Early June - 2014 - Louisiana Nursery and Landscape Association

LSU AgCenter
Ornamental Horticulture
E-News & Trial Garden Notes
Early June 2014
Nursery, Landscape & Garden Center Updates
Compiled by Allen Owings, Professor (Horticulture), Hammond Research Station, LSU AgCenter
Edited by Rick Bogren, Professor (Communications), LSU AgCenter
Phone 985-543-4125; E-mail
aowings@agcenter.lsu.edu;
www.lsuagcenter.com/hammond
Ornamental Plant of the
Week for June 6, 2014 –
Frostproof Gardenia
(from Allen Owings)
Frostproof gardenia is a great
plant home gardeners need to
start enjoying. It is a Louisiana
Super Plant selection.
Frostproof is widely used by
landscape professionals. It’s
an improvement over other,
older gardenia varieties.
Frostproof has fast growth, site adaptability and suitability to poorer growing conditions,
making it more desirable than August Beauty, Mystery and dwarf varieties. It reaches a
mature height of 5 feet with a spread of 4-5 feet. Try it soon for a low-maintenance,
good-performing gardenia – which has not been common in the last few years.
Frostproof has the fragrance of other
gardenias and blooms early to mid-May
through early summer.
Ornamental Plant of the Week
for June 13, 2014 - Luna
Hibiscus (from Allen Owings)
Luna hibiscus comes in four colors and
is a hardy hibiscus for Louisiana. They
were named a spring 2014 Louisiana
Super Plant. Plant in full sun. Plants
grow 3 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide. Space
2-3 feet apart. Plant in spring after
danger of frost through midsummer.
Flowers are large 7- to 8-inch eyecatching blooms beginning in late spring
and continuing through September.
These plants grow in average soil
and can tolerate poor drainage
and even do well submerged
along pond edges and in water
gardens. Luna hibiscus attracts
butterflies and works well in
containers.
Ornamental Plant of the
Week for June 20, 2014 Gomphrena/Globe
Amaranth (from Allen
Owings)
Some of the new gomphrena
(globe amaranth) need to be considered for increased use. Fireworks is a newer variety
in the gomphrenas. This is not like your older gomphrenas, which we sometimes
commonly called bachelor buttons. Some people also call these globe amaranth. They
are an old garden standby. Fireworks is very tall (3-4 feet) and has pink flowers with
light sprinkles of purple while other traditional gomphrena have light purple, lavender,
white, dark purple and pink flowers. Plants can be from 6 inches to 4 feet tall, depending
on which variety you plant. Full sun is best for these. Limit irrigation also. Select the
Audray, All Around or Las Vegas series if you want smaller-growing varieties.
Ornamental Plant of the
Week for June 27, 2014 Copper Plants (from Allen
Owings)
Copper plants are great foliage
plants for the summer and fall
landscape. When planted in
spring, these beautiful tropicallooking small shrubs turn into
fabulous accent plants in color
beds as we get later in to the
growing season. They prefer
long, hot days. One of the old
common copper plant varieties in
Louisiana is called Louisiana Red. This one has red foliage on a 5-foot-tall plant. Other
varieties have bronze, green, yellow, bicolored and tricolored appearances. Heights
vary from 2-6 feet at maturity in the fall. These can be perennials in zone 9A and south
and annuals in zone 8B and north. You can find many new varieties. They require full
sun, limited irrigation and low fertility.
Landscape News Articles (from Allen Owings and Rick Bogren)
New Easy Care Rose Trials Initiated – May 23
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2014/may/headline_news/New-roses-needless-care.htm
Pentas - May 30
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2014/may/headline_news/Pentas-providelandscape-color-now-through-fall-.htm
Evaluation of New Crape Myrtle Varieties – June 6
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2014/June/headline_news/New-AgCenterstudies-focus-on-crape-myrtles-.htm
Trial Gardens – New Bounce and Big Bounce Impatiens (from
Owings)
Bounce (compact) and Big
Bounce (vigorous) hybrid
impatiens debuted at 2014
Spring Trials. These are
from Selecta. Big Bounce is
available in cherry, red,
violet, white and lavender.
Bounce is available in
cherry, lilac, pink flame,
white and violet. You can
anticipate 30-inch height on
Big Bounce and 18-inch
height on Bounce. These
series of impatiens are
resistant to impatiens
downy mildew. Goeff
Denny at Mississippi State University heard at spring trials that the Bounce series will
be for mass merchandisers and the Big Bounce series will be for independent retailers.
Selecta is positioning these plants as a replacement for regular impatiens. This plant will
enjoy the largest promotional/marketing campaign in horticulture industry.
