2021 New Plants

Huge round clusters composed of extra large bell-shaped deep violet-blue flowers held on sturdy stems atop the narrow strap-like medium green foliage in late spring to early summer and potentially into fall on well-established clumps. Stevie's Wonder Lily of the Nile or Agapanthus is a vigorous, clump-forming perennial with a tropical look but this cultivar has proven to have excellent hardiness into zone 7. The flowering spikes are typically 2-3' high in areas that experience hardy winter freezes (zone 7-8) but they are reported to reach up to 6' high in zone 9 with reports that the flower clusters can reach near volleyball size! The flowers of Agapanthus attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Provide Stevie's Wonder Lily of the Nile a full to partly sunny site in a well-drained, average moist, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Makes an easy and low-maintenance container plant where not hardy. May be fully winter deciduous. Image credited to Emerisa Gardens via AG3, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12467

Dense rounded to flattened clusters of 1/2" wide golden yellow flowers are produced atop tall sturdy stems in mid to late summer and attract a variety of pollinators including bees, butterflies, other garden beneficials. Stiff Goldenrod, Solidago rigida and previously Oligoneuron rigidum, is a vigorous growing rhizomatous perennial found mainly in prairies and meadows in the north central US. Due to its rhizomatous, a.k.a. spreading, nature this species may best be suited for use in naturalistic areas like roadside plantings, meadows, and prairies. It is often found in dryer soils and in soils with an alkaline (calcareous) pH. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in a well-drained soil with average moisture until it is well-established. Item# 12391

Spade and lance shaped foliage with white variegation along its veins against a backdrop of bluish to gray-green foliage that is tinged with pink and purple under high light conditions. The leaves adorn fine lax trailing stems that can reach over 3' in length. An interesting cultivar or hybrid of the String of Hearts, Ceropegia collaricorona subsp. collaricorona previouslyCeropegia linearis woodii, that is considered to be just as easy and vigorous as its 'parent'. These plants make beautiful, low maintenance hanging basket and container specimens that are sure to be a conversation piece. The String of Spades also produces the whitish, parachute-like, almost alien looking flowers whose purple-brown petals are fused together at their tips. Provide a very well-drained soil and allow the soil to become moderately dry between waterings. Item# 12292

The ovate, pointed, succulent, blue-green to gray-green foliage is adorned with fine streak-like veins reminiscent of a watermelon rind and may also be coated in a white bloom. Like the String of Pearls, this easy to grow succulent has a clear, slit-like "epidermal window" that allows light to enter the internal part of the leaf. The String of Watermelons, Senecio herreanus, is a tropical, trailing succulent whose thin trailing stems can reach 12 or more inches long. During the warmer months of the year it produces small, ray-less white flowers enjoyed by bees and other small pollinators. Provide a sharply draining, cactus-like soil allowing it to become moderately dry between waterings although they can tolerate slightly more water during the growing season. The String of Watermelons makes an easy windowsill plant, hanging basket specimen, and table top decoration or use it in one of the head pots for an interesting specimen plant. Provide high or bright indirect light outdoors but they can also tolerate some cool direct sunlight indoors. Item# 12675

4-5" wide round clusters of deep purple to violet trumpet shaped flowers are held above the dark green mounds of strap-like foliage on short sturdy 18" high stems beginning in spring to early summer and continuing into early fall. Sugar Plum™ Lily of the Nile or Agapanthus is a newly introduced vigorous hybrid that is both dwarf and compact and is a rare repeat flowering purple flowered selection. Its compact stature makes this a perfect choice for colorful low-maintenance container specimens as well as adding a tropical feel to the garden and landscape. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds and the plants are deer and rabbit resistant. Provide a full sun to part sun site in an average moist, fertile, well-draining soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Images courtesy of CND Nursery, all rights reserved. Item# 12296

