Mai Tai Is One Gorgeous Geum

Have you seen it yet? Geums are rather new to me, though I’ve grown hundreds of different perennial plants over the years. Gardening at the 45th parallel is challenging to say the least. A whole new outlook comes with this move to the Great White North. And while I’m not a ‘pink’ person, preferring rich reds and blues, I’m discovering that a touch of peach, coral and salmon can really set off the deeper colors I’ve always clung to.

I would never have purchased Mai Tai Geum left to my own devices. My friend Brent at Intrinsic Gardens sent me one of each of his new Cocktail Series of Geums last year to investigate. As with all new perennial plants, the first year is sparse on blooms, and the past three years spring has been so cold up here in the uber North that they didn’t do much the first year in the ground. Perennials are like that though. The first year you get a peek at a few sparse blooms, the second year they are far more rewarding and the third year? To quote a past garden design client of mine – the ‘third year is the charmer’. That’s when newly incorporated to you garden perennials come into their own. That being said, I really can’t wait until next spring to be able to see what Intrinsic’s Mai Tai Geum pumps out for full bloom then.

Since Geums are super early to bloom, they were welcome color in my not-too-established beginner garden here at the new house. Compared to what I once had, it seems rather sad. At least its a clean slate though and aside from the darn orange ditch lilies that surround this house, there is only acres of grass to deal with.

Spring arrives rather late up here and summer too, but at least it eventually happens. I am impressed with the super floriferous Tequila Sunrise Geum that arrived in my surprise package from Intrinsic. The plant is a powerhouse of blooming, like a non stop bouquet that seems to have been going for at least 5 weeks now. If you’re in a warmer climate, these early bloomers will color your world for weeks on end, but not quite as long as way up here. I’m still kicking the heat on at night and its already late June! The tomatoes aren’t digging it, but Brent’s Geums surely are.

Being the flower color snob that I am when it comes to my own personal garden, at first the charm of Mai Tai Geum was lost on me. After all, it isn’t red – and never professed to be, nor is it anywhere near blue. Taste seems to change with age. We discover that there are other color of blooms and leaves that not only compliment the preferred one or two hues, but actually make them more exciting as they play off one another. That’s what happened with me and Mai Tai. I just wish he could make them bloom longer, because the soft color of these massive blooms would be riveting once my deep blue and purple delphiniums open within the next week or so. But Mai Tai is swiftly succumbing to the change of the season.

The blooms are perhaps twice the size of those on Tequila Sunrise and Alabama Slammer Geum. Even the stems are far thicker, which is good this close to Lake Huron. The wind rarely stops here, making it extremely hard to photograph flowers without them being a blur. Its not that bad in person once winter leaves and the sultry days of summer are fleeting, but that dang wind hasn’t allowed me to show you just how gorgeous Mai Tai Geum really is. I tried – every shot is blurry, thanks to the wind that moves across this open farmland.

Packed tight with multiple layers of petals, Mai Tai blooms are definitely delightful. They start off like the image above and as they age morph into softer hues, eventually arriving at a whisper of coral pink. Stiffer stems allow then to stay super erect no matter how hard the wind blows or the spring rains fall. Hail doesn’t faze any of Intrinsic’s Cocktail Series Geums by the way. Severe thunderstorms in these parts in spring commonly carry hail and arrive with almost gale force winds that can beat less stiffly stemmed or tenderly leaved plants to a pulp. Not the Geums though, they sailed through it all as if nothing ever happened.

While all of the selections in Intrinsic’s Cocktail Series are lovely, this Mai Tai is simply fabulous. Dark red stems, a neat mound of lovely cut medium green leaves and these sensational coral-peach-salmon blooms held high above the foliage. Plant them near Plum Pudding and Peachy Keen Heucheras and you’ve got a combination to die for.

