News

May 04, 2023

New garden plants for 2019 deliver on color, ease of care, eco

It may still be chilly and dreary outside, but spring has officially arrived.

It may still be chilly and dreary outside, but spring has officially arrived.

What a joy it soon will be to step outside and stand in the sun, to open our windows and let mild breezes waft in, and to see our gardens begin to sprout.

Although temperatures soon may seem mild enough to plant new flowers, it's still a bit early for us Wisconsinites to get digging. Because snow has been known to fall as late as early May, it's typically best to wait until after Memorial Day.

But you can start planning now what you want to add to your gardens.

As in past years, the list of new plants introduced this year from growers and distributors is impressive. And there's plenty for whatever gardeners are looking for.

Karin Walters, marketing manager at Walters Gardens, said her firm has about 80 new plants this year and that perennials that are tried-and-true or unique in some way are trending, especially with younger gardeners.

Walters Gardens is a wholesale grower in Zeeland, Mich. The grower doesn't provide plants directly to the public; however, the firm's website shows where its plants are available.

"Millennials are really into plants that are easy to grow and plants they feel they can't kill," she said. "It's their gateway to gardening. … In talking to people my age (in their 30s), I’m hearing that they are starting to buy or build houses and that they have no confidence in gardening, so they want plants they feel comfortable buying.

Plants that are a perfect fit for these buyers include new hibiscus and heuchera.

The new Hibiscus Summerific Holy Grail, for example, has large red flowers and black leaves.

"So if you want rich dark colors in your garden, this is the one," Walters said. She added that this plant's flowers are enormous at 8 to 9 inches across. An added bonus is that once the flowers are finished, bright green calyxes starkly contrast with the dark foliage. You'll want to use these in an area with consistent moisture as a focal point to build your garden around, she advised.

Similarly, Hibiscus Evening Rose, part of Walters’ Summerific Collection that will be available in 2020, has big hot pink, puckered flowers and nearly black foliage. The flowers cover a round, dense habit from top to bottom; the plant gets 4 feet tall and 4 ½ to 5 feet wide.

"I have two hibiscuses in my yard (that have similar attributes), and people always ask me what the flowers are," Walters said. "They are photographable, and people share them on social media … on Instagram and Facebook. At my house you can see them from the road, and people have driven in off the highway to ask me about them."

Cherry Truffles Heuchera is a new release in the Dolce series. It's an improvement on Cinnamon Curls (also in the Dolce Series), Walters said, as it is more vigorous in the garden and has better overwintering success. "Heucheras are still massively popular for us because you can grow them like annuals in combination containers and they look great all year long," she said.

Amy Kolden, sales development coach with Monrovia, a firm that sells trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals to nurseries throughout the U.S. and is headquartered in Azusa, Calif., said that she, too, is seeing an interest in easy-to-grow plants by millennials new to gardening. Her company both sells to consumers through its website and delivers plants to nearby garden centers. This year Monrovia introduced 123 new plants.

"I attended the Garden Center Executive Summit in Denver recently," Kolden said. "It included a group of owners of some of the top garden centers in the U.S." They told her that baby boomers are still their biggest customers, but millennials are coming on board.

These new buyers are "building new homes and are really interested in gardening but they are connecting with us through avenues our customers haven't used before. They are going online and are reading about flowers and how much fun plants are," she said.

"Most of them aren't going to garden centers, they are engaging online. They don't want to do a lot of work in their gardens — they want to have fun.

"They want smaller varieties that they don't have to prune or deadhead and plants they don't have to spray," said Kolden, who lives and gardens in Viroqua. "They want plants that have lots of flowers that rebloom. They’re a really fun group to deal with."

She said one of the most popular new plants for this set is a helianthus in the SunBelievable Collection called Brown Eyed Girl.

"It's a sunflower that is an annual, but it's super power-packed," she said. "It's a bushy plant that doesn't produce seeds, so what it does is produce lots of flowers. It keeps blooming and produces over 1,000 flowers on a plant.

"The flower is a pretty yellow with a reddish brown color close to the eye and a large brown eye."

