Tesselaar Plants Announces 2010 New Introductions

Download the news release in Microsoft Word format: Tesselaar News Release - Gear Up for Spring with High-Impact Low Risk Plants (03-01-2010).

Four new exciting plants make their debut this season from Tesselaar Plants, all in keeping with the company’s commitment to distinct, high-performing foliage and long-lasting, colorful blooms requiring less water, fewer chemicals and less work for busy gardeners.

“These are what we like to call high-impact, low-risk plants,” says Anthony Tesselaar, president and co-founder of the Australia-based Tesselaar Plants. “We promise savvy, time-pressed garden lovers that they can achieve amazing results with a minimum of effort—not to mention less pesticides, pruning and watering.”

All plants can be found this spring at big-box mass merchandise retail outlets as well as independent garden centers. Images and fact sheets for all the following new introductions can be found at http://newsroom.tesselaar.com/plants.

Phormium ‘Black Adder’™ — the “New Black” for Gardeners

Tall, dark, and dramatic, Black Adder is a burgundy-black, semi-upright fountain of glossy, grassy-leaves shooting upward from the base and curving elegantly downward at the tips. Notable for its blacker-than-ever color, elegant architectural form and drought- and wind-tolerance, Black Adder is Hardy in Zones 8 through 11. In colder climates, however, it can be overwintered indoors and makes a wonderful houseplant. Black Adder grows to just 4’ high by 3’ wide, making it a tall, dark, high-contrast foil for hot brights, whites and yellow-greens in the garden and containers. Unlike its parent, Phormium cookianum ‘Platt’s Black,’ Black Adder is also a strong, healthy grower suited to exposed conditions and coastal planting.

What they’re saying about it: Black Adder was named one of the “must-grow perennials of 2010” by BHG.com (Better Homes & Gardens online) and has been listed as one of this year’s hot new plant introductions by American Gardener (published by the American Horticultural Society) and Nursery Retailer magazines. It was also featured in the December 2009 edition of Landscape Management magazine as a product “designed to help contractors wow clients and save time and money.”

Design ideas: Black Adder is stunning as a focal point or single specimen in garden beds and containers. It also softens the look of landscape boulders and pairs particularly well with low-growing, dainty foliage like perennial geraniums, Artemisia ‘Silver Mound’ and coreopsis. BHG.com editors suggest pairing it with golden ninebark. For a tropical or modernistic look, group Black Adder with mirror plant ‘Rainbow Surprise’ and Canna Tropicanna^® Gold. You can also try a high-drama, blue-black combination with English Butterfly™ Peacock butterfly bush and Bougainvillea ‘Purple Queen.’ Or, for another colorful, lush tropical design, try pairing Black Adder with variegated brush cherry ‘Lemon Swirl.’ For a decorator touch inside, you can also cut the leaves and add some sophisticated ‘wow’ to your favorite flower arrangements.

Tuxedo^® Ceanothus – the First Dark-Leaved California lilac

This first-ever black-foliaged ceanothus, or native California lilac, made its U.S. debut in California last year, and will be available across the U.S. in 2010. Powder-blue flowers provide a stunning contrast against glossy, deep purple-black foliage in a fall-blooming shrub that grows to 8’ high by 6’ wide. Tuxedo is also drought-tolerant, able to thrive on windy slopes and in coastal conditions. It responds very well to pruning, too.

What they’re saying about it: Tuxedo was featured by BHG.com in February as one of the hot new shrubs for 2010. It also flew off the shelves at West Coast garden centers last spring after being introduced there in small quantities. Demand rose last fall after Sunset magazine, the highly revered guide to West Coast living, featured it in its October 2009 issue as a “luxurious, water-thrifty shrub.”

