Have you ever tried to find a plant that you read about in a magazine or newspaper? Or maybe you saw it on a TV show like the Victory Garden. You know the ones I mean - the newest of the new, the trend setting vegetatively propagated "premium annuals" like the Proven Winners collection or the latest in ornamental edibles showcased on some Martha Stewart episode. Shopping in your local garden center is not like going to Barnes and Noble or Nordstrom's department store at the Mall of America. In those places, you can expect to see the Best Sellers prominently displayed with signage and promotional materials to make you drool. In the garden center the hanging baskets are lined up like laundry on a line, usually up so high that you can only see them from the bottom. The bedding plants are cheek to jowl on benches divided by pot sizes with most signage aimed at telling you how much each size costs. I would say that it feels like shopping in the supermarket, but my supermarket does a better job. The organic produce and the oddball tropical fruits have separate sections so that they are not lost among the mountains of apples, oranges, potatoes, lettuce and onions.
A few years back, I saw my first Bacopa planted in a retailer's water display area with no identifying signage. No one working in that area knew its name or anything about Bacopa and, of course, there was none for sale. The next year, after I had found out what it was on my own, I bought two plants. I had to try several places before finding them. I was extremely pleased with them in my garden that summer. The retailer where I had first seen them still had none for sale. The third year, this retailer had a small supply that was mostly bought up by employees as soon as it arrived. What is going on here? Don't they want to sell lots of plants? Today, customers want to purchase the new plants they read about or see and appreciate the garden center that makes a point of offering these plants and displaying them in ways that call attention to their presence.
Bacopa was only the tip of the iceberg as these new plants became available. The range is wide and I'm like a kid in a candy store choosing what I will try next. New plants developed for hanging baskets will do alternate duty as the trailing element in mixed planters or as a blooming ground cover in flower beds. The Bidens and Helichrysum provide yellow, and the Temari and Tapien verbenas range through the reds, pinks, and purples. The Waves are just one of the new lines of improved petunias on the market. There are also the Supertunias and Surfinias. Most of them are far better than the older cascade petunias. In addition, the little petunia relative, Calibrachoa or Million Bells is as cute as Tinkerbell in a basket. There is a wonderful new trailing Torenia of a lovely blue color for high shade. It just bloomed and bloomed for me.
