Baby Joe

Eupatorium Baby Joe

http://www.dutchbulbs.com/store/perennials/65641

Definitely on my wish list.

Cobra

Nasturtium majus 'Cobra'

It's finally available - and ONLY from Thompson & Morgan! Our flower breeders won a Fleuroselect Novelty mark back in 1999 for this beautiful new variety, but it has taken some years to build up the seed stock to be able to offer it to our customers. The bushy, dark-leaved plants will quickly trail through borders or over the sides of containers and baskets, whilst the contrasting dark red, double blooms, exclusive to this variety, make Cobra a spectacular 'must-have' for your garden this summer!

- Thompson & Morgan (link here)

My resolution is to plant more nasturtiums next year, and this is definitely one to try.

Black Dragon

Breathe a little hot color into the shade border or sunny window this season with 'Black Dragon', an unusually richly-textured, warmly-colored foliage plant. Compact, very showy, and easy to grow, it's a must-have for anyone with a patch of shade (or empty flowerpot!) to call their own!

The leaves are spectacular, both for their red-to-midnight-purple color shading and their rippling edges, which give the plant much more presence than most Coleus. The leaves will turn color and begin to pucker at a very early age, making this one of the most fun seeds to start indoors. (For even fuller, bushier plants, pinch back the young tips a few times during the growth season.) I sowed a packet of 'Black Dragon' in successive waves about a month apart, just to enjoy the young leaves that much longer!

- Park Seed (link here)

I have to try this.

Recent plantings

1 Giant Allium

5 Gladiator Alliums

8 Woodstock Hyacinths

7 Mixed Hyacinths

40 Mixed Dutch Iris

10 Tulipa tarda (species tulips, recommended for naturalizing)

This brings the fall bulb total to 497.

Firefly

Plant Patent #11,038. Whether your garden needs some vertical color and fragrance, groundcover beauty, or even a neatly-trimmed flowering shrub, 'Firefly' can do the trick! This rare variegated form of Climbing Hydrangea is easy to grow, very dependable, and just about the most beautiful sight in the spring garden.

The leaves are heart-shaped and glossy green, emerging with a bright yellow outline in spring. By late spring and into summer, they are joined by large "lacecap" blooms of creamy-white. These consist of an inner circle of tiny flowers surrounded by an outer ring of much larger, open florets. Fragrant and long-lasting, they are superb for cutting, and will perfume the entire garden.

'Firefly' is usually grown as a climbing vine, reaching 25 feet long and about 3 to 4 feet wide. Its most dramatic presence is upward along tree trunks and into overhanging branches, but it also blankets unsightly fences and other structures, or scrambles across the ground. It can even be grown as a shrub about 3 to 4 feet tall and wide, provided you keep it pruned. Such versatility!

This vine is deciduous, but it's hard to mourn the passing of its leaves in winter, for this season reveals its fascinating peeling cinnamon-brown bark. It takes a season or two to become established in your garden, and then sets to work, adding about 2 feet of growth every year. No pruning is necessary unless you like; it thrives in any well-drained soil receiving full sun (farther north) to partial shade (farther south). Discovered by Dan Benarcik in New England, it is one of the most exciting new plants to grace the garden. Enjoy! Zones 4-7.

- Park Seed (link here)

Black Hills Spruce

Picea glauca var. densata

http://www.2shoptrees.com/blackhillsspruce.htm

http://www.arborday.org/treeguide/TreeDetail.cfm?id=174

http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/forestservice/towner_nur/bh_spruce.htm

Sorbaria 'Sem'

Sem is an improvement in just about every way over older Sorbaria varieties. Compact, better-branched, and more dense than others, it creates a tight, bushy little mound in the garden, making a fine low hedge or accent planting as well as a shrub border standout. Next, it offers pinkish-red spring leaves that turn chartreuse and remain that way till frost. Finally, it covers itself with white blooms over a long summer season. Elegant, space-saving, and beautiful!

Sem forms a neat 3-by-3-foot shrub in the partly shaded garden, adding great texture to the garden. Not "patchy" or "thin" like other Sorbarias, it covers itself first in foliage, then in charming blooms that last from midsummer till season's end.

This shrub is easy to grow and quite adaptable, thriving in any well-drained soil. It is especially valuable for northern climates. Zones 2-7.

- Wayside Gardens (link here)