All the Super Heros, like ‘Super Hero Orange’, have very dense flower heads

We remember French Marigolds from our childhood as short plants with balls of yellow either lining the garden in the front or mixed in with the vegetables. Today, however, some of the biggest consumers of Marigolds are landscapers and public works departments, for equally professional reasons: big beds with heavy color; results that appear in a few short weeks; a long blooming window that just doesn’t care about the season, and durability suitable for public areas. Marigolds are also non-toxic so they are safe around pets and small children.

For a classic French Marigold with modern genetics we recommend the Super Hero series from the German firm, Benary. The original Hero series has its roots in California as far back as the 1930s, but we are more interested in Benary’s 2017 refresh of the line. Their goals are the reasons why professionals want these French Marigolds.

Eye-catching Gerbera Cartwheel Strawberry Twist

In the world of highly colorful daisies the big three are Osteospermum, Gerbera, and Gazania. Osteos tend toward the cold and go dormant once the hot weather arrives. Gazanias like heat, just like Gerberas, but they are much shorter and often have stripes in the petals. Gerberas have long stems, big leaves, and the tremendous PR advantage of being a staple in the floral trade.

Hothouse Gerberas are protected from the elements, but we work outside in the weather. We need tough, durable plants that handle the climate, so we recommend the Garvinea series. However, there is another mix, Cartwheel Strawberry Twist, that’s both eye-catching and garden worthy. Buyers often fly by it so we’ve showcased this double Gerbera on the cover of our Spring Idea Book.

A dappled garden of ‘WonderFall Rose Shades with Face’

PANSIES AS PAINTING

One of the roles Pansies perform in the landscape is to paint the ground with color. They do this job well because they have bright shades, thick coverage, frost tolerance, and a low cost. Clear Pansies combine all these factors to create big beacons of color at the start of the season.

However, a single blast of color is not the only trick Pansies can play. They also do stained, watercolor, morphing, shimmering, swirls, fire—pick your adjective. Certain Pansies deploy all sorts of color effects, and these effects become amplified when you deploy a single variety as a mass planting. We've picked out 13 Pansy cultivars that do the dappled garden effect well, so let's see how it all works.

Begonia ‘Canary Wings’—a chance discovery led to a huge hit

You, like so many of us, probably handle a large number of plants during the course of your job. You may have seen a sport or a mutation pass under your hands and wondered, “What if…? Could this odd little plant become the next big industry hit?” It would be like capturing lightning in a jar.

That lightning actually struck about 90 miles to our northeast in a garden center outside of Columbus. Back in 2013 ‘Canary Wings’ first appeared in some ‘Dragon Wing’ six-packs as a green-gold stripe on an otherwise normal forest green leaf. At the time the production grower, Jared Hughes, thought the stripe was pretty so he wondered…