Hello Gardeners!

Happy 2005 in the garden! Are your catalogues piled up in front on the file? It’s every gardener’s favorite winter past-time—sitting in front of the fire perusing the seed catalogues and dreaming about Spring! There are a lot of new flowers and vegetables to dream about. There is a new petunia, the Dolce Hybrids—dolce flambé, doles limoncello, dolsce fragoleno. These new petunias are ruffled, big and bright, and bloom over a long season on compact plants.

There is a new platycodon! Also known as balloon flowers, these fun, balloon-shaped (the buds) flowers are a must for the cottage garden or perennial garden. Usually they come in colors of deep blue or pristine white—the new color is lavender with a semi double flower. The new for 2005 gaillardia, or blanket flower, has petals that are fluted trumpets. The information on these states that one plant can have up to 100 blossoms! The new for 2005 zinnia is coral and dwarf in foliage habit, and the new coneflower (Echinacea Art’s Pride) has something very new! It’s fragrant! It is also the very first orange coneflower!

If you love daylilies of the family “hemerocallis”—there are some new additions. Daylily Baja has two seasons of bold, red flowers. Daylily Joan Senior is close to pure white and blooms early summer with a repeat later season flowering. And now, for the fans of “Stella de Oro” — there is a hybrid...it’s a fragrant, lemon-yellow, reblooming daylily that opens at dusk and stays open the next day until evening. It will bloom from spring to frost! Usually, daylilies stay true to their name and flower for the day only. So, the new Stella is a fantastic change!

Are you ready for a new tomato? There is a new cherry tomato—”Isis Candy.” An indeterminate type with heavy yields on short trusses, they claim to be superior in sweetness. Another 2005 cherry tomato is “Sugary Hybrid” which has oval-shaped fruit and is super-sweet in flavor. Ready for a couple more? “Lemon-drop” and Marcellino” are two more new ones. Try at least one.

There are new marigolds, a new honeysuckle, foxglove, fescue hibiscus, veronica, thyme, and a new winter squash. Something for everyone! So, grab a few catalogues and settle in front of the fire. Enjoy planning your new 2005 garden, or adding to the old one.

Happy Gardening!

Read previous columns by Edna Schron