New Plants

Here are some new items that we are excited about for 2008:

Hostas: It’s been said that the one who dies with the most hostas wins. We aren’t trying for that. After all, we discontinue about as many varieties as we take on each year. But it may explain our long addiction to new hostas. At last count, we have 37 new varieties of hostas this year, and I know I’ve order in some more since our list was published. A show stopper that we got in late last year is ‘Lakeside Love Affair’. Its beautiful, tricolor leaves are white with wide, dark green margins and lime green midribs, forming a flaring, upright mound.

‘Barbara Ann’ is a stunning sport of sieboldiana ‘Elegans’ from Great Britain, with blue-green foliage and creamy white margins. ‘Dragon Tails’ is a fast growing dwarf clump of narrow, upright, yellow foliage with wonderful, wavy margins. ‘Heat Wave’ is an improved sport of ‘Bright Lights’, featuring gold foliage with wide, blue margins and thick, puckered texture. ‘Ivory Coast’ is a smaller sport of ‘Sagae’ with broader, rippled leaf margins. Though smaller than ‘Sagae’, it is still a large clump of gray-green leaves with yellow margins, turning creamy in summer.

Two other large hostas are ‘Miss Tokyo’, the largest and most majestic of all of Hideko Gowen’s introductions, featuring large, dark green leaves with wide, creamy margins; and ‘Queen of the Seas’, a large clump of big, blue, pointed leaves with piecrust margins from the late, great hybridizer, Mildred Seaver.

Daylilies: New daylilies include ‘Garden Symphony’ (Reckamp/Klehm). Brother Charles called this his symphony of pleasant garden colors—a pastel blend with soft peach and pink overtones, a nice green throat and the flower form that he preferred, one that faces the viewer. ‘Golden Tycoon’ (Klehm) is a shockingly bright golden orange self with tightly ruffled petals. It’s a late bloomer with large flowers.

Grasses: Miscanthus ‘Super Stripe’ is a Porcupine Grass that is touted as being showier than ‘Strictus’, with its horizontal bands of gold more tightly spaced. The tawny plumes stand up to 7’ tall in early fall. Panicum ‘Thundercloud’ is a very large variety with strongly upright foliage that remains standing through the winter. Foliage is bluish-green during the growing season, and the pinkish plumes go 7’-8’ tall.

Pennisetum ‘Piglet’ is the perfect size of fountain grass. At 18”, it is taller than ‘Little Bunny’ and shorter than ‘Hameln’. A couple of selections of prairie grasses sound interesting. Schizachyrium ‘Prairie Blues’ is a Little Blue Stem with improved, brighter gray-blue foliage and red-orange fall color, standing 3’ tall. Sorghastrium ‘Sioux Blue’ is a blue form of Indian Grass with yellow fall color, growing up to 6’ tall.

Perennials: We have around 80 new varieties of perennials, not counting hostas, daylilies or grasses. As usual, there are several new Heucheras, including ‘Blackout’, a nearly jet-black color; ‘Citronelle’, with bright lemon yellow foliage and good heat and sun tolerance; and ‘Midnight Rose’, with dark purple foliage variegated with bright fuchsia pink spots and flecks.

Lamium ‘Ghost’ is a good ground cover for shady areas. At 10-14”, it stands a little taller than some other varieties of Lamium. The all silver leaves are topped with clusters of large, bright orchid purple flowers in spring, making for an eye-catching contrast. Also good in the shade is Ligularia ‘Osiris Fanaisie’, a dwarf form standing around 24” tall. It has the same dark green foliage with burgundy undersides and bright gold flowers of the larger varieties, but this new compact form will fit into more gardens.

Veronica ‘Foxy Lady’ is the first bicolor veronica. Its dwarf habit features bright fuchsia pink and white candy-striped flowers over a long bloom period. Two new Shasta Daisies feature yellow in the flowers. Leucanthemum ‘Gold Rush’ is a fun two-toned, large-flowered daisy with fringed white outer petals and frilly yellow inner petals. It has short, 14-inch stems that do not require staking. Leucanthemum ‘Sonnenschein’ has pale lemon-yellow daisies with large golden-yellow centers. The large blossoms stand 36” tall.

Trees and Shrubs: Two new Hydrangeas have some great pink color. Both are paniculata types, which tend to be very hardy. ‘Pinky Winky’ has large, two-toned flower heads that start white and turn pink, but continue to push new white flowers from the top of the blossoms. ‘Quick Fire’ blooms very early, in late May or early June, with blooms that turn to bright pink. Speaking of Hydrangeas, there is also a great new Hydrangea vine called ‘Mirranda’, with gold-margined foliage.

Two new Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) trees are of note. ‘Peve Minaret’ is a miniature, standing only 8’ tall, with soft, rich green foliage that begs to be touched. ‘Cascade Falls’ is a weeping form from New Zealand. It grows to 10’ and cascades in sprays of soft green foliage.

Betula nigra ‘Little King’ is a dwarf selection of river birch with cinnamon and cream exfoliating bark—perfect for smaller gardens or areas where you don’t have room for a full sized birch.

Printable 2008 New Plants Price List

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