New Perennials for 2020 from Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. + Some Old Favourites

It's a gorgeous day here–sunny and warm enough for the snow to be melting. Though it feels like spring has arrived, I remind myself that it is only the first of March and winter may not be done with us just yet.

 You can see the tangled growth at the base of the lilac in this shot from June 2019.

Even though it is just a common lilac, the flowers are pretty and very fragrant.

Despite the pockets of snow, the dogs and I spent a good part of yesterday afternoon out in the garden. The temperature was mild enough for me to ditch my winter jacket and get to work pruning a neglected lilac. While this is not the proper time of year to prune a lilac (you could cut off all this year's flower buds if you aren't confident in what you're doing) I find it helpful to get a headstart on simple tasks like removing spindly suckers before I get overwhelmed with a long list of other pressing spring chores. That and it's nice to be puttering around outside in the sunshine!

Like me, I am sure you are beginning to draw up a spring wishlist. What interests me these days are plants with unique foliage and flowers. With that in mind, I've put together a list of new introductions from Terra Nova Nurseries that have captured my imagination. And as I promised earlier in the year, I'm also going to highlight some older introductions I think are worth seeking out.

A word about Terra Nova® Nurseries. They use tissue culture to propagate and grow both annuals and perennials.  Based in Canby Oregon, they have introduced over a thousand new plants to market.

As a wholesale propagation nursery, Terra Nova does not sell directly to the public. On their website, they have a handy page that will help you locate a retailer in your state or province that sells their plants (Sadly for Canadians on the East Coast and in Saskatchewan, Terra Nova is underrepresented).

Some of the New Plants for 2020

Geum Tempo™ Rose from Terra Nova® Nurseries

Geum Tempo™ Rose has dark rose-pink flowers on short, dark stems. Moist, loamy soil is prefered. Long bloom time. Full sun. Height: 8-21 inches, Spread: 12 inches. USDA zones: 5-9.

Sedum Peach Pearls has burgundy leaves and rose-gold flowers. Even in its first year, this sedum produces multiple flower crowns. 'Peach Pearls' likes soil with good drainage. Drought tolerant and attractive to pollinators. Full sun. Height: 14-20 inches, Spread: 24 inches. USDA zones: 4-9.

Veronica Vespers™ Blue has blueish-purple flowers. A long period of bloom begins in late spring and runs into mid-summer.  It prefers moist soil with lots of organic material and good drainage. Full sun. Height: 9-13 inches, Spread: 11 inches. USDA zones: 4-8.

Heuchera Northern Exposure™ Sienna has green foliage when it first emerges in the spring. In summer, it becomes a mix of sienna and orange with greenish margins. Fall sees it revert back again to green. Rust resistant. Moderately well-drained soil and average moisture conditions. Full sun to part shade. Height: 13-22 inches, Spread: 21 inches. USDA zones: 4-9.

Other Perennials that Caught my Eye:

Of all the perennials on my list, I would love to get my hands on this one the most! I find Thalictrum to be a terrific option for part-shade. This type of Meadow Rue has lovely ferny foliage, dark stems and star-like flowers. I have the mauve flowering variety but would like to add a white flowering version:

Thalictrum Nimbus™ White has clouds of white flowers and fern-like foliage. The flowers age to lavender-pink seed heads. This perennial prefers moist, humus-rich soil but adapts well to average soil with good drainage. Part-shade. Height: 28 inches, Spread: 16 inches. USDA zones: 5-9.

I have a quite number of Bleeding Hearts, but I don't have this cultivar with its combination of golden leaves and white flowers.

I can just imagine Dicentra 'White Gold' mixed in with tulips and daffodils. Beautiful! Again, it's a great option for the shady area of your garden (although, based on experience with similar 'Gold Heart', I would recommend part-shade for the best leaf color).

Dicentra 'White Gold' has heart-shaped white flowers and golden leaves on a vigorous plant. This perennial prefers moist, loamy soil. Part to full shade. Height: 24-30 inches, Spread: 36 inches. USDA zones: 4-8.

When you're a plant collector, it's hard to resist adding more of your favourites:

Geum Petticoats™ Peach has semi-double peach flowers on a compact plant with green foliage. Moist, loamy soil is prefered. Reblooms. Full sun. Height: 10-12 inches, Spread: 20 inches. USDA zones: 5-9.

Every year I try to invest in at least one new hosta with interesting features. Here are two with very attractive reddish-purple accents:

Hosta 'Purple Heart' has glossy lime-green foliage with red-purple at the base of each heart-shaped leaf. 'Purple Heart' has a neat, uniform growth habit and good slug resistance. Full shade. Height: 15-24 inches, Spread: 30 inches. USDA zones: 4-9.

Hosta 'Raspberry Sundae' is a compact hosta with creamy-white variegation through the centre of the leaf. It has deep burgundy petioles, leaf bases and flower stalks. Its flowers are deep lavender-purple. Part-shade to full shade. Height: 9-23 inches, Spread: 21 inches. USDA zones: 4-9.

Yet another personal favourite is Penstemon (I already have Penstemon 'Husker Red' and 'Dark Towers'). Many of the newer introductions aren't hardy here, but I was very excited to see two that are reputed to be tough, hardy perennials:

Penstemon Dakota™ Verde has violet flowers on dark stems. Seed heads are a lovely dark burgundy color and the foliage takes on a purple tinge in the fall. Average, well-drained soil is fine for this perennial. Full sun. Height: 12-24 inches, Spread: 18 inches. USDA zones: 3-8.