Fire Island, which is part of the Seaside Serenade Collection of hydrangea, is another plant to check out, said Kolden.

"What's great about this plant is that its petals are frilly," she said. "It has white petals edged in red, so it's a bicolored plant and it's a repeat bloomer. It quickly reaches about 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide and can be planted in part sun."

She added that it also has robust, dark green, leathery foliage that is a maroon color in spring and fall. This compact mophead variety is perfect for planting en masse and in pots and for cut flowers due to its tough stems.

Jeanine Standard, who heads media and public relations at Proven Winners, said she is seeing consumers — especially new gardeners — looking for plants that can be planted in shade, attract wildlife, are smaller in stature and are chemical-free.

Proven Winners is a cooperative that works with breeders around the world to bring annuals, perennials and flowering shrubs to North America.

"We study trends closely so we can address these different options when we are breeding plants," Standard said. "A lot of people seem to be interested in flowers for shade, so we have a lot of annuals that grow in sun and shade. This is a nice way for beginning gardeners to start out.

"People also want plants in their backyards to do more. They don't just want them to be beautiful. They want them to provide a sanctuary for birds, bees and butterflies.

"We’ve also taken many of our flowering shrubs and reduced them in size because not everyone has the space," she continued. "It's a lot easier for beginners to envision working with smaller plants, and people also have smaller beds and landscapes."

Standard added that the use of chemicals in plants is an issue that's important to gardeners of all ages but especially so to younger audiences.

"They are interested in preservatives in food, so this extends to their plants. We often have people ask us if our plants are chemically altered in the breeding process," and of course, they are not, she said.

New annuals that she said gardeners should look for include a snapdragon, a polka dot plant and a petunia.

"Snapdragon Angelface Cascade comes in blue, pink and white and is a great plant for any garden because it's heat- and drought-tolerant, and easy to care for. We have a lot of people who grow flowers in containers, and this is a fun flower for that. It's scented and has nice bright colors."

She added that the cascading habit of this plant is suited for hanging baskets and combinations as they have height on the top but then cascade over the edge of a basket or pot. It also has blooms continuously and deadheading is not needed.

"Two new polka-dot plants are Hippo White and Hippo Pink, and they round out the Hippo series. These plants will grow in sun or shade. I had white last year under a tree, and it was really a bright burst of color in the shade. Some get up to 20 inches high, and they are very robust. You can even bring them inside and overwinter them." She said these new plants are also heat tolerant and do not need deadheading.

Standard said Supertuna Vista Paradise Petunias in Pink is a vigorous new petunia with dark pink petals that works well in very large containers but can also be used in the landscape.

"Each plant will typically get 4 by 4 feet. I’ve even seen them grow higher. It's a lot of bang for your buck," she said.

Stephan Winterfeldt, senior horticulturist at Wayside Gardens and Park Seed, which are both online stores in Hodges, S.C., said he's also seeing interest in unique plants that are easy to grow and that last in the garden for years, plus new varieties of seeds, especially those that are chemical-free.

"Gardeners want their landscapes to look different from their neighbors’," he said. "What's trending now are perennials because they come back every year and are a huge cost savings. Perennials can last for years, so you get your money's worth and they are lower maintenance.

"Many of our customers are buying condos, and they have balconies and want to use containers. You can have beautiful little container gardens with perennials. You can plant little rose bushes and climbing vines. The door is open.

"We also have a lot of customers who grow all their flowers and vegetables from seeds. They enjoy doing this, as they love to watch their plants germinate. It gives them a lot of enjoyment in winter when it's cold and snowy" and it also saves them money, he added.

Winterfeldt said these consumers also want to use seeds that are free from chemicals and GMOs.

"Consumers are becoming more and more environmentally tuned," he said and added that they often call and ask if seeds are chemically treated. At his firm no seeds are treated, he said.

A new perennial at Wayside Gardens "people are going crazy over" is Nepeta Cat's Pajamas, he said.

"It's an all-around beautiful and tough perennial that has dark blue to light purple blooms that look like small spires," he said. "It's more compact at 12 to 14 inches tall and 18 to 20 wide.

