One company rep told me the market for New Guinea impatiens has been growing at a rate of 20 percent for the last two years, and his company doesn't see any reason to stop bringing more series to market.

In only its second year of pack trial participation, Oglevee Ltd. got into this year's trials big time with 70 new varieties in 11 plant classes. It was kind of ironic that a company best known for its geranium breeding had fewer new introductions in this particular class. Impatiens (New Guinea and double) dominated this year's Oglevee releases. The Ovation series of standard-size New Guineas is the result of 25 years of Mikkelsen breeding. Available in 16 colors, plants produce large flowers early and tolerate cooler greenhouse temperatures and higher light levels outdoors. The Ovation series name should help to add to the brand confusion among consumers who may just becoming familiar with the Ball FloraPlant Celebration series that appeared in some national retailers' ads this past spring.

The Double Gems are Oglevee's new generation of multi-petal New Guinea impatiens available in eight colors. This series is the third generation of multi-petal impatiens from Mikkelsen breeding. These plants, which were granted the protection of a utility patent in 1995, produce flowers with at least 10 petals compared to five petals on standard New Guineas. They make a great basket item. There is still some variability in flower size that is being worked on.

It was unfortunate that the trial plants in Oglevee's Golden series of variegated double impatiens suffered from an infestation of cyclamen mites. Golden Girl (light salmon), Golden Anniversary (pale pink) and Golden Sunrise (salmon orange) have a compact and bushy habit (12 inches tall and wide). They can be used in baskets and pots on their own or in combination as accent plants.

Ecke's newest New Guinea series are Electra and Pizzazz!. The Electra series was bred by Harlan and Sue Cosner in Oregon, who also developed the Tioga vegetative double impatiens. Purple and Red are the first two Electra releases. Flowers have a novel, tie-dyed, variegated pattern. Plants finish at a height between plants in the Pure Beauty and Paradise series.

Pizzaz! is a new multiflora series with eight colors. Bred by Kientzler, plants make a good 4-inch product and flower about one week earlier than other series. Because of its earliness, this series is expected to become a novelty product for the mass market. Pizzaz! flowers are larger than those of the Baby Bonitas, but smaller than Paradise.

The Doublet double fibrous begonias are a bronze-leaf vegetative series that has four colors (red, white, pink and rose). From Floranova breeding, Oglevee, which is the propagator, has cleaned up the plants using culture indexing to remove any viruses. Suitable for hanging baskets and 4-inch containers, plants have a mounding habit. Plants prefer partial shade in the afternoon. The flowers, which are fully double, look similar to gypsophila flowers, only larger.

Lamium maculatum 'Golden Anniversary' comes from England and is being offered by Proven Winners. This durable accent plant with variegated yellow-and-green leaves and small, lavender flowers would make a great addition to combination planters. The higher the light level, the more yellow in the leaves. Plants are perennial down to USDA Hardiness Zone 4.

First there was the Yubi series of vegetative portulaca, and now Sakata is offering the Yubi Summer Joy series, which has some improvements over the former. Summer Joy has three more colors (Deep Rose, Wine Red and Orange) than Yubi, and produces larger flowers that stay open longer in the afternoon.

Geraniums were the order of the day at the Fischer trial at Yoder's facility in Salinas. The company had 26 new geranium releases. Fischer's Rocky Mountain series are geraniums bred for the landscape -- they have large flower heads, strong peduncles, a more vigorous habit and are heat tolerant. There are eight colors with eight more to come in 2001. Fischer claims 'Rocky Mountain White' is the most vigorous white zonal on the market.

Fischer's ivy geranium 'Picasso,' which came from 'Taj Mahal,' has the same rich, dark-burgundy color, but with white centers. It also has the same vigorous growth habit and is oedema resistant. The higher the light intensity, the less white in the petals.

Although geraniums took up most of the bench space, Fischer hasn't abandoned producing New Guinea impatiens. Two (violet and raspberry cream) of the four new cultivars it has added from Danziger's Harmony series were shown. The company is also working on a more vigorous series of New Guineas for release in 2001-2002.

Ball FloraPlant expects its Angel Mist series of angelonia series to be a hit based on the favorable press this species has received about its garden performance in warmer climates. Even though it is extremely heat tolerant, it will do well in cooler areas; it just won't be as vigorous. Available in six colors, plants are culture virus-indexed and have been selected for large flowers and strong stems. Plants will flower all summer.

