One of my annual (or should I say 'perennial') New Year's resolutions is to try at least one recently introduced plant.
There are many to choose from and so the problem becomes selecting one that I am confident will grow well in my garden. And since new introductions are, well, new, there's usually little impartial information on performance. However, one reliable source is the All-America Selections organization (www.all-americaselections.org).
AAS is an independent, non-profit organization that evaluates new, unsold varieties in test gardens in geographically diverse locations across the United States and Canada. AAS winners must be a significant improvement over similar, existing cultivars in terms of earliness of bloom or harvest, disease or pest tolerance, novel colour or flavour, novel flower form, total yield, length of harvest and overall performance. In the past, only cultivars that performed well at all sites were crowned winners, whether they were perennials, annuals or vegetables. But that meant on occasion some plants that underperformed in a few locations (e.g. tender perennials), but where champions elsewhere, were passed over. Over their 80 years, AAS has regularly updated their evaluation criteria and this year they have added the category 'regional winner' to their lineup of champions.
Late last fall, they announced their four winning flower cultivars for 2014.
Gaura Sparkle White (Gaura lindheimeri) produces masses of delicate white, touched-with-pink flowers on slender, elegant stems, 10 - 24 inches tall (20 - 60 cm). A season-long bloomer, it is seen to its best advantage in full sun as a massed planting (mid-border) or in large containers with other flowers. With excellent heat, drought and wind tolerance, 'Sparkle White' will continue to dazzle even throughout August until the first frosts of late fall. Even though it is a tender perennial (zone 6), it will perform well as an annual here on the Prairies.
Humming birds and butterflies love penstemon Arabesque Red (Penstemon hartwegii). The large, tubular bicolour (red outer with white throat) flowers are packed along sturdy stems (10 - 24 inches/20 - 60 cm tall). They remind me of short fox gloves and are suited for the mid-border. It flowers summer to frost and is heat tolerant, performing best in sunny locations. This is a regional winner (Heartland, Mountain/Southwest, West/Northwest) and a tender perennial (zone 6), but it should still work well here as an annual bedding plant in the ground or containers.
With the hundreds of cultivars already available, it's hard to imagine that a new substantially improved petunia (Petunia x hybrida) could exist. But that is the case with African Sunset. In shades of orange, it handily outperforms similarly coloured petunias. A prolific, season-long bloomer, it starts putting on a show from late spring lasting through to frost. A low-mounded spreader (12 inches tall x 20 inches wide/30 x 50 cm), it is equally at home in containers, hanging baskets and the front border.
Rounding out the 2014 winning flowers is Suntastic Yellow with Black Centre sunflower (Helianthus annuus). It is a spectacular dwarf, compact (no taller than 24 inches/30 cm) cultivar with 6 inch/15 cm diameter flowers, ideal for containers, window boxes and the mid-border. Unlike sunflowers I've grown in the past, this one is a repeat bloomer, producing up to three waves of flowers, with some plants producing up to 20 blooms in a summer. Sow directly in the ground when soil temperature is at least 68 F/20 C; expect first flowers within 50 - 60 days. To get earlier and more sustained blooming, start indoors in mid-April to plant out at the end of May/early June. Another regional winner, this time for the Great Lakes region; but I see little reason why it wouldn't do well here. In fact, if I can find the seed, this is one of new plants I'll be trying this year.
- This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (www.saskperennial.ca; [email protected]).
Upcoming events:
Wednesday, Jan. 22, 7:30 p.m. Let's Talk Turkey. Sit back and enjoy the horticulture, culture and history of Turkey through Jackie Bantle's eyes as she takes you on a virtual tour of her recent travels. Emmanuel Anglican Church, 607 Dufferin Ave. (Saskatoon). Follow the signs to the back door and down the stairs to the basement. Hosted by the Saskatchewan Perennial Society. Free.
