It's all new

One of the perks of being a gardening journo is that you get new plants and products to trial. This year has been no exception and in spring I received a massive box of bare-root perennials from Darwin Plants in Holland. Here’s how I got on with them.

There were two new cultivars in the collection: ‘Love and Pride’ and A. chinensis ‘Diamonds and Pearls. I’m not a great fan of astilbes, so when I received these and three other different ones to grow I wasn’t totally enthralled. They were planted in a shady border, which isn’t that wet. Anyway, I have to say that despite my misgivings they’ve performed really well and provided some great summer colour. I’m particularly impressed with ‘Diamonds and Pearls’. Maybe I’ll have to reassess my feelings on this group of plants!
Geranium ‘Sweet Heidy’ has been flowering for months, produces good ground cover and has great flower colour – distinctive white centres surrounded by pink, fusing into blue with an overlay of dark veins.

Heuchera ‘Mocha’ has really large leaves that are black-brown in colour. It has done well and provided great foliage colour for months.

There were also three new perennial phlox. P. paniculata ‘Grenadine Dream’ has produced lots of good quality purple-red flower spikes. It has good mildew resistance too. P. paniculata ‘Sherbert Cocktail’ hasn’t grown as well and so hasn’t provided such a display of colour, but I quite like the flower colour combination. It is the first with yellow in its petals, combined with white or pink centres. It too shows good mildew resistance. P. paniculata ‘Peppermint Twist’ has also produced less growth than ‘Grenadine Dream’ and hasn’t started flowering yet.

Other plants in the collection that aren’t new for 2007 included:

Rudbeckia ‘Pot of Gold’ has produced good-sized mats of ground cover foliage and has been in flower for several weeks – and looks like it will continue for many weeks more.

Sedum ‘Lajos’ - I love sedums and variegated foliage – need I say more!

Three veronicas - ‘Fairytale’, and ‘Babydoll’ and ‘Purpleicious’. They’ve all grown well and produced a superb show of colour. I particularly like ‘Fairytale’, and ‘Babydoll’ has produced a good mat of low-growing ground cover foliage.

I've received other plants from other suppliers and I'll let you know how I've got on with these later in the year.