You could have easily referred to this year's pack trials as the verbena variety show. Several new seed and vegetative series were introduced.

Tortuga (the Spanish word for turtle) is a vegetative series of verbena from Goldsmith Plants that comes in six separate colors. The name is appropriate since the large, round flower heads have the shape of a turtle shell. Plants produce thick leaves and have an upright, spreading habit. They looked particularly good in baskets and large specimen containers. Both unrooted and rooted cuttings are available and are sold with plant tags. Goldsmith is also marketing other Tortuga point-of-purchase items with the distinct Tortuga turtle logo, including 16-inch plant teasers that can be inserted into the growing medium or attached to hanging baskets along with colorful, descriptive bench cards.

Ball FloraPlant introduced two vegetative series, Aztec and Wildfire. From Ball breeding, Aztec has five colors and plants have a mounding, trailing habit that makes them ideal for baskets. A red cultivar is being developed.

The Wildfire series comes from Texas A&M University breeding. There are three colors (Blush, Purple and Dark Lavender) in the series. Because plants spread so quickly, like a Wave petunia (up to 4 feet in a single season), they are good for landscapes and large containers. Plants have broad-leaf foliage and are resistant to powdery mildew. Flowering starts in as little as four weeks with 4-inch pots and plants produce 2- to 3-inch flower heads.

The Paul Ecke Ranch added the Twilight series of vegetative verbena to its Flower Fields program. Bred in England, the three cultivars (Pink Shades, Mauve Shades and Blue) have a trailing habit and broad foliage. Both Pink Shades and Mauve Shades have a novel two-tone look as flowers shade toward white.

The Obsession seed series from Novartis Seeds combines a high germination standard (85 percent) with the even spreading habit of its Romance series. Introduced last year as a formula mix, 10 separate colors are now available. The company will also continue to offer its Romance series. Since these two series match up well in habit, colors can be mixed and matched. Romance can be double sown if using standard seed or single sown if using primed seed.

Novartis' Babylon and new Tukana series of vegetative verbena are being propagated by Proven Winners. Proven Winners is propagating five of the seven colors in the Babylon series that was introduced by Novartis at last year's pack trials. The Babylons fall in between the Temari (more upright, bushy, mounding habit) and Tapien (prostrate, multi-branching) series.

The first release in the Tukana series is 'Scarlena,' which produces large, bright-scarlet-red flower heads in the center of the plants and along the stems. Plants have a prostrate habit and increased branching. Short internodes give the plants a fuller look. More colors are being developed in the Tukana and Babylon series.

American Takii showed a new Serenity Mix verbena that had an upright habit and contained rose, blue and lavender shades. It was compared to 'Imagination' in the trials.

. © 1999 Branch-Smith Publishing