The Gardening Me

Landscape Ontario Trial Gardens - 2026 Edition!

2026-08-22T14:12:44.598-04:00

Every year, I venture to the Landscape Ontario (LO) Industry Open House, an event where members gather to hear from local experts on various topics and, of course, tour their amazing trial gardens. One aspect of the gardens that I truly appreciate is the fact that you can see how plants will do in local conditions. This is particularly interesting when it comes to the perennials as they keep them for several years so you can envision how they will look 1, 2 or 3 years after adding them to your own garden.

Container Trials

Currently, the LO headquarters is undergoing some huge changes – in addition to the construction of a brand new training and education facility, the large front garden area is being transformed into a stormwater retention pond. Once completed, the pond will serve to not only divert runoff, but also create a unique planting opportunity. The one downside was that the pond had to be installed in the area that was occupied by the trial gardens which were, in turn, relocated.

The head of the trial program, Rodger Tschanz from the University of Guelph,
showing us a new biodegradable pot with zero petro chemicals that will
break down in a single season in a home compost pile.

The container trials were moved to a completely different area adjacent to the warehouse which ended up being far better suited to them as the building provides protection from westerly winds. The annual and perennial beds were moved to a strip of land between the pond and the highway. From my recollection, this area had previously been a stone screening path used by both people and vehicles - underneath was compacted subsoil with very few nutrients. The plants that were moved to this area had a tough go of it at the start, but there has been a noticeable improvement in the past couple of months as soil amendments that were added begin to have an impact.

So that’s a bit of background on the LO site, but now for the exciting part – the plants! There are literally hundreds of trial plants in the gardens so what I’ll be doing today is showcasing those that really caught my eye. As a side note, you’ll notice coloured flags in some of the pictures. Visitors are encouraged to grab a few flags and place one next to their favourite container plant, annual and perennial. To find out where I put my flags, keep reading 😃

First up are the container trials, but before we get to those, I wanted to mention a perennial that caught my eye just outside of the container trial area. It's a Gaura, which is one of my favourite perennials (yes, I have a lot of 'favourites'). This one had such a vibrant colour and it was quite compact and lush, so I had to include it on my list:

Gaura 'Steffi™ Dark Rose Improved'

Steffi™ Dark Rose Improved close-up

Now let's head to the container trials. All of the plants are in 12” pots and they are set up on a drip watering system.

I loved this Calibrachoa with it's mix of purple and pink double blooms:

Calibrachoa ‘Trixi® FunTopia Utopia’

Trixi® FunTopia Utopia close-up

The tightly packed 'bristles' on the deep fuchsia spikes of this Celosia really stood out:

Celosia ‘Intenz Dark Purple’

This Scaevola created a pink waterfall of fan-shaped blooms:

Scaevola ‘Whirlwind Pink’

Whirlwind Pink close-up

Heliotrope is one of my favourite annuals, not only for the gorgeous deep purple blooms, but also for the foliage which is beautifully textured:

Heliotrope ‘Aromagic® Magic Purple’

The Rainbow series of Calibrachoa is truly amazing – their blooms actually change colour depending on the temperature during bud set as well as how much sunlight it gets. I was particularly smitten by this pale yellow and pink variety:

Calibrachoa ‘Rainbow Dragonberry’

Rainbow Dragonberry close-up

I think I'm partial to Calibrachoa as I was drawn in by yet another variety - this one was covered with beautiful purple and yellow double blooms.

Calibrachoa 'Superbells® Double Mardi Gras'

Superbells® Double Mardi Gras close-up

Unpopular opinion: I’m not really a petunia person - somewhat surprising considering my affinity for their diminutive cousin Calibrachoa. However, I’ve come to appreciate them much more over the past couple of years after I grew a few varieties from seed. Regardless, it’s still surprising to me that out of all of the container plants on display here – well over 100 of them – it was a petunia that really captured my attention. That intense bright green edge just takes this petunia to a whole new level:

Petunia 'AMAZONAS™ Midnight Finch' 🚩(!!)

AMAZONAS™ Midnight Finch close-up

Now let’s move on to the annual trial garden.

