84-Lancaster Fanning, Friday, January 9, 1998
All Gardens
Great & Small
by
York Co.
Horticultural Agei
Tom Becker
Outstanding Annuals In 1997
Last week we looked at sever
al outstanding perennials that
Dr. Robert Berghage evaluated
at the University Park Trial
Gardens in 1997. They included
Echinacea Magnus, Heuchera
Purple Palace, Eryngium
Blaukappe, and Digitalis
Apricot.
This week we will
look at several out
standing annuals
including verbenas,
marigolds, petunias,
begonias and others
In all, Dr
Berghage, staff and
volunteers planted
over 800 cultivars in
the 1997 trial gardens
Their results are
reported in "Friends of
the Garden, Fall,
1997
Real standouts, in
1997 were Verbena
Romance Pink, and
Romance Deep Rose
They performed very
well, with numerous
bright flowers in July
and August Heirloom
Apple blossom and
Heirloom Light Blue
produced pastel flower
colors that make a
nice display combined
and other bedding
plants Verbena Imag
ination, a former AAS
winner grew well, but
flowered poorly
It was also a very
good year for the seed
geraniums like the
cultivar Marvick Star,
was outstanding with
vigorous growth, and
good flower produc
tion The gazama were
very nice this year too
Daybreak Bright
Orange and Daybreak
Red Stripe were both
vigorous and flowered
profusely.
Many annual
plants started slowly
last May but finished
strong by September
the fibrous begonia
performed well late
into the season Victo
ry Greenleaf Rose was
one of the nicest, with
outstanding flower
color and contrasting
foliage
The cultivar Lima White was
especially uniform.
Nierembergia Mont Blanc an
AAS selection grew more slowly
than usual early in the season,
but as it has in the past, was an
outstanding groundcover by mid
to late August, and performed
well right into September.
The zinnia cultivars
Profusion Rose and Profusion
Orange entered by the All
American Selections program
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3519 Columbia Avenue 1925 West Main Street
Lancaster, PA 17603 Ephrata, PA 17522
Phone: (717) 285-3818 Phone: (717) 738-3337
Hours; Mon.-Fn. 8:30-8:30 Sat. 8:30-5:00
Sun.-Closed- •
were two of the most colorful
plants in the garden in August
and September.
They were vigorous and uni
form, did not suffer from any
disease problems and were only
slightly bothered by Japanese
beetle.
The marigolds were all small
er than normal in 1997, but all
performed well late into the sea
son. Several of the nicer culti
vars were Luna Orange, Luna
Yellow, Hero Bee and Safari
Tangerine.
The vincas were slow growing
and small. However a few
seemed to be able to tolerate the
cooler season better than others.
The Cooler series was best. The
cultivar Cooler Icy Pink was
best.
The grandiflora petunias per
formed much more poorly than
the other types (floribunda and
multifloras). Storm White was
the best white in the trials. By
far the best overall petunias
were the "wave" series, Pink
Wave and Purple Wave.
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Of the milliflora petunias the
best cultivar is still Fantasy
Pink Morn. Lirica Showers Blue
and Lirica Showers Rose were
interesting new petunias for this
year.
They have very small flowers
(1/2 inch) and tiny leaves on
prostrate almost woody stems.
They performed well in the gar
den.
Another interesting "new"
plant for the University Park
garden was he Cape Daisy
(Osteorpermum). These plants
flowered well in the spring but
flowering dropped off in the
summer. In the fall many suc
cumbed to disease, with the
exception of the cultivar
Seaside.
White plants on both sides
died, these plants were still
going strong in September. They
produced a reasonable number
of light purple daisy like flowers
all season long which graced
their dark green succulent
foliage. This cultivar was vigor
ous but compact.
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The most interesting new
impatiens were the cultivar
Super Elfin Sunrise. This culti
var had spectacular unique flow
ers with orange centers and
fuchsia edges.
There were a number of nice
cut flower plants in the garden
this year. Sunflower Valentine
had numerous n j Ce
medium/small lemon yellow
flowers on long stems. Cut
flower asters of the Matador
senes from benary were nice
double flowered asters.
The cultivar Matador Fiery
Red for example was red with
white centers on long stems.
These plants flowered a bit later
than other cut flower asters in
the garden but they were worth
the wait.
For a complete summary
write to : Dr. Robert Berghage,
director, Horticulture Trial
Gardens, 102 Tyson Bid,
University Park, PA 16802.’
Please include a $lO check made
out to the Pennsylvania State
University,
3519 Columbia Avenue
Lancaster, PA 17603
Phone: (717)285-9688
Sun. Closed