Three companies were new on the California pack trials scene this spring.

Kieft Seeds. Based in Venhuizen, Netherlands, Kieft Seeds hosted its first official U.S. pack trial display at Headstart Nursery in Gilroy, Calif. The purpose of the display was to give visitors an opportunity to see some of the diverse crop mix of annuals and perennials offered by Kieft. The company has been breeding its own flower varieties for 10 years; before that it was a seed broker. Kieft is also the largest supplier of specialty cut flower seed.

Kieft has an extensive program for developing first-year-flowering perennials and it is the world's largest supplier of perennial seed by weight, not varieties. It offers 300-400 perennial varieties. Plants selected for its first-year-blooming program require minimum vernalization, have a germination rate of 70-80 percent and fit into a 6-inch pot without needing a growth regulator. These perennials can be treated similarly to annuals. Plants sown in March are normally in flower by August.

Elidia. Headquartered in Avoine, France, Elidia was a late entry in this year's pack trials. It used the Harris Moran greenhouse facility in San Juan Bautista to display three of its major classes: Ideal and Festival dianthus, Scala and Vernale pansies and several varieties of salvia.

The Ideal dianthus series has an extensive range of 17 separate colors. Salmon is the newest shade with flowers that initially are darker and then lighten as flowers open. Salmon is a lighter shade than 'Ideal Coral.' Also on display were two experimentals that looked very good. The experimental lilac would be an excellent color addition. Because it's difficult to produce lilac seed, the company will know by July if this cultivar will be an addition in 2000 or 2001. An experimental white produced bright, clear-white flowers that were larger than those in the Princess and Telstar series.

Elidia's Scala pansy series has 10 pure colors and 10 blotch colors. The series is promoted as an early fall crop that overwinters and comes back quickly in the spring with large flowers. New colors include Pure Scarlet, Purple and Fire with Blotch.

Bear Creek Gardens. Bear Creek, in Somis, Calif., gave pack trial visitors the opportunity to see several of the vegetative cultivars in outdoor beds and baskets that were displayed in EuroAmerican Propagators' greenhouse trials, including Temari and Tapien verbenas, Surfinia petunias, Million Bells calibrachoas and 'Summer Wave' torenia.

Bear Creek also displayed pots of the miniature rose varieties it offers. Unfortunately, the outdoor plantings didn't do justice to many of the varieties since they were exposed to a daylong rain the day before the trials opened.

. © 1999 Branch-Smith Publishing