At 10, Great Plant Picks program makes progress and changes

THE 2010 GREAT Plant Picks are fewer, frillier and more foliage-rich than in years past. While the program has been revamped for its 10th birthday, its mission of promoting easy, dependable plants for Northwest gardens remains unchanged.

A team of horticulturists from Washington, Oregon and British Columbia has just announced this year's 43 winning trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs. Yet this ambitious program, funded by the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden, will look a little different in the future.

"We're being more selective, cutting down the number of picks to keep the program more relevant," says new GPP manager Rick Peterson. With only half as many picks this year as in the past, committee members can focus on evaluating plants newer to the market. Bulbs are coming into their own this year, as gaps in the database are evaluated and filled in. The 2010 list includes four new ornamental onions (Allium ssp.) and an equal number of daffodils.

The biggest change is the new themed approach, which lends a fresh face to the program. It also offers a portal into the entire decade's worth of picks, based on specific characteristics. We don't, after all, garden according to which plant is introduced in any given year. This year's theme is foliage, emphasizing picks with glorious leaves, no matter what year they were chosen. "It's the foundation and structure of the garden," says curator Richie Steffen, a renowned fern worshipper. "Foliage unifies the garden and adds a level of sophistication."

The proof is in the plants, and none is more convincing than the 2010 pick of golden winterhazel (Corylopsis sinensis 'Golden Spring'). A hardy, vase-shaped shrub with primrose-yellow flowers in late winter, this new selection has flashy foliage that comes on red and orange, maturing to canary yellow by summer.

Growing a little closer to the earth is a shiny evergreen ground cover with heart-shaped leaves improbably named Beesia deltophylla. This sweet shade plant is so much prettier than its name. Collected by Daniel Hinkley in China, beesia blooms white in springtime, its wispy flowers contrasting with the heft of its lustrous leaves.

Yet another fabulous foliage pick of 2010 is the columnar golden yew (Taxus baccata 'Standishii'). This little tree solves a whole host of garden problems. Anywhere you need a narrow hedge, a shot of year-round golden foliage or an exclamation point of a plant, this skinny slow-grower is for you. It's the most compact of trees, reaching only 6 to 7 feet tall and a foot wide over a decade of growth, and is easily prunable.

You can't discuss foliage plants without an ornamental grass or two (or the 10 that made the 2010 list). Miscanthus sinensis 'Gold Bar' is prized for its short, bushy shape and broken bars of creamy striping.

Then there's the drama of foliage, personified by Rodgersia podophylla, with huge, heavy leaves in shades of bronze and deep green, topped by feathery summer flowers.

A cold-hardy, clumping bamboo made the list, though you might not expect a plant known as dragon's head bamboo to be nonaggressive. Fargesia dracocephal 'Rufa' grows 10 feet tall, has attractive rusty-red sheaths and grows quickly into a fine-textured, evergreen screen.

A few flowers made the 2010 cut, including one of my favorite fragrant daffodils, Narcissus poeticus, also known as the pheasant's eye narcissus. It blooms late in the spring, with a single pale flower centered with a yellow eye delicately outlined in red. It looks almost as if it grows wild, is most effective massed and makes a long-lasting cut flower.

The Turkestan onion, Allium karataviense 'Ivory Queen,' is a reminder that not all allium are purple. Short, squat and reliably perennial, the leaves are nearly as pretty as the plump, creamy flower heads. Plant it in a hot, dry spot where it'll bake in summer, and you can count on 'Ivory Queen' to bloom May after May.

You'll find a handy GPP pullout in this issue, and a selection of this year's picks displayed at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show. To browse the comprehensive library of plants compiled over the past decade, check out the photos, descriptions and lists at www.greatplantpicks.org.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "The New Low-Maintenance Garden." Check out her blog at www.valeaston.com.