Trial: Annual
Years Trialed: 2003
Good Qualities
Terrific color (5); Productive, healthy plants; Strong stems, attractive; Nice full flower heads, strong stems, lovely 2-tone; Very good stem strength, good for everyday bouquet use; Large flowers; Healthy plant, good size and transplanted well; Bloomed well once plants were sized up.Problems
Poor germination (2); Mildew (2); Color is a bit washed out; Plants and stems never grew very tall, maybe because of weather and fertility; Lost a lot to damping off in plug trays; Started too late, no blooms; Both ‘Guardians’ sometimes produced side shoots before main stem in our trials.Trial Data
| Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating¹ | Repeat Again Rating¹ | Ease of Cultivation Rating¹ | Average Spacing (in2) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | ||||||
| Average | 2.6 | 25.7 | - | 3.6 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 124 |
| Range of Responses | 1-6 | 17-36 | - | 3-4 | 3-5 | 3-5 | 3-5 | 36-216 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
Similar to ‘Magic Fountain’; Will reserve judgement until I see how it performs in year 2; Color is nice, but would be more accepted if darker, plants still blooming after numerous frosts; Might do better in hoophouse or field in cooler weather, on 10/24, plants look healthy and some have new flower stalks with flowers about to open, but they are short (Zone 7); Did good for first year; I will definitely grow again, not too tall and kept on producing even when it got miserably hot.