Mitch Hanes retired from Syngenta Flowers in 2022, but his innovative and industry-changing breeding legacy continues, earning him the prestigious AAS Breeder's Cup. Mitch spent over 40 years dedicated to his passion and created many flowers we know and love industry-wide, including the 2017 AAS Winner Calliope Medium Dark Red.

Mitch started with Goldsmith Seeds in 1980 and joined Syngenta Flowers during the acquisition in 2008. He joined Goldsmith Seeds straight out of graduate school from UC Davis, working in the Tissue Culture laboratory. Mitch then had the opportunity to breed cucumbers for a year and moved to Flower Research when Goldsmith sold the vegetable seeds business. From 1986 through his retirement in 2022, he worked as a flower breeder focused on geranium, verbena, petunia, calibrachoa, and lobelia.

During his remarkable career, Mitch made incredible contributions to the floriculture industry, including leading the scarification process for geranium seeds and creating the first cutting-type interspecific hybrid pelargonium, Calliope. He revolutionized the vegetative pelargonium industry with breakthrough varieties like the Calliope Large Dark Red, Caliente, Mojo, and Caldera geraniums, as well as the petunia Dekko Star Rose and the calibrachoa Cabrio and Callie series, to name a few.

As Mitch Hanes is honored with the 2024 AAS Breeder's Cup Award, we at Syngenta Flowers extend our heartfelt congratulations and gratitude to him. His significant contributions and lasting impact on the floriculture industry and our organization are truly commendable.

To learn more about the prestigious Breeder's Cup Award, please visit the AAS website: https://all-americaselections.org/award-recipients/

Learn more about some of Mitch's breeding innovations below:

Calliope® Large and Medium Geraniums

About: Calliope® geraniums have become a favorite among gardeners and growers alike due to its outstanding garden performance with intense color that lasts. Calliope has a wide range of best-selling color options and all-season performance that translates directly into consumer success. Calliope Medium Dark Red is a 2017 All-America Selections Winner.

Mojo™ Geranium

About: Mojo™ Geraniums offer a bold combination of dark foliage and brilliant color. Medium vigor and very well-branched upright habits make Mojo the ideal choice for 1.25 qt. to 2.5 qt. pots. A must-have series that works across a range of container sizes and is ideal for bold combination containers.

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Caldera™ Geranium

About: An eruption of color that beats the heat. Caldera™ offers flower intensity and exceptional heat tolerance like Caliente® geraniums, but with a spreading habit. Caldera stands out all summer long with a striking combination of dark foliage paired with vibrant single flowers. A spreading habit makes Caldera a perfect choice for bold landscape plantings, baskets, and heat-tolerant mixed containers.

Caliente® Geranium

About: Caliente® is a top performer every year in summer garden trials for continuous flowering and heat tolerance. Excellent rain tolerance with single flowers provides easy maintenance and less cleaning. Excels in-ground as well as in containers, making Caliente the preferred choice where garden performance is a must.

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Cabrio™ Calibrachoa

About: Cabrio™ features a controlled, mounded habit that works well in both small pots and high-impact hanging baskets. All colors flower consistently at 10.5 hours of day length. The extremely uniform habits play well together for striking multi-color combinations

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Callie® Calibrachoa

About: Callie® has big vigor, bold colors and continuous blooms from spring to fall. It's the perfect mixer and the primary foundation for best-selling Kwik Kombos™. An excellent choice for premium hanging baskets and mixed combinations.

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