U.S. patent number PP34,304 [Application Number 17/803,079] was granted by the patent office on 2022-06-07 for perovskia plant named `prime time`.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Walters Garden, Inc.. The grantee listed for this patent is Hans A Hansen. Invention is credited to Hans A Hansen.
United States Patent |
PP34,304 |
Hansen |
June 7, 2022 |
Perovskia plant named `Prime Time`
Abstract
The new and distinct cultivar of ornamental, hardy, Russian Sage
plant, Perovskia `Prime Time` with medium height, dense habit of
strong erect stems that remain upright through the growing season.
The new plant is vigorous with many large, densely-arranged, rich
lavender-purple flowers on branched stems with dark purplish-red
calyces. Foliage is grey-green, simple, rhombic, fragrant and is
retained well throughout the growing season.
Inventors: |
Hansen; Hans A (Zeeland,
MI) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Hansen; Hans A |
Zeeland |
MI |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Walters Garden, Inc. (Zeeland,
MI)
|
Appl.
No.: |
17/803,079 |
Filed: |
February 1, 2022 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
PLT/263.1 |
Current International
Class: |
A01H
6/50 (20180101); A01H 5/02 (20180101) |
Field of
Search: |
;PLT/263.1 |
Primary Examiner: Para; Annette H
Claims
It is claimed:
1. A new and distinct cultivar of hardy Russian sage plant,
Perovskia `Prime Time` as herein described and illustrated.
Description
Botanical classification: Perovskia atriplicifolia (Benth.).
Variety denomination: `Prime Time`.
STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES UNDER 37 CFR 1.77(B)(6)
The claimed plant was first sold privately to Plantipp in the
Netherlands on Mar. 1, 2021 by Walters Gardens, Inc., who obtained
the plant and all information relating thereto, from the inventor.
No plants of Perovskia `Prime Time` have been sold to the public in
this country or anywhere in the world, nor has any disclosure of
the new plant been made, more than one year prior to the filing
date of this application, and such sale or disclosure within one
year was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor
and would be considered a 35 U.S.C. 102(b) exception.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a new and distinct plant of
Russian sage, botanically known as Perovskia `Prime Time` and will
be referred to hereinafter also by its cultivar name `Prime Time`
and the new plant. The new plant cultivar of Perovskia is a
winter-hardy semi-woody perennial useful for landscaping
purposes.
`Prime Time` was hybridized by the inventor at a wholesale
perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich. in late July 2017 between an
unintroduced siblings known only by their hybrid code numbers,
14-1-1 (not patented) as the female and `Sage Advice` U.S. Plant
Pat. No. 33,310 as the male. The seed was collected in October of
2017 and sown in spring of 2018 at the same nursery in Zeeland,
Mich. The new plant was a single plant selected from among many
seedlings and given the breeder code 18-3-6 during the evaluation
process. Perovskia `Prime Time` was originally selected in the
summer of 2020. All subsequent evaluations were performed in a
full-sun trial garden at the same nursery with loamy sand soil and
irrigation and fertilizer as required. The plant was propagated by
stem cuttings at the same nursery in Zeeland, Mich. in 2019 and the
original plant and the cuttings evaluated over the next two years
until final approval for introduction in the summer of 2019. The
resultant asexually propagated cuttings have been stable and
identical to the original plant in successive asexual
propagations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Perovskia `Prime Time` differs from its parent as well as all other
hardy Russian sage known to the inventor in a combination of
traits. The following characteristics in combination distinguish
`Prime Time` from all other Perovskia plants known to the inventor:
1. Medium height, dense habit with strong, erect, dense stems that
remain upright through the growing season; 2. Long flowering season
of large, densely-arranged, rich lavender-purple flowers on
branched stems; 3. Effective flowering time extended with dark
purplish-red calyxes; 4. Earlier flowering time; 5. The foliage is
grey-green, simple, rhombic and fragrant; 6. Vigorous growth
rate.
The nearest comparison plants known to the inventor are the parent
plant Perovskia `LISSLITT` U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,845, `Denim 'n
Lace` U.S. Plant Pat. No. 28,445, `Rocketman` U.S. Plant Pat. No.
27,526 and `Blue Jean Baby` U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,281 and `Sage
Advice` U.S. Plant Pat. No. 33,310.
