Hot stuff

Perennials have a pretty fervent following, with more fans jumping on the bandwagon every year. This crop offers growers the opportunity to expand sales. Not sure what to try? Check out these new varieties and start a wish list.

Actaea
North Creek Nurseries’ ‘Misty Blue’ is a striking, multi-stemmed woodland perennial with soft, bluish-green, finely cut foliage. Airy white flowers appear until April, followed by vivid, reddish pedicels which produce large, white ‘doll’s eyes’ fruit in fall. 

Allium
‘Rising Star’ from Intrinsic Perennial Gardens is a short pink chive growing to just under 1-foot tall. It features nice gray-green foliage all season long. This full-sun plant should be deadheaded for tidiness and to prevent reseeding. 

Amsonia ‘Spring Sky’
Amsonia
North Creek Nurseries offers ‘Spring Sky’ with a uniform, compact habit, consistent 18-inch stature and exceptional heat and drought tolerance. It produces sky-blue flowers.

Aster
Cultivaris’ Kickin series is available from Plug Connection. Plants have bushy, compact habits and are covered with semi-double flowers. Purple has deep violet-purple flowers with golden centers. Pink Chiffon has perfectly formed intense pink flowers with yellow centers. Carmine Red features vibrant carmine-red flowers with bright-yellow centers. Lavender has soft lavender flowers on compact plants. Mauve has deep mauve-purple flowers with dark golden centers. Silver Pink has silver-pink flowers with dark centers. Lilac Blue has intense violet-blue flowers with dark centers. 

Intrinsic Perennial Gardens’ ‘First Snow’ forms billowing mounds that grow 2 feet or more and are covered with white flowers in October. It has needlelike foliage and prefers full sun and well-drained soils. 

Aubrieta
Proven Winners adds two new varieties to its Madly series. Blue Violet has a deep, rich blue color with long spring flowering and re-bloom in fall. Magenta features a vivid magenta color. 

Carex
Carex ‘Everest’Novalis’ ‘Everest’ variegated Japanese sedge is available through Pacific Plug & Liner. The plant produces fountains of narrow leaves with wide, pure-white variegations that spill over to form compact clumps. This shade-loving plant grows best in partial sun to shade and reaches an average height of 12 inches. 

Coreopsis
‘Golden Dream’ is a dwarf sport of the Blooms of Bressingham variety ‘Crème Brulee’. The smaller ‘Golden Dream’ is long blooming with 1-inch flowers that peak in June and July with lighter flushes well into September. Upright, uniform plants produce mounds of bright- green foliage. It should be treated as a tender perennial since its USDA Hardiness Zone is undetermined. Plants grow to 12 inches tall by 20 inches wide the first year. 

Terra Nova Nurseries introduces three new varieties.

‘Pineapple Pie’ forms a low-growing mound with numerous red-eyed, golden-yellow flowers. ‘Pumpkin Pie’ forms a low-growing mound with numerous red-eyed, pumpkin-orange flowers. Both are free flowering and bloom from early summer to fall. They do great in containers, mixed beds and borders.

‘Fruit Punch’ is an addition to the Punch series. It produces two-toned flowers with a light-pink edge and a red eye. It forms a low mound and is free flowering all summer. Flowers cover the foliage. 

Delphinium
‘Moonlight Blues’ from Dowdeswell’s Delphiniums, available from Walters Gardens, has stunning sky-blue flowers with the slightest hint of pink. The color of the bee ranges from black to brown to blue striped. The foliage tends to be a bit lighter green than others in the series. 

Dianthus
Red Beauty from Darwin Perennials features beautiful red blooms. It is a repeat-flowering variety with a more compact habit. It is great for borders, cottage gardens, rock gardens and edging along walking paths. 

The SuperTrouper series from Selecta fits well into pot, bedding plant and perennial programs. Plants have a good branching, uniform habit, large color range and a nice scent. Butterfly Dark Red adds a brilliant bicolor to the series. Pink evol. and Light Pink evol. are improved for habit. Plants are hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 6. 

