Trachelium caeruleum 'Lake Sunset'
Trial: Annual
Years Trialed: 2000
Good Qualities:
Great color; Has tiny white flowers - wonderful contrast to dark purple stems and leaves very 'cosmic' look; Beautiful variety with vivid purple flowers and stems; I’ve grown this before and love it for a late season cut.
Problems:
Poor germination - ended up with 16 plants in the field; Deer ate this one down to a very short stub; Difficult to tell when blooming, bleeds white against dark purple stems; Crop failure, too much dampening off in spring; Lost all plants to Pythium; Flower heads rotted before they opened.
Trial Data
| 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 | 4.3 | 15.0 | 3.0 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
(1) 1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Supplier
PanAmerican Seed
P.O. Box 438
West Chicago, IL 60186
Comments:
Great surprise here in Zone 2; Would try again under tunnels in the early summer; I was surprised it didn’t seem to appeal to chic-chic buyers, but it did to the young-student types; Need one layer of support, sometimes two.