`LISSLITT` is slightly shorter and more open habit with less
upright stems and more open that are more prone to lodging, and the
inflorescence is branched in a wider angle. `Denim 'n Lace` has
smaller habit in height and width, the foliage is more finely
doubly-cleft and the flowers begin earlier in the season and are
not as deep lavender-purple. `Rocketman` has a habit that is
shorter and more open. `Blue Jean Baby` has a shorter habit,
flowers that are more lavender-blue and less lavender-purple, the
flowering season begins slightly earlier, and foliage is more
doubly-cleft. The new plant flowers approximately one week earlier
than all of the above comparison varieties.
The female parent has more silver foliage, a more open mounding
habit and more dissected foliage and the male parent, `Sage Advice`
differs by having a smaller habit more mounded habit. Both the
female and male both flower about a week later than the new
plant.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The photographs of the new plant demonstrate the overall appearance
of the plant, including the unique traits. The colors are as
accurate as reasonably possible with color reproductions. Ambient
light spectrum, source and direction may cause the appearance of
minor variation in color. The plant used in the photograph is a
three-year-old plant grown in full sun field in loamy sand soil in
trial gardens of a nursery in Zeeland, Mich.
FIG. 1 shows the flowering habit of the new plant.
FIG. 2 shows a close-up of the flower sterns of the new plant.
DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION
The following is a detailed description of Perovskia `Prime Time`
as observed and compared to other cultivars for three years in
trial gardens and production fields at a nursery in Zeeland, Mich.
The following description is of a three-year-old plant of Perovskia
`Prime Time` in a full-sun trial garden in Zeeland, Mich. with
limited irrigation as needed and without any pinching or plant
growth regulators. The new plant has not been observed under all
possible environments, and the phenotype may vary slightly with
different environmental conditions, such as temperature, light,
fertility, moisture and maturity levels, but without any change in
the genotype. The color descriptions are in accordance with the
2015 edition of The R.H.S. Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural
Society, London, England, except where common dictionary color
terms are used. Plant habit: Upright and dense mound; heavily
oppositely branched; deciduous, semi-woody sub-shrub usually dying
to the ground in most Michigan winters and re-sprouting with new
stems from the base each spring; about 38 stems per plant; Plant
size: To about 110 cm in height and about 115 cm in width at the
widest point about 30 cm above soil; Root description: Fibrous;
color nearest RHS 155D; Propagation: Stem cuttings; root initiation
occurs in about 14 days at a temperature of 20.degree. C.; Growth
rate: Vigorous; Crop time: About 10 to 14 weeks to produce
flowering plant from rooted plug; Stem description: Quadrangular;
oppositely branched; young portions farinose; older stems becoming
woody at base; average about 102 cm long and about 16 mm across
near base; about 18 branches per stem; with herbal fragrance; Stem
color: Nearest RHS 189D; Internode length: Average 2.5 cm;
Internode color: Same as surrounding stem; Branches: Quadrangular;
opposite; farinose; held about 45.degree. angle above horizontal;
lower branches about 18 cm long and about 1.2 mm diameter at base,
decreasing distally to upper branches about 6 cm long and about 1
mm diameter; Branch color: Nearest RHS 189D; Foliage description:
Opposite; rhombic; simple; acute apex; cuneate base; margin
irregularly crenate; micro-farinose on abaxial and adaxial surface;
with herbal fragrance; Leaf size: To about 37 mm long and about 19
mm wide near middle, shorter in distal region, average about 35 mm
long and about 16 mm wide; Leaf color: Young adaxial nearest RHS
191B, abaxial nearest RHS 191B; mature adaxial nearest RHS N138B
and abaxial between RHS N138B and RHS N138C; Leaf venation:
Pinnate; farinose adaxial and costate and farinose abaxial; Vein
color: Young adaxial nearest RHS 188C and abaxial nearest RHS 190B;
mature adaxial midrib and secondary veins nearest RHS 194A; abaxial
midrib between RHS 148C and RHS 148D with secondary veins nearest
RHS 147C; Petiole: Slightly concavo-convex, glabrous; sessile to
about 6 mm long and about 1 mm across, average about 4.5 mm long
and about 1 mm across at base; Petiole color: Adaxial nearest RHS
