Matthiola 'Katz Lavender Light'

Trial: Annual

Year Trialed: 2008

Good Qualities

Fragrance (6); Good lavender color (3); The color range was great for spring bouquets; Pretty when they are double; Very sturdy and tall stems, nice cluster of flowers; Stem length, uniform quality for bunching, earlier than the numbered varieties I tried from Ball, doubleness was about 70%; Uniform; Beautiful in spring and early summer; Color excellent! We loved it; Easy to germinate and grow on to transplantable size.

Problems

Too many singles (2); Took too long, yield too low, I prefer plants with longer productivity; Weird twisting flower heads on some planted directly in the field, bad germination in plug trays about 50%; Stems tended to be somewhat weak, but none of my florists mentioned it; Flowers are crinkled and leaves curly, has the appearance of being diseased, not an attractive plant; Color only OK; Planted in shade but summer temps were too hot, deer ate foliage and blooms; Plants grow well for a time but when flowering should occur they stop growing and make a stunted flower stalk that never produces a flower; 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.

Similar Cultivars

None listed by respondents.

Comments

If all the plants were double, I would grow them again, it was a waste of space for many of them were not usable; Easy to grow, didn't need support netting; This cultivar produced no blooms, very little, if any, growth occurred after transplanting; We were very happy with the results and hope to grow again; Flower head 3.5 cm; It did not produce marketable flowers.

Postharvest

Used Floralife; We only used plain water.


Trial Data

Matthiola 'Katz Lavender Light'
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 1.2 15.9 - 4.0 3.7 3.1 3.5 80 7.0
Range of Responses 1-4 10-30 - 3-5 1-5 1-5 1-5 24-216 4-10

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