Neil Anderson

The University of Minnesota Herbaceous Perennial Breeding Program is recognized as one of the premiere public-sector flower breeding project programs in the world. Our creation of new chrysanthemum plant habits (from large shrubs to groundcover types), discovery and breeding of reflowering, non-vernalization requiring lilies, release of USDA Z4 winter-hardy gladiolus, and cold-tolerant gaura are example research efforts enabling the generation of revitalized floricultural crops for the 21st century. The new shrub chrysanthemums resulted in increased U.S. perennial, garden chrysanthemum sales in wholesale farmgate values in 2018 of $147.49M in sales of over 53 million containers of herbaceous perennials, $10.459M (w) of cut flowers from 6.9M bunches of pompon types, as well as ~7.7M flowering potted plants valued at nearly $30M, helping make mums the #1 herbaceous perennial in U.S. sales. Shrub types also prompted growers to sell traditional cushion cultivars in larger containers to mimic shrub types. Winter hardy gladioli would not require digging the corms in the fall for overwintering; multiple flowering stems on each plant would increase cut stem yields. Our advancements in lily breeding have resulted in the creation of colored, seed-propagated hybrids for continued development and domestication. Lilies which flower <1 yr. from seed and continuously flower thereafter will significantly alter production and use of this crop as a cut flower, flowering potted plant, and garden perennial. Focus on preventing invasive ornamental floriculture crops prior to their release onto the market has led to research on contributing factors within the horticultural distribution channel, risk assessment, as well as plant traits to select against during domestication. Reed canarygrass and knotweed, ornamental herbaceous perennials, are being used as model plants in which to study these factors. Continual incorporation of new traits, such as non-invasiveness and drought/heat tolerance will enable continued growth of the floriculture sector with readily adaptable germplasm.