The New Spring Line

In frocks of red, yellow and prettiest pink, these trees and shrubs are here to dazzle

THIS YEAR I've learned my lesson and ordered coveted plants early. A couple of springs ago I wrote about the stunning Melianthus major 'Antonow's Blue,' but dawdled. By the time I got around to ordering it at Heronswood Nursery, it was sold out. By summer, these fresh introductions will be more available, and by next year probably less expensive. Small comfort, huh? We want new plants when we want them, which is usually right now.

That's no doubt how you'll feel about the apricot-orange ruffles and fruity fragrance of Rosa 'Calypso Dancer,' a new floribunda from Select Roses of Langley, B.C. But other new roses appeal, too: A new English rose, 'Rose of Picardy,' caught my eye because of its richly colored single flowers; this bushy shrub is covered in fragrant red flowers followed by red fruits. Whether for its name or its butterscotch-colored double flowers, the new Rosa 'Julia Child' is irresistible. It recalls its namesake with its long bloom time and a licorice-clove scent any cook would love. All these new roses should be available in nurseries. 'Calypso Dancer' can also be found at Antique Rose Farm in Snohomish (360-568-1919); 'Picardy' can be ordered from www.davidaustinroses.com; 'Julia Child' from www.whiteflowerfarm.com.

Fothergillas are sturdy little shrubs with honey-scented white, bottlebrush flowers in spring. Fothergilla gardenii 'Blue Shadow' has steely blue leaves that turn orange in autumn. It can take partial shade and some drought, and grows to about 5 feet high. Also drought tolerant is Joy Creek's new Grevillea 'Orange Sparkler,' a shrub with needle-like, olive-toned evergreen foliage and little prawn-shaped scarlet flowers in winter. (See www.joycreek.com)

Fresh entries in the oh-so-desirable small-shrub category are Abelia x grandiflora 'Panache,' a low mound of a plant that shimmers with silvery variegation. Or how about a pale- rather than blue-blooming caryopteris? Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Durio' is called Pink Chablis for its masses of butterfly-attracting pink blooms in late summer into autumn. Spirea x bumalda 'Monhud' is far prettier than its clunky name, with a tidy shape, golden foliage, pink flowers and coppery-orange fall color.

Then there's a new smoke bush that is so covered in hazy bloom that it looks like a big puff ball in summer. Cotinus coggygria 'Young Lady' grows 8 to10 feet tall, with creamy fluffs of flowers and green leaves that turn to shades of orange and red when the weather cools.

For those of you in deer country, Thuja plicata 'Grovepli' are fast-growing arborvitae so deer resistant they might actually have the chance to grow into a screen. Another new evergreen tree is Pinus nigra 'Oregon Green,' a slow-growing pine with stiff needles and pearly white candle clusters in springtime.

The craze for dark foliage continues with an ebony elderberry introduction. Sambucus nigra 'Eva,' also called 'Black Lace,' has leaves as finely cut as a Japanese maple, broad heads of pink flowers followed by fall berries beloved by birds. It grows 8 feet high, but can be cut back each year to keep it within border bounds.

What would spring be without the latest hydrangea? H. serrata 'O Amacha Nishiki' is new from Heronswood Nursery in Kingston (www.heronswood.com). The pretty pink lacecap flowers are shown off by leaves speckled in green and yellow. If you love the look of old-fashioned hydrangeas with their white cones of bloom, check out the down-sized version in H. paniculata 'Little Lamb,' which has those same tightly packed white florets but on a plant that grows to only 5 feet. The interest in green flowers continues with the 2006 Pennsylvania Horticulture Society Gold Medal-winning H. paniculata 'Limelight,' which might qualify as the Beyonce of new plants for its voluptuous flowers.

But the plant I'm most eager for is the new yellow lavender. Lavendula stoechas 'Lemon Leigh' grows 2 feet high, is strongly fragrant, drought tolerant, and has that beguiling rabbit-ear flower shape like other Spanish lavenders. But the foliage is topped off with buttery yellow to chartreuse flowers. This is why we love springtime, despite all the weeds, isn't it? A yellow lavender!

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.