The varieties of new plants that are available to choose from this year suggest so many design possibilities for the outdoor living space. Spring is a time of exciting new introductions, trends and styles.
What is on your wish list? Plants that thrive and survive with a minimum of effort while meeting expectations for colour and performance?
Innovations in plant breeding are resulting each year in new plants that are designed to be more disease-resistant and with longer-lasting blooms or more intriguing foliage in a wider range of colours and textures. At the same time, the size and growth habits of plants are designed to be more suitable for the modern landscape. Translation: more compact, shorter, or skinnier.
Satisfying our appetites and even our lack of patience means we are also investing in plants for their seasonal value with hardiness sometimes a secondary consideration.
Not growing foxglove (digitalis) because some varieties are biennials that don't bloom until the second year or because their appearance can sometimes be marred by pests or disease? New for 2015, Foxglove Ruby Glow promises delicious outward facing raspberry coloured blooms with peachy orange throats all summer long.
The minor fact that this striking 60-centimetre-tall variety is an annual that won't be around for next summer only enhances its value for some gardeners who are in love with the distinctive spikes and bell-shaped blossoms but aren't prepared to fuss with contrariness.
Breeding efforts to develop new plant varieties go beyond satisfying our impatience. Impatiens, for example, one of the most beloved and sometimes overused bedding plants, is at risk of not being available to gardeners in some parts of North America due to the devastating effects of downy mildew, a disease that results in severe defoliation and loss of blooms.
While our area does not have the prolonged high humidity or wet conditions that only exacerbate this condition, we can nevertheless take advantage of a brand-new series of impatiens called Bounce, which has not only been developed for its resistance to downy mildew but will thrive in both shady and part sun areas of the garden.
Apparently, this AAS winner bounces right back, too, after a long day in wind, sun and heat. Just add water!
Tired of the streaky, underperforming cannas that have plagued the market for years since this stately architectural tuberous plant was struck with canna virus disease a decade ago?
The new Canna Cannova series is grown from seed, which means gardeners can start with fresh, disease-free plants. The only caveat is while the Cannova series will develop a tuber, it will be pretty small after only one year.
The emphasis today toward shorter-term but spectacular performance in plants can also be seen in the new XXL Dahlia series. Yes, the dahlia plants are shorter and shrubbier, but the blooms are large and come in a range of bright colours.
Any of these new plants are perfect as bedding plants or for container designs. Rammises Tiodin, owner of Tiodin Softscaping & Design Inc., creates eye candy for his clients that take the thriller, filler, spiller container concept to a whole new level.
Tiodin suggests using the largest container you can find, something with a diameter of 60 to 90 cm, then choosing from trees, shrubs, and evergreens as the focal point with emphasis on their visual impact for a single growing season.
This can mean anything from a gorgeous Japanese Maple tree with its crimson, deeply dissected, finely serrated leaves and loose, elegant form to a tall and skinny birch tree such as Dakota Pinnacle. Or, use a trained and shaped evergreen such as boxwood or the new hardy cone-shaped Picea glauca Conica with its dense, tight foliage for a structured topiary effect.
Tiodin also suggests looking for the most unique plant, perhaps a strange or ugly one, for an interesting look. For example, consider a specimen plant such as weeping Norway spruce with its pendulous evergreen branching or an accent plant such as weeping caragana.
Tiodin says amur maple is gorgeous in a container and provides spring, summer and fall interest with its colourful three-lobed leaves.
Highlight any of these with ornamental grasses such as Karl Foerster, Blue Oat grass or Switch grass, placing one on either side of the focal point in your container. Next, Tiodin says, add three trailing plants such as lotus vine, the venerable potato vine (ipomoea) or maybe a Virginia creeper.
Can a hardy tree or shrub stay in a container over winter? Tiodin doesn't recommend it, nor does he use trees or evergreens for this purpose. He says even hardy plants will struggle to stay alive when containerized for more than a year, becoming root bound and less vigorous over time.
Jan Pedersen, sales representative for Bylands Nurseries, a wholesale supplier to garden centres across Western Canada, says while there is a steady growth in the use of hardy edibles such as cherries, blueberries, etc., there's an even faster rate of growth and interest in non-hardy edibles.
Kale, peppers, arugula, endive, watercress, tomatillos and more are all part of the move toward tastier, healthier food. Pedersen says adding herbs to flower containers gives gardeners a reason to go outside and play.
"It's not just about the ornamental value," says Pedersen, adding there is a whole new dimension that ties in the curiosity and participation of children. It's not just boring flowers; we can eat it, too, and it tastes and smells good.
Pedersen notes while topgrafted trees or tree form versions of shrubs such as lilacs, dogwoods, hydrangea, ninebarks, etc. have been around for some time, growers are seeing a real increase in their use in the landscape.
I've been sold on the value of topgrafts and tree forms for some time and am always looking for more space to install just one more.
Pedersen says Bylands will make espaliered pear, plum and apple trees available in 2016. Costco has beaten them to the punch with a small hardy selection available this year at a price of just under $55. I'm trialing three in my garden this year, perhaps four unless my husband prevents me from overindulging.
Pedersen commends the City of Winnipeg for its adventurous foray last summer into combining tropicals, annuals, and perennials in its downtown containers.
Pedersen loves this trend and has witnessed it for years in annual visits to Chicago where, he says, barriers have been totally knocked down in terms of plant combinations.
Why not, he asks, plant tropical crotons and cotoneaster shrubs together in a container just because they look good together?
Expect tropicals and plants with interesting foliage and texture to play an even stronger role in the garden this year. Carla Hrycyna, co-owner of St. Mary's Garden Centre, says gardeners will have many more options from which to choose.
One of her picks is aglaonema, a tropical houseplant that is taking its place outdoors during the summer months and commanding attention with its showy, oval-shaped leaves with distinctive markings on short stems.
Perhaps the Rex begonia reigns supreme when it comes to dynamic, almost startling, foliage. Looking to transform a shade bed or container? The new Jurassic Rex begonia series is positively ferocious in its bold texture and unique colouring.
Varieties include Pink Shades, Green Streak, fabulous Watermelon that will astound you with its Christmassy red and green foliage, plus Silver Point and Silver Swirl with chocolately patterns beautiful enough to star alone or in combination with other plants.
And if you want fries with that, take a look at St. Mary's new Ketchup 'n Fries tomato plant from Territorial Seed Company that includes a potato plant.
It's exciting and wonderful to contemplate all of the different plant choices. Inspiration, though, can bombard us when we start visiting garden centres.
Making the choices that are right for you translates into the most satisfying experience.
colleenizacharias@gmail.com
Notice:
Harvest Moon Learning Centre will host Permaculture Gardening Day on May 9th. Outdoor gardening workshops start at 10 am and run through until 4:30 pm at 10 - 8th Street in Clearwater. For more details and registration information visitharvestmoonsociety.org.
T
ree Planting & Related Care Workshop, May 16, 10 am, at TreeCare Arborist Services Site, Garson. For further info, contact treelady@mymts.net.
