New annuals & perennials for my garden
Yesterday, at an Austin garden bloggers meet-up and plant exchange, I joked that we were all going to have the same plants eventually. We all like to share, and yet I suspect most of us also like to have some plants that are different from what everyone else has. “New and different” is what keeps many plant lovers going to the nursery, right? In that spirit, here are a few new plants I’m trying right now. They aren’t new plants to the market, just new for me.
Pictured above is ‘Sunburst’ St. John’s wort (Hypericum frondosum ‘Sunburst’). I first saw this cultivar of St. John’s wort at Chanticleer Garden a couple of years ago and fell in love. When Austin nursery Gardens was going out of business last winter, I found it on sale and snapped it up. Now it’s starting to bloom—yea!
This is actually my second summer to grow ‘Black Pearl’ ornamental pepper (Capsicum annuum ‘Black Pearl’), a heat-loving annual in our climate. (Click on the link for more information about it.) Just look at those dark leaves and black fruits. I couldn’t resist the drama. I found it at Lowe’s this spring and at Barton Springs Nursery last year.
I’ve heard this plant likes full sun, although it grows fine in part-sun in my garden. This year I planted five, and some get more sun than others, so I’ll have a better idea of its preferences. It’s also a xeric plant, so it doesn’t require babying through our summers. The purple flowers become the black “pearls,” which ripen in late summer into candy-apple-red, berry-shaped peppers.
I think it’s going to look great next to the pinkish purple blooms of ‘Senorita Rosalita’ cleome, which I’m growing for the second year. This Proven Winners cleome certainly proved its worth in my garden last summer, through terrible drought and heat. Although the cold snap last winter killed it off, it’s worth growing as an annual, and this year I have three.
Sweet almond verbena (Aloysia virgata) is another new plant I’m trying. The fragrance caught my attention at Barton Springs Nursery a couple of weeks ago, and Mae, who works there, told me that it’s fairly drought-tolerant and blooms off and on all summer. It responds well to pruning to keep it more compact (although this is a large shrub at 6-10 feet tall) and to rejuvenate flowering. Bees love it.
‘Candy Corn’ trailing abutilon is still pretty new for me in its second year. It doesn’t bloom as much as ‘Marilyn’s Choice’ abutilon, but I love seeing the bright yellow-and-red blossoms when they do appear. This is a low, spreading plant for morning sun or dappled shade. I’ve seen a taller variety of ‘Candy Corn’ in Lucinda Hutson’s garden, but she told me she lost hers one hot, droughty summer.
Losing a plant opens up room for something new. So what new plants are you trying this season?
All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I grew that Hypericum ‘Sunburst’ for several years and it is an outstanding plant. Well-shaped without pruning, exfoliating bark, bluish-green leaves, bright yellow flowers that fade to chocolate brown seed heads. Mine succumbed to a bad bagworm attack. I swear they appeared overnight before I could pick them all off of! I’m also growing that same cleome in a container. Of course here, it is no question an annual.
I remember reading your post about the bagworms attacking your hypericum, Carol. I’ll keep an eye out for them. —Pam
I can see why you picked up some Black Pearls, but only 5 🙂
I doubt I’ll be able to find any Black Pearls around here but they’re on my list now. Maybe just maybe I can snatch some up when I head back south (south being 400 miles to Long Island) and get to the land of huge garden centers.
The elusive Black Pearl—if you spot Capt. Jack Sparrow, you’ll know you’re on the right track, Wiseacre. —Pam
Very nice additions! Love cleome. I’ve had them for several years,they self-seed, but somehow, they start disappearing. I guess, I need to reseed them with fresh seeds. As for the pepper, what dramatic color its foliage has!
This cleome is sterile, according to the Proven Winners information page. I had hoped it would make it through the winter here in zone 8b, but we had an unusually cold winter last year. —Pam
I’ve grown Black Pearls in the past, but from seed.
The foliage was near black in the sun.
The more sun, the darker the foliage and the more berries, I was told. But many so-called sun plants in our zone can take a little shade, and so do these. —Pam
I am very happy with a nice annual find as of yesterday, a Bengal fern. It looks like a boston fern only it is chartreuse and light green. I think the more sun it gets the more yellow it will be. I am surprised that your cleomes don’t reseed themselves. They do around here. Maybe not this kind but I have had pink, white, and lavender ones that reseed like crazy. I stopped growing it due to all the trouble of pulling out the seedlings. My daughter grows a pepper that sounds like this one. It comes back for her every year. Amazing since she is in zone 6.
