MORE New Plants for the Garden

The National Garden Bureau has named 2012 as “the Year of the Geranium.” Burpees will be offering a yellow geranium. There are so many great long lasting yellow flowers out there already, this introduction does not appeal to me.

Last year I started growing ‘Graffiti Red’ geranium, which is an exotic and unusual appearing geranium that’s been around for a while, but is hard to find.

Graffiti Red’ geranium

They produce loads of wild looking double, star-shaped flowers. I call it my “punk” geranium.

A nice development in the world of geraniums is interspecific breeding. Zonal and ivy geraniums are both grown from cuttings. The zonals are tough, upright and vigorous.

Calliope Dark Red

The ivies are pretty for hanging baskets and window boxes, but are susceptible to oedema (water ruptures the cells of the leaves) and are generally not good in full sun. So the industry has crossed the two (interspecific) and come up with excellent new geraniums, notably the ‘Caliente’ and ‘Calliope’ series.

One new variety that I will reluctantly try is 'Plentifall' pansies. They are fragrant and are bred for hanging baskets with a trailing habit of up to 24 inches. I’m sure they are lovely, but I can’t help worrying about dead heading, once the first bloom has finished.

Photo from www.vanmeuwen.com

Johnnies Selected Seeds is offering “Flower Sprout,” a cross of brussel sprouts and kale. The plant grows like a brussel sprout, and develops decorative, edible rosettes. This is something that will be fun to try, but it is backordered until May.

Gardening is a joy for me and experimenting with new plants is part of the fun.

New Plants for 2011 - Part II

Fortunately for me, many of my customers are just as excited to try new plants as I am.

Dahlia 'Dark Angel Dracula'

I've always liked the look of bright blooms on dark foliage, and this dahlia, 'Dark Angel Dracula' won best dahlia at the Colorado State Flower trials. It is compact and uniform and is grown from cuttings.

Callie 'Painted Coral'

Calibrachoa is closely related to the petunia and was first introduced to Europe in the early 19th century about the same time as the petunia. In 1988 wild samples were collected from South America and, after breeding, the first 'Million Bells' was released in 1992. Hundreds of different colors and growth habits are now available and I grow a lot of them including some from the 'Superbell', 'Minifamous' and 'Dream' series. The 'Callie' series have been good performers for me and I am looking forward to trying Callie 'Painted Coral' .

Argyranthemum 'Angelic Pink Delight'

Argyranthemums are essentially daisies grown from cuttings. It would be hard to beat the perfomance of 'Butterfly Yellow," but I have heard good things about 'Angelic Pink Delight,' so they will be on our shelves this year. They have fully double flowers and bloom early in the season and then hopefully throughout the summer.

'Landmark Citrus' Lantana

Another flower grow from cuttings that has won rave reviews at trial gardens is 'Landmark Citrus' Lantana. This is a plant that's good for high heat situations and hopefully will do well in baskets.

I'll have more new varieties to show grown from cuttings and then it's time to share new perennials and plants grown from seed.

NEW Plants for 2011 - Part I

While there is still much to do in the gardens and with the perennials, I have been busy ordering my plant stock for next spring. I start most of my seedlings in the house and then in the greenhouses, but for the most part it is necessary to buy in rooted cuttings both because they are usually patented (taking cuttings is prohibited) and because I don’t have a good space to over winter plants for cuttings.

'Phantom' Petunia'

It will fun to see how this new petunia (above) performs. Last year Proven Winners came out with ‘Pretty Much Picasso’, (below) and while I appreciate its novelty, I thought the color would be lost in the foliage. I did have a few requests for ‘Picasso’ so I may order it this year.

'Pretty Much Picasso'

I am hoping Begonia 'Million Kisses Devotion' might be a good replacement for folks who have a hard time or with (or don't care for) fuchsias.

Begonia 'Million Kisses Devotion'

Bacopa is extremely popular and it now comes in colors other than white.

Bacopa 'Taifun Mega Blue'

However, I can not “get my head wrapped around” black petunias. I know black pansies have been popular, but this one is NOT going on my Order List.

'Black Velvet' Petunia

More new plants when I next get back to this blog.

(More) New Plants in the Greenhouse

It's always fun to grow new varieties and see if they live up to the hype. I was excited about mini-famous yellow calibrachoa, as this flower received high points in trial gardens and the photographs were seductive.



The company that developed this flower says: "It has the best plant habit of all the doubles yet, outstanding outdoor performance, and it flowers the earliest." In fact it is adorable right now in the pot.


What I had not anticipated is that the flower is TINY - about the size of a dime.


Another nice new flower is lobularia. I was warned that it was vigorous, kind of a giant alyssum out of control. I have put some in baskets, but I think it's a better plant to put in the ground or use as a novelty flower. The second photo is from the folks who patented lobularia. It's not a great plant for baskets in the greenhouses, as its tiny petals fall on the plants below. (Horticultural dandruff?) Outside it would be fine, but not on someone's porch.




I really like the foliage on this new "sunpatiens" and it seems to branch out more than other new guineas. I ordered in more and the company sent the wrong variety, a solid white. Oh well. I have combined this in a few baskets (sold one yesterday!) with purple calibrachoa. The second photo is from the company that developed this new plant.





We are closed today (Monday) so I will go take photos of yet more new plants for the next entry. We have recovered (physically) from the cave-ins following that snow storm. There's a lot of rebuilding in the future, assuming the season goes well.