Chris: I don’t know whether to be sad or happy, Ellen. It’s our last report from the road, and I’ve come to enjoy these late-night writing and editing sessions with you and Jennifer.

Ellen: I don’t mind the writing and editing—it’s the late night part I’m not very fond of. But “it is what it is,” as our videographer JenZ would say. One more night, one more Acres of Buzz to go. And three stops (and five companies) to write about. How ‘bout you start us off, Beytes.

Chris: As soon as I pour another glass of wine. It aids thought, you know. Speaking of which, how should we approach the day’s reporting? Alphabetical? Top 10? Dewey Decimal System?

Ellen: How about you just give a favorite or two from Plug Connection, then pass me the laptop and I’ll continue on.

Chris: Fine. Then what I’ll say about Plug Connection is that it has grown from a small seed comparison trial to a big stop loaded with trials and comparisons. And PC’s own offerings have expanded as well, to veggies, succulents, grasses—you name it. Of the stuff I liked, I’ll point out that their Organiks line of organic vegetable young plants is steadily gaining in popularity, says Nicole Jackson. And they’re now offering ABZ Seeds’ strawberry plants as organics, for those looking to produce organic strawberries.

Ellen: And they’re going great guns with the Mighty ’Matoes, too. These are the grafted tomatoes, with the hardy, disease-resistant hybrid root system with an heirloom scion grafted to it, equaling better performance for the heirloom. They have 35 varieties this year, up from 16 last year. And now they’re moving into peppers (six varieties) and even eggplant (three varieties). One of the exclusives in the program is Indigo Rose, a large cherry-type tomato with almost black skin. And it has 20% more anti-oxidants. Lots of good stuff going on with grafted tomatoes, so stay tuned.

Chris: Heading out to the back greenhouse, we find the Benary display. This German company, 170 years young, is focused on two things: “Excitement and Reliability.” And two of their new offerings illustrate those two points. In excitement, how about the first-ever Boliviensis-type begonia from seed? That’s Santa Cruz Sunset. Benary says this F1 hybrid grows just like its vegetative counterparts, but being from seed the supply is clean and dependable. It’s a cost-effective variety too, as it needs no pinch. Germination is said to be 90% plus. This is Benary's Managing Director Matthias Redlefsen, showing off Sunset.

In reliability, Benary points to an upgrade of one of the old Bodger Seeds varieties they acquired, Blue Hawaii ageratum. Some considered it the best ageratum on the market … except you could never get seed for it. Benary has upgraded the genetics and created a dependable new ageratum with plenty of seed in the bag. They’re renaming it based on a naming contest held at their trial.

Ellen: Don’t forget about what they’ve done with their Inspire series of pansies. They’ve worked with Dr. Dave Koranski to select the best 14 Inspire pansies (out of 30) for fall production. The line is affectionately called The Koranski Collection. And one last Benary note: They’ve invested $6 million to build a breeding facility in Watsonville, California, at the old El Modena facility, where they’ll host their 2013 trial.

Ellen: Moving on to Suntory, they are adding on to their collection of Sun Parasol mandevillas with Garden Crimson, “Garden” being a subgroup that refers to Sun Parasols that start and remain small. With early breaking, this item is ideal for 4-in. specialists and grows laterally. And with all the consumer growing info on the UV-stabilized red pot, no tag is required! Suntory is also making its first foray into the double petunia category—at least in North America—with the Surfinia Summer Doubles. They’re about a third the size of the doubles available in Europe, and they hold up well in rain and heat. Three colors—Pink, White and Rose.

Chris: And that has me talking about another Begonia boliviensis! (We’re going to have to count up the number of boliviensis intros this year). Benary’s is the Crackling Fire collection, with four colors. It’s been available in Europe for a year; now we’ve got it. Benary says it’s compact and can be sold in 4-in. pots. Finally from Suntory, how about Princettia euphorbia? Sure, it looks like a poinsettia. But they’re positioning it for spring holiday sales. And it’s got the heat tolerance needed to bloom for spring holidays. Comes in three shades of pink: Hot Pink, Pink and Dark Pink. Ecke will be distributing it. We've got a video of Suntory's stuff HERE.

Ellen: Onward to Proven Winners, where we’re always sure to find something new, unusual and sure to be a hit with consumers. My first pick is Superbells Lemon Slice. It’s truly slices of lemon-yellow color alternating with white on a star-shaped calibrachoa flower. And that pattern is incredibly stable, too, they say. As a sport of Superbells Yellow, it has a “broad-shoulders” habit and shows its flowers on top of the foliage.

