2023 MYP Trial Garden Results

Top varieties in Mast Young Plants' 2023 trial garden, identified by MYP staff and visitors.

2023 TRIAL GARDEN Results & Data

TABLE of CONTENTS

1. 2023 MYP Trial Garden Results..........................4 2. Top Consumer Favorites...............................6-10 3. Top Garden Performers..............................11-16 4. Best of the Best............................................17-20 5. Top Combinations.......................................21-25 6. Summer Survivor Trial Standouts................26-28 7. Cut Flower Trial Standouts..........................29-33 8. Spike Alternatives for Combination Planters.........................................................34-35 9. AAS Trial Area Standouts.................................36

Mast Young Plants’ trial garden is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The 2023 summer trials featured more than 1500 varieties, 500+ uniquely handcrafted hanging baskets and planters,150 new items displayed in both sun and shade, the All-American Selection trial grounds, and our 2023 summer survivor and cut flower trials.

Mast Young Plants Trial Garden 3525 Bristol Avenue NW Grand Rapids, Michigan 49544 1-800-541-3910

2023 MYP TRIAL GARDEN Results

Top 10 Consumer Favorites 1. Kwik Kombo™ Itsy™ Trifection™ Mix - Syngenta Flowers 2. Eupatorium Elegant Feather - Kientzler 3. Begonia Sweetspice Apple Blossom - Beekenkamp 4. Bracteantha Granvia® Crimson Sun - Suntory 5. Coleus Down Town Vegas Neon - Dümmen Orange 6. MixMaster™ Before you Know It - Ball FloraPlant 7. Euphorbia Flurry - Ball FloraPlant 8. Petchoa Caliburst™ Yellow - Collection 9. Petunia Amazonas™ Plum Cockatoo - Danziger 10. Petunia Itsy™ Pink - Syngenta Flowers Top Performers Based on Staff Evaluation 1. Dahlia Venti™ Mango - Selecta 2. Echinacea Guatemala™ Gold - Danziger 3. Lobularia Stream™ Compact White - Danziger 4. Sanvitalia Talya™ Great Yellow - Danziger 5. Eucalyptus Pulverulenta Baby Blue Bouquet - Benary 6. Begonia Hybrid Adora™ Velvet Red - Syngenta Flowers 7. Begonia Interspecific Stonehedge Rose Bronze Leaf - Benary 8. Coleus Down Town Vegas Neon - Dümmen Orange 9. Coleus Talavera™ Pink Tricolor - Syngenta Flowers 10. Petchoa Caliburst™ Yellow - Collection Best of the Best Best Drought-Tolerant Annual: Sanvitalia Talya™ Great Yellow - Danziger Best Drought-Tolerant Perennial: Guara Belleza® White - Selecta Best Heat-Tolerant Annual: Petchoa EnViva™ Pink - Selecta Best Heat-Tolerant Perennial: Leucanthemum White Mountain® - Green Fuse Botanicals Best Pollinator-Friendly Annuals: Lantana Landscape Bandana® Pink - Syngenta Flowers Helianthus Sol Seeker™ Honey - Danziger Portulaca Mega Pazzaz™ Red - Danziger Calibrachoa Ombre® Pink - Danziger Best Pollinator-Friendly Perennials: Veronica Vernique® Blue - Green Fuse Botanicals Echinacea Panama™ Red - Danziger Best Overall Performance Annual: Begonia Solenia® Chocolate Orange - Beekenkamp Best Overall Performance Perennial: Lamistrum Galoeobdolon Silver Frost - Collection

2023 TOP CONSUMER Favorites The people have spoken! Visitors vote for their favorite new varieties and we tally their votes all summer long. Introducing our visitors’ Top 10 new varieties!

Kwik Kombo™ Itsy™ Trifection™ Mix Petunia Itsy™ Magenta, Itsy™ Pink, Itsy™ White Syngenta Flowers

Eupatorium Elegant Feather Kientzler

Begonia Sweetspice Apple Blossom Beekenkamp

Bracteantha Granvia® Crimson Sun - Suntory

Coleus Down Town Vegas Neon Dümmen Orange

MixMaster™ Before You Know It Petunia CannonBall™ Coral, CannonBall™ Pink, CannonBall™ Yellow Ball FloraPlant

