The Golden Age of Plants and Technology

I truly believe that we live in the Golden Age of technology and gardening. Just think about it. With inexpensive flight, we now have access to plants from around the world.  With the formation of the European Union and the unification of plant patent laws, plant breeders can now make a living developing new plants - and we benefit from lots of new plants.  With the creation of the internet, Pinterest, and e-Harmony we can connect with gardeners and plant geeks around the world.  With Wikipedia, the Plant Hunter blog and GardenWeb we now have access to the most massive library of gardening information right at our finger tips.  And with a wide array of garden centers, online mail order nurseries and QVC we can buy just about any plant we want with very little effort.  What a great time we live in!

The Lo & Behold Series butterfly bush  

And if you're amazed at how the phone has changed in the last 20 years from the big, black Bell and Howell to the itty-bitty iPhone, consider what has happened to the big, bad butterfly bush. The once large, rangy, seedy shrub is now a cute, cuddly compact shrub sans seeds that reblooms without dead-heading. 

Lo & Behold 'Blue Chip' opened up new ways to use butterfly bush

    

While Steve Jobs had the vision for the iPhone, Dr. Dennis Werner had a vision for a new breed of Buddleia. His vision is Lo & Behold - a brightly colored series of dwarf butterfly bush and just like the iPhone his vision is now reality.  To the casual observer the iPhone and the Lo & Behold series might seem to be overnight success stories, but both inventions took years of testing, trialing and hard work to create. Greatness takes time, but in the end it's worth the wait; both inventions are now praised by critics for their award winning low profile and superior aesthetics.    

Lo & Behold now comes in white with 'Ice Chip'

But there are also many differences between the iPhone and Lo & Behold butterfly bushes. Unlike the iPhone which has been criticized for containing dangerous chemicals, the Lo & Behold series is an environmentally friendly series of seedless selections that are non-invasive. These plants will not hurt the environment. Unlike the iPhone which is produced in China, Lo & Behold is grown locally. And instead of releasing greenhouse gases these little guys sequester carbon and emit pure oxygen. You can grow these shrubs without any guilt. It's even better for the earth than driving a Prius. Honest.

Black Knight on left, Lo & Behold seed on right

From a health standpoint you need not worry about microwaves and the potential for brain tumors with the Lo & Behold series.  Rather, it is well documented that using these and other plants have many positive health benefits. 

Lo & Behold 'Purple Haze dwarf butterfly bush

But perhaps the best thing about the Lo & Behold series compared to the iPhone is that these beautiful new plants are a much better value.  These cool new butterfly bushes may cost a tad more than the old models, but they cost substantially less than the $200-$400 that an iPhone will set you back.  And while the iPhone is obsolete within a few short years, these little beauties will get better with each passing year.  The fragrant flowers bloom non-stop from mid-summer right up until frost without any need to dead-head the old flowers.  Just give them a small charge of slow release fertilizer in the spring and they're good to go for an entire year.

There are lots of great new apps for Lo & Behold 

Many early adapters rave about all the new apps for these little shrubs.  Their petite size allows you to use them in containers, around decks and even as a ground cover. Some people have reportedly used them in mixed hanging baskets. The apps are endless! And while you do not get Angry Birds with the Lo & Behold series, you and your kids will love the happy hummingbirds and beautiful butterflies that come free with every Lo & Behold purchase.  

                    This is awesome. I need this!                          

No More Weeding or Mulching: Ground Covering Shrubs

Typically, when we think about ground covers we tend to think about Ivy (Hedera helix), Pachysandra and Vinca and little else, but there are many good shrubs that fill this same role in the garden. Over the years, I have developed a real appreciation for low growing, spreading, ground covering shrubs. Not only are these shrubs low in stature but they're also low in maintenance. Very little if any pruning is needed to keep them looking good. They keep the weeds at bay and they eliminate the need for mulch. And out of all my gardening chores - weeding and mulching are my least favorite.  

So here are few of my favorite ground covering flowering shrubs.

