January 2020 - 26

MARKETING
variety could be grown more quickly, saving time. These time savers
mean a quicker bench turn, offering more stock for retail and more
money for growers!
The new breeding for better branching allows fewer plants per
pot required; this translates to savings for a grower who can create
a quality final product with fewer inputs.
Growers should also market lantana as a butterfly magnet and
make sure their retailers identify these plants in their pollinator
department. It will encourage a different type of gardener to give
lantana a try!
Brian: Use lantana for late spring and summer sales. Transition
out the spring annuals like petunias and verbenas, and put lantana
on the shelves to sell, as they will hold up in the heat and will do
well for the customers all summer long.
GPN: What are some new/unique/special recent lantana
introductions? What are their characteristics?
Sarah: Bloomify Mango, Red and Rose. The Bloomify series is the
'Bandolero Cherry Sunrise'
first certified sterile lantana on the market! Sterility is important in
Southern markets. Many sterile plants also flower longer and have
larger flowers than their non-sterile counterparts - this is true in
the Bloomify series.
Wendy: Hot Blooded is the single most exciting lantana
'Bandolero Pink'
introduction I've experienced in my career. This plant covers all
the bases. The flowers are incredibly red, the plant is perfectly
mounded, it's always covered in blooms AND it's sterile.
This year we introduced the new series Bandolero. The plants
are tightly mounded, covered in bright flowers, and grow up to
25-30% larger than our very successful Bandana series. Bandolero
is perfect for the grower wanting to produce in larger pots for retail,
and for the consumer to achieve instant color in their plantings.
Brian: The most recent and most unique introductions have come
from Ball and Syngenta. Ball was the first to really push the sterility
of the flowers and came out with a series called Bloomify, which
now has three colors.
Syngenta's new release for 2020 Hot Blooded is a one-off that
they don't put it in either the Bandana or the Bandolero series. I've
heard it said about this variety, " If you pick just one, pick this one! "
I had the privilege of seeing it in the Syngenta field trials in Gilroy,
California, in the summer of 2018 and it was one of those plants you
noticed from 100 feet away and had to walk over and see up close.
GPN: Do you know of anything in the pipeline in the lantana
category that you can share?
Brian: I am fortunate enough to see the breeding pipeline from
multiple breeders, but I don't feel comfortable sharing what I have
seen in their private trials. I think it is fair to say that breeders are
taking note of the increase in sales of this genera and are doing
more breeding.
Danziger came out with a full line for 2020 and one that stood out
in their Gem series this summer in our trial garden was Compact
Orange Fire. It did excellent and as the name stated it is compact,
so it's good for smaller containers or small space gardens.
Wendy: We have an engaging pipeline for lantana to fill in the
color range in all four series Bandito, Bandana, Bandolero and
Landscape Bandana. At the same time, we are also working on new
sterile varieties like 'Hot Blooded' in exciting new colors. Stay tuned!
Sarah: Coming soon we have new colors for our Bloomify series
and a new trailing lantana variety that is an improvement over a wellknown
variety long standing in the Southern lantana market.
26 JANUARY 2020 GPNMAG.COM
http://www.GPNMAG.COM
January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2020
