2020 New Plants

A compact and heavily flowering Mophead Hydrangea, the sterile florets of Akadama™ Hydrangea open deep pink in alkaline or neutral soils and a deep purple in acidic soils that contain Aluminum ions and darken as they age (click the "More Details and Growing Info" link or the image to learn more about Hydrangea flower color in relation to soil pH and Aluminum availibility). This is a compact growing Bigleaf Hydrangea with deep green disease resistant foliage that deepens into shades of purple during cool fall or spring weather.  Akadama™ Hydrangea's dense well-branching compact size lend it to use as a container plant as well as in gardens and landscapes of all sizes. As with other Bigleaf Hydrangeas provide Akadama with a moist, well-drained soil in an area that receives morning sun and shade during the hottest portion of the day. Images courtesy of Star® Roses and Plants, all rights reserved. Item# 12160

The American Beautyberry adorns itself in dense clusters of 1/8" wide, rich purple ,rarely white, berries that encircle the stems. The fruit begins to ripen and color up in summer but they are most noticeable on the bare winter stems. Apparently the berries sweeten as winter sets in and songbirds find them irresistible. A fast growing, native, deciduous shrub that is tolerant of sun to semi-shade but generally flowers and fruits best in full or mostly sunny conditions. Because it flowers on new growth, if the American Beautyberry gets too large it will benefit from periodic hard pruning and still produce fruit the same year if pruning is done before new growth begins in spring. Item# 10688.

A 2020 All American Selections Herbaceous Perennial award winner! 2-3" wide dark-eyed golden yellow daisies are produced throughout the summer and even into fall atop a dense and compact well-branched plant. American Gold Rush Rudbeckia was selected with disease resistance in mind as well as this plant's ability to flower throughout summer and a compact habit. It may be most similar to and is considered to be a hybrid of Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii, or the Brown-Eyed Susan, which can reach 3' in height. Like its parent, expect this hardy clump forming perennial to revel in the heat and sun of summer with its disk flowers providing nectar for smaller pollinators and the ripened seeds of fall and winter are sure to attract songbirds. Provide American Gold Rush Rudbeckia with a full to mostly sunny site in an average moist, well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Add this easy to grow perennial to the garden and landscape but it is also compact and free-flowering enough to provide a summer long show as a container plant. Item# 12167

Wide flat-topped clusters of white flowers are produced in spring atop sturdy stems adorned with deep green finely cut deep green foliage. American Wild Carrot, Daucus pusillus, is a native annual common to roadsides throughout much of the US and is commonly confused with the non-native Queen Anne's Lace, Daucus carota, which is a parent to the common Carrot. The flowers attract bees and other garden beneficials and once through flowering the flattened clusters curl upward at the outer edges creating a protected 'nest' of ripening seeds. The American Wild Carrot makes an easy addition to naturalistic roadside plantings, meadows, and prairies where it readily reseeds on exposed soils. Full sun is preferred in average to well-drained soils. Item# 12027

A breakthrough color for the Summer Snapdragon! The nearly 1" wide cherry red to cherry pink flowers with dark throats are produced in dense spikes throughout the growing season. Archangel™ Cherry Red Angelonia is an easy heat, humidity, and sunloving tropical to tender perennial noted for its ability to thrive in the hottest sunniest locations with minimal care once established. Use this colorful bee attracting compact plant as a specimen or in mixed containers as well as in the garden and landscape. The Archangel™ Angelonia series is noted for its densely branching compact habit and the largest flowers in its class! Provide a sunny site with a well-drained, average moist, fertile soil. Item# 12135

The dark purple to deep burgundy foliage nearly black foliage of this sturdy perennial is topped by spikes of sweetly contrasting purple to lilac flowers in mid to late spring. Flowers attract native bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Blackbeard Penstemon or Beardtongue is hybrid selection of our native species (Penstemon species are found native only in North America) whose intensely colored foliage is sure to provide wonderful contrast with surrounding perennials in the garden and landscape or use it as a specimen in containers. Provide a full to mostly sunny location for the darkest foliage coloration and a well-drained, average moist soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Blackbeard Penstemon was selected not only for its foliage color but also for its compact habit and flower power. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 11904

