Sunday, January 22, 2012

Favorite New Flowers From 2011 List


Like all flower gardeners it seems I add new flowers every summer to the growing garden beds. Some are purchased and some that are grown from seed.
I love all flowers but some do not meet up to my standards after I plant them. They do not become my favorites because the color is not what I expected which is not always my fault due to photo enhancements on line or in catalogs. Another reason is that they just do not flourish well in our hard clay soil here in this part of Ohio.
I like to look back at this time of the year before spring and seed sowing to sort out the flowers that really took me by surprise with their growth or their fragrance and color.
Here are some of those favorite new flowers from last summer.

Astrantia4_Masterwort_AbbeyRoadMasterwort  Astrania “Abbey Road”

Scott from “Rhone Street Gardens” had some in his garden that I saw them in one of his postings and when I saw how beautiful they looked I knew I would have to try a couple for my garden.
This Abbey Road astrania goes high on my list of favorites. I just loved how it thrived in my soil the first year, and those colors! The pinks with silver high lights are always changing with the light and the textures in the petals are magnificent. Now I want to add some of the deeper shades of burgundy or reds to other areas of the gardens. So thank you Scott!

Lobela_MM 
Lobelia “Monet Moment”

This Monet Moment pink lobelia plant just took off after it was planted and grew by leaps and bounds. In fact it grew so well that I was able to divide it and now there will be two lovely plants to look forward to this summer. I loved the pink tones of the blooms on the flower spikes which opens starting from the bottom of the  spikes and moving upward just like a Foxglove bloom.

RaspberryWine_Monarda3 
Monarda “Raspberry Wine”

I am on the fence when it comes to Bee balm. I like to grow it for the pollinators but some have the tendency to mildew in my humid summer garden. I planted a Raspberry Wine monarda in the bed to go along with the Monet Moment lobelia and I think they were both trying to out do one another in growth. Raspberry Wine was not only just a pollinator magnet but this monarda did not show any signs of mildew through one of our wettest summers.
The deep burgundy color was made even more pronounced by the burgundy leaves at the base of the bloom. I was also able to divided it after its first year of growth. I imagine I will have to watch this one from taking over the bed but the Woodland bed has plenty of room for it to spread.

Wirral_Crysanthemum “Wirral Pride” Chrysanthemum

I love daisies in the garden and white blooms so I was glad that Wirral Pride was added to the garden. It became a favorite last summer not only for its lovely frilly blooms but because it stood up straight in the garden despite the rains and after cutting off the faded blooms it graced me with more blooms.

Nov3_RT_Echinacea Echinacea “Raspberry Truffle”

There are many Echinacea's in my garden but the new “Raspberry Truffle” not only grew well but the color is just beyond explaining or catching with the camera. I call it a deep coral with a dark center on its pom pom shaped blooms. This one was number one on my list of new favorites from last summer.
 

Burgundy_Iceberg2_Rain “Burgundy Iceberg” Rose

Then of course there are the new roses that were added to the Rose Garden. Burgundy Iceberg just blooms all summer like its namesake the white Iceberg roses. With the deep burgundy shades on the top of the petals and the lighter undersides it was full of beautiful blooms throughout the summer into late fall. It wanted to kept right on blooming  with our mild weather. Through some good advice from Jan at “Muddy Boot Dreams” I trimmed off the blooms and buds so the rose bush could get some energy stored up for before winter.
This rose was just one of my favorite roses last summer.

The real winner in the rose division of favorites was…..

BillWarriner_Roses“Bill Warriner”

This rose was constantly in bloom and with its beautiful apricot to peach and with its Tea Rose shaped blooms it was a bright spot in the Rose Garden.
When a couple of the rose bushes were getting mildew or black spot from the wet summer Bill Warriner was untouchable. If you like its colors I would recommend this rose to anyone as an addition to their garden.

Weigela_Florida2_Variegata “Weigela Florida Variegata”

The final favorite was the Variegated Weigela shrub with its lovely bell shaped pale pink blooms in late spring. I loved the addition of this shrub in the garden with its variegated leaves which made it a beautiful addition to the corner bed even when it was not in bloom.

Throughout a summer of extreme weather conditions last year these were the plants that did not welt or slack when even some of my old favorites just did not perform well.
Garden wise it was 2011 was not a great year in the garden.

