Continuing our occasional look at the plants most widely available in the new RHS Plant finder…. Fiery colours used to be ignored or even despised in favour of soft pastel shades, but not any more. And one of the most widely grown new plants in this years RHS Plantfinder is a very sparky looking perennial, Geum ‘Fire Storm’.

Like the old favourites ‘Mrs J. Bradshaw’ and ‘Lady Stratheden’, this is a tough and easy-to-grow plant which, while preferring a rich soil that never becomes too dry, should also do well in drier, less fertile conditions – as long as it has plenty of sun.

You could say that ‘Fire Storm’ is in between those old timers in terms of colour. The flowers are semi-double, opening a rich fiery orange with scarlet overtones then maturing to a brighter, slightly yellower orange shade. And they open over many months. With dark foliage – purple-leaved berberis behind, perhaps, and dark-leaved heucheras in front – the display will be dramatic.

Also, this is a much neater, more self-supporting plant reaching about 20in/50cm in full flower with the foliage making a fresh looking mound about 12-14in/30-35cm high. So it’s also 10in/35cm less tall and so less floppy than ‘Fireball’. And the flowers even last well in water.

Geum ‘Fire Storm’ is available from these RHS Plantfinder nurseries.

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Geraniums, or pelargoniums as we should call them, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Creating varieties that are more bushy and more prolific, or which trail more effectively, and in new colours and colour combinations, seems to have been a high priority in recent years. But this variety climbs.

Well, ‘Skyscraper’ (left, click to enlarge) doesn’t climb like a clematis or a honeysuckle; it needs tying in. But it’s vigorous and determined to grow upright. The soft foliage with its rounded lobes has a faint dark zone, and the clusters of salmon orange flowers keep coming over a very long season.

Liz Sims of Vernon Geranium Nursery told me more about it: “The plant will require tying in to a support… preferably a support all around the outside of the pot or a triangle of stakes up the centre. Increased pinching will result in more laterals and a greater number of flowers but it will take longer to achieve a 6ft/2m plant if the tip is pinched out.

“I've noticed it has extra long flower stems - hence it's great height! - and have also noticed it flowers a great deal better than other climbing geraniums. The picture (click to enlarge) shows it at the end of one season’s growth.
 
“It remains extremely vigorous in temperatures above 53F/12C. Without the top growing tips being removed it will continue to grow and spread. However, trimming to keep to a neater shape will reduce the height if the top tips are removed.”

‘Skyscraper’ was discovered by Ellene and Derek Simmonds from Lincolnshire. It was a chance seedling which survived the first winter in their garden as a very small plant under a canopy of other geraniums. It’s thought to have blood of both zonal pelargonium and the ivy-leaved geranium .

Pelargonium ‘Skyscraper’ is available from Vernon Geranium Nursery.

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New variegated daphnes have been appearing regularly over the last few years. Two years ago we had Daphne odora Rebecca (‘Hewreb’) and now another is one of the new plants most widely listed by nurseries in the 2012-2013 RHS Plantfinder.

Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’ has been the standard for many decades but Robin White, the authority on daphnes says in his book “the narrow band of variegation is not significant in the garden.” It’s more creamy than yellow and really very narrow.

New this year is Daphne odora Marianni ('Rogbret') which features a broader band of colour around the edge of each leaf and in a more vivid yellow shade. It also features clusters of highly scented flowers in February and March, each flower reddish purple on the outside and pale pink within.

Marianni, like Rebecca, is much more colourful in its variegation than ‘Aureomarginata’. But unlike both ‘Aureomarginata’ and Rebecca, Marianni keeps most of its foliage right through the winter while the other two can look rather sparse in the colder months. Marianni is also more spreading in growth than Rebecca and its flowers are a slightly redder shade.

Found as a sport on a plant of ‘Aureomarginata’ in France in 2004, this looks to be an exceptional garden shrub, its bright variegated foliage providing colour all the year and its colourful early flowers bringing a powerful fragrance.

Daphne odora Marianni ('Rogbret') is available from these RHS Plantfinder nurseries.

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Yellow-leaved Choisya Sundance (‘Lich’) is one of the most popular shrubs in the country. At its best, it’s superb but it does have its problems. Now Hillier have raised and introduced a new and improved golden leaved choisya called ‘Aztec Gold’.

