Plant Preview


Welcome to Plant Preview, a blog dedicated to helping gardeners learn about gardening techniques and preview new plant cultivars. Read about new plants here first and hear how your "comrades in compost" are making use of new plant introductions in their gardens and landscapes. Blog author Geri Laufer is a life-long dirt gardener, degreed horticulturist, author and former County Extension Agent. Plant Preview is copyrighted by Geri Laufer.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Bermuda Peach™ Daylily Never Stops Blooming


Continuous blooms from spring through fall add value to the landscape.

It’s a win-win for gardeners and the landscape industry with the new three-season Bermuda Peach™ Daylily. The enchantingly beautiful, continuously re-blooming, care-free daylily delivers brightly colored, four inch, intensely ruffled clear peach flowers on a non-stop basis spring through autumn. 
This strong growing, early-blooming daylily blooms continuously throughout three seasons. Big (4 inch), showy peach flowers with pleated petals of heavy substance and remarkable large, looping ruffles descending into the flower’s throat on round flowers, are held on short scapes. Bermuda Peach™ is a vigorous grower producing compact plants with grassy foliage, and double or triple the number of flower stalks and offsets each year.  Enjoy 24/7™ Daylilies are a garden mainstay used in perennial borders, massed, for erosion control on slopes, or as a color accent.
Excellent re-blooming extends the season and promotes development of new offsets, producing vigorous increases annually. Bloom starts 6 to 8 weeks earlier than regular daylilies, during cool spring nights, a plus for retailers whose customers will be captivated by the colorful display on their springtime shopping trips.

Compact plants fit on retail racks and flower during the spring rush continuing through fall. Rust resistant; flowers are self-cleaning and old blooms are cleanly shed. Compact plants and shorter flower scapes eliminate blow over in retail outlets. This Bermuda Peach™ Daylily is Cold Hardy to -10 to -20° F. (Zone 5 - 9); enjoys full sun exposure and has wide tolerance of soil types and moisture levels, and may be grown in loam, sand or clay on a wide pH of 5 – 8. A long bloom-season, and multiple flowering cycles are perfect for mass plantings and perennial beds.

Bermuda Peach™ Daylily is a 2011 introduction in the Tetraploid series Enjoy 24/7™ “the no work plant collection” from Garden Debut® that features shorter plants with large, brightly-colored flowers. Look for all eight daylilies in the Enjoy 24/7™ “no work plant collection“ line-up that continue with enjoyable names derived from The Beach Boys hits.  These flowers evoke a tropical feel of freedom and fun.

What’s more, Bermuda Peach™ Daylily is resistant to Daylily Rust, the scourge of previous long-blooming daylilies. Short, grassy foliage, clean shedding of old blooms, prolonged reblooming that extends the season, and rapid increases of divisions add up to a finer and more saleable daylily. Compact plants with short flower scapes and foliage of this daylily eliminate blow-over in garden centers common to taller daylilies sold in gallon pots,     


The culmination of seven years of targeted plant modification by renowned daylily breeder and author Dr. Ted Petit of Le Petit Jardin, McIntosh, Fla., Garden Debut® is pleased to provide the green industry with superior plants through this new partnership. Bermuda Peach™ Daylily is available in summer 2011. The series is named for the luscious, soft dawns and tropical island colors of the Beach Boys’ classic song, Kokomo. Look for the other seven introductions in this daylily collection with enjoyable names derived from this hit recording.