A snippit of the annual trial beds

One of the first groupings that stood out to me was this combination of deep blue salvia and the gorgeous red dahlias - such a striking colour combination:

Salvia ‘Sallyfun™ Blue Lagoon’ and Dahlia ‘Cherie™ Papaya’

The dalias were so striking with the bright red centre that transitions to pale peachy yellow:

Dahlia ‘Cherie™ Papaya’

If you look closely at the salvia, you’ll also notice that the petals have a pretty splash of white;

Salvia ‘Sallyfun™ Blue Lagoon’

The Scaevola lining this pathway was absolutely gorgeous and so floriferous – the depth of the blue is amazing.

Scaevola ‘Bali™ Blue’🚩

I think I have a thing about petunias with contrasting edges. Here’s one that has a beautiful, sharply defined creamy edge up against an incredibly deep purple centre - gorgeous!

Petunia ‘Cascadias™ RIMerlot’

Cascadias™ RIMerlot close-up

Nicotiana has been a favourite of mine for many years so I had to take a picture of this grouping from the Whisper series.

Nicotiana – Whisper Mix

Whisper Mix close-up

I first heard of cannas grown from seed, right here at the trial gardens a few years ago when I saw this Ball introduction:

Canna ‘Cannova® Gold Leopard’

They also have another variety on display with an incredibly clear coral colour. It had quite a few flags around it, an obvious favourite with visitors!

Canna ‘Cannova® Rose’

Even though I don’t have much luck with Verbena bonariensis in my garden (yet!), I absolutely love it and so I keep trying. This one is an unnamed experimental variety from Benary that is very compact compared to the species, topping out at only about 18” or so. Its colour is also exceptionally vibrant.

Verbena: Experimental variety from Benary

But it’s not all about the flowers – I loved this little Pennisetum with is gracefully arching leaves and tan plumes. This one is a perennial in zones 8 or higher but around here, it's an annual.

Pennisetum ‘Fuzzy’

I’m a big Coleus fan and the colouration on this one was phenomenal. This is a new introduction from Ball and a big bonus with this variety is that it does well in both shade and full sun:

Coleus 'ChargeUp™ Prismatic'

Coleus 'ChargeUp™ Prismatic' close-up

Lastly, let’s move on to the perennial trials. Normally, these are one of the highlights when I visit – I thoroughly enjoy seeing how plants have matured over a few seasons so I can get an of idea how well (or not!) they will do in my own garden after that 1st year.

This year, many of the plants in the original perennial beds were given away before demolition for the pond began. The remaining plants were subjected to a bit of trauma as they moved from a well-worked and amended site to a harsher area, where the soil was “like concrete” when the shovels first hit the ground. Since then, new plants were added (as they are every year), the soil was well amended and, in another year or two, I’m sure this new perennial area will once again be a treasure trove of discovery.

This is not to say that there was nothing to see this year – I still walked away with some inspiration, even in the less-than-ideal conditions.

Firstly, I came across a couple of different Agastache varieties that truly stood out – the stems were simply packed with blooms:

Agastache ‘Zuni’

Agastache ‘Pink Pearl’🚩

I’m a sucker for hydrangeas and for several years now, breeders have been coming out with varieties that will fit into even the smallest garden space, like Dragon Baby which reaches only 2-3’ tall and wide. I loved the colour variation on this one with truly clear chartreusy white blooms alongside those that have aged to pink:

Hydrangea ‘Dragon Baby’

Dragon Baby close-up

This aster is not yet in bloom, but what truly impressed me about this variety was the form - it's almost shrub like with it's incredibly compact and dense foliage. I can just imagine how beautiful it will be once it bursts into bloom:

Aster ‘Aurora White’

Sedum ‘Spectacular’ is a 2026 All America Selections winner and I actually have this one in my own garden. And surprise...it’s grown from seed! I have to say, however, that theirs looks a mite better than mine. Sedums don’t appreciate soil that is overly fertile & it's obviously enjoying this spot, especially in the baking sun:

Sedum ‘Spectacular’

One of the great things about these trials is that you can see, IRL, side-by-side comparisons of different varieties, and this grouping of 3 varieties of switchgrass is a perfect example. I’m particularly loving the upright form of ‘Lightening Bolt’.

