Cool Season Trial Garden Winners

Posted by James E. Klett, Professor and Extension Landscape Horticulturist

The 2016-17 Colorado State University Cool Season Trials are completed and the winners have been announced.  In this trial we evaluated 119 different varieties of pansies and Violas for their performance in the fall of 2016 and winter and spring of 2017.  We evaluated them on April 19, 2017 and sixteen varieties were given high honors.  Overall, the Cool Season Trial was probably the best one we had in the past ten years.  Plants were planted in October 2017, watered and fertilized initially and hand watered throughout the winter when temperatures were above 40° F and when there was no snow cover.  The plants still look excellent and we will keep them in the trials till after Memorial Day 2017.  We then will remove them since we need the space for our annual flower trials.

Five of the outstanding varieties in this trial include:

Best of Show Pansy – ‘Cool Wave Morpho’ from Pan American Seed

This pansy stole the show in our trial with vibrant flower colors which were a striking contrast between blue and yellow and were held up high for easy viewing.  The flowers were numerous totally covering the plant which attributed to the larger spreading growth habit.  The entire Cool Wave Series was noted to have exceptional vigor and flower power but ‘Cool Wave Morpho’ was considered the best of the series.

Best Yellow Pansy – ‘Matrix Yellow’ Improved by Pan American Seed

The huge flowers alone draws attention to this plant.  The clear yellow flower creates this plant.  The clear yellow flower creates an array of bright and sunny looking flowers.  This pansy would brighten up any landscape in the winter and early spring.

Best Purple Pansy – ‘Inspire Plus Denim’ by Benary

This pansy had a unique flower color which was shades of blue and purple on sturdy stems with excellent green foliage.  This pansy had an attractive face with eyes adding character to upward facing flowers.

Best of Show Viola – ‘Endurio Blue Yellow with Purple Wing’ by Syngenta

The spreading growth habit makes this viola very attractive for borders and nostalgic looking flowers that bring back the idea of old-school violas.  The eye catching blue yellow with purple wing flower color is guaranteed to make everyone feel happy.  It was also designated as the “Best Novelty” Viola.

Best White Viola – ‘Admire White’ by Benary

This viola demonstrates a uniform and tidy growth habit with a petite flower size.  Flower are a pure white and very floriferous.

These are just five of the fifteen winners and a complete listing can be viewed on flowertrials.colostate.edu and click on the Cool Season Trial tab.

You will want to include some of these varieties as you plan your cool season garden for the 2017-18 season.

2015-16 Cool Season Trials Yield Top Picks for Off Season Color

Posted by James E. Klett, Professor, Colorado State University, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture.

One hundred and sixteen varieties were evaluated in the 2015-16 Cool Season Trials from planting in mid-October 2015 through April 2016. At the end of the observations, eight plants were selected by the Annual Trial Garden Committee as top-rated performers. All varieties were monitored and observed weekly during the trial period. Plants were watered when the soil was dry and the temperature above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but we had good snow cover for about two months of the trial period.  The eight winners are listed below.

Best of Show Pansy

Cool Wave^® Frost from Pan American. This is a spreading type of pansy and would be excellent for hanging baskets. This variety had good flower cover producing many blooms in a multi-color pastel blue and white.

Best Blue/Violet Pansy

Inspire^® Plus Marina from Benary. This pansy had a soft blue color with a contrasting eye of golden yellow. This is a traditional more upright type pansy with a very uniform habit with short pedicels and upward facing flowers.

Best Yellow Pansy

Freefall^® Golden Yellow from Flora Nova. This is again a spreading variety that would be excellent for baskets. The flowers are a clear golden yellow with prominent darker whiskers in center flower. It again provided excellent flower cover over the entire plant.

Best Orange Pansy

Spring Matrix^® Orange Deep from Pan American. This is a new category for 2015-16 since we had a lot of orange pansy entries. It is a traditional more upright growing pansy with deep orange, frilly flowers. This variety overwintered extremely well.

Best Violas

Pan American Seed Company’s Sorbet^® XP Series dominated in each of the categories in this year’s cool season trial.

Best of Show and Best Blue Violet Category

Sorbet^® XP Beaconsfield Improved won in both of these categories because of its eye-catching bicolor viola with a deep blue/violet center that faded to a lighter blue/violet with a nice bright orange eye. It had excellent flower cover and overall would add great curb appeal.

Best Yellow Viola Category

Sorbet^® XP Yellow Blotch from Pan American. The flower color was a deep yellow with a nice chocolate blotch. It had very uniform growth habit with strong flower stems and a very even flower cover.

Best White Viola Category

Sorbet^® XP White Blotch. This variety had a very uniform and consistent growth habit with many flowers with very large flowers for a viola. The flower color was white with a bluish blush.

Best Novelty Viola

This is also a new class this year with Sorbet^® XP Orange Jump Up winning the honor. Flowers were a stunning contrast of deep violet and vibrant orange and flowers showed no sign of fading.