Choosing New Plants for 2015
Posted in Horticulture on January 6 2015, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Sonia Uyterhoeven is NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.
For the plantaholic, the New Year brings new vices. Fortunately, most of them are harmless and the conundrum gardeners are most often faced with is finding a good home for this year’s novelties in an already crowded garden.
One person who is always ready to play to our weakness is nurseryman Dan Heims of Terra Nova Nurseries. Terra Nova is a wholesale nursery situated just 25 miles south of Portland, Oregon; for sourcing plants from them in your area, this page will direct you to a store near you.
When it comes to color, curiosity and the “wow” factor, Heims’s breeding program has developed a formula for success. This year, leading the charge for “something completely new” is Mukgenia Nova™ ‘Flame’. It may sound like you are knee deep in sludge, but Mukgenia is actually the first ever intergeneric hybrid between a Bergenia (pigsqueak) and Mukdenia ‘Crimson Fans’.
Mukdenia (the parent) is essentially a coral bell (Heuchera) with palmate leaves. Their foliage colors beautifully as the season progresses. The green palmate leaves become tinged with a brilliant red. The only problem, here in our New York climate, is that the foliage senesces rapidly in late summer; particularly when it has been a hot summer.
With thick, leathery leaves from its Bergenia ancestry, this new intergeneric hybrid promises to have more staying power than its predecessors. With dark pink flowers that appear in early spring and jagged foliage that provide stunning mid to late season color, who could ask for more? Our appetites are whetted and we will be searching for a spot in the Garden to tuck it in and see how it performs.
I am an easy target when it comes to hummingbird mints (Agastache). One of the newer introductions from Terra Nova is a variety called ‘Kudos Yellow’. This hummingbird mint is the epitome of flower power. It is hardy from zone 5 to 10 and has large, dense inflorescences. ‘Kudos Yellow’ is a compact plant that extends 24 inches in both directions.
I would be remiss if I did not mention Heuchera or Heucherella when discussing Terra Nova Nurseries. Heims has more colors, shapes, and sizes than you will ever be able to fathom. For my purposes today, I picked a color for us—rose-pink.
One of Heims’s newer coral bells (Heuchera) is an introduction called ‘Grape Soda’. In the spring it is adorned with rose-pink foliage. Light purple flowers extend from spring into summer. In summer, the foliage deepens from pink to purple with touches of silver. Delicious!
One of Terra Nova’s foamy bells (Heucherella) that is being promoted on the market this year by Blooms of Bressingham is ‘Honey Rose’. This cross between a coral bell (Heuchera) and a foam flower (Tiarella) is one of the pinkest leaved foamy bells on the market. The young leaves are coral-pink with deep venation that changes to a deep, apricot brown (the market profile describes it as sable brown). It is not as “girly” as ‘Grape Soda’, but it will add a feminine touch to any shade border.
A few other coral bell winners that are out this year are ‘Berry Timeless’, Precious Gems ‘Citrine’, and Heucherella ‘Infinity’. Heuchera Precious Gems ‘Citrine’ is a mini coral bell that reaches only 6-8 inches tall and wide. Hoffie Nursery advertises that the foliage will not burn if planted in full sun. This is definitely worth a try.
‘Berry Timeless’ looks like a rosy bouquet. A Walters Gardens introduction, this coral bell is ever-blooming. The pink flowers age to rose and dry beautifully on their stems on top of silvery-green foliage. ‘Infinity’ is also known for its long flowering. This Heucherella has velvety, chocolate-colored foliage along with cream-colored flowers held up on 2-foot spikes that bloom continuously from May to September. And this is just the tip of the iceberg—this year, temptations abound. Good luck with your choices!
Photos courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries.