‘Aztec Gold’ (left, click to enlarge) is an attractive evergreen shrub with a rounded habit and reaches about 4ftx4ft/1.2x1.2m. Its leaves are split into slender, pointed segments which are rich burnished gold towards the tips and a slightly greenish yellow shade towards the base.

In spring and early summer, clusters of attractive, almond-scented white flowers appear and then after a break another flush opens in autumn.

‘Aztec Gold’ was developed by Alan Postill (right, click to enlarge) and is derived from ‘Aztec Pearl’ which provides the leaf shape together with versatility and resilience in the garden, and Sundance which brings the foliage colour. Alan worked at Hillier Nurseries as a propagator for fifty years and was also responsible for selecting and naming the prolific and impressively fragrant Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’.

Andy McIndoe of Hillier Nurseries explained why he thinks this is such a good plant: “‘Aztec Gold’ is a golden foliage evergreen with a subtlety that will endear it to even those gardeners that “don’t do yellow”. In sun, the leaves at the ends of the shoots are rich golden yellow, while those in the heart of the plant maintain a greener hue. In shade, the overall colour leans towards lime; more subtle but still cheerily pleasing. The variation in the foliage colour between the young and old leaves gives the plant depth and a three dimensional quality often lacking in plain yellow evergreens.”

Happy in any reasonably fertile soil that is well drained, the brightest colour develops in full sun.

Choisya ‘Aztec Gold’ will be launched at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, but is already available from Hillier Online.

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Four new roses created by David Austin make their first appearance in the 2012 RHS Plantfinder, but Wollerton Old Hall (‘Ausblanket’) just pips the other three in being available from more nurseries.

It first saw the light of day at last summer’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and in what has become a great tradition of English Roses from David Austin, Wollerton Old Hall combines the elegant flowers and heady perfume of so many old roses, with the long flowering season that so many old roses lack.

There are sparks of red in the unopened buds, but as each flower develops into a fully rounded bloom the butter yellow colour emerges then softens to cream as the flower matures while developing slightly peachy tones. All the way, the flowers retain their attractive rounded shape.

This is one of the mostly strongly scented of all the English Roses. The myrrh fragrance is exceptionally powerful and is also relatively uncommon. Seeing it at Hampton Court last summer the BBC’s Rachel de Thame said: “I loved the pale creamy yellow flowers, which have an attractive spherical shape and intense myrrh-like perfume”.

More upright in growth than many English Roses, reaching about 5ft/1.5m high and 3ft/90cm across, and mostly thorn-free, Wollerton Old Hall makes an ideal specimen in a mixed border. It was named for the garden at the 16th century house of the same name, one of the finest recently made gardens in the country.

You can buy Rosa Wollerton Old Hall (‘Ausblanket’) from these RHS Plantfinder nurseries.

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For some years, clematis wizard Raymond Evison has been developing a series of varieties that are much more suitable for small town gardens than most clematis. It’s not true that all clematis will take over your garden, but some will and many gardeners tend to think that in a small space it’s just too much of a gamble.

But the varieties in the Boulevard Series never get out of hand and the latest in the series, Alaina (‘Evipo 056'), is one of the most widely offered new plants in the 2012/2013 RHS Plantfinder.

Reaching no more than 5ft/1.5m in height and only about 2ft/60cm across, this is an ideal variety for a container, or a bed along the side of a patio.

Flowering comes in two seasons; first in June and early July, then in August and September and each flower opens a rich and vivid pink, with a dark stripe along the centre of each of the six petals. Then, as the flowers mature, they become paler creating a happy harmony of pink shades. Sometimes the petals may be a little twisted creating an appealing sense of movement. They’re best planted in at least some shade to help prevent the colour fading too much.

Of course, there’s pruning to think about. Couldn’t be easier. Just cut the plants back hard to about 12in/30cm every spring.

Clematis Alaina (‘Evipo 056') is available from seven RHS Plantfinder nurseries.

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One of the most exciting days in the gardening year is upon us – the new RHS Plantfinder is out today. This – need I remind you – is a book that serves two invaluable purposes. It reveals where to buy almost 70,000 different plants, and it also serves as a record of the correct names for them all.