Lo & Behold 'Purple Haze' Buddleia is the newest release from Dr. Denny Werner at NC state. As you can see it's quite different than Lo & Behold 'Blue Chip'. The flowers are larger, the foliage is darker, and the habit is more spreading in nature. Like 'Blue Chip', it is continuous blooming and puts on a great show in late summer and fall. I love it's texture which is unlike that of any other butterfly bush. It's not yet on the market, but should be available in limited supplies next summer. 

Little Dipper Cotoneaster is a very fine, very low growing shrub that forms a thick, dense mat. Like a good ground cover it crowds out unwanted weeds and eliminates the need for mulch. I love how its dark green foliage looks creeping over my stone edging. I know what you're thinking - you hate how Cotoneasters catches every fallen leaf in sight. Not to worry - leaves just blow right on past this dense, low growing shrub. 

Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of Euonymus fortunei, aka wintercreeper, but I do have a fondness for Gold Splash Euonymus. It has large attractive variegated leaves and its growth habit is very uniform and consistent. Most importantly this Roemer Nursery introduction does not get the leaf spotting diseases that plague other Euonymus cultivars. 

I am a big fan of Bangle, Gensita lydia 'Select'. This petite, ground covering shrub is an improved selection developed by Dick Punnett the propagator at Arrowhead Alpine Nursery. It's a (nearly) leafless plant with attractive green, tread-like stems and electric yellow flowers that engulf the plant in early spring. It looks equally great planted in mass or flowing over the edge of a decorative container.    

Indigofera pseudotinctoria 'Rose Carpet' never fails to lift my spirits when its bright green foliage is adorned with bright pink flowers. This is a long blooming shrub that deserves greater use. The blooms appear in late summer and last until fall. This shrub tends to leaf out late in the spring which is typically of many shrubs in the pea family. 

Celtic Pride, Microbiota decussata 'Prides' is new selection of Siberian cypress from Prides Corner Farms. This drought tolerant evergreen has bright green, fern-like foliage which turns a russet brown in winter. Unlike the species it has a greater resistance to tip die-back disease. It is a great little, evergreen, ground covering shrub that grows well in full sun or shade.

New Plants: Netherlands 09

I just got back from a week in the Netherlands looking at new plants. Here are a few that I found interesting. Which do you like?

This is a greenhouse bench filled with Lo & Behold 'Blue Chip' Buddleia. It will be introduced in Europe next spring. I've never seen so many butterflies in one place in all my life. The Boskoop Royal Horticlture Society has it awared it a gold medal.

Chasmanthium 'River Mist' is acutally an American plant but it won a Gold Medal from the Boskoop Royal Horticulture Society. It was developed by Itsaul plants.



Echinacea 'Irresistible' is just one of may new Coneflowers on the market. Below is a vase shot of one assortment now on the market.





This is a new larged variety of Hibiscus moscheutos called GH7 or Guido Oak Red.

This is one the the best red leafed grasses I've ever seen. It's not hardy but can be used as an annual in the North. It's called Pennisetum setaceum 'Fireworks' and I love the contrast with the green interior leaves.

Pretty Much Picasso petunia is available here in the US but it has made a big splash in Europe as well. It won a metal from the Boskoop Roayl Horiculture Society for one of the best new plants for 2009.

New and Interesting Plants seen in the UK

We'll I had a few moments to go through some of my pictures from England and gleened out a few to share. The first one is an English Oak (Quercus robur) tree we say along side the road. It was so large we just had to stop and get a picture. Turns out it has a name - The Big Belly Oak and is one of the largest in the country.

We had a chance to visit the Berberis traials at Wisely. I hope to revisit them in this blog at a later time but they had Sunjoy Gold Pillar Berberis 'Maria' there and it looked great. The color was bright and there was no mildew or bunring as with some of the other yellows.

This is a very nice Buddleia grown not for it's flowers but rather its silver foliage. I think Plant Haven offers it. It's called Silver Anniversary. It have white flowers but that's not the reason to grow it. It was developed by Peter Moore.

