Featured Four: Favorites from Mast Young Plants Trial Garden

Heidi Lindberg<wollaege@msu.edu> and Caitlin Splawski<splawski@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension - September 12, 2024

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.

Nursery pots of flowers. — Photos 1 and 2. Hanging baskets, in-ground trials (left) and All-American Selections container trial (right) at Mast Young Plants. Photos by Heidi Lindberg, MSU Extension.

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.

Featured 4 gomphrena.jpeg — Photo 5. Purple pom-pom flowers of gomphrena Ping Pong ‘Purple.’ Photo by Heidi Lindberg, MSU Extension.

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.

Featured 4 angelonia.jpeg — Photo 6. Dozens of flowers on the raspberry Angelonia Archangel ‘Dark Rose.’ Photo by Heidi Lindberg, MSU Extension.

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).

Photos 7 and 8. Osteospermum ‘Blue Eyed Beauty’ has a showy, unusual lavender, white and yellow combination. Photos by Heidi Lindberg, MSU Extension.

For more top 2024 varieties, check out the other articles in our series for more favorites of 2024:

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).