Horticulture: Extension: Gold Medal Plants

1996 Gold Medal Winners

Your landscape will look like a rose-colored carpet when you plant Purple Wave Petunia. "There has never been a petunia like it," says Dr. Paul Thomas, Extension floriculture specialist at The University of Georgia. "It's the most vigorous petunia on the market today, with so many flowers per square foot you can hardly see the foliage."

Purple Wave is not just another petunia. It's one of the most vigorous and durable petunias ever. It is also extremely heat-tolerant and bounces back with vigor after extended periods of wet weather. In fact, when the 1994 floods devastated parts of south Georoa, plantings of Purple Wave Petunia were re-flowering within a week after the water receded.

Plant Characteristics:

Purple Wave Petunia is an extremely vigorous summer annual. A single plant will cover four square feet by midseason. When planted in full sun, it forms a dense mat about six-inches high. It does not get leggy like other petunias late in the season.

The flower color of Purple Wave Petunia is not a true purple, but rose-purple with a velvet sheen. Each flower stays in bloom several days, then fades away as it is replaced by another one, providing continuous waves of color from spring until first frost.

Cultural Requirements:

A full-sun site is best for Purple Wave Petunia. Because it is so vigorous, the plant needs plenty of room to grow and a steady nutrient supply throughout the growing season. For best results, set plants two feet apart.

Plant on well-drained soils amended as necessary with composted organic materials, such as composted bark or aged animal manure. Incorporate 10-10-10 fertilizer into the planting bed at a rate of two pounds per 100 square feet. Apply a liquid fertilizer, such as 15-30-15, at planting and at two -week intervals throughout the growing season.

Purple Wave Petunia is a showstopper in hanging baskets and patio pots. One plant is all you need to make a full 12-inch basket. Fertilize every two weeks with a liquid fertilizer, such as 15-30-15, and prune as necessary to keep the plant from overgrowing the container.

Look for Purple Wave Petunia in your local garden center and plant a Georgia Gold Medal Winner in your landscape this year.

Wild Indigo is as much a part of the Southern landscape as Civil War mansions and Confederate battlegrounds. It not only is a native plant in the Southeast but also has played a prominent role in Georgia's history.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the blue form of wild indigo was cultivated widely in Georgia and used to make dye for our growing textile industry. It proved to be a cost-effective alternative to the indigo dye imported from India.

Today, Wild Indigo is gaining renewed interest as one of the toughest perennials on the market. It not only tolerates summer heat, winter cold, poor soils and drought but also provides an outstanding spring floral display in a wide range of colors.

Plant Characteristics:

Wild Indigo is a member of the legume or pea family, producing flowers resembling the garden pea and sweet pea. Flower color varies from deep blue to creamy yellow or pure white. The flowers are borne near the tips of grey-green branches having three-lobed leaves. Flowers are followed by black seed pods that provide summer interest in the landscape. Plants may reach five feet high with an equal spread. They die down after the first killing frost and remain dormant until spring.

Cultural Requirements:

Wild Indigo does best in full sun and well-drained soils. Plants grown in partial shade may grow large and require staking to hold them upright. They are ideal as background plants in a perennial border where they have room to grow. Plants grow in clumps, spreading slowly outward from the parent planting, but they are not invasive. Dividing the clump every two to three years during the fall will result in additional plants for the garden or for sharing with friends.

At planting, incorporate a 10-10-10 fertilizer into the soil at a rate of one pound per 100 square feet. Once established, fertilize with 10-10-10 fertilizer just before new shoots emerge in the spring and again in late sumnier. After frost nips the foliage, prune the plant close to the ground in preparation for next spring's growth.

A rich southern heritage, durability and outstanding garden performance helped earn Wild Indigo a Georgia Gold Medal Award for 1996. Ask your local garden center retailer for Wild Indigo and discover its award-winning qualities.

If beauty, fragrance and low maintenance are among the qualities you are looking for in landscape plant, give hummingbird Clethra serious consideration. A superior flowering shrub, this Georgia Gold Medal Winner was first introduced by the great plantsman Fred Galle, retired horticulturist from Calaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia.

