These picks from the 2025 Sawaya Garden Trials earn top marks for resiliency and ease of production
As we get into Part 2 of the results from the 2025 Sawaya Garden Trials here’s a look some of the criteria we consider when assessing a cultivar’s performance:
Plant habit
How long the cultivar looks good
Plant body (foliage health and habit)
Flower power performance (how long and regeneration)
Rain recovery time
Drought tolerance
Deadheading requirement
Garden appeal from three metres
Garden appeal from 30 metres
Disease resistance
Insect resistance
Fragrance
Colour
With this in mind, on a scale of one to 10, we scored every cultivar from both a grower’s point-of-view and consumer’s point-of-view. Eighty per cent of the trial cultivars graded above eight in both categories. Here’s a look at the second set of highlights from the trials.
Ed note: Part 1 was published Greenhouse Canada’s October edition.
1. Pentas – Lucky Star Pink,are just two pentas varieties that performed very well through the whole summer. Pentas are magnets for hummingbirds, takes the rain with instantaneous recovery, and loves the sun and heat; perfect for hot southern Ontario weather. Pentas requires minimal deadheading because the flowers last a long time and three flower generations still look good at the same time. Pentas is a slow grower so starting pentas early in the season to have a large plant is key to consumer appeal. Customers that tried it previous seasons ask for it by name. It’s great in the landscape, containers, and combinations with other heat-loving varieties.
3. Lantana – Camara Sundance Yellow, 4. Lantana camara – Bandolista Pineapple are two more heat-loving varieties that performed great through the entire summer. Butterflies and hummingbirds love the lantana, which requires little dead heading. Rain does not hinder lantana too much and it will bounce back quickly. Great in landscape, hanging baskets and combinations.
5. Ageratum – Monarch Magic
5. Ageratum – Monarch Magic I would rename this Ageratum variety ‘Monarch magnet’ because you cannot chase the monarchs away from it, especially in September. In addition to the exceptional characteristic of attracting its namesake, Monarch magic is a great performing plant that is on the vigorous side but responsive to growth regulators. Best grown in six-inch pots or larger and is exceptional in hanging baskets.
6. Salvia – Mystical Blue
6. Salvia – Mystical Blue is a more compact blue salvia that branches well if given enough growing time. Mystical Blue also attracts hummingbirds through the whole summer season because the flowers age well and do not drop off so the florets hold the fluid that the hummingbirds go after. Mystical blue can hold three to four generations of flowers, and all generations look great at the same time. Great in the landscape if planted from a six-inch pot or gallons to have instantaneous garden appeal. Mystical would make an eye-catching centrepiece for combo planters.
7. Zinnia zesty fuchsia
7. Zinnia zesty fuchsia is one colour of the Zesty series Zinnia Elegans, a type of annual zinnia known for its vibrant, double, fuchsia-coloured flowers with gold centres. This series requires minimal maintenance, though deadheading will encourage more blooms, and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. Excellent for mass plantings or large. Needs full sun for strong stems and flower power and could be used for cut flowers.
8. Cuphea – Honeybells
8. Cuphea – Honeybells is a full-sun plant known for its bicolour rose tubular blooms tipped with light yellow. Honey bells have a semi trailing habit makes it great for hanging baskets and container combinations. Honeybells is very attractive for hummingbirds due to the nectar in their tubular flowers. Flowering from early spring to late summer , Honeybells loves heat and rain recovery is immediate.
9. Bidens – Campfire Flame
9. Bidens – Campfire Flame is vigorous and heat tolerant. Aptly named, the Campfire Flame keeps its orange colour through the hot summer which grows deeper in late summer when the average temperatures are lower. Biden can take cool temperatures, making it a terrific addition to fall combinations. Excellent performer in landscape garden borders and containers where it stays compact and does not split.
10. Impatiens – Sunpatiens Compact Rose Glow
10. Impatiens – Sunpatiens Compact Rose Glow is one colour of the sunpatiens series that tolerates high sun levels. It grows in partial shade conditions but will have much flower power in the sun. It is very resistant to diseases especially Downy mildew. One of the best landscape series that will perform from spring to mild frost. No deadheading needed and it is very floriferous that is not affected by the rain. Sunpatients can be produced in gallons for landscape, or in large container or with combinations. It has been highly rated in our trials for over 20 years.
Petunias
P1. Easy Wave pink passion; P2. E3 Easy Wave Blue; P3. MiniVista Hot Pink; P4. Supertunia Royal Velvet; P5. Supertunia Vista Bubblegum; P6. Supertunia Vista Fuchsia
Initially, I grouped 18 varieties of petunia because each represents different characteristics but all have an exceptional garden performance and show very well from three to 30 metres. Due to space limitations, pictured are just some of the original 18.
When it comes to selecting petunias that will put on an impressive performance, the are a few things to keep in minf, particularly that while petunia flowers vary quite a lot but all fall under one of these characteristics:
Double flowers
Large flowers(grandiflora)
Small flowers but many (multiflora)
Exceedingly small flowers but more (milli flora)
The double flowers put on a great show but do not produce as many and take along time to recover from the rain. Breeders are working on developing smaller double flowers which will hopefully make for more floriferous varieties which can tolerate rain much better than the double grandiflora varieties.
The grandifloras petunias perform well in the greenhouse but have been known to have a not-so great garden performance due to their poor rain tolerance and less-than desirable flower power.
The multiflora has the sweet spot of many showy flowers but not too large, so the rain does not set them back and soon after the rain stops and the sun comes out, the flowers bounce back like nothing happened.
The milliflora even they can stand the rain very well and have excellent garden performance I call these three-metre plants because if you look at them from 30-metres the foliage will overpower the blooms.
And finally, for any petunia to have great garden performance, genetically it should be self-branching because that is the site of the fresh flowers. The plant habit should also mound or trail to provide a full-plant look and not split.
Petunia flowers are avaialble in an enormous range of colours and multicolour flowers, which is great, but if they do not grow on a good performing plant, the flower colour doesn’t mean much.
Other top performers
11. Portulaca – Rio Grande Yellow looks great during the day and goes to bed early like all other portulaca where the flowers go to sleep at sundown or cloudy days. Excellent garden performer that does not require much water or deadheading.
12. Scaevola – Scala Blue Bird; 13. Scaevola – Top pot Blue Improved are improved varieties of the species that started the vegetative flowering garden plants. Exceptional garden performance and without any hesitation I would say it is the best. Scaveola grow great in the rain, loves the heat, does not need deadheading, and gets better with age. The minute a consumer tries it they ask for it the next season. Our little garden centre went from producing 50 the first year to 300 in its fourth year.
14. Vinca – Virtuosa Rose is one colour of the Virtuosa series that had excellent performance the whole summer and got better the hotter it got.
15. Vinca – Cora Cascade XDR Mix; 16. Kwik Kombos – Fanatix Spring Spirit Mix are extreme heat-loving varieties combinations are a recipe for success and beauty. Scaveola and vinca combinations are two of the best there.
And like I always say: try some new varieties and if they prove to do good for you, increase availability but drop the old ones.
Melhem Sawaya is a greenhouse consultant and owner of Sawaya Gardens in Waterford, ON. He can be reached at mel@focusgreenhousemanagement.com
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