From Left to right: Panicum ‘Tumble Weed®’, ‘Lightening Bolt®’,
‘Smoky Rose®’, all from the Dream Catcher® series.

So that’s my roundup of favourites at this year’s trials at Landscape Ontario. I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour!

Happy Gardening 😊

What's Blooming in My Garden in June

2026-06-16T12:01:30.021-04:00

It's been a right while since I've done a What's Bloomin' post but as I was strolling through the garden over the past few days, all of the gorgeous flowers motivated me to take out my phone and snap a *few* pictures.

Digitalis 'Faery Queen'

It's been a very late start to the season this year, the latest in recent memory - I'm sure we hit some records for low temperatures in May. Many plants in the garden were just itching to get started & I have a feeling that there's more overlap of blooms this year than in the past. I wish I was as dedicated as Carol in documenting my blooms so I can compare this June with years past - maybe I'll be more diligent in future...we'll see!

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy taking a virtual stroll through my garden. I'm linking to Carol's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - do check out her Indiana garden to see what's blooming. Even though we are more or less in the same zone* - did I mention we went up to zone 6a recently? - she looks to be quite a bit ahead of me.

There's a little bit of everything here (which is how I like to garden) - from new additions to the garden to those that were here long before we were (the OG's) and even some that I grew from seed (one of my passions!)

And now, the Bloom Parade!

Columbine 'Barlow Mix' (from seed)

Geum 'Flames of Passion'

Geranium 'Lancastriense'
I've been on a bit of a Geranium binge in recent years

Peony (OG to the garden)

Heuchera 'Caramel Apple' - Heuchera blooms are so delicate;
it's difficult to capture how pretty they are on camera.

Salvia 'Salvatore Blue' (from seed)

Weigela (OG to the garden)

Allium (mystery variety)

Dianthus sylvestris (from seed - sown this year so it's still a baby😊)

Dragon's Head (Dracocephalum argunense) 'Fuji White'
Don't know much about this guy but it's a lovely front of the border plant.

Digitalis 'Carousel Mix' (from seed)

Geranium 'Orion'

Lupine (mystery variety)
This one was purchased at a hort society sale;it was supposed to be
'Flamethrower' but is obviously not (likely a self-sown seedling)

Sicilian Honey Garlic (Nectaroscordum)

Salvia 'Blue by You'

Clematis 'Nelly Moser'

Iris setosa (Bristly Iris)
Not very floriforous yet but I really love the delicate blooms...
and there's a Nigella photobombing just behind it on the right

Astrantia 'Vanilla Gorilla'
I "discovered" Astrantia (Masterwort) a few years ago &
now keep an eye out for it at the nurseries.
This variety has leaves with white margins.

Close-up of blooms on 'Vanilla Gorilla'

Dianthus 'Rainbow Loveliness' (from seed)
This Dianthus gives such a beautiful show in late spring/early summer,
then you cut it back and it will bloom again later in the season - a favourite!

Columbine (OG to garden)

Penstemon 'Dazzler Blend' (from seed)
The colour on this one is phenomenal; I'm growing more this year!

A more complete view of Dazzler Blend - one of my favourites!

Clematis 'Boulevard Samaritan Jo'
After trying Clematis in this spot THREE(!) times, I finally learned my lesson
and surrounded the based with hardware cloth to stop critters from chopping it off at ground level.

Bearded Iris (OG to garden)

Peony 'Alertie'
This baby was purchased as a bareroot in 2024
and it's giving me a wonderful show this year.

Ninebark 'Diablo'
(I'm guessing here as this guy was OG to the garden)

Salvia 'Snowhill'
Almost finished blooming, but the bees are still loving it!

Dianthus 'Supra Pink' (from seed)
This one is a 2017 AAS Winner & SO pretty!
It was "tested as an annual" by AAS, but here it's in its 3rd year.

