Weigela 'Minor Black' (Verweig3)

Weigelas are deciduous group of flowering shrubs that bloom in early spring. They are notable for their masses of flowers that are generally white to deep pink. New dark foliage and variegated forms continue to hit the market. Minor Black is a very compact dark leaved selection that blooms in early April and continues to flower into summer.

'Minor Black',

'Midnight Wine',

'French Lace',

'Variegata'

Agave Kara's Stripes

This is a new Agave attenuata selection from Gary Gragg of Golden Gate Palms and Exotics
The fist plant was discovered as a sport at his home garden in 1994.
I received my first plants as part of the patent trialing process. Tissue culture plants are now making their way into nurseries and soon into gardens. A few nurseries are already carrying plants, but supply is still limited. Check out the full story of Kara's Stripes on Gary's website.
Other nurseries offering Kara's Stripes are:
San Marcos Growers
www.smgrowers.com

Plant Delights Nursery
www.plantdelights.com

http://www.goldengatepalms.com/public_html/agave_attenuata.html

Sorbaria sorbifolia 'Sem'
This is a great new cultivar from the traditional Sorbaria or 'False Spirea'.
Sorbaria sorbifolia is native to Asia and is Hardy to Zone 2. 'Sem' is a dwarf selection
with deep pink and gold new growth. Sorbaria 'Sem' is deciduous and grows to about 3' x 3'
'Sem' also gets white spirea like flowers in summer. This plant looks great in containers and planted in mass.

Variegated Yuccas

I blogged about variegated Agaves in a previous post. I would like to follow up with a range of variegated Yuccas I have collected. Theses plants are very durable and have striking coloring. In the winter 'Bright Star' will even show hints of pink in the leaves. All of these varieties are available now in nurseries. 'Bright Star' is the newest one to come to market, it was selected in England at Walberton's Nursery. If you are in CA, San Marcos growers is offering 'Bright Star'. -RH

Yucca 'Bright Star' (walbristar)

Yucca recurvifolia 'Margaritaville' - From Hines Hort

Yucca recurviflora 'Banana Split' - From Monrovia

A two year old plant of 'Ivory Prince' the buds just keep coming.

Helleborus 'Ivory Prince' has been available for a few years now. Foliage has a nice silver cast to it.

This is H. niger 'Jacob'. The niger type Helleborus are the first to flower in December and January. Jacob opens up pure white then fades to deep pink.

Helleborus 'Pink Marble' this is a selection from Helleborus lividis.

'Honey Hill Joy' another Terra Nova introduction. photo taken 2-18-2008

Helleborus 'Hot Flash' a new one from the folks at Terra Nova.

Hellebous - Great plants for Winter interest

Helleborus is one of those great old fashion perennials that have been in gardens for years. Every Winter gardeners experience the impressive display Helleborus put on. There are many forms of Hellebore, most gardeners are familiar with the colored hybrid selections mainly from H. orientalis parentage. For growers these types typically take 1-2 years to flower from seed. There is another group of Helleborus that are mainly grown from tissue culture, that take one year to flower and have impressive flower counts but are generally limited to white, cream and light pink flower colors. I have been doing a trial of about 20 tissue culture selections at the nursery, and they are all starting to pop as I write this. Helleborus niger types are the first to bloom, this is the classic 'Christmas Rose' starting in Decemeber and peaking in January. The other forms, nigercors, and ericsmithii types usually start in Febuary and Bloom through March. Check nurseries now for flowering plants.

Cordyline 'Renegade'

Here is another new Cordyline. 'Renegade' is a clumping form with very wide black glossy leaves.
'Renegade' also gets very fragrant flowers in Spring and Summer. This variety, with its great black foliage will make a dramatic statement in containers with gold leaved plants like Heuchera.
Look for it in 2009. -Hardy Zone 8

Plant Hunting in England

The great part of being involved in New Plants for a commercial business is that you get to travel to great places to find new products. This is my 3rd trip to England, and my 2nd for plant hunting specifically. England is the Horticulture Mecca, great little nurseries cover the country, all with new varieties tucked in the back greenhouse. Sports, seedlings, active breeding programs are what we encounter on our trips. My last trip in November took me about 600 round trip miles from London to Wales, and a short plane trip to Cornwall. Cornwall was great, it has a mild climate similar to the Central Coast of California were I live and work. With this climate growers and gardeners have embraced Mediterranean plants as the foundation for their gardens. Cordyline australis can be found in almost every yard, and has received the common name of 'Torbay Palm', named after the town of Torbay in county Devon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torbay Here are some highlight pictures from the trip.

Cordyline Electric Pink

I mentioned prior that I had done a great deal of research on Cordyline.
I have amassed a nice collection of Cordyline australis varieties. Many are very
new and are not yet commercially available. Electric Pink pictured below is on the market and is an excellent variety. It is notable for being a clumping type, giving you a grass/Phormium like look in the garden. Electric Pink is also a great item for mixed containers. Cordylines are notorious for being slow, Electric Pink is far from slow and will bulk up quickly in warmer months. Hardiness is still typical Cordyline, I would say Zone 8 minimum. More to come -Ryan

Back at it.

Well I'm back with more motivation to continue the Blog. I was a bit frustrated by not being able to find it on Google. But I have had some good encouragement from fellow plant nuts (Thanks Mom) and I hope to continue posts on a regular basis. The Physocarpus 'Lady in Red' post was the top hit on Google so thats nice to see. I invite your feed back on subjects you are interested in. I have a tendency to get interested in a plant group, and then research it to the max. In the last few months I have done allot of research on the following genera.
Heuchera
Helleborus
Cordyline
Fritillaria
Astelia
Sedum
Dianella

I will continue to post my results and some great photos of the different varieties out there.
Bye for now. Post again soon - Ryan