The large bright bubblegum pink 8" wide, wind resistant flowers sport a contrasting dark burgundy eye and are held against a foil of dark green foliage providing a summerlong parade of flowers. SUMMERIFIC® Candy Crush Perennial or Hardy Hibiscus is a densely branching, perennial that develops into a full, well-branched upright to rounded plant. Walter's Gardens describes it as follows: "If you love 'Cranberry Crush', try 'Candy Crush'! This hardy Hibiscus shares all the great traits that made 'Cranberry Crush' popular: upright, columnar habit, fantastic garden presence, and excellent flower coverage".  Like most other Walter's Gardens introductions, SUMMERIFIC® Candy Crush is an indeterminate plant producing flowers from the top to the bottom of the plants creating a knockout display in the garden and landscape. Provide a full to mostly sunny location in moist to average moist to wet, moderately fertile soils. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12493

The 8-9" wide white flowers are blushed with cherry pink and are accented by contrasting dark cherry red and pink veining originating from the contrasting dark burgundy eye and running to the edges of the full overlapping petals. The large light colored flowers standout like spotlights against a wonderfully contrasting foil of purple to purplish-green foliage. SUMMERIFIC® Cherry Choco Latte Perennial or Hardy Hibiscus is a densely branching, clump-forming perennial that develops into a full, but compact well-branched plant with exceptional flower power. Like most other Walter's Gardens introductions, SUMMERIFIC® Cherry Choco Latte is an indeterminate plant producing flowers from the top to the bottom of the plants creating a traffic stopping display in the garden and landscape. Use caution when planting near roadways as vehicles may come to a sudden and unexpected stop. Provide a full to mostly sunny location in moist to average moist to wet, moderately fertile soils. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12495

The large rich scarlet red 8" wide, slightly cupped flowers are held against a foil of dark green foliage with purple overtones providing a summer into fall parade of flowers. SUMMERIFIC® Cranberry Crush Perennial or Hardy Hibiscus is a densely branching, perennial that develops into a full, but compact well-branched plant with exceptional flower power.  Like most other Walter's Gardens introductions, SUMMERIFIC® Cranberry Crush is an indeterminate plant producing flowers from the top to the bottom of the plants creating a traffic stopping display in the garden and landscape. Warning, hummingibirds may leave your neighbors gardens and use caution when planting near roadways as vehicles may come to an unexpected stop. Provide a full to mostly sunny location in moist to average moist to wet, moderately fertile soils. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12494

The summerlong display of 8" wide intense deep magenta pink, crinkly flowers are centered by a deep burgundy eye and are held against a foil of near black foliage. SUMMERIFIC® Evening Rose Perennial or Hardy Hibiscus is a densely branching, clump-forming perennial that develops into a full, but compact well-branched plant with exceptional flower power. Like most other Walter's Gardens introductions, SUMMERIFIC® Evening Rose is an indeterminate plant producing flowers from the top to the bottom of the plants creating a traffic stopping display in the garden and landscape. The dark foliage and hot pink flowers are sure to make a statement in the garden and landscape. From Walter's Gardens: "we are proud to introduce 'Evening Rose' as an excellent combination of hot pink flowers and near black foliage. 8" puckered flowers cover the round, dense habit top to bottom. Compared to 'Berry Awesome', the foliage is much darker and the flower color is more magenta than lavender. A must have statement piece for your garden!" Provide a full to mostly sunny location in moist to average moist to wet, moderately fertile soils. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12496

2022 Missouri Botanic Garden Plants of Merit selection! The pinnacle of Hardy Hibiscus breeding in traffic stopping form! The summerlong display of huge 8-9" wide, textured, dark red flowers are set against a foil of deep dark maroonish-purple near black foliage all on a heavy flowering well-branched plant. SUMMERIFIC® Holy Grail Perennial or Hardy Hibiscus is a vigorous clump-forming perennial that develops into a full, but compact well-branched plant with exceptional flower power. Like most other Walter's Gardens introductions, SUMMERIFIC® Holy Grail is an indeterminate plant producing flowers from the top to the bottom of the plants creating an amazing summer into fall display in the garden and landscape. Provide a full to mostly sunny location in moist to average moist to wet, moderately fertile soils. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12498

