Megawatt Rose Green Leaf Begonia. Photo courtesy Ball Horticulture
For 16 years, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden has been evaluating annuals. It has evaluated hundreds and many of them would be just at home in the Indiana garden as they are in Ohio. In 2018, 48,000 annuals were planted, seen and appreciated by about 1.7 million visitors.
“They were gawked at, slobbered over, utilized as backgrounds in countless selfies, and many pics were taken of labels, so folks could try favorites at home. But most importantly, the annuals were evaluated regularly all season by the zoo’s incredible team of horticulturists. Our botanical garden volunteers also provided their input, and even visitors were able to ‘flag’ their favorites during our Field Trials Day,” said bloggers Steve Foltz, Kyra Back, Tosh Dobias and Scott Beuerlein at the zoo’s website.
Cannova Bronze Leaf Scarlet Canna. Photo courtesy Ball Horticulture
2018’s Top 11: Begonia BabyWing Bicolor; Begonia Megawatt series; Canna Cannova Bronze Scarlet; Coleus Main Street Wall Street; Euphorbia Diamond Mountain; Helianthus Sunfinity; Midnight Fire ornamental pepper;
Salvia Bodacious Rhythm & Blues; Vinca Valiant Pure White; Zinnia Oklahoma series and Zinnia Zahara XL Pink.
I have trialed and planted many of the new begonias, including BabyWing Bicolor and Megawatt. Megawatt, in particular, is stellar. Lush, showy and a head-turner at Cultivate’17, the country’s largest horticulture tradeshow, held annually in Columbus, Ohio.
Zinnia_Zahara_XL_Pink. Photo courtesy Ball Horticulture
Sunfinity false sunflower also debuted at Cultivate’17 and it’s nice when new plants can be trialed where the public can see them.
“We feel that programs such as ours, which trial and display annuals in publicly accessible gardens, serve to inspire the green industry and the public, and to provide a great platform for more and better gardening,” said Beuerlein, manager of botanical garden, in an email. “More and better horticulture, as we all know, means so much for the environment, human well-being and the betterment of our communities.”
The zoo also trials shrubs, tree, perennials, grasses and native plants with an eye toward their use in suburban and urban Midwestern landscapes. Beuerlein said the zoo would be expanding and formalizing the evaluations of perennials, trees and shrubs over the next few years.