New Plants for 2023

Phlox ‘Blue Ribbons’

New Plants for 2023

by Abby Lapides

While we’re huddled inside waiting out winter let’s look at some new and exciting plants for the upcoming spring season.

I have been continually impressed by the unrelenting blue flowers of ‘Stand By Me’ bush Clematis in my garden. Thousands of split bell-shaped flowers begin blooming in May. Once it begins to bloom there are always flowers to be seen until frost. ‘Stand By Me’ requires either a small trellis, arbor, or neighboring plants to give it support. Perfect for use as a smaller focal point and in containers.

YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR Continually blooming spring until frost, the 2023 Missouri Native of the Year rose verbena, Verbena or Gladularia canadensis, impresses with its waves of showy blossoms. In early spring rose-pink flowers begin blooming on sprawling plants. While its first flush is the most spectacular, it brings drift after drift of flowers until hard frost. Found naturally on hillsides and glades, plant rose verbena in well-drained soil where it can get plenty of sunshine.

HOUSEPLANTS & POTTERY FOR HOME

Abby Lapides is owner and a speaker at Sugar Creek Gardens Nursery. She has degrees from the University of Missouri, and is a member of the Landscape and Nursery Association of Greater St. Louis. You can reach her at (314) 965-3070.

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Anemone ‘Frilly Knickers’

Clematis ‘Stand by Me’

Helianthus ‘Suncatcher’

Gladularia canadensis Magnolia ‘Genie’

With showy red flowers that repeat bloom and a delightful small stature ‘Genie’ Magnolia is changing the way we think about magnolias. Fifteen years of breeding produced this special and compact magnolia. Loads of sensational black-red blossoms open to a deep velvety red with a slight eggplant hue. These showy tulipshaped flowers open in spring and, if kept well-watered, will rebloom into summer. This petite pyramidal tree matures to about 10-13′ tall, making it ideal for plantings near patios, flanking doors against homes, or tucked into mixed gardens. Winner of the Royal Boskoop Horticultural Society Gold Medal award for its outstanding qualities and ease of care.

A perennial sunflower that comes back year after year? Yes please! ‘Suncatcher’ sunflower, Helianthus, provides multitudes of sunny yellow flowers nonstop summer to frost. Charming 6” diameter flowers are held high on strong stems that attract bees, birds, and particularly butterflies. It works well in the back or middle of the perennial border, in naturalized areas, and in cut flower gardens.

An intriguing shade-loving perennial, ‘Blue Ribbons’ Phlox deserves a home in the shady garden. A cultivar of our lovely Missouri native wild sweet William, Phlox divaricata, ‘Blue Ribbons’ features all the great attributes of the native, but with showy variegated foliage. In spring sweetly fragrant lilac blue flowers create that perfect wave of intense color that is so elusive in a shady spot. After flowering has passed the bright gold and green variegated foliage forms into a slowly creeping patch that glows in the shade. Perfect in the front of a border, in woodland gardens, or planted along steppingstones. Truly a blue-ribbon plant in my eyes.

With a name like ‘Frilly Knickers’ you expect a lot of a plant, and this Anemone doesn’t disappoint. Flouncy white petals with a light purple airbrush effect begin to appear in August and continue until frost. Flowers are held on tall upright stems that sway in the wind giving them their common name – windflowers. A perennial that resists deer and rabbits, it makes a great cut flower and happily grows in sun to shade.

The game-changing arborvitae, ‘Sugar and Spice’ features a compact manageable size that we all crave in an arborvitae and claims much more heat and drought tolerance than the more commonly marketed arborvitae trees. Growing about 12’ tall, but only 3-4’ wide ‘Sugar and Spice’ makes an ideal evergreen choice for smaller accents, backdrops and privacy hedges.

Enjoy dreaming of gardening and the joyful flowers it brings while we wait for spring to come.