"It booms from late spring to late summer, is wonderful for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds, it's easy to care for, is very cold-hardy, drought- and heat-tolerant, and can be planted in full sun to part shade, which is really good for a lot of people."

Another plant he suggests is an iris called Swans in Flight.

"It's a plant with gorgeous white blooms, and it blooms in early summer," he said. "Hummingbirds love it, it's deer-resistant, good for sun and part shade and is cold-hardy. It's also very low-maintenance, can get nearly 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide and is good in sun or part shade. (Because it's an iris), you will get more plants over time, as it will multiply."

For those looking for new varieties from seeds, Winterfeldt suggests Purple Boy Tomato and Super Hero Spry Marigold.

"Purple Boy Tomato is a very robust, heavy-yielding plant that has reddish purple fruit that matures in 80 days," he said. "It's disease-resistant and has a wonderful heirloom tomato taste."

The plant keeps bearing fruit from spring to frost, and its fruit weighs 10 to 16 ounces.

"If you planted a 25-foot row of these tomatoes, you could get up to about 60 pounds of tomatoes," he said. The plant gets 4 to 6 feet tall and can be pruned to get larger fruit.

Super Hero Spry Marigold is an annual that gives "brilliant" multicolored flowers that are large and pom-pom-shaped. Colors are burgundy and gold, and blooms are 2 inches across. The plants get 10 to 12 inches high and wide.

As marigolds, the plants are easy to direct-sow or start inside, he said. The plant is also good for hummingbirds, it matures quickly, it blooms through summer and into fall, and it was an All-American Selection Winner in 2018.

David Salman, chief horticulturist for High Country Gardens, which is the mail-order division of Santa Fe Greenhouses in Santa Fe, N.M., said plants that should appeal to any Wisconsin gardener this season include a lavender and two mints.

"Our 2019 Plant of the Year is FlowerKisser After Midnight English Lavender, which is an exclusive introduction I bred. Its unique aspect is its color. It has stunning, dark-colored flower spikes with deep indigo-blue calyxes and large violet-purple flowers and stands apart from other lavender varieties," he said and added that this plant is a medium-sized English lavender with gray-green foliage that blooms in late spring/early summer and attracts bees and butterflies.

"New mint plants that are part of the Kudos series are Kudos Mandarin, Kudos Gold, and Kudos Ambrosia, and they are a fabulous plant for attracting hummingbirds. They were also grown in Oregon to tolerate Midwest weather conditions.

"The ambrosia has orange and pink flowers on the same spike. This plant isn't like the herbal mint. It's nicely compact with a taproot so it doesn't spread. It has a very minty scent, and some people use the leaves as tea, but it's primarily an ornamental. I like to plant them along a sidewalk or pathway so that when I walk buy I can brush it with my hand or leg to release their minty aromatic scent. It also brings pollinators up close. If there are hummingbirds in the area, they will find this Agastache, as it's their primary pollinator."

"Nepeta Walker's Deep Blue is a cat mint that is a variation of the very popular mint plant called Walker's Low, but this new plant has a much darker blue flower. It's well behaved in the garden and it won't reseed. It's a super companion plant with other perennials; it grows in any type of soil, loves hot and sunny weather, and attracts hummingbirds."

Here are more new plants to consider using this summer.

"Anemone Fall in Love Sweetly fills the need for late-season interest because while your garden had been busy all year, it's very common for nothing to look very good in late August except for maybe grasses and Sedum," said Walters. "Before you run out and get mums to add color, look at this this fall blooming Anemone as it will give you that burst of color your garden craves." (Walters Gardens)

Salvia Perfect Profusion is good for home gardeners, she said, "because the complaint with perennials is that they don't bloom for very long. Salvia very often rebloom when cut back, but this plant especially has been displaying awesome rebloom. Pretty much every time you cut it back, it reflushes. We’ve noticed three to four reblooms." (Walters Gardens)