One of the hottest new native grasses on the market! Blackhawks Big Bluestem starts off in spring as a deep green clump of upright to arching blades that may be tipped with red to purple. It is in late summer when the real show begins with the upright and arching foliage and flowering stems of August deepen to red to red-purple and further deepening and intensifying as the cooler fall weather arrives becoming nearly all black as its sturdy and showy flowering stems begin to mature. Blackhawks Big Bluestem is a slightly more compact plant reaching about 4-5' high when in flower. The species is native throughout much of the eastern 2/3's of the US and is a clumping to slowly spreading rhizomatous grass whose seeds are utilized by a number of seed eating birds. Provide a full to mostly sunny site with an average to well-drained, acidic soil for the deepest foliage colors and optimum vigor. Plants are in their best form when grown in a low fertility soil. Overly fertile soils can cause them to topple at maturity. Images courtesy of Brent Horvath, Intrinsic Perennials, all rights reserved. Item# 12169

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Light blue to blue-purple 1/4" wide nectar-rich flowers adorn the tall narrow indeterminate flower spikes from spring to frost to year round under warm tropical conditions. Native to Florida and much of the tropical Americas, Blue Porterweed, Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, has smoother lighter green foliage and generally grows wider than tall whereas the other Blue Porterweed, Stachytarpheta cayennensis or S. urticifolia, has more rugose or quilted deeper green glossier foliage with a typically upright habit. Porterweeds are excellent pollinator plants where they attract a continuous menagerie of aerial acrobats from spring until frost. This a heat and sunloving tropical to tender perennial that can be added to gardens and landscapes or plant them in containers to draw the pollinators in for upclose viewing. Blue Porterweed is also a caterpillar host plant for the Tropical Buckeye butterfly. Item# 12046

Large dense clusters of deep red bottle-brush shaped flowers are produced throughout the growing season suspended at the ends of the ropelike weeping limbs adorned with deep green glossy narrow foliage. Boyette Weeping Bottlebrush was selected for its continuous display of showy red flowers, where most Weeping Bottlebrush cultivars are spring and fall flowering, and an extreme weeping habit. The nectar and pollen laden flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Moderately drought resistant once well-established. Boyette Weeping Bottlebrush develops into a small evergreen tree whose unusual form lends it to use as a specimen tree in a sunny site with a well-drained soil. Young plants may need staking until they reach the desired height. Item# 12013

A continuous display of brown-eyed golden-rayed daisy-like flowers are produced from early to midsummer into fall on well-branched plants with deep bronzy green hairy foliage. The Brown-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia triloba, is very similar in all regards to the wild forms of the Black-Eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta, and it begins flowering about the time that the latter species is finished for the year. This biennial to short-lived perennial is a heat tolerant, sun-loving, deer and rabbit resistant native well-suited to both the garden and landscape as well as in naturalistic settings like prairies, meadows, and roadside plantings. It readily reseeds on exposed soils but is not aggressive or difficult to control. It prefers a full to mostly sunny position in well-drained, average moist to semi-dry soils. The flowers of the Brown-Eyed Susan offer pollen and nectar to bees, smaller butterflies, and other garden beneficials. The seeds offer food for songbirds and small mammals. Item# 11980

Masses of 2" wide upward facing intensely fragrant flowers are composed of two neat rows of white petals that surround the golden anthers are produced in late spring or early summer. Buttons Gardenia develops into a densely branched small rounded evergreen shrub growing to about 1-1/2' high and wide. You can use this "cute as a button" Gardenia in a sunny garden or landscape but it is also small enough to be grown as a container plant. Gardenias will do best in a well-draining, moderately fertile to rich, acidic soil in a full to mostly sunny site. Images courtesy of Star Roses and Plants, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 11948

