I was wondering about the particular differences between Freedom Pink and Freedom Early Pink. This year we did well with Freedom Red, White and Jingle. They colored up early - uniformly, and with little disease issues. However, Freedom Pink coloring up was very non-uniform in timing and the color for us is not very good. We'd prefer a brighter pink. I was wondering if Freedom Early Pink might work better for us. Anybody tried both and can tell the difference between the two colors? Thanks so much.

Hi Emily -

You probably won't notice a significant difference in color between Freedom Early Pink and Freedom Pink. Unfortunately both don't have the brightest pink color to offer. If you are looking for a good early pink you might want to consider Enduring Pink. Enduring Pink is our best pink, offering a clear, true pink color that isn't muddy as Freedom Pink can be. Differences in Enduring and Freedom would be timing and habit. Enduring finishes approximately November 20th under natural conditions so it's approximately 5-7 days later than Freedom. Enduring is also slightly more compact than Freedom so in larger container sizes you would want to add some extra grow time.

Thanks so much for the suggestion. We actually did do Enduring Pink and Red this year. We like the color of the Pink and it is a nice looking plant, but the coloring up was very non-uniform and we had problems with branches breaking - although that might have been our fault - PGRs or the spacing. It was a little later than the Freedom Red/White but similar to Freedom pink in timing for us. Any other suggestions for early Pink?

I just remembered I had a question about Dulce Rosa too. We first did it two years ago and it was really nice. This year due to the warmer weather they got a little too tall and the bracts were not as large. We had to use more PGRs on it but they don't seem to respond that much to Bonzi. Any insight on height control and bract size with these?

Emily, in warm climates Enduring Pink has the best pink color for early finish. As you have seen Enduring can have a problem with weak stems. Also, it can stretch at the end of the crop if little PGR has been used. It does respond well to PGRs and it is actually best to plant early enough that at least 2 applications are needed. This gives stronger stems and reduces the late stretch. Next best early pink is Maren, which is more salmon pink. Maren is easy to grow and growers in FL have done a lot of Maren, but most have changed to Enduring Pink because of the better color.

We have grown Dulce Rosa several years and I consider it one of the most difficult plants to get right. It does not respond to PGR very well, so in warm climates you have to use a lot. B-Nine and Cycocel tank mix at a high rate probably works better than Bonzi sprays. Bonzi works better as drench than as a spray. We produce a better plant outside, like you, compared to in the greenhouse. Like most vigorous plants it is important to start the PGR early. If you like the look of the hybrid euphorbia, Ecke has a new one that I believe they are offering cuttings for even though it is not in the catalogue this year. The experimental number was HC-18-B, but they will have a name for it soon. HC-18-B is a light pink and we found that many consumers like it. We used about 1/3 as much PGR on it compared to Dulce Rosa. Jim

Thank you for the helpful comments. I think we did get HC-18-B in our Ecke trial collection. The whole time I was thinking how it looked a lot like Dulce. But I guess we treated it quite differently with the PGRs. It was more branched - but the bracts also turned out quite small. Maybe we will try a small number of them next year if available. Dulce is quite popular here with the consumers even though ours turned out too tall and leggy. We still didn't have enough.

Have you done the Christmas Feelings series? We have had good results with the Red and the Select in our 4 inch crop. I wonder if that pink would be one to try. Or perhaps Classic Pink. We like Classic Red - though we tried Classic white last year and thought it was just OK.

The Christmas Feelings series works well in Florida. I generally think of it finishing a little after the Enduring series. Feelings Pink’s growth habit is similar to Feelings Red. The pink color is brighter than the average for dark leaf varieties, but not as bright as Enduring Pink. The Classic series is newer. Classic Red does work in FL and we used it in our height control examples this year (http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/floriculture/height2009/). Right now it seems that the Classic Pink is not as strong as Classic Red and finishes a little later. The color on Classic Pink in FL is about average or below for dark leaf varieties. Jim