Bermuda Peach™ Daylily, Hemerocallis ‘SPd 06-08’ PPAF
(Hybrid 2011 introduction of the Enjoy 24/7™ “the no work plant collection”)
Plant Category:
 Perennial
Mature Height:
18 inches, shorter plants won’t blow over in gallon pots
Mature Spread:
12 inches
Mature Form:
 Grass-like foliage, short mounds (like cushion mums)
Growth Rate:
Vigorous; rapid increase in landscape or garden quickly forming large plants
Disease Resistance:
 Very Rust resistant, “No Work Plant Collection”
Sun Exposure:
 Full sun to partial shade
Soil Moisture:
 Wide range, tolerant of dry to damp soils
Soil Type:
 Loam, Sand, Clay, tolerant of all soil types 
pH Level:
 Wide range, tolerant of soil reaction
Flower Genetics:
 Tetraploid. More flowers with heavier substance, yet the series are shorter with narrow leaves that will not blow over in gallon nursery pots
Intensity:
Light-colored butter cream yellow blooms
Flower Color:
Bright, cheerful Bermuda Peach™ Daylily flowers are a clear peach color.  The wide petals are sculpted with heavy substance, and recurve to form a very round flower. Large, looping ruffles extend into the throat area. Delightfully wide, overlapping, peach petals recurve, creating a round flower form
Flower Size:
 4 inches
Bloom Time:
 Continuous bloom spring through summer
 Starts blooming 6 to 8 weeks earlier than standard commercial varieties, blooms during spring retail rush. Branched flower scapes have dozens of flower buds, enhancing the display.
Weather:
 Flowers even in cool weather and cold nights
Repeat bloomer:
 Outstanding re-bloomer or continual-bloomer with multitudes of buds and flowers on well- branched scapes
Self-cleaning:
 Clean shedding of old blooms
Season:
 Flowers extremely early (with Azaleas and Redbud) and throughout  summer and fall, until hard frost
Landscape Value:
 Improved garden mainstay; popular perennial now blooms earlier, fits into retail racks and has greater landscape application
Zones: 
 5 – 9
Heredity:
 U.S., Dr. Ted Petit, McIntosh, FL
                                                           
                        When performance counts, use Garden Debut® introductions
#     #     #

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Bahama Pink Sky™ Daylily Enjoys Uninterrupted Bloom All Season Long


Enjoy 24/7 “the no work plant collection” adds landscape value.

Better than other long-blooming daylilies, Garden Debut®’s new introduction Bahama Pink Sky™ Daylily delivers fabulous color, a long bloom season and desirable disease resistance.  Daylilies in the Enjoy 24/7 “the no work plant collection” share outstanding characteristics that appeal to gardeners, homeowners, landscape designers and contractors.

Sophisticated flowers of Bahama Pink Sky™ Daylily have wide, medium flesh-pink petals accented by a wide, rosy red eye-zone and a contrasting yellow throat; the combination evokes soft pink tropical sunsets. Wide, overlapping petals are lightly ruffled with the barest hint of a faint rose picotee outlining some edges. The rosy-red eye covers nearly half of the rich and clear pink petal surface, creating a dramatic two-tone effect in the landscape.  In warm weather, the medium size flowers recurve, presenting a chic, round shape.

This luscious pink daylily is one of the new Garden Debut® Tetraploid daylilies offered in the Enjoy 24/7™ series that features three seasons of continuous bloom on short, disease-resistant plants with large, brightly-colored flowers. The series is named for the lush, tropical colors of the Beach Boys’ classic song, Kokomo.

Bahama Pink Sky™ Daylily is a 2011 introduction in the Tetraploid series Enjoy 24/7™ “the no work plant collection” from Garden Debut® that features shorter plants with large, brightly-colored flowers. Flowering begins six to eight weeks earlier than standard daylilies and flowers develop even during cooler spring weather and cold nights, a big plus for retailers whose customers will be captivated by the colorful display on their springtime garden center trips.  Blooming continues on branched flower scapes throughout summer and fall, until cut down by hard frost (as late as Thanksgiving in Zone 7).

What’s more, Bahama Pink Sky™ Daylily is resistant to Daylily Rust that afflicts all previous long-blooming daylilies. Short, grassy foliage, clean shedding of old blooms, prolonged reblooming that extends the season, and a rapid increase of divisions adds up to a fine, desireable daylily. Compact plants of this daylily with short flower scapes and foliage eliminate blow-over in garden centers common to taller daylilies sold in gallon pots.    

