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Blue Cloud is African blue lily variety with enchanting, sky-blue flowers which are not as dark as on other varieties. They offer a calm and soothing, pastel blue shade with lavender violet tone that combines well with other pastel-coloured perennials for dry beds, such as yarrows or gauras. The inflorescence is umbel, similar to ornamental onion, and the individual flowers are elongated funnels with several conspicuous, darker blue stripes in the throat. They open one by one atop fleshy but strong stems reaching arou ...entire article
SOMBRERO™ DOUBLE PINK is a sensational hybrid coneflower introduction from 2024. It bears fully double flowers which look like a lump of raspberry flavoured whipped cream on a small pink plate, topped with pistachio cream and a bit of tangerine glacé at the very top. How delicious is this! 😊 In botanical words, it is a fully double pastel pink flower with a few deep orange stamens surrounded by a pale green ring at the very top. The flowers hide plenty of nectar attractive for butterflies and bumble bees ...entire article
Skysail Yellow is a yarrow variety from the Skysail series brought by the Dutch company Dümmen Orange. It makes bright yellow flowers that turn beige to pale orange as they mature while the centres remain deep yellow. It begins to bloom in June atop short and firm stems only 30-40 cm in height, and if you regularly remove the stems down to the ground after flowering, new flowering stems will keep popping up until late summer. Deciduous leaves are delicate, bright green, larger near the ground and smaller along the ste ...entire article
Summer Drummer is a fantastic variety of ornamental onion, one of the tallest available who size can only compete with a. giganteum, i.e., a spring flowering species. But Summer Drummer has an important benefit – it is a summer bloomer making a great show after all other spring onions have gone dormant. It makes 8-9 cm wide, spherical inflorescences on strong, dark purple stems that can grow up to two meters (or more with heavy fertilizing) and withstand common winds without breaking once established. Individual ...entire article
GOLDCREST foxglove is a lower growing variety of this popular perennial that offers an exclusive flower color. They are golden yellow with dark orange mesh, broadly bell-shaped but smaller than the large-flowered foxglove, and produced in profusion along light green stems about 50 cm high. Each stem can hold up to 30 individual flowers which open from the bottom up, extending the flowering period to almost 8 weeks from early June till late July.
Thanks to its exceptional color, it blends in perennial borders with o ...entire article
DIVA FIORE is the trade name of a large-leaved hydrangea from Germany, bred in 2006 by Katrin Meinl and introduced in 2016. The male parent was Semperflorens, an old and proven variety owing to which DIVA FIORE inherited 2 great traits – strong hardiness and perpetual flowering all summer long. The female parent contributed to different colour shades of flowers enabling DIVA FIORE to offer 3 colours – pink, blue and violet. The variety is protected by these patents: 46606 (Europe - 2017), PP28838 (USA - 20 ...entire article
Prairie Sun is a glowing large-flowered gloriosa daisy producing flowers that are 11-12 cm across. They are bright golden yellow with a large orange eye. Centres are decorated with small, pale green discs. Flowers appear in profusion atop 80-90 cm tall stems from about mid July until the last sunny and warm days of autumn. Longevity of individual flowers is remarkable, too, as they last for two weeks, sometimes even longer like coneflowers. The leaves are large, ovate, light green, and hairy. In 2003 Prairie Sun glori ...entire article
Rudy Fire is a mind-blowing, large-flowered gloriosa daisy with flowers that are extreme in every sense. They are semi-double, 12-13 cm across, individual ray florets are broad, glowing golden yellow from the middle towards the tip and deep mahogany red from the middle towards the centre. They are assembled in two tiers, one above the other. Central discs are dark like bitter chocolate. Flowers appear in profusion atop 60-70 cm tall, well-branched stems from about mid July until the last sunny and warm days of autumn. ...entire article
Brainstorm was aptly chosen for this spiderort’s variety name, though, I suspect someone apparently wanted to be witty, but irony aside – it worked. After its introduction at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show in England in 2023, its beauty must have burned a hole in the brains of the jury so they included it in the shortlist for The Plant of the Year award, which is a huge success in the fierce competition there even without winning it.
Brainstorm spiderwort is characterized by rich purple-blue flowe ...entire article
Darwin’s Snow Sprite is a dwarf astilbe from the simplicifolia group. It makes delicate, almost fern-like, elegantly incised at margins, deep green and highly glossy leaves. They are deciduous and emerge bronze tinged. Snow white flowers are formed in loose plumes atop only some 20 cm tall, slender stems. Thanks to its very decorative foliage the plant is attractive also outside its blooming season. Darwin’s Snow Sprite astilbe is slow growing and forms a small mound.
