George's Current Ramblings and Readlings

The Best New Perennial Flowers of 2024

January 23rd, 2024

   A cross between coneflowers and gloriosa daisies, a new variety of a little-known native plant, and the smallest native Joe Pye flower yet top the list of interesting new perennials debuting in the 2024 growing season.

Echibeckias are a cross between coneflowers and rudbeckia.
Credit: Quality Greenhouses

   Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked the following 14 choices for my annual January four-part, best-new-plants series.

   The article on best new edibles of 2024 appeared Jan. 9, while the rundown on best new annual flowers posted last Tuesday, Jan. 16. The series ends next Tuesday, Jan. 30, with a look at the best new trees and shrubs of 2024.

   The following new perennial flowers are available online and in some plant catalogs and will start showing up in local garden centers in April.

   The details:

Echibeckia Summerina series

   You probably have never heard of an “echibeckia,” which is understandable since the plant is a recently developed cross between coneflowers (Echinacea) and gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia). But if you lean toward the new and different and are willing to accept the possibility that this “perennial” may not make it through our winters, consider that the Summerina series of echibeckias was showy enough to earn the 2023 Editor’s Choice Medal of Excellence award from the Greenhouse Grower trade magazine.

   The producer of this 10-color series, California-based Pacific Plug and Liner, touts the line as the “most interesting plant in the world” for the big flowers, fast growth, long bloom time, disease-resistance, and flower colors that offer “bursts of rich browns, oranges and yellows.”

   The plants have the habit and central flower cones of coneflowers but the warm colors of gloriosa daisies.

   The down side is that these hybrids are listed as winter-hardy only down to Zone 7, which puts them in the border-line “safe” zone for most of the Harrisburg area, which is now listed as Zone 7a in the newly revised U.S. Department of Agriculture Winter Hardiness Zone Map.

   Echibeckia prefer full sun and overwinter best in a protected microclimate, such as along a heated house wall.

Stokesia Totally Stoked ‘Riptide’ is a pollinator-friendly native perennial that’s not well known.
Credit: Proven Winners

Stoke’s aster Totally Stoked ‘Riptide’

   Stoke’s aster (Stokesia laevis) is another little known perennial despite being a U.S. native wildflower.

   Robert Kadas, owner of Highland Gardens in Lower Allen Twp., thinks a new variety of it called ‘Riptide’ has the potential to become a hit, given the recent popularity of both native plants and ones that are pollinator-friendly.

   “I’ve always loved stokesias because of how easy they are to grow for most people,” Kadas says. “’Riptide’ has abundant periwinkle-blue flowers through the summer on rich, dark-green foliage. It’ll form a nice, dense plant that grows two feet tall and three feet across.”

   He adds that this is a perennial that tolerates heat and humidity well, is loved by bees and butterflies, and is hardly ever bothered by deer or rabbits.

   Proven Winners is introducing ‘Riptide’ as one of the first two entries in a new series called Totally Stoked. The other newbie is a white-bloomer called ‘Whitecaps.’

The Best New Annual Flowers of 2024

January 16th, 2024

   A super-cold-hardy dusty miller, a double-award-winning purple-blooming agapanthus, and a whole new type of succulent are among a slew of interesting new annual flowers debuting in the 2024 growing season.

Semponium ‘Diamond’ is one of the entries in a whole new type of plant called Surrreal semponiums.
Credit: Monrovia

   Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked those and more for my four-part, best-new-plants series that I compile each January – a good month for gardeners to plan what to plant in the coming season.

   The article on best new edibles of 2024 appeared last Tuesday, Jan. 9. The best new perennial flowers of 2024 will post next Tuesday, Jan. 23, and the best new trees and shrubs of 2024 is scheduled for Jan. 30.

   Some of the following 14 new annual flowers are available in seeds or plants online and in some plant catalogs. Most also will show up in plant form in local garden centers beginning in late April to early May.

   The details:

Surreal semponiums

   What do you get when you cross a cold-hardy hens-and-chicks plant (Sempervivum) with a tender Aeonium?

   British breeder Daniel Michael managed to do just that and came up with a new cross called “semponium” that offers a range of interesting leaf colors and formations.

   Succulent fans and those looking to try anything new and different will love this new five-variety series named Surreal, which is debuting in the U.S. this spring.

   Semponiums blend the glossy, colorful leaves of Aeonium with the rosette habit and equally colorful leaves of hens-and-chicks.

   “They are amazing, huge, colorful succulents that are more hardy than traditional Aeonium,” says Monrovia plant selections manager Georgia Clay, who rates Surreal semponiums as her favorite new annuals of 2024.

