University of Vermont Extension
Department of Plant and Soil Science
Winter News
Article
NEW ANNUAL
FLOWERS FOR 2011
Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension
Professor
University of Vermont
Each year the best of the new
flowers, blooming the first year from seed, are chosen as winners by
the
All-America Selections program. There
are four winning flowers for 2011 including a blanket flower, an
ornamental
kale, a scarlet sage, and a viola.
‘Arizona Apricot’ is a gaillardia or blanket
flower with a new color for its typical daisy flowers. The 3-inch
wide flowers are a rich apricot
with yellow edges. There are many
flowers through much of the season on compact plants only about a
foot
high. Since it is short, it is best used
in containers, at the fronts of beds, or in mass.
Although
this is a perennial, this gaillardia blooms from seeds the first
year so acts
like an annual and can be judged in this program. Removing old
flowers may encourage more
blooms. This plant requires little maintenance, and once established
tolerates
drought. It begins bloom about 12 weeks
from sowing seeds. Like the other
winning flowers, this one prefers full sun.
‘Glamour
Red’ is an ornamental kale with frilly or fringed leaves. Heads,
about a foot wide when mature, are
bright purple in the center surrounded by green and then dark purple
leaves on
the outside. Leaves are not waxy so are
more shiny than many kales. They begin
coloring when night temperatures fall below 55 degrees (F) for two
weeks, and
plants are at least 3 month from sowing.
It is a “cool season” award winner, good for growing in the north
where it is frost tolerant
into November. Also it is the first
kale, either edible or ornamental, to win in the 78 years of the
All-America
Selections program.
‘Summer Jewel Red’ is a scarlet sage
type of salvia with many flowers beginning early and continuing
through the
season. The half-inch flowers are on spikes
18 to 20 inches tall, on compact plants about 16 inches wide at
most. The bright red flowers are not only colorful
but attractive to hummingbirds, and hold up well in rain and wind.
It begins bloom about two weeks earlier than
similar salvia, about 50 days from sowing.
Use it to add color to mixed containers and borders, or in mass
plantings for a knock-out effect.
‘Shangri-La Marina’ is a
viola—similar to a pansy only with smaller flowers. Flowers on this
new selection are just over
an inch wide, and as with other violas bloom early in the season.
This one blooms even earlier than most, only
70 days from sowing, and continues through much of the season. The
light blue flowers have a dark blue
center (“face”) surrounded by a white border.
Although a biennial (living for two years), this viola blooms the
first
year and if it survives over winter will rebloom the second spring
as
well. Space the 6-inch high compact plants
about 8 to 12 inches apart along the fronts of beds, or use in pots
on porches
and patios.
Photos of these, and more
All-America Selections winners in both vegetables and flowers, can
be found
online (www.all-americaselections.org). Other recent flower winners
include the
purple coneflower ‘PowWow Wild Berry’, ‘Mesa Yellow’—another low
gaillardia
only yellow, ‘Moonsong Deep Orange’ African marigold, and a couple
new double
zinnias.
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Perry's Perennial
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