Euphorbia Flurry Ball FloraPlant

Petchoa Caliburst™ Yellow Collection

Petunia Amazonas™ Plum Cockatoo Danziger

Calibrachoa Calitastic™ Bordeaux Star by Westflowers

Petunia Itsy™ Pink Syngenta Flowers

2023 TOP GARDEN Performers BASED ON STAFF EVALUATION

Dahlia Venti™ Mango Selecta

Echinacea Guatemala™ Gold Danziger

Lobularia Stream™ Compact White Danziger

Sanvitalia Talya™ Great Yellow Danziger

Eucalyptus Pulverulenta Baby Blue Bouquet - Benary

Begonia Hybrid Adora Velvet Red Syngenta Flowers

Begonia Interspecific Stonehedge Rose Bronze Leaf - Benary

Coleus Down Town Vegas Neon Dümmen Orange

Coleus Talavera™ Pink Tricolor Syngenta Flowers

Petchoa Caliburst™ Yellow Collection

2023 BEST of the BEST

Best Drought-Tolerant Annual Sanvitalia Talya™ Great Yellow Danziger

Best Drought-Tolerant Perennial Guara Belleza® White Selecta

Best Heat Tolerant Annual Petchoa EnViva™ Pink Selecta

Best Heat Tolerant Perennial Leucanthemum White Mountain® Green Fuse Botanicals

Best Pollinator Friendly Annuals Lantana Landscape Bandana® Pink Syngenta Flowers

Best Pollinator Friendly Annuals Portulaca Mega Pazzaz™ Red Danziger

Best Pollinator Friendly Annuals Helianthus Sol Seeker™ Honey Danziger

Best Pollinator Friendly Perennials Veronica Vernique® Blue Green Fuse Botanicals

Best Pollinator Friendly Annuals Calibrachoa Ombre® Pink Danziger

Best Pollinator Friendly Perennials Echinacea Panama™ Red Danziger

Best Overall Performance Annual Begonia Solenia® Chocolate Orange Beekenkamp

Best Overall Performance Perennial Lamistrum Galoeobdolon Silver Frost Collection

TOP 2023 COMBINATIONS

Deco Pot #86-B Petunia Fun House™ Papaya - Syngenta Flowers Calibrachoa Caramel - Westflowers Alternanthera Brazilian Red Hots - Collection Verbena Lascar™ Mango Orange - Selecta

Deco Pot #101 Salvia farinacea Velocity™ Blue - Syngenta Flowers Artemisia FanciFillers™ Sea Salt - Westflowers Lobularia Stream™ Violet - Danziger Scaevola Bombay® Dark Blue - Syngenta Flowers Petunia Itsy™ White - Syngenta Flowers

Hanging Basket #69 Bidens Mega Charm™ - Danziger Ipomoea Spotlight™ Red - Ball FloraPlant Bacopa Scopia® Double Snowball - Danziger

Deco Pot #116 Eupatorium Elegant Feather - Kientzler Croton Mammey - Collection Lantana Landscape Bandana® Gold- Syngenta Flowers Mecardonia Magic Carpet™ Yellow - Sakata Calibrachoa Chameleon™ Indian Summer - Westflowers

Deco Pot #96-B Dipladenia Madinia™ Pink - Syngenta Flowers Scaevola Surdiva® Blue Violet - Suntory Phlox Gisele™ Hot Pink - Selecta Impatiens SunPatiens® Compact Classic White - Sakata

Deco Pot #126 Salvia splendens Saucy™ Coral - Collection Petunia Sanguna® Mango Punch - Syngenta Flowers Coleus Main Street™ Beale Street - Dümmen Orange Calibrachoa MiniFamous® Neo Orange + Red Eye - Selecta

Deco Pot #204 Cordyline Red Sensation - Collection Petunia Itsy™ White - Syngenta Flowers

Petunia Crazytunia® Cherries Jubilee - Westflowers Calibrachoa MiniFamous® Uno Double Red - Selecta Geranium Interspecific Calliope® Medium Dark Red - Syngenta Flowers

Deco Pot #121-B Coleus ChargedUp Inferno - Ball FloraPlant Petchoa SuperCal® Premium Caramel Yellow - Sakata Petchoa SuperCal® Cinnamon - Sakata Lantana Landscape Bandana® Gold - Syngenta Flowers Lysimachia Midnight Sun - Collection

Deco Pot #234 Senecio Angel Wings - Concept Plants Setcreasea Purple - Collection Strobilanthes Persian Shield - Collection Scaevola Surdiva® Blue Violet - Suntory Lobularia Stream™ Violet - Danziger

Deco Pot #238 Coreopsis Solanna™ Golden Sphere - Danziger Calibrachoa Chameleon™ Pink Splash - Westflowers Duranta Golden Edge - Collection Euphorbia Star Dust Super Flash - Dümmen Orange Craspedia Golf™ Beauty - Danziger

SUMMER SURVIVOR TRIAL Standouts Throughout the 20 years of growing our “living catalog” trial garden, we’ve frequently fielded questions about emerging industry trends. One visible and growing trend is that of retail greenhouses shifting to grow more and more plants that thrive throughout the summer season. The buying preferences of the emerging Gen X & Y and Millenial gardeners differ from those of Baby Boomers, a historically important demographic of the gardening public. As these new generations of gardeners become our main garden goods shoppers, providing them with plants that they can successfully grow all summer long will help them become our new loyal customer base. We added this sizeable section to our 2023 garden to display genetics beyond what we carry in our current spring catalog. We wanted to provide breeders with the opportunity to display their best summer performers, giving garden visitors and MYP staff the ability to evaluate how the best of their best survived the West Michigan summer.