This year the RHS Plantfinder contains an amazing 67,603 different plants, with suppliers from 541 nurseries listed for every one. In fact there are nearly 74,000 names included as all the synonyms are cross referenced. This year there are 3,380 new plants included.

There are forty five new clematis included this year, twenty nine new echinaceas (including ‘Daydream’, above click to enlarge), thirty seven new hardy geraniums, eighty four new hostas and sixty nine new roses. There are too many new hemerocallis to count!

I noted the most popular new entries in my recent post. Check back here regularly over the next few weeks as I’ll be giving you more details about all the top plants that are new to this year’s RHS Plantfinder.

You can order the 2012-2013 RHS Plant Finder now.

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Some miscanthus are monsters, but not this one. We’ve seen some excellent dwarf miscanthus in recent years, and they’re so much more useful than the tall and vigorous varieties that were previously more common and which tended to take over the garden.

Neil Lucas at Knoll Gardens has been responsible for introducing three of these dwarf types and now there’s a fourth – and it’s the shortest of all. He selected and introduced ‘Abundance’ and ‘Elfin’ and also named ‘Little Kitten’, which until now has been the most dwarf. ‘Starlight’ is shorter still.

The waist high ‘Starlight’ (32-39in/80cm-1m) features mounds of slender green foliage and in summer is topped by biscuit brown plumes which turn silvery as they age. Very prolific and free flowering, ‘Starlight’ is happy in any reasonable soil in full sun. Once established it’s helpfully drought tolerant.

“Miscanthus can make wonderful garden plants,” said Neil Lucas of Knoll Gardens. “They are drought tolerant and bear tons of flowers but many are simply too large for a smaller garden setting. Miscanthus ‘Starlight’ is the perfect answer, a well-behaved dwarf miscanthus, that can bring the wow factor to containers and small spaces right through to planting in drifts.

“Grasses are currently in huge demand and it is always satisfying to be able to introduce a new grass that is particularly garden worthy,” said Neil.

You can order Miscanthus ‘Starlight’ from Knoll Gardens.

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The weather is on our minds again. This time, the drought. And it reminds us that drought always seems to disrupt the pollination of runner beans. Some say that we should spray the flowers with water – but I think this is a waste of time. I’m sure the only benefit they get is when the water runs off and soaks into the soil. But growing one of the new self fertile runner beans is certainly a help.

Most runners beans need pollination from another plant to produce beans. They need bees to carry the pollen from flower to flower and they also need moisture at the roots. But with fewer bees and drier summers, crops have been unpredictable.

‘Firestorm’ is the first scarlet runner that is completely self fertile, it crops well when fertilised with its own pollen and without a visit from the bees. In fact it’s altogether less fussy about setting pods. The beans themselves are stringless and slightly thicker, slightly sweeter and more tender than other runner beans. And the flowers make quite a show too.

‘Moonlight’, introduced a couple of years ago, is also self fertile but has the less popular white flowers.

The other thing that helps ensure a good set for all runner beans is moist soil. So the bath water and the washing up water should go along the bean trench.

You can order seeds or plants of runner bean ‘Firestorm’ from Marshalls Seeds.
 

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Skimmias are valuable evergreens with two seasons of interest: spring flowers and winter berries. But, mostly, they come in male and female varieties so that you need two different plants, one of each, to ensure that those bright scarlet berries are produced on just one of them.

‘Temptation’ is different. The plants are self-fertile, only one plant is needed for the fruit to develop, so all plants of ‘Temptation’ produce berries without another plant nearby for pollination.

The other problem with some of the older varieties is that although they may srat small, they eventually become uncomfortably tall for many modern gardens. ‘Tempation’ is shorter, and more bushy, so makes a more effective garden plant. Its root growth is strong, unlike the other self-fertile form, S. japonica subsp. reevesiana, and its berries are a much brighter red.

‘Temptation’ is the result of more than twenty years of careful selection at Wageningen University in Holland where it was picked out by breeder Margaret Hop in 2005.

‘Temptation’ is sufficiently compact to make a good two season container plant, and also thrives in any fairly well-drained garden soil in sun or partial shade.

You can order Skimmia ‘Temptation from these RHS Plantfinder nurseries and from Hillier Online.

You can find out more about the shrub breeding of Margaret Hop in the June 2009 issue of the RHS magazine The Plantsman.

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