Penstemon Dakota™ Burgundy has violet flowers. This penstemon is shorter and more compact than popular 'Dark Towers'. Average well-drained soil and moisture conditions are fine for this plant. Full sun. Height: 12-24 inches, Spread: 18 inches. USDA zones: 3-8.

I thought I would also throw in a few annuals that caught my attention. Some people struggle with Rex Begonias, but I seem to have good luck with them. I keep them as houseplants year-round in an east-facing window. Each spring, I divide them and move the divisions outdoors to fill part-shade containers.

I often take cuttings in the fall and keep Coleus over the winter as houseplants. Last fall I didn't have a chance to take the usual cuttings, so this spring I am definitely in the market for some new plants. Here are a couple I am going to watch for:

I hope this post has inspired you to add a few plants to your own wishlist for 2020. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Photos in this post are courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries. www.terranovanurseries.com

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Fall Container Plantings

Right through until the last week of August, it was really hot and humid here. Then we had a couple of days of rain. By the time the clouds had moved on, the unpleasant heat and humidity had been washed away. 

Suddenly it seemed there was a hint to fall in the air.

Busy as I find myself, I wanted to give the garden a bit of a fall update. 

My hanging baskets and some container plantings still look nice, so I am leaving them as they are. Other containers need a few seasonal touches. Then there are also two large metal urns that need a complete overhaul! The pansies that lasted most of the summer are now looking positively worn out.

On the weekend I went looking for plants and a little inspiration at Terra Greenhouses. They always manage to have nice fall arrangements.

I bought a bunch of ornamental peppers, some flowering annuals and a few ornamental cabbages for my updates.

I find that ornamental cabbages cope with the frosty nights of late fall really well and are worth the investment. In mild years, I have had them last well into November.

As I have done in years past, I bought small Coleus seedlings in the spring. Some Coleus I put right out into my container plantings. Other seedlings I grew-on in pots, so I'd they'd be a nice size for the fall.

Coleus can have wacky splashes of bright colors, but my favourites have become the cultivars with solid colored leaves. When the foliage is a deep, rich color, the leaves look as though they are made of velvet.

This year my absolute favourite has been a red colored Coleus. All summer it made the perfect backdrop for another big pot filled with marigolds, red snapdragons and sweet potato vines.

 Coleus 'Campfire'

Cameras seem to struggle with the color red. I made numerous attempts to capture the exact color of this Colues. This image is the closest representation of the plant's striking mix of red, orange and magenta. As it's name suggests, 'Campfire' glows.

Two pots at the back of the garden filled with a mix of Coleus and pansies didn't need much of a seasonal makeover. 

Back in June (seen above) you could barely see the Coleus for all the pansies. They filled out nicely when I cut back the pansies in early summer.

Here's the same container now. All I added was an ornamental pepper to replace one of the pansies that had really faded.

Pansies hate the heat. To keep them going through the summer, you really need a cool, part-shade location. I also find that you need to be vigilant about deadheading the spent flowers and pinching back any leggy growth. If the plant gets too spindly, it's really hard to bring them back to looking attractive again.

The big urn near the back gate needed more of an overhaul. The ivy geranium and the sweet potato vine were still looking good, so I decided to work with them, even if that meant the finished color scheme would not be a traditional fall one.

I added in two Coleus, an ornamental pepper and a Celosia. To balance the chartreuse of the sweet potato vine, I also included a Sedum Orpin 'Lemon Ball'.

1. Coleus 2. Coleus 3. Celosia 4. Sweet Potato Vine 5. Ornamental Pepper 6. Ivy geranium 7. Sedum Orpin 'Lemon Ball'

The window box at the side of the house was still holding up nicely I left the sweet potato vine, the yellow Coleus and a couple of the white Nicotiana. I replaced the rest with a Coleus 'Rusty Orange', two ornamental cabbages and an ornamental pepper.

 

Here's how it looks now. The window box is really full, but plant growth is slow in the cool days of early fall, so you can easily get away with cramming in a bit more.

Rudbeckia hirta

I don't mind fall mums, but it's fun to do something a little different each year. I liked the way they used Rudbeckia hirta in the big pots I saw at the nursery, so they became the inspiration for one of the two metal urns I had to revamp.

Echinacea purpurea 'Kim's Knee High' (right) and Sedum 'Autumn Joy' (left)

If you don't like yellow flowers, you could use Echinacea or maybe Sedum. A perennial flower can always be transplanted out into the garden in late fall.

One of the two metal urns back in May.

The metal urns were filled with pansies, but I've been so busy they got neglected. Time to start over!

In the first urn I used an annual Rudbeckia along with Red Fountain Grass, Pennisetum setaceum Rubrum', a couple of Coleus and an ornamental pepper.

Here's the finished urn.

In the second urn I used:

1. Celosia 2. Fountain Grass, Pennisetum 3. Dusty Miller (which I find deals with the cold really well) 4. an ornamental pepper 5. an ornamental cabbage 6. Coleus

The pots on the front porch remain to be done, but the rest of the garden is ready for fall.

Up next I will announce the winner of the latest book draw and there will be a post on my 

visit to the Willow Farms Nursery.