Intense raspberry pink, nectar rich, fragrant flowers are produced in dense spikes held at the ends of the arching branches and contrast nicely with the gray-green foliage on compact plants. Buzz™ Hot Raspberry Butterfly Bush or Buddleia was selected for its slightly smaller densely branching compact stature as well as its exceptional flower power. The Buzz series of Butterfly Bushes are small enough to be enjoyed as fragrant patio container plants where they can draw pollinators in close as well as in the garden and landscape. Provide a full to mostly sunny location in a well-drained average moist soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Images courtesy of Ball Horticulture, all rights reserved. Item# 12113

Intense dark purple, nectar rich, fragrant flowers are produced in dense spikes held at the ends of the arching branches and contrast nicely with the gray-green foliage on compact plants. Buzz™ Midnight Butterfly Bush or Buddleia was selected for its slightly smaller densely branching compact stature as well as its exceptional flower power. The Buzz series of Butterfly Bushes are small enough to be enjoyed as fragrant patio container plants where they can draw pollinators in close as well as in the garden and landscape. Provide a full to mostly sunny location in a well-drained average moist soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Images courtesy of Ball Horticulture, all rights reserved. Item# 12112

Large rounded clusters of lightly fragrant 1" wide deep coral pink flowers that lighten to near white toward the base of the petals and with a fuchsia eye sit atop sturdy stems and are produced beginning in late spring and continuing through summer potentially into fall. Coral Crème Drop™ Garden Phlox is another exceptionally disease resistant Phlox paniculata hybrid from the Candy Store series with rich deep dark green often bronze-tinged foliage on well-branched plants that are a little more compact than most Garden Phlox cultivars reaching only about 24" high. This is a slowly spreading clump-forming perennial that will eventually develop into a dense mass of stems and foliage that is topped for weeks by the bright and showy nectar rich flowers that attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and hummingbird moths. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in well-drained fertile soils for optimum vigor and flowering. Images courtesy of Plants Nouveau, all rights reserved. Item# 12206

Large rounded to conical clusters of fragrant 1" wide purple flowers with a red-purple eye and with each petal brushed with 2 light strokes of bright contrasting white are produced beginning in summer and can continue into fall. The flowers of Phlox are butterfly pollinated but they may also attract larger bees and hummingbirds. Candy Store™ Grape Lollipop Garden Phlox is a clump forming selection of the native perennial Phlox paniculata with extra dark green disease resistant foliage that adorns the dark colored sturdy stems. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in well-drained, fertile soils for optimum vigor and flowering. Image courtesy of AG3, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12040

Medium pink trumpets are produced from spring to fall atop the tall sturdy stems adorned with deep green narrow foliage. Chi-Chi Pink Ruellia or Mexican Petunia was selected and introduced by Scott Ogden the bulb guru of the South. This is neither a seedless nor a clump forming form and so it may spread by both means. It can be controlled somewhat by growing it as a container plant. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and even the occassional hummingbird. Easy and reliable once established. Provide Chi-Chi Pink Ruellia with a moist to average moist fertile soil in a full to mostly sunny site for optimum vigor and flowering. This plant will act like a die-back perennial returning from the crown in spring where winters experience freezing temperatures. Item# 12164

The large 8" long, white to greenish white, dangling angel's trumpet-like, night fragrant flowers are produced over an extended period a few times a year and the plants begin flowering at a very young age. Cubanola or Campanita, Portlandia domingensis, is a naturally evergreen small tree-like tropical shrub with glossy rich green foliage growing to about 5-8' high. It is shade tolerant but is reported to flower the most profusely where it gets more sun. The night fragrant flowers attract a variety of pollinating moths and makes a neat addition to a moon moth garden either as a container plant or in the ground where reliably hardy. Provide an average moist well-drained soil for optimum growth and flowering. Item# 12229

Pure white 1" wide daisies with a nicely contrasting yellow center are produced beginning in late spring and through summer often continuing into fall atop a neat mound of deep green foliage. Daisy Mae Japanese Aster is a tidy under-used clump-forming perennial selected for its exceptionally long flowering season that is sure to add delightful color to the garden and landscape but it also makes easy and exceptionally long-flower container specimens. The flowers are sure to attract a multitude of pollinators. Provide a full to mostly sunny site with a well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Heat, sun, and humidity tolerant. Images courtesy of North Creek Nurseries, all rights reserved. Item# 12178