New Plants for 2006 By Ilene Sternberg

Wondering what will be the next must-have plants for your garden? Here are some to look for in the coming season.
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Photo credits: Zinnia ‘Cool Crayon Colors’ courtesy of Renee’s Garden Seeds; Cypripedium ‘Hilda’ courtesy of Roots & Rhizomes; Rosa ‘Julia Child’ courtesy of Weeks Roses.

Hot on the trail of the next big thing in the plant world? Like most humans, gardeners are ever in search of something “new” and “improved.” After a while, you’d think we’d run out of new plants, but hybridizers, plant hunters, and PR reps (yes, nowadays even plants have their own press agents) are wise to this and continue to ply us with a fresh crop of tantalizing contenders each season. How can we pick from among all these highly touted plants vying for our attention?

On one hand, there are the “prize” choices: the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Gold Medal winners, the All-America Selections (see box, page 46), not to be confused with the All-America Daylily Selections, the All-America Rose Selections, etc. These groups aim to cull the best performers from the vast array of everything available so we don’t just fall for another pretty face.

On the other hand, sometimes we just have to be adventurous, trust our instincts, choose what looks or sounds appealing for one reason or another, and test them in our own gardens.

Here are a few of the many new introductions for 2006 begging for a chance. Each description includes USDA hardiness and AHS heat zone estimates and a website to visit for more information about the plants. Contact information for some vendors is included in the box on page 18.

Annuals and Tender Perennials

The Benary’s Giant Zinnia elegans ‘Cool Crayon Colors’ (USDA Zones 0–0, AHS Zones 12–1) that Renee’s Garden Seeds (http://www.reneesgarden.com) is selling look absolutely scrumptious! This custom blend of florist-quality, fully double, long-stemmed lovelies in shades of deep lavender, carmine-rose, soft pink, and white form instant bouquets as they’re plucked from their beds.

Another Renee’s Garden exclusive is a new love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena, Zones 0–0, 12–1) cultivar ‘Persian Violet’. Each complex flower opens white with sky-blue edges, then deepens to rich indigo-violet, an intriguing twist on this old-fashioned favorite. Renee says, “The papery seed pods resemble little striped fairy lanterns.”

Ball Horticultural Company’s Tidal Wave™ Hedge Petunias (Petunia hybrid) come in four colors: cherry, hot pink, purple, and silver (off-white, really), forming a whole new class of petunia it calls “hedgiflora,” which can fill one square yard of garden space with a single plant. Each forms a 16- to 22-inch mound, and, given support, can grow an additional two to three feet high. I tried these myself and was pleased at how well they did during our droughty, hot summer in Pennsylvania. Check them out at http://www.wave-rave.com.

From Athens Select™ (http://www.athensselect.com), a plant testing and introduction program at the University of Georgia Trial Gardens, come two new alternanthera (Alternanthera ficoidea, Zones 9–11, 12–1) cultivars, ‘Red Threads’ and ‘Summer Flame’, selected by horticulturist Allan Armitage. ‘Red Threads’ has linear, deep burgundy colored leaves and develops a moundlike habit to eight inches tall. Slightly taller is ‘Summer Flame’, which has broader, variegated leaves in shades of pink, white, and green. Selected for heat and humidity tolerance, both provide vibrant color in sunny borders or containers.

Herbaceous Perennials

Monrovia Nursery in Azusa, California (http://www.monrovia.com), is bringing a new Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas, Zones 7-9, 9–7) called ‘Lemon Leigh’ to your fragrance garden this year. This easy-care perennial displays soft, pale yellow to chartreuse floral spikes above blue-gray foliage. The dense, mounding form, 20 to 28 inches high by 18 to 36 inches wide, makes it perfect for dry borders, perennial beds, herb gardens, and containers. Prolific and pretty, it flowers spring through summer. A heady scent and butterfly guests are a bonus.

For still more butterflies, Renee’s Garden is selling seed for Lavandula multifida ‘Fernleaf’ (Zones 8–12, 12–8) a lavender with deeply lobed, silvery foliage, and blue-violet blossoms. It’s highly aromatic with a hint of oregano and flowers the first year from seed.

