We’ve already tempted you with some of 2013’s best new plants in the January/February 2013 issue of Gardening How-To (pg. 20). Now, prepare to swoon over 21 more new introductions. Note: Many of these plants are so new it may take some time for them to show up in print and online catalogs. Keep checking at your local garden center and your favorite mail-order nursery.
Perennials
‘Pardon My Purple’ monarda
This dwarf, clump-forming bee balm, now widely available in 2013 from Proven Winners, looks more like an elegant bouquet than a landscape plant. Large, whimsical blooms top deep green, glossy foliage from mid- to late summer. It grows best in full sun in slightly moist soil, but it can survive with less water once established. It also offers mildew resistance. Grows to 10 inches high and wide. Zones 4 to 9. www.provenwinners.com
Sedum ‘Pure Joy’
If you think you’ve seen it all with sedum, think again. Delicate, blue-green foliage in spring is followed by enormous, star-shaped pink blooms on this new introduction from Proven Winners. Fading flowers are followed by interesting pink seed heads in the fall. It’s deer-resistant and grows 16 to 20 inches tall. Zones 3 to 9. www.provenwinners.com
Galya Pink Spark gaillardia
Pink Spark is just one of many varieties in the award-winning, colorful Galya blanket flowers series from Danziger “Dan” Flower Farm. Masses of large, pink double flowers that resemble pompoms earned this blanket flower a place on our favorites list. Blooms last from early summer through fall atop compact, upright foliage. Add them to mixed perennial beds, or grow them as annuals in containers in full sun in average, well-drained soil. It grows to 14 inches high and wide. Zones 8 to 10. www.danziger.co.il
‘Pretty Lady Julia’ anemone
If you’re looking for a stunning fall bloomer, this new anemone from Blooms of Bressingham is for you. Masses of pink, 2-inch double blooms top dark-green foliage on this compact plant. Like other selections in the popular Pretty Lady series, it requires no pinching. Plant in moist soil; it grows to 16 inches tall. Zones 5 to 9. www.bloomsofbressingham.com
Beyond Blue fescue
This tidy little grass (Festuca glauca ‘Casca11’) from Skagit Gardens really lives up to its name. Delicate blue-green flowers top tufts of slender, light-blue foliage in the spring. Plant in masses in beds and borders, or combine it with other plants in patio containers. Give it full sun and well-drained soil. Grows to12 inches tall and 18 inches wide. Zones 4 to 8. www.skagitgardens.com
Pennisetum x ‘First Knight’
Grasses add height and texture to garden beds and containers that other plants just can’t match. ‘First Knight’ cranks that role up a notch with dark, deep-purple foliage that will capture everyone’s attention. Elegant and disease-resistant, this new introduction from Emerald Coast Growers thrives in heat and grows 4 to 5 feet tall. Zones 8 to 11. www.ecgrowers.com
Edibles
Raspberry Shortcake raspberry
Finally, a patio-appropriate raspberry! Yes, this dwarf from Fall Creek Farm & Nursery’s BrazelBerries collection has such a compact habit, urban gardeners can now grow raspberries successfully in containers. It’s thornless, so it’s kid-friendly. And it doesn’t require trellising or staking, even in garden beds. It fruits in mid-summer, and it doesn’t need another plant to produce berries. It grows 2 to 3 feet tall. Zones 5 to 9. www.BrazelBerries.com; www.whiteflowerfarm.com
‘Toscana’ strawberry
In the first season, this everbearing strawberry from Logee’s Greenhouses can bear up to 2 pounds of strawberries on one mother plant as well as the runners. Instead of the standard white strawberry blossoms, its flowers are bright fuchsia, making this plant an ornamental as well as an edible. Zones 5 to 9. www.logees.com; www.parkseed.com
‘On Deck’ sweet corn
Container gardeners, rejoice! This new bicolor sweet corn truly can be grown successfully in containers. Offered exclusively by W. Atlee Burpee & Co., this variety grows to a manageable 4 to 5 feet tall and produces two to three ears per plant. It’s a miracle of hybridization, not genetic modification (GMO). Direct sow; 61 to 63 days to maturity. www.burpee.com
SuperSauce tomato
Say hello to the world’s largest sauce tomato, a W. Atlee Burpee & Co. exclusive. This new sauce-paste tomato weighs in at 2 pounds. Seedless fruits are 5 1/2 inches tall x 5 inches wide, making sauce-making—and the task of removing tomato skins—a snap. Indeterminate, disease-resistant vines are easy to grow in gardens and containers. Grows up to 4 feet tall. 70 days to maturity. www.burpee.com
