{"id":64,"date":"2014-08-09T21:37:13","date_gmt":"2014-08-09T21:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/?p=64"},"modified":"2018-11-13T22:10:40","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T22:10:40","slug":"whats-in-store-for-spring-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/?p=64","title":{"rendered":"What’s in Store for Spring 2015?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve ever visited the garden center this time of year, you know you can find plenty of personal assistance. We feel a bit like the Maytag repairman at times. While the surface looks vastly more calm than it does in May, the undercurrent is moving swiftly to meet deadlines for planning and ordering seeds, cuttings, tubers, bulbs and corms for 2015.\u00a0 We attend trade shows and visit several trial gardens during this time of year.\u00a0 They are a vital part of the process of providing you with the best plants and gardening products available.<\/p>\n

One of the great joys of late summer is the opportunity to visit the \u00a0 annual trial gardens. Growers and plant propagators send countless rooted cuttings and seed samples to the College of Agricultural Sciences at CSU. Dr. Klett, with his team of students and Master Gardeners go to work growing these samples so we can see how they perform in our Colorado climate. Universities and many businesses across the country participate in such trials, providing the industry with an overall performance review of each of these new introductions. They are often planted, side by side, with plants considered to be the current top performers.\u00a0 This provides a direct comparison between varieties.\u00a0 Last week, many representatives from our industry made the annual pilgrimage to the trial gardens at CSU, to evaluate the plants that propagators hope we will add to our plant production for spring of 2015.<\/p>\n

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\"CSU<\/a><\/p>\n

What do we look for in a plant? I suppose it’s something like judging a dog show.\u00a0 We look for the best examples of what that type of plant should be in the garden.\u00a0 We look for qualities that indicate it will be a good performer in our high plains climate and those that suggest they will do well at higher elevations, too.\u00a0 It’s not easy to be quite that selective, sometimes.\u00a0 There are so many pretty plants, it takes a bit of self discipline to avoid distraction from our purpose.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>
Two new petunia introductions for spring of 2015, Berry Velour and Red Velour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next year may very well be the “Year of the Petunia”.\u00a0 Some years we see a concentration of new introductions of one particular plant or another.\u00a0 2015 promises to provide us with some incredible new petunias.\u00a0\u00a0 There are more new petunias than I could count.\u00a0 Below is just one of the more promising varieties.<\/p>\n

\"Petunia<\/a>
Petunia Sanguna Radiant Rose<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Geranium Glitterati Ice Queen is one of the best new plants for 2015.\u00a0 It’s stunningly bright white and green foliage is a standout on its own.\u00a0 The bright red blooms are the icing on the cake, or geranium, in this case.\u00a0 Variegated geraniums of old weren’t the most prolific bloomers but Ice Queen is the polar opposite, producing scads of bold blooms.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s spreading habit makes it an excellent choice for container gardens, larger hanging baskets and wherever you may need substantial coverage in border plantings.<\/p>\n

\"Geranium<\/a>
Geranium Glitterati Ice Queen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coleus are a favorite, here at Echter’s.\u00a0 We’re always on the hunt for new, beautiful foliage to dress up the garden.\u00a0 We look for sturdy stems, the ability to adapt from shade to partial sun, firm foliage that doesn’t flop in the first breeze, colors that don’t fade and resistance to disease.\u00a0 Coleosaurus is one of the more exciting introductions for 2015.<\/p>\n

\"Coleus<\/a>
Coleus Coleosaurus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you’ve been a longtime fan of impatiens, you probably already know about the disease that has been a bit of a challenge to them in recent years.\u00a0 Impatiens Downy Mildew (IDM) can defoliate a group of Busy Lizzys within a week.\u00a0 IDM affects only<\/em> the traditional Impatiens walleriana.\u00a0 It does not affect New Guinea Impatiens.\u00a0 There are treatments that can be used if you want to stick to the traditional impatiens, but it may be worth giving some of the New Guinea types a try.\u00a0 Since the risk of IDM became apparent, plant breeders have been racing to provide us with alternatives.\u00a0 Bounce and Big Bounce impatiens are the result of such efforts.\u00a0 They provide the flower count of traditional wallerianas while being resistant to IDM.<\/p>\n

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\"DSC_8632\"<\/a>
Interspecific Impatiens Big Bounce Lavender<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Look for some stunning new verbenas next season, too.\u00a0 Newer introductions have amazingly vivid colors and large bloom clusters.\u00a0 We look for vivid colors that don’t fade, sturdy stems that don’t break easily in the wind, habits that make them good companions in hanging baskets and planters, and disease resistance.<\/p>\n

\"Verbena<\/a>
Verbena Wicked Great Grape<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We can’t give away all the surprises for 2015.\u00a0 When spring arrives, look for more information about new plant introductions for annuals and perennials.\u00a0 If you have some plants on your wishlist, we’d love to hear from you.\u00a0 Leave us a comment or share your list with us on Facebook.\u00a0 https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/echtersgreenhouse<\/p>\n

The trial gardens at CSU are open to the public and we encourage you to visit there sometime.\u00a0 They can be found at 1401 Remington Street in Fort Collins.<\/p>\n

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If you’ve ever visited the garden center this time of year, you know you can find plenty of personal assistance. We feel a bit like the Maytag repairman at times. While the surface looks vastly more calm than it does in May, the undercurrent is moving swiftly to meet deadlines for planning and ordering seeds, … Continue reading What’s in Store for Spring 2015?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc-topics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}