Matthiola 'Katz Cherry Blossom'

Trial: Annual

Year Trialed: 2008

Good Qualities

Wonderful fragrance (4); Nice bicolor pink (7); Uniform readiness for easy bunching, about 75% double; Beautiful in spring and early summer; The color range was great for spring bouquets; Produce more usable stems than other stock cultivars; Strong stems.

Problems

Too short; Did not yield well and had a very short field life, too much time and effort and valuable field space for the little it yielded; Stems weaker than other colors, but did not seem to really be a problem for florists; Planted in shade but summer temps were too hot, deer ate foliage and blooms; Had a lot of singles (worthless) - still not very good at diagnosing a single from a double - hated I wasted the house space; Lots of singles, weird twisting flower heads on some planted directly in the field, bad germination in plug trays about 50%; Flowers crinkled and leaves curled, plant appeared to be diseased, not an attractive plant.

Similar Cultivars

None listed by respondents.

Comments

This cultivar produced no blooms, very little growth, if any occurred after transplanting; We had great feedback on all of the Katz stock that we trialed, could have sold a lot more; Lost most of these due to wet weather, will grow again; Flower head 3.5 cm; Easy to grow, didn't need support netting.

Postharvest

We only use plain water.


Trial Data

Matthiola 'Katz Cherry Blossom'
Yield (stems/plant) Stem Length (inches) Market Appreciation Rating¹ Repeat Again Rating¹ Ease of Cultivation Rating¹ Average Spacing (in2) Average Postharvest Life (days)
Wholesale Retail Consumer
Average 2.6 15.7 5.0 4.0 3.8 3.6 3.6 97 6.8
Range of Responses 1-8 10-30 5 3-5 1-5 1-5 1-5 32-216 6-9

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

Supplier

PanAmerican/Ball Seed P.O. Box 438 West Chicago, IL 60186