Pros discuss their new perennial picks
Right: We're currently
studying the new
perennials offered by sources such as
Plant Delights and Klehm's Songsparrow
perennial farm, as well as those listed by
wholesale growers such as Walter's Gardens.
We also welcome chances like this to
discuss our choices with expert growers... and you!
More help for choosing perennials in
our
collection of perennial selection charts.
Are you deciding on new plants to try?
So are we! That's why here we discuss with a pro grower:
Choosing from what's new
Tickseed (Coreopsis)
Blanket flower
(Gaillardia)
Hardy Hibiscus
Lenten rose (Helleborus)
Gentiana
Dropwort / Meadowsweet
(Filipendula)
Coral bells (Heuchera)
Sedum
Mountain mint
(Pycnanthemum)
(and about buying native plants)
More and
more new plants
Hi
guys,
I just got done reading the November 2012 Janet's
Journal in the Michigan
Gardener magazine, about plants on your wish list and how
they move from wish list to regular garden usage.
Great article! You and I are definitely on the same
wavelength about "new." - Karen Bovio -
Below: Every catalog strives to have new items on every
page, each year. Here, in Plant Delights'
butterfly bush varieties (Buddleia), two of nine are
new.
What Janet wrote about "new", there in Michigan
Gardener:
During one recent 7-year stretch, an average of 1,500 new plant
patents were registered per year in the U.S. and Canada. Meanwhile,
the average plant catalog included 30 to 100 "new" items each year.
In that mix are species just captured from the wild, selected
varieties and hybrids and also old items being rediscovered. Some
are "new" to everyone, others are new only to the particular
grower.
It's all too much for me to keep straight...
(So, to try new things) I do it this way: If a plant happens to
…(have) enough distinctive character to jump out and hit me in the
head, I might remark, "…I should try that…" Next, I grow it myself
or work in a garden where I see it regularly so I can watch its
staying power and pest resistance. After a year or three if it
proves to have vigor and gumption…. I think about putting it on my
"Wish list…" From that list… some graduate to my list of
regulars…
(Read
the complete article in Michigan Gardener.)
Bovio continues:
I think, too, that new things must prove themselves to
be good! So many new faces do not pan out over the long
haul.
I want to let you know that several of your new
selections are items I am going to be growing for the first time in
2013, and why they made my list.
Karen Bovio is
the owner of Specialty Growers, a Moderator on
our Forum and a plant source for us for going on 30 years. Although
she always says "Oh, go on!" when we say it, we know her to be one
of the best perennial growers in the country. So what she says
about plants on our wish list is gold.
Coreopsis
Here are the rest of Bovio's comments, each accompanied by the
clip from our article (in green) that prompted it. For instance,
from Janet:
(There are) many reasons to love a Coreopsis (C. verticillata or
C. lanceolata), from their long bloom time to vigor without
aggression.
(Read
the complete article in Michigan Gardener.)
And Karen Bovio's comment:
…I am going to be growing some of your selections. I…
ordered Coreopsis 'Sienna Sunset', after admiring it in
catalogs for years. I tried 'Redshift' last year on a very limited
basis, my customers LOVED it but I have no experience with it in
the garden (yet). I do have and grow in my own garden,
Coreopsis 'Route 66' -- flower color much the same, but
'Route 66' has foliage just like 'Moonbeam', whereas 'Redshift' has
foliage of intermediate shape more like Full Moon (also a great
plant, by the way!). 'Route 66' has been long lived in my
sandy-soil ornamental grass garden. I have trouble with
Coreopsis of most types here because my soil in most of my
gardens is very rich. They seem to like it lean.
Below: Coreopsis 'Sienna Sunset'
Blanket flower
(Gaillardia)
Next, Janet observes:
Gaillardias are great
for hot color blending and rock solid for providing flowers over a
long, long season...
...if they're healthy. (Yet) they're moving back onto my wish
list...
Bovio responds:
Ditto for the Gaillardias. I …have trouble
overwintering them as well… I have given up on 'Baby Cole'
because I've found it to be very susceptible to the pathogen
Entyloma -- White Smut -- and Septoria leaf
spot.