   Although semponiums are cold-hardier than Aeonium (which are grown as houseplants or annual pot plants in Pennsylvania), they’re not as cold-tough as hens-and-chicks (perennials in Pennsylvania). They’ll be sold as Zone 8 annuals and can be over-wintered here inside as houseplants.

   The five varieties include ‘Sienna’ (14 to 16 inches tall with red leaves), ‘Vortex’ (10 to 12 inches tall with a spiraled rosette of dark outer leaves and neon-green centers), ‘Destiny’ (16 to 18 inches tall with reddish-black leaves), ‘Diamond’ (10 to 12 inches tall with bright green leaves that have red edges), and ‘Mrs. Frosty’ (10 to 12 inches tall with narrower brownish-pink leaves).

   Plants are deer resistant, grow in full sun to part shade, and like most succulents, don’t need a lot of water.

Agapanthus Blackjack has unusual dark-purple flowers.
Credit: Concept Plants

Agapanthus Black Jack

   A plant that earned 2023 Plant of the Year honors at last year’s Chelsea Flower Show in London – and a People’s Choice award in 2024 National Garden Bureau Green Thumb voting – is another interesting British import coming to U.S. gardens this spring.

   Agapanthus Black Jack is a strappy-leafed plant that produces striking lily-like dark purple flowers atop sturdy stems.

   In the South, agapanthus is a durable, evergreen, drought-tough plant that comes back year after year. It’ll be sold as a perennial as part of the Southern Living Plant Collection in Zones 8 and up.

   In Pennsylvania, Black Jack is better suited as a summer-flowering pot centerpiece that can be overwintered dormant in an unheated garage or basement.

   What’s unusual about this agapanthus is that the flowers are so dark purple that they open from black buds and border on black at first – different from the more common blue or white shades of agapanthus (sometimes known as African lily or lily-of-the-Nile).

   Black Jack grows about 20 inches tall, does best in part sun, and is deer resistant. Note that agapanthus is toxic to humans and pets if eaten.

The Best New Vegetables and Fruits of 2024

January 9th, 2024

   A lot of winter is still staring us in the face, but for gardeners, it’s a time to dream about the many plants already awakening in greenhouses.

Fruit Snacks apple trees are narrow but heavy-yielding.
Credit: Plants Nouveau

   Some of these plants will be new to the market in 2024 – improvements or new twists that haven’t been grown in home gardens yet.

   To help you decide which of the newcomers to consider for your 2024 gardens, I’ve scoured the trade and asked numerous experts for what they believe are the best of the best plants making their debut.

   Let’s zero in today on 10 of the year’s best new vegetables and fruits.

   Next week (Jan. 16), we’ll take a look at the best new annual flowers of 2024, then on Jan. 23 we’ll cover the year’s best new perennial flower introductions. The series concludes Jan. 30 with a look at the year’s best new trees and shrubs.

   Some of the following new edibles are already available online and in catalogs. If any strike your fancy, it’s best to order ASAP before the supply dwindles.

   Others will show up in local garden centers – seed packets already and plants in April and May.

Fruit Snacks apple trees

   Four dwarf, columnar apple trees are the first in this new-for-2024 line of Fruit Snacks fruit plants with the tag line, “Real fruits you can reach and eat.”

   Angela Treadwell-Palmer, co-owner of the Plants Nouveau company that’s debuting Fruit Snacks, says the line comes in response to recent home-gardener demand for compact tree fruits that are easy to grow.

   “These perfectly upright, dwarf and skinny apple trees make it easier to pick delicious snacks,” she says. “Fruit Snacks are perfect for small spaces. They make lovely hedges and will grow perfectly in pots.”

   The four new varieties grow eight to 12 feet tall but only about three feet across. Full-sun locations are best, and two different trees are needed to cross-pollinate and produce fruits.

   The varieties also were selected for their resistance to scab and rust – the two main maladies of apple trees.

   Debuting in 2024 are: Blushing Delight (green-gold fruits with a red blush); Golden Treat (a slightly tart variety with golden fruits); Tangy Green (a tart, green variety similar to Granny Smith), and Tasty Red (a slightly tart red-fruited variety).

Kitchen Minis

   This line of super-small, pot-grown tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers also comes with a tag line: “No garden? No problem.”