189A; abaxial between RHS 193A and RHS 194B; Peduncle: Main stems
vertical, branched verticillate panicle; about 10 cm tall above
last branch and flowering to about 36 cm long and 18 cm wide and
about 2 cm across above last branch; Peduncle color: Nearest RHS
189D; Pedicel: Cylindrical; pubescent; curved slightly downward;
about 1 mm long and 0.5 mm diameter; Pedicel color: Variable
depending on light exposure, high light nearest RHS N77D and low
light nearest RHS 138A; Flower buds about one day prior to opening:
Terete to oblong; rounded apex; rounded base; abaxial calyx with
dense pubescence about 1.0 mm long; about 6 mm long and about 2 mm
diameter near apex; Bud color: Abaxial calyx hairs nearest RHS
N81C; calyx between RHS 138B and RHS 138C with strong blush on
dorsal side nearest RHS 83A; extended unopened petal between RHS
93B and RHS N89D; Flowers: Perfect; complete; zygomorphic; borne in
verticils; bilabiate with upper and lower lip fused in about basal
6.5 mm; about 13 mm long to exserted style, about 9 mm tall and
about 8 mm across; face opening to nearly flat; Inflorescence:
Flowering in distal 36 cm and 18 cm wide; side branches with up to
14 verticils, up to 20 flowers per verticil, up to 210 flowers per
branch, main center stem with up to 70 flowers per verticil and 600
flowers total up to 2000 flowers per total inflorescence stem;
Flower attitude: Outwardly to slightly drooping; Fragrance: Slight
herbal; Corolla: Bilabiate; 11 mm long and 6 mm wide fused in basal
6.5 mm; upper and lower lips meet in about an 80-degree angle;
adaxial and abaxial glabrous except adaxial center about 2 to 4 mm
from base pubescent; Upper lip.--Four-lobed, puberulent adaxial
center; glabrous abaxial; outer two lobes obtuse to ovate, 2 mm
long and 2.5 mm wide at fusion, rounded apex, entire margin; inner
two lobes rounded with rounded apex, 1.5 mm long and 2 mm wide.
Lower lip.--Single lobe, nearly flat with rounded apex and entire
margin; about 6.5 mm long and about 1.0 mm wide at fusion point;
basal 6.5 mm fused into tube; tube about 2.5 mm in width; glabrous
abaxial, adaxial throat puberulent. Corolla color: Adaxial nearest
RHS 93B with veins of nearest RHS 83A and adaxial base nearest RHS
NN155D; abaxial nearest RHS 92 and base nearest RHS NN155D;
Gynoecium: One pistil; about 11.5 mm long; Style.--About 11 mm long
and about 0.3 mm diameter; proximal color distally nearest RHS 91B
with the basal 1 mm nearest RHS NN155C. Stigma.--Bifid in the
terminal 0.5 mm, about 0.2 mm across; color white nearest RHS
NN155D. Ovary.--Oblong globose; about 1 mm long and 0.5 mm across;
color between RHS 150D and RHS 145D. Androecium: Four, in two sets,
two outer and two inner; Filaments.--Inner set fertile, straight,
to about 5.5 mm long and 0.2 mm diameter, adnate to upper lobe of
corolla in basal 1.5 mm; outer set sterile, arcuate upward, to
about 5 mm long and 0.3 mm diameter, arcuate in distal 2.5 mm;
color both sets white, nearest RHS NN155D. Anther.--Fertile on
inner filaments -- elliptic, versatile, longitudinal, about 1 mm
long and 0.5 mm across, color nearest RHS N187C; sterile outer pair
-- globose, vestigial, about 0.2 mm diameter; color nearest RHS
NN155D. Pollen.--Abundant on fertile anthers; color nearest RHS
NN155C. Calyx: Tubular campanulate; about 5 mm long and about 2.2
mm across (without hairs) at apex; Sepals: Five; 5 mm long with
upper three lobes split in distal 0.5 mm and lower two lobes split
in distal 0.2 mm; apices acute; fused in basal 4 mm; lobe apices
acute; margin entire; abaxial densely pubescent and glandular with
hairs about 1.0 mm long, adaxial glabrous; persistent for weeks
after flower abscission and drop; Sepal color: Variable; adaxial
nearest RHS 146C, and nearest RHS N79A with undertone of nearest
RHS 146A; abaxial nearest RHS 138A and between RHS 83A and N79A;
abaxial hairs nearest RHS N81C; Seed: Spatulate in outline, rounded
apex and attenuate base; up to four per flower, typically one per
flower; about 2 mm long and about 1 mm diameter at widest portion
and about 0.5 mm thick; color nearest RHS 200A; Winter hardiness:
At least to U.S.D.A. zone 4; Growth: Highly resistant to drought
once established; grows best in full-sun; Pest and disease
resistance: Russian sage is typically resistant to deer and rodent
browsing. The new plant is less prone to yellowing foliage and
lower leaf drop than other known Russian sage cultivars. No other
susceptibility or resistance to diseases or pests has been observed
except that which is common to Perovskia.
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