Tip of the Week: New Kids on the Block

Posted in Gardening Tips on December 7 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education.

Every year hybridizers throw something new at us. This is not a bad thing. We all like choices. Some of the newcomers are successes and some are short-lived wonders. They are all worth a try since there is always a good gardening lesson behind every new plant.

While the new introductions are just beginning to be announced in the gardening magazines—they usually start to appear in December issues and gain momentum in January and February—some of next season’s debutants are already being discussed.

A sprightly newcomer is a little snapdragon named ‘Twinny Peach’. It is a double-flowering snapdragon that doesn’t have the “snap” or the jaw-like structure that gives the flower its name. The petals are ruffled into what has sometimes been referred to as a butterfly structure since the petals look like they are fluttering in the wind.

The new flower is a pleasing pastel that combines shades of peach, yellow, and light orange. It is a diminutive plant, reaching only 10–12 inches tall, yet it is nice and full and produces a massive amount of blooms. The small spikes make excellent cut flowers for a vase arrangement.

While most snapdragons start to peter out once summer rolls in, these newcomers are reportedly more heat tolerant. Also, due to their double flowers, which tend to be sterile and therefore do not get pollinated and go to seed, they generally last longer than their single-flowering counterparts.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s the zinnia world was transformed by the introduction of the Profusion series. These are not the tall and elegant cut-flower varieties that I love to grow, but rather border plants that grow low (approximately 12 inches tall) and form colorful mounds.

Joining their ranks in the border-plant world is the Zahara series, properly Zinnia marylandica. The latest addition to this bunch is an All-America Selections Winner named ‘Starlight Rose’. It grows a little over 12 inches tall and is covered with small composite flowers that have the classic yellow eye.

The bicolor flowers are a refreshing white and rose combination: The edges create a clean white border, and the centers radiate out with heavy rose markings. This is an annual that would do beautifully in a container paired with Heuchera ‘Mocha’ to create a deep, yet intense, color burst in the garden.

The Zahara series, like the Profusion series, boasts superior disease resistance, and you will not encounter the powdery mildew problems or blemishes that its larger cut- flower cousins suffer from. ‘Starlight Rose’ is heat and drought tolerant, so it promises to be adaptable in many gardens.