2021 Bare Root Grow Out Report

Each year the Walters Gardens Trials department conducts an extensive bare root grow out trial. The purpose of this trial is to examine the best planting time and display the potential benefits of "cycle" or successive planting.

All Plants were grown under natural temperature conditions in zone 6a without any supplemental lighting. They were grown under polyethylene plastic until week 22, when roofs were removed and replaced with screen for excluding Japanese Beetles.

Agastache 'Blue Fortune', #1 Grade Bare Root Recommended planting weeks in zone 6a are between weeks 10 and 25. Plants finished in about half the time when started later in the season, 6 weeks when started mid-June versus 12 weeks when started early March. Although, all groups produced high quality finished plants. Agastache is a good candidate for planning succession plantings, as finish times were staggered based on start times.
Week Planted	Week Emerged	Number of Weeks to Emergence	Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks to Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks in Bloom
Wk 10	Wk 12	2	Wk 22	12	4
Wk 13	Wk 15	2	Wk 23	10	4
Wk 16	Wk 17	1	Wk 25	9	3
Wk 19	Wk 20	1	Wk 27	8	3
Wk 19 (2-gal)	Wk 20	1	Wk 27	8	3
Wk 22	Wk 23	1	Wk 29	7	3
Wk 25	Wk 26	1	Wk 31	6	3
All plants grown in 1-gallon pots unless otherwise specified
Planting Week Pictured: 19 Started Wk 19 Emerged Wk 20 Started Wk 19 Ideal Ship Wk 27 Started Wk 19 Full Flower Wk 29 Started Wk 19 Past Bloom Wk 31

Hemerocallis RAINBOW RHYTHM® 'Tiger Swirl', #1 Grade Bare Root Recommended planting weeks for zone 6 for G1 are between weeks 10 and 25, while G2 performed better during weeks 10 through 19. Plants finished about 6 weeks faster when started later in the season, 10 weeks when started mid-June versus 16 weeks when started early March. Both G1 and G2 plants finished into larger sized containers in the same time span of 10-11 weeks, making them versatile as far as desired finished size goes. Hemerocallis is a good candidate for succession planting to stagger finish times.
Week Planted	Week Emerged	Number of Weeks to Emergence	Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks to Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks in Bloom
Wk 10	Wk 12	2	Wk 26	16	4
Wk 13	Wk 15	2	Wk 26	13	X
Wk 16	Wk 17	1	Wk 28	12	4
Wk 19	Wk 20	1	Wk 30	11	3
Wk 19 (2-gal)	Wk 20	1	Wk 29	10	4
Wk 22	Wk 23	1	Wk 32	10	3
Wk 25	Wk 26	0	Wk 34	9	3
All plants grown in 1-gallon pots unless otherwise specified “X” denotes missing data due to plants leaving the greenhouse
Planting Week Pictured: 19 Started Wk 19 Emerged Wk 20 Started Wk 19 Ideal Ship Wk 30 Started Wk 19 Full Flower Wk 31 Started Wk 19 Past Bloom Wk 34
Hemerocallis RAINBOW RHYTHM® 'Tiger Swirl', #2 Grade Bare Root
Week Planted	Week Emerged	Number of Weeks to Emergence	Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks to Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks in Bloom
Wk 10	Wk 12	2	Wk 26	16	3
Wk 13	Wk 15	2	Wk 27	14	3
Wk 16	Wk 17	1	Wk 28	12	4
Wk 19	Wk 20	1	Wk 30	11	3
Wk 19 (1-gal)	Wk 20	1	Wk 30	11	3
Wk 22	Wk 23	1	X	X	X
Wk 25	X	X	X	X	X
All plants grown in trade gallon (2.5qt) pots unless otherwise specified “X” denotes missing data due to plants leaving the greenhouse
Planting Week Pictured: 16 Started Wk 16 Emerged Wk 17 Started Wk 16 Ideal Ship Wk 28 Started Wk 16 Full Flower Wk 30 Started Wk 16 Past Bloom Wk 33

