Featured Four: Favorites from Mast Young Plants Trial Garden
Looking for tried and true performers for the upcoming season? Read Part 4 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.
Parts 1-3 of this series covered Michigan State University Extension’s favorites at the trial gardens at DGI Propagators, Four Star Greenhouses and the Michigan State University (MSU) Trial Garden. This article will feature plants with excellent garden performance from Mast Young Plants.
Featured Four from Mast Young Plants
The 2024 trial garden featured more than 1,500 varieties in raised landscape beds, hanging baskets, deco pots, saddle planters, window planters and 500 unique, custom-designed combination planters (Photos 1-2). Among the trialed varieties there were comparisons of foliage plants, fertilizer trials and plantings of former All-American Selections (AAS) winners. With so many excellent varieties and combinations, choosing just four was very challenging. There were some that stood out to me on my walk through the gardens this year:
- Zinnia Profusion ‘Red Yellow Bicolor’ – Sakata [AAS Trial (Seed) Past Winner]
- Gomphrena Ping Pong ‘Purple’ – Sakata
- Angelonia Archangel ‘Dark Rose’ – Ball FloraPlant
- Osteospermum ‘Blue Eyed Beauty’ – Ball FloraPlant
Zinnia Profusion ‘Red Yellow Bicolor’
Zinnia Profusion ‘Red Yellow Bicolor’ (Photos 3-4) was the 2021 AAS trial winner and has previously won the Fleuroselect Gold Medal award for performance in European flower trials. While not brand new, ‘Red Yellow Bicolor’ was a strong contender with its excellent mounding habit and cheery red and yellow flowers at the 2024 trial garden.
Gomphrena Ping Pong ‘Purple’
Gomphrena Ping Pong ‘Purple’ (Photo 5) is not new to the industry but is a new variety for Mast Young Plants. The pom-pom-like purple flowers are attractive and offer a nice texture against other species in the garden. Atop deep green, narrow foliage, it would add excellent color to the back of the border gardens and would be an excellent thriller in combination containers.
Angelonia Archangel ‘Dark Rose’
Angelonia Archangel ‘Dark Rose’ (Photo 6) is a raspberry-colored annual that would also provide height in a combination planter. The color was as rich as the juicy fruit and was so floriferous when compared with other varieties of Angelonia. It would be great planted in contrast with light-colored spillers in containers.
Osteospermum ‘Blue Eyed Beauty’
For a second year in a row (and not even knowing it), I chose Osteospermum ‘Blue Eyed Beauty’ (Photos 7-8) as one of my favorites. I am drawn to the sunny yellow flowers with the purple center and white halo. It is an unusual color combination in flowers and was a standout to me in the gardens. Similar to Argyranthemums, they primarily target early spring sales window and are drought tolerant and deer resistant.
It is always challenging to choose just a few varieties and there were many others that caught my eye, including: Sunfinity ‘Double Yellow’ (Syngenta), Verbena Vanessa Bicolor ‘Light Pink’ (Danzinger), Celosia Kelos series (Beekenkamp), Zonal geranium Fantasia ‘Flamingo Rose’ (Ball Seed), Coleus Premium Sun Coral Candy (Ball FloraPlant) and Impatiens Double Glimmer ‘Appleblossom’ (Ball FloraPlant), tuberous Begonia limitless ‘Yellow’ and ‘Sunrise’ (Syngenta).
For more top 2024 varieties, check out the other articles in our series for more favorites of 2024:
- Part 1: Featured Four: Favorites from DGI Propagators Trial Gardens
- Part 2: Featured Four: Favorites from Four Star Greenhouses Display Gardens
- Part 3: Featured Four: Favorites from MSU Trial Gardens
- 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