Denny's Soapbox

2008 New Perennials

Mother Nature continues to wave her magic wand producing exciting new plant varieties. This excitement includes the perennial plant family, a group of flowering plants which starts to grow in the spring, flowers sometime during the growing season and then dies back to the ground in late fall only to return the next growing season and to start the cycle all over again. The perennial family has grown in variety and in color enjoyment with some varieties blooming all summer long. Today I’d like to share with you some perennials that are new this year along with some that are not so new but every landscape should have a little extra room for them also.

New

Campanula ‘Samantha’: Samantha Bell Flower

A premium selection with an abundance of beautiful, fragrant 1 inch upward facing, blue flowers in summer. A small plant for the front of the border, only reaching 5-8 inches. Plant in sun or part sun with well drained soil.

Heuchera villose – Coral Bells: ‘Brownies’, ‘Caramel’, ‘Citronelle’

These new Coral Bells are robust, vigorous growers that are attracting lots of attention because of their increased tolerance of high heat and humidity, their full habit and wide variety of foliage colors.

Sedum reflexum ‘Angelina”: Angelina Sedum

An evergreen trailing variety with golden yellow needle-like foliage that will brighten up containers and beds alike. They prefer well drained soils and drier sites. They grow 3-5 inches tall.

Sedum ‘Voodoo”: A low growing sedum with deep red foliage, almost black, providing a nice color contrast with other perennials. Bright pink flowers that bloom all summer. Only grow 8 inches tall, making a great ground cover for hot dry locations.

Monarda ‘Grand Marshall’ and ‘Grand Parade’

Both are compact growing 12-16 inches and boast very mildew-resistant foliage. Grand Marshall has fuchsia-purple flowers and Grand Parade has lavender-purple flowers. Bred from Morden breeding program in Canada.

Dianthus Dessert Series: ‘Cranberry Ice’, ‘Raspberry Swirl’, ‘Strawberry Sorbet’

These heavy spring bloomers have multi-colored delightful flowers that look good enough to eat on compact foliage.

‘Cranberry Ice’ has fragrant deep magenta flowers with rosy-pink shots.

‘Raspberry Swirl’ has fragrant mahogany flowers with light pink spots.

‘Strawberry Sorbet’ has fragrant pink flowers with spicy-red centers.

Save some room for these

Echinacea – Cone Flower Big Sky Series;

All grow 2 ½ - 3 feet tall and provide mid to late season fragrant blooms on drought tolerant plants.

‘Sundown’ has vivid orange petals surrounding a deep orange cone.

‘Sunrise’ has soft-yellow petals surrounding a green cone that age to gold.

‘Twilight’ has rose-red flowers with a dark red cone

Echinacea ‘Lilliput’: A great dwarf coneflower, reaching 1 ½ feet and heavily blooming rose-purple flowers. Reputed to be a miniature version of ‘Ruby Giant’, perfect for the front of the border or small landscapes.

Brunnera ‘Dawson’s White’: Dark green leaves with wide creamy-white edges and small electric-blue flowers in the spring. Performs best in shade or part shade locations.

Most if not all should be available at all garden centers and greenhouses in our area.