Grow astilbe in humus-rich soil. If ...entire article
Flowering plants with fruit-like names sound very tasty and make you want them just because they recall the fruit taste you like. It is a good trick that the SUNSEEKERS coneflower series could not miss. Its 2023 introduction is called SUNSEEKERS MINEOLA and presents a variety whose flowers resemble the colour of mineola skin which, for those who have not seen it yet, is a citrus fruit, a cross between Duncan grapefruit and Dancy tangerine. After its introduction at Plantarium novelty fair it received so many enquiries ...entire article
White Beauty is a recently introduced new trade name for what was formerly botanically described as Albus. It is a spring flowering variety of Alpine aster with plenty of pure white ray florets and yellow discs. Stems are 20-25 cm tall and each one holds only one flower but as the plant ages there are more and more stems forming a dense and bushy clump. Leaves are light to mid green, narrowly lanceolate and gently hairy. It makes a nice cut flower.
Alpine aster grows in poor, well-drained soils of neutral to alkali ...entire article
Rubra is a common name for all forms of strawberry tree with red flowers. Only those plants which also boast other distinct features were selected and registered as individual varieties. It makes evergreen, narrowly oval to obovate, 6-10 cm long, leathery leaves with serrated margins, more conspicuous closer to the tip. They are medium to dark green and glossy. The twigs are orange, reddish when young, and as the bark ages it becomes shredding and changes to a pastel mahogany color, peeling off in small flakes.
The ...entire article
Dennis James Werner is a Distinguished Professor of Horticultural Sciences at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, USA, and a breeder who specializes in buddleja, peaches, and redbuds. Regarding the last mentioned he has developed and already patented 8 beautiful varieties, some of which are recognized and very successful also in Europe, e.g., Ruby Falls and Merlot.
Another gem of his is called FLAME THROWER™ in USA and in Europe it is marketed under a slightly different name ETERNAL FLAME. It is a cr ...entire article
Flowers with fruit-like variety names sound very tasty and make you want them just because they recall a taste of fruit you like. Exactly as in case of this hybrid coneflower from the SUNSEEKERS series from 2022. Its name is SUNSEEKERS POMEGRANATE and bears 7-8 cm wide, single, fragrant flowers which open soft coral pink with pale orange hues and gain fuchsia to garnet red tones of a ripe pomegranate as they mature.
The discs are rather flat (not cone-shaped), dark orange and brown, and hide plenty of nectar for b ...entire article
RHAPSODY IN BLUE is an attractive crape myrtle variety from the Play It Again® series introduced in 2022. The series comprises of varieties with double flowering on the same panicle and in a few cases dark foliage as a bonus. RHAPSODY IN BLUE bears deep purple flowers with mauve hues against a background of dark green leaves with dark maroon tones on fully insolated branches. Full sun and a warm location are absolutely essential for colour saturation. The flowers are arranged in upright panicles 8-1 ...entire article
Tuscarora is another successful cold-hardy lagestremia hybrid variety from the US National Arboretum. It has bright coral pink to scarlet red flowers composed in upright panicles and appear, according to the quality of the summer, from August to September or October. The leaves are deciduous, glossy, dark green during the season and orange and maroon in autumn. They are highly powdery mildew resistant. Tuscarora grows rather fast into an upright multi-stemmed vase-shaped shrub or small tree with slightly arching branc ...entire article
SUNSEEKERS SWEET FUCHSIA is a fully double flowering coneflower variety from 2022, first on the market in 2023. Its exquisite flowers are large, about 10 cm across, and more than a coneflower they resemble dahlias or gerberas. As the new flowers emerge, their petals are a warmer shade of salmon orange margined light green, but that lasts only a couple of days before they mature to their typical bright magenta purple colour. They release a fantastic, sweet, medium strong scent until around 3pm. The stems are strong and ...entire article
CAROLINA SWEETHEART™ redbud is like fireworks glowing with several colours at once. This darling was developed in cooperation with the Star Roses and Plants Nursery by Thomas G. Ranney from North Carolina State University in the USA, who is also known in our country thanks to his of wonderful Storm™ series of quince.
It is a cross between varieties Forest Pansy with maroon leaves and Silver Cloud with silver variegated green leaves. The result is a fantastically coloured, deciduous shrub with broadly ov ...entire article
GREENFINGERS® is a large-leaved Mexican orange variety from 2019, developed by Peter Catt from Liss Forst Nursery in Liss, Hamshire, England. It bears evergreen, softly leathery, glossy, palmate leaves divided into 7 leaflets, which have a distinct, spicy aroma when crushed, but do not use them for cooking. They are bright green as they emerge and dark green in summer.