Iris 'Black Joker'
The Peacock Butterfly** series of Iris are absolutely stunning!

Astrantia 'Moulin Rouge'

Vibernum 'Lil' Ditty'
This dwarf vibernum only gets to a couple of feet tall!

Heuchera 'Northern Exposure'
Another heuchera with gorgeous blooms! I'm thinking of putting some
deep green hosta behind it which should really showcase them
(don't mind the drip lines...this area needs WAY more plants to hide it 😉)

Nepeta 'Junior Walker'
This is a much more compact version of the legendary 'Walkers Low'.
Fun fact: The name 'Walkers Low' is somewhat confusing - many folks understandably
think it refers to it's size and then are surprised that it's huge!
The name, in fact, originates from Mrs. Walker, who discovered the plant
in the 'low' section of her garden. Now you know 😊

Dicentra 'Luxurient'
This is my 3rd try with fernleaf Dicentra and
I think I finally found a spot that it likes!

Salvia 'Sky Dance' (from seed)
Almost done blooming but still lovely

Geranium (Mystery variety)
This was a hort society sale find that gently self-seeds

And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this peak into what's blooming in my garden. Seeing how the garden is "growing" is always such an adventure each and every year.

Happy Gardening!

*Canadian & U.S. hardiness zones are calculated in different ways, so "technically" Zone 6a in Canada is not the same as Zone 6a in the U.S. Having said that, the vast majority of hardiness zone information online for specific plants uses U.S. zones and that's what I go by when I purchase plants - I'm what they call a "zone pusher". The only exception is when I'm purchasing an expensive plant such as a tree - then I'll *sometimes* be more cautious - depending on how much it is and how badly I want it :)

**Edited (corrected as I mistakenly stated the "Joker" series)

Favourite All-America Selections Winners I Grew This Year

2025-11-23T19:32:00.004-05:00

Here we are at the end of November and it won’t be long before the garden has a thick blanket of snow.

Memories of this past season....

This year has seen a lot of disruption in our lives as we decided to finally complete some long overdue renovations, both inside & outside. One of the garden projects was a new path to replace the uneven, dilapidated path from the driveway to the deck/backyard. It had gone from bad to practically unusable last year when we replaced the deck:

Before: What a mess!

After: Believe it or not, these are the same bricks as the old walkway!

We reused the bricks from the old path - turned upside down as I wasn't a fan of the beveled edges - in addition to a pile that we saved from the front walkway that was redone years ago. We're so happy with how it turned out! Still some cleanup to do but am excited to go plant shopping next year to fill up the empty beds.

I knew it would be a busy year so I purposefully cut back on my plans for the garden. That didn’t, however, stop me from growing quite a lot (maybe too much?) from seed. I always tend to overdo the seed starting, but honestly, that’s nothing new – I just can’t help myself, no matter how hard I try 😉

Amongst the many seeds I started this spring, there were quite a few AAS winners & today, I'll be highlighting some of my favourites. All-America Selections (AAS) is a non-profit that partners with organizations throughout North America, ranging from seed companies to botanical gardens to universities, to test new ornamental and edible varieties. Volunteer judges at each organization evaluate the AAS entries, which are only identified by a code to ensure an unbiased evaluation. The judges score each entry throughout the growing season based on a range of criteria and those with the top scores earn the AAS Winner designation.

Let’s start with the veggies first.

Pepper (sweet) ‘Pick-N-Pop Yellow’ – AAS 2025 (National)

Pick-N-Pop Yellow - a brand new 2025 AAS winner - is a snacking pepper that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Pick-N-Pop Yellow together with another
AAS winner 'San Joaquin' jalapeno

The plants were loaded with peppers that were incredibly juicy and sweet. In fact, most didn’t even make it back into the house as they were the perfect snack while working in the garden.

Thick walls & juicy interior

The plants were also quite compact and stocky, making them ideal for smaller spaces.

Specs: 65 days from transplant to fully ripe; 24” tall.

