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8 Great Flowers to Grow from SeedNew Varieties for Your 2008 GardenBy Kathy LaLiberte
The 2008 seed catalogs began to arrive just before Christmas and there's now a tall stack of them in the basket beside by reading chair. I've found a couple "new for 2008" varieties that I'll be trying out this spring, and a couple "new to Kathy's garden" varieties that for one reason or another I haven't tried growing yet. Hopefully you'll find one or two that interest you in the list below! Amaranthus caudatus 'Coral Fountain' I have grown this type of cascading Amaranth before, in both the bright red and the lime green versions. When my youngest son was about 4 years old, he called the red variety, also known as Love Lies Bleeding, "the long lazies". It's a pretty accurate description of the fuzzy, limp blossoms. Rudbeckia hirta 'Cappuccino' The seedlings of this rudbeckia will flower this summer, but since they're actually hardy perennials, they'll also come back the following year. Winner of the 2008 Fleuroselect Gold Medal, 'Cappuccino' has pronounced, dark chocolate centers surrounded by petals of amber and mahogany. The extra-large flowers are produced on compact, 18-20" plants. I am going to mix them into my perennial borders to bolster the traditional black-eyed Susan display in August and September. I'll also put about a dozen of them into my meadow garden. Petunia 'Shockwave Ivory' Imagine a plant with the vigor of Wave petunias but more petite flowers and a more compact habit. Sounds like a much better petunia for windowboxes and mixed containers, where you don't want every other plant in the pot to get overwhelmed. The flowers are about 1 ½ to 2" across and the plants get no more than about 8-10" high. Two other colors (pinks) are available, but I'm partial to ivory because it's a great mixer with other colors of plants (and these have a lime green throat). www.parkseed.com Zinnia 'Apricot Blush' For the past couple years I've been obsessed with burgundy and lime. Fortunately I seem to be moving on and my next color interest is coral/apricot. Zinnias are dead easy to start from seed (I sow them in the greenhouse to get an early start, but they can also be direct-seeded right in the garden). 'Apricot Blush' is a Benary's Giant zinnia, so they should be big, sturdy plants about 3½ ft. high, with lots of nice long stems for cutting. Amaranthus paniculatus 'Autumn Palette' I'll be planting this against my sage green fence, along with A. caudatus 'Coral Fountain' (see above). Several years ago, I grew a really nice looking amaranth in the same color family, called 'Hot Biscuits'. 'Autumn Palette' looks similar, but the flower spikes come in several different shades of cream and coral as well as the honey brown. This new color scheme will be a tweak on the one I've repeated for several years now: Amaranthus 'Oeschberg' with its spiky, burgundy fingers, Nicotiana 'Lime Green' and Zinnia 'Envy'. Stipa 'Sirocco' I love the look of Stipa grass. Unfortunately it is not hardy in zone 4, so I usually purchase a couple plants and grow them as annuals. Now I can try growing it from seed! 'Sirocco' is described as a finely-textured, container-sized ornamental grass that only grows about 14" high. It has the typical fountain-like habit of Stipa, and green foliage that changes to shades of copper and pink when the weather cools. It sounds like it might be a bit tricky to grow, but I'm going to give it a whirl. Cosmos 'Double Click' This variety was new in 2007, but somehow I missed it. I don't care for the full size single pink cosmos, so I don't grow them. This is a mix of single, semi-double and very double flowers in a range of colors from white through pale pink, bright pink and deep rose. Like all cosmos, they'll be a cinch to grow—I might just seed them right in the cutting garden. Helianthus 'Peach Passion' Well, I might as well take this peach thing right to the wall. This variety is supposed to have moderate-sized flowers (2-4" across) with long stems. That would make it possible to mix them in a vase with other flowers, which I usually find doesn't work very well. Since there's not room for sunflowers in my cutting garden, I usually interplant them in my asparagus bed and also create a hedge along the back of my 3-bay compost bin. To learn more, read our How-To Article Growing Annual Flowers from Seed.
Kathy LaLiberte has worked for Gardener's Supply since it began more than 25 years ago. She lives and gardens in Richmond, Vt. Click here to read more of her Innovative Gardener essays. |
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