After months of planning, the cuttings arrived in July and another year in the North American Poinsettia Trials was started. The Trials are a cooperative effort with Jim Barrett and Paul Fisher at the University of Florida and Wayne Brown at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Ontario. Homewood Nursery and Garden Center, in north Raleigh also participates, bringing a commercial perspective to the Trials. This Trial program has been evaluating poinsettias, in cooperation with the poinsettia breeder companies, for 21 years since it was started in 1993.
Princettia, is a hybrid between the traditional poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima and Euphorbia cornastra.
This year we had 113 poinsettia cultivars from five suppliers to grow and compare, including 16 new cultivars and 19 experimental cultivars representing the latest in breeding efforts and future introductions. We had two main trials: One in which the cuttings were all planted at the same time and grown without plant growth regulators (pgr). In the other trial the planting date and pgr applications were varied to produce a managed crop that was as uniform in height as possible across all cultivars. We had a number of other smaller trials and experiments this year as well. We host two open houses to show all of the cultivars and research to growers and the general public.
One of the most distinctive new varieties, Princettia, is a hybrid between the traditional poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, with red bracts and a wild species, Euphorbia cornastra, with white bracts. The Princettias had brilliant white, pink and red bracts (see photo at left).
Dr. Katie Jennings was promoted to Assistant Professor of Weed Science on August 16, 2014. Katie has been with the department since 2007 as a Research Assistant Professor. Katie received her Ph.D. in crop science in 1999 from NC State University. Even though she is a new tenure track professor, Katie has already graduated two PhD students and is serving on the committee of a third. She advises eight master’s students currently and has graduated another three. She has published numerous papers and proceedings and has secured over $1mil in funding.
Expanding upon the redbud cultivars previously released in his research program (‘Ruby Falls’, ‘Merlot’, and ‘Whitewater’), Dr. Dennis Werner has introduced a new cultivar to the line-up of currently available offerings. ‘Pink Pom Poms’ is a unique redbud derived from hybridization of the double-flowered ‘Flame’ (eastern redbud) with a popular cultivar of Texas redbud ‘Oklahoma’. ‘Pink Pom Poms’ has reddish-purple flower color, double flowers, and small glossy leaves typical of the Texas rebud. ‘Pink Pom Poms’ is also female sterile, and sets no unsightly seed pods. ‘Pink Pom Poms’ is a distinct improvement over the cultivar ‘Flame’, previously the only other double-flowered cultivar available. ‘Pink Pom Poms’ was developed in conjunction with Hidden Hollow Nursery in Belvidere, TN.