Denny's Soapbox

New 06’ Plant Review

Before we announce the new plants for ’07 let’s review and grade the new plants from ’06. There were more new trees and shrubs introduced last year than I can ever remember. The one’s listed today are varieties I either tried myself or reviewed in homeowner’s landscapes throughout last year’s growing season.

SHRUBS

“Helmund Pillar” Barberry – A narrow growing upright barberry with beautiful red leaves. Very slow growing making this plant seem expensive. Think ‘down the road’ and it would be nice to have a narrow, upright growing plant that would not need a lot of trimming to stay contained. It is a great plant to contain children and pets to a given area. Grade: B+

“Summer Wine” Ninebark – This is a beautiful compact growing shrub that has dark red leaves and pinkish white button flowers that bloom in July to August. The red leaves held good color during the heat of summer. Has great landscape use from a shrub border to a single planting. Grade: A

“Finelawn” Buckthorn – This plant looks almost tropical with its fernlike foliage. Upright growing, this plant makes a great narrow hedge or a neat accent plant. This plant has attractive bark in the winter and looks great now without leaves. Grade: A

“Black Lace” Elderberry – This is the shrub that would be great for homeowners who want that Japanese Maple look for half the cost. I wasn’t too impressed with its growth last year. The summer pink flowers were nice and long lasting but I didn’t feel overall that mine grew as originally described. This plant could use another season to grade accurately. Grade: C

“Amethyst” Symphoricarpos – Let’s just call this shrub ‘Coral Berry’. It has a long formal name but is it ever beautiful when the pink fruit develops in late summer and holds on through fall. This shrub can be kept at 3 to 5 feet and showed great deer resistance last summer and fall. Grade: A+

“Snow Storm” Dwarf Spirea – If you like white flowers in late May and again in late June, this shrub will provide it. Mine grew to 2 foot high and wide. Fall color was fantastic with the leaves turning bright red and orange. This shrub also proved to be deer resistant. Grade: B+

“Endless Summer Blushing Bride” Hydrangea – For its first year, this plant did well in my yard. The blooms start pure white and then fade to pink or blue depending on soil acidity. Mine quickly re-bloomed after the original blooms finished and it continued to bloom until mid-fall. Grade: A

“Sunshine Bleu” and “Petit Bleu” Caryopteris – both of these blue mist shrubs bloomed well in late August into September. “Sunshine Bleu” did display dark gold glossy leaves which did contrast nicely. I think they would make a better color statement if planted in groups of 3 to 5 plants. Grade: B

“Northern Encore” Tree Rose – This plant is listed as the first true hardy tree rose. Mine still looks healthy with a few of last year’s leaves still hanging on. This winter has been mild so far and it might be difficult to judge the overall winter hardiness. The pink flowers were plentiful and my rose did bloom into November. The deer also did not bother the leaves or flowers. Grade: B+

There are other new shrub varieties from 2006. As I locate and judge them, I’ll keep you informed.