New Plants Will Add Fun To Your Yard

It’s easy to see why gardening becomes such a passion. Each year the gardening industry tempts us with dozens of new plants and various paraphernalia. We anxiously await the parade of new contestants to see who will wear the crown for the best new blossom or invention.

Once in awhile, some new plants slip through the cracks unnoticed and with little fanfare. Recently, two such specimens have been brought to my attention. I was so intrigued with both, that I scrambled through my files, looking for any information about them.

The first one is an incredible spreading petunia, appropriately named supertunia. I was introduced to it by a local gardener who discovered baskets of petunia-like flowers growing outside a local garden center. The gorgeous plants engulfed the planters. When he asked me what they might be, naturally I suspected cascading petunias. But not so. These were different.

In my mad search through my petunia files I uncovered two articles about this new petunia. The first I found in the August 1994 Greenhouse Growers and the other was in a newsletter that was sent to me by yet another local gardener. If these articles are accurate, this could be the petunia of the future.

This new spreading petunia, developed by Roy Tothers of Melbourne, Australia, was introduced about three years ago.

It thrives on hot summers, tolerating temperatures over 100 degrees. It can survive short spells of cold temperatures in the upper 20s. Its growth rate is astonishing, growing more than an inch a day. In a month, one plant can cover one square yard of ground. Is it any wonder they’re being touted as a superb groundcover or the plant for hanging baskets? The long, six-foot flowering stems drape out of pots and planters like cascading waterfalls.

These supertunias have only a few requirements: plenty of room in a sunny location, good drainage, moderate moisture and lots of fertilizer (they’re greedy fellows). Feed them with high nitrogen and iron, doubling the recommended rate.

They are propagated mainly by cuttings since their seeds are not viable. With one exception, they can only be purchased as plants. That one exception is the 1995 All American winner, Purple Wave. It can be purchased by seed as well as plants.

Several potted cultivars to look for this year: Surlinia series from Jackson and Perkins, Cascadia series from Ball Seed, and the supertunia series from EuroAmerican Propagators.

The other plant that has created some interest in our community is a superior hybrid willow that grows at an amazing rate. Once again, I started digging through the files. I remembered receiving information about a fast-growing willow a few years back. Sure enough, I ran across a brochure sent to me from Dick’s Tree Farm in Hayden Lake, Idaho.

The farm grows what is considered a new superior hybrid willow (Salix Matsudana x Alba). This plant is also from Australia.

The information sheet presents this tree as growing eight to 16 feet each year for the first three to five years. The growth rate will gradually slow down as it reaches maturity. It is drought-resistant, it tolerates extreme temperatures - 60-90 degrees below zero to 125 degrees above zero (our climate is somewhere between Siberia and Death Valley) - and it is tolerant of very high winds.

One nasty characteristic of willows familiar to many of us is their unquenchable thirst. Willow roots will travel great distances looking for water. The roots of this hybrid willow stay pretty near the tree. Added features: They are sterile clones that do not spread by seed or suckers, they are extremely clean and they do not drip sap or shed their leaves during the growing season.

This weekend I will be at the Home and Yard show at the Interstate Fairgrounds. Please come by with your gardening questions or just to say “hi.” Hope to see you there.