PlantHaven has introduced several new D. hybrida.

The Early Bird series has a unique compact habit with repeat blooming and early season, fragrant double flowers. Chili is electric-pink and produces sturdy stems. Radiance is crimson red. Fizzy features light lavender petals with maroon eyes. Frosty is pure white. Sherbert is magenta.

Coconut Surprise produces masses of fragrant, double-white flowers with burgundy-red centers on short stems. It has a blue-green foliage and flowers spring through fall.

The Star series has a compact, mounding habit and blue-green foliage. Starry Night has quiet, hot pink semi-double blooms with a deeper eye, carried on sturdy stems; Twilight Star has semi-double pink blooms with a maroon center carried on sturdy blooms. 

‘Diamond Flash’ from Walters Gardens is a bright-white selection with steel-blue foliage. Each fringed blossom has a perfect magenta, purple kissed, eye. As the flowers age, they take on a pink blush. 

Echinacea PowWow Wild BerryEchinacea
The PowWow series from PanAmerican Seed puts more flowers on every plant than any other seed echinacea, whether grown for first-year spring sales or as a traditional overwintered perennial. All-America Selections winner Wild Berry has unique, intense rose flowers with a dark-rose center. It is faster to flower and genetically shorter, making it easy to grow, ship on racks, and sell. No growth regulators are needed to maintain plant height in quart or gallon containers. 

‘Mistral’ is a floriferous, compact coneflower introduced by Blooms of Bressingham from Dutch grower Ad Kempen.
A sport of the popular ‘Kim’s Knee High,’ this variety is shorter, faster growing and has more flowers (up to 80 in the second year). Covered in pink blooms from July to September, its petals are less prone to flop over the flowering period and it branches extremely well. It can be used in border plantings and rock gardens and also in containers in sunny locations. Plants grow 18-20 inches tall by 12 inches wide in two years and are hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones 5-6. 

‘Showoff’ from Intrinsic Perennial Gardens is a seed strain selected for extra wide and drooping petals along with showier orange cones. This flower form stands out at a distance especially compared with the newer-upright petal forms. This long-blooming variety prefers full sun and well-drained soil. 

In honor of the 25th anniversary of its Magnus series, Jelitto Perennial Seeds adds ‘Magnus Superior.’ It is intense carmine-red in color with darker flowers and stem color, plus more consistent growth. It has an upright growth habit reaching up to 40 inches tall. 

‘Mama Mia’ from Terra Nova Nurseries has very large flowers which change from red to orange to coral and finally pink. It has a big habit and long bloom time from summer to fall. Plants reach 26 inches tall. 

Heuchera
With the largest leaves and the largest blooms of any heuchera on the market, the Big Top series from Darwin Perennials features robust, tetraploid varieties that form massive mounds with sprays of cream flowers from April to May. Leaves are up to 8 inches in size. Varieties include Bronze, Burgundy and Gold. 

Danziger’s new Kira series has a mounded habit, a wide range of leaf colors and excellent heat- and drought-tolerance. Green Forest has deep, dark- green veins that stand out through the silvery-grey overlay on the leaves with green, silver and wine-red undersides. Autumn Leaves has foliage with warm and inviting tones of peach, apricot and coppery-red undersides. Jungle Green leaves have green veins and a green, silver and burgundy-red underside. Temperate Green sports ever-fresh green veins that stand out through silvery-grey overlay on the leaves.
Tiaga Green features dramatic orange-red young leaves. As the leaves mature, they turn greener. Rain Forest has beautiful purple-red young leaves with stand-out green veins at maturation. Sunset Green features dazzling foliage color in shades of red, orange and green with purple undersides. 

‘Berry Marmalade’ from Terra Nova Nurseries has purple-black, ruffled leaves that are thick and can withstand  intense heat. It grows up to 12 inches tall with a foliage spread of 28 inches and a flower height of 18 inches. 

