When it comes to plants, people today want it all.
Tons of color. Interesting foliage. Disease resistance.
If a plant is low maintenance and compact enough to fit in a patio container, all the better.
Visit a nursery or thumb through a seed catalog this spring, and you’ll see plenty of plants aimed at consumers who want an attractive landscape with as little work as possible.
“People want plants that are easier to care for and don’t take too much time because nobody has any time,” said Steve Smith, owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville.
Many of his customers are young couples with new homes. They may not have lots of time for gardening, but they want to create a pleasant outdoor space for entertaining. They’re more likely to snap up preplanted containers, enjoy them for a month or two, and toss. That’s horrifying to hard-core gardeners, Smith said, but that’s the reality.
Nationally, nursery trade journals predict more sustainable, Earth-friendly products will be in demand. Smith doesn’t see that trend trickling down to Snohomish County in a widespread way yet, but his nursery is offering a line of natural and organic garden products. Gardeners may see more plants in eco pots made of biodegradable materials, rather than plastic, he said.
Many companies are offering landscape shrub roses as an alternative to labor-intensive hybrid teas, and one of Smith’s favorites is a Monrovia offering called Lady Elsie May. The plant offers superb disease resistance, glossy foliage and attractive roselike flowers. He also recommended the beauty bush Dream Catcher, a shrub with golden-orange foliage and dainty pink blooms; the Cityline hydrangea series, which grows to about 2 or 3 feet, smaller than a standard hydrangea; and the Chiffon series hardy hibiscus.
Nurseries, including Sunnyside, will continue to offer plenty of plants that are compact enough to fit into a city-sized yard or a patio container. Smith expects Libertia Goldfinger, which looks like a miniature New Zealand flax with golden stripes, to be a hot seller. It’s a perfect container plant, he said.
At Christianson’s Nursery and Greenhouse in Mount Vernon, customers are asking for clumping bamboo for containers, said Eric Andrews, a sales associate. In the past, people have been scared off by running bamboo’s reputation for doing just what the name suggests. Clumping bamboo, in contrast, stays where it’s planted, he said.
“People are finally realizing clumping bamboos can behave,” he said. “They want a screen but they don’t want a boxwood or a laurel.”
Striking newcomers at Christianson’s include the gaillardia Commotion series. These hybrid perennials come in hot colors and the fluted petals give the gaillardias Frenzy and Tizzy a three-dimensional appearance, Andrews said.
He also suggested the euphorbia Glacier Blue, a hardy plant with blue-green foliage with creamy edges. This cultivar is an improvement on another euphorbia called Tasmanian Tiger. Glacier Blue seems to grow faster and look fuller and healthier, he said.
Foremost, people want attractive plants that will perform in the landscape, said Andrew Proud, a new plants manager for Monrovia. The wholesale nursery with headquarters in Azusa, Calif., provides more than 2,200 varieties of plants to 5,000 garden centers nationwide. At the company’s five nurseries across the country, they also test potential new plants for improved traits such as disease resistance. Monrovia is offering a new carpet rose perfect for ground covers, for instance, that resists fungal diseases without the chemical cocktail.
Proud suggested the hybrid clematis Cezanne and Parisienne both bred to perform well in containers; the hosta Aphrodite, which offers crisp white blooms and a sweet fragrance, an unusual quality in a hosta; and a hardy eucalyptus called Neglecta. Neglecta is becoming one of the company’s best-selling eucalyptus, maybe because its name sounds so easy-care. It sports blue-green leaves at maturity and brown peeling bark. This tree will need some room to grow — it reaches to at least 30 feet.
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com
Each year All-America Selections, made up of a network of independent judges, tests new cultivars and chooses the very best to recommend to gardeners.
For 2008 the organization selected just three winners:
Cape daisy Asti White: This bedding plant features pure white flowers with blue centers. The plant is drought tolerant and, unlike other daisy flowers from South Africa, these flowers remain open under cloudy conditions. They reach about 20 inches in height.
Viola Skippy XL Plum-Gold: This cool season bedding plant features flowers in plum shades with gold centers. The name doesn’t refer to the size of the blooms, which are small at less than 2 inches, but to the plant’s ability to bloom profusely.
Eggplant Hansel: This miniature eggplant produces finger-sized clusters of fruit. The plants mature early at about 55 days after transplanting and if gardeners leave the eggplants on to grow larger, it remains tender, not bitter, which gives some flexibility for harvesting. The plants do fine in containers too.
For more information: www.all-americaselections.org.
Each year All-America Rose Selections, a nonprofit organization, identifies the best roses for gardens across the country based on factors such as how easy a rose is to grow, disease resistance, vigor and fragrance. This year two made the cut:
Dream Come True (above): This rose produces yellow blossoms with rub-red tips on long stems. The plant is big, bushy and vigorous plant yields blooms with a mile tea fragrance.
Mardi Gras (top): This rose offers bloom in a blend of pink, orange and yellow that give off a peppery scent. The hybrid tea style bloom begins as an apricot-orange bud that slowly spiral open to reveal a 4=-inch bright pink and orange bloom with a yellow base. Very easy care.
Now is the time to sift through seed catalogs and plan this year’s flower and vegetable garden.
Growing seeds from scratch makes sense for even novice gardeners. Nothing beats the flavor and freshness of homegrown, and it’s hard to beat the cost of growing your own annuals. Seed companies provide variety, allowing the cook to grow vegetables and herbs that might cost a premium or aren’t available in the supermarket.
Companies popular with Northwest gardeners include Ed Hume Seeds, Nichols Garden Nursery, Territorial Seed Co., West Coast Seeds and VanDusen Botanical Garden Seed Savers.
Territorial Seed, based in Cottage Grove, Ore., tests every variety in its catalog and introduces new varieties that offer something different or outperforms existing types, said Josh Kirschenbaum, who works in product development. This year the company offers dozens of new seeds and plants.
Of the new varieties, he praised a pepper called Ancho Magnifico. It’s listed as a hot pepper in the catalog, but Kirschenbaum said he it doesn’t have too much heat. What it does offer is a robust flavor that’s delicious roasted.
Another winner is a chocolate cherry tomato named for a swirling port wine color inside and a complex flavor.
The company is known for its selection of greens, and Kirschenbaum suggested Marshall, a dark-red romaine that doesn’t bolt quickly and holds its flavor well; a frilly leaf red chidori kale that does double duty as an ornamental in a container and as an edible; and a wild argula with a peppery flavor.
Another new offering, pearl cucumber, is a novelty white cucumber that stays crisp even when it’s grown up to slicing size.
Territorial also is offering an apple tree, called Sentinel, that can be grown in a container. Sentinel grows in a columnar shape and its growth slows at about 12 feet, he said.
For flowers, Kirschenbaum recommends a mixture of striped dahlias from seed; Aztec Sunset zinnias, which are so bright they look nearly neon; and an echinacea called Coconut Lime, a double flowered plant with creamy petals and a lime center.
Reporter Debra Smith:
425-339-3197 or
dsmith@heraldnet.com
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