| Click on pansy or viola to enter those trials, or view the field day photos below. | |
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Field Day |
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| Growers, landscapers, seed company reps, county agents, master gardeners, and homeowners take in the color and take note of the best in each color class. | ||
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Registration. |
Pastries and strawberries (courtesy of our Dover, Florida strawberry research facility) start the program off right. | Dr. Rick Schoellhorn, State Trials Coordinator, (University of Florida Environmental Horticulture State Extension Floriculturist) speaks about the trials. |
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A visitor admires dwarf snapdragons. |
Violas with mounds of color. |
Plant pathologists and entomologists spoke about to our visitors about their research on ornamental crops. |
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Dr. Jim Price, ornamentals entomologist, talks about insects, mites and their control. |
Dr. Brent Harbaugh talks about plant breeding. |
Grower discusses trials with technician. |
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| Dr. Jack Rechcigl, GCREC director. | Growers compare dwarf dianthus cultivars. | A spicebush swallowtail visits wallflowers. |
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During these trials, we were contacted by
Fox 13 TV reporter, Russell Rhodes. Russell, the "roving
reporter" for Channel 13's Good Day Tampa Bay, informs their
viewers about people and places in our Tampa Bay community. As he
says, "This really is my dream job. All my career I wanted to tell
nice stories about good hard working people. Now I get to do just that
every day."
As part of the broadcast, Russell informed the public about our trial research, as well as other research being conducted at the Gulf Coast Research & Education Center, which recently celebrated 75 years of dedicated service to the growers and citizens of Florida. He called upon Rick Kelly to show viewers the many cultivars on display and discuss the importance of the annual bedding plant trials. The bedding plant industry generates over $100 million in wholesale value in this state. Channel 13 has produced three programs about our research between 2001 and 2002. This all began quite by accident, when their helicopter, high in the sky, observed an incredible site: a sea of color. The chopper hovered at treetop level over our spring petunia trial for quite some time. The rest is history. Our mission is to inform people in the ornamental plant industry and our amateur gardeners about bedding plants that perform well in our climatic zone.
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Trials technician, Joyce Jones, meets Russell. |
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| Dianthus | Snapdragon | Assorted Species |
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