Published 2009-12-01
Abstract
The University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center trial garden was established 7 years ago to assess the growth of vegetatively propagated annual cultivars. Annuals from EuroAmerican Propagators (Proven Winners) were planted on 8 Dec. 2008 for the winter trial garden, and on 3 Mar. 2009 for the spring garden. All plants were planted as three groups of six plants, with the groups being randomly placed in the garden. The winter garden cultivars were planted under 30% shade, while the spring garden cultivars were planted under full sun. Periodic evaluations were conducted to record plant height, plant width, flower number, number of plants with flowers, insect and disease damage, and quality rating. Quality was rated on a scale of 0 to 5 with 5 = top performance, 3 = plants of interest, 1 = poor performance, and 0 = dead. Two consumer preference surveys were conducted in Mar. 2009. Plants ranked highly by consumers in the winter garden included Argyranthemum ‘Butterfl y’ and ‘Vanilla Butterfl y’, Chrysocephalum ‘Flambe Yellow’, Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’, and Osteospermum ‘Soprano Compact Purple’. In the spring garden, the top ranked plants included Solenostemon ‘Colorblaze Dipt in Wine’, Petunia ‘Pretty Much Picasso’ and ‘Supertunia Vista Silverberry’, Isolepsis ‘Graceful Grasses Fiber Optic’, and Lobularia ‘Snow Princess’.