Campanula ‘Viking’: Love at First Sight

There is something undeniably romantic about the blooming presence of old fashioned bellflowers. The blued lavender blooms of Peachleaf Bellfower are a sight to behold in early summer. And then, the magic is over. Undignified and flopping about, the common bellflower is a mess in your garden. Campanula ‘Viking’ is going to change your view of bellflowers completely. Get ready for a love affair that isn’t a flash in the pan two-week stand.

Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau
Copyright © Plants Nouveau 2009

Perennial gardens everywhere in zones 5-8 will be so much lovelier with Campanula ‘Viking’ in May through July. Fat lavender blooms erupting on very upright stems, for weeks on end. The breeding for a compact plant will be the reason that this bellflower won’t be found lolling on the soil surface. No flopping and a vastly extended flowering period. A perennial flower destined to win your heart and be awarded a prized spot in your yard or flower garden.

Do be sure to give Viking all day sun for best flowering and vigor. One of the beauties of Campanula of all types (and there are oodles of them) is that they don’t have issues with pests and diseases some perennial plants can be prone to. You won’t have any problems with it spreading like wildfire and taking over your planting space or creeping into the lawn either. Viking is very well behaved. No runners and the seed is sterile, making it no garden thug you will regret planting forever more.

Campanula Viking will do well in average garden soil, but be prepared to give it consistent moisture. Bellflowers will not reward you with great vigor in heavy clay soils; prepare a well drained planting space. With the proper foundation, you’ll find that the superior strength and vigor of this bellflower, paired with months of luscious fat purple blooms, draws interesting visitors to your garden. Hummingbirds and butterflies will be magnetized to your new stand of Campanula Viking.

You won’t be sorry for adding this perennial plant to your front foundation plantings. The compact nature will keep this perennial in great shape. At only 18 inches tall in full bloom, be sure to plant your Viking Campanula in the middle to front of your border gardens. For those who enjoy a sampling of cut flowers extending the garden to bouquets in the house, Viking is an excellent addition to your cutting garden. For cottage garden and English garden plantings, here you have a winner in plumping up the romantic theme. In your garden or landscape, this lovely and nicely mannered perennial will mature to 24 inches across.

Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau
Copyright © Plants Nouveau 2009

New to the US gardening scene for 2011, Campanula ‘Viking’ PPAF is a Plants Nouveau introduction. You can count on the discerning judgment of anything Angela presents. Plants Nouveau has strict standards in deeming a new perennial plant fit for growing. This gorgeous new bellflower is the breeding work of Arie Blom and A-B Cultivars. This is just one more phenomenal perennial flower crafted by the Netherlands breeder who brought us the Cone-fections Echinacea series. Thanks Arie!

For more information about new Campanula ‘Viking’, contact Plants Nouveau.

In the Pink for Spring

Carpeting blooms so divine,
They named them Flower of God.

Introducing Dianthus gratianopolitanus ‘St. Benedict’

Image courtesy of Intrinsic Introductions
Copyright © Intrinsic Perennial Gardens 2008

Clearly beyond pink. Just look at the brilliance of that bloom. Imagine a perennial plant forming a sliver blue carpet covered with hundreds of these scented flowers in spring. Against the uniquely blue foliage, St. Benedict Dianthus is quite an arresting show. An instant pairing of glorious color springs to mind, I can see the low sweep of these spicy little blooms in front of Gold Variegated Iris (Iris pallida ‘Aureo Variegata’).

Variegated Iris
Image courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden.

Quite an amazing spring rock garden scene would be created with two of these perennial plants, and such a planting situation does both of them justice. St. Benedictine Dianthus, like all Cheddar Pinks, is an excellent easy to grow pink flowering perennial that forms a low mat that is a lovely color both in and out of bloom. While the silvery blue grass-like foliage is not quite as dramatic as those late spring flowers, you will find that it makes a lovely unique note amidst many greener leaved plants in the garden.