Proven Winners reports that this cleome is sterile, Lisa. Indeed, I did not get a single seedling from last year. Your new Bengal fern sounds pretty. —Pam
That almond verbena sounds lovely. I have a stash of new seeds of things I’d like to try-including abutilon, desert cassia, gaillardia and Mexican hat. My tithonia is blooming.
Mine too, Nicole. It’s also new in my garden this year. —Pam
That is quite a few to get used to.
I have 4 new knockout roses that brother brought me. 2 yellows, 1 dbl red & 1 dbl pink. Also a peach & apple tree. Also some Crinum bulbs that have a pink/white stripe bloom. I already have a white & a pink one. The white one is blooming now & the bloom stalks are up to my windows at my bedroom. Nice to look out the window & see them.
Crinum is very pretty. Enjoy those flowers! —Pam
I know I’ve said this before–I don’t get the appeal of cleomes, but I do sort of like this one. And it will look splendid with Black Pearl nearby. The Hypericum is quite wonderful; I have a couple of shrubby types but nothing like this one.
The shrubby Hypericum is quite common around Austin too, Jodi, in shade gardens. I bet it likes full sun in Nova Scotia, huh? —Pam
Very nice additions. I look forward to seeing how they do. I started some Cleome from seed this spring, but unfortunately, although the seeds germinated, I moved them outside to the patio too soon and they didn’t make it.
That’s too bad. It was a long winter this year, wasn’t it? —Pam
We have ‘Rosalita’ at our garden center, Pam, and I think of you every time I pass by the cleomes and see her! I can see why you’re in love with her–great color. 🙂
I have a resolution that I’m only allowed to buy three non-edible plants for the garden this year. It has forced me to be a little more creative with moving things around, to say the least! It has also made me even more interested in what other people have been trialing in their gardens…
Wow, that’s a lot of self-denial, Kim. That would make you really stop and think before you pick up something interesting at the nursery. —Pam
What a lovely collection of new plants. I have the Hypericum, it’s one I asked for an ID on in my current post! It was here when we bought the house and I love it. Mine is HUGE – but I prune it and it loves the summer and never wilts. And it’s evergreen — what a plus. Love your pepper.
What a coincidence that you were looking for the name, Diana. Funny! I usually come across Hypericum in shady gardens in central Austin. What conditions does yours like? —Pam
The pepper is so dramatic, Pam – five of them sounds super! Please do report on how the Black Pearls do in varying sun/shade conditions.
About Aloysia virgata: A friend has grown Almond verbena for several few years in North Central Austin – it does have a lovely scent. Her shrub breezed through winter 2008-09 with little dieback and was more than 12-feet tall last fall. But winter 2009-2010 killed it to ground level. It’s not dead… just starting over ;-]
Y’all talked so much about Abutilons that I did succumb at Barton Springs Nursery and buy a couple, but so far am Rosalita-free.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Oh, but wouldn’t Rosalita look nice in your pink garden out front? 😉 I’m glad to know how your friend’s almond verbena did in last year’s winter. It sounds like an occasional hard winter may be just the ticket with a shrub this vigorous. —Pam
I have Sweet Almond Verbena, and love it! Until our record freeze this winter, I had it limbed up to make a small tree, and on warm days its perfume would fill the entire yard.
Ooh, I can’t wait for mine to get that big! —Pam
I love ‘Sunburst’ it’s a main stay in the early spring gardens. Does yours seed itself?…and if I could find Rosalita locally she would be joining the other annuals. gail
I haven’t had ‘Sunburst’ long enough to know whether it will re-seed, Gail. —Pam
These have been on my wish list! Will see if I can sneak a few in. Would love to have the almond verbena. A few years ago, we featured it on CTG (and again recently). One flower scented the entire studio. But it does get big. Hmm, maybe I can mow down the house next door.
Pam, I walked outside earlier this evening and was hit with a wave of fragrance … the sweet almond verbena is blooming and perfuming the night.