Snapdragon 'Animation Royal Purple'
Trial: Annual
Years Trialed: 2006
Good Qualities:
Outstanding color (5); Sturdy stems (2); Had many comments!; Large heads; Nice appearance, customers liked it; Reasonable resistance to rust, good vase life; Color was very nice and haven’t grown a snapdragon that color.
Problems:
For most of the season this cultivar was largely un-saleable, stems were very thin, flowers not full and robust, grew this alongside another “purple” cultivar (another seed company) – the other was same magenta color but very prolific with fat stems, good stand, full flowers, while the trial brand color paled by comparison; Stems per plant, the petals didn’t always open fully!; Dry and heat of summer made for long come-back after first cuttings; Stems sometimes broke during harvest foliage stripping; We did not net, stems were not as strong as ‘Spring Giants’ which is our standard snap we grow, could have harvested more stems but the stems were too bent, so it was quite productive; Color was nice BUT no way a “Purple”! Who names these colors anyway – get a color chart! More like a magenta, finally started to get nicer-looking late in the season with cool fall temps.
Similar Cultivars:
Potomacs did MUCH better for me in the field – they were phenomenal!
Postharvest:
Store cool and very upright (to avoid bending stems).
Trial Data
| Plants flowering (%) | Plants dead at end of summer (%) | Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating - Wholesale (1) | Market Appreciation Rating - Retail (1) | Market Appreciation Rating - Consumer (1) | Repeat Again Rating (1) | Ease of Cultivation Rating (1) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | 6.1 | 17.9 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 128.1 | 8.2 |
| Range of Responses | 6-8 | 15-24 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 81-144 | 8-9 |
(1) 1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Supplier
Ernst Benary Seed
1444 Larson St.
Sycamore, IL 60178
www.benary.com
Comments:
Late season cuts were fairly decent but stems still thin; Will grow again, such a beautiful deep color- it adds to the mix of snaps offered at the farmers markets, also got a second flush of darker stems in the fall; Didn’t grow well in our area, weather is too hot in the summer! They started really coming on in fall, when customers were limited; Good germination; I didn’t like the color- prefer dark red; If this is like the other ‘Animations’, it will be good and I’m sure customers will like it; Sowed in greenhouse 2/13/06, transplanted to 200 cell tray, harvested from 57 plants, harvest period 6/22-7/12.