Clusters of airy rich dark purple flowers seemingly cover up the deep green narrow foliage of this tough and disease resistant selection of Ironweed attracting myriads of bees, butterflies, and other garden beneficials. Summer's Surrender Ironweed, a hybrid of Vernonia lettermannii x V. arkansana, was bred and selected by Dr. Jim Ault of the Chicago Botanic Gardens for its broad spreading dense and bushy habit, exceptionally disease resistant foliage, as well as for its long season of flowering. As the name implies, Ironweeds are tough as nails clump forming native perennials that provide much needed late summer and fall nectar for pollinators. Adaptable to a wide variety of soil types from clay to loam and are somewhat drought resistant once well-established. Images courtesy of North Creek Nurseries, all rights reserved. Item# 12250

1/3" wide, dark purple, airy flowers are produced in clusters and nearly cover up the dark, purple-tinged, olive green, fine textured narrow foliage adorning the wine-red colored stems of this compact, tough, and disease resistant selection of Ironweed attracting myriads of bees, butterflies, and other garden beneficials. Summer's Swan Song Ironweed, a hybrid of Vernonia angustifolia 'Plum Peachy' x V. lettermannii, was bred and selected by Dr. Jim Ault of the Chicago Botanic Gardens for its compact, rounded, dense and bushy habit, exceptionally disease resistant foliage, wind resistance, as well as for its long season of flowering. As the name implies, Ironweeds are tough as nails clump forming native perennials that provide much needed late summer and fall nectar for pollinators. Adaptable to a wide variety of soil types from clay to loam and are somewhat drought resistant once well-established. Images courtesy of Chicagoland Grows®, all rights reserved. Item# 12251

Large dense burgundy to purple tinged flower spikes and calyxes contrast nicely with the sunny yellow pea-like flowers and are held above the rich foliage in spring. Sunny Morning Prairieblues™ Baptisia or False Indigo, is a Baptisia sphaerocarpa x B. alba hybrid developed by Dr. Jim Ault of the Chicago Botanic Gardens and Chicagoland Grows and that exhibits a strong resemblence its yellow flowered parent, B. sphaerocarpa, and begins flowering about a week to ten days early than the species and maintains a dense uniform habit throughout the growing season. It was selected as one of the top ten in the 2012-15 Baptisia Trials at Mount Cuba Center and is reported to produce as many as 250 flowering stems on mature plants! The Prairieblues™ Baptisias were selected not only for their unique colors but also for their extra large flower spikes, durability, and vigor. These are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Chicagoland Grows®, all rights reserved. Item# 12465

The large conical, bottlebrush-like spikes, to 6" long and 3" wide, are composed of tubular flowers that curl around curiously at their tips in shades of red, yellow, orange, coral pink, to cream are produced most heavily during the warmest months of the year to nearly year-round in mild winter climates attracting both hummingbirds and bees. Superb Grevillea, one of the first hybrids and still widely planted across much of Australia, is a vigorous, well-branched, small to medium-sized, heat and sunloving, evergreen shrub that is cloaked in medium-textured deeply cut rich green foliage. It can be used as a specimen, hedge, or screen. Grevilleas need little supplemental water once well-established in the garden or landscape. Superb Grevillea also makes an easy, low-maintenance and forgiving container specimen that can be overwintered indoors where not hardy. The large flowering spikes are often utilized as cut flowers. Item# 12643

The unusually colored, tropical looking, cherry red flowers appear brushed with deep purple and are produced from spring to fall held atop glossy deep green foliage. Tattoo™ Black Cherry Vinca or Periwinkle is an award winning, heat and sun-loving tropical with amazing flower power and excellent disease resistance on an upright to mounding plant perfectly suited to container culture or the hottest garden and landscape setting. Use this conversation starting beauty as a specimen plant for low maintenance containers, use it as a filler in mixed container gardens, or as colorful addition to the garden and landscape where it will shine throughout the growing season. Provide Vinca or Periwinkles with a full to mostly sunny site in a well-drained, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Tattoo™ Black Cherry Vinca was the 2018 Greenhouse Grower Industry's Choice Best New Variety Medal of Excellence Award winner! Images courtesy of Ball Horticulture, all rights reserved. Item# 12405