The culmination of seven years of targeted plant modification by renowned daylily breeder and author Dr. Ted Petit of Le Petit Jardin, McIntosh, Fla., Garden Debut® is pleased to provide the green industry with superior plants through this partnership. Bahama Pink Sky™ Daylily is available in summer 2011. Future introductions in this daylily collection will continue with enjoyable names derived from the Beach Boys hit, Kokomo, and the flowers will evoke a tropical feel of freedom and fun.           
 Bahama Pink Sky™ Daylily, Hemerocallis ‘SPd 06-01’ PPAF
(2011 introduction of the Enjoy 24/7™ “the no work plant collection”)
Plant Category:
 Perennial
Mature Height:
18 inches, shorter plants won’t blow over in gallon pots
Mature Spread:
12 inches
Mature Form:
 Grass-like foliage, short mounds
Growth Rate:
Vigorous; rapid increase in landscape or garden quickly forming large clumps
Disease Resistance:
 Very Rust resistant, Enjoy 24/7 “the no work plant collection”
Sun Exposure:
 Full sun to partial shade, very resilient
Soil Moisture:
 Wide range, tolerant of dry to damp soils
Soil Type:
 Loam, Sand, Clay, tolerant of all soil types 
pH Level:
 Wide range, tolerant of soil reaction
Flower Genetics:
 Tetraploid. More flowers with heavier substance, yet overall, plants in the series are shorter with narrow leaves that will not blow over in gallon nursery pots.
Intensity:
 Bright colored, luscious, two-toned pink blooms
Flower Color:
 Bahama Pink Sky™ Daylily have wide, flesh-pink petals accented by a wide, rosy red eye-zone and a contrasting yellow throat; overlapping petals are lightly ruffled with the barest hint of a faint rose picotee outlining some edges. The rosy-red eye covers nearly half of the rich and clear pink petal surface, creating a dramatic two-toned effect in the landscape.  Recurved petals yield a round flower shape.
Flower Size:
 4 inches
Bloom Time:
 Continuous bloom spring through summer.
 Starts blooming 6 to 8 weeks earlier than standard commercial varieties, blooms during spring retail rush.
Weather:
 Flowers even in cool weather and cold nights
Repeat bloomer:
 Good re-bloomer with multitude of flowers on well- branched scapes
Self-cleaning:
 Clean shedding of old blooms
Season:
 Flowers extremely early (with Azaleas and Redbud) and throughout  summer
Landscape Value:
 Improved of garden mainstay; popular perennial now fits into retail racks and has greater landscape application
Zones:
 5 – 9
Heredity:
 U.S., Dr. Ted Petit, McIntosh, FL
                                                           
                        When performance counts, use Garden Debut® introductions
#     #     #








Tuesday, April 5, 2011

New Endless-Blooming Aruba Red™ Daylily Finds Favor

Continuous blooms from spring through fall add value to the landscape.

Superior to previous long-blooming daylilies because of its rich, saturated red color, Garden Debut®’s new introduction Aruba Red™ Daylily represents an advance in performance in color, long blooming season and disease resistance.  Plants in the Enjoy 24/7 “the no work plant collection” share outstanding characteristics that appeal to gardeners, homeowners, landscape designers and contractors. http://gardendebut.com/_catalog_67846/Enjoy247Daylilies

Aruba Red™ Daylily flowers are deep crimson red, with a heavy substance. Delightfully wide, overlapping, red petals recurve, creating a round flower form. Petals are heavily ruffled, with tons of ruffles continuing down the petal edges into an appealing yellow throat. Branched flower scapes have dozens of flower buds, enhancing the display.

Aruba Red™ Daylily is a 2011 introduction in the Tetraploid series Enjoy 24/7 “the no work plant collection” from Garden Debut® that features shorter plants with large, brightly-colored flowers. Flowering begins six to eight weeks earlier than standard daylilies and flowers develop even during cooler weather and cold nights, a big plus for retailers whose customers will be captivated by the colorful display on their springtime shopping trips.  Blooming continues throughout the summer and fall until cut down by hard frost (as late as Thanksgiving in Zone 7).

What’s more, Aruba Red™ is resistant to Rust that plagues previous long-blooming daylilies. Short, grassy foliage, clean shedding of old blooms, prolonged reblooming that extends the season, and rapid increase of divisions add up to a finer daylily. Compact plants with short flower scapes and foliage of this daylily eliminate blow-over in garden centers common to taller daylilies sold in gallon pots.    

