Ilex opaca f. xanthocarpa 'Morgan Gold' is one of the better of perhaps 100 named clones of yellow-berried American holly. Anyone can buy or cut a pretty red-berried holly wreath but one made with golden berries will always stand out. Better yet, a mix of red and gold berries makes a superb display.

Chionanthus retusus 'Ivory Tower' places the amazing foliage and flowers of the Chinese species in a narrower, more compact package. We expect this clone to be a real star in coming years.

Campanula x pulloides 'Jelly Bells' is a recent winner from Terra Nova, a very pretty and useful introduction. It is floriferous every year, moderately vigorous in a bright green carpet of quality foliage, and compact. It is more vigorous and larger-flowered than 'G.F. Wilson'. 

Taxodium distichum 'Codys Feathers' ('Wooster Broom') is a more interesting compact clone of bald cypress than others I've seen. Even though from a witches broom, it grows with surprising vigor, the tips turned up in a new, curious way. It also cones at the young age for added value. It is not the same as the older, slower, dumpier 'Secrest' which also originated in Wooster, Ohio.

Echinacea 'Mac n' Cheese' with it's designated companion 'Tomato Soup', are new 2009 releases from Dan Heims and the ultra-creative TNN gang. The Kraft-inspired clone has true, rich golden rays and neat habit. The Campbell-inspired cultivar is a nearly a true red (the closest thing to that yet) in a tomato-red or slightly orange-tinged shade of red. It will appear as if genuine red from a distance. (Photo is owned by and courtesy of www.terranovanurseries.com and they are coming to garden centers and mailorder dealers new you.)

Thymus 'Hi Ho Silver' is one of the largest marginate chimeras in the thyme genus (to 2mm wide) and makes a bright cheerful plant for the edible garden. It has more brightness but less thymol content than 'Argenteus', a variable cultivar which is thyme-scented in the US (usually) and often citrus-toned in Europe. This above flatbed scan documentaiton of the cultivar in high res detail (the masters are 12500 pixels wide) is part of the society's program to study cultivars, their differences, and photographically document them in live fresh form; a technique which does not eliminate our need for dried, herbarium vouchers but provides much better digital information than any ancient, pressed plant. We keep our files archived and distributed for safe keeping, so generations in the future will have detailed photographic and descriptive records of cultivars from our time. They will also have records of plant origins and first nursery introductions, things which are missing from the past to a very large extent. Today's "new plant" is tomorrow's mysterious heirloom and we are doing something to keep both the present and the future informed.

Ilex opaca 'Golden Knight' is a new bright, yellow-leaved clone of American holly seen first here at the Bernheim Forest and Arboretum. It is not so gold as 'Sunny Foster' but the blade has more interesting texture and it may prove a zone or so hardier.


Cercis canadensis 'Amethyst', a virescent ("becoming green") taxon with pretty but ghostly new growth that is very white tinged with amethyst, pink, and lime green shades. It's a new color theme in the garden among ornamental trees but remains a strong plant for it develops chlorophyll in time.


Lagerstroemia 'Cherry Dazzle' is an amazing, dwarf, floriferous shrub for warmer climates where the crapes do well. The color is a spot on, true red and the foliage small, dark, and dense. There are few truly perfect shrubs but where hardy this is a very close thing, blooming for up to three months.