Tour Time -- 2003 New Varieties

Ball FloraPlant’s new Torch series has excellent heat tolerance, and it flowers late in the season when most other annuals are done. Plants are daylength neutral with no vernalization needed. Flame has bright-yellow-edged florets with burgundy centers. Yellow has sunny-yellow flowers.

Gazania

Two mixes were added to S&G Flowers’ Gazoo series. The Citrus Mix has Clear Orange, Clear Yellow and Clear Vanilla. The Fire Mix has Clear Orange, Clear Yellow and Red with Ring.

Goldsmith Seeds’ ‘Kiss Yellow’ was improved for better flower form and a more controlled habit.

Geranium

Royal Salmon is a First Class ivy geranium from Selecta. Plants have semi-double, salmon flowers with medium vigor and slightly zoned, medium-green foliage. It is early flowering.

Fischer USA has six additions to the Rocky Mountain zonal geranium series.

Dark Red has extra-large, dark-red flowers and medium-green foliage. It has outstanding vigor, heat tolerance and outdoor performance.

Lavender Pink 2004 has better color and heat tolerance than the original and more vigor and pink flowers than Calypso 2001. Flowers are lavender pink with an eye.

Lavender has extra-large, soft-lavender flowers. It is slightly later to flower than the other Rocky Mountains. Plants have good vigor and heat tolerance.

Deep Rose has well-shaped deep-rose flowers that are an eye-catching color. Plants have excellent heat tolerance and outdoor performance.

Salmon 2004 has salmon flowers and zoned foliage. It’s slightly more vigorous with better leaf zoning than the original. It also is better branching with darker-zoned leaves than Schoene Helena.

Rocky Mountain Salmon Rose

Salmon Rose is more vigorous with more salmon-rose flowers than Atlantis ’96.

Salmon is the latest color in the Fireworks series, which is available from Proven Winners. It’s best suited for containers and combination planters.

Horizon Red Improved

Four changes were made to Floranova’s Horizon series. Red Improved is a key color improvement. Orange is truly matched within the series. Coral Spice has salmon-rose flowers and Scarlet has scarlet-red flowers.

Dolce Vita 2004

Dolce Vita 2004, also from Fischer, has better flower color (light salmon) and darker leaf zoning than the original. Plants are early flowering with a medium vigorous growth habit.

Dummen’s Mountain Trails ivy geranium series has been split into two series.

Atlantic Salmon Pink Star

The Red Fox Atlantic series has medium vigor and plants with natural branching habits and double flowers. There are 10 colors, including new Salmon Pink Star.

The Red Fox Pacific series members have excellent habits, strong vigor and fully double flowers. There are eight colors, including new Blue.

Five changes were made to Goldsmith Plants’ zonal Americana series. Confetti Red (red and white bicolor with zoned foliage) and Orchid (blue-pink with eye) are color additions, while Cherry Rose II, Pink III and Deep Rose II were improved.

The dark-foliage Eclipse series, also from Goldsmith Plants, added Pink, Rose Splash (rose with pink eye), White Splash (white with pink eye) and Scarlet. Red III was improved.

Selecta made changes to two of its First Class early-flowering zonal geranium series.

The Moonlight series has two new colors and an improvement.

Dark Red has semi-double, dark-red flowers, zoned dark foliage and medium vigor.

Moonlight Raspberry Blush

Raspberry Blush has semi-double, raspberry-red flowers with a white eye and a white edge. Foliage is dark but not zoned. Vigor is medium.

Brilliant Red evol. (Improved) has better vigor, larger flower heads and a more distinct zone.

The Sunrise series has two additions. Red has vigorous, true red flowers with medium-green, zoned foliage. White Flash has vigorous, single, star-shaped, white flowers with a red eye and medium-green zoned foliage. Brilliant Red evol. (Improved) has better vigor, larger flower heads and a more distinct zone.

'Caliente Coral'

Goldsmith Plants’ new Caliente series is an interspecific series that blends the characteristics of zonals and ivies: mounded, well-branched plant habits, deep-green foliage, heat tolerance, oedema resistance and large flowers. There are four colors: Coral, Dark Red, Deep Red and Rose.

