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trials TOURING THE
THE CALIFORNIA SPRING TRIALS
SHOWED OFF NEW VARIETIES
AND PLANT TRENDS.
BY JAMIE J. GOOCH
A rainbow of colors
greeted visitors to
Goldsmith Seeds/
Syngenta Flowers’
trials in Gilroy, CA.
FROM GILROY TO ENCINITAS, and all the stops in between, the new and yet-to-be-released culti- vars were on display for a week
in April during the 2010 California Spring
Trials. Growers, retailers and landscapers
who want to know what’s new and what’s
next attend the annual event. This year’s
displays didn’t disappoint.
PHOTO COURTESY: SYNGEN TA FLOWERS
In what is perhaps a sign of an improving
economy, visitor traffic reports were up this
year, compared to last year’s trials, despite the
timing of the 2010 event.
“We were all very surprised by the turnout,
especially since the event was extra late this
year (due to how Easter fell on the calendar)
and most growers were deeply involved in
spring crops already,” says Dean Bemis, broker
account manager for Syngenta Flowers.
Expanding color ranges
“There was, as always, a plethora of color on
display,” says Steve Carver of the trials. Carver
is manager, Technical Education at OFA — An
Association of Floriculture Professionals. He
and his OFA companions made 13 stops along
the trial trail this year. “Everyone is trying to
push the border on the color range of their
product lines. This year, the stand-out for me
was the black petunia.”
“The Ball FloraPlant Black Velvet Petunia
— the world’s only black petunia — certainly
wowed at this year’s trials,” says Jennifer Neu-
jahr, product marketing manager for PanAmeri-
can Seed, a Ball Horticultural brand. “Black is
the perfect complement to other colors and
can create drama in the landscape and in
mixed containers.”
That drama stems from the contrast
between light and dark, which was a popular
theme in this year’s displays.
“Contrasting colors seemed to make a
bigger impression this year: blue set off by
orange, red set off by green or yellow,” says
Bemis. “Using contrasting colors of any kind
was of great interest. It’s an economical way to
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