New Plants for 2010, Part 1

Helping to decide which new varieties of perennials to grow each year at my nursery, is one of the most favourite parts of my job. Certainly, there are many to choose from, as each propagator typically has an assortment of new varieties to promote and sell. With a little research, and in some cases, an evaluation of our in-house trials, we come to a decision. Here is a peak of some of the new plants that we will be growing for spring 2010.

There have been many new varieties of Brunnera macrophylla introduced in recent years, typically variations of silvered and/or variegated foliage. New in the last year or two have been a few gold-leaved forms, one of which is 'Diane's Gold', which is purported to maintain its chartreuse foliage into the summer, whereas other similar forms fade to green after the spring. In any case, it will be beautiful with its purple-blue flowers.
















Following on the heels of the popular Bellflowers, Campanula 'Kent Belle' and 'Sarastro' comes this beautiful form called 'Summertime Blues'. It is vigorous and long-blooming, possibly even longer than the others. I'm also expecting the reddish stems to provide some additional, subtle colour and contrast.












































The above was derived from crossing C. punctata and C. trachelium, and will likely have some moderate spreading tendencies, despite claims to the contrary. The picture below shows a 14cm (5") pot after several weeks of growing from a 72 plug -- I'm fairly certain those are some creeping stolons! ;) In any case, I've still planted it into my garden, and expect that it will be a great plant in the right spot.


Finally, for this post, is the new Euphorbia amygdaloides 'Ruby Glow', which has beautiful red-bronze foliage on the new growth. I have always admired the old form called 'Purpurea', but propagation by seed has resulted in variable plants, some with poorly-coloured foliage. This new variety is propagated only by cuttings.



































Thanks to Planthaven, Skagit Gardens, Terra Nova Nurseries and Walters Gardens for use of their photography.

More to come...

MPD, the coolplantsguy