Hibiscus ‘Small Wonder’Hibiscus
Fleming’s Flower Fields introduces its Fleming Dwarf series. These hybrids reach 2½- to 3-feet tall and require no growth regulators. They are hardy to -30°F and bloom from top to bottom of the plants. ‘Copper Queen’ has 11-inch white flowers with heavy red streaking and dark-red, ovate leaves. ‘Little Prince’ has 10-inch lavender flowers with pink petal edges and green leaves. ‘Kui Nuku’ means little one in Hawaiian. It has 11-inch lavender-mauve flowers and dark purple leaves. ‘Small Wonder’ features 10-inch white and pink flowers with red and pink streaks and markings covering the petals front and back. It has small, black-purple leaves. ‘New Old Yella’ has 10-inch creamy yellow flowers and small green leaves. ‘Pink Comet’ features 10- to 11-inch white/pink flowers with bright-red and pink markings on both sides of the flowers and small, shiny green leaves. ‘Satellite’ stands 1½- to 2½ feet tall and features 9- to 10-inch shiny magenta flowers with tiny purple leaves. 

Hosta
Walters Gardens’ ‘American Hero’ is a tough, durable hosta with wide, dark-green margins and a creamy white to pure white center speckled with green. The thick leaves form a very dense clump with lavender flowers. A portion of the proceeds of each plant sold will be donated to Project EverGreen, a national non-profit organization that supports members of the U.S. armed forces and their families. 

Iberis
Golden Candy from Darwin Perennials has pure-white flowers atop vibrant chartreuse foliage. It grows 9- to 12-inches tall and is often seen cascading over rocks and walls or used as a groundcover. 

Absolutely Amethyst from Proven Winners is a completely new color. Plants flower in late April to May. It grows 10-12 inches tall and 10-14 inches wide. It is hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 4. 

Lobelia
Plants Nouveau offers ‘Fried Green Tomatoes,’ a vigorous, extremely winter hardy selection. Dozens of tomato-red blooms appear in late July, transforming it into a hummingbird magnet. Newly planted plants produce 25 to 30 blooming stems. 

Darwin Perennials’ dwarf Phlox paniculata Top Shelf series has exceptional mildew tolerance and stronger flowers, meaning longer shelf life and better shipability. Plants have strong, compact stems topped with numerous flower clusters densely packed with florets of overlapping petals up to 1½ inches in diameter. Red Caribbean has pink striped petals and a bright red center. 

P. paniculata Early Start series contains new inter-specific hybrids bred in the Netherlands and offered as liners from Pacific Plug & Liner. Three colors are available: Pink, Light Pink and Velvet. The compact plants reach 8-12 inches tall. The densely branched plants bloom four to six weeks earlier than traditional paniculata types. Plants are hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 5 and do best in full sun. 

Walters Gardens’  ‘Shockwave’ has large clusters of lavender pink flowers with white starburst centers. From spring into early summer, the leaves are deep green with prominent, sunny-yellow margins that lighten to creamy yellow. 

Rose
Greenheart Farms adds Patron to its My Bouquet program. Patron grows 24- to 36-inches tall and 18- to 24-inches wide. It has a nice rounded habit. It produces slightly fragrant, bright-red flowers with 40 petals and a 3-inch diameter when fully opened.

Boogie Woogie has been added to Greenheart’s Table to Garden program. It features bright red-orange flowers with yellow reverse, 35-40 petals and a 2½-inch diameter when fully open. 

Veronica Inspire Pink
Veronica
Plants in the Inspire series, available from Pacific Plug & Liner, are tidy and covered with flowers from late spring through summer. Plants form a nice groundcover over time, flowering 8- to 10-inches above tightly held foliage. The colors in the Inspire veronica  series are Blue and Pink. 

‘Hocus Pocus’ from Walters Gardens has long, violet-purple wands of color, showy flowers, a uniform habit and clean foliage. It grows 16- to 20-inches tall.