(The Gaillardia variety) 'Oranges and Lemons' doesn't get
fungus as badly but is much taller.
Great color though! I grow 'Burgundy', 'Dazzler', 'Mesa
Yellow' and all of the 'Arizona' selections.
Right: We described Gaillardia's long bloom season
and tactics for keeping it looking
great, in New life by
deadheads.
Hardy
Hibiscus
Janet plans to try
(Hibiscus varieties bred for) longer bloom... compact form and
...pest resistance...
(Read
the complete article in Michigan Gardener.)
Bovio says:
I'm… trying Hibiscus 'Cranberry Crush' this
year, (too.) Also 'Summer Storm', for a pink. There are SO many
great new Hibiscus, I think it's hard to miss with
these!
Below, left: Hibiscus 'Summer Storm.' Below,
right: Hibiscus 'Cranberry Crush' with one of the new
Coreopsis. These two photos ©2012 Perennial Resource, courtesy of
PerennialResource.com, offering great
information to home gardeners from one of the world's largest
wholesale perennial growers.
Lenten rose
Then, on the subject of lenten rose (Helleborus)
...remember selection so limited that we bought whatever lenten
rose (Helleborus) was available, with flower color always in
question… Now breeding breakthroughs allow (us to pick both flower
color and form). 
…most of the new offerings (show) impressive hybrid vigor…'Golden
Sunrise' (right) has proved itself for vigor, bloom count and leaf
spot resistance for five years while 'Brandywine' types are not
only very attractive but all seed grown. Seed grown plants tend to
do much better in the garden even while small, compared to some
tissue culture plants that have trouble adapting to outdoor
conditions.
To which Bovio says:
Ditto on the Helleborus. I agree, the
'Brandywine' series have been very dependable… I hope to get some
'Golden Sunrise' again, but the way Helleborus selections
come out so fast nowadays, it's now already considered "old" and I
may not be able to get it. Doubles are all the rage, will have
'Golden Lotus' for sure...
Below: Not too long ago, lovers of lenten rose could only
dream of choosing specific colors. Now, every color is available,
many in double-flowered form, too.
True blue gentian
Next, a discussion of Gentiana makinoi 'Marsha', an
upright plant that produces true blue flowers in late summer or
early fall. Janet wrote:
We're three years into watching it in three different
environments and think it's a keeper in well drained sandy soils
where it will have some shade in the hot afternoon.
(Read
the complete article in Michigan Gardener.)
Bovio continues:
I wish some of my regular suppliers carried the gentian
'Marsha'. (One) used to carry it… but I haven't seen it listed
there in many years. I generally like to place multiple-item orders
from my various suppliers, not just order a single item at a time,
but your photo really made me take notice… it reminds me of a true
blue Aconitum!
Dropwort
Next, an old plant new to many. Perhaps its name held it
back?
(Filipendula vulgaris -- meadowsweet or dropwort-- has been one
of our favorites for 30 years.) This lesser known relative of queen
of the prairie has foliage like Boston fern that is nearly
evergreen. In spring it produces 24" stems topped with flat
clusters of white-pink flowers much like Queen Anne's lace. …pretty
all summer and has a constitution tough as nails.
In that article Janet explains that this
Filipendula is hard to find. Bovio, who is like many
perennial growers in starting most of her stock from seed, provides
insight to its rarity:
I will have Filipendula vulgaris again... I had
some germination troubles this year, for some reason. Normally it's
simple to grow -- might have been a poor seed lot. NO ONE offers
this as a bare-root or started plug (so if our seedlings fail,
that's it for that year.)
Coral bells...
...continue big and more numerous each year!
My love of coral bells goes back 35 years, to the moment I saw a
hummingbird at our seed-grown, green leaf, red flowered
Heuchera sanguinea 'Firespray.' Since then… hundreds of
new selections of Heuchera and Heucherella (coral
bells crossed with foam flower) have appeared.
…Some of the new introductions have been pretty faces that didn't
have the vigor to make it in the rough and tumble of a real garden.