Squash (pattypan) ‘Green Lightening’ – AAS 2025 (National)

When it comes to summer squash, it’s hit or miss around here as the squash vine borer usually attacks before we get a good harvest. This year, I was able to thwart the dreaded borer by sowing my seeds super late – in mid-July. And that’s what makes Green Lightening, another 2025 AAS winner, so wonderful.

It’s a quick maturing pattypan variety that goes from seed to harvest in as little as 48 days! That means that I was harvesting from my July sowing by the end of August…and no borer in sight! Aside from it’s quick maturity, this pattypan is also gorgeous – I mean, look at those stripes! – and it’s just as delicious as it looks.

Specs: 48 days from direct sowing to harvest (40 days from transplant); 2.5-5” fruits; bush type.

Pepper (sweet) ‘Dragonfly’ – AAS 2022 (National)

I grew Dragonfly for the first time last year & enjoyed it so much I decided to grow it again this season. Dragonfly – a 2022 AAS winner – gives me the earliest bell pepper harvest ever - I was picking by mid-July!

The peppers have thick, juicy walls & while I could wait until they reach their fully red stage, I usually picked them when they are deep purple with a beautiful contrasting lime green interior so that the plants continued to produce, right up to frost.

Specs: 75 days from transplant (to purple/green stage); 24-36” tall.

Broccoli ‘Purple Magic’ - AAS 2024 (National)

I didn’t grow broccoli this year (due to the aforementioned “cutting back”) but I do want to give a shout-out to one of my favourite varieties from last year – ‘Purple Magic’.

This one is a 2024 winner with an absolutely gorgeous purple head. The very large head (the one pictured ended up weighing over 3 lbs!) is tight & uniform and, most importantly, has a beautifully full broccoli flavour. In addition, Purple Magic did produce a few side shoots later in the season with the final harvest being in October.

Specs: 90 days from transplant to harvest; 30” tall.

Now let’s move on to my favourite ornamentals.

Snapdragon 'Doubleshot Orange Bicolor' - AAS 2023 (National) & Snapdragon 'Doubleshot Yellow Red Heart' - AAS 2025 (National)

I’ve grown the Doubleshot series of snapdragons for a couple of years now and absolutely love them. The beautiful, open-faced blooms are so unusual for a snapdragon.

Doubleshot Yellow Red Heart

Last year I grew the 2023 AAS winner ‘Doubleshot Orange Bicolor’ & this year I added the brand new 2025 winner ‘Doubleshot Yellow Red Heart’ to the grow list.

There's a good amount of colour variation in the Doubleshot Orange Bicolor, ranging from orange to orange-red, while the Yellow Red Heart is exactly as it sounds - yellow with a red-tinged centre.

The stems on these medium sized varieties are sturdy so they don’t flop & get unruly like the taller varieties. While we generally don’t have super strong winds around here, I’ve read that the Doubleshot series has even held up to hurricane force winds, which is quite the feat.

Doubleshot Orange Bicolor

Another boon is their heat tolerance, blooming for the entire season without the usual mid-summer slow down. In my garden, when temps hit the 30's (86+ Fahrenheit), they simply shrugged it off.

Specs: 18-20” tall & space 12” apart; full sun to part shade.

Coleus 'Premium Sun Coral Candy' - AAS 2023 (National)

I have been growing Sun Coral Candy for 3 years now and it’s still at the top of my list of favourite coleus varieties. First, there's the gorgeous colour and unusual narrow leaves. Then there's the structure...it forms a beautiful cascading mound.

And while we grow most annuals for their blooms, when it comes to coleus, the fewer blooms the better. Sun Coral Candy gets high marks on this front as well – I typically pinch off no more than 3 or 4 blooms the entire season which is pretty darn impressive!

Specs: 10-16” tall, space 10” apart; full to part shade, but tolerates full sun in northern latitudes with only a bit of colour fading.

Marigold 'Siam Gold' - AAS 2024 (National)

I’ve grown a lot of marigolds over the years but they have been predominantly the French & Signet types. Tucked away in my stash, I had a packet of seeds for an African marigold called Garuda Deep Gold, an AAS winner from 2019. Last year, I decided to finally crack open the packet & try them because…..why not?