From late April till early June it blooms with a number of star-shaped, 5-petalled flowers, larger than those on original choisya. They have a ...entire article
Silver Carpet is a valued selection of lamb’s ears which produces masses of velvety soft foliage on fast-growing plants that will soon form an impenetrable carpet. The leaves are narrowly obovate, pale green covered with a profusion of silvery hairs. They are evergreen in mild winters. Just remove old leaves after a bad winter and a couple of times during the growing season to keep it tidy and handsome. Silver Carpet does not produce many flowers. Only seldom it makes a wooly stem about 30 cm long topped with co ...entire article
What else can you expect from a plant whose variety name says MIRACLE® MARVEL? An extraordinary sight, I believe, and it is correct in case of this St. John’s wort hybrid variety. From midsummer it produces dark maroon berries that follow bright golden yellow flowers. Those open in several flushes from late June until late September. Its deciduous, broadly ovate leaves are dark green with soft maroon hues and completely cover the whole shrub that is well-branched and bushy. MIRACLE® MARVEL hypericum is ...entire article
Every gaura series must have its white flowering variety and Gambit is no exception. Gambit White gaura produces pure white flowers like tiny butterflies whirling among thin stems. The plant is more compact than older varieties yet airy enough to enable movement in the slightest breeze. Trimming off stems with spent flowers will encourage production of new ones. Flowering begins in June and continues till the first frost.
We noticed that if the plant is frequently fed it is big and beautiful but tends to mature mo ...entire article
SEDUCTION® LA VIE EN ROSE is a stonecrop variety from the Seduction® series bred by the Dutch company Florensis. Yet before flowering, you will be impressed by its fabulous foliage. The medium green leaves are conspicuously variegated, bearing a wide white brim at margins. They are deciduous, broadly oval, and tender as they contain plenty of water, therefore, they are quite brittle.
In late summer rise short stems, only about 20 cm tall, topped with flattened, congested panicles composed of a large numb ...entire article
Grace is a hybrid smoke tree variety, a cross between c. coggygria 'Velvet Cloak' and the American species c. obovatus. It is a vigorous, fast-growing shrub or small multi-stemmed tree with large, broadly oval to rounded, deciduous leaves. They are 6-10 cm in length, emerge bright red in spring, mature to various depths of pastel maroon in full sun, and turn olive green in partial shade. In autumn they burst into a spectacular show of vivid colours, especially scarlet and crimson.
At the beginning of summer are for ...entire article
DAREDEVIL is a very beautiful and hardy variety of mountain hydrangea, bred by French breeder Jean-Paul Davasse. US plant patent No. PP33412 was granted in 2021. It is a slow and upright growing, compact shrub with very deep maroon, almost black foliage with mahogany tones. The colour is stronger and deeper in full sun while in partial shade leaves turn greener.
It begins to bloom in late June with not very large, dome-shaped, flattened panicles composed of both fertile (small and insignificant) and sterile (large ...entire article
Atlantic is a French variety of strawberry tree selected and introduced by the Pepinieres Minier in 1993. It boasts a neat and well-behaved habit, dense branching, and improved hardiness. Its evergreen leaves are narrowly obovate, 5-7 cm long, finely serrated at margins, they emerge bronze red and remain soft green for a long time before they mature to deep green. Always very glossy and erect. They are slightly narrower compared to Compacta variety.
Arbutus belongs to heather family (Ericaceae) which is easy to te ...entire article
RISING SUN™ is an American variety of Eastern redbud found by Ray and Cindy Jackson for their Jackson Nursery in Belvidere, Tennessee, as a chance seedling. It boasts large, 10-14 cm long and wide, broadly heart-shaped leaves which emerge bright golden or orange while older leaves are bright yellow-green and chartreuse. They are deciduous and in autumn they turn rich ruby red and yellow. In early spring appear small, pea-like, pink, stalk-less flowers in small clusters growing on bare wood. US plant patent No. P ...entire article
LAKOTA™ FIRE coneflower is a strain of seedlings offering glowing shades of dark orange, soft red, and purple red flowers. They are single, mildly fragrant, and open from late July until early October atop about 40 cm tall stems. The depth of colours is breathtaking and will blend in nicely in any perennial setting.
LAKOTA™ FIRE coneflower was introduced by Walters Gardens Inc. in 2018 in the USA and brought to Europe in 2020 where it is sold under 4 names respecting individual colour tones: Orange, Red ...entire article
SunSeekers RAINBOW is a third baby in this breathtaking Sunseekers Ipecss- coneflower family following the success of Sunseekers Salmon and SunSeekers White Perfection. It produces extremely large, up to 12 cm wide, semi-double flowers with several layers of ray florets shaped as a pagoda of saucers – widest at the bottom to smallest at the top. They are rich and warm apricot orange as they emerge and change to pale purple pink down the pagoda and as they age. Central discs are deep mahogany red, flat, not very ...entire article
SPOT ON™ DEEP ROSE is a Caucasian stonecrop with deep rose to rich purple pink, star-shaped flowers from July until August. They are a magnet for bees that feast on them. Evergreen leaves are small, narrowly obovate, dark green and flushed maroon on flowering stems, otherwise almost rounded and green. It forms compact, densely branched mounds, and looks great among rocks, or surrounded by white or light grey gravel in an alpine border. It is suitable for troughs and other outdoor pots. It does not require any ma ...entire article
MILLY ROCK™ YELLOW TERRACOTTA yarrow makes attractive flowers combining brick orange-red and pastel yellow colours. They are composed in almost flat corymbs atop about 30-40 cm tall stems. Flowering begins in June and continues until late August. Fern-like leaves are finely cut and rich grass green, basal leaves are larger than stem leaves. Removing stems with spent flowers will encourage growth of new stems with new flowers until the weather is warm and sunny. Plants are compact and thanks to shorter stems they ...entire article
DELICIOUS NOUGAT® coneflower is a sister variety of DELICIOUS CANDY® bred by Marco van Noort from the Netherlands in 2016. It produces dense, compact clumps of short stems atop which open double flowers from mid July until late summer. They are creamy white with yellow-green centres. Their longevity is about 3 weeks. The flowers are attractive for butterflies, bumble bees, and also bees can find a way to suck some nectar from them. The variety was ...entire article
ROSYJANE is a gaura variety which was found by Rosy and Rob Hardy from Hardy’s Plants nursery in Whitchurch, UK, In 2006. It was a natural mutation of one branch of Siskiyou Pink variety producing distinctly different flowers. They are white with purple pink margin and bloom from July until October atop up to 60 cm long, arching stems which move during the slightest breeze. Patent No. PP22290 was granted in 2011.
