Power plants

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/03/2025 (545 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If there is just one new perennial or shrub you add to your garden space this year, let it be something that will instantly draw the eye and inspire both conversation and creativity.

So here are seven exciting new plants that will be available this spring. Each one offers desirable characteristics that will bring a beautiful impact to different areas of your garden or create a stunning effect in your container designs.

Sting is a new cedar from Proven Winners that will bring such striking sculptural shape to your garden space it will be impossible for it to go unnoticed. Its name is inspired by a sword in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and indeed, Sting has an incredibly narrow, sword-like silhouette unlike any cedar I have seen before.

Sting (Thuja occidentalis) was bred by Tim Wood, a prolific plant breeder who has introduced numerous popular plants over the years. Sting has a mature height of 4.6-6.1 metres and an impossibly narrow width of only 30-46 centimetres (that’s not a typo).

John Leperre, sales representative for Kelowna-based Bylands Nursery, says Sting’s unique architectural shape is extremely ornamental. “We’re really excited about it. Sting is very hardy — Zone 3A,” he says. Leperre, who makes his home in Winnipeg, recommends using Sting as a statement centrepiece in a full- or part-sun area of the garden. Complement Sting’s skinny shape with strategic layers of bushy plants such as peonies or medium-sized shrubs such as hydrangea, lilac,or ninebark to add dimension and balance.

Two giant hostas from the Shadowland hosta series from Proven Winners will bring dramatic textural impact to part- or full-shade areas of your garden. Gigantosaurus, new for 2025, has a massive spread of 1.8-2 metres. Mature height is 76-81 cm. The large blue leaves feature a wavy yellow margin. In summer, the yellow margins turn to creamy white.

Shadowland Sound of Music is also new for 2025. It has a slightly smaller spread at 1.5-1.7 metres but grows to the same height as Gigantosaurus. The multi-coloured leaves of Sound of Music feature chartreuse centres with glaucous blue-green margins. The heavily corrugated leaves will be a deterrent to slugs.

Blue-leaved hostas must not be exposed to too much sun or the glaucous coating that gives a blue appearance to the top of their leaves will melt away, causing the blue to turn green or grey. The coarse texture and unique, variegated colour of Gigantosaurus and Sound of Music will inject new personality into a woodland setting. Both these varieties would also look stunning as a monoculture plant in a shade container.

Leperre loves the delicate fragrance and soft, bowl-shaped blooms of Flavorette Pear’d edible rose. New for 2025 from Proven Winners, Flavorette Pear’d has a compact height of 91 cm-1.2 metres. Bred in Serbia, this new introduction follows on the heels of an earlier release, Flavorette Honey-Apricot edible rose.

“Sprinkle edible rose petals on cakes or add them to salads,” says Leperre. Flavorette Pear’d is hardy to Zone 4A. For best bloom performance, plant this new rose in a location that receives a minimum of six hours of full sun each day.

The hydrangea continues to be one of the most popular flowering shrubs. Every spring there are several new hydrangea introductions but there is one variety generating the most buzz of them all — Hydrangea FlowerFull Smooth Hydrangea from First Editions.

Last summer, growers from Manitoba had a chance to see FlowerFull’s exceptional performance firsthand when they visited the hydrangea shrub trials at Bailey’s Nurseries in Minnesota. At the Manitoba Nursery Landscape Association’s Grow show in February, FlowerFull made the list of top plant picks by Aubin Nurseries, Jeffries Nursery and Bylands Nursery. Here’s what they’re saying.

“Everyone I know is so excited about this new smooth hydrangea,” says Leperre. “I was just wowed by how sturdy the stems are.”

Garth Aubin, manager of inventory and logistics at Aubin Nurseries in Carman, is also very excited about FlowerFull. “It is an astronomical improvement on the existing smooth hydrangeas. It has been in the works for many years and is a showstopper with two to three times as many blooms as other smooth hydrangeas such as Annabelle. FlowerFull solves many hydrangea issues such as leaf spot, wilting and drooping, and the strong stems really stand up to wind and rain.”

Andrew Ronald, who manages field production at Jeffries Nurseries in Portage la Prairie, says FlowerFull is the real deal. “Annabelle (smooth hydrangea) has always been considered the gold standard or the tried and true, but FlowerFull is a breakthrough. I think it really stands to become the leader of the smooth hydrangea varieties for our growing zone.”

FlowerFull Smooth Hydrangea will perform best in a full-sun to part-shade location. Six or more hours of sunlight is ideal, but it can also be planted in a location that receives four hours of sunlight. FlowerFull is a medium-sized hydrangea with a mature height of 91 cm-1.2 metres. It is hardy to Zone 3. FlowerFull will be widely available at garden centres this spring.

The Bloomerang lilac was first introduced in 2010 by Proven Winners. At the time it was considered a breakthrough because it was a reblooming lilac shrub that bloomed in spring with the promise of a second flush of blooms in late summer. I was quick to plant the original Bloomerang in my garden but the reblooming performance was a disappointment.

Now there is the Bloomerang Ballet Reblooming Lilac which Proven Winners says is the strongest, most prolific reblooming lilac. Fabulously fragrant and disease-resistant, Bloomerang Ballet produces an abundant display of pink flowers in the spring and then gives a repeat performance in late summer.

Compact Bloomerang Ballet has a mature height and width of 91 cm-1.2 metres. Lilacs are well suited to our clay soil and alkaline conditions and are not typically bothered by deer. This will be a lovely shrub in a full-sun area next to a path or entrance way.

Do we need another new Echinacea coneflower variety? Yes, especially when it has the good looks of Sunseekers Pumpkin Pie coneflower. There are several beautiful varieties in the Sunseekers series, which was originally developed in the Netherlands, but Pumpkin Pie is a real head-turner. The semi-double flowers on 45-60-cm tall stems start out with a tinge of soft orange and yellow which gradually transitions to peachy tones. The centre green cone is both nectar-rich and a handsome accent.

“Gardeners are increasingly looking for unique colours and patterns and the Sunseekers series really delivers,” says Aubin. “This is a series of coneflower we are expanding this year. There is also Tequila Sunrise, Salmon, Apple Green and Mineola. They make excellent border flowers.”

Aubin says some sources have classified Sunseekers coneflowers as hardy to Zone 3 while others say it is hardy to Zone 4. He recommends planting Sunseekers coneflower in a protected, full-sun location that receives good snow coverage in winter.

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