If you are wondering where the ‘Flower of God’ comes from, Dianthus is the combination of the Greek words for flower and god. We shouldn’t be surprised; the sight of Cheddar Pinks in bloom during May to June really is quite heavenly. Other forms of Dianthus are known as Sweet William and Cottage Pinks. Dianthus gratianopolitanus is a different variety than either of them and imparts a spicier scent much like cloves. The common name of Cheddar Pinks comes from their source of origination, an area known as Cheddar Gorge in southwest England where they grow in wild, natural abandon.

Image courtesy of Intrinsic Introductions
Copyright © Intrinsic Perennial Gardens 2008

For best vigor and beauty, St. Benedictine Dianthus requires excellent drainage and soil with a 6.6-7.8 pH level. If your soil is more acidic, you can bring it into the desirable balance with periodic additions of lime. You want a full sun spot for this alpine style glory of spring. The more silvered than most foliage of St. Benedictine reaches 6 inches tall and forms a 12 inch wide clump. The splendid almost beyond pink blooms appear on stems no taller than 8 inches. Blooms measure 1” wide with 4-5 serrated edge petals.

St. Benedictine Dianthus is hardy for zones 5-10 and being introduced to the world by Intrinsic Perennial Gardens. For those of you living in the deeper reaches of the hardiness zones, you will do best to give Dianthus filtered shade. St. Benedictine is really a lovely little source of early season vibrant color well worth a spot in the landscape and garden.

For professional growers seeking more information on the plant, visit Intrinsic Introductions.

Spreading Light in the Shade

Evergreen ground cover tends to be a rather boring group of plants, they are generally just green and well … creepy. Everything changes when you try running forms of Tiarella, which is semi-evergreen perennial plant.

Tiarella cordifolia ‘Ocotoraro’
Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau © 2008

The foliage of Tiarellas is always cut in very interesting shapes and marked nicely with black patterns. The new spring growth will always be a brighter, lighter green than last seasons’ or late summer color. The really stunning part about having ground cover forms of Tiarella is the light, airy blooms they produce beginning early in the spring.

In perennial gardens for shady spots, you will find both clumping and spreading forms of what is commonly known as Foam Flower. The proper name for this group of plants is Tiarella. There aren’t that many forms of spreading Tiarella that are beautiful, so the introduction of the River Series has been causing some excitement among plant collectors. Last year we featured Tiarella cordifolia ‘Delaware’. Now you can get a first hand peek at the rest of the current new releases.

From the genius breeding work of Sinclair Adam from Dunvegan Nursery in Pennsylvania, comes this wonderful selection of flowing flowering ground covers. In regions beyond zone 5, this plant may very well be perennial due to extreme winter temperatures. With good snow cover as insulation, it will not die back, but be there and nicely green when spring thaw arrives. Late frost spells will never make this flowering plant in your garden or landscaping look zapped, they adore cold weather. Frost and a late snow will do little to impair the blooming charm.

The Tiarellas in the River Series grow 4-6” high with a spread of 2-3 feet in two or three years. Unlike other evergreen groundcovers like Pachysandra and Ivy, Tiarellas are good mannered bed fellows. You won’t find this lovely flowing foliage choking the life out of your shrubs, hostas and other perennial plants. With the traditional forms of evergreen groundcovers, it is an annual to seasonal chore keeping it cut back from the life space of other plants in your landscape or garden. Pachysandra over a couple of decades can get so thick and determined; I have seen it push over ornamental fences out of the ground!

Tiarella cordifolia ‘Lehigh’
Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau © 2008

You’ll be delighted to know that once established, Tiarella plants will deal with drought quite nicely. While they will grow and fill faster with consistent moisture, a little dryness will not kill your planting off. It is best to give them loose soil that is rich in organic matter like compost that they are natives of on the forest floor. Good drainage is also important to the family of Foam Flower perennials.

Tiarella cordifolia ‘Wissahickon’
Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau © 2008

While they will in the cooler regions of the US do very nicely in some sunshine, your Tiarella plants will be lusher if they only receive morning sun. This is especially true in really hot summer areas. Some sunshine is advisable for best flowering habits. Like ferns, Tiarella is a plant that will grow in some really difficult shaded places but will perform faster with filtered or direct light in the cooler parts of the day.

Tiarella cordifolia ‘Susquehanna’
Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau © 2008

The entire River Series of Tiarella cordifolia should be easy to find for early shopping in 2010. All five plants were released to growers in 2009, making availability for this spring more prevalent. For more information, please visit Plants Nouveau.

Flows Like a River

Shady creeper of the forest floor…
Heavenly spring blooms over striking, low profile foliage.

Introducing Tiarella cordifolia ‘Delaware’ PPAF

Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau © 2008

‘Delaware’ Tiarella is the product of 15 years of cross breeding and selection of plantsman Sinclair A. Adam. Just one of 150 hybrid seedlings selected from a test group of 15,000 plants. Of those running Tiarellas that were selected for superior looks and vigor – only 5 were deemed special enough to be brought to market. The clumping new hybrid varieties selected from this test group are still under observation.

Image Courtesy of Plants Nouveau  © 2008

‘Delaware’ is the most floriferous in the River Series Tiarella introductions coming for 2009. The fuzzy leaves are distinctive and will provide a lovely ground cover forming perennial in shady spaces. Spring is the season for foam flowers to burst into bloom. They are great for naturalizing or traveling among the Rhododendrons and Hostas.

Image Courtesy of Plants Nouveau  © 2008

Sinclair has an eye for distinctive plants and is the man responsible for bringing ‘Shortwood’ Phlox paniculata to the world. He has also been the person behind other exciting Tiarellas known as ‘Erika Leigh’, ‘Oakleaf’, ‘Laird of Skye’ and ‘Brandywine’. This new River Series of Tiarellas has been much awaited in the horticultural circle.

The lovely flowing plants grow 6 inches high and can spread up to 18 inches in one year. Early spring is the time when the Tiarella blooms. Each bloom head on Delaware gives you an amazing 6 weeks of beauty that begins when most other plants are still waking up.

Covers up to 3-feet of ground in one season

Being introduced by Plants Nouveau, assures you that the plants are nothing ordinary. If you have not gotten excited about foam flower before … it is high time you did. If Angela is behind it, there is something to crow about.

Cool As a Cucumber

Gorgeous foliage that will not fry …
No matter how hot, no matter how dry.

Introducing Autumn Delight™ Sedum ‘Beka’ PP#18,421

Image Courtesy of Intrinsic Introductions © 2008

There is a lot more to perennial plants than just the flower. Blooming is wonderful, but don’t forget about the rest of the season. Your garden or landscape plantings have far more impact with different hues and textures of foliage on display. Autumn Delight Sedum has great value for foliage impact from spring to early fall.

This lovely new plant from Intrinsic Introductions gives you glowing chartreuse leaves edged with a thin line of deep blue green. Autumn Delight is sure to set those hot, dry plantings off in a way not possible with other drought tolerant plants. A sweep of brilliant foliage in summer is topped with increasingly deep pink and finally brilliant red blooms in late fall.

Image Courtesy of Intrinsic Introductions © 2008

Sedum Autumn Delight is easy to grow and will adapt to just about any soil but does require good drainage. This perennial prefers full sun but will do well in part shade. As with most colored foliage plants, you will get far brighter hues in all day sun. Maturing at 18″ high and wide, Autumn Delight is hardy in zones 4-9.

If you’re new to growing perennials in your yard, sedums are an excellent starter plant. They thrive even when neglected, making them the perfect ‘plant it and forget it’ perennial. Their chunky texture makes them the perfect textural balance planted with ornamental grasses. For the exact reverse in variegation excitement, check out the stunning looks of Autumn Charm Sedum.

