Trial: Perennial
Years Trialed: 2003, 2004Good Qualities
Year 1
Easy to grow; Last/late flower in production, perhaps too late in an early year; This is a great plant, I will grow this one again and more of it, it holds up great, produces a lot of stems per plant and everyone loves it; Great plant, very useful in bouquets and loved by florist customers; Plants were in good shape on arrival; Excellent filler flower, lots of 1 inch blooms per stem, lots of very usable side stems for bouquet use, very good vase life with standard postharvest treatments.Year 2
Very useful plant, easy to grow, flowers at a time when we need something new; Late summer timing, (Zone 5), spray type flowers make into arrangements quickly; Comes on later in season (Zone 6b), nice spray of flowers, customers really like.Problems
Year 1
Acts like biennial (3); It dies out after 2 seasons, sometimes only makes it one season; Did not perform as well as previous year; Plants received in spring will be good next year, difficult to germinate seed, powdery mildew.Year 2
Inconsistent vase life; Weak plant.Year 2
Died after flowering (biennial) in 2003; Would like to have better handle on post harvest; One trialer noted a vase life of 7 days.Trial Data
Year 1
| Plants flowering (%) | Plants dead at end of summer (%) | Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating¹ | Repeat Again Rating¹ | Ease of Cultivation Rating¹ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | |||||||
| Average | 81 | 51 | 6.6 | 29.9 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 3.7 | 3.6 |
| Range of Responses | 20-100 | 0-100 | 0-20 | 8-48 | 1-5 | 1-5 | 4-5 | 1-5 | 1-5 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Year 2
| Yield (stems/plant)¹ | Stem Length (inches)¹ | Market Appreciation Rating² | Repeat Again Rating² | Ease of Cultivation Rating² | Average Spacing (in2) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | ||||||
| Average | 50 | 10.5 | 36.5 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Range of Responses | 0-100 | 4-15 | 24-48 | 1 | 1-4 | 4 | 1-5 | 1-5 |
¹Data shown are from those respondents who harvested stems. Some respondents may not have harvested stems because they were too short. Flowering stems may be longer next year after plants are established. See comments section for more details.
²1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
Year 1
Weak plant; Easy to grow from seed, why would one want to buy biennial plants; I grew as annual previous year/may not overwinter, perhaps better as an annual; I have grown this for 4 years, it is not really a perennial, but reseeds well and seems perennial because of that; I treat this as a biennial; Excellent cut if grown from seed or plugs and kept only two seasons.