Transatlantic Plantsman

Two great new annuals

2009-11-09T09:11:17-05:00

There are literally hundreds of new annuals launching for the coming season, but they include two which are noticeable steps forward in breeding in two groups which have already developed a lot in recent decades. And both are from British plant breeders rather than the big American and Japanese breeders.

From the plant breeding company Floranova, comes a completely new type of Nicotiana (flowering tobacco). Although smaller than the big Japanese and American breeders, Floranova has consistently created innovative new types of annuals and has led the world in creating new salvias, new geraniums (pelargonium), new pansies and violas, and even a range of patio vegetables.

Having created the best traditional nicotianas in the world, in recent years Nick Bellfield-Smith at Floranova they’ve brought blood in from less familiar Nicotiana species like N. langsdorfii to create ‘Tinkerbell’ and now from the lovely N. mutabilis to create ‘Whisper’ (above, click to enlarge).

‘Whisper’ has two special features. Like N. mutabilis, the flowers open white then become pink tinted eventually maturing to rich pink. That makes a very pretty picture. Its other special feature is that it seems resistant to tobacco blue mold (Peronospora tabacina), a fungal disease which has been devastating nicotianas around the world and which wiped out the trial of nicotianas at the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at Wisley a few years ago.

‘Whisper’ is actually a mix of deep pink, rose shades, and appleblossom – which is the one that fades so delightfully. Well worth growing.

You can find out more about Nicotiana 'Whisper' over on my RHS New Plants blog.

Also from Britain, Charles Valin at Thompson & Morgan has been mentioned here before. He works on a wide range of species – you can read about his work in The Plantsman magazine from the Royal Horticultural Society. For the coming season he has a new viola mixture – in five colours – each colour with a different fragrance. How about that – a few years ago there were more or less no scented pansies and now we have different scents matched to different colours.

You can find out more about Viola 'Allspice' over on my RHS New Plants blog.

Unfortunately this season it seems to be available just about all over the world - except the USA and Canada. Come on T&M, what’s holding you back?

You can order Nicotiana ‘Whisper Mix’ in North America from Michells.

You can order seed of Nicotiana ‘Whisper’ in Britain from Mr Fothergill and Plants of Distinction.

You can order young plants of Nicotiana ‘Whisper’ in Britain from Dobies.

You can order Viola ‘Allspice’ seed in Britain from Thompson & Morgan

You can order young plants of Viola ‘Allspice’ seed in Britain from Thompson & Morgan

You can order seed of Viola ‘Allspice’ over most of the rest of the world, except North America, from Thomspo & Morgan Worldwide.

(Floranova do not sell seed to home gardeners.)

Two fine Physocarpus (Ninebarks to American readers)

2009-11-04T06:52:00-05:00

Physocarpus is not a plant that often features on gardeners’ lists of favorite shrubs, on either side of the Atlantic, but the recent arrival of Summer Wine here in the US and the appearance of Lady in Red at London’s Chelsea Flower Show a couple of years back seem to have woken people up to what great shrubs they are – for foliage, flowers and sometimes fruits too.

Here in Pennsylvania we just grow the two in the picture (click to enlarge) – Coppertina, on the left, and Summer Wine. I hope we’ll be adding more. The leaves were picked just a couple of days ago. Coppertina has been a perfect background for Athyrium otophorum with its upright silvery green leaves and red stems while right now the old pink and white single Chrysanthemum ‘Country Girl’ is lovely in front of Summer Wine.

But let’s just clear up the names, for they’re a little confusing as both have been given marketing names (technically called Trade Designations) as well as their cultivar names.

The cultivar name of Coppertina - which, just to confuse matters, is known as Diable d’Or in Europe – is ‘Mindia’ so its correct full name is, in the USA, Physocarpus opulifolius Coppertina (‘Mindia’) while in Europe it’s Physocarpus opulifolius Diable d’Or (‘Mindia’). (Yes, the Trade Designation has to be in a different typeface, too!) Of course here in the US where the species is a widespread native known as Ninebark it’s often just called Coppertina Ninebark.

Either way, it’s a hybrid between ‘Dart’s Gold’ and Diablo (‘Monlo’) rasied in France.

Summer Wine (‘Seward’) is a hybrid between the rarely seen Nana’ and Diablo (‘Monlo’) created by Tim Wood of Spring Meadow Nursery (no retail sales), who’s raised and introduced so many good shrubs, from a cross made in 2000.

And why is it called Ninebark? Well, over at Consider the Lilies where there are some superb pictures of the wild species, Harold Hanson says: “The derivation of the common name is interesting: As it matures Ninebark bark continually splits, leaving ragged pieces hanging from the branches as if it is continuing to reveal new bark—perhaps "nine" times—thus the common name, Ninebark.”

In Britain you can buy Physocarpus Diable d’Or from these RHS PlantFinder nurseries. And you can buy Physocarpus Summer Wine from these RHS PlantFinder nurseries.

In North America Rare Find Nursery list both Coppertina and Summer Wine as well as two new introductions 'Barberone' and 'Center Glow'.

November poem

2009-11-01T07:27:57-05:00

November
by Thomas Hood
(1799-1845)

No sun--no moon!
No morn--no noon!
No dawn--no dusk--no proper time of day--
No sky--no earthly view--
No distance looking blue--

No road--no street--
No "t'other side the way"--
No end to any Row--
No indications where the Crescents go--

No top to any steeple--
No recognitions of familiar people--
No courtesies for showing 'em--
No knowing 'em!