We noticed that if the plant is fre ...entire article
The name of this St. John’s Wort MIRACLE® BLIZZ looks like one of those many omnipresent internet acronyms. But what if it is a play on words – a combination of bliss and blizzard. Because the berries of this hypericum are snow white and combined with fresh yellow flowers they look absolutely blissful. Flowers open in several flushes from late June until late September. Leaves are deciduous, broadly ovate, dark green with blue-green hues. The plant forms dense shrubs with profusion of flowers and berr ...entire article
MIRACLE® BLOSSOM St. John’s Wort offers a breath-taking shade of its berries – they are soft pastel pink and follow golden yellow to almost golden orange flowers which open in several flushes from late June until late September. Its deciduous, broadly ovate leaves are dark green with blue-green hues. The plant forms dense shrubs with profusion of flowers and berries.
St.John's wort loves in full sun and moderately fertile soil that is very well drained but evenly moist. Prune young plants by one th ...entire article
MIRACLE® PISTACHE St.John's wort offers a unique colour of its berries – they are bright pistachio green. They follow small, yellow flowers that open in several flushes from late June until late September. Its deciduous, broadly ovate leaves are dark green. The plant forms dense shrubs with profusion of flowers and berries.
St.John's wort loves in full sun and moderately fertile soil that is very well drained but evenly moist. Prune young plants by one third or one half in spring, and rejuvenate older pl ...entire article
Enchanting Pink Elsa is a perennial peony from a Dutch series Fabulous Flowers®. It produces large, bowl-shaped, semi-double, fragrant flowers with pastel pink petals and numerous creamy white to light butter yellow dwarf sepals in the centre. Flowers appear from late May, atop 70-80 cm tall stems which usually don't need support. Deciduous leaves are rather thick, deep green, glossy, and palmately divided.
These peonies are great plants not only for perennial beds and borders, they also look very elegant com ...entire article
AZURA is undoubtedly the first reliably hardy cider gum variety of European origin. It has typically steel blue-green, rounded, highly aromatic, evergreen foliage along silvery blue stems. It grows moderately to fast and its ultimate height is expected to reach about 4-5m without pruning but it can be clipped in spring to be kept smaller. Its dramatic foliage colour and shape are impossible to imitate, and will bring a subtropical touch to your garden wherever you put it. It looks great among other green shrubs, as a ...entire article
Polar Bear panicle hydrangea offers almost snow white flowers composed in large panicles topped with lime green caps. The inflorescence is 20-25 cm long and almost 15 cm wide, and is composed mostly of sterile flowers that open from mid July. In late summer and autumn they turn only a pale shade of pink. Stems are red flushed, and deciduous, ovate leaves are deep green. Polar Bear hydrangea makes an upright, bushy, and compact shrub about 1.5m tall and wide.
Panicle hydrangea will grow in almost any soil type, pref ...entire article
MIRACLE® NIGHT St.John's wort is possibly the darkest variety in the MIRACLE® series. Its deciduous, broadly ovate leaves are deep burgundy red all over the insolated parts of the bush. Foliage hidden from the sun remains dark green. From late June open 2-3 cm wide, rich orange blossoms that are followed by deep burgundy red, almost black, glossy, inedible berries. It has extended blooming season owing to which the plant keeps on producing flowers in the midst of numerous berries. The plant forms dense shrub ...entire article
Eccentric® coneflower is another fully double coneflower variety producing large blooms with crested top and one layer of ray florets. The colour is vibrant red. Flowers are about 7-8 cm across, mildly scented, and appear atop thick and strong, up to 60 cm tall stems from July until early September. Lanceolate leaves are dark green and grow from the ground and then up along the stems. Bred by Marco van Noort, the Netherlands, and patented as PP23979 in 2012.
