It's plant sample time

It's that time of year - when we start looking forward to plant sample deliveries. We've received two this week, from Ball yesterday and Proven Winners today. It's interesting to see how they're packaged and shipped to us every year. This is a photo of the Ball shipment, and the plants hold up really nice.

Looking forward to seeing Ball's Mint Mocha coleus, and I'm planning to plant the new zinnia 'Zahara Yellow' in hanging baskets on my front porch. 'Easy Wave Burgundy Star' petunia is a great striped petunia. Oooh, and the Purple Flash ornamental pepper. I've never tried an ornamental pepper before, so this should be really fun. We also received geranium 'Fantasia Cardinal Improved' and Henna coleus.

The shipment from Proven Winners includes hydrangea Incrediball and Invincibelle Spirit, cyperus King Tut and 'Superbena Pink Parfait.' We also got some really nice samples of Snow Princess from Proven Winners. I love alyssum, and this similar variety is even cooler since it seems to mound a little bit more. I don't know about men, but the women I hear from love little flowers like these and Diamond Frost euphorbia.

If you want to read more about these varieties (and see video), check out our 2009 California Pack Trials coverage.