…(I'll keep using) the six-year old variety 'Caramel' (amber
colored foliage). It joins 'Obsidian' (purple-black and almost ten
years proven) and 'Stormy Seas' (maroon with pewter overtones
dependable for over 15 years).
Bovio, too, has old favorite coral bells:
Of course we always have Heuchera 'Caramel',
'Obsidian' and 'Stormy Seas.' I totally agree about their
worthiness. Of note to me this year were 'Beaujolais' --
awesome vigor, plus rose pink flowers! 'Circus' had gorgeous
foliage (mint/lemon/white/green) but we have not seen the flowers
yet -- they all sold before they even bloomed! Supposedly RED
flowers!
…'Miracle' has been a steady performer in my garden for
4 years now… it blooms incessantly -- light pink flowers which make
a sort of quirky contrast with the chartreuse leaves. I've had a
single plant of 'Snow Angel in my garden for a decade. It is very
hardy and reliable. I've grown 'Hercules' in the past, but only in
the pots, and it did not do that well, but I do have it on order
again this year because I think it may have been one of the "bad"
years for Heuchera - wet springs always give me fits with
Heuchera!
Above: Close up of Heuchera
'Caramel,' and 'Obsidian' with a dwarf hemlock.
New and improved tall
Sedum
Janet says:
I'm watching and pulling for Sedum 'Autumn Charm.' It's so
beautiful, and upstanding... but I won't commit to it until it
proves itself more stable than other variegated Sedums we've grown
or watched. Those others all lost points for requiring division
nearly every year to remove all-green reversions that would
otherwise and quickly take over.
Bovio agreed:
We DO love Sedum 'Autumn Charm'! I have had
only ONE little stem revert to green over 3 years of growing this.
That did bum me out -- this year was the first reversion I saw, and
it was just one plant and only one weak stem. I am also trying
'Maestro' this year, because 'Black Jack', the once-popular dark
sport of 'Matrona', proved to be very prone to reversion back to
'Matrona'.
Which
mint?
In that Michigan Gardener article,
Janet wrapped up with:
Broad leaf mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)… green-white
bloom reminiscent of bee balm brings nice form, silvery green
foliage and sparkle during bloom time... Like other natives
throughout my wish list, it's hardly "new" but has recently made
new inroads into general garden acceptance.
(Read
the complete article in Michigan Gardener.)
In reply, Bovio exclaimed:
I have been a fan of Pycnanthemum muticum for
years! I always have plants here, but manage to sell only a couple
per year. I am hoping that now that I have planted it in my Native
Garden, people will take notice and start to use it. I first saw
this in gardens in the St. Louis area in the 1980's. It does grow
quickly, like Monarda, but is totally manageable in my
opinion. I just love the sparkly silver effect of the bracts, and
of course the fragrance!
Well, I'm sorry to have rambled on so long, but I couldn't
help but comment, because you chose so many of my already-favorite
plants! - Karen -
Worth the ramble? Continue on!
We didn't mind Bovio's "ramble" -- we'd listen to her advice all
day! In fact, we went beyond what the printed page could accomodate
when we submitted the list Bovio read in Michigan Gardener
magazine, and some plants were cut! Read our additional choices
here.
An aside: Good
to be careful when buying natives.
Broad leaf mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) is
native to much of the eastern U.S., but classified as a threatened
species in Kentucky, Michigan and New York and possibly extirpated
in Maine.
However, respected voices in the wildflower field say, "Garden
cultivation is probably essential in saving some species, just as
zoos are critical to the continuation of some animal
species." So here's a case where you can enjoy a gorgeous,
fragrant "new" plant in your garden while doing a little for the
wider world at the same time.
You can check a species' status at plants.usda.gov
Search its name there to learn if it's native and has special
protection. When shopping for threatened or endangered plants, ask
at the nursery or check a catalog's fine print and buy only from
growers who propagate from their own nursery stock. Don't buy from
nurseries that sell wild-harvested plants.
Photo, above right: Courtesy of and © 2012 to Sunnny
Border Nursery. Sunny Border is a wholesale grower that does not
harvest wild plants. If your local garden center doesn't carry this
lovely plant, steer them to this supplier.