Cucumber ‘Quick Snack’ is the newest introduction in the Kitchen Minis line.
Credit: PanAmerican Seed

   Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses in Monroe Twp. plans to carry two varieties of starter-size Kitchen Mini plants in early spring: a foot-tall, red-cherry-type tomato called ‘Siam’ and a new-for-2024 compact, self-pollinating cucumber called ‘Quick Snack.’

   “These are meant for indoor kitchen-window growing,” says Ashcombe co-owner Kerri Laudig. “The plants produce small, snack-size fruits that are perfect for a small family in early spring before the gardening season begins. They’re novel and home-grown fun.”

   The potted plants can be moved outside on a patio or table top after frost so long as they’re still producing.

   ‘Quick Snack’ also is winner of the 2024 National Garden Bureau Green Thumb Award for the year’s best new edible in both the People’s Choice and Professional Choice categories.

   The Kitchen Minis line, produced by Pan American Seed, includes two other compact cherry tomatoes, three mini sweet peppers, and six varieties of miniature hot peppers.

12 Gardening Trends of 2024

January 2nd, 2024

   The National Gardening Association’s 2023 National Gardening Survey found that an estimated 80 percent of American households are taking part in some sort of lawn or gardening activity.

Gardeners are looking at their yards as more than just a collection of pretty plants.

   That’s a five-year high and comes despite markedly higher prices in plants and gardening supplies.

   What form will that interest take in 2024? Here’s a look at 12 brewing trends that gardening trends-watchers see in their compost-stained crystal balls:

More than just pretty plants

   A big-picture trend (mentioned by several gardening-watchers) involves a change in the whole underlying purpose motivating people to garden in the first place.

   Dr. Alyssa Collins, director of Penn State University’s Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Lancaster County, calls it a “vibe shift” in which gardeners are viewing their yards as more than just a collection of pretty plants and instead a key part in the overall health of local wildlife, the surrounding ecosystem, and the planet in general.

   That rethink, Collins says, is behind a bevy of specific trends, such as planting more native plants to help pollinators, a move away from heavy-handed garden cleanups that disrupt the habitats of beneficial insects, and less or no spraying.

   Andrew Bunting, vice president of horticulture for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, sees the shift as “gardening practices that put the environment first.”

   He cites trends such as composting or leaving the leaves in yards to reduce landfill waste, switching from gas-powered lawn-and-garden equipment to battery-operated types, “rewilding” parts of lawn into eco-friendlier meadows, and creating habitats for beneficial insects instead of the past norm of spraying anything that crawls.

 “Eco-anxiety”

   Young gardeners in particular are gravitating to enviro-friendly gardening practices, says Katie Dubow, president of the Chester County-based Garden Media Group, a public-relations firm specializing in the garden industry.

   The changing climate is a leading driver of concern for that age group, she says.

In Case You Missed It…

December 19th, 2023

   The 2023 gardening season took us down a lot of roads… too much and too little rain, the sudden appearance/disappearance of spotted lanternflies, more bans of invasive plants, and gardening in a smoky haze, to name a few.

2023 was another year when we had to deal with sometimes-too-much and sometimes-too-little rain.

   I thought I’d close out the year by highlighting some of what I wrote about in 2023, giving you second-chance links in case you missed a post of interest.

   Here you go… and happy 2024!

On this website (free, unlimited reads):

   I start every new year with a look at what experts say are some of the hot gardening trends of the coming year. See Gardening Trends of 2023.

   I then wrote four e-columns highlighting some of the best new plants hitting the market.

Best New Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruits of 2023

Best New Annual Flowers of 2023

Best New Perennial Flowers of 2023

Best New Trees and Shrubs of 2023

   Another best-plant rundown I do every year is plants that have won awards. See Award-Winning Plants of 2023.

   And these are some of the other topics I wrote about here in 2023…

Better Naked (a look at plants that look their best without leaves in the dormant season)

Think twice before accepting this pass-along plant (chameleon plant).

Just Say No to These Pass-Along Plants (not all plants people want to give you for free are worth taking)

My Bulb Experiment: Three Years Later (my real-world experience with planting 16 kinds of bulbs… which are faring well and which aren’t)

How One of the Warmest Winters Caused Some of My Worst Plant Damage Ever (the irony and trouble of getting winter weather that’s a little too warm… or unstable)

Composting in Place (no need to lug all of those yanked weeds to the compost bin… most can be tossed nearby where you can’t see them to break down in place)

Lanternfly Obsession (how people are overreacting when they see an infestation of spotted lanternflies for the first time)

Black Thumb? I Don’t Think So (I don’t buy the idea that you’re either born to garden or not… like anything else, the more you learn, the better you get)