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New Hybrids
Most gardeners have an internal button labelled "rare and unusual." Push it and -- boom -- they're off and running. This predilection drives nursery people scatty: What will we want next? More variegations? Deeper golds? Darker burgundies?
There's a lot of controversy surrounding the hybridization of plants, the changing of their essential character. Removing scent from roses never struck me as a good tradeoff for repeat blooming. And who wants a blue rose? Well, lots of people apparently, given the amount of activity in this area.
I like plants with normal blooms, not with double, triple or quadruple flowers that make them look as if they are on steroids. I want scent if a plant is supposed to be scented. I don't want a lot of crazed exotic colours. This is why species tulips, for instance, are so appealing, although I do find the newer truly deep purple tulips absolutely enchanting.
I love native plants not just for their hardy qualities but also because you never see ruffley, sterile blooms among them. Nature can hybridize, but it usually does so for a valid reason, such as making a plant more attractive to a certain kind of moth or butterfly.
I expect my ambivalence on the subject of hybrids is typical. I've been criticized by plant purists because I like cultivars along with natives in my own garden. I guess I'm not puritan on any level, especially in the garden.
Somewhat burdened by these thoughts, I went to a seminar at the annual meeting of the International Plant Propagators' Society in October. This is where a lot of new plants are unveiled. Here are some of the ones I really liked, based on slides and descriptions:
I got pretty excited about the new roses being introduced by Agriculture Canada in Quebec. They are all disease-resistant, hardy roses that require little fuss. Rosa 'DeMontarville' is one metre high, has repeat blooms with a dark red bud that fades to medium pink. R. 'Marie-Victorin' starts out as peach, fades to pale peach and then pale pink. R. 'William Booth' requires no pruning and has the same hardiness. These plants will be invaluable for Canadian gardeners since, in some cases, they are hardy right up to Zone 3 and Zone 2. There is another one (still unnamed -- its current designation, U.11, doesn't exactly sing) that grows to three metres, blooms right up to the arrival of frost and is a luscious almost magenta pink repeater, according to nurseryman and garden writer Robert Osborne, who is testing it now. He sees great promise for the plant.
There's a new weigela, W. florida 'Wine & Roses.' I have this one, and it's a real honey. It needs full sun to get to its full potential, which will never happen in my garden. It has wonderful deep burgundy foliage with wild pink blooms. A real beauty. Spiraea betulifolia 'Tor' has, as the name suggests, white birch-like foliage that turns a compelling russet in autumn. It's a low mounded one-metre form.
Itea or sweetspire is a very slow-growing native with white blooms in July and has amazing fall colour. I can see I. virginica 'Henry's Garnet' from my window and it glowed all autumn. The new introduction, called I. v. 'Little Henry,' grows to 60 centimetres and is being touted as a great container perennial.
Hosta 'Eola Salad Bowl' really does look a bit like a tossed salad. It grows almost a metre wide and is 25 cm high. The chartreuse-to-purple foliage has a curled rim that's quite dramatic. Again recommended as a container perennial.
Now let me tell you about a couple of great performers. Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' has to top the list. It has luscious burgundy foliage that slowly turns to green as flower buds form in late summer. By autumn, it has a froth of white bloom that's absolutely gorgeous. Mine hung on well into November. Of course, it was an exceptionally warm autumn, but I'm sure the plant would last until frost hits everything. I'm dividing it up and spreading it around next year. I like the idea of having this kind of punctuation throughout the autumn garden. I certainly wouldn't complain about this hybridizing of good old Joe Pye-weed.
And I'm very happy to report, after years of beating the drum for it, that Schizophragma hydrangeoides will be a lot easier to find next year. The price has dropped below $20 at my local nursery, and there's a cultivar called 'Moonlight,' which has larger, whiter lace-cap flowers. The reason this vine is so good is that it will grow in the shade, it blooms in the second year and doesn't get as blowsy as climbing hydrangea, which it resembles.
Copyright Marjorie Harris, 2005
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