Ball Seed’s new Score series has neat, compact plants with large, uniform, 4- to 5-inch flower heads on multiple stems. Plants have tight and small-zoned foliage well-suited to pack and 4-inch production. There are eight colors: Appleblossom, Deep Salmon, Lavender, Red, Rose, Scarlet, Violet and White.

‘Solstice Purple’ is a regal geranium from Bodger Botanicals. Flowers are a rich, deep color and plants require little or no vernalization.

Ball FloraPlant made changes to several of its geranium series.

‘Colorcade Red Improved’ has richer-colored, semi-double flowers and better branching along with a fully mounded habit.

Bright Lavender is part of the Designer series.

Salmon and Strawberry Sizzle (hot pink-rose bicolor) were added to the zonal Fantasia series.

Bright Lilac and Pink are members of the zonal Showcase series.

S&G Flowers’ new Surefire series has a compact habit, short flower stems and uniformly small leaves that are well suited to high-density pack production. The series is early to flower and produces large, 3- to 4-inch, round flower heads in as few as 13 weeks from sowing. Colors are: Deep Scarlet, Pink, Rose Star, Salmon, Violet and White. All have deeply zoned foliage except for White, which has dark-green leaves.

S&G also added Bicolor Duet (half rose bicolor, half lilac bicolor) to its Tornado series.

Fischer USA has four new ivy geraniums.

Purple Dream (formerly Blue Lagoon) has large, purple-violet flowers. It is a very vigorous grower with a full cascading habit.

Reggae Bright Red has numerous bright-red flowers with a compact-medium cascading habit. This ivy-zonal cross has deep dark-green foliage and is very edema and heat resistant. It is later flowering than other ivies.

Holiday Red Blizzard

Holiday Red Blizzard has red-white, bicolor single flowers that are self-cleaning. It has a vigorous growth habit and excellent heat tolerance. Color is stable under all growing conditions.

Purple Blizzard has single, showy purple flowers that are self-cleaning. It flowers slightly later than other Blizzards.

Oglevee has three new zonals. All are suitable for 5-inch or larger pots.

Victoria P.A.C. has semi-double, bright-scarlet flowers and deeply zoned foliage.

Victor P.A.C. has semi-double, red flowers and foliage with little zoning.

Shocking Violet P.A.C. is a medium-height cultivar with intense violet-pink flowers with white eyes. Foliage is moderately zoned.

Goldsmith Plants’ Freestyle series of ivy geraniums added red and white bicolor Arctic Red. Lavender II was also improved.

White is the latest member of Dummen’s Red Fox Survivor zonal geranium series. Hot Rose was added to the Pinnacle series.

Oglevee also has two new regals.

‘Maiden Deep Lilac’ has a compact habit suitable for 4- to 5-inch pots. Flowers are lavender with a dark eye and a white throat. It replaces ‘Maiden Lilac.’

‘Elegance Lavender’ has lavender flowers with dark highlights. It is very floriferous and is suitable for 6-inch or larger pots.

Dummen’s new “balcony”-type ivy geraniums series exhibits a greatly improved habit and flowering characteristics. The Red Fox Belle Ville series is extremely free flowering with medium vigor and rich, green foliage. Colors are: Lilac, Salmon, Red, White and Blue.

Gerbera

Fire is the latest member in S&G Flowers’ Jaguar series. It contains a uniform collection of yellow, orange and scarlet shades.

The new Jaguar Junior series members are multiflora types for 3 1/2- to 4-inch pots. Plants produce up to eight 1 1/2- to 2 1/2-inch flowers. The series is available in: Orange, Red, Salmon Shades (deep salmon to pink blush), White and Yellow. The Dark Center Mix has yellow, orange, red, rose and pink flowers with dark centers. The Formula Mix contains all of the colors, including the Dark Center Mix.

Gloxinia

Lophospermum Wine Red flowers from mid-April to mid-October. This gloxinia from Suntory is available from Jackson & Perkins. It will trail up to 12 feet with full flowers over much of the plant.

Gypsophila

‘Festival Star’ is a very free-flowering, heat-tolerant offering from Proven Winners. Plants reach 10-14 inches tall.

'Gypsy Deep Rose'

‘Gypsy Deep Rose’ is an All-America Selections winner bred by Daehnfeldt. Plants have deep, intense-rose flowers that are double.

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