The Dirt — New plants for a new year

Well, I got off the peninsula for a day this month. It was the first time in two and a half years. I even made it across the Bay Bridge and back without a panic attack (thank you, Kindle!). The reason for this rare occurrence? The Mid-Atlantic Nurserymen’s Trade Show (MANTS), of course.

MANTS is one of the oldest and largest horticulture-related trade shows in the country, with hundreds of vendors of everything that has anything to do with plants. It’s almost chlorophyll overload, but it’s a great place to see the newest and the coolest that the plant world has to offer.

While I try to keep myself from getting too excited about a plant until I’ve grown it myself, I am a gardener, which is another word for optimist. I inevitably come back pumped up by the new stuff. So, before my fit of enthusiasm wears off, here are a few of the ones I’m looking forward to trying.

• One of the first things to catch my eye was a new variety of our native Eastern Redbud. It’s called “The Rising Sun,” and it’s well-named. Its large, heart-shaped leaves emerge in spring in striking shades of apricot, orange and gold, changing to yellow in early summer and light green in late summer. Fall brings a return of the apricots and golds. And, of course, before any of the foliage begins its display, the typical rosy-orchid blooms cover the stems in early spring, making it a great three-season tree.

Since it matures at only 12 feet tall, it fits easily into any garden. Reported to be both cold-hardy and drought-tolerant, this little beauty is definitely on my list to try.

• Buddleia, or butterfly bush, has been a popular blooming shrub for many years, but has been frowned upon for some time, due to its propensity to self-seed. It is actually on Delaware’s invasive species list. However, some thoughtful breeders have been kind enough to produce a series of sterile buddleias that give all the blooms without the guilt.

The Flutterby series, from Ball Ornamentals, comes in four sizes. Flutterby Flow, with a low ground-cover habit, grows 1.5 to 2 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide. Flutterby Petite is a compact upright grower, 2 to 2.5 feet tall and wide. Flutterby is a mid-size shrub, growing 4 to 5 feet tall, and Flutterby Grande is the largest, at 5 to 6 feet.

The range of colors is typical for the species, except for the Grande series, which features a few unusual colors, like Tangerine Dream, Sweet Marmalade and Peach Cobbler. I’m not sure if I want to plant them or eat them.

• A new petunia, Hell’s Bells, is a break-through new color, a vivid deep orange. (It’s also a reminder that there are a lot of old rock-and-rollers in the plant industry.) This petunia is a little more upright than the spreading types, growing to about 8 inches tall and 12 inches wide. This color is going to be fun to use in combo planters.

• I love the trailing annual Callibrachoa, or “million bells,” for its versatility in baskets and containers. Every year, the breeders throw us a few new colors. One of this year’s treats is a member of the Superbells series, called Sweet Tart. It’s a cute little bi-color, featuring hot pink blooms with prominent yellow throats. This one, I think, would be great on its own, but it sure has the potential to punch up mixed containers.

• Hydrangeas, as I have written before, are one of my all-time favorite plants. The things that breeders are doing with them these days are mind-boggling. A few years back they gave us the Endless Summer series, the first re-blooming hydrangeas. Now they’re giving us cool new flower forms and crazy new colors, in addition to re-blooming.

The Double Delights collection features mophead blooms with an extra layer of petals on each floret, in shades of pink, white and blue. The Next Generation series (there are a lot of Trekkies breeding plants, too) includes a variety called Pistachio that features magenta petals with deep blue centers and pistachio-green edges. It almost looks tie-dyed. Definitely not for the faint of heart!

With so many plants to see in such a short time, many of them are still a blur, until I can go back through the catalogs, but these were some that really stood out. Let’s hope they perform as well in the real world as they did at the show.

Ginger Hogan is a Delaware Certified Nursery Professional. Do you have questions you’d like to have answered in a future column? Send them to Ginger at lordslandscaping1@verizon.net.