About the new partnership, Spring Meadow general manager Jeremy Deppe said, “Maria Zampini is the perfect person to organize and run the Proven Winners tree program. She knows what makes a great tree and understands the supply chain. Our Proven Winners growers and retailers have been asking for trees, but we wanted to do it right.”
The new Proven Winners ColorChoice ornamental tree program will begin with six superior selections that fit the Proven Winners standards of beauty and performance. Chosen for their landscape worthiness, the six varieties were selected for good scale, form and multi-season interest. The new ornamental tree program is geared toward garden centers, homeowners and residential landscapers.
Ornamental fruit-bearing selections include dwarf, disease-resistant crabapples Lollipop™® Malus, with a tight, compact head, prolific white flowers and tiny, red fruit and Show Time™ Malus, with florescent fuchsia-red flowers and red fruit. The program will also feature two outstanding flowering cherry cultivars. Pink Snow Showers™ Prunus, a vigorous grower with clean pink flowers and dark green leaves and Weeping Extraordinaire™ Prunus which features extra-large, double light pink fluffy blooms.
Also joining the list of Proven Winners ColorChoice ornamental trees will be Avalanche®, an Asian birch (Betula x) with proven borer resistance. It has tan and pink young bark maturing to exfoliating white and dark green foliage that turns bright yellow in fall. Golden Shadows® pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia), is a small native tree with vibrant variegated foliage, white spring flowers and red-orange new growth. Crusader® hawthorn (Crataegus crus-galli) is a thornless, disease resistant, rugged urban street tree with multi-season interest including spring flowers, colorful fall foliage and bright red fruit.
Maria looks forward to building the brand, saying, “We will continue to grow a wide selection of varieties that offer different color, habit, features, seasonality and adaptability to different sites – all that are worthy of the Proven Winners brand,” says Zampini. “Proven Winners already has a great network of growers, but any tree grower can participate by purchasing liners. We are working with some excellent bare root liner producers and propagators.”
Growers, propagators and retailers interested in offering Proven Winners ColorChoice trees should contact Maria directly at maria@upshoothort.com. For a list of tree genetics currently available on market, as well as a list of liner and finished growers, visit the Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Flowering Tree program website by clicking the link below.