The Ruffle series of vegetative double petunias from Ball FloraPlant has a mounding, trailing habit. There are four colors in the series. Plants have been selected to branch well and to produce flowers in the center.

Yoder displayed several of its new Prophets garden mums it plans to release in January. 'Zesty Jean' was an unusual coral-colored decorative that is a sport of 'Jean.' It can be used for both spring and summer programs. 'Claudia' was covered with small, bright-yellow daisy flowers. Plants flower about Sept. 20, making this cultivar the earliest blooming in the Prophets series. 'Bold Felicia,' a sport of 'Felicia,' produces bright rose-purple daisy flowers with nice contrasting yellow centers. This early-flowering cultivar is free branching and very uniform in flowering.

Green Leaf, which is the division of Yoder that handles perennial and herb production, showed a variety of its products. One of its newest releases is Heliopsis 'Loraine Sunshine,' which comes from the Blooms of Bressingham program. Plants, which reach 30 inches tall, have attractive, creamy-white leaves with contrasting dark-green veins. From late June until frost, plants produce large, golden-yellow daisy flowers.

Van Zanten continues to offer growers its preview package of garden mums that contains 12 introductions with 25 cuttings (rooted or unrooted) and tags of each cultivar. The company continues to breed for early-blooming varieties that flower in late August and early September. Some of the most recent releases include: Pluto, a deep-red decorative that flowers as early as Yoder's 'Helen'; 'Tanager,' a pastel-pink daisy, whose flowers lighten from deep pink to soft pink as they open; 'Woodpecker,' which makes a nice mounding habit and produces pink pompon flowers that last a long time; and 'Odin,' a white decorative with a yellow center that flowers in August.

The Chandelier vegetative snapdragons from the Ecke Ranch are cool-temperature plants available in five colors. With their trailing habit, free-flowering plants produce flowers along the stems, not just at the terminals, and make an excellent basket plant or companion plant for osteospermums.

Three (gold, white and pink) new colors in the Florabella series of bracteantha (helichrysum) are available from Ecke. Part of the Outback Plants breeding program in Australia, Florabellas are considered midsize, upright plants best suited for 7- and 8-inch pots.

Proven Winners has made additions to its Fall Magic line, the most impressive being Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum,' which has liriope-type serrated foliage with green centers and creamy-yellow margins. Plants flower in spring, producing bright-lilac, four-petaled flowers. Proven Winners plans to add more species to the Fall Magic line next year, including three carex, heucheras from Terra Nova and five new sedums from Germany that are reported to be better than 'Autumn Joy.' Proven Winners continues to work with Sakata and Waller to promote their violas with the Fall Magic line in various combination plantings.

EuroAmerican Propagators, a member of the Proven Winners group, also showed some of its new vegetative varieties. Scabiosa 'Giant Blue' is new to the trade and should receive a lot of interest, especially since scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue' was selected as the 2000 Perennial of the Year. Lavender-blue flowers on 'Giant Blue' are larger than those of 'Butterfly Blue' and it has a more vigorous growth habit.

EuroAmerican introduced two fuchsias with variegated foliage. 'Golden Marinka' has white and green leaves and produces flowers with red sepals and hot-pink corollas. 'Sun Ray' also has white and green leaves along with red stems and veins. Its flowers have red sepals and hot-pink corollas.

Bodger Botanicals, which is relatively new to the vegetative side with its Seashell impatiens, Trumpet grandiflora petunias and Hotshot purslane, is looking to expand its product line by working with several different breeders. Some of the potential new vegetatively propagated releases Bodger is looking at include a six-color fuchsia series, developed by Kieft, and tentatively called Bella. Plants have an upright habit and are free flowering. The major advantage of this series is that plants flower under short days (even in Michigan in January). Heat-tolerance tests will be conducted and plants are expected to be able to handle full sun under northern conditions. Kieft and Bodger are working to develop a diascia series for release next year. The series could have as many as five separate colors. The plants prefer cooler climates. Also from Kieft breeding is a dahlia series (Dahlstar) that has eight solid colors. Aimed at the 4-inch market, plants finish in six weeks. Bodger is also looking at dark-leaf dahlia series.

. © 1999 Branch-Smith Publishing