Coneflowers are maintenance-free perennials blooming ...entire article
STARSHIP™ SCARLET is one of the modern lobelia varieties offering first year flowering, longer life and reliable hardiness down to USDA zone 6. It is a part of a small STARSHIP™ series developed by Kieft Seeds, USA. It comprises of only two varieties: Rose and Scarlet and both are fantastic. STARSHIP™ SCARLET makes striking red flowers which cannot deny its Mexican origin (l.cardinalis). Blooming begins in about mid July and continues until late summer, or ev ...entire article
Sunseekers Salmon is truly a unique coneflower. Among the load of colours available today this one stands out like a proud princess who knows that she is being watched. Semi-double, large flowers have frayed ends and appear from July until October atop short and strong stems. Young, emerging flowers are a delicious shade of salmon pink with a few soft yellow petals in the centre, and mature to pale pink around a large, dark crimson red cone hiding plenty of nectar for butterflies, bumble bees as well as bees.
Deadh ...entire article
Delicious Candy® is one of the most fantastic purple pink coneflowers bred so far. Its semi-double, fragrant flowers appear atop 30-50 cm tall stems from early July until late September. The flowers are attractive for butterflies, bumble bees, and also bees can find a way to suck some nectar from them. Deadhead spent flowers regularly and feed the plants every two weeks during summer. Leaves are deep green, lanceolate, and may suffer from diseases if grown in wet or compacted soil. Delicious Candy® forms bus ...entire article
Caradonna is a beautiful wood sage which looks like annual salvia farinacea, yet this beauty is a true perennial. Caradonna makes compact clumps with erect stems 40-60 cm tall, very dark purple blue, almost black, bearing numerous deep violet-blue flowers in spike-like inflorescences. Main flowering begins from late May and lasts about one and a half months, meanwhile new flowering stems are formed for weaker flowering in midsummer.
However, if you cut the whole plant back to the ground after the first flow ...entire article
Big Kahuna is a big catch for American breeder Harini Korlipara from TerraNova® Nurseries in Oregon, USA. This coneflower boasts tropical orange, extra large flowers that are almost 14 cm across. The colour of ray florets are a combination of ripe mango and wild honey above, and pale salmon pink on the reverse which is often seen when the florets slightly curl their margins. Central cones are about 5 high, deep orange, and serve plenty of nectar to bees, bumblebees, and butterflies. Flowering begins in early July ...entire article
LIL' BANG™ Daybreak is a beautiful tickseed with eye-catching, daisy-like, golden yellow flowers with deep reddish brown eyes. In fact there is more brown than yellow so it would be no lie to say that the flowers are reddish brown with golden yellow tips and a yellow button in the centre. They come out in abundance from June until the first frost. The stems are upright and strong enough not to bend. They are about 20 cm tall and thanks to continuous branching they will reach some 40 cm by midsummer. Leaves are m ...entire article
SENSATION® is a superb new perennial salvia series. All of its varieties are truly sensational offering low, very dense and compact habit with profuse flowering. Sensation® White is even more compact that others from the series, almost dwarf. It produces rich spikes of small, pure white flowers from mid spring until late summer if you deadhead regularly and fertilize the plant. Leaves are mid green, narrowly ovate, wrinkled, and softly hairy.
Sage will grow in al ...entire article
Cliff stonecrop is Japanese native plant popular for its compact growth and profuse flowering. Lidakense is one of the top varieties producing small, oval, deciduous, silvery blue-green leaves flushed with purple pink, and masses of star-shaped, bright pink flowers from late August for 6 to 8 weeks. They provide excellent food for bees which are grateful for any flowers late in the season.
Lidakense makes neat, compact, low cushions, and looks great among rocks, or surrounded by white or light grey gravel in an alp ...entire article
Lucifer is a fascinating montbretia for several reasons. First because it was bred already in mid 20th century and is still one of the top sellers today, and second – its flowers are the richest fiery red available. They are funnel-shaped, wide-open, and appear from mid July for at least a month on slightly arching stems about one meter tall. It makes large clumps of medium green, sword-like leaves which confirm plant's affiliation with iris family. The exotic feeling is highlighted by the way the flowers are fo ...entire article
WHITE DAZZLER is a follow-up choísie to Aztec Pearl from Peter Moore, introduced in 1991. It produces masses of simple, star-shaped, pure white, and very fragrant flowers with yellow stamens in May and June. Their perfume is very similar to orange flowers hence its name Mexican orange or Mexican blossom. WHITE DAZZLER is special for being very compact as well as the ability to re-bloom from September onwards.
