Brian Minter: These are some of the great new plants undergoing testing right now

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Following on the heat tolerance trend, I was delighted to see Ball Flora Plant’s new series of lobelia called Heatopias. On display were deep blue, soft blue and magenta, performing nicely out in the full hot sun. This will be a huge boost for summer containers and baskets needing a touch of these colours.

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Most every company has their own series of incredibly heat tolerant bidens. Usually available mostly in yellows, they have now branched out into orange and red shades, white, and a white and yellow bicolour. On display was a lovely pink bidens called Pink Treat from Danziger. It’s a standout, with a more upright habit, making it ideal for garden beds and containers. This new colour opens up so many possibilities for new plant combinations.

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Perennial gaura is quickly becoming more popular because of its brilliant pink, red, and white continuously blooming flowers that attract not only pollinators but butterflies as well. They are becoming hardier, down to Zone 5, and out-bloom most perennials in our summer gardens. The Graceful series from Dummen Orange was truly spectacular. With their rich burgundy foliage, they were easily one of the most impressive flowers in the trials.

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Gaillardias, too, were notable for their long flowering period and the Spin Top varieties from Dummen Orange really stood out.

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Indian Summer Heuchera. Photo by Brian Minter

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It was great to see so many new heuchera varieties out in the full sun, too. They can now be part of our summer plantings, as opposed to suiting just fall and winter gardens. The Indian Summer Mixed series from Green Trade Horticulture in Escondido, Calif., was quite striking with a vibrant new colour range.

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One of the most dramatic new introductions was a persicaria called Glowing Reviews from Walters Gardens in Michigan. With its vibrant foliage, this new hot lime variety will spice up any perennial garden or container. It’s going to be in high demand.

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The echinacea collections were most impressive, with huge flowers in a wide range of colours. A series that caught my eye were the Sun Seekers, which had exceptionally large flowers and a good range of colours.

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Fire Starter Geum. Photo by Brian Minter

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Another standout was the brilliant red flowers of geum Firestarter. Green Trade Horticulture introduced this knockout, which featured a unique colour for the geum family.

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There were quite a number of compact delphiniums ideal for smaller gardens, coming in a wide range of colours, but especially blues and purples. One variety of note was Magical Atlanta, again from Green Trade Horticulture.

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Of course, coreopsis are one of the longest flowering perennials in any garden, but today there are so many varieties available it’s becoming hard to select just one of them. Some that really shone were the Uptick series from Darwin Plants. There was Uptick Red, but Uptick Yellow and Red, and Uptick Gold and Bronze were among the finest bicolours on display.

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Magical Atlanta Delphinium. Photo by Brian Minter

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Another jewel was a new compact, very dark blue salvia called s. Nemorosa Salvatini. The beauty of this perennial salvia was the fact that it’s a seed variety from Pan American. So many new plants today are only available as vegetative cuttings and there is a trend now of going back to seed. The quality of so many seed hybrids has improved greatly over the past few years, and it is a less expensive way to grow high quality plants. One of my favourites last year, a silver foliaged salvia called s. Lancelot, is a prime example. It is magic in a container, with its pure silver leaves and lavender flowers, and hummingbirds love it.

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New plant trials are so important in our industry, not only to develop and discover new plants, but to evaluate their ability to tolerate more demanding weather conditions and to observe their relationship with pollinators and wildlife. I’m happy to share some of these upcoming great new plants with you.

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