I didn’t think I would be taken by this ball-type marigold (which is likely why they sat in my stash for so long) but, as is so often the case when I see a plant IRL vs simply a pic, I ended up absolutely smitten.

While Garuda Deep Gold is a tall, cutting flower type (growing to about 3’ tall), this year I tried the much more compact Siam Gold, a recent 2024 winner. This one topped out at only around 20” tall although the flowers were pretty much the same size as the taller variety. The stems were exceptionally sturdy, holding up the huge blooms without issue, even in windy weather. I did zero staking and there were no floppers in the bunch.

The blooms on both varieties were extremely densely packed & they had staying power - each flower lasted for weeks before it started to slowly fade.

Siam Gold - 18-20” tall, space 16” apart; full sun

Last, but definitely not least, let’s turn to my two hands-down favourites. I was so taken by both of them that picking one over the other ended up being much too difficult.

Begonia 'Viking Explorer Rose on Green' - AAS 2022 (Gold Medal*)

Begonias can be a bit tricky to grow from seed and I did try growing this one last year but didn’t have much luck. Not one to give up after the first try, I gave it another go and….whoa!! These were incredible!

Begonia seedlings potted up on May 5

I started this 2022 Gold Metal* winner extra early, in February, and after a very slow start (which is par for the course when it comes to growing begonias from seed), I had some good-sized plants by the end of May to place in pots on my shady front porch steps. These guys grew, and grew, and grew – they were phenomenal.

What really impressed me, even more than the beautiful red blooms, was the glossy foliage. It was surreal – in fact, it was so shiny that my daughter quite seriously asked if they were real. Why yes, yes they are!

July 9th

This is a very floriferous trailing begonia and the stems draped beautifully over the edges of the pots as the summer progressed. The plants didn’t balk at the hot, often dry conditions either. Despite being in smallish (8-12”) terra cotta pots & watering them only once or twice per week, they didn’t droop at all even when temps were sky high without a drop of rain.

Specs: 16” tall & 3 plants will fit comfortably in a 14-16” pot; part sun to full shade.

Petunia ‘Shake Raspberry’ - AAS 2025 (National)

Tied for first place this year with the Viking Explorer Begonias was the ‘Shake Raspberry’ Petunia. Full disclosure, I’m not generally a huge petunia fan – the fact that these were a favourite this year gives you an inkling as to how fabulous they were.

This 2025 AAS winner (whose blooms resemble a blended raspberry milkshake, hence the name) is naturally compact, so I decided to plant them in a window box – a harsh environment for a plant, but perfect for really testing out how tough they are.

I packed 5 seedlings into the window box in late May and they just got better and better as the season progressed. Shake Raspberry lasted all season long and didn’t melt in the summer heat. They also recovered quickly from a couple of dry spells where I forgot to water – a true testament to how resilient they are, despite their delicate appearance.

Still going strong on September 2nd

And since these guys are grown from seed (as are all the plants I’ve talked about in this post), I can have a couple dozen of them for the same price as a one-quart pot at the garden centre – one of the many reasons I love growing from seed!

Specs: 5-8” tall, space 10-12” apart; full sun to part shade.

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And that’s the roundup of my favourite AAS winners from the 2025 growing season. If you’ve grown a new plant or variety this year that you ended up loving, do let me know in the comments.

Happy Gardening!

*Gold Medal Winner – This rare award, which has only been given to a few varieties in AAS history, is awarded when a variety is truly exceptional, significantly superior to existing varieties, and has a major breakthrough in performance or breeding: AAS Gold Medal Winners.

Visiting Bonnie Plants (Opelika, Alabama)

2024-07-19T06:00:00.002-04:00

Whether you are a newbie or seasoned gardener, no doubt you are familiar with Bonnie Plants. Being the largest grower of vegetable and herb plants for the home gardener in North America, they are ubiquitous on garden centre shelves throughout the country.

I was thrilled that one of the stops during the recent National Garden Bureau Summit was the new Bonnie Plants headquarters in Opelika, Alabama.

Their new headquarters is an amazing space that includes both indoor and outdoor workspaces as well as a trial garden.

