Yikes, campers! While you are poring through those seed catalogs, Terra Nova has been terribly busy starting off a new stable of cultivars for 2026. We’ve just about lost count of all the new or first time ever offered varieties. The count is over thirteen hundred over the last thirty-four years! Today we have three new plants to plan for your future garden. I’m going to check with the head GardenSMART staff if it would be cool to share links to some of our top Terra Nova mail-order sources as I sometimes hear, “I love your plants, I can’t wait to get this new plant, but nobody carries it locally.” Or more often, I’ll talk to the manager of a garden center and ask why they have so few Terra Nova plants. Their reply, “They sold out in one day, or people were removing the TN plants from our rolling racks before we could put a price on them!” We do create cool plants. If you see no Terra Nova plants at a garden center, remember that you have a powerful voice to request that a nursery should carry our plants. Email them a link to the plants (we always put a link below our coverage in this article).
Have you seen all the trend forecasts? There are at least five this year, all pointing out that perennials are the number one grower and sellers should stock more. Houseplants are still strong. With the current political tide, anxiety is up, and people are looking for personal refuges in their home and garden. Meditation gardens are up. While annuals have slipped a bit, I must confess that I really used a substantial number this year, and I was impressed with many, especially zinnias and dahlias and marigolds. In future GardenSMART articles, I will list companion annuals that create a new picture of color and beauty.
At Terra Nova, we don’t just copy another company’s plants. We use our brains. We create. We revolutionize perennials and reinvent new annuals and houseplants. Yes, dear campers, you smart people are reading this article to collect the news on the fresh, and we have it. Let’s see some Delightful™ new intros!
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.
Come explore these three remarkable offerings by the ORIGINAL innovators: Terra Nova™.
Heuchera ‘Testarossa’
Like a flaming-red Ferrari, this warm beauty needs to be in your garden, in beds and containers. Testarossa is Italian for red head, and indeed, this red head is fabulous! Large red-red leaves on this medium-large plant. Trialed for multiple years for performance and hardiness, we couldn’t take our eyes off of it. Superb fall color too! Stout plants with short petioles give this plant a taller, mounding look without any stemminess. Hardy in USDA zones four to nine. The pink flowers on burgundy stems grow to twenty-two inches high in a dense habit, seventeen inches wide by ten inches high. Full sun is great, and you can expect blooms from May to August!
If you have never tried a Terra Nova Geum you must. My Geum Tempo™ Coral is in bloom now. In January! Another excellent addition to the popular TEMPO™ line is ‘Fiesta’ with brilliant foliage in a fabulous rosette. Mounds of deep green foliage are covered in bright yellow flowers that have a vibrant orange picotee rim on them. Long blooming, with a good fall rebloom too. Summer foliage stays clean. Excellent for pot culture, and dependable in the border fronts. Mine is in fairly moist conditions and seems to love it! Hardy in USDA zones five to nine. The brilliant flowers on light burgundy stems grow to seventeen inches high in a dense habit, seventeen inches wide by eight inches high. Full sun to partial shade is great, and you can expect blooms from April to June with a fall rebloom!
A terrific addition to the SUPREME series. These are the tall, back of border, coneflowers that people requested. Unique spider mum type flowers on tall, strong stems are two of the splendid features for this plant. The unusual green color is mellow yet showy, like the flesh of a melon. Great as a cut flower or garden plant. Truly a brand-new novelty! Hardy in USDA zones four to nine. The greeny-golden flowers on deep green stems grow to thirty inches high in a dense habit, twenty-four inches wide by twenty inches high. Full sun is great, and you can expect bloom from July to October! A favorite for butterflies and other pollinators. Fragrant, too! Pair with orange and purple perennials.
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.
By Natalie Carmolli, Proven Winners® ColorChoice®
Photographs courtesy of Proven Winners® ColorChoice®
We can add a pop of pink to existing gardens or mix deep pink flowers with mid-to-pale pinks to make a gorgeous monochromatic garden statement. To learn more Click here for an interesting article.
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