The unusually colored, tropical looking flowers open raspberry pink and lighten into rouge and rose as they fade with a contrasting dark eye. In cooler temperatures and in lower light conditions they may appear brushed with deep purple and are produced from spring to fall held atop glossy deep green foliage. Tattoo™ Raspberry Vinca or Periwinkle is an award winning, heat and sun-loving tropical with amazing flower power and excellent disease resistance on an upright to mounding plant perfectly suited to container culture or the hottest garden and landscape setting. Use this conversation starting beauty as a specimen plant for low maintenance containers, use it as a filler in mixed container gardens, or as colorful addition to the garden and landscape where it will shine throughout the growing season. Provide Vinca or Periwinkles with a full to mostly sunny site in a well-drained, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Tattoo™ Raspberry Vinca was the 2018 Greenhouse Grower Industry's Choice Medal of Excellence Award winner! Images courtesy of Ball Horticulture, all rights reserved. Item# 12632

Texas Ironweed produces clusters of rich purple, to pinkish purple, frilly flowers in summer atop fairly sturdy upright stems. This one of the smaller growing Ironweeds and can be somewhat rhizomatous but does not appear to aggressive. This is tough little drought resistant perennial that is excellent for pollinators common to well-drained soils. Texas Ironweed is shade tolerant but will perform best when grown in full sun in well-drained soils. Item# 10671.

Clusters of deep blue 2" long pointed buds open to long-lasting tubular deep blue flowers that eventually fade to purplish-blue with the show beginning in early to midsummer and continuing into fall. True Blue Gentian is a hardy clump-forming perennial that develops into a well-branched 18-24"H x 12-18"W plant. A Darrell Probst is an open pollinated hybrid of Gentiana makinoi that is reported to be hardy into zone 8. True Blue Gentian does best in a full sun in areas with cooler summers and will likely need part shade where summers are hot. Provide it with a well-drained, average moist soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Makes a long-lasting cutflower as well as true blue addition to the garden and landscape. Image courtesy of AG3, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12286

This award winning Coleus is densely adorned in a cloak-of-many-colors with twisty, deeply lobed, medium-textured foliage in starkly contrasting patches of rich reds, deep purples, sunny yellows, and bright greens in sun. *In shade the colors lean toward greens and yellows with touches of reds. Twist and Twirl® Coleus is a vigorous, upright to rounded, densely branched, heat and sunloving tropical that is sure to turn heads and spark conversation! Use this fun and colorful Coleus cultivar as container specimens, as a thriller in mixed containers, or add it to the garden and landscape for spring to frost color. Twist and Twirl® Coleus was tops in 2008 in ground and container trials at Kansas State University, a 2008 Top Performer at Longwood Gardens, a 2007 Bronze Medal Winner at the University of Illinois Champaigne County Master Gardener trials, and a 2007 Premium Quality selection at Welby Gardens trials. It was also listed as one of the Proven Winners® top performing Coleus in trials at LSU AgCenter. Developed at the University of Florida as part of the IFAS program. Images courtesy of Proven Winners® - www.provenwinners.com, all rights reserved. Item# 12534

New in 2020! The new growth emerges primarily yellow that deepens through magenta and occasional flecks of glittery neon green into a large deep eggplant heart at the wide midvein. The foliage is edged in large sharp pointed teeth and ages to shades of magenta and purple and may have more greens and yellows where shaded. Under the Sea™ Barracuda is a compact well-branched, sun or shade tolerant, naturally evergreen tropical plant with an semi-mounding habit, growing to about 15-18"H x 10-14"W. Super easy and bright reliable color from spring to frost in both containers, as specimen plantings or in mixed container gardens, and the garden and landscape. Coleus prefer moist to average moist, fertile soils with average or better drainage. Item# 12508

New in 2020! Mysterious and intriguing! Dark, velvety, quilted foliage in shades of deep purple and black may be edged in a narrow band of lilac along the deeply cut rounded lobes and with more prominent black veining sometimes accented by rich purples nearing magenta at the leaf base. Mix Under the Sea™ Black Coral Coleus with pumpkin orange for an even scarier Halloween! This is a mound forming, heat and sunloving, naturally evergreen, tropical plant purrfectly suited for mixing into container gardens or as a uniquely colored specimen plant if paired with a contrastingly colored container or background. Spot it into the garden and landscape where it can compliment or contrast with neighboring foliage and flowers. Under the Sea™ Black Coral Coleus grows to about 12-18"H x 18-24"W. Coleus prefer moist to average moist, fertile soils with average or better drainage. Item# 12509