GardenSMART :: 2 New Perennials to Add to Your Garden
2 New Perennials to Add to Your Garden
By All-America Selections
Photographs courtesy of All-America Selections
For easy, beautiful flower enjoyment, perennials are always a great option. Sometimes getting perennials that prosper year after year can be a challenge. Enter the first-ever herbaceous perennials to win the coveted All-America Selections (AAS) Winners award, Echinacea Sombrero® Baja Burgundy and Rudbeckia x American Gold Rush.
Each of these AAS Winners was trialed throughout North America by professional, independent, volunteer judges who grew them next to comparisons that were already considered best-in-class (best-in-garden). These two varieties performed better than their comparisons over a grueling three-winter trial and were granted the prestigious AAS award designation.
Sombrero Baja Burgundy Echinacea
This coneflower, or echinacea, with its vibrant, deep violet-red blossoms will add a bold accent to any sunny garden or container. The flower color is stunning and is perfect for cut flower designs too. After being trialed over three tough winters, the AAS judges noted that Sombrero® Baja Burgundy stood out with its hardiness (Zone 4), sturdy branching, and amazing blooming habit.
Not only will you enjoy this plant in containers and landscapes, but the birds and pollinators will flock to the flowers and seeds as well. Deer a problem in your area? Then plant plenty of echinacea! Picky deer find the flower's spiny center and the aroma of the plant unpalatable.
After three years in their AAS trial gardens, this is what some of our judges said about Sombrero Baja Burgundy:
"The plants were covered with flowers throughout the season."
"Flowers and seed heads can be used in floral arrangements - cones can be dried and used for fall decorations."
"The deep reddish-burgundy flower color was a standout and the plants were consistently full and compact."
With prolific blooms from mid-summer until first frost, this is a definite must-have in your garden!
Rudbeckia x American Gold Rush
American Gold Rush's bright, golden-yellow flowers with black centers and arched petals are a gorgeous garden addition. This compact, upright domed-shaped beauty with narrow, 2-inch wide hairy foliage blooms from July to September, and some even until first frost. This cultivar has smaller foliage and shorter height compared to other rudbeckia varieties making it perfect for use in container gardening while being incredibly easy to grow!
Hardy to Zone 4, American Gold Rush is a pollinator magnet. Butterflies and bees will love the many flowers, and, in the fall, the finches will enjoy the seeds!
One of the winning traits for American Gold Rush is that it was bred for its resistance to Septoria leaf spot. This cultivar showed no signs of the fungus even in wet, humid conditions. Septoria leaf spot is a very common fungus on other black-eyed Susan (rudbeckia) varieties. The fungus starts on the lower leaves and then moves up the plant during the season.
AAS judges' comments after growing this new AAS Winner include:
"I believe this is one of the very best rudbeckias I've trialed and one of the very best perennials, too."
"Would make an excellent addition to a yard, especially in any sort of mass planting."
"The foliage texture, plant habit, and flower show are refined in appearance."
Give it a try; this new AAS Winner is destined to be the new rudbeckia staple in your garden and landscape!
What is AAS?
All-America Selections is the oldest and most well-known non-profit plant trialing organization in North America. Our All-America Selections Winners have been tested for garden performance by a panel of expert judges. The AAS Winners offer gardeners reliable new varieties that have proven their superior garden performance in Trial Grounds across North America, thus, our tagline of "Tested Nationally and Proven Locally®."
When you purchase an AAS Winner, "The Proof is in The Plant." You know that it has been put through its paces by an independent, neutral trialing organization and has been judged by experts in their field. The AAS Winner label is like a stamp of approval. AAS Winners are bred and produced without using genetic engineering, commonly referred to as genetic modification or GMOs.
All articles are copyrighted and remain the property of the author.
By Dan Heims, President, Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc.
Photographs courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc.
Terra Nova’s breeders have created a series of outstanding world-class echinaceas that are consistent in size, bloom power, color intensity and are a pollinator buffet. What’s not to like.
To learn more, click here for an interesting article.
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