Design Ideas: Go for a cool-hued color scheme by planting Tuxedo with other blue, purple or pink fall bloomers like Bluestorm™ agapanthus, Michaelmas daisy, chrysanthemum, caryopteris (blue mist shrub), chelone (turtlehead), sedum (stonecrop) or eupatorium (Joe Pye weed). A complementary color palette can be created by planting Tuxedo with yellow fall bloomers like helenium, goldenrod or mums. Or, here’s a drought-tolerant fall combo suggested by Pacific Coast Home & Garden (the premier garden, home décor and hardware store on the Central Pacific Coast) that would look stunning with Tuxedo:Euphorbia ‘Helena’s Blush,’ flax lily ‘Little Rev’ and Correa ‘Wyn’s Wonder.’ For a high-contrast foliage grouping in garden beds or containers, try pairing Tuxedo with lime-green ipomoea (sweet potato vine) or shorter, yellow-green ornamental grasses like Japanese Forest Grass.

Fairy Magnolia Blush – perfect for the tropical or Asian/Zen garden

The first of the long-awaited michelia hybrids by renowned New Zealand breeder Mark Jury to be released in the U.S., Fairy Magnolia Blush delivers lilac-pink, lightly fragrant flowers, preceded by velvet-textured, russet-colored buds and accompanied by evergreen foliage resembling a camellia without the gloss. An upright, compact, bushy shrub, Fairy Magnolia Blush reaches 8’ high by 6’ wide and is hardy in Zones 7b through 10. Another great benefit of this plant is that it blooms in late winter to early spring when sited in full sun to partial shade.

What they’re saying about it: “It could shape up to be the next big thing among savvy gardeners and landscapers,” raved the Taranaki Daily News (in Taranaki, New Zealand, where Fairy Magnolia Blush was first introduced). “Gardeners looking for an alternative to the tried-and-true camellias or the elegant but sometimes too-big magnolias should swoop in on this michelia.”

Design Ideas: Fairy Magnolia Blush is recommended for use as a hedge, espalier, topiary or on its own as a stunningspecimen shrub. When it comes to companion plantings, try pairing it with other Asian/Zen or tropical beauties like Bougainvillea ‘Cherry Blossom,’  Blood Banana, Hong Kong Orchid Tree or Hibiscus ‘Erin Rachel.’ With its enchanting ‘Fairy’ name and pink color, gardeners may also consider planting it for a granddaughter, mother, grandmother or breast cancer survivor.

Strawberries and Cream Hydrangea – Enjoy it inside and out!

First presented as a gift plant in a Mother’s Day sneak peek in 2009, Strawberries and Cream makes its much-awaited return this spring. A striking, dark rosy-red, white-centered lacecap Hydrangea macrophylla, it’s extremely compact at 3’ to 4’ high. It prefers some shade and will delight either as a long-lived container plant indoors or a border or specimen planting outdoors. Hardy to Zone 7 and packaged in stylish floral paper, Strawberries and Cream is a flexible, indoor-outdoor gift plant or ready-made centerpiece for Mom or Grandma on Mother’s Day. It’s also expected to do well with Gen Xers, who are partial to giving plants as gifts.

What they’re saying about it: “It’s a great pick-up-and-go item,” says Alana Miller, an Upstate New York avid gardener and professional floral designer. “The lacecap hydrangeas are beautiful, plus it’s a really unique, dark color.” Hydrangeas sold as gift plants, she adds, have normally been grown under different circumstances – for one spectacular show of blooms and that’s it. “So a gift hydrangea that can last a long time indoors and then can be planted outdoors, is pretty exciting,” she says.

Design Ideas: Strawberries and Cream is a welcome surprise at Mother’s Day or just a “thanks for having us for dinner” day. Far from the expected bouquet of fast-fading hybrid tea roses or the quick-to-fade, pastel pot of blue or pink hydrangeas, the white and red of “Strawberries and Cream” is a unique, long-lasting addition to any table, patio or border. When it comes to companion plantings, try pink potentilla, inkberry, holly, azaleas, daylilies, shrub roses, hosta or pink dianthus.