March 2021 - 12

Eight Years of Progress
perspectives
BY KEVIN HURD
It's hard to believe it's been almost eight years since I had
the honor of being named to GPN's 40 Under 40 class. When I
realized how long it has been, I took the time to look back on the
years since and review the progress that has taken place in plant
introductions. There were a few themes that I thought merited
calling attention to.
Kevin Hurd is
director of new
products with
Proven Winners
and a member of
GPN's 40 Under
40 Class of Class
of 2013. He can be
reached at kevin@
provenwinners.com.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTS
As an industry, the brand-new plants usually receive
the lion's share of the fanfare - and I have to admit,
I'm just as guilty. Introducing a brand-new genus or
a new hybrid is exciting for a plantsperson. There is a
huge amount of joy when an industry colleague asks,
" What in the world is that? "
Plants like 'Diamond Frost' or 'Blue My Mind' are
major milestones and should be celebrated, but we
shouldn't forget that a lot of breeding companies are
also working to improve the older genetics, too. These
improvements benefit everyone in the supply chain.
Increased disease resistance, better branching, and
improved performance, along with many other developments,
make both growers and gardeners more successful.
With many new people gardening, these improvements
could prove key in keeping the gardening public engaged after
many years in decline. A recent example is the new version of
'Supertunia Royal Velvet'. The original Royal Velvet was in the
Proven Winners line for almost 20 years. It is a best-selling
variety and beloved by many, but we knew we could enhance a
great variety to make it even better. It took countless attempts to
find the new variety, but it finally hits garden centers this spring.
'Amazel'
basil
hydrangeas. For the most part,
they were planting vegetables
and herbs. I was excited that
they were finally starting to pick
up gardening, but in a category
that we hadn't broken into yet.
Things changed when Pleasant
View Gardens hired Adam Moseley
to be their trial manager. Adam,
who had just completed his
master's degree under Dave Clark at the University of Florida,
had been working with basil and breeding toward downy mildew
resistance. When he graduated, there wasn't a finished product
yet, but Clark continued with the project. After some more
breeding, 'Amazel' basil was finally ready. It was the product that
we had been looking for to help us kick off Proven Harvest, and its
downy mildew resistance continues to win awards across the U.S.
To add to the line, we again found truly unique breeding
right down the hall with Harry Klee. He had been working on
tomato breeding and already had two outstanding products -
Garden Gem and Garden Treasure. In these products, he had
successfully married modern disease resistance with heirloom
flavor - a trait that has often been lost in modern tomato
breeding. Given that his program was based in Florida, he also
had plants that performed well through the summers at all of
our trial stations. This whole article could be about those two
tomatoes, but instead, I encourage you to read Slate's article,
" This Is the Perfect Tomato, " to learn the full background.
BEATING THE HEAT
Currently one of our top priorities is adding more products
to our line that work for our Southern customers. It's not that
we're ignoring our customers in Iowa or Pennsylvania; any
products that can reliably go through the summer in the South
make fantastic products for the rest of the country as well. A big
step forward was moving our trial station out of California and
ramping up our trials in Florida.
We've been trialing in Florida for almost two decades
'Supertunia Royal
Velvet Improved'
'Truffula Pink'
gomphrena
STRONG TRENDS IN HERBS AND VEGETABLES
A desire to add an edible line to Proven Winners goes back
even before I joined the team nine years ago. My predecessor,
Rick Schoellhorn, made several attempts, but finding fruits,
herbs and vegetables that are truly distinctive is not an easy task
for a company new to that category.
From my perspective, I was seeing many of my friends finally
getting into gardening, but they weren't starting with petunias or
12 MARCH 2021 GPNMAG.COM
now, but over the last five years we increased that space to
approximately three linear miles. The increased trialing has
helped us identify some outstanding new products. 'Suncredible
Yellow' helianthus, 'Sweet Caroline Medusa' ipomoea, 'Luscious
Royale Red Zone' lantana, 'Truffula Pink' gomphrena, and
Double Up begonias are a few of my favorites. To highlight our
progress in this area, we've also teamed up with Norman Winter,
" The Garden Guy, " to reach more consumers about our Heat Is
On collection.
It's hard to predict what the next eight years will bring, but I'm
sure that our industry's resourceful plant breeders will continue
to wow us with their incredible work. And I'm looking forward to
every step of the process!
http://www.GPNMAG.COM
March 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2021