Another plant by Peter Moore is Choisya Goldfingers. What a pretty container plant for the patio. I suspect it's a good plant for California or Oregon but not for the rest of us. Still very stunning.

This is a variegated from of Hydrangea a. pet. with dusty variegation. It comes from Japan and I believe it's been patented but I forget the name.

Schizophraga is a relative of the climbing Hydrangea. This unusual selection has yellow blotches on the leaves. I kind of like it but I think many people would think it has chemical damage

I have always loved this shrub but have never had success growing it. It's Sophora davidii - a member of the pea family. This plant was loaded with blue flowers and was quite stunning.

Reblooming Shrubs- Part III

This the my last installment in the Reblooming shrub series. Cearly there are plenty of shrubs that bloom for a long period of time. I'm sure I left something out so please feel free to comment and share your favorite rebloomers.

Abelia x grandiflora is a superb rebloomer if you live in zone 6 or a warmer climate. Hummers and butterlies will visit the plant providing added enjoyment. This selection is called Bronze Anniversary. Its leaves emerage an attractive bronze-orange color then age to lime-green.

While most all Buddleia are reblooming if you dead head them Lo & Behold 'Blue Chip' starts blooming early and continues without having to deadhead. Additionally this selection non-invasive and is the only available cultivar that can be sold in Oregon.

Daphne transatlantica (D. caucasica) is a favorite of mine. It has small, fragrant, white flowers that start in April and can continue sporadically right up into fall.. It a small shrub about 3-4 feet tall and is one of the easiest daphnes to grow. I took this photo in the fall at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston.

One of you commented about Kerria japonica. You're right - it is a good reblooming shrub. It's a great shrub for the shade or semi-shade. This cultivar is called 'Alba' which is not white as the name would indicated but rather a butter yellow as opposed to the typical bright gold. It's hard to find but worth growing. I like it!

An Eye for Award Winning Plants

As I’ve said previously, one of the most satisfying aspects of hunting for and introducing new plants is getting affirmation that you’ve introduced a good plant. When growers and gardeners respond positively then I know my eye for a good plant is still working and on the right track. On that front, this last week has been a good one.

Just today I received a report from the Royal Horticulture Society at Wisley (England). They’ve been conducting an all European Buddleia trial that includes all cultivars available in the trade. That’s 107 different Buddleia cultivars in all, so the competition is very intense. In public voting this year, between July 31st to August 20th, , the top vote getters, by a decisive margin, were Buddleia x ‘Miss Ruby’ and Lo & Behold™ ‘Blue Chip’ respectively. The trial coordinator commented that the votes for Lo & Behold™ ‘Blue Chip’ would most likely have been even higher had the voting continued longer. That is because Lo & Behold™ ‘Blue Chip’ continued to flower well beyond all other cultivars. This is great news and is a good indication that each plant is in the running for the prestigious RHS award of Garden Merit. Dr. Denny Werner should be pleased that his plants took the top two spots. I expect that his breeding will garner ever more accolades in the future, as his Buddleia breeding is the best in the world.

I also got word that one of our new Oso Easy™ Roses won an award. The Rose Hills International Rose Trial awarded a Gold Medal to Oso Easy™ ‘Paprika’ as the Best New Ground Cover rose for 2008. Congratulations to Chris Warner and his outstanding breeding of disease resistant roses. Awards are nothing new to Chris. He has won over 100 international awards including two President’s Trophies and three Gold Stars.

The JC Raulston Arboretum - A Plant Lovers Candy Store

In my last post I featured Lo & Behold 'Blue Chip', a new dwarf buddleia developed by Dr. Dennis Werner. I should have noted that Dr. Werner is the Director of the JC Raulston Arboretum, which is run by NC State University.

If you love plants and if you have plans to visit Raleigh, North Carolina, then a visit to the JCRA is essential. It is one of my favoite places to visit because I always come across many new plants that I never seen before.

