Trial: Annual

Years Trialed: 2003

Good Qualities

Bright colors (4); Good color range (5); Long stems (3); Upright growth, easy to contain; Vigorous; Best strawflower for our region (larger); Farmers market customers liked in solid bunch and in mixed bunches; Strong growing strawflower - vigorous; Its an OK helichrysum; Nice burgundy flower color; Full of foliage; Performed exceptionally well through drought, achieved good height (36 inches) w/o supplemental water, plants turned out an abundance of blooms all season long, right up to frost, I cut stems for dried use only (no fresh), I did not want to wire heads so cut stems at about 6 inches, 10 per bunch, hung to dry, customers eagerly bought them in fall for wreath work and to wire-pick into arrangements.

Problems

Too many dark red flowers/mix not balanced (3); Late to flower (3); Japanese beetles (2); Some stem borers; What the heck do you do with this stuff?; None harvested, plants just languished, didn't really grow, have had difficulty growing helichrysum in past; The tips of leaves got burned; These were held in greenhouse almost 8 weeks (not recommended 3-4 weeks.), they grew giant plants, but do straw flowers need to be soooo tall?; Had some wilt problems; Blooms were of average size (1 ½ inches) - not "Giant" as the name suggests.

Comments

Similar to 'King Size', 'Swiss Giants', etc., interchangeable, actually; Spray or bouquet type; Seems like every other one I've grown; Cut over several weeks period; Dried what we didn't sell as fresh products; We don't sell any straw flowers anymore, with all the other specialty cuts available in August, it doesn't seem to be in very high demand; This was super, picked many to dry; They took frosts, even hard freeze.

Trial Data

¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.

Supplier

Benary Seed 1444 Larson St. Sycamore, IL 60178