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Ready for the Show

Preparations continue for the second showing of our trial garden this week and weekend. Customers, suppliers and other members of the industry from across the continent will be here on Thursday and Friday. On Sunday, during our annual Epic Festival of Plants, the trial garden and nursery will be open to the public.

Of course, a few plants have passed their peak already, including Geum 'Mango Lassi' and Pulmonaria 'Samuari' which were in full bloom in late May.





























More recently, Coreopsis 'Jethro Tull' has been oustanding. It is a new hybrid (C. auriculata 'Zamphir' × C. grandiflora 'Early Sunrise') that forms a nice mound that is simply covered with extra large blooms.












Also, the mysterious Veronicastrum 'Red Arrows' is approaching full bloom. I finally realized the cultivar name is for the reddish buds and leaves and not the flower colour. I hate when they do that. :(





























Finally, some plants are obviously signficantly different, i.e. more impressive, in their second year. Heuchera 'Chinook' is one, that was a little too dainty and sparse in flowering last year, but looks much better now.

Spring '07

Ah, the beauty of a new spring. Well, we added several more varieties to our trial garden over the course of the summer and fall last year. We plan to add several more this spring.

Here's a few that are showing their best right now:

I've never been in a big fan of the genus Geum, but this one, G. 'Mango Lassi', introduced by Blooming Nursery a couple years ago, is doing particularly well. I had not realized that it was such an early bloomer. It looks like it might have some G. rivale blood in it, due to those slightly nodding buds. In any case, the multi-coloured flowers are double, profuse and relatively large.















I can remember trying years ago, a Euphorbia polychroma 'Purpurea', which was nice upon emergence with dark foliage, but quickly faded to a non-descript, washed-out colour by early summer. The newer E. polychroma 'Bonfire', picture below, is a significant improvement. The combination at the moment of the dark foliage and yellow flowers is almost entrancing. In addition, it holds the colour of its foliage all summer.

Mid-July '06

Finally, Pulmonaria 'Samurai' (P. 'Majeste' × P. longifolia var. cevennensis) appears to be a winner. Bright silver foliage and good production of pleasant blue flowers. There was no mildew at all last year. Although, of the 5-6 plants that are in the garden, I did notice a couple having slightly different colouration on the leaves, and wondered if there was some reversion?

First Annual Showing, June '06

On Thursday and Friday, June 22-23, 2006, we had our first annual showing of the Epic New Plant Trial, with attendees including on those first two days, customers, suppliers, garden talk-show hosts, garden writers and photographers. On Sunday, June 25th, the trial was open to the public during our annual open house, the Epic Festival of Plants.















For our industry guests, we provided each with a trial booklet containing an entry (example below) for each of the 100+ varieties in the trial.

Plant Name: Salvia 'Eveline'
Source: Darwin Plants
Plant Origin: Future Plants introduction; hybrid involving S. pratense
Planted: Fall '05
Flowering: May
Winter Loss: little or none
Comments: bloomed very early; some cut back to see if re-blooms


In addition, we were also kind enough to provide them with some timely refreshments:













Finally, we asked all attendees to vote for their favourite. The "Top 12" results of which are as follows:

1. Sedum 'Hab Gray'
2. Sedum 'Chocolate Sauce'
3. Leucanthemum 'Sonnenschein'
4. Heuchera 'Hollywood'
5. Campanula 'Royal Wave'
6. Campanula 'Plum Wine'
7. Heuchera 'Chinook'
8. Heuchera 'Rave On'
9. Veronica 'Twilight'
10. Verbascum 'Gold Nugget'
11. Calamagrostis 'Elderorado'
12. Echinacea 'Sunset'

Mid-Summer '06

By mid-summer (late June and into July), most perennials are past their peak -- here's a few that exceed that expectation.

Here's Veronica 'Twilight' (bred by Jan Verschoor of the Netherlands), which did quite nicely, but did not re-bloom later after a cut-back.















Heuchera 'Rave On' (bred at Terra Nova Nurseries in Oregon) was simply outstanding -- an excellent combination of foliage and flower -- and beyond it is one of the earliest and longest-blooming Heuchera I have ever seen.















I grew a variegated sport of Euphorbia polychroma in my Queenston garden for years and simply loved it, particularly for it's pink-tinged spring foliage and it's relative sun tolerance for a variegated plant. This version, called 'First Blush' (bred/discovered by Liesl Thomas) is also a super plant. Note that a light-coloured mulch does not compliment this plant well.















There are so many new Sedums these days...almost too many...but one that I was impressed with was S. 'Cloud Walker' as it was intermediate in form and size, and had some impressive and unique colouration.















I've rarely been impressed with Gaillardia 'Goblin' in the garden, as a planting typically seems to quickly appear "messy". So I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the new 'Oranges and Lemons' which was had a neat habit, was a reasonable size, and bloomed forever. Cutting it back in mid-summer made little difference to the non-stop flower production.

Early June '06

Salvia 'Royal Crimson Distinction' on June 15th. One of my favourites of the new ones for colour. Some re-bloom after a mid-summer cutback.















Salvia 'Dear Anja' on June 15th. I saw this one years ago in Piet Oudolf's garden in Holland. It has nice floral branching, but is otherwise similar to others. Some re-bloom after a mid-summer cutback.















Scabiosa caucasica 'Grand Stone' on June 15th. From Peter van Steijn, Holland; S. caucasica 'Clive Greaves' × white seedling. So far, no mildew.















Heuchera 'Rave On' on June 7th. This was my favourite of all new Heuchs in our trial -- it bloomed for such a long time, longer than any other I've seen.















Campanula punctata 'Plum Wine' on June 15th. Interesting greyish foliage and nice flowers, but looks like it spreads too much.





























Heuchera 'Peppermint Spice' on June 7th. I like it -- it's like an improved form of 'Green Spice' which was always one of my favourites for foliage colour, but had no flowers -- this one has flowers.

Spring '06

The garden on May 30th.











Salvia 'Eveline' on May 25th -- I was impressed -- very early for a Salvia and nice colour and impact. Little or no re-bloom though, with or without cut-back.















Centaurea montana 'Amethyst in Snow' on May 25th. This plant originated in Holland and came to North America via Blooms of Bressingham (supplied to us by Skagit Gardens). It may be identical to 'Purple Heart'.


























Polemonium reptans 'Stairway to Heaven' on May 25th. So far, this is an all-around beautiful and easy plant -- much better as a garden plant, in my opinion, than the variegated forms of P. caeruleum.

The Trial Garden Under Construction (Summer '05)

During the summer of 2005, Shane Curtis and his crew designed and built the Epic New Plant Trial garden.








Here come the plants!








Planting by members of the Epic crew, late summer early fall 2005.








All set, ready, and waiting for winter.