2026 Spring Seed Annuals Programming
Grow with Syngenta Flowers’ stunning seed crops for spring sales
Planning your spring line-up? Seed crops offer flexibility in programming, relying on fresh, high-quality seed that has been sown by reputable plug growers or by you, the finished grower. Syngenta Flowers has put together spring programming for several of our most common genera, Viola (Pansy and Viola), Petunias and vinca. Adopting these programs and technical tips will deliver smooth sailing in production that deliver profitable outcomes.
Penny™ Pro and Delta™ Pro
Delta™ Pro pansies are bred for precision by bringing the highest levels of programmability and uniformity to a multi-season pansy. Delta™ Pro deliver early and extremely uniform flowering, within varieties and across the series, taking the guesswork out of planning and production for spring. These compact and heavily branched plants fill pots quickly, yet require limited PGR usage, and can all be grown with the same protocol. Delta Pro are ideal for high-density finishing offering short, non-stretching, flower stems that hold large flowers upward, providing long-lasting and impactful retail displays. This series offers all the core colors plus the most important novelties in one super uniform series
Penny™ Pro violas are bred for a high level of uniformity across the entire series, ensuring a consistent and cohesive display at the right time. Growers appreciate its high programmability, making viola production efficient and profitable. Penny™ Pro deliver tightly branched plant canopies with a non-stretching habit, reducing the need for PGRs.
Pictured Right: Penny™ Pro Orange and Delta™ Pro Clear Orange
Target: Week 12 - Pansy/Viola: Delta™ Pro Quarts
Target: Week 12 - Penny™ Pro Viola – 306 Jumbo Packs
TECH TIPS
- Keep media pH below 5.8 to help avoid Thielaviopsis (black root rot) infections.
- Malformed and puckered leaves indicate calcium or boron deficiencies. To prevent this, fertilize with plug special (13–2–13) or a Cal-Mag® Plus fertilizer (14–4–14). Boron deficiencies can be distinguished by tip abortion, upper leaf stunting, puckering and thickening of leaves, along with shortened internodes and/or a gnarled mass of lateral shoots. A borax or Solubor® drench will help overcome these problems. Increase airflow to help prevent calcium or boron deficiencies.
- Use Alesco® as a post-harvest tool. Chrysal Alesco® protects ethylene sensitive crops like pansy and viola during shipping and at retail. The product is applied as a foliar spray 1 to 2 days before shipping to protect plants from postharvest damage caused by external sources of ethylene and transport stress. Alesco® improves retail plant quality resulting in greater sell-through and less shrink.
Be sure to submit your seed orders for 2026 or submit your plug programs soon, and be sure to check out our Delta Pro pansy and Penny Pro viola landing pages.
Flashforward™ and FotoFinish™
FlashForward™ petunias play well alone and with others. This miniature flowering, spreading petunia is perfectly suited for basket, mixed container, and premium pack programs. Its benefits include:
- Tidy plants hold longer at retail than traditional trailing petunias and don’t overgrow companions in mixed containers.
- Extremely free flowering all summer long even under difficult garden and weather conditions.
FotoFinish™ petunias are a uniform spreading petunia series with well-matched plant habits and flower timing. Their extra early flowering provide programmable finishing in 9-10 weeks from sowing. Plus their mounded and branching habit is ideal for high density growing, and holds better at retail and provides faster garden fill due to the need for fewer PGRs in production. FotoFinish™ is free flowering with masses of color all over the plant for high-impact retail and long-lasting garden displays.
Pictured Right: FotoFinish™ Purple and FlashForward™ Pink Glo
Target Week 16 - FlashForward™ Petunia 1.5 gal (10-inch) hanging baskets
Target Week 16 - FotoFinish™ Petunia 6-inch tray (6 count)
TECH TIPS
- Providing cool temperatures, high light and ‘growing on the dry side’ will help keep FlashForward™ and FotoFinish™ be more compact.
- Growth management with early morning DIF treatments helps.
- Providing long day lighting during short days will hasten time to flower.
Be sure to submit your seed orders for 2026 or submit your plug programs soon, and be sure to check out our FlashForward and FotoFinish petunia landing pages:
Additional Resources
Blockbuster™ and Cora® XDR
Blockbuster™ vinca packs a punch for pack, pot and hanging basket production. This F1 Series is well-branched with improved earliness and extra-large flowers that maintain their perfect form, even in the most extreme conditions. Blockbuster™ vinca have bold color intensity like the four new novelty Crush colors, and outstanding red, white and blue varieties for patriotic mixes. Their floriferous plant structure provides superior impact at retail and provides enduring flower-power in the landscape.
Cora® XDR is the flower with the power! With its extreme disease resistance (screened against 36 contemporary strains of Aerial phytophthora, including ten of the most virulent that cause phytophthora blight on annual vinca), Cora® XDR provides season-long flowering for landscape plantings. These isolates were confirmed in collaboration with Clemson University and found at growers and in landscapes across the southern U.S. The excellent branching, uniformity, and flower quality make Cora® XDR the ideal choice from premium packs and small pots to large containers. Based on our technical trial data all colors (widest range of solid and bicolor patterns) time similarly when compared to any disease-resistant vinca series on the market.
Pictured Right: Blockbuster™ Papaya and Cora® XDR Red Glow
Target: Week 20 - Vinca: Blockbuster™ 1.5 gal (10-inch) Hanging Baskets
Target: Week 20 - Vinca: Cora® XDR Quarts
TECH TIPS
- Start with a disinfected growing area and keep media pH below 5.8 to help avoid Thielaviopsis infections.
- Cora® XDR vinca has a high resistance to Phytophthora nicotianae; however, they are not immune to the disease. For this reason, we highly recommend chemical rotations as part of a responsible and critical disease resistance maintenance program. Apply fungicides to control several other diseases that can infect vinca, such as Thielaviopsis, Rhizopus, Rhizoctonia, Pythium and Tospovirus (INSV and TSWV).
- Vinca needs high light and warm temperatures. Provide light at 14-16 mols.m-2.d-1 and ADT of 74-76 °F (23-24 °C). Do not try to finish vinca too early in the Spring season to avoid cold temperatures.
- PGRs on vinca are mostly used in pack production. Never apply Bonzi® to vinca as leaf spotting will occur. Use sprays of B-Nine® WSG at 2,500–5,000 ppm or A-Rest® at 2–4 ppm are recommended, if needed.
Be sure to submit your seed orders for 2026 or submit your plug programs soon, and be sure to check out our Blockbuster and Cora XDR vinca landing pagesBe sure to submit your seed orders for 2026 or submit your plug programs soon, and be sure to check out our Blockbuster and Cora XDR vinca landing pages.