- Publication Date : January 1, 2020
2020 Winter - 2019 ASCFG Perennial Trial Report

We love echinaceas and appreciate the parade of stunning new cultivars which appears every year. Not surprisingly, we had another one in the 2019 Perennial Trial, and it was a beauty. Echinacea ‘Coral Craze’ was top rated for its wonderful coral color that some called raspberry and others called orange. The petals were highlighted by the bright gold cone and dark burgundy stems. Plants produced about 3 sturdy stems per plant that averaged about 14 inches long. The finishing touch was a long vase life, averaging 11 days and ranging from 7 to 14 days. ‘Coral Craze’ is from Walters Gardens, as were all of the cultivars in the 2019 Trial.
Achillea ‘Sassy Summer Sunset’ continued the trend of ambiguous colors. One Trialer called it a “strong mustard yellow, some with orange petals” and another said “good dark orange”. One just said “unique color”, which was probably the safest way to describe the shade! Plants were productive, producing 8 stems/plant that averaged about 14 inches long, with a couple Trialers harvesting 24-inch stems. The other yarrow, ‘Sassy Summer Sangria’, had similar statistics, but with rose-pink flowers that aged to a vibrant red.
The two kniphofias were similar in their statistics—around 3 stems/plant that averaged 12-13 inches long. ‘Backdraft’ had a classic red hot poker look with reddish-orange buds that opened yellow, while ‘Orange Blaze’ was a bright orange. Both cultivars were dinged for the typical kniphofia problem: lower florets turning brown before the spike is full.
Many growers have a love/hate relationship with grasses. Some love the airy botanical look, while others need something more substantial. Of the two cultivars in the Trial, Pennisetum ‘Puppy Love’ performed the best, producing 19 stems/plant that averaged about 16 inches long. Panicum ‘Apache Rose’ had much longer stems, but some Trialers preferred the more substantial heads on ‘Puppy Love’.
The most unusual species in the Trial was the bush clematis ‘Stand by Me’ with its swept-back purplish blue petals. Most of us are familiar with clematis as a vine, but a number of species form mounds. The stems were on the short side this year, around 10 inches, but they will hopefully be longer next year. While the flowers of most clematis cultivars command the attention, many growers are equally interested in the seedheads. ‘Stand by Me’ also had seedheads but they were fairly small at this stage.
Finally, we had one phlox cultivar in the trial, ‘Fashionably Early Flamingo’. Several Trialers liked the plant, with one saying “I am keeping an eye on this one as a real keeper”.
This is the first of a two-year trial. All cultivars flowered except for the two baptisias, which typically take at least two years. Stay tuned to The Cut Flower Quarterly for next year’s report.
Based on the combined ratings score (market appreciation + repeat again + ease of cultivation), the following top-ranked cultivars will be nominated for the ASCFG Cut Flower of the Year: Achillea ‘Sassy Summer Sunset’, Echinacea ‘Coral Craze’, and Veronica ‘Blue Skywalker’.
Interpreting the trial results: The numbers reported are averages of all the respondents. Many factors will affect the success of any cultivar. Our participants grow and harvest trial plants using several methods. After looking at the average, check the range of responses listed below each number to see how the cultivar performed at its best and its worst. If the range of responses in the ratings is narrow and high, i.e., 3-5 or 4-5, the plant was a winner for most of the respondents and is likely to do well for you. The ‘Repeat Again Rating’ is particularly important because it indicates if the Trialer would take the time, money, and space to actually grow the cultivar again. Review the Trial results carefully. If a variety sounds interesting, but did not appear to do well, try it anyway; it may work well for you.
Acknowledgments: Thank you to each of the seven evaluators who returned their Trial data! We very much appreciate the time it takes to participate in the ASCFG Trials. We want to especially thank Tanis Clifton for being the first Trialer to return her evaluations! Thank you to Walters Gardens for providing the plant materials. We would also like to thank Sydney Ruppert and Ingram McCall for assisting with the NCSU trials. In preparing the report we did a bit of editing of the comments for space and clarity; our apologies if we’ve altered the tone or content of anyone’s comments.
Summary of Comments. Note: many respondents did not make specific comments on each cultivar and in a few cases, comments have been shortened because of limited space. The number in a parenthesis refers to the number of respondents who made the comment. If no number is present, only one person made the comment. Comments by each individual are separated with a semicolor (;).


Comments: Difficult time to be receiving plugs in general, lost most of these baptisia to stress due to lack of watering and just plain too busy to babysit them, many perennial plugs can handle the neglect, the baptisia were unable to; Too small for much info the first season, I can report back next year; The majority of the plants survived the season, hopefully, we will be able to draw some conclusions next season.
Clematis ‘Stand By Me’




Comments: We hope the second year will produce longer stems (3).
Veronica ‘Lavender Lightsaber’