One of the outdoor workspaces

And this is the view - wow!

It’s hard to believe that a company with such an expansive reach was started when Bonnie and Livingston Paulk purchased a couple of pounds of cabbage seed, sowed it in their backyard, and then lugged the fully grown heads to town in a buggy.

Sign from the original barn in Union Springs

Starting from those modest roots in Union Springs, Alabama, Bonnie Plants now operates 86 greenhouses across four states.

This 10' living wall at their new headquarters is large enough to filter
the air in the entire office at least once per day 😲

The care they took when designing their new offices, especially when it came to enhancing employee's work environment, was impressive.

The Livingston Room, with it's wall of windows, is open to all
as a workspace or meeting room

The company mission is to enhance lives through the power of plants. To fulfill this mission, they aim to offer high-quality vegetable and herb plants at a reasonable price. Recently, they have broadened their objectives to encompass education, and their website (www.bonnieplants.com) is full of gardening tips, advice, and inspiration.

Exploring the Trial Gardens

Bonnie Plants focus is on small spaces such as patios, balconies & container gardening and this was reflected in their trial gardens, with it's abundance of compact herb and veggie varieties.

I was immediately drawn to this hanging basket with....cucumbers? Even though I'm not lacking in space, I REALLY want to try this.

Patio Perfect Cucumber

Lots of babies in there!

Then there were all of the tiny tomatoes....and I'm talking about the plants here, not necessarily the fruits. Tiny Temptations, an ultra sweet cherry tomato, barely hit 12" tall (although it can get up to a "whopping" 16 inches 🙃):

Tiny Temptations - Big flavour on a tiny plant

But let's say you want a big tomato on an indeterminate plant that doesn't become unruly & take over. Tidy Rose - a beefsteak variety that produces 5-7 oz pink fruits and only gets 3-5' tall - may be just what you are looking for:

And if you grow tomatoes, it usually follows that you also want a nice stand of basil. Basil tops the chart when it comes to favourite herbs in North America, so it's not surprising that Bonnie Plants diverse basil lineup is one of their best sellers.

Purple Ball basil, with it's compact, densely branched habit & gorgeous deep purple leaves, was a standout.

Purple Ball Basil

I really liked the added interest provided by the colour variation on the leaves. Those that receive the most sun on top are incredibly dark but then, and as you move down the plant, there are hints of green where it's shadier.

Just beside Purple Ball was another basil that didn't have a sign - it was such a cutie with much smaller leaves, but the same colouration as Purple Ball. I was surprised to find out that it was also Purple Ball, only a less mature plant than the others.

Purple Ball basil at the teenage stage

Most of us have heard of Everleaf Emerald Towers basil - it's an amazing variety that is tall, densely branched and late flowering. I grew this one in my own garden last year and can attest to it's amazing productivity and compact habit.

Everleaf Emerald Towers Basil
If you can only have one basil in your garden, this is the one to grow

The 'Everleaf' in the name refers to it's late flowering aspect while 'Towers' refers to the columnar growth habit.

'Everleaf' Basil (sans 'Towers') has the same late flowering characteristic as Everleaf Emerald Towers, but is noticeably less compact:

Everleaf Basil

There were a variety of interesting container displays including this one of petunias backed by a gorgeous Angelonia. The container was angled to maximize impact - ingenious!

When I asked one of the employees what their favourite plant in the garden was, they pointed to a little bunch of ferny green foliage which I couldn't quite place. I was surprised to find out it was a marigold.

Dropshot Marigold
The innocuous ferny foliage holds a sweet surprise

The foliage was very pretty - I was quite taken by the chartreuse colour & beautiful texture - but I didn't see the 'wow' factor that turned this into a garden favourite out of the dozens of other plants in the trial garden. Perhaps it was the blooms that had yet to emerge? Or maybe it was especially good at deterring pests?

Then I was told to pick a few leaves & give them a taste. First you are hit with a distinct anise flavour - and then...POW! The incredible finish blew me away. It was SO sweet - as if the leaves had been sprinkled with sugar - I'm not kidding!