Begonia Interspecific Stonehedge Rose Bronze Leaf - Benary

Coreopsis Solanna™ Sunset Bright Danziger

Celosia Kelos™ Fire Orange Beekenkamp

Petunia Blanket® Silver Surprise Green Fuse Botanicals

New Guinea Impatiens SunPatiens® Vigorous Peach Candy - Sakata

CUT FLOWER TRIAL Standouts An increased interest in and demand for cut flowers is another emerging trend in the horticultural and greenhouse industry. Interest that began with roadside stands selling bouquets of fresh florals has developed into a full-blown market for many retail garden centers. Customers continue to indicate demand varieties that thrive in both their gardens and their vases. To support our customers’ retail shoppers’ cut flower interests, we added several pages of cut flower varieties from leading cut flower breeders Danziger, Benary, and Syngenta Flowers to our ’23-’24 catalog. Our 2023 trial garden featured the genetics we previously trialed that are part of our spring ’24 program as well as key varieties we are evaluating for potential inclusion in our ’24-’25 catalog. Our employees enjoyed making delightful bouquets of flowers for greenhouse events as well as for their own households, and we look forward to hearing how these garden-to-vase varieties delight retail customers as well.

Craspedia Golf™ Beauty Imp Danziger

Veronica Verinique® Blue Green Fuse Botanicals

Achillea New Vintage™ Violet Darwin Perennials

Ptilotus Matilda Benary

Eucalyptus Pulverulenta Baby Blue Bouquet Benary

Zinnia Oklahoma Carmine Benary

Solidago Golden Glory® Danziger

SPIKE ALTERNATIVES for COMBINATION PLANTERS

Growers may recall the shortage of an asparagus fern springeri a few years ago, a plant variety commonly used in combination planters. While springeri seed is now readily available, a similar shortage is projected for the spring of 2024 with dracaena spike. Spikes are used frequently to provide central height as a thriller in combo mixed containers. Anticipating this, we evaluated some possible spike replacements for growers to use as thrillers in their spring 2024 combo pots.

• This can be an effective thriller, but growers should note that this foliage plant doesn’t get as tall as traditional spikes even with a long grow time. • Avoid using in combos with tall filler plants as they will get overtaken. • Growing tip: use a large plant in your combo pot. We suggest bringing in liners of these varieties in January and growing them in 4” pots. When planting your combos in late February or early March, place this 4” Marginata in the pot to get head start on the other items in the combo. Dracaena Marginata: Bicolor, Magenta, Red Edge, and new for ’24 Kiwi (pictured in order from left to right)

Eupatorium Elegant Feather: New for ‘24

• It is new to MYP for ’24, and our experience is limited to our spring and summer trials. • Vigorous growing plant. It grows quickly and will easily provide height as a thriller in combo pots. • Growing tips: Plant a split 51 plug in your pot the same time you plant the other annuals; it will grow fast enough to be the tall thriller at the end of production. If it is getting too tall, pinch it.

• This alternative provides good height to stand out as the thriller in a combo, reaching about 24” tall. • The flowers it grows provide an element of texture as compared with traditional spikes Cyperus Grasses: Baby Moses and Crown of Pharoah (pictured in order from left to right)

Grass Juncus Blue Arrows

• The small, needle-like foliage on this well-known variety can grow to 24”, isn’t overly invasive, and won’t overpower a combo. • If Blue Arrows dry down or if the EC in the pot gets too high, the foliage tips will turn brown. This swamp plant prefers to stay adequately moist at all times. • Growing tip: we recommend planting in 4” pots for at least 6 weeks before putting it in the combo to ensure an ideal balance with other varieties in the container.

Grass Carex Red Rooster

• Grows to a height of 24” • This tall variety can add visual interest as a combo thriller. Consumers may mistake the brown foliage for a dead plant, so educating them about foliage expectations could be helpful. • Growing tip: This slower-growing variety should be brought in and planted in 4” pots for at least 6 weeks before being adding to the combo to avoid getting overtaken.

AAS TRIAL AREA Standouts Our annual AAS Trial proved again that these are outstanding performers. Our AAS judge, Melissa Winchester, scored the entries and will be submitting her results to the committee. These trials are held around the country and the next round of AAS Winners will come from the combined ratings of these countrywide judges’ scores.

Petunia Bee’s Knees Ball FloraPlant

Coleus Premium Sun Coral Candy - PanAmerican Seed

See You NEXT YEAR!

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