The Crownsville Nursery New Plants

HEUCHERAS! HEUCHERAS! HEUCHERAS! This season we have 8 new varieties from French breeder Thierry Delabroye. In addition to great foliage colors, these have all been bred from Heuchera villosa to incorporate that species' vigor and heat tolerance. Based on what I've seen so far this is the best new series of Coralbells, especially for the mid Atlantic and the South.

Heuchera ‘Carmel’ PP16560 has colors that are similar to Heuchera ‘Amber Waves’, apricot to amber, with bright red Fall highlights. This was the first of this series to be released and after 2 seasons in the garden I think it is as good as advertised. Heuchera 'Citronelle' PP17934 is bright chartreuse, I think a better color than H. 'Lime Rickey'. Heuchera 'Mocha' PPAF is a rich bronze-purple with chocolate highlights. Heuchera 'Beaujolais’ PPAF has huge, burgundy leaves with a touch of silvering and deeper purple veins. It is incredibly vigorous and is a very large variety of Coral Bells. The young foliage of Heuchera 'Christa' PPAF is nearly all rose-purple with a peach underlay. As the leaves mature, the peach color becomes dominant and a light silver overlay develops. Light pink flowers are produced in midsummer. Heuchera 'Miracle' PPAF - This sister seedling of 'Tiramisu' PPAF produces pink flowers in midsummer. Its young foliage is chartreuse with a heavy smattering of reddish purple in the center. As the foliage matures, it turns brick red with a bright chartreuse to gold edge and silvered undersides. Heuchera 'Pistache' PPAF is a robust grower with large, light lime green to chartreuse-yellow leaves depending on the sun exposure. The color is a perfect foil for blue hostas or purple-leaved heucheras. Heuchera 'Tiramisu' PPAF is a very showy H. villosa hybrid and it represents a breakthrough in Heuchera breeding. In both spring and fall, the chartreuse foliage has a heavy smattering of brick red coloration that radiates out from the midrib of each leaf. During the summer, the leaves lighten to chartreuse and develop a light silver overlay.

Aethionema armenum 'Warley Rose' is an Iberis (Candytuft) relative. The form is like a tiny evergreen shrub - with small, needle-like leaves. The flowerheads are an intense pink - very showy against the blue-green foliage. Agastache 'Purple Haze' is a new variety - “Vibrant violet-purple flowers with deep rose pink calyces are presented on strong, upright stems from midsummer to early fall.” Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ is a very showy form of sedge with long arching leaves, creamy gold in the center with a distinct dark green border. Coreopsis ‘Full Moon’ PPAF “..is a showy hybrid with very large, canary yellow flowers that measure up to three inches across. They are held on well-branched stems atop a mound of healthy green, medium textured foliage. The plants are long blooming, from about midsummer into early fall.” Echinacea ‘All That Jazz’ PPAF - “This incredibly unique new Echinacea hybrid produces lavender pink flowers with completely quilled ray petals and an orange cone. They make quite a spectacle in fresh bouquets and in the garden.” Filipendula 'Pink Dreamland' is compact, with soft pink flowerheads, more appropriate for a smaller garden. Filipendula palmata 'Variegata' - the foliage is exceptional - a gray-green splashed with a white variegation. For us this has been slower growing than other cultivars. The flowerheads are white. Geum 'Werner Arends' is a low growing form of Geum coccineum with single to semi-double form flowers of an intense orange color. This Geum has the longest season of bloom of any that I've grown. Sanguisorba 'Red Thunder' is a new variety of ornamental Burnet, with a plethora of rich red, bottlebrush flowers.

