United Family stores will carry winter-hardy plants in July from Dallas to Albuquerque
Rarely are Texas Plains gardeners able to purchase flowers bred specifically for their region. But in July, the United Family chain of stores will offer winter-hardy hibiscus plants bred by the Texas A&M AgriLife Research ornamental breeding program in Vernon.
The United Family has stores from Dallas-Fort Worth to Albuquerque that will participate in this distribution of winter-hardy hibiscus. The distribution will include some Texas A&M AgriLife-bred plants, with particular emphasis on the Vernon and Wichita Falls stores, said Bradley Gaines, business director for floral with the United Family, Lubbock.
The floral departments in about 90 stores will offer the plants, some of which will be from the award-winning Summer Spice Collection by J. Berry Nursery. This specific collection contains winter-hardy hibiscus bred by Dariusz Malinowski, Ph.D., AgriLife Research plant physiologist in the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon.