Here are some plants coming this spring that we're excited about:
Cyclamen - Enjoy inside or in the garden for cool season color
Back in the day, Cyclamen was really just a fancy florist potted plant that would only live on cool windowsills. Boy has this plant come a long way!! Now we have fantastic varieties that can look good either in your home or in your garden. And while Cyclamen is still a cool season plant, the new types give more color and last longer.
How to enjoy Cyclamen? We love the gentle fragrance – put the plants where people congregate such as patio pots by the front door of the house or perhaps a few plants on the kitchen table or in the living room. Outside, use it as a special accent plant – just a pop of color! The plants do not spread like more vigorous growers so plant Cyclamen close together – but just far enough apart so the leaves are not touching. Normally in a 14” patio pot plant 3 plants with some filler – think pansies or snapdragons. Place planters in semi-shady conditions for best results as all the cool season plants do not like extreme heat.
Inside the home the key to success is to keep Cyclamen out of any drafts of hot air blasting from your heating system, as the longer they can be in cool areas the longer the flowers will last. The plants like to be moist but do not like to sit in water. Give them a big drink, let the excess water drain away then put them back on display around the house.
Lobularia Silver Stream - All weather color
Lobularia are related to the common garden annual ‘Sweet Alyssum’ and if you squint you can see the family resemblance. A zillion small flowers cover the plant and it has some of the same gentle sweet fragrance. Different from the older types is that the new Lobularia Silver Stream will do well in hot or cold weather where cousin Alyssum would poop out in the heat of summer – Silver Stream will keep flowering all summer!
Easy to grow and care for we like using this as a basket plant or a s ‘spiller’ in a patio pot. You can consider using Silver Stream as a flowering ground cover in the garden. Because of the nice fragrance we like using it on decks – plant some right next to your favorite patio chair and enjoy that sweet smell all summer!
Lobularia Silver Stream - a zillion flowers and cool and hot performance – what is not to love?
Senetti - A new cool season superstar!
Early season color is a ‘new’ area for most gardeners to explore. For those who want to liven up the gardens and patio areas ahead of the official frost free dates of spring – there is a whole collection of fun plants that can take the cold nights of early spring. Traditionally we used pansies and snap dragons for early season color – but in recent years we have finally gotten some nice big flowers to put into this cool season category. Welcome Senetti – an amazing new plant that we think will be a cool season superstar!
What is Senetti? It is new re-blooming Pericallis – nice daisy like flowers on an attractive plant. Great colors make this a showboat in patio pots or in the garden. Plant in semi-sun/shady spots for best performance. This is plant that does best with temperatures 50 degrees or less.
