New perennial ryegrass cultivar and wild flower mixtures from Germinal at BTME

With a class–leading score of 9.2 for fineness of leaf, Cabrio perennial ryegrass promises tougher, harder wearing and more attractive swards.  Meanwhile, the company’s new wildflower mixtures offer greenkeepers and course managers an increased choice of environment and habitat specific wild flora options. Cabrio: chart–topping perennial ryegrass Cabrio, the latest addition to Germinal’s portfolio of perennial ryegrass cultivars, offers chart–topping performance including a fineness of leaf score of 9.2 and a mean score of 8.3 as a new cultivar on Table L1 of the Turfgrass Seed booklet for 2016.  It will be available exclusively from Germinal as part of the company’s ‘Grade A’ range of grass seed mixtures. “The Grade A range has been designed specifically by Germinal for use by professional greenkeepers and groundsmen,” Richard Brown, Germinal Amenity Sales Manager explains.  “These mixtures only contain the most vigorous and highly rated cultivars, resulting in a range of dependable mixtures that consistently deliver results time and again. “The addition of Cabrio to our expanding portfolio of perennial ryegrasses maintains this philosophy by offering greenkeepers, groundsmen and turf growers access to an exceptional new cultivar.” Cabrio will appear in the new cultivar list of the 2016 Turfgrass Seed booklet and is expected to dominate in 2017.“A mean score of 8.3 should put Cabrio at the top of the main L1 table in 2017,” Richard predicts.  “The current top rated variety has a mean score of 8.1 so we are confident that Cabrio will be a popular choice for next year’s seeding operations. “Most excitingly it has a fineness of leaf score of 9.2 which far and away surpasses any rival variety. This gives greenkeepers, as well as cricket groundsmen, tennis groundsmen and turf growers, an excellent opportunity to grow harder wearing swards that can not only tolerate a close mowing regime, but which will also give good ball roll or bounce and will be very attractive aesthetically.” Cabrio is recommended for use on golf tees, tennis courts and cricket outfields and will be included in Germinal’s A5 Cricket, Tennis and Tees mixture, A10 Golf Tees Divot Repairs mixture and A28 Superfine Ryegolf and Outfield mixture. Golf wildflower mixtures Germinal has also launched three new wildflower mixtures for golf courses: Fairway Meadow, Links Habitat and Woodland Edge Wildflowers. “We have seen an increasing demand in recent years for high quality wild flora mixtures to complement established and more contemporary golf courses,” Richard Brown continues.  “As a result, we have designed three new blends, each of which is tailored to a specific set of environmental challenges and designed to create a definitive wild flower habitat.” The new Fairway Meadow mixture is suitable for a range of soil types and growing aspects, and provides a meadow habitat for 365 days a year with flowers in bloom from April to September.  It contains a variety of UK native annual and perennial species and provides an ideal food source and habitat for bees and butterflies.  It is perfect for boosting diversity and colour on appropriate parts of any parkland golf course and a good way of adding interest to the course for golfers. The new Links Habitat seed mixture contains a selection of UK native perennial wild flower species which are synonymous with sandy links soils and which can increase biodiversity to provide an all year round habitat and food source for bees and butterflies. The Woodland Edge Wildflowers mixture creates a year round meadow habitat with flowers providing added colour from April through until September.  It contains a wide variety of UK native annual and perennial species, provides a food source and habitat for bees and butterflies and is a great way of boosting diversity and adding colour to shaded parts and marginal areas of any parkland golf course. “The new mixtures complement the 44 existing wildflower mixtures that we already offer,” Richard Brown adds.  “As one of the longest–standing suppliers of wildflowers to the amenity sector, and with the sector’s largest range of wildflower mixtures, we have a seed mixture to suit all soil types and locations.  We can also formulate bespoke blends to meet site and customer specific requirements.” For more information about these or any other Germinal products go to www.germinal.com or speak to a Germinal representative at BTME in stand A45.