The evergreen leaves are distinctly narrower ...entire article
Evi's Pride (also spelled Evey's Pride) is a purple-leaved form of silk tree which boasts with better hardiness and richer flowering as opposed to Summer Chocolate®. Its flowers are rich pink, hairy spheres with nearly white centres, 3-5 cm large and with a sweet fragrance. Fern-like, compound leaves emerge soft green with coppery tones, and turn to dark burgundy red. This colour lasts for a few weeks, then they mature to dark green, awaiting new growth tha ...entire article
TOUCHDOWN™ Teak orpine will instantly catch your attention when passing by a bed with many orpine varieties. It has such a rich purple brown colour of leaves that remains deep and vibrant from spring till autumn. They are not very large - about 5-6 cm long, oval, deciduous. Flowers are produced atop 30-40 cm tall stems in late summer, usually from late August. They form umbrella-shaped, rather small inflorescence but in such profusion that the whole plant is covered with them. Individual flowers are star-shaped, ...entire article
Dutchman's pipe is a vigorous climber native to America, found in moist woodlands from N.E.Canada to S.E.USA. It is cultivated for its dramatic large foliage which looks as if just escaped from a rainforest. The deciduous leaves are 10-30 cm across, fresh green, heart-shaped. In summer small pipe-like, sandy beige flowers are hidden under the foliage.
Once established it grows very fast making about 1 meter per year or more. It quickly covers its support, be it a single post or a fence. Make sure to provide strong support - adult plants are quite heavy.
...entire article
Siskiyou Pink is a uniquely coloured gaura with pink and white flowers. They open from fuschia red buds into white flowers with pink marbling or central stripes. The ratio of pink colour varies flower to flower. Stems are very thin and move in the slightest breeze thanks to which the flowers look like a cloud of butterflies flying above the foliage.
Gaura is a perennial with extra long blooming season and requires very little or no care at all. It emerges in late spring with deep burgundy red leaves that turn gree ...entire article
Venus is one of the fascinating inventions which followed Richard Hartlage’s breakthrough with hybridizing sweetshrub species in early 1990’s. This variety was bred by Dr. Thomas Ranney of the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Station in Fletcher, NC, USA, and patented in 2005 under PP15925.
Flowers of Venus sweetshrub are extremely large: 7-11 cm across and resemble those of star magnolias. Unlike the common red sweetshrub, larger tepals of Venus are white and smaller ones are light yellow and win ...entire article
Early Sunrise is a profusely flowering tickseed with an extremely long bloom period. It produces semi-double or double flowers of golden yellow colour from early June until late autumn if the weather is sunny and relatively warm. The stems are a little shorter than other grandiflora tickseeds, only about 30 cm tall. Deadheading will enhance the flowering but is not a must, it will still flower abundantly every year and all summer long. Early Sunrise tickseed forms a bushy clum ...entire article
Feather grass comes from a country where it would definitely be called maravilloso as it comes from Mexico, Argentina, and can also be found in New Mexico and Texas in USA. Ponytails is a compact and a little shorter variety with thin, soft green foliage and about 30-40 tall stems with plume-like flowers from early summer until autumn. They are light green first, maturing to beige or buff later.
Somewhat arching habit is what makes this ornamental grass so popular along with the fact that the flowers move in the s ...entire article
Poetry comes alive when this gaura begins to bloom. Like a flock of tiny white butterflies chasing one another among thin stems when the sun is high and hot. The breeder must have seen the resemblance, too, which is why it was named Whirling Butterflies. Its thin stems seem to be dancing in the slightest breeze and hold chalk white flowers with three upper petals and one lower. The bonus is the few pendent stamens that look like an elegant walrus moustache. This gaura offers a very romantic appearance when flowering i ...entire article
Nero is a Slovak variety of purple chokeberry with large fruit and leaves purple tinged on the reverse. The lustrous fruits are black, about twice as big as black currant berries, and are rich in vitamin C and other important microelements such as ferrum and iodine. They can be eaten fresh, in fruit salads or sundaes, or processed as stewed fruit, preserves, juices, wines, they are excellent dried. Fruits can be harvested gradually from September to October as they last on the tree/shrub without rotting for a long tim ...entire article
Dutch breeder Petrus Hendricus Oudolf has already patented 3 beautiful coneflowers: Vintage Wine, Fatal Attraction, and Virgin. This latest addition from 2006 named Green Jewel® was patented in 2008 under PP18678, and ever since its introduction it proves one thing – it is simply fascinating.
Green Jewel® con ...entire article
This variety called Aztec Pearl was bred by Peter Moore and introduced in 1989, when Hiller Nurseries celebrated their 125th anniversary. Its name perfectly describes this evergreen plant from the moment it begins to show flower buds. They are pearl-shaped, very light pink, and open into simple, star-shaped, pure white, and very fragrant flowers with yellow stamens in the centre. Their perfume is similar to that of orange flowers hence its name Mexican orange or Mexican blossom.
The evergreen leaves are rich and juicy green in acid soil, palmately ...entire article
Ballerina June berry is a Dutch hybrid of amelanchier laevis from 1970’s. It makes a more compact, large shrub or a small tree of with vase-shaped habit with dense branching. In April it produces numerous star-shaped, white, scented flowers that are followed by are purple-blackish berries in early summer. They are 1-1.5 cm in diameter, sweet and juicy, and can be picked up for as long as one month. They look like blueberries and are valued for high contents of iron and copper. Broadly elliptic leaves are ...entire article
The species of Japanese aucuba is, however, not spotted. It has large, widely elliptic to oblong, deep green, glossy leaves that are shallowly serrated at margins. Clusters of small flowers appear from mid spring, and female plants, if pollinated by male pollen, produce vivid red fruit in late summer and autumn. The fruit is not edible and might cause stomach upset.
