Trial: Annual
Year Trialed: 2008Good Qualities
Wonderful fragrance (4); The scent and the color range was great for spring bouquets; Very nice strong plants, about 75% double; Good color; Fast grower, large flower head; Pretty when they are double; Beautiful in spring and early summer; Nice strong-stemmed white, sturdier than some other varieties we have grown; Easy to germinate and grow on to transplantable size; Cold requirement for flowering minimal, produced usable stems even in the last tunnel planting, when 'Lucinda Cream' became vegetative.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
None listed by respondents.Postharvest
Used Floralife; We only used plain water.Trial Data
| 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 | 16.7 | - | 3.5 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 80 | 7.0 |
| Range of Responses | 1-4 | 10-30 | - | 2-5 | 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.
Comments
This cultivar produced no blooms, very little, if any growth occurred after transplanting; Since I can get white without selecting for doubles, I'll probably skip this color in future; If all the plants were double, I would grow them again, it was a waste of space for many of them were not usable; Flower head 3.5 cm; Easy to grow, didn't need support netting; I grouped these three cultivars because they all grew the same and did not produce marketable flowers.