Happy New Year to all our customers and friends from Baldwin's Nurseries! It's a brand new year, and while it's certainly being an odd, odd winter, we thought we'd cheer you up with some pictures of some of the mouthwatering plants we have coming in this year.
We grow a number of our own rhododendrons and azaleas, but we also bring in some plants from Canadian growers. Among the cultivars coming in this season is Azalea 'Cannon's Double', which looks splendid with its full trusses of pink-yellow flowers.
We've heard great things about Dianthus 'Coconut Punch', which is proving to be a sturdy and long-blooming variety of mini-carnation.
We are well known for our varieties of echinaceas, which do well for many gardeners in our region. This is a new one to us this year, a compact double-flowered variety called 'Southern Belle'.
But we'll also have some of our favourites from other years, including the unique and wonderful 'Green Envy', which has proved to be a sturdy, long lived coneflower since it was first introduced about 6 years ago.
We love the multitudes of small, bristly blooms on the sea hollies, especially on Eryngium 'Jade Frost'. Not only do its flowers start out greenish-silver before flushing to blue, the foliage is remarkable. It begins as green and pink, changing to green and white as the season progresses. So even before it's in bloom, it makes a statement. You'll find pollinators flocking to your sea hollies.
The foliage of this sea holly reminds us of one of our favourite shrubs, the dappled or 'Nishiki' willow. We'll talk more about that great plant next time.
For those with moist areas in their garden, you might consider planting Queen of the Prairie, Filipendula rubra 'Venusta'. Think of this plant as an astilbe on steroids. It can easily reach 7 feet tall, and pollinators love its plumes of soft pink flowers.
We have a great selection of magnolias, and this year we'll be carrying 'Sunsation.' This pink-tinted yellow variety is sure to turn heads in your garden.
For a great colour echo to accompany 'Sunsation' magnolia, you might want to try Kinkaku tree peony. We carry about a dozen colours of these elegant, show-stopping peonies, with their massive flowers and handsome foliage.
We have plenty more plants to tell you about, so we'll be posting again very soon. In the meantime, gardeners might want to check out the new gardening community,
bloominganswers.com. It's a private website designed for gardeners, by gardeners, with plenty of resources being developed for gardeners of all skill levels. The site is free to join but membership is required. Come and visit--it'll help get you in the mood for the opening of the garden season. And we'll see you soon here at the nursery.