Image Courtesy of Intrinsic Introductions © 2008

In a container garden this new sedum will shine without constant care. In the ground, you’ll get great impact in hot, dry places teaming Autumn Delight Sedum up with dramatic plum purple lower growing Vera Jameson Sedum and silvery Artemesia. To really jazz it up and add some height toss in some Pink Muhly Grass. New and beautiful Autumn Delight Sedum is available from better garden catalogs and nursery for Spring 2009 purchase.

One To Grow On

Dashing and radiant leaf to bloom …

Easy to grow, plant it and forget it beauty.

Introducing Autumn Charm™ Sedum ‘Lajos’ PP#14,421

Image courtesy of Introductions © 2008

One magnificent looking perennial plant you really out to get to know. Here’s living proof that workhorses can be stylish and beautiful. Sedum ‘Lajos’ Autumn Charm will grow in just about any soil. The sedum family will tolerate just about anything you or nature can do to it. Including not only surviving the family dog’s digging spree but also multiplying merrily because of the apparent destruction. (Believe it or not … it has happened to me. The following spring there were hundreds of baby sedums!)

Image courtesy of Intrinsic Introductions © 2008

Autumn Charm Sedum will be beautiful from the spring day it emerges from the soil until hard frost dries it for winter interest. This sport of Sedum Autumn Joy has all the great assets of irs parent and 20 times the beauty. Autumn Charm will give you brilliant fall color later in the season when all the rest of the sedums have darkened and become dull.

Image courtesy of Intrinsic Introductions © 2008

Autumn Charm Sedum prefers full sun and dry conditions once established. The plant will mature at 18″ or more high and wide and is hardy in zones 4-9. Foliage is a lovely blue green with a wide cream colored margin. The exact reverse foliar pattern of Sedum Autumn Delight (Sedum ‘Beka’) also new for 2009 from Intrinsic Introductions.

Bright fall color holds on longer than other sedums.

Flower buds will be full blown and glowing white in August. Coloring as the weather cools to pink and gradually deep red. For 3 seasons of color and added winter interest, Autumn Charm Sedum is definitely one to grow on … and on. Look for Spring 2009 availability in better garden catalogs. If you have a hard time finding this one in the spring, give them a year and there will be around for purchase by summer 2010.

Tall, Dark and Handsome

True red phlox? You bet!

Smoldering atop the world’s only black leafed cultivar.

Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau © 2008

Early spring leaves are the blackest of burgundy as they rise from the soil. As the leaves age and become more plentiful, each develops the arresting accent of a striking acid green stripe down the midrib.  Quite a showstopper clump of foliage it is too.

The strong stems are black burgundy from the soil line to the tips where the midsummer blooms will form. There is no other colored leaf cultivar within the Phlox paniculata plant family even though it is a vast and highly varied assortment of available perennials.

Image courtesy of Lost In The Flowers Media © 2008

He is very debonair this high society gent. At home in any garden where full sun will allow him to strut his stuff. Black tie attire completed when he pins those fire engine red flower heads to the tips of every showy stem when July is under way (zone 5).

Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau © 2008

No color rendering needs to be done when it comes to this plant or these flowers. All these photos are true to color. There is a noticeable different in hue to any other tall phlox bloom found to date. It is the truest to red of any of them.  Believed to be a natural cross between Phlox paniculata ‘The King’ and Phlox paniculata ‘Starfire’.

Starfire can only hope to claim a red bloom. Instead it is very much on the pink side of the color chart and a short plant of about 24″ in height. The theory is that the bluer tones of The King allowed the cross to produce a true red. Works well in crayons and paint the same should be true in nature.

Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau © 2008

Like any dark color foliage plant, the more sun will markedly deepen the black variegation. The intense coloring of th e stems does not fade in less sunlight. As shown in the above photo shot inside a greenhouse, the stem remains dark. No matter what lighting you grow Lord Clayton in, the stem is one tone from tip to soil.

