The new black. No thanks.

One of the new things you will notice in your garden center this spring is the black flower. It is every where.

http://www.ballhort.com

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, it is pretty dark, I think it shows more purple in this photo, but in the sunlight in a hanging basket, Black Velvet petunia is black.
Ball seed, the folks who developed the Wave Petunia, the Simply Beautiful brand and the Dragon Wing Begonia, developed this one. What do you think? Is there a place in your gardens for this one?
Not mine. No thanks. 
I want to like all plants. But.....SERIOUSLY??? This guy is not for me.
Look at this photo from the Ballhort website. It looks like a pot full of lettuce that is past its prime. I'm trying to be kind, but I am sure there is a market for this.



Vegetables have not been immune from the laboratory... The latest trick being implimented is a method of fusing two plants together, called grafting. We see this in fruit trees and roses all the time. One plant is selected for its roots (rootstock) and the other plant has the desired stem, flowers, leaves, or fruit, (scion). Bringing the best of the two together is grafting.
The newest craze is grafting vegetables. One example is the Mighty 'Mato. Developed by Supernaturals, it is grown on "wild tomato stock", producing some pretty wild variations and a plant that is advertised as producing 5-7 POUND tomatoes.To see these monsters for yourself, click here:  Mighty 'Mato 
To order the world's most expensive tomato: $25.00 tomato
I don't think I will be growing the grafted tomatoes. I can see the benefits, the large fruit on a small plant, they are reported to be highly disease resistant.... But I like small tomatoes! A lot!
Every year, my dear mother-in-law asks me about my tomatoes. Every year, I tell her, I have TONS of tiny ones!! She says she'll wait for the regular ones. It's always a long wait....

But the reliable weed like cherry tomatoes are ready by the end of June! They are so cute and plentiful, I get happy just looking at the plants! Can't you just smell them?? Hundreds of them, every day! Cherry tomato plants sure work hard...