Everyone that tasted it chewed for a few seconds before their eyes lit up with amazement. I decided there and then that this one was going on my list. What do the flowers look like? I have no idea, lol. I'm thinking they are fairly innocuous as I couldn't find any images of this variety blooming, even after a bit of googling.

It was a true pleasure visiting Bonnie Plants and, as always, a learning experience. While I do have a larger garden and don't *need* smaller plants, I'm nonetheless eager to try out some of the diminutive tomato varieties as well as the Patio Perfect cucumbers in containers. Imagine going out to the deck and picking a cucumber or tomato for a salad without even having to put my shoes on. Sounds pretty awesome if you ask me.

Happy Gardening!

Visiting Young's Plant Farm (Auburn, Alabama) - Part 2

2024-06-21T06:30:00.004-04:00

In Part 1, I provided an overview of my visit to Young's Plant Farm. This post focusses on their trial gardens - they were huge! We *only* had a couple of hours there, but I literally could have spent all day exploring.

The gardens include trials of shade-loving plants as well as those that appreciate a full sun exposure.

Shade-loving plants are trialed under the huge pergola

There were also container trials...

...which included a number of hanging baskets.

I have a large, shaded front entrance so it's not surprising that I'm a huge fan of coleus. When I saw this one, I was immediately smitten:

Coleus 'Skeletal'

Just like anyone else, I have my plant preferences. One of the joys of touring trial gardens is that, despite a particular plant typically not being a favourite, I will often find one or two varieties that I unexpectedly like. For example, while I love plume & spike celosia, I'm not usually a fan of those with 'brain-like' blooms. 'Hot Topic Reef' turns out to be an exception.

Celosia 'Hot Topic Reef'

Calibrachoas, however, are a favourite, regardless of variety. This one, with it's hot pink edges, was a stunner:

Calibrachoa 'MiniFamous Uno Ember Eclipse'

And while I rarely find a Calibrachoa I don't love, when it comes to Petunias, I'm rather particular. Most of them I'm not especially fond of, but these guys fall in the 'Love' column:

Petunia 'Tea Purple Vein Green Edge'

Petunia 'Lo Rider Blue'

And take a look at this gorgeous combination of Petunia 'Bee's Knees' (a 2022 AAS winner!), Cuphea 'Honey Bells' and Ageratum 'Monarch Magic':

A beautiful combination!

Speaking of Cuphea, I was really taken by the diminutive bright pink flowers and glossy leaves on 'FloriGlory Diana', a 2018 AAS winner. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought it was a tiny shrub.

Cuphea 'FloriGlory Diana'

Every once in a while, I run across a plant that I've never heard of such as this Sanvitalia (aka creeping zinnia) with it's teeny tiny blooms - it was such a beautiful spiller in the container.

And just for a bit of perspective on how small those flowers are:

When it comes to full sun container plants, you can't beat Portulaca for it's drought tolerance and gorgeous blooms. The side-by-side comparisons in the trial gardens really helped illustrate the differences between each variety, especially when it came to form as some were much more upright while others were more on the ground-hugging/trailing side of things. I apparently have a thing for the orange/yellow varieties 🙃

Portulaca 'Mojave Mango'

Portulaca 'Mega Pizzaz Mango Twist'

Portulaca 'Colorblast Orange Shandy'

Portulaca 'Pazzaz Nano Deep Orange'

I spotted one of my favourite sedums in a container:

Sedum 'Sunsparkler Lime Twister'

Sometimes the plants on trial don't even have 'real' names yet, like this beautiful Marigold:

Marigold '24OIS17'

I don't think I've ever met a Salvia that I didn't like, both annual & perennial. This one, with its deep, deep purple blooms, is a beauty:

Salvia 'Sagoon Lake Omega Improved'

And finally, two more stunners:

Salpiglossis '24OSI10'

Scaevola 'Surfinia Fashion Pink Improved'

Having never grown either Salpiglossis or Scaevola before, you can bet they are now on the list. And this may be the one downside of going to trial gardens - the list of plants that I want to try is ridiculously long & it just keeps getting longer!

Happy Gardening!