FERNS Athyrium niponicum 'Regal Red' is a new selection from Casa Flora. They say - “Handsome and ruffled, this high color selection is our most requested Painted Fern. The dark interior of the frond is contrasted by bright silver edges making each appear more than they are. The pinnules twist a little giving the frond a “fluffed-up” look.” Athyrium filix-femina 'Minutissimum' is a dwarf selection of our native Lady Fern. While it stays much shorter than the species, the clump stays tight and fills in very thickly. For its size it is a good, moderate spreader. Athyrium cyclosorum, the Western Lady Fern, is our largest native Athyrium. I've read that in its native habitat it can grow to 6', but will be much smaller here in the East. Athyrium thelypteroides is an Eastern native, adapted to our heat and humidity. The common name Silver Glade fern comes from the color of the juvenile sori on the underside of the frond. Cyrtomium falcatum 'Rochfordianum' is the most popular form of Japanese Holly Fern, with tightly spaced pinnae and a rich glossy green color. Cyrtomium falcatum var. maritimum is the dwarf form of Japanese Holly Fern, just like the species with shiny green foliage, only smaller. Cyrtomium caryotideum is a little more open than other species with fewer pinnae on the fronds. Many people have been successful growing these in Zone 6. The Beaded Wood Fern, Dryopteris bissetiana, is a low growing evergreen, with a dense habit and substantial leathery fronds. The common name comes from the round sori on the underside of the frond that make an impression on the upper side. Dryopteris clintoniana, commonly called Clinton's Wood Fern, is a naturally occurring and fertile cross between Dryopteris goldiana and Dryopteris cristata. It has a nice, upright form with fronds that are narrower than D. goldiana, but wider than D. cristata. Semi-evergreen. Dryopteris nipponensis is an evergreen Japanese native. It was once classed with Dryopteris erythrosora and it's easy to see why. In the spring the new fronds have a like orange tint and the frond form is similar. This is a larger fern, though, with more open triangular fronds and a strong upright habit. Uncommon in cultivation. The Mountain Male Fern, Dryopteris oreades, is a European native, growing mainly in rocky, mountainous areas. It has narrow upright fronds - in form like a small Male Fern. In the garden it needs a relatively well drained soil. At first glance Dryopteris sieboldii does not look like a Dryopteris at all - more like a Holly Fern. The pinnae are few, but large and leathery. Dr. Mickel says it is slow growing and tough to grow even in New York. The mid-Atlantic and upper South seem the best fit for this species. Selaginella moellendorfii s a more upright form of Spikemoss, with bright green fronds, almost conifer-like. In the south it may stay evergreen overwinter. Thelypteris kunthii is a native fern species that actually loves the heat and humidity of the South. The fronds are attractive and airy. This is a fairly aggressive spreader and especially in moist areas will provide quick cover - definitely not to be turned loose on a small or formal garden. Woodsia obtusa is a very cold hardy native species. The fronds are relatively narrow and very upright. Requires relatively good drainage. A perfect specimen for the rock garden or foreground of a planting. Woodwardia virginica is the Virginia Chain Fern, native to the eastern US, in nature usually growing in moist or boggy areas - but it readily adapts to average garden soils. In form somewhat like a Cinnamon Fern, but with black stipes.

Since we started in 1979 we’ve tried to bring you the best selection of new and interesting plants for the border and containers. This season we have some great new plants including ... Acanthus ‘Rue Ledan’ is the white flowered form of A. mollis with pure white blooms and bracts that are green rather than the purple of the species/ Chelone glabra a native wildflower, sometimes called the White Turtlehead. The blooms are white, sometime flushed slightly pink/ Delosperma unknown? a plant that came to us mislabeled. It starts blooming here in late March and by late April the blooms are just a solid mass of purple that gradually lessens by mid summer, but in late November there are still a few flowers on the plant/ The 2 very newest Echinaceas fron Itsaul - Echinacea SUMMER SKY Their first bi-color coneflower. Soft peach petals with a rose halo around the cone and Echinacea AFTER MIDNIGHT, the shortest cultivar of the series with dark reddish purple blooms with a black cone. / Phlox ‘Minnie Pearl’ has pure white flowers on a low, spreading plant/ Rudbeckia subtomentosa is my choice as an alternative to ‘Goldsturm’. It’s a little taller and more upright. The daisy blooms are more yellow and less gold, an easier color to use in the landscape/ Some great new shrubs including a new variegated climbing hydrangea, Hydrangea petiolaris ‘Mirranda’, that has dark green leaves that display distinct, irregular yellow margins/ Schizophragma ‘Roseum’ the light pink flowered form of this climbing hydrangea relative.