Potted Plant Party

Chris Beytes, Bill Calkins & Jennifer Zurko

Gerbera ColorBloom (PanAmerican Seed)
The two new varieties in this gerbera series are Deep Orange With Dark Eye and Bicolor Red White. Ideal for smaller containers like quarts and holds their color without fading in high light conditions.

Cyclamen (Morel)
The silvery foliage of Metis Light Pink With Eye (pictured) contrasts beautifully with the soft pink flowers. It’s a vigorous grower on a medium-sized plant. 

Kalanchoe Mandala (Selecta One)
Kalanchoe is a new crop for Selecta, who partnered with a Dutch company to secure the genetics. Their own breeder took all 14 colors in the series and made overall improvements, including for more reliable supply. With a five-day flowering window, it’s easy to target these for holiday sales, but Selecta’s goal is to also promote them as regional bedding plants. They said the message about kalanchoes to consumers should be that it’s a flowering succulent. Grow them in 4- to 6-in. pots, color bowls and combinations.

Rex Begonia Shadow King (Green Fuse)
Green Fuse showed us three more, unique patterns that fit well into the compact Shadow King rex begonia collection. Lime Ricky has a watermelon-y color scheme, while Rose had more pink tones. And Lemon Love (pictured) was almost chartreuse, a color we haven’t seen much in rex.

Rex Begonia Bewitched Night Owl (Green Fuse)
Aptly named Night Owl, this rex is large and bold. We all agreed it would be a perfect endcap item for Halloween sales. In fact, the leaves resemble bat wings. Spooky!

Cyclamen Leopardo, Eleganté, Crayon (Schoneveld)
New for 2022 is the Cyclamen Leopardo series (left), which has mid-size plants with large-size flowers. The series has six colors. It matches the Eleganté series (right), which has medium plants and medium flowers (and also six colors). The Crayon series has two colors that have an “ombre” effect on the flowers.

Hedera Tropical Blizzard (PlantHaven)
This is an Algerian ivy—Hedera canariensis—with heavily variegated foliage. It takes full sun or shade, so you can use it in the landscape as a groundcover, or as a houseplant.

Primula Lighthouse (Sakata)
This is a polyanthus type, with many small flowers held up above the foliage (hence the name). This new series has four colors and a mix (pictured).

Alstroemeria Inticancha (HiverdaFlorist)
Two new introductions, Valletta (red) and Paraiso (burgundy), add even more beauty to the series. These can be planted just one liner per 12-in. pot for a cost-effective show.

Asiatic Lily Trendy Nicosia (Flamingo Holland)
This Asiatic lily offers pretty soft pink flowers with white centers dappled with burgundy.

Hydrangea HI (Syngenta)
Last year, Syngenta partnered with Dutch company HI Breeding to exclusively market and sell florist hydrangeas. Bred to have a home life of up to 90 days, many of the colors in the collection age to interesting “antique” colors that make them a premium gift item.

Check out all of our videos on our YouTube channel (youtube.com/growertalks).