2004 ASCFG National Perennial Trials
John Dole
North Carolina State University
Overview:
This year’s trial highlighted a few unconventional plants. Persicaria ‘Brush Strokes’ and ‘Silver Dragon’, from Terra Nova, did well as cut foliage. ‘Brush Strokes’ has large light green leaves with darker bronze markings and ‘Silver Dragon’ has small burgundy leaves that age to silvery green with burgundy veins. ‘Brush Strokes’ does not produce flowers until very late in the season - only 25% of trialers had flowering. ‘Silver Dragon’ is much more floriferous but to be honest, the flowers are small and the foliage is easier to use without the flowers. Stem length for both cultivars averaged 22 to 24 inches. Growers harvested 8 stems/plant for ‘Brush Strokes’ and 40/plant for ‘Silver Dragon’. Interestingly, while consumers appeared to like persicaria and it worked well in mixed bouquets, the florists or wholesalers were apparently less interested. One trialer noted that ‘Brush Strokes’ had a vase life of 12 days and the vase life for ‘Silver Dragon’ was 11 to 31 days.
Another interesting plant was the grass Andropogon ‘Silver Sunrise’, derived from our native grasses. This bluestem from University of Nebraska has a bluish green color during the summer that darkens to burgundy in the fall. While one trialer thought it looked like a weed, another referred to the 39 inch long stems as “a designer’s choice at the retail florist.” Trialers reported an average vase life of 10 days.
Lobelias have always been among my favorite flowers for their intense reds, blues and purples. Lobelia ‘Ruby Slippers’, from Terra Nova, is no different with long spikes, averaging 31 inches, of rich red flowers that everyone seemed to appreciate. Postharvest is always a concern with lobelias, but the vase life of ‘Ruby Slippers’ ranged from 8 to 10 days.
The purple coneflower is undergoing a revolution with many new and interesting forms and hybrids now on the market, some of which we may have in the trials next year. This year’s selection, Echinacea purpurea ‘Ruby Star’, from Gro’n Sell, is one of the standard coneflowers but it is a great one. It produced 22+ inch long stems topped with spectacular flowers. The large flowers have bright purple, horizontal petals with a rich orange red cone. Trialers averaged a little over 5 stems/plant.
Campanulas are always interesting and the trial included two species and Adenophora ‘Amethyst’, a relative of the campanula. ‘Amethyst’, from Walters Gardens, had long spikes of nodding purple flowers. Stems averaged 28 inches long and trialers harvested about 14 stems/plant. The plant was easy to grow and flowered over a long period. Campanula ‘Kent Belle’, from Walters Gardens, also had purple flowers but they were larger. Stems were about 23 inches long and growers harvested 8 stems/plant. Trialers reported an average vase life of 9 days for ‘Amethyst’ and 11 days for ‘Kent Belle’.
While many rudbeckias are best treated as an annual, Rudbeckia triloba can be handled as a short lived perennial. This very productive plant produces sprays of dark centered, yellow flowers on 36 inch stems. Trialers harvested a little over 10 stems per plant. The plant is easy to grow.
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 three trialers responded. Thus, from the 2004 trials Adenophora ‘Amethyst’, Andropogon ‘Silver Sunrise’, Echinacea purpurea ‘Ruby Star’, Lobelia ‘Ruby Slippers’, and Persicaria ‘Brush Strokes’ are nominated as Cut Flowers of the Year and will join other nominations from ASCFG members.
Interpreting the trial results:
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 stem lengths and yield data. After looking at the average, check the range of responses listed below each number to see how the cultivar performed at its best and its worst. If the range of responses in the ratings is narrow and high, i.e., 3-5 or 4-5, the plant was a winner for most of the respondents and is likely to do well for you. The ‘Repeat Again Rating’ is particularly important because it indicates if the trialer would take the time, money, and space to actually grow the cultivar again. 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. The growers paid $100 for shipping expenses and agreed to provide data for at least two years. Plant were donated by four perennial producers and University of Nebraska and shipped as the perennial plugs or dormant roots directly to the trialers. I would like to compliment Chaz Gill, Betsy Hitt, Carolyn Ramsbotham, 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 laboriously typing in everyone’s comments, Ingram McCall and Diane Mays for taking care of the North Carolina State University portion of the trials, Ingram McCall for data entry, and Leslie Tichner, Aliya Donnell, Brad Holland, and Tim Ketchie 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.