No mail--no post--
No news from any foreign coast--
No park--no ring--no afternoon gentility--
No company--no nobility--

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member--
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,
November!

Black plants to celebrate Halloween

2009-10-31T14:28:13-04:00

In a horticultural celebration of the holiday, I thought you might enjoy this slide show of black plants put together my my wife judywhite. Thanks judy.

Happy Halloween!

Black Plants Stock Photos - Images by GardenPhotos .com

I'll be reviewing books on black plants here soon.

Cost of coffee

2009-10-31T06:21:00-04:00

Back in the Sixties and Seventies there was standard way of comparing the cost of living around the world – you compared the cost of a Mars bar in different countries. Then we moved on and the Big Mac became the standard. Now it’s coffee at Starbucks.

Having recently been on my horticultural travels through airports in three very different countries – London’s Heathrow airport, New York’s Newark (Liberty International airport) and Cork Airport in Ireland – and having bought a Venti Latte from Starbucks in each I thought I’d compare prices – and convert them all to each currency (using the Yahoo currency converter).

London Heathrow     £2.60 = $4.25 = €2.83
New York Newark    £2.62 = $4.28 = €2.85
Cork                       £3.59 = $5.87 = €3.90

Well, the landscape in Ireland may be beautiful, the people welcoming and music great – but the coffee (and the cost of living generally) is high.

Next time - back to plants!

Trachystemon - why it is called Abraham, Isaac and Joseph?

2009-10-29T18:31:00-04:00

If you're looking for a robust perennial ground cover that will even thrive in dry shade look no further than Trachystemon oriantale. Its mass of foliage does the weed smothering efficiently and its purple blue flowers are a treat in the spring sunshine. Its mass of roots also make it a great plant for holding together the soil on slopes.

But why is its common name Abraham, Isaac and Joseph? I'd really like to know. If you've any idea, pleae post a comment. Thank you!

Dan Hinkley's garden at Windcliff

2009-10-29T12:25:25-04:00

Over on his Next Generation Gardener blog, plantsman and garden designer Rizaniño "Riz" Reyes is sharing his recent visit to Windcliff, the garden of plantsman Dan Hinkley, whom I expect you'll know (he founded the garden at Heronswood), and his architect partner Robert Jones.

There's plenty of pictures of this richly planted garden on the blog - as well as this video. Head over to the Next Generation Gardener and take a look.

The above video is only part one of his video tour, parts two and three are not on his blog but they are on YouTube. And you can watch them here.

And here's part three of the tour of the garden at Windcliff created by Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones - shot by Riz Reyes. Thanks for sharing these videos on YouTube, Riz

Surprising bicolored vine

2009-10-26T06:15:00-04:00

As the fall color fades, with only the J apanese maples that featured in the snow still at their peak, a twining vine galloping up a birch tree caught my attention.

With the birch leaves long gone, its fresh green foliage amongst the bare twigs caught my eye but now, as its foliage is starting to turn, it’s even more striking. Having been evenly green all season, many (but not quite all) of the leaves are green on one side and yellow on the other. Sharply divided by the midrib of the leaf, the two colours show up brightly side by side.

I didn’t notice any flowers or fruits on this vine earlier in the season - in fact I didn’t really pay it much attention at all until now – but I wonder if it’s the American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens. This is a vine that grows in this area – although at a slightly lower altitude so its leaves have dropped - and a bird could easily have dropped a seed.

I’ll be keeping a closer watch on it next season.

Perfect fall flowering shrub – but it doesn’t exist yet!

2009-10-23T08:34:00-04:00

Thinking about those witch hazels I was blogging about yesterday I began to wonder. Compared with the winter- and spring-flowering Asian witch hazels - H. mollis and H. x intermedia - the flowers of the American native H. virginiana are quite small and only mildly scented. What we need is a plant with large scented flowers, like the Asian ones – but which flowers in the fall. So why not cross the fall flowering American witch hazel with the spring flowering Asian species?

Doh! I know, I know –They flower at completely different times of year! No problem. Both Ruth Dix at the US National Arboretum in Washington and Peter Dummer, formerly propagator at Hillier Nurseries in Hampshire, England, have stored pollen in order to cross these two groups.

Seedlings have been created, I’m told, and are being assessed. But, as far as I’m aware, no seedlings from this cross have yet been named or been available to buy. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.) And of course it’ll take a few years for the seedlings to flower. Or perhaps the hybrids flower sporadically for many months and never have much impact? What we need are plants which are as large-flowered, colourful and fragrant as the Asian species – but flowering in the fall.

But the really big question is this: how can I illustrate a blog post about a plant that doesn’t yet exist? Answer: by illustrating the two possible parents. Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Ripe Corn’, at the top, and H. virginiana (with thered foliage of Euonymus alatus background) lower down.

Follow me on Twitter!

2009-10-22T17:05:50-04:00

Startling news! You can now follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Graham_Rice !

Don’t worry, I won’t deluge you with the day-to-day details of my life but I will let you know when new posts go up at my three blogs (RHS New Plants, RHS Trials and Awards and here at Transatlantic Plantsman) remind you of lectures coming up, tell you when I have a piece published in a magazine and occasionally bring you other hot news or ask for help with something I’m working on.

But, you may ask, how do you follow me on Twitter? This piece from the New York Times outlines the options – on my Mac I use Tweetie. And there’s a page of ideas on the Twitter website. For real newbies there’s a handy video on the Twitter help pages.

It's just another way of keeping in touch and passing on the news. First there were drawings on the walls of caves, now there's Twitter!

UPDATE: Excellent overview of Tweetie here