Newspaper Page Text
Shopping for Plants?
Take Home a Winner
‘Take home a Georgia Gold Medal
plant, and you’ll take home a win¬
ner!” proclaims Gary Wade, the Ex¬
tension leader for horticulture with
the University of Georgia Extension
Service.
Wade clearly isn’t bashful when it
comes to touting the Georgia Plant
Selection Committee’s unique pro
gram.
He’s sold on the program’s ben¬
efits to Georgians.
“Selecting a new plant for the land¬
scape can be frustrating,” Wade says.
“There are so many plants to choose
from."
Those countless plants may look
much the same at buying time, when
they’re all together at the garden cen¬
ter. But each variety makes its own
special contribution in the landscape
and has its own unique requirements.
“Without the help of a professional,
it’s easy to get stuck with a lemon,”
Wade said, “one that looks great in the
pot but becomes a high-maintenance
nightmare after it’s planted in the land¬
scape.”
That’s where the Georgia Plant
Selections Committee, Inc., comes in.
Now in its third year, the commit¬
tee of green industry professionals
and university faculty identifies and
promotes the production, sale and use
of superior, can’t-miss landscape
plants.
The group meets quarterly to com¬
pile and review lists of superior plants
in four categories: trees, shrubs, her¬
baceous perennials and annuals.
Nominations of superior but
underused plants are submitted by
nurserymen, flower growers, land¬
scapers, botanical garden horticultur¬
ists and researchers at the University
of Georgia.
The 1996 Georgia Gold Medal
Winners are Baptisia (wild blue in¬
digo), Purple Wave petunia, Hum¬
mingbird Clethrd and four superior
crape myrtles ( Lipan , Sioux, Tonio
and Yuma).
The 1995 winners were blue anise
:age, New Gold Lantana, Athena elm
and Annabelle hydrangea, and the
1994 winners were Bath’s Pink dian
hus, Homestead Purple verbena. Ml.
Airy fothergilla and dwarf Japanese
alum yew.
“If you want a plant that will really
aerform well in your landscape, look
:or the Georgia Gold Medal Winner
abel,” Wade says.'
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A Peach of a Deal: New Varieties
By Janet Rodekohr
Georgia Extension Service
Folks not lucky enough to live
near peach producers know the di¬
lemma: If you pick peaches at their
peak, they can’t withstand the bruis¬
ing trip to faraway markets. If you
pick them early so they pack well,
they don’t have that luscious sweet,
ripe flavor.
What to do? What the world needs
is a better peach.
Gerard Krewer is part of a team
that’s working on just that.
As a horticulturist specializing in
fruit crops with the University of
Georgia Extension Service, Krewer
is cooperating with scientists at the
University of Florida and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture in devel¬
oping what they call moderate-chill
peaches.
Their work is part of the Moder¬
ate-Chilling Peach and Nectarine
Breeding and Evaluation Program at
the Attapulgus Research Farm.
“South Georgia usually doesn’t
get a lot of winter chilling," Krewer
said.
What south Georgia and north
Florida growers need are some supe¬
rior commercial peach varieties
adapted to the region’s mild winters.
“What we’d like to produce are
varieties in the 500 to 600 chill-hour
range,” Krewer said. “If the varieties
are too low-chilling, there is a greater
danger of being damaged by spring
frost. If they arc too high-chilling,
the leaves won’t emerge rapidly in
the spring, and the fruit will abort.”
The scientists now have some
excellent new moderate-chilling va¬
rieties that are adapted to the area
from about Cordcle south to Live
Oak, Fla., that Krewer expects to be
released this spring.
But that’s not ail.
“With early varieties, if you let
them get tree-ripe, they’re too soft to
handle,” Krewer said. “So you have
to pick them while they’re still firm.”
The peaches that go to the Cali
fomia canning industry are called
nonmelting. They ship well, but they
can be almost rubbery and develop
an off taste when they’re overripe.
Combine chilling hours with the
necd for shippablc peaches that taste
good, and you have a tough assign
ment.
But the researchers think they’re
Special Edition Wednesday, April 17,1996
well on their way to solving the di
lemma.
The most exciting development
is one of the scientists’ discovery of
excellent-tasting nonmelting peaches
in Mexico,
He brought back some germ plasm
from Mexico, which allows the team
to develop peaches that are tree-ripe
and still firm enough to be shipped
all over the country,
‘The varieties are just phenom
enal,” Krewer said. “They have re
ally good flavor and a firmer texture.
I believe these varieties will revolu
lionize the peach market”
(Janet Rodekohr is a news editor
with the University of Georgia Ex
tension Service.)
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