Featured Four: Favorites from Four Star Greenhouses Display Gardens
Looking for tried and true performers for the upcoming season? Read Part 2 of our series about favorites from this year’s Michigan Garden Plant Tour trial sites.
Every year Michigan State University and Michigan’s leading young plant producers host a free open house at their trial sites and display gardens to give growers, landscapers and retail operators the opportunity to learn about a wide range of ornamental crops. Industry professionals can see for themselves which new varieties perform the best under various conditions, including in the ground and in containers. The tour lasts for two weeks and was held this year from July 29-Aug. 9, 2024.
Part 1 of this series covered Michigan State University Extension’s favorites at the trial garden at DGI Propagators. Part 2 will feature the favorites from Four Star Greenhouses.
Featured Four at Four Star Greenhouses
Four Star Greenhouse offers a tour through their amazing display gardens. This year’s display starts by taking you through their new arrivals for 2025 displayed in both aquapot containers as well as in hanging baskets. You’re able to get a full picture of what these new plants have to offer in containers alone as well as in combination with other suggested varieties. You then move into display areas that feature new varieties within in-ground display beds. Continuing through the garden you’ll also encounter Proven Winners standard as well as previous years’ award winners. Several 2025 new varieties stood out:
- Petunia Supertunia Tiara Pink – Proven Winners
- Mealycup Sage Unplugged White – Proven Winners
- Heliotrope Aromagica Purple – Proven Winners
- Purslane Mojave Tangerine Improved – Proven Winners
Petunia: Supertunia Tiara Pink
There’s another Supertunia to put on your radar this year, Supertunia Tiara Pink Petunia (Photos 1-2). Before I even got out of my car, this one caught my eye. This vigorous petunia reaches up to 12 inches in height and up to 2 feet wide. The flower touts a luminescent glow emanating from the center, a tiara atop the princess pink flowers.
Mealycup Sage Unplugged White
It’s not often that white flowers steal the show, but the new Unplugged White Salvia (Photo 3) was a standout, a favorite of mine and the pollinators. In the display beds it was featured with best sellers Truffula Pink Gomphrena, Graceful Grasses Purple Fountain Grass and ColorBlaze Newly Noir Coleus (Photo 4).
Heliotrope Aromagica Purple
Another pollinator favorite that I also admired for its top performance was Aromagica Purple Heliotropium arborescens (Photos 5-6). In addition to being a pollinator magnet, the large, deep purple inflorescences are fragrant and well-branched. Even as some blossoms were passing, new ones were developing right overtop, giving the plant a very clean appearance with little to no maintenance.
Purslane Mojave Tangerine Improved
Last but not least, Mojave Tangerine Portulaca umbraticola (Photos 7-8) showed incredible garden performance. Not only was the size of the blooms impressive, the richness of the orange against the deep green color of the foliage makes it a great addition to any garden border.
Some other standouts from the Four Star’s display gardens were their Totally Tempted Vivid Violet and Richly Red Cuphea, the Superbells Double Vintage Coral Calibrachoa, and Bluebird Nemesia Improved.
Check out the other articles in our series for more favorites of 2024:
- Part 1: Featured Four: Favorites from DGI Propagators Trial Gardens
- Part 3: Featured Four: Favorites from Michigan State University Trial Gardens
- Part 4: Featured Four: Favorites from Mast Young Plants
- Part 5: Featured Four: Favorites from Pell Greenhouses
- Part 6: Featured Four: Favorites from Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants
- Part 7: Featured Four: Favorites from Walters Gardens