The JC Raulston Arboretum is a nationally acclaimed garden with the most diverse collection of cold hardy temperate zone plants in the southeastern United States. As a part of the Department of Horticultural Science at NC State University, the Arboretum is primarily a working research and teaching garden that focuses on the evaluation, selection and display of plant material gathered from around the world. Plants especially adapted to Piedmont North Carolina conditions are identified in an effort to find better plants for southern landscapes.
The Arboretum is an 8-acre jewel that has been largely built and maintained by NC State University students, faculty, volunteers, and staff. The Arboretum is named in honor of its late director and founder, J. C. Raulston, Ph.D., who founded it in 1976.

Plant collections include over 5,000 total taxa (species and/or cultivars) of annuals, perennials, bulbs, vines, groundcovers, shrubs, and trees from over 50 different countries, which are displayed in a beautiful garden setting.

Plant breeding has been, and continues to be, a part of the arboretums function. While Lo & behold Buddleia ‘Blue Chip’ is the newest plant to be released from the arboretum, many of you have also heard of Sinocalycanthus ‘Hartlage Wine’, which was also developed at the JCRA. This remarkable plant was the first hybrid between Calycanthus and Sinocalycanthus.

Two excellent ways to stay in touch with what is happening at the JCRA is through the frequent e-mail postings from the Cuttings from the JC Raulston Arboretum listserv and the JCRA e-Updates. Cuttings from the JC Raulston Arboretum features current events and developments at the Arboretum. The monthly JCRA e-Updates offer another great way to read about current and upcoming happenings at the Arboretum.

Have you every visited the JC Raulston Arboretum? Please post a comment let us what you think.

A Spiraea with Fragrant Blue Flowers?

Image if you can - a new selection of Japanese Spiraea

One with blue flowers ...

that's fragrant ...

that blooms from mid-summer to frost ...

that attracts butterflies ...

Can it be true? Does such a plant exist?

The answer is NO and YES.

No - there is no such thing as blue flowered Spiraea. I’ve looked.

Yes - there is a plant that has the same neat mounded habit as a Japanese Spiraea and that has loads of fragrant blue flowers. What is it?

Lo and Behold™ ‘Blue Chip’ - A new Butterfly Bush (Buddleia hybrid).

Personally I have a love hate relationship with Butterfly Bush. I love the bright colors, I love the sweet fragrance, I love the long bloom time, I love the flock of dancing butterflies that it attracts and I love that it’s easy of grow.

But at the same time, I hate that it can look so darn scraggly and beat up. Let’s face it people don’t know how to prune buddleia and with time the plant can look really bad! I also hate seeing the blown out - overgrown containers that some growers put out on the market. One day you have a really nice looking three gallon, but the next day you have a tangled mess on you hands. Buddleia can grow too fast for it own good.

But now, Lo & Behold ‘Blue Chip’ is about to change the way we think about buddleia and how we use it in the garden and in the landscape. Credit for this revolutionary breed goes to Dr. Dennis Werner of The J. C. Raulston Arboretum . This is the first of a series of dwarf and compact plants that will be sold in the Lo & Behold series name. This remarkable plant is perfectly at home in a perennial garden, it makes a very cool patio container, and it can even be used a mass planted ground cover.

As an added bonus it does not have to be dead-headed to keep on flowering. Normally you have to remove the old flowers on buddleia to keep it looking good and keep it flowering. With this new plant, the new flowers just keep on coming while the old flowers fade away. And if that was not enough, this plant is essentially seedless – you need not worry about stray seedlings popping up around the garden.

Don’t bother asking me where to buy it - because it’s not yet available for sale.

Better independent garden centers will have a limited number of plants in the summer of 2008. There should be wider availability in the spring of 2009. Lo and Behold 'Blue Chip is a Proven Winners ColorChoice flowering shrub, so garden center buyers will have to contact a Gold Key Proven Winners ColorChoice grower if they hope to offer this plant in 2008.

Kudos to Dr. Dennis Werner for redefining the Butterfly Bush.