Every year the nursery trade comes up with new and better varieties of some of your old favorites. Sometimes the plants are improved - more disease resistant or drought tolerant, for example. Sometimes the colors are brand new and eye catching. These are our hot new annuals.

Ball Horticulture Company and Proven Winners blessed the Linnaeus Garden this year with a large selection of their latest and greatest introductions for 2009 and 2010. You can see these plants in our test beds along the entry way drive as well as in front of the west barn door entrance. Come see them throughout the growing season. Perhaps you will want to plant some of these beauties in your gardens as well.

Ball Horticultural 2009 Introductions

Zahara Coral Rose Zinnia

Zahara Zinnia: Color-filled Zahara continues to break new ground with two more unique, high-impact varieties, Coral Rose and White. This heat-loving series has 20% larger flowers. Additionally, its superior disease tolerance makes Zahara an excellent choice in the landscape where vinca varieties have failed in the past. This member of the Hot Summer Survivors series has very low water needs, and is outstanding in sunny, hot and dry conditions.

Lucky Pot of Gold Lantana

Like its vigorous lantana companions, Lucky Pot of Gold Lantana stands up well to heat, humidity and other stressful conditions. The dark green-leafed plants stay upright and mounded with a controlled habit all season, making them ideal for small-space gardens and mixed containers.

Culture Information : Allow plants to dry regularly between waterings. Pinch as needed to shape. Feeding at recommended levels will promote vigorous plants that will continue to actively grow and flower.

Sophistica Lime Petunia

The Sophistica Peturnia is a beautiful designer collection that combines large blooms painted in special one-of-a-kind colors. They are suitable for pots, combo planters and baskets. Sophistica Lime has beautiful pink multi-color blooms with lime variegated accents.

Chocolate Mint and Crimson & Gold Coleus

Dark Chocolate Coleus

Coleus: One of the keys to success with any coleus is to improve bedding soil. In heavy clay soil, organic matter will improve drainage and aeration and allow better root development. Liberal amounts of organic matter help sandy soils hold water and nutrients. Organic matter, which improves soil and serves as a food source for soil fungi and bacteria, comes in the form of peat moss, compost, hay, grass clippings, barnyard fertilizer, shredded bark, leaves or even shredded newspapers. Add enough to physically change the soil structure. Ideally, at least one-third of the final soil mix should be some type of organic material.

Chocolate Mint Coleus - This is the prettiest and neatest Coleus to come along in quite a while. Chocolate Mint offers rich brown to burgundy-maroon foliage with a trim mint-green scallop and matching reverse. It is a bushy little plant just ideal for containers indoors or out as well as the partly to fully shaded annual beds. Chocolate Mint partners well with the new Electric Lime coleus and looks awesome with Sum & Substance hostas.

Crimson & Gold Coleus - This Coleus is equally at home in the sun as well as the shade. These well-branched, vigorous plants show off beautiful multi-patterned foliage that stays the center of attention all season, thanks to the very late-flowering habit.

Dark Chocolate Coleus - This easy growing, eye-catching Coleus with chocolate-colored foliage will attract attention. The dark foliage color offers a contrast and visual appeal in displays, and partners well with other foliage and flower items in mixed containers and landscapes, in the shade and in the sun.

Wave Burgandy Star Petunia

The Wave Burgandy Star Petunia adds an exciting touch to borders and window boxes with deep burgundy stars over pristine white blooms. Its continuous, care-free color in landscapes and containers make for easy gardening success.

Proven Winners 2010 Introductions

Calibrachoa Superbells Yellow

Calibrachoa Superbells Lavender

Calibrachoa Superbells - Calibrachoas are a great low-maintenance plant. Superbells has a semi-upright growth habit, and larger leaves than other Calibrachoas. They bloom from spring until first frost in full sun as well as shade, although shade will severely limit the number of flowers.

The one-inch bell-shaped flowers bloom all season long to fill garden beds. They make a lovely cascade as they spill from containers, and they can adapt to rock gardens.

You can expect hummingbirds to visit your garden when you plant Calibrachoa because they love the large trumpet shaped flowers for their good nectar source.

Culture tips:

• Superbells are self cleaning. You do not have to pinch off spent flowers.
• Superbells Calibrachoa is more heat resistant than most of the Calibrachoas.
• Keeping plants too wet can lead to root rot diseases so you need to allow the top of the soil to dry before watering again.

Lavendar Skies Supertunia

Petunia Supertunia Lavender Skies - This Petunia features beautiful lavender-blue flowers that almost shimmer in the sunlight. Supertunias are a vigorously trailing species of an ever-blooming, long living petunia from Australia. They will provide long term color in full sun areas throughout the season, and can grow nearly an inch a day. They are ideal for baskets, beds, balconies, and combination plantings. Supertunias are very heat and drought tolerant once established in the ground or pot. They do not need to have their dead flower heads removed to continue flowering and they are not leggy. Supertunias grow fast and therefore need ample moisture and fertilizer.

Ball Horticultural 2010 Introductions

Euphorbia Breathless Blush

Euphorbia Breathless White

Euphorbia Breathless - The all-new Breathlesss euphorbia series includes the only red-flushed leaf form, plus a better-branched white. It is durable, low-maintenance and long-lasting in containers and in-ground plantings.

These versatile, heat-tolerant, fine-textured varieties fill in fast, make stocky and mounded plants and display a showy mass of self-cleaning flowers all season long in all summer conditions.

Euphorbia Breathless Blush - It is similar to 'Diamond Frost' but with flowers "blushed" pink and foliage accented by a dark purplish center. If we had to pick one exceptional new plant for 2010, this is it.

Euphorbia Breathless White - The White variety is comparable to Diamond Frost Euphorbia and seems to have a tighter and more compact plant habit.

Calibrachoa Can Can Apricot

Calibrachoa Can Can Mocha

Calibrachoa Can Can Series - A Ball Exclusive Calibrachoa hybrid FloraPlant product, common name is Mini Petunia.

Calibrachoa's blooming season is Spring through late Autumn and these super-splashy, one-of-a-kind colors will get your attention.

The New Can Can grows more vigorously, yet offers many of the same great features as Cabaret: highly programmable plants, consistent pH tolerance, eye-catching dark green foliage, tip-to-top flower coverage, and season-long performance.

This lively newcomer partners well with many other sun-loving annuals. It is the perfect choice for mixed containers and hanging baskets.

Calibrachoa Can Can Orange

Calibrachoa Can Can Strawberry