Grand Haven MI – This summer, the Farwest Show in Portland, Oregon, showed record attendance, hosting more than 5,000 industry professionals from 20 countries, with nearly 400 exhibitors. A highlight of the show is the New Varieties Showcase, which gives nurseries the opportunity to present their most cutting-edge plant varieties for display and awards consideration.
The 2019 entries numbered 83, from which the judges presented a Best of Show Award and three Awards of Merit, one which went to Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Ground Hog™ Aronia, introduced by Spring Meadow Nursery and hybridized at the University of Connecticut by Dr. Mark Brand.
Ground Hog™ Aronia naturally grows as a thick, dense mat, eliminating the need for weeding and mulching. It features glossy foliage, white spring flowers, dark purple berries in late summer and autumn foliage in hues of brilliant orange-red. This native plant is an ideal landscape groundcover, filling in difficult spaces such as parking lot beds, slopes, or anywhere mowing would be difficult or undesirable.
Ground Hog™ Aronia is part of a series of dwarf chokeberry plants that the nursery has recently introduced. The other varieties are Low Scape Hedger® Aronia which has a tall, narrow habit (3-5’ tall, 2-3’ wide) and Low Scape Mound®, a small, mounded Aronia that tops out at 1-2’. Low Scape Mound® Aronia is also the 2019 Proven Winners® Landscape Shrub of the Year.
Located in Grand Haven, Michigan, Spring Meadow Nursery grows the award-winning Ground Hog™ Aronia, as well as over 300 additional varieties which are marketed under the Proven Winners® ColorChoice® brand. For more information, visit www.ProvenWinners-Shrubs.com or www.SpringMeadowNursery.com.
