It seems that 2005 might be a big year for gardening, if the new plants are any indication. Great strides have been made in many plant groups as new cultivars and hybrids are making it to market. More good news comes from the native plant front. Many hard to find and sometimes little known native plants are finally recognized as "in demand", which places them in the hands of propagators. Eventually these small seeds or cuttings grow large enough to fill nursery benches, the demand is beginning to be met with a meager supply, Hallelujah!

In fall of 2004 we offered many new and exciting plants, spring of 2005 will even be more thrilling. Here are some highlights for 2005, a mere glance at things to come.

"Cone Crazy"

The biggest buzz in the gardening world comes from a lowly perennial, the cone flower or echinacea. Gardeners are well aware that this plant comes in purple and a few know and grow the various white renegades. The big news comes from the new color forms, some intelligent hybridizers mixed up the odd Echinacea paradoxa (a yellow flowering species) with the various purple and pink species to come up with this exciting blend. In 2004 there was a very limited supply, I understand that only 7 firms were allowed to sell Echinacea 'Meadowbrite Orange' in the United States. Others that received liners (small starter plants) had to sign a form restricting release until 2005. The price remained high and problems in tissue culture produced a new color form which was named 'Meadowbrite Mango'. Both are quite beautiful and truly a color break with a clear orange and bright ochre. More colors will be forthcoming and other companies have jumped on the bandwagon and are introducing their own color forms. Look for Echinacea 'Sunrise' which is described as citron yellow, a gorgeous pale, soft yellow. Imagine that with blues and purples, I personally suggest Dracocephalum 'Fuji Blue', another new and awesome perennial, and Geranium 'Rozanne', the perennial geranium that blooms all summer!

"Heliopsis, Helianthus and Helenium"

More daisies, those bright yellow daisies of late summer and fall, and they're better than ever. Virtually any drive into the back roads of Loudoun County will reveal a few of these yellow composites in late summer. Many are tall and rather out of scale in a smaller setting. A little wild as well, romping and seeding, hell bent on self perpetuation. The good news is that selections have been made that are shorter and often more dramatic. A particular favorite is Heliopsis 'Summer Nights' which grows three to four feet tall with ruby red stems and leaves. Yellow flowers first open with a red eyezone, eventually fading to all yellow. The effect is that of several flowers in various stages of bud to full bloom in blends of yellow and red. In helianthus and helenium there are new dwarf varieties, a smidgen of their former selves. In helianthus it's 'Low Down', growing only one foot tall, a far cry from its standard five feet. In helenium we have 'Gilded Dwarf' or H. 'Goldlackzwerg', a native hybridized in Europe, which has been reduced to three feet (from five) with burnt orange daisy flowers. Fine perennial partners are the many late flowering blue perennials such as Perovskia 'Little Spire', and Caryopteris, or the native grass Panicum 'Dewey Blue'.

"Woodies"

In shrubs the abelias, deutzias and spireas have astonished everyone. Great garden plants, rugged and long lived but a little lack luster, until now! So new and different are the new selections that even knowledgeable gardeners don't recognize them. Abelia chinensis is incredibly fragrant with flowers that retain a colored calyx, long after the true flower is finished. The shrub looks like it's in flower for months and resembles a small flowering lilac. Spirea thunbergii 'Fujino Pink' is already budded up for spring, the very first of spireas to bloom. A cloud of small pink buds will open to white flowers on willowy branches before the foliage arrives, very showy for March and early April. The summer habit reminds me of a shrubby willow with stems that sway and move, excellent as a shrub for the mixed border. In deutzias the accessibility or discovery of new varieties is astonishing. I offer three, a drip in a large pool of great plants. Deutzia gracilis 'Chardonney Pearls' offers lime-yellow leaves and fragrant white flowers that open from pearl-like buds in midspring. Deutzia setchuensis var. corymbiflora sadly lacks a common name but delivers a heap load of ornament. The starry white flowers open in midsummer like large sprays of babies breath. The foliage is small and soft green, dense on small branches that in time arch to six feet. Deutzia ningpoensis is a favorite and has been in my garden long enough to have its name changed. Formerly Deutzia chunii, it was given as a gift from a chum, that's how I remembered it. At the time is was rare, not so now. The branches are gray-black and the foliage is small and course. The flowers are held by dark, almost black outer petals but open to white. Bloom time is June and perfect companions include Malva fastigiata 'Alba' and Lavender 'Province'.

With so much to look forward to I leave you forewarned, make the beds bigger, throw out the things you are unhappy with, no reason to endure them another year. You ain't seen nothin yet!