Hibiscus SUMMERIFIC® 'Edge of Night', #1 Grade Bare Root Recommended planting weeks for zone 6 are between weeks 13 and 22. Plants started week 25 failed to emerge. Planting too early or too late in the season does not provide plants with the warmer soil temperatures needed for emergence and growth. Plants emerged more quickly and finished about 4 weeks faster when started later in the season, 14 weeks when started early June versus 18 weeks when started late March. All groups produced high quality finished plants, and succession plantings are an option with growing bare root Hibiscus, although the window may be slightly shorter than with other crops.
Week Planted	Week Emerged	Number of Weeks to Emergence	Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks to Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks in Bloom
Wk 13	Wk 18	5	Wk 31	18	X
Wk 16	Wk 20	4	Wk 31	15	4
Wk 19	Wk 21	2	Wk 35	16	X
Wk 22	Wk 24	2	Wk 36	14	X
Wk 25	Wk 27	X	X	X	X
All plants grown in 3-gallon pots unless otherwise specified “X” denotes missing data due to plants leaving the greenhouse
Planting Week Pictured: 16 Started Wk 16 Emerged Wk 20 Started Wk 16 Ideal Ship Wk 31 Started Wk 16 Full Flower Wk 34 Started Wk 16 Past Bloom Wk 37

Phlox paniculata LUMINARY™ 'Backlight', #1 Grade Bare Root Recommended planting weeks for zone 6 are between weeks 10 and 25. Plants finished in about half the time when started later in the season, 8 weeks when started early-May versus 14 weeks when started early March. All groups produced high quality finished plants. Upright garden phlox is a good candidate for planning succession plantings, as finish times were staggered based on start times. Phlox paniculata will also finish into a larger container in the same amount of time as a smaller container, so it can be grown in a range of container sizes. Weeks 22 & 25 were not planted due to lack of inventory.
Week Planted	Week Emerged	Number of Weeks to Emergence	Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks to Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks in Bloom
Wk 10	Wk 11	1	Wk 24	14	X
Wk 13	Wk 14	1	Wk 24	11	4
Wk 16	Wk 18	2	Wk 26	10	6
Wk 19	Wk 20	1	Wk 29	9	5
Wk 19 (2-gal)	Wk 20	1	Wk 28	8	6
All plants grown in 1-gallon pots unless otherwise specified “X” denotes missing data due to plants leaving the greenhouse
Planting Week Pictured: 19 Started Wk 19 Emerged Wk 20 Started Wk 19 Ideal Ship Wk 28 Started Wk 19 Full Flower Wk 31 Started Wk 19 Past Bloom Wk 35

Phlox 'Opening Act Romance', #1 Grade Bare Root Recommended planting weeks for zone 6 are between weeks 10 and 25. Plants finished in about half the time when started later in the season, 6 weeks when started mid-June versus 12 weeks when started early March. All groups produced high quality finished plants. Hybrid phlox is a good candidate for planning succession plantings, as finish times were staggered based on start times. Plants took an additional week to finish into a larger container, but hybrid phlox are still a good option for finishing into a range of container sizes.
Week Planted	Week Emerged	Number of Weeks to Emergence	Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks to Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks in Bloom
Wk 10	Wk 12	2	Wk 22	12	3
Wk 13	Wk 16	3	Wk 22	9	3
Wk 16	Wk 18	2	Wk 24	8	2
Wk 19	Wk 21	2	Wk 25	6	3
Wk 19 (2-gal)	Wk 20	1	Wk 26	7	X
Wk 22	Wk 22	1	Wk 28	6	2
Wk 25	Wk 26	1	Wk 31	6	2
All plants grown in 1-gallon pots unless otherwise specified “X” denotes missing data due to plants leaving the greenhouse
Planting Week Pictured: 19 Started Wk 19 Emerged Wk 21 Started Wk 19 Ideal Ship Wk 26 Started Wk 19 Full Flower Wk 27 Started Wk 19 Past Bloom Wk 29

Phlox subulata SPRING BLING™ 'Pink Sparkles', #1 Grade Bare Root Recommended planting weeks for zone 6 are between weeks 10 through 16. Although finish times were staggered base on planting week, plantings started later than week 16 had a spindly habit, poor floral display, and lack of uniformity. We do not recommend planting Phlox subulata too late in the season once temperatures start to warm.
Week Planted	Week Emerged	Number of Weeks to Emergence	Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks to Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks in Bloom
Wk 10	Wk 12	2	Wk 18	5	3
Wk 13	Wk 14	1	Wk 18	5	3
Wk 16	Wk 18	2	Wk 20	4	2
Wk 19	Wk 21	2	Wk 22	3	2
Wk 19 (2-gal)	Wk 21	2	Wk 22	3	2
Wk 22	Wk 24	2	Wk 24	2	X
Wk 25	Wk 26	1	Wk 27	2	1
All plants grown in 1-gallon pots unless otherwise specified “X” denotes missing data due to plants leaving the greenhouse
Planting Week Pictured: 13 Started Wk 13 Emerged Wk 14 Started Wk 13 Ideal Ship Wk 18 Started Wk 13 Full Flower Wk 19 Started Wk 13 Past Bloom Wk 21

