Featured Four: Favorites from Pell Greenhouses

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

Looking for tried and true performers for the upcoming season? Read Part 5 of our series for details about our favorites from this year’s Michigan Garden Plant Tour trial sites.

Chrysanthemums.
Photo 1. New container trial area at Pell Greenhouses trial garden in 2024. Photo 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 1-4 of this series covers Michigan State University Extension’s favorites at trial gardens at DGI Propagators, Four Star Greenhouses, Michigan State University (MSU) Trial Garden and Mast Young Plants. This article will feature plants with excellent performance at Pell Greenhouse’s trial gardens. 

Featured Four from Pell Greenhouses, INC 

The Pell Greenhouse’s trial garden (Photo 1) includes a large hanging basket structure, fence plantings and hanging baskets. New this year, Pell Greenhouses added quite a few sun planters to showcase even more plants. One hanging basket combination and three plant varieties were the most striking: 

  • Anigozanthos Kanga ‘Cherry’ - Greenfuse 
  • Petunia Crazytunia ‘Cherries Jubilee’ - Westhoff 
  • Verbena Durabella Mixes: ‘April in Paris’ - Danzinger 
    • Vanessa Compact Deep Pink 
    • Vanessa Compact White 
    • Vanessa Compact Lavender 
  • Salvia Cathedral ‘Blue Bicolor’ - Greenfuse 

Anigozanthos Kanga ‘Cherry’ 

Anigozanthos, commonly known as kangaroo paw or Australian sword lily, was a unique plant genus to this trial garden compared with other trial sites. Native to western Australia, it is grown as a unique container annual or a houseplant throughout the northern U.S. The trial gardens showcased multiple colors of this plant in the Kanga series (Photo 2). It mainly caught my eye for its sword-like leaves and interesting texture. ’Cherry’ (Photo 3) was particularly full of flowers compared with other colors in the series.  

FeaturedFour-Part5-Photos2-3_HLindberg.png
Photos 2 and 3. The series of Anigozanthos Kanga (left) is displayed at Pell trial gardens and ‘Cherry’ (right) was particularly floriferous. Photos by Heidi Lindberg, MSU Extension. 

Petunia Crazytunia ‘Cherries Jubilee’ 

Crazytunia ‘Cherries Jubilee’ (Photos 4-5) has been around for a few years and was shown as a catalog item of the trial garden. In the display, it was an eye-catching fire engine-red petunia with a white halo. The white edge really stood out among other petunia varieties in the trial.  

FeaturedFour-Part5-Photos4-5_HLindberg.png
Photos 4 and 5. Petunia Crazytunia ‘Cherries Jubilee’ was eye-catching for its bright red color with white edges. Photos by Heidi Lindberg, MSU Extension. 

Verbena Durabella Mixes: ‘April in Paris’ 

While there were a few different verbena mixtures, Durabella ‘April in Paris’ stood out to me because of its distinct lavender, pink and white mixture (Photos 6-7). The color combination had a nice contrast while also being very harmonious with each other. The Durabella line from Danzinger features three colors of the same species.  

FeaturedFour-Part5-Photos6-7_HLindberg.png
Photos 6 and 7. Verbena Durabella Mixes: ‘April in Paris’ is a harmonious combination of lavender, pink and white varieties of verbena. Photo by Heidi Lindberg, MSU Extension. 

Salvia Cathedral ‘Blue Bicolor’ 

Salvia Cathedral ‘Blue Bicolor’ (Photo 8) from Greenfuse is a more compact line of salvias that are quicker to finish for growers. It is not the newest color in the series, but the white and light purple was showy and impressive. This plant was truly a pollinator magnet humming with bumble bees!  

FeaturedFour-Part5-Photo8_HLindberg.jpeg
Photo 8. Salvia Cathedral ‘Blue Bicolor’ with white and purple flowers was a pollinator magnet. Photo 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).

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