Hummingbird Clethra provides spicy-fragrant white flowers during July and August when color and fragrance are limited. The pleasant fragrance permeates the summer garden and spreads great distances, attracting butterflies and bees. "It's a wonderful, carefree plant for the low-maintenance gardener," says Dottie Myers, a landscape architect in Atlanta.

Plant Characteristics:

Hummingbird Clethra grows three to four feet tall and spreads three to five feet. Shiny dark green summer leaves yield autumn tints of yellow and amber, remaining on the plant until late fall.

In July, white flowers about a half-inch across begin opening along four-to six-inch flower stalks, flowering from the bottom to the top over four to six weeks. In full flower, a whitish haze blankets the dark green foliage. Flowers give way to small brown capsules that ripen in October-November and persist throughout the winter.

Over time the plant forms new sprouts from the crown and main roots and begins spreading outward as a colony. These plantlets can be separated front the parent plant and transplanted to another part of the landscape or cut off at ground level for a neater appearance.

Cultural Requirements:

Hummingbird Clethra is an excellent choice for the low-maintenance gardener. It grows and flowers well in either full sun or partial shade. It prefers well-drained soils with a slightly acid pH. It's an ideal plant for use around lakes, ponds and water gardens.

Before bud break in spring, broadcast a 10- 10- 10 fertilizer around the plants at a rate of one pound per 100 square feet. Repeat the application after summer bloom.

Accordiiig to Michael Dirr, professor of Horticulture at The University of Georgia, Hummingbird Clethra is "a unique shrub that always looks well-groomed. It's a user-friendly plant and a gardener's delight."

If your landscape plans call for a small flowering tree, give close consideration to four recent crape myrtle introductions from the U.S. National Arobretum: Lipan, Sioux, Tonto and Yuma. Unlike other crape myrtles that may grow very tall, these crape myrtles stay compact and make ideal landscape specimens. Other award-winning qualities include attractive flowers, unusual bark and superior disease resistance.

Plant Characteristics:

`Lipan' is an upright, multi-stemmed small tree reaching 10 to 15 feet high. The young leaves are bronze-tinged, becoming dark green and turning light orange to dull red in autumn. Flowers are rosy lavender and are borne in large clusters during July and August. Bark becomes whitish beige as the plant ages.

'Sioux' is a dense, upright, small tree reaching 10 to 15 feet. Young leaves are bronze, becoming glossy, leathery dark green in summer and turning light maroon to bright red in autumn. Dark pink flowers appear in clusters on new growth in July and August. As the plant ages, the bark exfoliates and reveals a medium gray-brown new bark.

`Tonto' is a semi-dwarf, multi-stemmed shrub becoming eight to ten feet tall. The young leaves emerge dark bronze, changing to dark green and then to bright maroon in fall. Large coral red (fuchsia red) flowers appear in July and August. Bark along main branches exfoliates to cream and gray-brown at maturity.

'Yuma' grows as a multi-stemmed shrub reaching 10 to 15 feet. Young leaves are bronze-tinged, later dark green and finally turning dull yellow-orange. Flowers are bicolored medium lavender during July and August. The old bark exfoliates to produce a light gray bark.

Cultural Requirements:

Late winter is the best time to transplant balled-and-burlapped crape myrtle plants. Container-grown plants can be transplanted throughout the year. Be sure to provide well-drained soil and ample water during establishment. Wait until the plants are well-established before fertilizing, then apply 10-10-10 at a rate of one pound per 100 square feet in late winter and again in May.

With proper pruning, these crape myrtles will add an artistic, sculptural quality to the landscape when trainned as multi-tunk specimens. Select three to five main trunks and raise the canopy by pruning off low-growing branches. Prune in late winter by thinning branches and avoid cutting back large branches to unsightly stubs. After flowering, remove seed clusters to encourage repeat flowering.

Although crape myrtle has long been a staple in the Southern landscape, the unique and superior qualitites of these new releases set them apart from others and earned them a 1996 Georgia Gold Medal Award.

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