PowWow_WildBerry_Echinacea
There were also the duds that really disappointed me such as “Pow Wow Wild Berry” Echinacea which looked faded and ratty even with its first blooms and……
Bonica_Rose

the “Bonica” rose which was just not the color it was advertised as in catalogs. It turned out to be more peach than the translucent pink which is just not what I wanted for the section of the Rose garden I planned it to grow. I was not the only gardener that was disappointed by this rose’s color. It will have to be moved this spring and another rose put in its place.


Did you have any new plants that became your favorites or your greatest duds of the year?

Happy Gardening,
Lona

 

 

43 comments:

Gatsbys Gardens said...

Lona, I can see some goodies I am going to try. I have two other varieties of Astrantia and they just don't like where they are, too wet I think. I agree with you about Pow Wow, I think it is gone, we'll see in the spring.

Eileen

Anonymous said...

Hi Lona,

Beautiful photos! I do love that Echniacea you mentioned - the coral one. It's such a shame we can't find these types over here - one day maybe.

My favourite discoveries last year were the Erysimum and my David Austen roses 'Susan Williams-Ellis' and 'Harlow Carr'.

Ed said...

Wow! Echinacea “Raspberry Truffle” is gorgeous! I'll have to keep my eye out for a source for this one. I'm usually not a fan of single shasta daisies, but I like “Wirral Pride”. I'm surprised your “Pow Wow Wild Berry” Echinacea was a dud. Mine were one of the stars of the garden and looked awesome for about two month's. Were yours first year plants? Mine were late planted in 2010 and very gangly, they definately improved in their second year.

Randy Emmitt said...

Lona,

This Lobelia “Monet Moment” is stunning and it grows well sounds like a must for the garden. Thanks for your kind comments on my site.

Lona said...

I have my astrania on a slope so it may be that your is too wet. I can see a move in Pow Wow's future is it does not do any better this summer. LOL!

Lona said...

I just love all of the David Austen roses. That is a problem. LOL!
I saved a couple of seed heads from the Raspberry Truffle. I do not know if they will stay true but I am going to try them to get more. I hope they get some for your area too.

Lona said...

My Pow Wow better get its act together this summer Ed or it is off to the woodland bed for it. LOL! It was a terrible gardening year here so maybe it will do better like you said in their second year. I may have to try Kim's Knee High if not.

Lona said...

Randy I am going to try a zone 6 camellia this year and hope we do not revert back to zone 5 and kill it. LOL! You have a lot of hellebore's in your garden and now I know why. I was glad to have a bloom here in January.

Randy Emmitt said...

Lona,

Hope your camellia does ok up there in Ohio. I'd build a hoop house over it or something that would protect it from the cold and not touch the leaves. You also have to worry about it drying out in the winter, from what I heard about this summer nothing dried out in Ohio.

Masha said...

Lona, your new additions look lovely, I hope they grow well and bloom even more for you next year. I love your roses choices too!

HolleyGarden said...

Thanks for the info! I see some I may have to add to my garden. And I love the peachy color of Bonica, - that's my favorite color! But I know what you mean about wanting a pink and getting a peach, or vice versa. Very disappointing.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

This is such a great idea to go back and review favorite flowers. I added a couple of Astranias this year after seeing them on blogs, even found one really cheap on clearance. None of my Echinaceas did very well this summer other than the regular old ones. 'Raspberry Wine' is my second favorite Monarda after 'Jacob Cline'.

Janet/Plantaliscious said...

Hi Lona, you've taken beautiful photos of the winners from last year's experiments. I too love astrantias, my current favourite is "shaggy", a tall white form that thrives on my heavy clay, but I am putting 'Abbey Road' on my wishlist now. I'm also taking a note of 'Raspberry Wine', since I had given up on monardas, they always get mildew in my garden, but I love them so much I think it would be worth trying yours out.

The Sage Butterfly said...

I have often thought of adding some pink monarda to my garden. The ones I have now are red. They are so pretty and beloved by the hummingbirds, it would be nice to add some additional colors.

scottweberpdx said...