Salvia COLOR SPIRES® 'Back to the Fuchsia', #1 Grade Bare Root Recommended planting weeks for zone 6 are between weeks 10 and 25. Plants finished in half the time when started weeks 19-25, 3 weeks when started mid-June versus 6 weeks when started early March. All groups produced high quality finished plants no matter the finish time. Salvia is a great candidate for staggered succession plantings giving you easily timed blooming plants throughout the season. Salvia ‘Back to the Fuchsia’ will finish into a 2 gallon container in the same amount of time that it takes to finish into a 1 gallon container, giving it the ability to be grown in a diversity of container sizes.
Week Planted	Week Emerged	Number of Weeks to Emergence	Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks to Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks in Bloom
Wk 10	Wk 11	1	Wk 16	6	5
Wk 13	Wk 13	0	Wk 18	5	3
Wk 16	Wk 17	1	Wk 20	4	2
Wk 19	Wk 20	1	Wk 22	3	2
Wk 19 (2-gal)	Wk 20	1	Wk 22	3	2
Wk 22	Wk 23	1	Wk 25	3	X
Wk 25	Wk 25	0	Wk 28	3	4
All plants grown in 1-gallon pots unless otherwise specified “X” denotes missing data due to plants leaving the greenhouse
Planting Week Pictured: 13 Started Wk 13 Emerged Wk 13 Started Wk 13 Ideal Ship Wk 18 Started Wk 13 Full Flower Wk 20 Started Wk 13 Past Bloom Wk 22

Sedum ROCK 'N GROW® 'Back in Black', #1 Grade Bare Root Recommended planting weeks for zone 6 are between weeks 10 and 25. Groups planted between weeks 13 and 22 all finished in 11-12 weeks. Sedum in the ROCK 'N GROW® series are good candidates for succession planting, as we were able to see staggered finish times based on the start date. Finish times decreased and bloom period lengthened as the season progressed towards fall. Plant quality remained consistent throughout the season. Plants took roughly the same amount of time to finish into a larger container, lending Sedum to be a good option for 2-gallon programs.
Week Planted	Week Emerged	Number of Weeks to Emergence	Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks to Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks in Bloom
Wk 10	Wk 12	2	Wk 26	16	3
Wk 13	Wk 13	0	Wk 26	13	X
Wk 16	Wk 17	1	Wk 27	11	X
Wk 19	Wk 20	1	Wk 31	11	X
Wk 19 (2-gal)	Wk 20	1	Wk 30	10	3
Wk 22	Wk 23	1	Wk 32	10	X
Wk 25	Wk 25	0	Wk 34	9	5
All plants grown in 1-gallon pots unless otherwise specified “X” denotes missing data due to plants leaving the greenhouse
Planting Week Pictured: 25 Started Wk 25 Emerged Wk 26 Started Wk 25 Ideal Ship Wk 34 Started Wk 25 Full Flower Wk 36 Started Wk 25 Past Bloom Wk 40
Sedum ROCK 'N GROW® 'Coraljade', #1 Grade Bare Root
Week Planted	Week Emerged	Number of Weeks to Emergence	Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks to Ideal Ship Stage	Number of Weeks in Bloom
Wk 10	Wk 12	2	Wk 24	14	5
Wk 13	Wk 13	0	Wk 26	13	6
Wk 16	Wk 17	1	Wk 28	12	5
Wk 19	Wk 20	1	Wk 31	12	X
Wk 19 (2-gal)	Wk 20	1	Wk 31	12	X
Wk 22	Wk 23	1	Wk 33	11	4
Wk 25	Wk 25	0	Wk 34	9	6
All plants grown in 1-gallon pots unless otherwise specified “X” denotes missing data due to plants leaving the greenhouse
Planting Week Pictured: 10 Started Wk 10 Emerged Wk 12 Started Wk 10 Ideal Ship Wk 24 Started Wk 10 Full Flower Wk 26 Started Wk 10 Past Bloom Wk 30