US (KS): Extension center tests new flower varieties
Ruether points out a new sweet potato plant with flowers and dark foliage, and a new variegated tropical milkweed called Monarch Promise, both of which are doing well in the soil of northeast Kansas.
Underneath a few trees are containers with various plants in the new Main Street coleus series, which maintain a vibrant color in the shade and are slower to flower. As she walks along, she spies a monarch caterpillar on a leaf of a butterfly milkweed plant.
“We’ve only watered once this year, and we hope to go to raised beds next year,” she said. “With all the rain — we’ve had 21 inches since May 1 — it’s been very challenging this year. The stuff that’s alive out there is pretty tough.”
Ruether said plant breeders send new plants they want to introduce to growers or want tested in the Kansas climate to the center for evaluation in such areas as growth and attractiveness. The center also is the headquarters for the Prairie Star and Prairie Bloom flower trials program, which maintains a website that lists annuals and perennials that have adapted well to the state’s climate.
“We have 400 different cultivars, from big ornamental grasses to low-growing petunias, shade coleus vs. drought-tolerant zinnias,” she said of the center’s plant population.
Flowers and ornamental grasses aren’t the only plant materials studied at the Extension center, which sits on 342 acres that once were part of the Sunflower Ammunition Plant.
The center, administered by Kansas State University’s Department of Horticulture, Forestry and Recreation Resources, also conducts research on fruits, vegetables and turf grass, as well as a few trees.
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