New Season Stunners

EASTERN PERFORMANCE TRIALS PART 3

Designers are always on the lookout for something new and unusual, and wow! we saw some terrific new annuals and perennials at the Eastern Performance Trials recently held in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. This charmer, Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost,' with small green leaves and prolific, airy white blooms, tops out at about 10-14 inches. From Proven Winners, it's perfect for patio containers, window boxes, or as a filler in garden beds. 

This is another one that makes us want to move to California! ... as it's hardy from zones 9-11 and takes full sun to part shade.   Still.... it'll be a terrific annual in colder climates, and it's sure to sell out within days when it shows up in garden centers for the first time in spring.

(click on image for larger view)

I'm not particularly partial to clovers, but the burgundy and lime version from Centerton Nursery is very unique, and would make a stunning perennial groundcover in combination with plants of similar colors.  One of the purple-leaf heucheras or a lime green hosta like 'Sum & Substance' or 'Guacamole' immediately come to mind.  Trifolium repens 'Dark Dancer' creeps along low to the ground, with a 6 inch height spreading to 14 inches.

Centerton also had a couple of impressive new roses:  one of them, Rosa x floribunda 'Lime Sublime' is said to bloom from May to October, and it's billed as perhaps the hardiest white floribunda. (The double blooms are actually a sort of keylime creamy white).  Average height is 36-42" and it supposedly does well even in heat and humidity. We also liked the very fragrant Rosa x 'Neptune,' a tea rose that has lavender blooms tinged with purple.

Finally, if you're into annuals, check out the new 'Picante' purple salvia from Goldsmith Seeds.  And the new Zinnia elegans 'Magellan,' a shocking pink, will surely brighten up any border.

 

Comments

[Takoma Gardener]

Jane, welcome to the blogging world. (I started mine in August, so I'm an oldtimer.) I was just talking with my fellow Hort-clubbers last night about the trials and we're determined to go next year. And euphorbia is my new best friend among perennials. Susan