Flower Trials: Pan American

detailed spreadsheet of research results (pdf)

Begonia Baby Wings have two inches wide pink blooms with burgundy leaves. It had the lowest germination success rate among all the other flowers in the Pan American Trial Research. Begonia Baby Wings took 20 days to get 50% of the seeds to germinate but the results were spectacular. It is a very attractive self-cleaning annual that bloomed profusely in full sun all summer long until frost.

Portulaca Margarita Peppermint is a showstopper with swirls of pink and some solid hot pink blooms. An eight by ten inch plant that tolerates sun and self cleans. All 32 seeds planted successfully germinated within 2 weeks.

Torenia Clown Lemon Drop blooms were .5 inches wide and tall. As the names implies, the center of the white bloom is yellow lemon drops. It’s a very small mounding annual with the height of its bloom time in mid-July. It needs to be deadheaded to maintain its plant vigor. By the first week of August, it was done blooming. It took 20 days for 25 of 32 seeds planted to germinate. By 36 days, 27 of 32 seeds were successfully germinated.

Verbena Quartz Silver has a small, mounding growth habit with lavender blooms that are two inches wide and one inch high. It is eight inches wide and tall plant. It needs to be deadheaded to maintain its plant vigor. It was done blooming by the second week of August in the trial research garden. Of the 32 seeds planted, 30 were successfully germinated within 2 weeks.

The bright yellow and orange Marigold Durango Outback Mix flowers were an eye catcher from a distance. The blooms were 3 inches tall and 1.5 inches wide. Thirty-three blooms per plant at full bloom made a nice mass on plants that were twelve inches tall and eighteen inches wide. They bloomed continually all summer until frost.

Ornamental grass Eragrostis (Love Grass) Wind Dancer danced its seed heads in the wind. The fine texture foliage is blue-green and can grow up to three and a half feet high and 2 feet wide. All 62 seeds successfully germinated within two weeks. A great backdrop annual!

Plectranthus Silver Shield is a great medium texture plant with its silver gray leaves. Each plant can grow up to two and half feet wide and tall. There are no blooms. It is very slow to germinate after 11 days of planting the seed, 19 of the 32 seeds germinated but the results are definitely worthwhile for this spectacular annual.

Celosia Carmine Glow has red bloomsand Celosia Pink Glow has pink blooms. Carmine Glow is a 7.5 by 12 inch plant whereas Pink Glow is an 8 by 10 inch plant. Each plant can have up to 5 blooms per plant. Although, Pink Glow had a better germination success rate of 100% (32 of 32) than Carmine Glow of 88% (28 of 32), the most striking plant is the Carmine Glow as the blooms retained it red color throughout the growing season. Pink Glow blooms faded and it was done blooming by second week of August.

Phlox 21 st Century Blue and Rose Star both have equal germination success rate of 93% (30 of 32). . Both Phlox Century Stars will grow to a 9 by 7 inches plant with as many as 45 blooms. It will sprawl on the ground because it doesn’t support itself up.

The blooms of Coreopsis Rising Sun reflect the sunrise colors of gold with a burgundy eye. Coreopsis Early Sunrise have record platinum gold blooms. Rising Sun at full bloom had 45 blooms per plant and Early Sunrise had 38 blooms, which made a nice showing of warm color in the trial research garden. Rising Sun is a smaller plant (twelve by sixteen inches) than Early Sunrise (twenty four by sixteen inches). Both plants could use some deadheading to prolong it bloom time throughout the summer. Rising Sun had a much better germination rate of 91% (58 out of 62) than Early Sunrise of 76% (47out of 62).

A showstopper in the research trial garden is the Petunia Dreams series of Burgundy Picotee, Rose Picotee, and Sky Blue. Burgundy Picotee has burgundy with white edges blooms and Rose Picotee is rose with white edges. As the name implies, the blooms of Sky Blue is sky blue. The sixteen by sixteen inches Petunia Dreams makes a nice mounding plant that doesn’t need deadheading. Its blooms are 3 by 2 inches and can have an impressive 40 blooms per plant. It will bloom nonstop all summer long until hard frost. All 32 seeds of each color successfully germinated.

Another showstopper in the research garden is the Petunia Easy Wave series of Red, Blue, Salmon, and White. The Petunia Easy Wave series can sprawl up to three feet and grow up to 16 inches. It makes a spectacular display all summer long with 45 blooms per plant. Each bloom is 2 inches wide and tall. The number of blooms did decline as the summer progress but it still made a nice showing. Seed germination was also 100% successful for each color (32 seeds each).