Sporting dark dress hose all the way to the tops of his wing tips, Lord Clayton Phlox is dramatic and fetching. When he starts pumping out blooms, every woman will want him. He’s just that rakish kind of guy. You know, the one that all the girls are after. The ones who have seen Lord Clayton in full show regalia insisted that they must own him. Until now, no one else was allowed even the smallest little piece.

Your garden will never be the same.

This exclusive plant portrait is found only on Lost In The Flowers. I doubt even the most observant catalog nurseries know about Lord Clayton garden phlox yet, give them a little time as we’re sure they will catch on soon. Production for wholesale availability has only just begun. For once an arresting plant of huge appeal originated on this side of the pond. Collectors in Europe will just have to wait, as trialing is not yet completed there.

Image courtesy of Lost In The Flowers Media © 2009

The plant has been stable and reliable throughout the entire 6 years of its existence. Truly one to swoon over. Once you get a good long look at Phlox paniculata Lord Clayton you’ll be begging for him to move in at your garden too. Full sun, dry to moderate soil, hardy in zones 4 – 8 (maybe zone 3 too). Mature plant will be 40-48″ tall and up to 3′ wide.

All inquiries about the future of Lord Clayton Phlox PPAF, should be directed to Plants Nouveau who is introducing this most sophisticated plant to the world.

Fabulous Glowing Foliage First

Lemon-lime foliage is just the beginning.

Double the impact with fiery red blooms midsummer.

Introducing new Lobelia cardinalis ‘Golden Torch’ PPAF

Image courtesy of Intrinsic Introductions © 2008

For brilliant late summer to early fall color, Lobelia is an excellent low maintenance perennial. It does well in many soils with consistent moisture and good drainage. You will have great luck growing Lobelia in full sun to part shade.

Golden Torch Lobelia gives you double the color, double the fun with bright foliage that is striking through early summer. In full sun, you will have the brightest yellow hues to the leaves. In part shade, they will be more chartreuse. Either way Golden Torch will glow in the landscape and garden amidst the more expected colored foliage.

Image courtesy of Intrinsic Introductions © 2008

You’ll get a riot of beauty when the cardinal red blooms unfurl mid season and continue into early fall. That fiery display will be all the hotter shooting out of the glowing stems. This hot new plant is being brought to your garden from Intrinsic Introductions.

Sling some zing around your yard! Lobelia is fabulous in masses and thick waves when you have space to devote to multiples of one plant. It is excellent for around ponds, waterfront and stream banks because it adores moisture. Golden Torch Lobelia is sure to lighten your maintenance load and brighten your yard anywhere you want to enjoy them.

Golden Torch is a slender perennial finishing out at just 18″ wide. The foliage gives you 18″ of height. Brilliant red blooms give you months of floral enhancement at 30-42″ above the soil that continues into early autumn. Oooh-la-la! You’re going to look forward to this plant reawakening each and every spring.

Guiding light in ground effects

You probably won’t have to wait long to get your hands on this fabulous new easy to grow perennial. Look for Lobelia ‘Golden Torch’ to show up in better garden catalogs for Spring 2009 ordering.

Perfectly Timeless Posies

Imagine flowers that do not age. Impossible?

No!

Introducing new Echinacea ‘Milkshake’ PPAF

Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau © 2008

Everyone will suspect you of pinning silk flowers on your perennials to mess with their heads! The plant is made up of strong, upright stems that will be smothered with those fabulous fully double coneflowers for the entire season. Milkshake Echinacea is destined to become the best white coneflower for middle of the border beauty.

Sturdy and erect, you’ll have no flopping dilemmas from Milkshake Coneflower in your home garden. As with all other Echinaceas, full sun for best flowering and average garden soil with good drainage is best. Everyone in zones (4) 5-9 will be lusting after this amazing Cone-fection perfection.

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Image courtesy of Plants Nouveau © 2008

For more information about the amazing Milkshake Echinacea, please contact Plants Nouveau directly.

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