When the Great Plant Picks program announced its first picks in 2001, there were only 15.
Today the local nonprofit plant-recommendation program for home gardeners is in its ninth year, offering 105 picks for 2009.
Nearly a decade of evaluating plants in gardens west of the Cascades has yielded a list of nearly 700, all backed by a panel of horticulture experts.
All the plants, meant to offer a comprehensive and lasting palette for Northwest gardeners, are expected to perform without much fuss and without getting too aggressive.
No annuals are allowed on the list because they would need to be replanted every year. Plants also must be available for sale somewhere in the region.
Gardeners can celebrate the debut of the 2009 picks at The Northwest Flower &Garden Show, which continues today through Sunday.
People who stop by the Great Plant Picks booth can nab free colorful posters featuring the 2009 selections as well as free 6-by-9-inch cards featuring the images on one side and the 2009 list of plants on the other.
Those cards, new this year, are an effort save money and to drive gardeners to Great Plant Picks’ expanding online plant database, said program manager Lynne Thompson.
“The idea of the card is that people will hang it near their computer work space and be reminded to visit our Web site,” Thompson said.
The 2009 list consists of 59 new perennials and bulbs, 33 shrubs and vines, and 13 trees and conifers. Many of the new picks are collections of plants from the same genus.
Among the perennials and bulbs, for example, there are multiple cobra lilies, campanulas, holly ferns, echinaceas, euphorbias, miniature daffodils, toad lilies, nine varieties of hardy geranium and 13 sedums.
In the shrubs category, there are three cotoneasters, three yuccas and eight evergreen azaleas.
Thompson’s favorite plants from the 2009 list are in the perennials and bulbs category. That includes the five new cobra lilies, also known as arisaema or, more commonly, jack-in-the-pulpit, because of their hoodlike flowers (pulpits) that shelter dramatic internal flower parts (jacks).
One variety, arisaema ringens, features tropical-looking glossy-green leaves and a striped purple cobralike flower. Another, arisaema sikokianum, has a striking marshmallow-white center.
It’s enough to make even passive gardeners die-hard collectors, Thompson said, adding: “You’ve been warned.”
Gardeners will also find three miniature daffodils on the 2009 list, including February Gold, Jack Snipe and Tete-a-tete. The latter grows to only 6 inches tall and produces three golden blooms per stem.
“They are so tiny and sweet,” Thompson said. “At the Miller garden, we have Tete-a-tete planted in drifts along the edges of pathways. They are just darling. They also work beautifully in late-winter containers.”
The Miller Garden is at the estate of Elisabeth Carey Miller in Shoreline, where the Great Plant Picks program is based. Miller, an avid gardener who died in 1994, also helped found the Northwest Horticultural Society in 1966 with a mission of education and inspiration.
That’s why the society’s booth at the show will feature 21 containers planted exclusively with Great Plant Picks, a quaint convergence of Miller’s legacies, said board member Nita Jo Rountree.
“It all actually began with her,” Rountree said of Elisabeth Miller. “She is the one who left her entire garden to the horticulture community.”
Plants in the horticultural society’s booth containers, including three Little Gem magnolia trees, will come mostly from previous years’ picks, though the newly added Tete-a-tete daffodils will be in bloom in at least some of the pots.
Mixing Great Plant Picks in a container display makes perfect sense, especially with so many options, Rountree said.
“They make beautiful combinations with each other,” Rountree said. “You’re also getting design ideas as well as learning about plants that are almost foolproof for our area.”
Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com
Northwest Flower &Garden Show
The show continues through Sunday at the Washington State Convention &Trade Center in Seattle. Admission at the door is $20. For more information, go to www.gardenshow.com or call 206-789-5333.
The show features 26 full-scale display gardens, more than 100 free seminars by experts and 300 exhibitors.
The Great Plant Picks booth offers free posters and cards featuring the 2009 picks. Search a database of nearly 700 plants at www.greatplantpicks.org or call 206-362-8612 with questions.
The Northwest Horticultural Society booth features container gardens designed exclusively with Great Plant Picks, as well as free 20-minute design consultations with well-known local garden experts, including Marty Wingate, Wendy Welch and Phil Wood. Sign up for a one-on-one consultation at the show. Go to www.northwesthort.org or call 206-780-8172 for more information.
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