‘White Flash’ joi choi
Billed as a more refined Chinese cabbage, this joi choi was bred exclusively by Johnny’s Selected Seeds. With its upright stem and compact head, this cabbage is easier to handle than other varieties and less prone to breakage. 50 days to maturity. www.johnnyseeds.com
‘Pozzano’ tomato
Make to-die-for spaghetti sauce with this new San Marzano-shaped tomato bred exclusively by Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Classic, blunt-tipped fruits sauce down quickly, and the flavor just gets better as you cook. High yield and good blossom-end rot resistance. 72 days to maturity. www.johnnyseeds.com
Trees & Shrubs
Pucker Up! red twig dogwood
Red-stemmed dogwoods make attractive additions to gardens in all seasons. But Pucker Up! from Proven Winners (Cornus stolonifera ‘Neil Z’) offers glossy, distinctly textured foliage that easily distinguishes this dogwood from all its peers. Compact and resistant to leaf spot, this native shrub grows 3 to 4 feet and does best in moist soils. Zones 3 to 8. www.provenwinners.com
Princess Zoey crape myrtle
This limited-release reblooming crape myrtle from Garden Debut (Lagerstroemia indica ‘GA 0702’) has a dwarf upright habit that makes it an ideal companion to low-growing perennials. Red blooms interspersed with pink flowers last from mid-summer to fall. New growth is dark green and matures to reddish purple in late summer. Good cold tolerance and disease resistance. It prefers full sun and grows 4 to 5 feet tall. Zones 6 to 9. www.gardendebut.com
Sparkling Sangria loropetalum
Add season-long color to your gardens with this new fringe flower from Bailey Nurseries (Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum ‘PIILC-II’). Pink-red, fringelike blooms open in spring and cover the entire plant. Unlike other varieties, this one grows to a stately 6 to 8 feet tall, making it a great choice for hedges or mass plantings. Bronze-red foliage matures to olive green. Zones 7 to 9. www.baileynurseries.com
Annuals
Vino coleus
Add drama to your garden with this new big, burgundy coleus from Burpee Home Gardens. It’s eye-catching and does well in full sun to part shade; its leaves get even more deeply colored in the sun. Also known as Solenostemon scutellariodes ‘Balcovino’, it’s been dubbed Vino for short. Grows 1½ to 2½ feet tall. www.burpeehomegardens.com
Superbells Lemon Slice calibrachoa
Neighbors’ heads will turn when they see this aptly named calibrachoa from Proven Winners in your garden. Its lemon-and-white pinwheel color pattern has never before been seen in calibrachoa, and it’s already been a big hit in garden trials. Grows 6 to 12 inches tall and has a mounding habit. www.provenwinners.com
‘Aurora Apricot’ diascia
Commonly known as twinspur, diascia is beloved for its delicate, loose habit and spires that shoot playfully out of containers. This new apricot-hued introduction from Plant Haven Penhow collection has a unique upright form and blooms at least two weeks longer than other varieties. A good choice for containers, borders and beds. Grows to 12 inches tall. www.planthaven.com
Roses
Oso Happy Smoothie
Say hello to an inviting new landscape rose that packs the double punch of pretty pink-white flowers--and no thorns! Bred to be both disease-resistant and winter-hardy, it blooms from June until frost. Also known as Rosa ‘ZLECharlie’, it grows to 3 feet tall. Zones 4 to 9. www.provenwinners.com
Wollerton Old Hall
Named for England’s Wollerton Old Hall gardens, this new introduction from David Austin Roses (Rosa ‘Ausblanket’) is said to be one of the all-time most fragrant English roses. Its unmistakable myrrh fragrance is a rare treat. And flower buds are tinged with red and open into soft, slightly rounded yellow blooms. It grows to 5 feet tall (8 feet as a climber in warmer climates). Zones 5 to 9. www.davidaustinroses.com
Bull’s Eye
Wow! The bloom color on this new shrub rose from Weeks Roses' Eyeconic series (Rosa ‘PEJamore’) is nothing short of enchanting. It took 60 years of hybridizing to produce its winning combination of creamy white petals around a cranberry center. It offers superb black spot resistance and grows to 6 feet tall (smaller in northern states). Zones 5 to 11. www.weeksroses.com
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