plant named ‘Macarena’

Latin name of the genus and species:hybrid.

Variety denomination: ‘Macarena’.

The claimed plant was first sold or offered for sale by Walters Gardens, Inc. to North Coast Perennials and North Branch Nursery. on Oct. 15, 2024, by Walters Gardens, Inc., who obtained the plant and all information relating thereto, from the inventor. Subsequently, on Feb. 1, 2025, the new plant was featured in a brief description and photograph on a website operated by Walters Gardens, Inc. and in the “Walters Gardens 2025-2026 Catalog” released on Jun. 3, 2025. Walters Gardens, Inc. obtained the new plant and all information about the new plant from the inventor. No plants of‘Macarena’ have been sold 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 offer, sale, or disclosure within one year was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.

The present invention relates to the new and distinctcultivar named ‘Macarena’ also referred to here as the new plant. ‘Macarena’ was hybridized by the inventor at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Michigan, USA as the result of a greenhouse cross between ‘PJS01S’ (not patented) as the female parent and ‘PWWG02S’ (not patented) in the summer of 2019. Seeds from this pollination were collected in the fall of 2019 and were sown earlier the next year. The new plant originated from a single seedling, was initially evaluated in the summer of 2021, selected for further evaluation, and assigned the breeder code 19-11-3.

‘Macarena’ has been successfully asexually propagated by shoot tip cuttings since 2021 at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Michigan and found to produce identical stable and identical plants in successive generations of asexual propagation.

‘Macarena’ differs from the parents as well as all other Hardy Ice Plant cultivars known to the inventor. The most similar knowncultivars include: ‘Dancing Embers’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 36,547, ‘PWWG02S’ (not patented), ‘PJS02S’ (not patented), and ‘P001S’ (not patented).

‘Dancing Embers’ has flowers having petals of darker reddish-orange with reddish-purple eye and cream centers. ‘PJS02S’ has more orangish flower petals and the plant is not as winter hardy. ‘P001S’ has flower petals that are more orange distally with large fuchsia centers.

The female parent, ‘PJS01S’, has flower petals that are more orange distally with large fuchsia centers. The male parent, ‘PWWG02S’, has lighter reddish-orange petals and the purplish-pink base in much broader.

‘Macarena’ differs from the above cultivars and all other cultivars of Hardy Ice Plant known to the inventor with the following repeating distinguishing characteristics in combination:

The following is a detailed description of two-year-old plants of the new cultivar grown outdoors in a full sun trial garden with supplemental water and fertilizer as needed at a wholesale nursery in Zeeland, Michigan. No plant growth regulators have been used. Plants of the new cultivar have not been tested under all possible conditions. The phenotype may vary with changes in the environment, climate, and cultural conditions without a change in the genotype. The color reference is in accordance with the 2015 edition of The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart except where general color dictionary terms are used.

Docket No. DELMC-25.37 Page 4 of 9