Trial Gardens – Daylily Species
Collection (from Allen Owings)
Thanks to Cecil Pounders at USDA-ARS in
Poplarville, Mississippi, for our new collection of
species daylilies planted in the sun garden at the
LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station.
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Hemerocallis fluva rosea
Hemerocallis fulva
Hemerocallis fulva disticha
Hemerocallis aurantiaca
Hemerocallis forrestii
Hemerocallis vespertina
Hemerocallis multifolia
Hemerocallis littorea
Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus
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Hemerocallis fulva hakuunensis
Hemerocallis fulva longituba
Hemerocallis fulva sempervirens
Hemerocallis fulva maculata
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Hemerocallis esculenta
Hemerocallis citrina
Hemerocallis altissima
Louisiana Super Plants – Spring 2014
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Kauai series torenia
Luna series hibiscus
Flutterby Petite Tutti Fruitti Pink buddleia
Louisiana Super Plants - Fall 2014
The Louisiana Super Plant Selection and
Advisory Committee, in cooperation with the LSU
AgCenter, announces the Louisiana Super Plant
selections for fall 2014:
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Mesa series gaillardia
Rabbiteye blueberry
Trial Gardens – Trialing New Crape Myrtles (from Allen Owings)
A landscape trial that includes most of the recently introduced crape myrtle cultivars has
been initiated over the past year at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station.
These collections include Early Bird, Razzle Dazzle, Enduring Summer, Delta,
Barnyard, Magic and Ebony (aka Black Diamond) series in addition to several other
cultivars.
The Early Bird series has been on the market the longest and was bred by John Davy at
Panhandle Growers in Florida. They were released by Plant Development Services Inc.
as part of the Southern Living Plant Collection. These are dwarf-growing plants
maturing at 4 feet. Early Bird Lavender (soft lavender) is promoted as a very heavy
earlier bloomer and is the earliest-flowering crape myrtle in LSU AgCenter trials. Other
cultivars include Early Bird Purple and Early Bird White. Early Bird Purple and Early Bird
White have been less-than-average performers in our trials at the LSU AgCenter.
For several years, the burgundy-foliaged Delta Jazz (semi-dwarf, brilliant pink) from
Plant Development Services, Inc. has been a stand-alone cultivar. This cultivar is also
part of the Southern Living Plant Collection. Five-year-old plants of Delta Jazz are 8 feet
tall in most locations. Plants are classified as semi-dwarf growers, which normally
indicates heights ranging from 8-12 feet. New for 2014 are four new color additions –
Delta Breeze (light lavender), Delta Eclipse (brilliant purple), Delta Midnight (white) and
Delta Flame (dark red).
The new dark burgundy-foliaged Ebony series from Cecil Pounders at the USDA-ARS
are also being sold under the Black Diamond name by J. Berry Nursery. These plants
mature at 8 feet and retain foliage color spring through fall.
Ebony Cultivar Name
Black Diamond Cultivar Name
Ebony and Ivory (white)
Ebony Flame (dark red)
Ebony Embers (deep red)
Ebony Fire (dark red)
Ebony Glow (light pink to white)
Black Diamond Pure White
Black Diamond Best Red
Black Diamond Red Hot
Black Diamond Crimson Red
Black Diamond Blush
Red Rooster (brilliant red), Purple Cow (deep purple) and Pink Pig (soft pale pink) are
being sold as “mid-sized” growers and are promoted collectively as the “Barnyard
Favorites” in the Gardener’s Confidence Collection. Red Rooster is “something to crow
about,” Pink Pig is something to “squeal with delight” and Purple Cow can be used to
create an “udderly majestic garden.”
Also in the Gardener’s Confidence Collection are the Razzle Dazzle crape myrtles.
These have been around for eight years or so now. True dwarf habits at 4 feet, cultivars
are Berry Dazzle (fuchsia), Cherry Dazzle (cherry red), Dazzle Me Pink (pink), Diamond
Dazzle (pure white), Strawberry Dazzle (neon rose) and Sweetheart Dazzle (pink).
Cherry Dazzle has been a longtime exceptional performer in LSU AgCenter landscape
trials.
The Magic series from Plant Introductions that are now part of the First Editions
program by Bailey Nurseries includes Coral Magic (salmon pink), Purple Magic (dark
purple), Plum Magic (fuchsia pink), Moonlight Magic (white) and Midnight Magic (dark
pink). Coral Magic and Purple Magic have reddish new foliage in spring. Plum Magic
has plum-purple foliage in spring. Midnight Magic has purple-maroon foliage that
persists from spring to fall. And Moonlight Magic has dark maroon foliage that persists
from spring to fall. These are semi-dwarf plants (6-10 feet tall at maturity for Coral,
Purple and Plum, while Midnight matures at 4-6 feet and Moonlight matures at 8-12
feet) and were developed by Mike Dirr in Georgia at Plant Introductions, Inc.