Orange Delight Heuchera is part of the Sirens’ Sun Series and has pretty orange and peach-colored leaves. What makes this perennial different is that the flowers themselves are big and on short stalks. They’re not flowers you are going to want cut off; you’ll want to enjoy them in your garden. Plants get 18 inches tall and 15 inches wide; blooms from late spring to summer. (Monrovia)

Spicy Lime Foamy Bells is a Heucherella with small maple leaf-shaped leaves and a nice tidy habit that gets just 12 by 12. This perennial has bright lime green foliage with deep red, splotched veins and red stems. Low-maintenance and trouble-free, with improved rust and disease resistance. Because of its stunning color, it's good for edging and mixed containers. Because it has larger flowers and shorter stalks, you won't want to cut them off. (Monrovia)

Little Joker Ninebark is a dwarf shrub that gets only 3 to 4 feet tall. It has little purple cut leaves and gets pink button flowers that provide beautiful contrast. While other ninebarks grow straight up and down, this plant is more vase shaped. It has mildew resistant foliage. (Monrovia)

King's Crown Shasta Daisy has flowers that have a pincushion look with lots of big double frilly petals, and a big yellow center. The flower comes out yellow but gets white, so as new flowers emerge you have different colors on one plant. This perennial gets 18 inches tall and wide. Good for borders, containers, cutting gardens, mass plantings, rock gardens and small spaces. (Monrovia)

Truffula Pink Globe Amaranth is an annual that adds a lot of height and gives a great pop of color with hot pink flowers and green foliage. It's a pollinator, with a perfectly balanced habit that shows off a plethora of flowers. It has performed very well in hot, humid climates where it blooms all season long but doesn't need deadheading. It is an ideal cut-flower with long vase life. (Proven Winners)

Rockin Fuchsia Salvia has a new coloration in blooms for a salvia with its fuchsia and black flowers and foliage that ranges from green to dark green. This annual is a little smaller than some of other salvias in the Rockin line as it gets about 3 feet tall.

It fills containers easily, blooms all summer, attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds and is deer-resistant. You can trim this plant to keep the shape or size where you want it, and it will branch out and become even thicker and more full of flowers. Heat- and drought-tolerant. (Proven Winners)

ColorBlaze Golden Dreams Coleus has chartreuse foliage with red veins and is bred to not flower so that the energy goes into the foliage. A very robust annual with an upright habit that can get 36 inches high and grows well in sun and shade. Works well in landscapes or containers. Doesn't need deadheading. (Proven Winners)

Buttermilk Coreopsis is a perennial with small to medium-size pale-yellow flowers that bloom from mid-spring to late summer. Plants get just 15 inches tall and 24 inches wide and are repeat bloomers. They attract butterflies and are very soil-tolerant. (Wayside Gardens)

Dulce Apple Twist Heuchera has small cream-colored blooms from early to mid-summer. Foliage can have a very ruffled and curled appearance. When the first leaves come out, they have distinctive red veins, which stand out against a chartreuse background. The yellow leaves on this perennial take on a Granny Smith apple green tone as they age.

Attracts butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. Good for part shade to shade. Plants get 10 to 12 inches high and 20 to 24 inches wide. (Wayside Gardens)

Sweet Cherry Tree Ninebark is a compact shrub that gets 3 to 4 feet wide and tall and is very cold-hardy and disease- and pest-resistant. Its buds are a deep rosy pink, and they open to pale blush pink blooms. Has cherry red leaves that darken to deep purple as they mature and new leaves have a slightly crinkled look. (Wayside Gardens)

Cucumber Park's Whopper 11 Hybrid plants are grown from seeds and produce plants that are very disease-resistant and yield fruit that is great for snacking or using in recipes. Fifty-five days from sowing seeds, you will have long, dark green firm fruits. You will get 30 pounds of fruit from 12 to 13 plants. (Park Seed)

Tattoo Black Cherry Vinca seeds produce a vinca that has large overlapping petals that are black, magenta and purple-colored. This repeat blooming annual has a full bushy habit, is resistant to powdery mildew and doesn't mind heat and humidity. Can get 14 inches tall and 20 inches wide, blooms from spring to early fall and attracts butterflies. (Park Seed)