Texas Superstar program focuses on best plants

By JULIET BRISKIN | Central Texas Edition

In the foreground, Leslie Finical (l) and Dr. Brent Pemberton (r) lead conference attendees on a tour of the Superstar displays and research plots at the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center in Dallas. -Staff photo by Briskin

October 4, 2001 -- As the pace of everyday life speeds up, time for activities such as landscape maintenance disappears. To help remedy this Texas A&M University created the Coordinated Educational and Marketing Assistance Program (CEMAP) to identify the most hardy, heat-tolerant and disease and insect-resistant plants. These plants are then designated as Texas Superstars.

This partnership between the nursery industry and Texas A&M is designed to educate consumers about which plants will thrive in their part of the state.

According to Dr. Steve George, Cooperative Extension horticulturist, the goal of CEMAP is for Texans to have beautiful, highly-productive landscapes that require much less maintenance and can stand up to the harsh environments across Texas. "In most families both the husband and wife work outside the home," stated George. "They are tired when they get home at night and do not want to have to baby a bunch of plants."

George stated that with the Texas Superstar plants new gardeners and gardeners without much time on their hands can be successful. "We aren't testing these plants for the gardening aficionados," he said. "We are testing these for the average homeowner that has very little gardening experience."

The Belinda's Dream Rose will be released for purchase by the consumer in the spring of 2002. -Staff photo by Briskin

On Sept. 18, the Texas Superstar Coordination Conference was held in Dallas. "The conference was held to bring all facets of the horticulture industry together to help coordinate marketing efforts to the consumer," said George.

During the conference participants were briefed on the new Texas Superstar plants for 2001-2002. The plants discussed included the Dwarf Mexican Petunia, Belinda's Dream Rose and John Fanick Perennial Phlox. George stressed that these plants will not be available to consumers until the Spring of 2002.

CEMAP maintains the largest system of horticultural field trials of any university in the United States. In these field trials no pesticides are ever applied to the plants. This allows researchers to identify those plants with the highest levels of genetic resistance to disease and insects. "We want consumers to have access to plants that provide maximum protection for the environment," said George. "We don't want people to have to apply pesticides so we are constantly searching for beautiful plants that are insect and disease resistant."

After 10 years of testing CEMAP has certified only 37 plants as Texas Superstars. According to George the plants are all very drought tolerant which helps conserve water. "These plants also help us preserve our water quality," he said. "If homeowners are not using pesticides, no run-off exists to contaminate the water supply."

The testing is rigorous and the fastest a plant can move through the testing program is three years. "We test the plants very thoroughly," said George. "Once we are convinced that we have a truly superior plant then we work with the nursery industry to grow it and market it to the consumer."

The plants are marked with a Texas Superstar tag which make them easily recognizable by consumers. For more information on the Texas Superstar program visit www.TexasSuperstar.com.