Aug 8, 2018

New Perennial Standouts By Jasmina Dolce

The perennial category continues to gain interest at the consumer level. Homeowners seem to want more “permanent” landscape fixtures. They also want low maintenance and season-long color.

Vaughn Fletcher, a monthly contributor in GPN magazine, visited the spring premier trial at Costa Farms in Miami. He evaluated both annual and perennial introductions for 2019. And in last month’s GPN, he shared some of his insights on the top-performing new perennial varieties.

He says these new perennials “produced dramatic, eye-catching flower presentations.”

If you’re looking to expand your perennial offering, look no further. Here are some trialed performers that demonstrated superior performance, along with commentary from Fletcher.

Aquilegia Kirigami Series
Syngenta Flowers

This series was floriferous with a tight flower canopy. It is a programmable, bench run series with exceptional uniformity, narrow flowering window and minimum vernalization requirements. They are hardy to Zone 4.

Dianthus IQ Series
Floranova

This is the first dianthus introduction for Floranova, and the series was dwarf, dense, uniform and floriferous in the trials. It is an interspecific (barbatus chinensis cross) comprised of four colors. The series is early to bloom and hardy to Zone 6

Coreopsis ‘Golden Stardust’
Darwin Perennials

The architecture on this plant was outstanding with strong, upright stems and the flower canopy positioned nicely above the foliage for a colorful presentation of gold flowers with a deep red splash. It is hardy to Zone 5a and will bloom from late spring through fall.

Leucanthemum Lucille Series
Danziger

This series consists of three varieties; Chic is pictured. All three have large white single flowers with a yellow eye and overlapping petals. Chic has a more compact habit, maturing at 14 to 16 inches. Vernalization is not required for this series. It is first year flowering and hardy to Zone 4.

Delosperma Delmara Series
Green Fuse Botanicals

Native to South Africa, these plants are heat and drought tolerant and dense with a matte-like growth habit. They mature at 4 to 6 inches in the ground and more compact in mixed containers. The flowers in the trial were large, vibrant and produced a colorful canopy. The series is hardy to Zone 5.

Gaillardia ‘Spintop Red Starburst’
Dümmen Orange

Three colors were introduced last year, and for 2019 we have three additional colors. The series is characterized by uniformity, earliness, vibrant colors, matched flower timing, day length neutrality and excellent garden performance. The series matures at 8 to 10 inches and is hardy to Zone 4.

Have you trialed any of the above varieties or plan to add any of them to your lineup this upcoming season? What are some of your favorite new perennial introductions not mentioned here? Shoot me an email at jdolce@greatamericanpublish.com, and let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

And if you’d like to read Vaughn Fletcher’s full article with even more new variety analysis, click here.

— Jasmina