2001 ASCFG National Perennial Trials
John Dole
North Carolina State University
Overview:
While we evaluate perennials for two years, it is always nice to have the plants produce harvestable stems in the first year. Eupatorium candidum and Penstemon digitalis 'Glacier' both flowered well this summer. Eupatorium candidum established quickly and produced stems up to 3 feet long topped with interestingly-colored silvery pink flower clusters. The flowers scored well with customers as shown by the great marketing rates. Another Eupatorium from the year 2000 trials, E. maculatum 'Carin', also performed well. This tall plant produced stems averaging 51 inches long with large clusters of reddish purple fuzzy flowers on dark purple stems. Eupatoriums are durable plants and many are typically very tall and vigorous.Eupatorium candidum is thought to be a more manageable size, reaching only 3 - 4 feet when mature.
Two outstanding plants from the 2000 plantings included Helenium kanaria and Phlox paniculata 'Purple Haze'. Helenium kanaria was tall, producing an average of 46-inch stems and heavily branched. Plants should be netted or otherwise supported for best results. The clear yellow flowers have excellent vase life but may shed pollen. 'Purple Haze' was noted last year for its lack of powdery mildew. This year respondents liked the large flower heads, good postharvest life and long 35 inch stems. Color is always in the eye of the beholder; a couple trialer liked the color, while others thought it appeared washed out. Of course, the customers always make the final decisions on cultivars.
This year we included the range of responses in the tables to give you an idea of what individual trialers reported for each cultivar. We thought the additional information would allow you to better interpret the tables.
Based on trial results, the top five performers are automatically nominated for the ASCFG Cut Flower of the Year competition. The rankings are based on the combined ratings score: market appreciation (average of wholesale, florist, and consumer) + repeat again + ease of cultivation for those cultivars where more than two trialers responded. Thus, from the 2001 trials Eupatorium candidum, Eupatorium maculatum 'Carin', Helenium kanaria, Penstemon digitalis 'Glacier' and Phlox paniculata 'Purple Haze' are nominated as Cut Flowers of the Year and will join other nominations from ASCFG members and from the Cut Flower of the Year Panel. Experimental varieties are eligible for nomination if they are named and released.
Disclaimer:
The numbers reported are averages of all the respondents and many factors will affect the success of any plant species. Our participants are growing and harvesting the trial plants in a wide variety of ways. For example, with annual asters some people harvest the entire plant as one bunch while others harvest each individual flowering branch, giving very different lengths and yield data. If a plant does well for most of the respondents, it is likely to do well for you. On the other hand, if a cultivar didn't appear to do well in the trial, it may still be a great cultivar for you. Thus, we have included summaries of the respondents comments to help interpret the data. Review the trial results carefully. If a species sounds interesting but did not appear to do well, try it anyway. The cultivar may work well for you.
Acknowledgments:
All cut flower growers should thank the perennial producers for providing the plant materials and the growers for producing the plants, collecting data and submitting trial reports. Each of the growers paid $100 for shipping expenses and agreed to provide data for at least two years. Plant were donated by five perennial producers and shipped the perennial plugs or dormant roots directly to the trialers. I would especially like to compliment Betsy Hitt and Vicki Stamback who participated in both the seed and perennials trials and returned evaluations on all of their trial plants. I would also like to thank Betty Coleman for typing in everyone's comments, Ingram McCall for data analysis and for taking care of the North Carolina State University portion of the trials, and Diane Mays, Lane Greer, and Megan Weddington for assisting with the NCSU trials. In preparing the report I have edited the participants' comments for space and clarity; my apologies if I've altered the tone or content of anyone's comments. Thanks to everyone for making this service of ASCFG possible.