By Paul A. Thomas
University of
Georgia
Allan Armitage and the staff in the University of Georgia
Horticulture Department have been evaluating new plants for two
decades. Folks always ask for each year’s top 10 plants.
The UGA Trial Gardens are on the UGA Athens, Ga., campus. It’s
open from dawn to dusk year-round. Get the best pictures in the
summer before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m. Many photos are on the
garden’s Web site (uga.ovationsoftware.com/).
For a knockout garden, keep this list handy as you visit garden
centers.
Tradescantia ‘Sweet Kate.’ Several
native Tradescantia species live happily in Georgia spring
gardens. But none has the impact Sweet Kate will have. Its
incredibly fluorescent yellow-green, upright leaves glow in
morning sun. The deep, purple-blue flowers are a perfect
contrast. You could plant ‘Sweet Kate’ in a garden on the moon
and clearly see it from Earth.
Aster ‘English Countryside.’ The
usual comment? “That can’t be an aster.” The sky-blue flowers are
tinged in pink, and the overall effect is, well, “wow.” English
Countryside colonizes well. If you provide space for the foliage
to grow uncrowded, the late-summer-through-fall blooms will be
the talk of your neighborhood.
Silene ‘Clifford Moor.’ Clifford
Moor has variegated leaves that look almost golden yellow. The
mid- to late-spring flowers are a nice, solid pink that, with the
foliage, makes you look twice. Silenes do best in well-drained
soils in full sun. “Keep close to the home” is the best advice on
care.
Tiarella ‘Spring Symphony.’
“Spring Symphony is the first to bloom and last to finish,” says
Meg Green, who has grown every Tiarella ever planted at the UGA
gardens. “It has the best flowers and is the most profusely
blooming of the Tiarellas.” The flowers last the longest, too.
The delicately green foliage contrasts well with the white
flowers.
Eucomis ‘Sparkling Burgundy.’
Eucomis is one of many subtropical plants making their way into
Georgia gardens. This pineapple lily produces a beautiful,
pinkish white flower when grown in full sun with adequate
moisture. Why “Sparkling Burgundy?” It has bright, maroon-red
leaves in spring.
Geranium x ‘Rozanne.’ Roxanne may
change your mind about geraniums’ usefulness in the perennial
garden. It flowers all summer, producing shades of magenta on a
strong, green background of leaves. Good organic soils and
partial shade, or at least shade in mid to late afternoon, are
best. As with most geraniums, don’t ignore it in a drought.
Dianthus ‘Garden Spice.’ This
series will add an interesting touch of texture to an already
crowded dianthus pallet. Garden Spice is a series of colors, with
carnation-like flowers more compact and upright than the
traditional “carnation” dianthus. The series is excellent for
mass planting or as accent plants in small beds or rock
gardens.
Lychnis ‘Jenny.’ Like most
Lychnis, Jenny will flower well in partial shade and full sun,
with a beautiful, wispy presentation of rosy pink flowers. It’s
easy to grow but lives for only two or three years. Jenny’s real
value is in a mass planting. A sea of pink is hard to get in
Southern gardens, but with careful spacing at 6-inch centers,
Jenny can do it.
Gaura ‘Leah James.’ Gaura is one
of our more drought-tolerant perennials. Leah James has
white-pink flowers and interestingly variegated foliage. It
requires well-drained soil, full sun and some irrigation when
first established. It will rebloom if you remove the top half of
the spent flower stalks. Don’t give it a crew cut, just a
trim.
Scabiosa ‘Samantha’s Pink.’
Scabiosa must be the most promoted perennial in the United
States. The blue pincushion flowers have made it a mainstay
already. Samantha’s Pink has slightly larger flowers than the
blue form and produces more of them. The pink flowers look
stunning in front of Salvia guaranitica and any solid green
shrub.
(Paul Thomas is a horticulturist with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.)
