Now Available: the 2000 Models
Thanks to the efforts of hybridizers, each year brings new plants for the home gardener to try. Some are a spin on old favorites; others are unusual additions.
Here are a few new vegetables and ornamentals released for 2000:
* Abutilon x hybridum ‘Super Red’: a mounding shrub with graceful arching stems that can be easily trained. Maple-shaped leaves look stunning alone and even better when the plant is covered with red, fuchsia-like flowers. It does well in containers.
* Baby French carrot ‘Babette’: French-Nantes type, baby finger-carrots bred for early color, even cylindrical shape and high yields.
* ‘Blushing Beauty’ bell pepper: An All-America winner, this large, thick-walled, sweet bell pepper changes color as it matures--from ivory to blush red to orange-red to dark red.
* Camellia x ‘Winter’s Fire’: it produces an abundance of large, vivid, red-pink blossoms as early as November, lasting through February. An upright grower, it makes a good background or foundation plant.
* Camellia x ‘Winter’s Snowman’: This tall, columnar camellia fits in tight spaces. It produces an abundance of white, anemone-like flowers in winter and early spring.
* ‘Catalina’ spinach: Developed for summer production, this is an ideal spinach for our climate, which tends to make regular spinach produce seed prematurely. The deep-green leaves are smaller than standard spinach but just as tasty.
* ‘Chantilly’ carrot: This dark-orange carrot is uniformly sized and earlier-maturing than many carrots. It’s excellent for eating and juicing.
* Dream roses: These shrub roses are ever-blooming in a variety of colors, including orange, pink, red and yellow. All grow about 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide.
* Fennel ‘Trieste’: This new, refined French fennel has large rounded bulbs that have a crunchy, succulent flesh and sweet anise flavor. It tastes great fresh or cooked.
* ‘For Heaven’s Sake’ sweet corn: Unlike sweet corns that mature all at once, this hybrid matures over a more extended period, allowing you to harvest as you eat. It produces large ears, with tender, extra-sweet kernels.
* ‘Hi-Beta Gold’ spaghetti squash: Higher in beta carotene than other spaghetti squash, this deep-orange squash matures in 75 days. Its fine, spaghetti-like flesh is very flavorful.
* ‘Jetsetter’ tomato: This early-maturing tomato weighs 8 ounces on average and has smooth, soft, juicy flesh. It’s a vigorous, indeterminate grower.
* ‘Magnifisweet’ muskmelon: These sweet and juicy melons weigh in at 5 to 6 pounds each. The flesh is salmon-colored, and the fruit oval-shaped. Vines are vigorous and productive.
* Mandevilla x amabilis ‘Rita Marie Green’ (Pink Parfait Mandevilla): This semitropical creeper produces hot-pink, double, trumpet-like flowers. It has large, glossy, green leaves and a vigorous twining habit.
* Radicchio ‘Italian Presto’: This heat-tolerant radicchio is exclusive to Shepherd’s Seeds. It has extra-early, brilliant red, firm heads with a tangy flavor.
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Resources
* Renee’s Garden Seeds, www.reneesgarden.com.
* Monrovia Nursery Co., (888) PLANT IT.
* New and unusual vegetable seed can be found at mail-order suppliers, including Express Seed Co. in Oberlin, Ohio, (440) 774-2259; J.W. Jung Seed Co. in Randolph, Wisc., (920) 326-3121, and Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany, Ore., (541) 928-9280.