The Princess series is a new dwarf group developed by Dow Whiting at Garden
Adventures Nursery in Missouri and is being marketed as part of the Garden Debut
program by Greenleaf Nursery. This series includes Holly Ann (cherry red), Kylie
(magenta pink), Zoey (cherry red with cotton candy pink), Jaden (lavender) and Lyla
(rose pink).
Ball Ornamentals has the new Enduring Summer collection of crape myrtles. Cultivars
are Enduring Summer Red, Enduring Summer Fuchsia, Enduring Summer Pink,
Enduring Summer White and Enduring Summer Lavender. These plants were also
developed by Mike Dirr. These are reported to have re-blooming characteristics. The
Enduring Summer cultivars have an upright habit, and mature height is 5-6 feet with a
4 1/2-foot spread.
At the LSU AgCenter, we also have plants of Bayou View, which is the Lagerstreomia
fauriei national champion single-trunk crape myrtle tree located at Akin’s Nursery in
Shreveport. We are also evaluating several lavender-flowered crape myrtles in
cooperation with John Davy at Panhandle Growers in Florida.
For more information:
Barnyard Collection – http://gardenersconfidence.com/
Razzle Dazzle – http://gardenersconfidence.com/
Enduring Summer – www.ballornamentals.com
Black Diamond – www.blackdiamondblooms.com and www.jberrynursery.com
Ebony – http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/64040500/CrapeMyrtle_ReleaseNotices.pdf
Early Bird – www.southernlivingplants.com
Delta – www.southernlivingplants.com
Magic – www.firsteditionsplants.com
Princess – www.gardendebut.com
Get It Growing News Articles for June 2014 (from Dan Gill and Rick
Bogren)
Harvesting Vegetables Properly – June 6
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2014/June/get-it-growing/Harvesthomegrown-vegetables-properly-.htm
Crape Myrtles Still Popular – June 13
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2014/June/get-it-growing/Crape-myrtlesremain-a-Louisiana-favorite-.htm
Caterpillars – June 20
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2014/June/get-it-growing/Sometimes-youmust-deal-with-caterpillars-.htm
Pineapples – June 27
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2014/June/get-it-growing/Grow-your-ownsweet-juicy-pineapple-.htm
LDAF Press Release – Growing Ornamental Cotton
All cotton planted in the state, including cotton grown in ornamental gardens and other
non-traditional locations, must be registered with the state to be monitored for possible
boll weevil presence. State boll weevil eradication law provides that anyone who intends
to plant cotton for non-commercial purposes must receive prior permission from the
Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry, Mike Strain, D.V.M.
“The state is officially boll weevil-free, but we must monitor all cotton grown in the state
to protect Louisiana’s cotton industry,” Strain said. “Boll weevil traps are set along the
edges of cotton fields, but gardeners outside traditional cotton-growing areas may plant
cotton, for example, to spin their own thread for fabric. Gardeners may also grow cotton
for its ornamental appeal. If so, we have to place a boll weevil trap nearby to be sure we
preserve our boll weevil-free status.”
Historically, the boll weevil has been cotton’s most destructive pest. All cotton-growing
states have eradication programs.
Cotton remains one of Louisiana’s leading crops. Although only 126,647 acres of cotton
were harvested in 2013, record yields were achieved and the total value of the crop was
set at almost $148 million.
For more information regarding planting of non-commercial or ornamental cotton,
please contact the Louisiana Boll Weevil Eradication Program office at 225-922-1338 or
bollweevil@ldaf.state.la.us.
Trial Gardens – New Deja Bloom
Azaleas from J Berry Nursery (from
Allen Owings)
New Deja Bloom azaleas arrived today from J
Berry Nursery. Multi-seasonal bloomers.
Pinkadilly, Fuschia Parasol, Pink Ribbons, Pink
Jewel, Cherry
Pinata and Red
Tiara. Great new
garden additions.
Trial Gardens – More Japanese Maple
Additions
Four new Japanese maple cultivars for the garden trials
at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station were
received from J Berry Nursery this week. Here is Carlis
Corner Broom. Others are Kinran, Seirya and Whitney
Red. Our Japanese maple collection/cultivar trial now
numbers 105. We will be adding an additional 50-75
varieties this year and 50 varieties in 2015.
LSU AgCenter Plant Diagnostic Clinic
LSU AgCenter Soil Testing and Plant Analysis Lab