From accents to ground covers, living fences to containers, these exciting new plants can make a significant difference in our gardens
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The nature of gardening changes with each new generation of gardeners and especially as we are constantly dealing with evolving climate realities and increased levels of concern about our environment.
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The introduction of exciting new plants can make a significant difference to our many challenges and can provide new garden opportunities.
One big sleeper that has been around for a couple of years now is an evergreen honeysuckle called Lonicera nitida Thunderbolt. Even though it doesn’t have a perfume, this bright, low evergreen spreader is beginning to turn heads. It’s a great accent plant because its golden foliage is so vibrant and contrasts beautifully with a wide range of other plants. It also works well as a ground cover in hot, sunny areas.
I love to use it as an accent around specimen garden evergreens, such as weeping white spruce and other tall, narrow evergreens. If you are willing to do some pruning, it will make a stunning low hedge, as it grows only 1 to 1.2 metres tall and wide.
Rated a zone 5 hardy plant, it’s excellent when planted in combination with other evergreens in containers, where it will tolerate both the hottest summer sun and cold winds up to -25 Celsius. It’s vigorous, but with a little pruning, it will be a welcome addition to a sunny landscape or patio.
There have been a few concerns, almost worldwide, with some varieties of boxwoods, especially because of boxwood blight and insect issues. It’s great to see a whole new series of blight-resistant buxus varieties, like Little Missy, now being introduced into the market.
For the first time this year, there will be an interesting alternative to boxwood. Rhododendron Bloombux is a hardy, zone 5b, smaller-leafed variety that grows about one metre high and wide. It has an attractive mounding form and, once it finishes blooming, it looks similar to a boxwood hedge. Of course, the blooms are an added bonus.
Rhododendron Bloombux Blush has soft pink flowers and its cousin, Bloombux Magenta, has rich pink blooms. These unique varieties can be pruned to maintain a nice form but only after flowering and once the new growth begins — you don’t want to cut off next year’s flowers with a summer or fall trimming. Certainly, prune any odd branch that sticks out and spoils the shape, but I think you will find these rhodos will maintain a fairly uniform, low hedge shape year-round.
A “living fence” is one of the new garden trends for 2025 and, over the past three or four years, the Pillar Series of hibiscus has made quite an impact. Growing three to four metres high and 1.2 metres wide, these fast-growing hibiscuses have rich green foliage and will flower with a sequence of purple, red or pure white flowers from mid-July until frost. I find them to be very insect and disease tolerant. Hardy to zone 5, they are great multitaskers, both as wildlife-friendly pollinator plants and as attractive screening plants.
It has been driving me nuts these past few years that a friend in Portland has been growing crape myrtles (lagerstroemia) with great success and enjoying their fabulous late summer and fall colour. OK, last winter did set them back a bit, but many survived. Now, finally, we have a zone 6 hardy variety that should be able to handle our eastern Fraser Valley winters.
The Princess Series of lagerstroemia is being introduced this year in four different colours. An upright variety, growing about 1.2 metres tall and wide, Princess Holly Ann has bright, cherry red flowers. Princess Kylie, which grows in a mounding form, 1.1 to 1.3 metres tall and wide, has vibrant magenta flowers that will really light up our late summer and fall gardens. Smothered in rosy-pink flowers, Princess Lyla is the shortest of the group, growing only .4 to 1 metre tall and wide, and in a nice, low mounding habit. Princess Zoey is a tall, narrow variety, growing 1.5 metres tall and 1 meter wide, and it has interesting red and pink flowers. The Princess Series won’t be ready for sale until late summer this year, but I can assure you that nothing else will provide that amount of vibrant colour in our August gardens.
I’ve always been a big fan of leucothoes because of their colourful foliage and tolerance of sunny or shady locations. They have also proven to take on our cold winters without major damage. Joining the Rainbow and Scarletta leucothoes is a Proven Winners variety called Paisley Pup. This new family member is a kaleidoscope of changing colours in shades of pink, green, cream white, bronze and yellow. In addition to this colour range, it has tiny, fragrant white flowers from April to June. It’s a great pollinator plant and, apparently, it is not a deer favourite. Being a zone 5 plant makes it much more adaptable in our gardens.
Some of the hardiest, long-flowering, colourful foliage plants on the planet are the large and ever-growing family of spireas. Of all the new compact varieties, Glow Girl is a little larger than most, growing up to 1-1.2 metres tall and wide. Its lemon-lime foliage holds its colour well, without burning even in the hottest sun. Pink buds open into pure white blooms that last from late spring into fall and, since it’s rated zone 3 hardy, it can be planted almost anywhere in the province. The landscaping community really loves this plant.
Some unusual hydrangeas have recently captured my attention. Hardy to zone 6, the Fairytrail Series features the first trailing hydrangeas that can be used effectively in containers and hanging baskets. Fairytrail Bride, a lacecap variety, and Fairytrail Green and White, a mophead variety, bloom for an extended period in shady locations.
Each one of these newer plants can play a transformative role in our garden landscapes. They offer unique opportunities for plant combinations and garden designs. Many will not be available until midsummer but I encourage you to watch for them. They are all very versatile and will, I’m sure, enhance the ambience of your personal garden.