Visits to the garden center to discover the new season’s plants could equal the excitement of arriving at a much-anticipated, never-before-seen vacation destination. Is the novelty of both activities getting your heart pumping and ready for exploration?
Here are some of the newest perennials and annuals, must haves for the backyard gardening season. Note: This is a drop in the garden bucket when you see the plethora of plants waiting for you this spring.
Perennial plants
Joel Russell, the perennial grower and manager and buyer at Echter’s Nursery & Garden Center in Arvada, said “the introduction of new plants adds energy to the customer’s shopping experience.” This year, Echter’s has 30 plants that are new to the market or new to Echter’s. Joel knows his clients and helps them set up growing success, asking questions about where the plants will be in the landscape, taking into consideration the sun and water needs of the plant.
“Many customers want traditional hydrangeas and boxwoods, but aquatic plants that need less water once established are very popular, and becoming more so.”
Russell’s perennial top picks for 2024:
- Scabiosa columbaria Giga Silver, common name Pincushion Flower. A new pincushion plant with more flowering power and size than the standard blue. Zone 5, full sun (very heat tolerant), well-drained soil, moderate watering. A touch of electric lavender outer petals with creamy white centers and dense silver foliage, 15-20 inches tall and 10-15 inches wide. Blooms spring to summer; deadhead to keep the flowers coming. Deer resistant and drought tolerant once established. Works well for the container garden, borders, rock gardens, cutting. Loved by butterflies.
- Baptisia Grape Escape, common name False Indigo. Gardeners who know baptasia know that they are not only low maintenance, but also long from their deep roots. They look wonderful both in and out of flower with their pea-like flowers and lush foliage. Grape Escape is a plant to behold, with deep magenta petals and creamy to yellow keels (lower petals) that bloom above dense green foliage from late spring to summer. Zone 4, full sun to part shade, medium moisture (drought tolerant once established), poor soil tolerant, deer resistant, 42 to 48 inches tall and 32 to 40 inches wide. The plant as a specimen, the back of the border, use it for cutting, the flowers bloom big in a vase. Choose the location carefully; baptisia does not like to be moved. Attractive to many types of bees and pollinators.
Ross Shrigley, executive director of Plant Select, is the horticulture professional on what plants every garden should be growing. Plant Select is Colorado’s premier plant brand that has been proven to thrive in High Plains and intermountain growing conditions. Every year, we introduce plants that can be easily identified and found in many independent garden centers. Refer to the Plant Select website for hundreds more plants in searchable categories to match your landscape. Design ideas are also available, along with many other useful resources.
Shrigley’s first perennial pick for 2024:
- Teucrium Harlequin’s Silver, common name Eversilver creeping germander. To say that a ground cover has year-round appeal is high praise. Eversilver easily lives up to this status as a well-behaved, low silver foil carpet. It blooms at the beginning of summer with beautiful purple flowers and often reblooms in autumn. Take a piece of leaf and crush it for a delicious scent of what has been described as honey-pineapple. Deer and rabbits generally avoid it. Zone 5, full sun, drought tolerant once established and grows in well-drained, alkaline, rocky to sandy soils, 4 inches tall by 36 inches spread. Cut off any dead leaves each spring; otherwise no maintenance is required. Plant Everstilver in the hardest parts of the landscape – between roads and sidewalks (hellstrips), borders and rock gardens. Loved by pollinators.
Annual plants
Deborah King, annual supervisor/offsite project supervisor for Tagawa Gardens in Centennial, has a goal in mind with the scores of annual plants sold each new gardening season: “To provide a wide range for our customers and also the latest most recently available in bloom. plant material. Our annuals offer instant color with the changing seasons.” Deborah also sells the “best of” annuals decided each year at the annual Colorado State University Flower Trials. The process program, like the Plant Select brand plants, are tested and evaluated for the superior traits that gardeners want to buy annual plants: floriferousness, plant vigor, uniformity and ability to tolerate harsh growing conditions of the Rocky Mountain region.