Green aucuba can be grown in both full sun and deep shade. Our best plants are located in filtered sunlight with some shelter from drying winter sun and they are beautiful and unharmed. The soi ...entire article
Gaura is a typical example of a plant that deserves its price should it come in any pot size. It is a perennial with extra long bloom season and requiring little or no care. Gambit Rose is a variety with neon-like deep pink flowers flowers from June until October. It forms a compact cushion with deep burgundy red new foliage and buds. Trimming off stems with spent flowers will encourage production of new ones.
In the wild gaura lives in naturally moist lands where it thrives. Grow it in equally moist but well drained soil in full sun. Once established it tolerates summe ...entire article
Flaming Silver is a fantastic variety of a lily-of-the-valley shrub. This evergreen gem shows narrowly lance-shaped, evergreen leaves that are dark green in the middle and creamy white along the margins. New foliage is vivid red or purple-pink. This colour remains for a few weeks before it matures to variegated. New growths are often shown again in late summer.
Well established plants grown under good conditions bear long racemes of small lily-of-the-valley like white flowers from March to April. Deadhead spent flowers immediately after flowering so that the plant has ...entire article
Tamarisk is a beautiful plant with tiny leaves and profusion of flowers in late summer. The flowers are small, pink, composed in long racemes. Deciduous leaves are scale-like, blue-green, very small. Overall appearance is feathery and very fluffy and the plant looks great in a Mediterranean-style landscape, or combined with other larger plants with leathery foliage.
It grows medium fast and looks best when pruned annually. Cut back 80% of previous year's growth in early spring to encourage new growth with plentiful of flowers on a dense and compact shrub.
Comparison of salt ceda ...entire article
STRONG ANNABELLE® is a new name for a beautiful sevenbark variety from 2009, PP20571. It was patented as 'Abetwo' and marketed as INCREDIBALL® from the beginning. However, after a few years of continuous misspelling the name was changed to STRONG ANNABELLE® which is exactly what this plant is - a stronger improvement of former Annabelle variety.
It produces typical mop-head inflorescence composed o ...entire article
Vanille Fraise® is a breathtaking novelty among panicle hydrangeas. It bears extra large flowers that emerge clear white in midsummer, turning light pink first and deep raspberry pink in late summer. The panicles are up to 30 cm long and 20 cm wide and remain on the plant for a long period of time.
Deciduous leaves are ovate to oval, pointed, deep green. Stems are strong, deep burgundy red. We recommend regular pruning every spring before the buds begin to swell. By cutting at least two thirds of previous year’s growth you will get a strong shrub with large ...entire article
Bamboo-leaf oak, or sometimes also called Chinese evergreen oak is a rare evergreen tree that is not widely used in cultivation in Europe which is a great pity. It has evergreen, bamboo-like, lance-shaped, narrow leaves that emerge bronze-purple and mature to a dark green. Compared to cherry laurels or Portugal laurels that can also be grown on stems while keeping their shrubby looks, bamboo-leaf oak forms a nice tree-shape canopy without any extra effort because it is naturally a small tree with compact, rounded crown.
This tree is currently grown in warmer parts of the USA, southe ...entire article
The less usual colour the more attractive it is for garden lovers. Orange Dream is a perfect example of Japanese maple to offer an almost exotic colour of spring foliage that is orange and salmon pink at margins with yellowish-green centres. This colouring decorates the plant until approximately mid June when it changes through yellow colour to light green and only top growths have a weak orange tint. The leaves are deeply lobed but not dissected.
It grows slowly, about 10-15 cm per year, forming a densely branched shrub with age. A 10-year old plant can reach a bit mor ...entire article
Coral Sun® is a fascinating new variety of golden-rain tree. It was found by Henny Kolster as a natural mutation among many seedlings in his Dutch nursery in Boskoop in 1993. For three years he had been grafting it onto the koelreuteria paniculata species rootstock and all new plants proved to be identical to the new seedling. A patent that guarantees protection of this plant and describes the invention was released in 2007 in the USA under PP17,409. It is also protected in Europe under Plant Breeders Rights EU 19811.
Coral Sun® is most attractive during spri ...entire article
Pink Velour® is a very attractive crape myrtle with upright panicles of pink-red to purple red flowers with crepe margins and rich yellow stamens in the centre. It starts flowering earlier than the species which makes it suitable for colder regions where the summer begins a little later. The inflorescence keeps on producing new flowers buds until the first frosts. Another important feature is foliage. The deciduous leaves of Pink Velour® are leathery, oval, and deep burgundy red for many weeks after they emerge, only then turning deep green leaving a burgundy red ...entire article
Wheeltree is an extraordinary evergreen piece from the East (Japan, Korea, Taiwan). Its uniqueness is emphasized by the fact that it is the one and only species of its genus. Moreover, it is a very old species, imprint of its leaf was found in a 49 million years old fossil found in Washington state, USA.
