Speedling

Our first stop was at Speedling, another location with multiple breeders.  While this is my eighth Pack Trials tour, this is the first time I have had the pleasure to visit these companies.
California continues to be a beautiful place to visit in March, the rolling green hills inspire the imagination.  It is always fun to see cows on the sides of these very step hills and wonder how they got up that high?

Green-Ex-  A dutch production company that had many nice things, but nothing too different until we got to some vegetables.  The had a nice assortment of patio vegetables

Ornamental Pepper Paracho-  This variety was very unique, usually the pepper goes from green to black, but this variety of peppers start off black.  Eventually the will turn a burnt red color, but not till past maturity of the peppers.  This is a non pungent variety.

Hem Genetics

I have heard Hem had some nice products, and now I can agree with what people are saying.  Their assortment was small but what they were showcasing for the most part was interesting.

Dianthus Diana- This large flowered bedding flat dianthus really impressed me.  It had the flower size and plant vigor of the old Corona Cherry Magic, multi-toned colors of the Parfaits and the variety assortment of the Ideals.

Thompson & Morgan- The British had a nice showing of a small assortment of perennials and annuals.

Cat Grass Tabby- These 4" pots were only 2 weeks old after a direct sow.  The combination of the green and white leaves made it attractive and the quick crop time could make this profitable.  An idea could be a direct sow 2 .5"or 3" as for a counter sale?  A ball employee got some early seed and gave a finished pot to their friends cat.  The word is they had to hide the pot because the cat was going crazy over it.

Snapdragon Bronze Dragon- This plant caught my attention due to the great bronze/purple foliage.  The plant habit was decent?  The flower power was nothing great either, so I probably would recommend this for a combo item only.

ABZ Seeds

ABZ is the breeder producer for the Ball Exclusive Berrie Basket and Berrie Galore series.

Berrie Basket (new color)-  a name has not be given to this yet, but this third variety is has a great hot pink flower and large ever bearing fruit.  With the introduction of this new color, the option to do a tricolor hanging basket is now an option.

I had not thought before about adding strawberries to a mix veggie combo.  Their container was a mix of herbs and strawberries.  How about mixing the new Simply Salad mixes with strawberries?  A fresh salad with sun warmed strawberries sounds delicious!

Food:  Coffee (x2) and an orange