New Plant Introductions for 2012
Posted in Around the Garden, Gardening Tips on February 21 2012, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Every year during the winter months, growers start parading their new introductions through gardening magazines and catalogs. It’s the annual horticultural fashion show. And the horticultural models that hit the catwalk usually tell us a great deal about current trends and market demand.
As I peruse the pages of magazines this year I am struck by the balance of practicality and aesthetic. We all love beautiful plants–there is no denying it. This year, however, beauty is amalgamated with functionality.
Many new introductions are compact, appealing to urban gardeners and gardeners with little space to work. Plants for the water-wise gardener are also making a good show for the year ahead. With the popular trend of sustainable gardening, not only drought tolerant plants but also native, low-maintenance and wildlife-friendly plants are being featured in catalogs.
There are always introductions that satisfy the public’s need for exciting new colors, fragrance, and extended bloom time. Some trends never change–nor should they. Here are some of the new introductions that you will see in garden centers this spring.
Annuals
If you are keen on attracting wildlife to your garden, try the new Monarch Series ageratum (Ageratum Monarch Series). This series is the result of a cross between a garden variety and a wild species from Mexico. A butterfly magnet, it comes in a variety of colors.
Shade gardeners with small spaces can rejoice in the introduction of new, compact Japanese anemones (Anemone hupehensis Pretty Lady Series). ‘Pretty Lady Diana’ and ‘Pretty Lady Susan’ are single pinks while ‘Pretty Lady Emily’ is a light pink double. I saw these last fall and they are wonderful, reaching 18 inches tall.
There is a new African daisy that is hitting the market (Osteospermum ecklonis 3D Series). The 3D Series is a new, double-flowering African daisy that comes in purple, pink, and silver. It’s a cool season annual (happiest in spring) that doesn’t close up at the end of the day like its single flowering counterparts.
If you are a do-it-yourself gardener, there is also a new variety of African daisy that is easy to sow from seed (Osteospermum ecklonis ‘Akila’).
Perennials
For the water-conscious gardener, look for the new, compact, red-flowered yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora ‘Perpa’ (Brakelights® Red Aloe).
If red is your color, try the the compact coneflower Sombrero™ Salsa Red (Echinacea x purpurea Sombrero ‘Salsa Red’).
Equally enticing is the reblooming hot poker plant (Kniphofia uvaria ‘Echo Rojo’). With its orange-red flowers, it reblooms all summer and is drought tolerant as well.
For impact, look to hardy hibiscus with their enormous, satellite dish-shaped flowers. ‘Strawberry Swirl’ (Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Strawberry Swirl’) with its pink and white 12-inch blooms looks delectable. ‘Little Princess’ is a dwarf variety that reaches only two-and-a-half feet tall. Its flowers are an infusion of scarlet, violet, and lavender.
Shrubs
Hydrangea ‘You-Me Passion’ flowers continuously in spring and summer. Its pink flowers slowly open, looking like a lace cap hydrangea and then filling out to form a mop head with double flowers. The golden crane hydrangea (Hydrangea angustipetala ‘Golden Crane’ [‘MonLongShou’]) is another new introduction that has fragrant white and chartreuse flowers that open early in spring.
Daphne ‘Eternal Fragrance’ flowers heavily in spring and then flowers sporadically in summer and fall. It is a compact variety that has a wonderful fragrance.
The semi-dwarf crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica ‘Double Feature’) is a rebloomer, flowering from late June to October. The crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica ‘Rhapsody in Pink’) is also constantly in flower and its new growth is a deep burgundy color.
Finally we have some of the Encore® azaleas in the Garden and they are worth trying. As the name suggests, these azaleas are repeat-flowering with their main show in the spring and then repeating intermittently throughout the summer and fall. Rhododendron ‘Autumn Sunburst™’ is one of the new Encore® azaleas that has bi-colored flowers of coral-pink edged in white.