It is special for its spirally arranged, finely serrated leaves. They are broadly elliptic to ovate, up to 12 cm long, salmon pink as they emerge, changing through coppery to dark green in summer. In autumn they turn dark red with some bronze shades until ...entire article
Camelliifolia is a beautiful and robust plant that is not very new worldwide but has not yet been in wide cultivation in Europe. Which is a pity. It is an elegant and densely leaved, evergreen holly with entire, mostly spineless, elliptic, camellia-like leaves with a hard tip. They are dark green in summer, and deep purple-blue when young and before winter. It is a female variety that bears vivid red berries if a male pollinator is nearby.
Under ideal conditions, e.g. in Benelux countries and England, it may grow quite tall and wide, whereas ...entire article
Brilliant is one of the latest varieties of purple chokeberry which is a hybrid between red and black chokeberry. So far you can find it listed under three names: a.melanocarpa, a.arbutifolia, and a. x prunifolia which is probably the most correct name. It is cultivated for several reasons, and the showiest of them being autumn foliage which turns bright carmine red and burgundy. In the spring it bears corymbs of numerous white flowers. Leaves are finely serrated, light to mid green in season.
It is in the same rosaceae family as the service tree and its fruit is simila ...entire article
Sango-kaku is a Japanese maple that has so many colours that we are lost for words. Its main attraction is the colour of bark which is orangey-red in summer and bright coral red in winter. The palmate leaves have 5 lobes and emerge orangey-yellow with salmon pink shades, changing to light green or yellow in summer, turning golden yellow in autumn.
It grows slowly into a tall, upright shrub. Thanks to its vibrant colours in both summer and winter we recommend planting in places where it will contrast with other plants of deeper coloured foliage. Sango-kaku dislikes dire ...entire article
Summer Chocolate® is a spectacular silk tree variety from Japan where it was discovered in 1990 as a seedling in a controlled planting of Albizia julibrissin in 1990. It was granted a US patent No. PP13,822 in 2003. Still today it is considered a rarity for lovers of exotic-looking plants in milder climates.
Named Summer Chocolate® it offers a stunning feature – deep maroon to almost chocolate brown foliage. The alternate leaves are bi-pinnate, delicate and persistent in the colour shade. This is w ...entire article
Limelight® is a panicle type hydrangea, not a mop-head one with big leaves and large flowers heads. Well, how to explain then that this new variety has even bigger flowers? Never mind, let’s just call them XXL size. The panicles are upto 30 cm long, fat blossoms of greenish-white colour when they come out in early August, changing to almost white after about 2-3 weeks and turning clear pink in September. The shade of pink is not a fading one, but fresh pink as if it was meant to be pink from the very beginning. Ovate, pointed leaves are dark green.
The most b ...entire article
Ombrella® belongs to the hardy group. It was a chance selection from France which was observed and cultivated, and later on patented under the name Boubri. It differs from the species by darker leaves and deeply coloured flowers.
Exotic looking flowers are pinky-red, hairy spheres with yellowish centres, 3-5 cm large and with a sweet fragrance. Fern-like leaves are deep green, compound. They close for the night and re-open in the morning, just like mimosa when touched.
It is a medium-sized tree with irregular, flat or umbrella-shaped, spreading crown. It needs warm, neutral t ...entire article
Black Lace is a variety of European elder that has lace-like, deep burgundy leaves that look like those of dissectum Japanese maples. Flowers are striking pink panicles that appear in May. Its vigorous growth helps this shrub soon make a dense cover of leaves that are vivid purple in the spring, deep burgundy throughout the summer, and bright crimson in the autumn.
Elder tolerates wide ranges of soil and will be happy of almost any location. By pruning in early spring you will achieve a denser plant, that will be easier to maintain the size and shape. Fully hardy to ab ...entire article
Probably the most eye-catching version among trumpet vines is this Chinese campsis.
The flowers are large and spectacular: 7-9 cm wide, salmon pink with a clear yellow throat. In colder zones and locations with less sun they may turn deeper salmon-orange. In order to keep its pinkish colour we strongly suggest finding it a location with plenty of sunlight during most of the day. The buds form a raceme that blooms from end July until the last sunny and warm days of autumn. Pinnate leaves are dark green and glossy, and make a luxurious background for its bright coloured flowers.
Th ...entire article
The orchid-like flowers are pale to bright pink with a yellow throat and frilled margins. Flowers have a lovely, sweet scent. Summer Bells® is a chitalpa variety repeating flowering. It starts in early summer and last for 2-3 weeks, and then again in second half of August for further 2 weeks. Under good weather conditions if the summer is sunny and hot it can bloom non stop.
Narrowly elongated leaves are 10-20 cm long, mid green, and look like peach tree leaves. They are very attractive and suitable for summer-style or exotic looking gardens as in the landscape the ...entire article
