Photos courtesy of Spring Meadow Nursery
Proven Winners ColorChoice plants achieved significant success at this year’s Plantarium 2024, held Aug. 21 and 22 in Boskoop in the Netherlands.
Plantarium is a trade show-style event tailored for growers, wholesalers and garden centers, designed to connect buyers and suppliers of garden plants, with participants and trade visitors from multiple countries.
Exhibitors can enter new varieties for consideration for several awards, where the best new plant varieties are recognized. Eligible plants are judged for Best Novelty, with Gold, Silver and Bronze awards in the Novelty category.
A Gold Medal Award was presented to Proven Winners ColorChoice Bubbly Wine Weigela in the Novelty category. Weigela florida ‘Floraclar’ Bubbly Wine was submitted by Valkplant BV and was chosen by judges from the Royal Boskoop Horticultural Society.
Bubbly Wine Weigela, a selection of Fine Wine Weigela, is distinguished by its brightly colored, stable variegation in hues of yellow, green and burgundy. It thrives in both full sun and partial shade and is a compact, mounded variety, maturing to 1.5 to 3 feet tall and wide. The plant blooms in late spring with dark pink flowers and was bred by Jeff Good from southeast Michigan.
A Bronze Medal was awarded to Proven Winners ColorChoice Invincibelle Sublime Hydrangea arborescens, also submitted by Valkplant BV from Boskoop under the name Hydrangea arborescens ‘SMNHRL’, Sublime Annabelle.
Invincibelle Sublime smooth hydrangea features large, fluffy blooms in a deeply saturated tourmaline green. The vibrant green blooms are complemented by very dark green foliage. Invincibelle Sublime hydrangea grows to a height and width of 3.5 to 5 feet and is hardy in USDA Zones 3-9.
“Valkplant/ColorChoice Plants EU entered two novelties in the KVBC Novelty contest at Plantarium 2024, and we were thrilled to learn that both received awards," said Esther Wientjens, marketing manager at Valkplant/ColorChoice Plants EU.
She added that the addition of the gold medal for Bubbly Wine weigela brings the total of Proven Winners varieties that have won a KVBC gold medal to 12.
Spring Meadow Nursery, located in Grand Haven, Michigan, grows these award-winning shrubs, as well as more than 300 additional varieties, marketed under the Proven Winners ColorChoice brand. For more information, visit ProvenWinners.com or SpringMeadowNursery.com.