The culmination of seven years of targeted plant modification by renowned author and daylily breeder Dr. Ted Petit of Le Petit Jardin, McIntosh, Fla. Garden Debut® is pleased to provide the green industry with superior plants through this new partnership. Kokomo Sunset™ Daylily was available in fall 2010. Future introductions in this daylily collection will continue with enjoyable names derived from the Beach Boys hit, Kokomo, and the flowers will evoke a tropical feel of freedom and fun.      

Aruba Red™ Daylily, Hemerocallis ‘KOK 06-02’ hybrid PPAF
(First of the Enjoy 24/7 “the no work plant collection”)
Plant Category:
 Perennial
Mature Height:
18 inches, shorter plants won’t blow over in gallon pots
Mature Spread:
12 inches
Mature Form:
 Grass-like foliage, short mounds (like cushion mums)
Growth Rate:
Vigorous; rapid increase in landscape or garden quickly forming large plants
Disease Resistance:
 Very rust resistant, “No Work Plant Collection”
Sun Exposure:
 Full sun to partial shade
Soil Moisture:
 Wide range, tolerant of dry to damp soils
Soil Type:
 Loam, Sand, Clay, tolerant of all soil types 
pH Level:
 Wide range, tolerant of soil reaction
Flower Genetics:
 Tetraploid. More flowers with heavier substance, yet the series are shorter with narrow leaves that will not blow over in gallon nursery pots.
Intensity:
 Brightly colored red blooms
Flower Color:
 Deep, rich red flowers and a yellow throat; wide, overlapping petals are edged with heavy ruffles shading to pink
Flower Size:
 4 inches
Bloom Time:
 Continuous bloom spring through summer.
 Starts blooming 6 to 8 weeks earlier than standard commercial varieties, blooms during spring retail rush.
Weather:
 Flowers even in cool weather and cold nights
Repeat bloomer:
 Good re-bloomer with multitude of flowers on well- branched scapes
Self-cleaning:
 Clean shedding of old blooms
Season:
 Flowers extremely early (with Azaleas and Redbud) and throughout  summer
Landscape Value:
 Improved garden mainstay; popular perennial now fits into retail racks and has greater landscape application
 5 – 9
Heredity:
 U.S., Dr. Ted Petit, McIntosh, FL
                                                           
                        When performance counts, use Garden Debut® introductions
#     #     #


Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Scentimental Journey with Sweet Treat™ Lilac


Beloved Lilac fragrance is combined with superior disease resistance and red to burgundy fall color.


The intoxicatingly sweet lilac fragrance so beloved of generations is enveloping gardeners through an improved selection known as Sweet Treat™ Lilac from Garden Debut®. Heavy with a profusion of blooms and redolent with a fragrance more perfumed than roses, this selection has also proven marvelously disease resistant, performing flawlessly in the brutal heat and humidity of lower Midwestern summers.

Sweet Treat™ Lilac presents a profusion of fragrant blossoms each spring that are dark lavender in bud and fade to a soft lavender-ice blue when fully opened. The plant is particularly floriferous when planted in full sun, and its fragrant blossom trusses stand out beautifully against dark green, glossy leaves. But there’s more. Sweet Treat™ has the best fall leaf color of any Lilac, when its green foliage turns a deep burgundy red, adding color in the autumn landscape.

Sweet Treat™ Lilac is well-branched, compact and upright-rounded in form, slowly growing to a height of five to six feet tall and a mature spread of four to six feet, with foliage stretching to the ground. It is small enough to be ideal for nearly every garden. Sweet Treat™ Lilac makes a wonderful addition to shrub borders or foundation plantings where proximity to a gate, walkway, patio or entrance door provides perfumed enjoyment. It grows well in a wide range of soil conditions and is hardy in Zones 3-8, making it the most versatile lilac in the country. 


Sweet Treat™ is a great improvement over the well-known variety of Dwarf Korean Lilac, Syringa pubescens subsp. patula 'Miss Kim'. Sweet Treat™ Lilac reliably displays clean foliage and vigor with no disease or die back during the hottest summer temperatures, that normally sound the death knell for the older variety.