I'm so glad you're liking the Astrantia! 'Abbey Road' was my first as well...and still my fave...just for the reasons you mentioned...the colors are so interesting and varied. It's always nice to find a plant that actually LIKES heavy clay, isn't it! I can report that 'Roma' is very lovely, in a lighter, brighter pink. 'Ruby Wedding' is a nice dark variety (even the foliage has dark shading). I love Monarda 'Raspberry Wine'...even if mine does seem to get PM if I don't spray. still, it's such a great performer that I'm resigned to pre-spraying it once a week...it seems a small price to pay for months and months of glorious blooms! And yes...it likes to spread...but you can easily dig up the expanding growth and plant them elsewhere! I just bought a Lobelia this year...for the first time! It's a wonderful purple called Lobelia gerardii...I think I may have to add 'Monet Moment' to my wish-list for this year!

sweetbay said...

I can see why these are new favorites, they are all so lovely! Astrania “Abbey Road” is gorgeous and what a splendid photo.

Anonymous said...

I really love the Astrania. It's one of my favorite flowers and this variety is gorgeous.

RURAL said...

I know that I am in a completely different climate then before, and from you...but I am marking down these fav's of yours. Maybe after some research I can figure out which will do great in my new garden...oh I love all of them.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Lona said...

Thanks Masha. SO glad you could drop by.

Lona said...

I like its peach little blooms but it was just not what I had my heart set on. So I was pouting. LOL!

Lona said...

I just planted Jacob Cline last fall with some red lilies. I am hoping it will look well together.

Lona said...

Raspberry Wine did not mildew for me while all the others did so I loved it.

Lona said...

I just planted some red Jacob Cline in the fall so I hope it does not mildew. I loved the Raspberry Wine burgundy.

Lona said...

Thanks for the further recommendations Scott! I am writing them down. I just planted the purple Lobelia in the fall after Monet Moment did so well. Fingers crossed. LOL!

Lona said...

Thank you so much. Have a wonderful week. Sounds like it is going to be a rocky week here.

Lona said...

I wish I had known and planted some years ago. Thanks for dropping by Patricia.

Lona said...

Girl you are in another zone now aren't you. I hope that some of them well be hardy for you.

Becca's Dirt said...

It is a good feeling when trying something new and it exceeds our expectations. I was most surprised last year by larkspur. It was my first year to grow it and I was in awe. Can't remember right off what others did well. I'm so ready to put out some seeds. Bet you are too.

Becca's Dirt said...

Lona - the plant could definately be a foxglove. I did throw out foxglove seeds in the fall. Thanks. I hope the little plant matures and gives me a bloom.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Beautiful pictures of your flowers, Lona. We also have a flower garden ---and I have posted my favorite Roses of 2011 already and will post my favorite flowers in our year in 2011 soon...

I enjoyed seeing some of your beauties today.
Hugs,
Betsy

Lona said...

Kiddo I am ready to get with it. LOL!

Lona said...

It will probably show you some blooms this year.

Lona said...

I will have to come back over and check out your roses Betsy.

Balisha said...

I wish that Monarda would grow well in my woods. Maybe it's too shady there. I love that rose that you were disappointed in.
My successes were the zinnias. I planted cut and come again zinnias and they did so well by the mailbox. They bloomed until it got cold.
Your pictures are just beautiful.
Balisha

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

I remember you profiling Lobelia Monet earlier, sure do love that color. Sorry about Bonica not being the color you expected, maybe you got a rogue? A wild child? I like that the mondara 'Raspberry Wine' is mildew resistant... sure love that color!

Indie said...

Some beautiful flowers! I got the lobelia 'Monet Moment' last spring, but it died on me and I'm not quite sure why - maybe bad location. I love the Weigela. The leaves are so pretty!

Asha Ram said...

They are all beautiful, Lona!

Lona said...

I remember your Zinnias and I should have remembered to get some seed.

Lona said...

Another blogger also commented on the color of Bonica last year not being as advertised. I got it from Wayside and they never did answer my letter.LOL!

Lona said...

I am sorry that your lobelia never made it Indie.Sometimes plants just give up on us for no reason.

Lona said...

Thanks so much and glad you dropped by.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

I want to keep an eye out for some astranias. I remember those from Scott's garden, too. I like your others, too. I'm getting excited for spring to get here.

I was tickled with the wild quinine this year, which was a new plant for me. The Black Jack sedum I got a start of from from a Lincoln blogger, who happened to have graduated with me from high school, Judy, from Through my Garden Window, did well, and had a very pretty bloom. I'm not sure if I had any duds.

flower beds said...

Each spring when the days become sunny and warm, our thoughts turn to our gardens. For avid gardeners the urge to buy plants can be overwhelming. We will often buy plants with absolutely no thought as to where we will plant them.