By David Wilson and Sue Redfern, Overdevest Nurseries
Several plants have been newly certified as Handpicked for You® for 2022 and are sure to be consistent top performers! Below is a brief summary of just a few of the newly certified plants. Find all the certified plants on the Handpicked for You® website. We are confident you'll find plants to excite and inspire you!
Kismet® Yellow Coneflower
It’s hard to imagine a garden today that does not have a few echinaceas. There are so many varieties, sizes, and colors, that it might be hard to choose the best one for your garden. Kismet® Yellow Coneflower is a new recommendation from the Handpicked for You® certified plant program. This program is a collaboration of new plant introducers, growers and retailers dedicated to trialing and testing new varieties to bring the best performing plants to you through independent garden centers. We work to make the decision-making easier for you!
We are happy to announce the addition of Kismet® Yellow Coneflower☀️☀️to the Handpicked for You® list. This compact variety of echinacea has been trialed and tested for several years for hardiness and performance. It passed all evaluations with flying colors!! We have found them to be cold hardy to Zone 4! They produce large daisy-like, buttery yellow flowers with big center cones and grow to about 16” tall so they fit nicely into the front or mid-center of the garden. A grouping of these bright, long blooming echinaceas planted behind blue Roxanne geraniums is quite eye-catching, or try planting in the front of the garden backed by a Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low.’
They begin blooming in June and will go well into October. We have found that cutting back after the first flush of bloom will enhance later season bloom. In addition, it is loved by pollinators and hummingbirds, but not by deer. What’s not to love?!
This little gem Kismet® Yellow joins the Kismet® Raspberry and Kismet® Intense Orange in the HPFY selection of plants. A trio of compact, brightly colored winners!
Magical® Gold Forsythia
We all know Spring has finally arrived when we see forsythia starting its bloom. They have been a popular, bright addition to gardens and landscapes for many years. A new variety, Magical® Gold Forsythia has been selected as a Certified Handpicked for You® plant for 2022. It has large 1-inch blooms with golden-yellow flowers and strong stems that bloom from the bottom to the top of each branch. This variety is a bit more compact than many other forsythia, growing to about 5’ tall, so it’s perfect for smaller spaces. Not only are forsythia striking in the landscape but try cutting several branches, bring inside and put in a vase and wait for the spring show to begin indoors. Easy care, brilliant color and hardy to Zone 5, we think you will love this new variety.
Photography Credit: Plants Nouveau
TEMPO™ Rose Geum
TEMPO™ Rose Geum joined TEMPO™ Yellow Geum and TEMPO™ Orange Geum as a Handpicked for You® selection for 2022. Geums, also known as Avens, are typically known for their “hot” colors, like orange, yellow and red, so the lovely rosy-pink flowers and red stems of TEMPO™ Rose add a softer coloring to the line-up. Modern day breeding and selection improvements make these newer varieties so much better for today’s gardens. This variety grows to about 8” tall but its abundance of small, delicate flowers makes a nice show in the garden. Blooming in early spring when most fall planted bulbs are showing their color, it adds another dimension to the spring garden. These easy to grow perennials bloom for several months and look beautiful when planted in a group in the front of the garden. Hardy to Zone 5.
Carolina Sweetheart® Redbud
This spectacular and colorful new Cercis (pictured above), commonly called eastern redbud, was developed by North Carolina State University and North Carolina nurserymen. The heart shaped leaves of this variety have a unique color in shades of purple with beautiful white and pink margins. In addition to the unique foliage, the classic, stunning🌸🌸 pea-like, lavender-purple flowers add to the dramatic impact of this tree. It reaches about to about 20’ with an umbrella like growth habit. The blossoms provide nectar for bees, butterflies and other insects. Cercis is a native to Eastern North America and is hardy from Zones 6-9. If you are looking for a unique, colorful tree, this is it! We agree with Dr. Tom Ranney from NC State when he says there is “nothing else on the planet like this!”
WorryFree® Junior Giant Arborvitae
New to the 2022 Handpicked for You® Certified Plant List is the exciting⚡⚡⚡WorryFree® Junior Giant Arborvitae. Finally! A hardy evergreen screening plant that's a perfect fit for the average sized home landscape. This new introduction is vigorous and sturdy with an elegant, refined shape and foliage that does not attract deer. This wonderful selection inherits all the lauded characteristics of its popular parent (Thuja Green Giant), but instead of reaching 30'-40' (or more) this beauty condenses its admirable qualities into an easy to grow, easier to maintain, conical shaped evergreen that matures at 15-20'! It’s perfect as an evergreen hedging plant for the home garden without being overwhelming.
A worthy addition to the WorryFree® collection of plants, it joins the others in this series in addressing environmental and landscape challenges.
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