President's Choice Insiders Report Garden Edition New Plant Introductions (Loblaws)

Every year around this time, Loblaws invites garden communicators to their President's Choice Insiders Report Garden Edition Mix and Mingle.  Peter Cantley and his team along with the PC growers give the media a sneak peek at what is going to hit the garden centres that spring.  The media also get to take home plants, as many as they can carry and fill their vehicles with.  These plants are for them to trial in their gardens so they can honestly report to their respective audiences what they think of them and how they performed.

Here is what Bruce was really excited about. 

PC Mighty 'Mato (Grafted Tomato Plants)
Big news for veggie gardeners!  We as a family absolutely love tomatoes.  Most of our veggie garden is tomatoes and all different varieties.  For us the more the merrier!!  By the end of the season our patio garden is absolutely wild and that's what we love.  This will be a very welcome addition to our veggie garden.

The Mighty Mato plants deliver abundant harvests from huge plants towering up to 6 feet tall and more.  They are grafted onto vigorous rootstock with an excellent ability to absorb nutrients from the soil and help defend against pests and disease.  The tomatoes mature earlier than the same varieties of tomatoes without a grafted rootstock.
Mighty 'Mato' can be grown in containers as well, as long as they are planted in very large containers.

Heuchera 'Amber Lady'
Anyone who knows Bruce, knows he loves heucheras.  This one caught his eye.  The vibrant reddish orange maple-leaf type foliage transforms throughout the season to provide a splashy display of colour.  Compact, it grows into a nice large mound.  It's super-hardy and will do well in sun or partial shade.  He has just the spot in what he calls our 'quiet garden'

Heuchera Amber Lady

Hardy Fig Tree
Yes, you read that right!  This fig can stay out all winter (hardy to zone 4) and it shoots back up and re-fruits year after year.  No more over-wintering in the garage and protecting it.

Hardy Fig Tree

Clematis 'Abilene'
Clematis 'Abilene' is a burgundy pink flower with yellow anthers that change colour as it matures.  This is a new introduction from award-winning clematis Raymond Evison.  Clematis 'Esme' has light blue petals and yellow anthers for contrast.

Clematis Abilene

Campanula 'Purple Get Mee'
This perennial acts like an annual, the rich blooms come back throughout summer to fall.  It is loaded with purple bell-shaped flowers.  The purple colour is very vibrant and definitely a magnet.

Campanula Purple Get Mee

PC Gigantico Gerbera -- Flori line Midi Dark Fireball
This is a beacon of blazing orange .  That orange turns to yellow at the centre of a two-tone flower that adds dimension to gardens and planters.  These are definitely destined for a planter in our backyard.

PC Super Gigantico Impatiens - SunPatiens Compact 'Hot Coral'
Have been told this gets big.  Just how big?  Well so big that it can resemble a shrub or hedge that's loaded with a mass of blooms.  It's bred for the sun and heat.  Two new varieties this year -- Hot Coral and Red.  Resistant to the new strain powdery mildew and great for filling a big area.

SunPatiens Compact Hot Coral

Anyone who knows Bruce, also knows he loves hostas.  These ones caught his eye.  He was not able to get either of the hostas to trial but will be looking for them in the garden centre.

Hosta 'Designer Genes'
Brilliant yellow foliage atop rhubarb red-like stems - what an amazing contrast.  If you have a partly shady spot that needs some brightening, this new hosta is it!

Hosta 'Designer Genes'

Hosta 'Rainforest Sunrise'

American Hosta Growers Association

2013 Hosta of the Year

'Rainforest Sunrise'

(Winterberry Farms/Anderson 2003)

Color - Medio-variegated

Size - Small (10"ht x 25"w)

Habit - Mounding

Bloom - Lavender

Parent - sport of ‘Maui Buttercups’

Gold leaves are margined with a nice dark green margin. Nicely corrugated even at a young age, the glossy cupped leaves also have thick substance. Pale lavender flowers in early summer

Hosta 'Rainforest Sunrise'