Statistics Chart for Sweet Treat™ Lilac, Syringa patula ‘Greswt’ PPAF 
Category:
Deciduous flowering shrub known for sweet fragrance
Mature Height:
5 – 6  feet
Mature Spread:
4 – 6 feet
Mature Form:
Rounded-upright,  multi-stemmed shrub, easy care
Growth Rate:
Slow to Moderate
Sun Exposure:
Plants require full sun for best flowering
Soil Moisture:
Well-drained soils, shrub is drought resistant; no wet soils
Soil Type:
Loam, Sand or Clay; wide range from dry to moist
Flower Color:
Dark lavender in bud, opening to light lavender or ice blue; sweetly- scented; a hummingbird magnet
Flower Arrangement:
Individual ½-inch tubular flowers arranged in dense, terminal clusters (upright panicals 3" in length) envelop the shrub with flowers. 
Profuse bloomer, flowers each spring, flowers from late April to May
Fragrance:
Powerful sweetly-scented aroma perfumes the entire landscape
Wildlife:
Flowers attractive to wildlife, hummingbirds, honey bees; deer like to eat the flowers
Summer Leaf Color:
Deep green, glossy leaves showcase the blooms
Fall Color:
Red to burgundy fall color; Best color of any Lilac!
Disease Resistance:
Resistant to powdery mildew; vigorous with no disease or die back even in the hottest, most humid summers
pH Level:
5.5 – 8.5 
Zones
3 – 9, extraordinarily wide range makes it the most versatile Lilac
Heredity:
U.S., Greenleaf Nursery Company, Park Hill, OK

When performance counts, use Garden Debut® introductions.

#     #     #

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Native Shade Tree Snow Flurries™ Black Gum Has Variegated Leaves


Attractive white-margined leaves on this native shade tree are unusual.

Anticipating the first flurries this summer! An easy-grow native shade tree, Snow Flurries™ Black Gum has unbeatable green and white summer color, rare in the world of shade trees. Snow Flurries™ has shiny, variegated leaves with generous white margins and green centers and is riveting in the landscape. Garden Debut® expects a blizzard of orders once this extraordinary plant hits the market. Overall, the variegated leaves are narrower and smaller than the species, turning a ruddy color in early autumn.

The tree reaches 30 – 40 feet in height, with gracefully draped lower limbs creating an oval form. This Garden Debut® introduction is easy-care and trouble-free. Snow Flurries™ has clean leaves without leaf spot and with no significant pest problems. Aided by its deep tap root, it is adaptable to an extremely wide variety of soil moisture conditions from poorly drained soils and low spots subject to periodic flooding, through average garden soils, and also on dry sites.

Small flowers are a great nectar source and attract honey bees resulting in prized Black Gum or “Tupelo” honey. Small, dark blue, football-shaped fruits are a favorite of birds and wildlife in August and September, and do not stain decks or paving.  Left, leafing out in early spring. 
                                                






Statistics Chart for Snow Flurries Black Gum, Nyssa sylvatica ‘Grechrist’ PPAF
Plant Category:
Native tree, budded cultivar
Mature Height:
Reaches 30 – 40 feet
Mature Spread:
25 - 30 feet
Mature Form:
Oval
Branching:
Lower branches with graceful drape
Growth Rate:
Moderate, faster growth on moist soils
Sun Exposure:
Full sun (recommended)  to part shade
Soil Type:
Loam, Sand, Clay
Soil Moisture:
Native to wet soils; adaptable to periodic flooding; also grows in dry locations; grows readily in a wide variety of soil moisture levels
Flower Color:
Greenish white, insignificant flowers; excellent nectar source for honey bees resulting in prized Black Gum or “Tupelo” honey
Bloom Season:
 April – May
Foliage:
Shiny, medium green leaves with white margins are smaller than the species, 1” wide by  2.5 – 3 “ long
Fall Color:
 Ruddy red
Fruit pods:
Small, Dark Blue Football-shaped Drupe, August to September; does not stain sidewalks; birds and wildlife love them 
Bark:
 Dark Gray to Brown, Thick, Fissured
Root:
Taproot, patented variety is budded onto Black Gum seedling rootstock 
pH Level:
 5 – 8, very adaptable
Zones:
 4 – 9, wide range
Heredity:
U.S., Greenleaf Nursery Company, Park Hill, OK

When performance counts, use Garden Debut® introductions!

#     #     #