Whoa campers! Crazy weather as usual. People are getting hit by “mini summers” this spring, pushing plants quickly out of the cold, damp ground. But we gardeners persevere.
Campers, today’s secret buzzword is “pizzazz.” Pizzazz is what a container needs to shine. Pizzazz allows the gardener to direct the focus of a viewer. Pizzazz adds excitement, it forces great comments from even the most jaded gardeners. Pizzazz is what Terra Nova has been giving to the horticultural trade for thirty-four years. Fourteen hundred is an extraordinary number of new introductions that Terra Nova has launched, more than any nursery in history. Today’s introductions include three new children that can wow.
We have cracked Melianthus in tissue culture. Do you know it? It’s a USDA Zone seven to ten perennial shrub from South Africa. Mature plants can get seven feet high with beautiful sky-blue pinnate foliage. Long burgundy bows of fragrant flowers, twenty-four plus inches tall emerge in early spring if the winter is mild enough, but it’s that foliage. Dreamy. Even as an annual, it will give a long season’s pleasure and provide an ice-blue background to hotter colors.
Our next entry is a nice tie-in to the Artemis II launch, Kniphofia ‘Rocket Jr.’ Hottest orange and yellow combine on a blooming powerhouse with shorter stature. Don’t worry, these are full sized, hot blooms in a smaller package.
Agastache can be wispy with rather muted lavender flowers, or it can have the hand of the Terra Nova breeders. Agastache (A-guh-stack-ee) ‘Pink Pearl’ is a new breed with so many oversized flowers that the foliage can be obscured! Wowsers in containers, striking in a landscape, and a general good doer, this plant adds a fabulous color hit to the garden.
Our catalog, linked below, is an informative tome. Have you ever downloaded it? You will learn about the ways of our breeding and witness the remarkable introductions we have introduced over the last thirty-four years. Besides, there’s a lot of groovy pictures, container combos and especially gigantic installations in Australia and China that use our plants on a huge scale. Who has seen the Chinese forest filled with Terra Nova plants? It’s stunning. Check out Damu Flower Valley – a valley of flowers. . .Terra Nova’s flowers. Damu Flower Valley Video
Come explore these three remarkable offerings by the ORIGINAL innovators: Terra Nova™.
This article is handwritten.
Melianthus ‘Antonow’s Blue’
Dramatic, tropical foliage is the hallmark of this beauty. It possesses unusual, large, blue-green feather-like foliage with a very unusual peanut butter scent when touched. Use in containers or, in temperate climates as a background shrub. Cut to the ground after winter to keep this looking sharp and bushy but leave a few stems to flower. Hardy in USDA zones seven to eleven. The fragrant burgundy flowers on blue-green stems grow to thirty inches high in a bow-like habit, thirty-six inches wide by thirty-six inches high in its first season. Full sun to partial shade exposure is great, and you can expect blooms from April-June! Full sun is preferred.
The color intensity on this dwarf red hot poker is out of this world! Each conical flower is a fiery deep red orange shifting to a golden afterburn. Blooms are held tight within and above upright grass-like foliage. Blooms summer through frost with new flowers pushing up through the foliage non-stop. Incredible impact in the front of a bed, border or as the ‘thriller’ element in mixes. Hardy in USDA zones six to nine. The fragrant orange and yellow flowers on green stems grow to sixteen inches high. The plant is nine inches wide by sixteen inches high in its first season. Full sun to partial shade exposure is great, and you can expect blooms from June to October!! Full sun is preferred. Bees, especially bumblers, love the rich pollen and nectar source. Hummers adore pokers.
Mid-sized, full, and compact mound of large flower spikes. Incredibly unique, glowing light pink color brightens any garden. Different from other Agastache with large, dense blooms that cover the entire plant and appear a dynamic two toned with deeper colored flower buds contrasting nicely. Eye-catching in the mid to front garden border, also looks stunning in the container at home or at retail. Long blooming, spring through frost. TERRA NOVA® staff and visitor FAVORITE! Hardy in USDA zones six to ten. The pink flowers on emerald-green stems grow to sixteen inches high by sixteen inches wide in a dense habit, twenty-eight inches wide by twenty inches high on second year plants. Full sun is great, and you can expect blooms from June to September! A pollinator favorite!
Dan Heims is an award-winning author who lectures throughout the world. He was recently honored by The American Horticultural Society with the Luther Burbank Breeding Award, as well as the Perennial Plant Association’s Award of Merit. He was also honored in receiving the Royal Horticultural Society’s Reginald Cory Cup for advancements in breeding. A 2025 Silver Laurel Award was granted by GardenComm International for Terra Nova’s unusual 2025 Commercial Catalog.
You may contact Dan at [email protected] Questions on culture and care or availability for a speaking engagement can be had at this email.
All articles are copyrighted and remain the property of the author.
With modern rose breeding, it is now possible to grow garden roses that have large fragrant blooms and excellent disease resistance. Click here for an interesting, informative article about modern roses.
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