For most of us, summer is the season for barbecues, picnics, vacations, gardening, sunscreen and hammock time. For the nursery industry, it’s summer trade show time! In the company of thousands of others who grow and deliver plants to your local garden center, you’ll find the JFS sales and marketing team attending the two big events of the summer, Cultivate’24 in Columbus, Ohio, and the Farwest Show in Portland, Oregon.
While both events are limited strictly to the wholesale nursery and landscape trade, we think our blog readers will enjoy a behind the scenes look at these summer events that bring nursery growers, plant buyers, specifiers and educators together and deliver new plants to the marketplace. Cultivate’24, presented by AmericanHort, has grown exponentially, attracting more than 10,000 visitors each year who hail from all 50 states and more than 40 countries. Closer to home, the Farwest Show attracts more than 4,000 professional attendees who connect with more than 350 exhibitors from around the globe. A favorite feature of the show is the popular New Varieties Showcase, where we’ll share two of our rising stars; Red Sentinel™ Maple and Firehouse® Sweetgum. They and several other JFS superstars will be featured at one or both events and are described below.
Red Sentinel™ Maple
Acer rubrum ‘WW Warren’
True to its name, Red Sentinel™ Maple stands watch over the autumn landscape. Towering straight, tall and narrow, it delivers a bright combination of fiery red fall color and remarkable columnar form. Commanding attention throughout the seasons, its symmetrical column of medium green, anthracnose resistant leaves casts cool shade in summer. Winter reveals a striking silhouette of well-spaced branches and a dominant central leader.
Combining the best genetics of more than four decades of Acer rubrum selection and hybridization efforts at JFS, it is derived from a cross made by Keith Warren in 2006 between an unnamed JFS selection and a popular cultivar. The most promising among hundreds of seedlings was planted in 2010 for long term evaluation. Fourteen years later, it is a thriving example of the bright future ahead for this extraordinary new cultivar.
Firehouse® Sweetgum
Liquidambar styraciflua ‘JFS KW1LS
Dark green, deeply lobed leaves of this extraordinary new Sweetgum erupt on the autumn scene with a crescendo of brilliant red foliage. Pyramidal in form, its dominant central leader and strong branch attachment with upright angles add up to a storm-resistant structure and a canopy that can easily be pruned up over time for traffic clearance.
Discovered in a neighborhood not far from the nursery, we have observed and admired the parent tree for many years. It stands out among other Sweetgums growing along the residential street for several reasons: Fall color is consistently bright red. It defoliates earlier than the others and has suffered no ice or snow damage. Seed production has been extremely light to none. Mature height and spread (at 30 years in the landscape) are estimated at 60’ x 25’. Hardiness is USDA Zone 6.
Nightfall® Snowbell
Styrax japonicus ‘JFS 6SJ’ PP 34817
Named Best of Show in the 2022 New Varieties Showcase, Nightfall Snowbell combines the deep purple foliage of Evening Light Snowbell with the gracefully weeping form of green-leafed cultivars such as Fragrant Fountain. Leaves emerge greenish purple and darken as the season continues. Pearl-like white flower buds ring in summer when they open in late spring to reveal delicate-looking, creamy white, bell-shaped blooms.
These tumble above a cascade of dark purple leaves borne on refined, weeping branches. Purple leaves darken as the summer wears on, A tree of four-season beauty, its bare branches etch a graceful waterfall in the winter landscape.
Mercury® Magnolia
Magnolia ‘NCMX1’ PP 29218
Deep pink buds open to large lavender pink blooms. Flowering up to a month later than M. soulangeana cultivars greatly reduces risk of frost damage to blooms. A strong central leader and upright branching result in a tree with excellent pyramidal form. Big, bold leaves with ruffled edges give the tree a tropical look. Red-tinted new growth unfurls throughout the summer months, providing bright pops of color against the mature dark green leaves. Fall color is yellow.
Co-introduced with North Carolina State University, this remarkable cultivar was developed by Dr. Tom Ranney of NCSU’s Mountain Crop Improvement Lab in collaboration with the late Dr. August Kehr.
Sparkling Sprite® Crabapple
Malus ‘JFS-KW207’ PP 27954
Pink buds of Sparkling Sprite® Crabapple open to fragrant, pink-tinged white flowers that smother its densely branched, rounded head. Perfectly suited for patio, terrace or container culture, the summer foliage of this petite top-grafted tree is especially clean, bright green and disease resistant. The show goes on well into winter, when an abundant crop of tiny persistent fruits turns from golden yellow to orange and attract birds to your garden. Growing to a height and spread of approximately 12’ x 12’, its perfectly rounded canopy maintains a year-round, formal, topiary-like shape with little to no pruning.
Pink Flair® Cherry
Prunus sargentii ‘JFS-KW58’
Big clusters of bright pink, single flowers burst from the upright branches of this compact, narrowly vase-shaped flowering cherry. Blooms avoid frost damage by appearing a week or two later than is typical of the species. Flowers are followed by large, dark green, exceptionally healthy leaves that withstand the heat of summer and periods of drought. Orange red fall color is consistently bright and long lasting. Upright symmetry lends winter appeal, along with distinctive, polished brown bark accented by tannish-cream lenticels.
The most disease resistant cherry we grow, its leaves stay clean and fresh even in our wettest, coolest springs. Since its introduction in 2004, it has proven to be exceptionally adaptable to extremes of heat and cold via plantings in North Dakota, New England, California and the Midwest and Southeast.
Royal Raindrops® Crabapple
Malus ‘JFS-KW5’
Spring blooms garner most of the attention, but this all-season beauty puts on a fine show of color in autumn, too. Tiny, bright red fruits appear among its purple leaves in late summer and persist as the leaves transition to a bright medley of bronze, orange and purple. Fruits persist to sparkle beneath a mantle of winter’s first snow, providing winter interest and attracting grateful birds. Dusky brown, lenticel-peppered trunk and branches are handsome through the winter months.
When spring returns, fragrant magenta-pink blossoms brighten the landscape with eye-popping color. Foliage follows blooms, emerging to greet summer with a mantle of dark purple, elegantly lobed leaves. Superior disease resistance, adaptability, plus heat and drought tolerance offer easy-care elegance in a high-fashion garden tree.
Gardeners! Please note that our nursery is strictly wholesale. To purchase these and other trees grown by our nursery, please use our Retailer Locator to find sources of JFS trees near you.