Monrovia is also offering Roman Beauty rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Roman Beauty’, Zones 8–10, 12–8) for cooking, potpourri, and cut flower arrangements. Its deep gray-green foliage forms a tidy mound, but will cascade in a container or over a low rock wall, making it an asset to a rock, herb, or container garden. Once established, this sun worshiper is both heat and drought tolerant.

From Heronswood Nursery comes a spring-to-summer bloomer for partly shaded gardens. Primula ‘Kingston Twilight’ (Zones 5–9, 8–1) bears deep blue-violet flowers that show off well against the bright green foliage. The robust plants form attractive mounds.

Itsaul Plants in Atlanta, Georgia, breeder of the fantastic Cone Crazy™ Echinacea Big Sky™ Series (crosses between E. purpurea and E. paradoxa), has released two outstanding new selections: Harvest Moon™ (‘Matthew Saul’), offering fragrant, creamy gold flowers with orange cones and overlapping petals that begin to reflex as the flowers age; and ‘Twilight’, sporting fragrant, rose-red petals and deep red cones. Both grow 24 to 30 inches tall (Zones 4–9, 12–1) and are available through Walters Gardens, Inc. (http://www.waltersgardens.com).

Years of painstaking effort went into developing Cypripedium ‘Hilda’ (Zones 4–8, 8–1) a hearty hybrid lady’s-slipper orchid that has C. kentuckiense and C. ventricosum parentage. An easy-growing upright plant, it bears numerous three-and-a-half-inch-wide, lightly rose-scented flowers composed of purple sepals and a crisp white pouch (or slipper), striped and speckled purple, and dark dorsal petals. It is available from Raising Rarities ( http://www.raisingrarities.com) and Roots & Rhizomes (http://www.rootsrhizomes.com).

Days of Vines and Roses

hree outstanding Polish clematises from Monrovia, Clematis ‘Barbara’ (bright purplish-pink flowers with deeper colored central bar), C. ‘Julka’ (velvety violet flowers with deep purple-red bar), and C. ‘Hania’ (bi-color with purple-red petals and light pink margins), won gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively, at a trade fair in Holland a few years ago for their vigor and prolonged bloom time. All three clematises grow in Zones 4 to 9, 9 to 1.

British breeder Raymond Evison is bringing out three new members of his Patio Clematis™ Collection in 2006, including the stunning red-and-purple ‘Bourbon’; ‘Angelique’, with large, pale lilac-blue flowers; and ‘Parisienne’, offering large, mauve flowers with reddish-purple anthers. Each grows only three to four feet tall making them an ideal solution for smaller garden spaces and containers. Distributed through Hines Horticulture (http://www.hineshort.com), the Patio Clematises are selected for their vigor, disease resistance, and prolific flowering habit.

On the rose front, there’s Rosa ‘Julia Child’ (Zones 5–9, 9–1), a 2006 All-America Rose Selection (AARS) hybridized by Tom Carruth for Weeks Roses, and selected personally by the late culinary grande dame herself. A very full, old-fashioned, buttery gold floribunda with three-and-a-half-inch blooms that smell of anisette and spice seems fitting for a chef extraordinaire. The three-and-a-half-foot plants have a rounded habit, super glossy leaves, and great disease resistance.

Conard-Pyle of West Grove, Pennsylvania (Star® Roses, (http://www.starroses.com), has a new Romantica® climber, Rosa White Eden™ (‘Meiviolinsar’). The old-fashioned, creamy white, five-inch blossoms take on a light pink hue in cooler weather and have a classic rose fragrance. They are perfect for cutting. Another Conard-Pyle offering is a 2006 AARS winner, R. Rainbow Sorbet™ (‘Baiprez’) an everblooming, four-to-five-foot-tall disease-resistant floribunda in shades of bright yellow, orange, and red, finishing to a dramatic yellow-pink with long strong stems. Conard-Pyle has also just given birth to Double Knock-Out® rose, as red and disease-free as its single sister. All the above grow in Zones 5 to 9, 9 to 1.

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