Varieties That Inspired at Young’s Plant Farm’s 2024 Trials

Note: Information for this trials report was provided by Penny Merritt-Price, Product Development Manager at Young’s Plant Farm.

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  Young’s Plant Farm 2024 Trial Garden; all photos: Young’s Plant Farm

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  Vinca ‘Soiree Double Orchid Improved’ (Suntory Flowers)

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  Petunia ‘Supertunia Tiara Blue’ (Proven Winners)

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  Lantana ‘Shamrock Rose Improved’ (Ball FloraPlant)

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  Heliotropium ‘Laguna Blue’ (Lazzeri)

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  Geranium ‘Caldera Salmon’ (Syngenta Flowers)

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  Geranium ‘Caldera Hot Pink’ (Syngenta Flowers)

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  Coleus ‘TerraScape Solar Fire’ (Kientzler)

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  Coleus ‘TerraScape All that Jazz’ (Kientzler)

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  Coleus ‘Down Town Santa Monica’ (Dümmen Orange)

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  Coleus ‘Charged Up Marble Mania’ (Ball FloraPlant)

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  Canna Cannova ‘Gold Leopard ‘(American Takii)

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  Caladium ‘Heart to Heart Clowning Around’ (Proven Winners)

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The 2025 trial season was a tough one for the garden. Young’s Plant Farm Trial Garden is located in USDA Zone 8 in central east Alabama. We typically have very hot and humid conditions in late July and August. This year the hot days and nights (particularly rough on plants) started a full month early in mid-June. For this reason, a lot of varieties in the garden struggled early, but we still had some fantastic top performers that thrived in the heat and humidity.

We trialed more than 500 individual varieties and more than 200 combinations. Top performers this year were:

• Helianthus ‘Sunfinity Double Yellow’ (Syngenta Flowers)
• Coleus TerraScape ‘All that Jazz’ and ‘Solar Fire’ (Kientzler)
• Caladium ‘Heart to Heart Clowning Around’ (Proven Winners)
• Coleus ‘Charged Up Marble Mania’ (Ball FloraPlant)
• Geranium Caldera ‘Hot Pink’ and ‘Salmon’ (Syngenta Flowers)
• Lantana ‘Shamrock Rose Improved’ (Ball FloraPlant)
• Petunia ‘Supertunia Tiara Blue’ (Proven Winners)
• Coleus ‘Down Town Santa Monica’ (Dümmen Orange)
• Vinca ‘Soiree Double Orchid Improved’ (Suntory Flowers)

We have really worked on advertising in the past few years, and it is starting to pay off. We had a record number of industry visitors attend our open house in June. The event is great for networking, but it also allows professional growers from around the southeast to see how these plants are performing in their area.

Keeping everything fresh and exciting is always a challenge. We like to use our trial garden to not only look at and test new varieties but to also explore trends and inspire our marketing and sales personnel. After doing the garden for 13 years, we work hard constantly looking for new ideas and inspiration. We want every year at the trial garden to be better than the year before!

Some of the plants that impressed me the most this year were:

• Helianthus ‘Sunfinity Double Yellow’ (Syngenta Flowers): Sunfinity Double Yellow really was a showstopper with bright, yellow double flowers that stood out from across the garden. This sunflower lasted all summer long and looks like it will continue to bloom until frost.
• Heliotropium ‘Laguna Blue’ (Lazzeri): Heliotropium is not typically thought about as a summer performer in the southeast, but this one can really handle the heat and humidity. The deep blue-purple flowers are fantastic and being able to bring an exciting shade plant to our consumers is a win.
• Canna Cannova ‘Gold Leopard ‘(American Takii): ‘Gold Leopard’ is a new bicolor Canna. The orange spots on these yellow flowers really stood out in the garden and since the breeding comes from Cannova you also get nicely compact plant habit.

Find more 2024 field trials information here.