Chris: I wanted to pick that one! But okay, I’m going for one of the other “super” lines, Supertunia and the three new colors in the collection: Pink Charm and Watermelon Charm (Charms have “calibrachoa-sized flowers on a petunia chassis,” says John Gaydos); and Picasso in Pink, a pink version of Pretty Much Picasso, but with a more mounded, less loose habit.

Ellen: Lobularia Snow Princess gets a younger sister, lavender-hued Blushing Princess. A gorgeous color, it has flowers about half the size of its older sis—and they’re a tad fragrant, too. Interestingly, the more direct light it receives, the more purple the flowers. So on one plant, the flowers on the top of the plant will be more purply than those cascading below. And that flower color variation within the plant is really kinda cool.

Chris: I’m a sucker for two things at trials: clever names and heat-tolerant varieties that will perform in my home state of Florida. Coleus Colorblaze Keystone Kopper fits the bill. What a great name for an orange plant. And it comes from University of Florida breeding, so enuf said about how it’ll perform in heat and sun.


Ellen: And I’m a sucker for perennials. Thanks to the partnership between Proven Winners and Walters Gardens, there’s now dozens of perennials under the Proven Winners umbrella. If I had to pick one of the eight perennials they debuted, it would be the two monardas, Pardon My Pink and Pardon My Purple. It’s intermediate in height and compact but with good vigor, and best of all, mildew tolerant, always a pain for the genus.

Chris: There were plenty of other good intros at Proven Winners, including an upgraded blue daze (evolvulus) called Blue My Mind (another great name!). But I want to give some props to Marshall Dirks and all the marketing Proven Winners is doing to promote their line to the end consumer. I asked for a quick five-minute look at their new initiatives, but of course that’s impossible: they’re doing so much, it can’t be squeezed into a sound bite. Suffice it to say, nobody’s doing anywhere near as much in as many different venues, and backed by as much data and consumer feedback, as Proven Winners. Check out the a ton of new annuals and perennials HERE.

Ellen: On to Ecke, eh? And our last stop on our last day of the 2012 Spring Trials. (Whew!) So Chris, what caught your eye here?

Ellen: I’m going for the Ecke Edibles, a new line of herbs and veggies. Now, these aren’t meant to compete with the Bonnies or Burpees of the world, and there will be no branding accompanying the line. Instead, they will fill needs of growers who may be looking to round out their annuals orders or to fill a blank in their veg program. Working closely with Hishtil (we saw them earlier in the week), the 50-plus varieties in Edibles concentrate on those best for patios or small spaces, and are bred to be high on taste and color. You’ll see “bread and butter” varieties, as well as unique stuff, including some exclusive varieties, being added to the program in the next year or two.

Chris: I’ll wrap up Ecke with two things: First, a new novelty poinsettia called Sparkling Punch. It’s a lighter version on Ice Punch … could be described as a champagne color (maybe that’s where the “sparkling” in the name comes from). Should be a guaranteed seller. In fact, it's already sold out for 2012. They’ve also got plenty of new reds coming, and a Monet Early (blooms in mid-November). Then I’ll mention Ecke’s Design Center, through which they’re now offering packaging design help for free to anyone purchasing Ecke genetics. They’ve even partnered with about a dozen packaging and pot companies to source a wide range of containers. Ecke can design tags and POP, too. Again, no charge for the service. Ecke has always helped you grow your plants; now they want to help you sell them. You can take a video tour of Ecke HERE.

Ellen: Chris, I do believe we’re … done! And we were just starting to have some fun. Well, this certainly has been some week, eh? Seven days, 16-ish stops, 40-some companies, about 80 lbs. worth of trial booklets and marketing materials between the three of us. I think over the last six enewsletters we did this year’s trials some justice, don’t you?

Chris: Don’t forget the 18 videos covering an hour of trials¬—and plenty more to come. We’ll link to them in Acres Online and Buzz! And we’ll provide some post-Trials analysis and opinion as we sort through our notes and digest the whole event.

If you missed any of our coverage, you can find all the previous Acres of Buzz! newsletters at www.springtrials.com. They’re on the right side of the page.

For all our videos, go to www.youtube.com/growertalks.

And to share your own thoughts and views of Spring Trials, whether you were in attendance or just enjoying them through our coverage, weigh in with me or Ellen at cbeytes@ballpublishing.com or ewells@ballpublishing.com.

My very last thought is to give a big thank you to Ellen, for being such a good sport on camera and such a good writing partner; and to Jen Zurko, for being so good at following the action from behind the camera, and for her stellar video editing every night. Thanks, guys!

From all of us here in room 121 of the Morgan Run Resort, have a great spring!

Chris and Ellen



Chris Beytes
Editor & Publisher
GrowerTalks and Green Profit

Ellen Wells
Editor-at-Large
Green Profit

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