers, retailers and gardeners. By focusing on performance in every stage, Trilogy requires less growth regulators, lasts longer at retail and performs in the garden with minimal care. Available in two mixes and 11 colors.

Flower Kale F1 Crystal Deep Red and Crystal Pink are new additions to the Crystal series which feature glossy leaves. Deep Red features a brilliant red center surrounded by deep green leaves while Pink’s center is framed by bright green leaves. Plants are vigorous. The two new colors join Red and Snow.

Sakata

105 Boronda Road, Salinas, CA 93907

Flamma celosia (seed) is coming in hot! Not only does this new series have exceptional heat tolerance in the field, but this celosia stuns with early, uniform flowering. Available in five vivid colors and one mix, Flamma provides vibrant plumes of color that won’t fade.

Dania primula (seed) is an ideal series for the early flowering segment! For growers, its compact plant habit requires little to no use of PGRs, while a vibrant color range and good uniformity make Dania a true eye-catcher at retail. With eight colors and a mix available in the series, Dania offers color variety that works well in pots or beds.

Dümmen Orange

1850 Calle Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405

The new Pelargonium Santana series of interspecific geraniums is an easy choice for both containers and hanging baskets. With much improved heat tolerance compared to traditional zonal types and exceptional performance both at retail and in the garden, the Santana series’ dark green foliage provides a striking contrast to the large, oversized blossoms. Well-matched in flower timing and habit, this series offers a full color range.

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.

Suntory Flowers

3300 Via Real, Carpinteria, CA 93013

Compact and colorful Surdiva scaevolas welcome a new color, Lilac Mist. Plants produce fan-shaped flowers on shorter internodes for tidy pots. Mix and match with five other Surdiva colors and heat-loving summer annuals. You will be a fan of these fan flowers!

Surfinia XXL Petunias represent new breeding for Suntory Flowers. Plants are more upright and controlled in their growth habit, producing grandiflora blooms spanning 4-5 inches across. Plus, these varieties are day-length neutral — an advantage for Southern and early markets. New varieties joining XXL Taffy Pink are Salmon Vein (pictured) and Watermelon Jazz.

Ball Horticultural

335 S. Briggs Road, Santa Paula, CA 93060

Petunia SureShot is a new grower-friendly petunia series that has a seven-day flowering time and matching habit, so all colors can be shipped to retail at the same time. All varieties mix well together to create a range of color combinations. Ideal for all pot sizes and hanging baskets. Available in six colors.

Double Impatiens Glimmer is a new double impatiens series with beautiful rose-like blooms that is highly resistant to impatiens downy mildew. They make fabulous, durable hanging baskets for shade and low-light gardens. Launching for spring 2023 in seven colors. Available exclusively through Ball Seed.

Darwin Perennials

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 to 9b.

Burpee Plants

Peppers From Heaven are small, sweet peppers great for hanging baskets and 6-7” pots. The compact plants produce lots of fleshy fruit that mature from green to glossy color (red, orange and yellow varieties are available). Plant three plants in one pot for a fuller look.

Upgrade your garden with heirloom tomato flavor and modern hybrid tomato performance. Tomato Blushing Star is an early-maturing, sweet and savory pink beefsteak. Its fruit has higher yield potential and fewer blemishes than most heirlooms. Offers disease resistance to late blight and Septoria leaf spot.

Green Fuse Botanicals

8220 Stockton Road, Somis, CA 93066

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!

Hem Genetics

Lavandula angustifolia Lovely Sky is a first-year flowering perennial. It 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.

Schoneveld Breeding

Special for the U.S. is Super Serie Elegante. This midi-flowered cyclamen is also perfect for warm climates. It flowers earlier and faster than other cyclamen and does not suffer from heat stress. The uniform built Elegante has a bit more open plant structure than other cyclamen.

Beekenkamp

This is where the Begonia Dreams Magic starts … this round shaped Begonia has a double white lime flower, with a shine of pink on the outside petals. Ideal for the 6-inch pot or bigger. Need to be finished off in cooler conditions if you want to use this as an outdoor plant. The BK Collection Frivola Magic is ideal for celebrations or as an elegant gift.

LaBella Medio Fun Pink Flame is a great new dahlia introduction with a beautiful blend of pink and white bicolor blooms. It has a very stable pattern and the bright contrast of the blooms to foliage definitely makes this one of our new favorites in the line. Ideal for the quarts to 5-inch pot.

This is not just your usual Kalanchoe, this is the Bongo Kalanchoe with its outstanding variegated foliage. Perfect for indoor use and succulent garden bowls, easy, year-round production. Do not grow it as a “normal Kalanchoe,” as it has no need for short day treatments. Good for quart to 6-inch production.