The company that developed this flower says: "It has the best plant habit of all the doubles yet, outstanding outdoor performance, and it flowers the earliest." In fact it is adorable right now in the pot.
What I had not anticipated is that the flower is TINY - about the size of a dime.
Another nice new flower is lobularia. I was warned that it was vigorous, kind of a giant alyssum out of control. I have put some in baskets, but I think it's a better plant to put in the ground or use as a novelty flower. The second photo is from the folks who patented lobularia. It's not a great plant for baskets in the greenhouses, as its tiny petals fall on the plants below. (Horticultural dandruff?) Outside it would be fine, but not on someone's porch.
I really like the foliage on this new "sunpatiens" and it seems to branch out more than other new guineas. I ordered in more and the company sent the wrong variety, a solid white. Oh well. I have combined this in a few baskets (sold one yesterday!) with purple calibrachoa. The second photo is from the company that developed this new plant.
We are closed today (Monday) so I will go take photos of yet more new plants for the next entry. We have recovered (physically) from the cave-ins following that snow storm. There's a lot of rebuilding in the future, assuming the season goes well.
