Proven Winners ColorChoice plants achieved significant success at this year’s Plantarium 2024, held on Aug. 21-22, 2024, in Boskoop, Netherlands.
Plantarium is a trade show-style event tailored for growers, wholesalers, and garden centers, designed to connect buyers and suppliers of garden plants. With participants and trade visitors from multiple countries, Plantarium exemplifies the international nature of the horticulture industry and is recognized as the leading wholesale market for nursery products in Europe.
Exhibitors can enter new varieties for consideration for several awards, where the best new plant varieties are recognized. Eligible plants are judged for Best Novelty, and Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards in the Novelty category.
A Gold medal was presented to Proven Winners ColorChoice Weigela ‘Bubbly Wine’ in the Novelty category of Plantarium 2024. Weigela ‘Bubbly Wine’ was submitted by Valkplant BV and was chosen by judges from the Royal Boskoop Horticultural Society (KVBC).
Weigela ‘Bubbly Wine’ is distinguished by its brightly colored, stable variegation in hues of yellow, green, and burgundy. It thrives in both full sun and partial shade and is a compact, mounded variety, maturing to 1.5 to 3 feet tall and wide. The plant blooms in late spring with dark-pink flowers and was bred by Jeff Good from Southeast Michigan.
A Bronze medal was awarded to Proven Winners ColorChoice Hydrangea ‘Sublime Annabelle,’ also submitted by Valkplant BV.
The smooth hydrangea boasts large, fluffy blooms in a deeply saturated tourmaline green that adds a refreshing and intriguing element to any garden. The vibrant green blooms are complemented by very dark-green foliage. Invincibelle Sublime hydrangea grows to a height/width of 3.5 to 5 feet and is hardy in USDA Zones 3 to 9.
Commenting on the awards, Esther Wientjens, Marketing Manager at Valkplant/ColorChoice Plants EU, says, “Valkplant/ColorChoice Plants EU entered two novelties in the KVBC Novelty contest at Plantarium 2024, and we were thrilled to learn that both received awards.” She adds that the addition of the Gold medal for Weigela ‘Bubbly Wine’ brings the total of Proven Winners varieties that have won a KVBC Gold medal to 12.
Located in Grand Haven, MI, Spring Meadow Nursery grows these award-winning shrubs, as well as more than 300 additional varieties, marketed under the Proven Winners ColorChoice brand. For more information, visit ProvenWinners.com or SpringMeadowNursery.com.