Early Spring 2013
The Nicotianas
We’ve added more cultivars to our nicotiana line—this is another one of those old school plants with new school breeding. Recently it has fallen out of favor, but that should not be; the new nicotianas have stayed true to their heritage while adding higher bloom counts and a more interesting color range than older varieties.
Several standout cultivars have begun to appear in the last few years that explore what a nicotiana can actually do. We like it when breeders expand our design choices—we expect nicotianas to see more action in the marketplace as well.
Lobularia
Lobularias are alyssums with vigor. They used to be grouped with alyssums into the same genus; only in the past few years have lobularias been broken out into their own genus of five species. Now—alyssums have a reputation, and they always bring a certain image to mind. As a result, lobularia breeders don’t even want to be mentioned in the same sentence with alyssums. Their point is well taken—there are some significant differences between lobularias and alyssums:
New Tomato Varieties
We are growing four new tomato varieties this year. For customers who are passionate about their tomatoes, these crops will be of major interest. Our goal is to bring heritage tomatoes forward into today’s market, as well as to highlight important innovations within the new work being done by modern breeders.
Tuberous Begonias
Tuberous begonias are the ones with big showy flowers most often seen in containers. The name is begonia, but this is an entirely different plant than the wax begonia that is popular with so many people. It is the designer’s choice for three reasons: 1) Plants have big showy blooms; 2) They grow in the shade; 3) They drape well along the rims of large containers.
We like to grow the On Top series of tuberous begonias from Proven Winners. They feature extremely clean colors with edges of deep, rich tints. The On Top series is noted for its floriferous nature, so you’ll get masses of sophisticated color when you bunch these varieties together. The flower itself opens up with layers of petals that are rose-like in appearance.
Early Spring Alyssums
One of the first color crops we bring out is the Alyssum. People don’t know much about it in general, because it is overlooked by the industry. Alyssum is not hugely popular today, but it was very popular several generations ago. It provides a low and very dense carpet of color—one of its common names is ‘Carpet of Snow’ because white is the most popular color.
White is only one of the many shades available. We actually like alyssums because they are very cold tolerant and offer such a wide range of bright, cheery colors. They withstand a hard frost and still keep their flowers, so they are good plants to put in the ground even when a chance of snow or frost is in the forecast.
