Matthiola 'Katz Pink'

Trial: Annual

Year Trialed: 2008

Good Qualities

Wonderful fragrance (4); Very dark pink (4); The scent and the color range was great for spring bouquets; Uniform length and readiness; Fast grower, large flower heads; Beautiful in spring and early summer; Good sturdy stem length.

Problems

Stems were weakest on this color, but still not a problem with florists; Flowers crinkled and leaves curled, plant appears to be diseased, not attractive; Could not select out doubles, requires staking; Matthiola just is not going to make the grade as an outdoor cut flower in western Wisconsin, our growing season is too short and too hot for this crop; Planted in shade but summer temps were too hot, deer ate foliage and blooms. Small cluster of flowers at the top of the stem; 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; Lots of singles, weird twisting flower heads on some planted directly in the field, bad germination in plug trays about 50%.

Similar Cultivars

‘Vivas Light Pink’.

Comments

This cultivar produced no blooms, very little, if any, growth occurred after transplanting; Harvest spread out over a couple of weeks; We have had very good luck with Aida series and it fit wells into our program; The seed germinated and then struggled all summer, I picked a few stems for personal use in early October, hey, we gave it a try (Zone 4); Easy to grow, didn't need support netting, least favorite of the stock varieties trialed.

Postharvest

We used plain water.


Trial Data

Matthiola 'Katz Pink'
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 15.4 1.0 2.6 3.5 2.8 3.4 85 6.5
Range of Responses 1-4 10-30 1 1-5 1-5 1-5 1-5 24-216 4-9

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