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Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 20D
) FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, October 24,1999
Y2K Gold Medal winners rise to occasion
By Gary L Wade
Georgia Extension Service
Each year the Georgia Plant
Selections Committee awards four
plants its coveted Georgia Gold
Medal for outstanding garden merit.
The committee is made up of
growers, landscapers, landscape
designers, garden center managers,
botanical garden horticulturists and
University of Georgia faculty.
The group chooses an annual
flower, a herbaceous perennial, a
shrub and a tree from long lists of
nominees. They always select
“blue-blood" winners, and the first
winners of the new millennium are
no exception.
Durability, versatility, pest toler
ance and consumer appeal will
make the Georgia Gold Medal win
ners for the year 2000 extremely
marketable.
Growers are already gearing up
to make these great plants available
for Georgia gardens and landscapes.
Annual Winners
Sun-loving Coleus are phenom
enal bedding plants taking the land-
Repot tropicals
You may need to repot tropi
cal flowering plants that have
been outside all summer, say
experts with the University of
Georgia Extension Service. Look
at the roots of plants such as
hibiscus, ixora and allamanda. If
they’re matted against the out
side of the ball, it’s time to repot.
Use a pot at least two times big
ger. and a peat-light potting mix
ture.
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scape and garden center industries
by storm. They’re proving that
coleus aren’t just for shade any
more.
Among the many sun-loving
coleus on the market, the committee
singled out four as favorites.
• “Amazon” has chartreuse and
gold foliage.
• "Solar Flare” boasts iridescent
chartreuse, green and burgundy
tones.
• “Red Ruffles” has brilliant red
foliage with hints of green and ruf
fled-edged leaves.
• And ‘Purple Ducksfoot’ has
purple-green foliage shaped like
you guessed it —a duck’s foot.
Sun-loving coleus are great as
bedding plants in the landscape or
in containers. Few plants can match
the nonstop color they provide April
until first frost.
Herbaceous
Perennial Winners
David and Robert Poore phlox
bloom in the late-summer heat
when other phlox paniculata tend to
get mildew and shur down.
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David phlox is white and fra
grant, while Robert Poore is bright
pink. Both grow to about 4 feet
high, making them excellent back
ground plants in the perennial bor
der.
They bloom four to six weeks,
beginning in late June, and can be
pushed to bloom in the fall. Both
hold up well as cut flowers.
Gaideners who have failed mis
erably with the old garden phlox
need to try David or Robert Poore.
They can make even the weekend
gardener a green-thumb success.
Shrub Winner
“Alice” Oakleaf Hydrangea is
among the best of the new, superior
selections of Hydrangea quercifolia.
Like other oakleaf hydrangeas,
Alice produces 10- to 14-inch-long
panicles of showy sepals in late
spring.
But each sepal may be the size
of a half-dollar, compared to the
normal dime size.
The resulting floral display is
sure to be the highlight of the gar
den.
As the summer progresses, the
flowers fade from white to rosy
pink, combining well with the pinks
and purples of herbaceous perenni
als.
Alice grows about 12 feet high
and 12 feet wide. It’s best used as a
single specimen or as a background
plant in the perennial border.
Tree Winner
Little Gem Magnolia is a perfect
choice for large houses on small
lots and other landscapes that need
plants for small places.
Magnolia grandiflora “Little
Gem" grows about 12 feet wide and
20 to 25 feet tall.
This tree is excellent for the cor
ner of a home, as a backgound plant
in the perennial border or as a
hedge plant to define space or
screen a view.
The leaves are smaller than
other magnolias and are pest-free.
Fragrant flowers begin in June and
are borne sporadically through the
summer and fall.
Little Gem magnolia is a tough
plant for tough sites. Once estab-
To Enter
The Georgia Plant Selections
Committee is a nonprofit group
supported by industry donations.
Growers, retailers and landscap
ers are encouraged to join and to
attend the quarterly meetings.
As a donor or committee
member, you can nominate
plants for the annual selection
process for Georgia Gold Medal
Award winners.
Nominations begin each
January and are closed in June at
the summer meeting.
For more information, con
tact Jim Midcap, GPSC Chair, at
(706) 542-2861. Or email him at
jmidcap@uga.edu.
lished, it’s very drought-tolerant,
making it an excellent candidate for
water-wise gardens.
Gary Wade is an Extension
Service horticulturist with the
University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.
