Ground Hog™ Aronia earns Farwest judges’ Award of Merit

This summer, the Farwest Show in Portland, Oregon, showed record attendance, hosting more than 5,000 industry professionals from 20 countries, with nearly 400 exhibitors. A highlight of the show is the New Varieties Showcase, which gives nurseries the opportunity to present their most cutting-edge plant varieties for display and awards consideration.

The 2019 entries numbered 83, from which the judges presented a Best of Show Award and three Awards of Merit, one which went to Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Ground Hog™ Aronia, hybridized at the University of Connecticut by Dr. Mark Brand.

Ground Hog™ Aronia naturally grows as a thick, dense mat, eliminating the need for weeding and mulching. It features glossy foliage, white spring flowers, dark purple berries in late summer and autumn foliage in hues of brilliant orange-red. This native plant is an ideal landscape groundcover, filling in difficult spaces such as parking lot beds, slopes, or anywhere mowing would be difficult or undesirable.

Ground Hog™ Aronia is part of a series of dwarf chokeberry plants that Spring Meadow Nursery has recently introduced. The other varieties are Low Scape Mound®, a small mounded Aronia that tops out at 1-2’, and Low Scape Hedger® Aronia which has a taller, narrow habit (3-5’ tall, 2-3’ wide).  

Located in Grand Haven, Michigan, Spring Meadow Nursery grows this award-winning Ground Hog™ Aronia, as well as over 300 additional varieties which are marketed under the Proven Winners® ColorChoice® brand.