Re: New plants for containers

**John MacGregor j*@earthlink.net**

on 3/2/03 9:49 AM, Susan McCoy at buzz@impact-pr.com wrote:

> Here's our "hot list" of what's new from Ball's Simply Beautiful easy to
> grow annuals.  The Purple Majesty ornamental millet is very hot and a great
> container plant.  As are the new trailing snapdragons and verbena, and
> cascading Silver Falls dichondra. Check out www.simplybeautifulgardens.com
> for photos of these plants.

Susan,

I went to the "Simply Beautiful" site to check out the photos.
Unfortunaely, I did not find a picture of Purple Majesty F1 Ornamental
Millet (Pennisetum glaucum).  I did find some other misnamed or incompletely
named items.  It is a shame that as large and prestigious an organization as
Ball's doesn't take some pains to obtain correct nomenclature before
printing its labels and distributing its plants.  I believe that incorrect
names make it particularly difficult for gardeners to obtain correct
information about these plants, especially since few have the knowledge,
research skills, and sources to sort out the misnnaming.

For instance:

The plant you are calling "Helichrysum 'Silver Mist'" is not a helichrysum
at all but rather Plecostachys serpyllifolia (although it resembles a
miniature version of Helichrysum petiolare).  It has a particularly lovely
common name that should help sell it: "Silver Tresses".

The plants you are selling as "Bacopa" belong to the genus Sutera, native to
South Africa.  Bacopa ("Water Hyssop") is a genus of small aquatic plants
native to the southeastern U.S. and tropical America.  The white-flowered
ones pictured on your site are forms of Sutera cordata.  I am not sure what
species the pink and lavender ones belong to.  I have grown both, and their
foliage shape is quite distinct from that of S. cordata.  I am not surprised
about the misnaming.  Sutera is poorly documented.

I am growing the Plectranthus you call 'Nico', and it is a typical form of
Plectranthus ciliatus, native to eastern South Africa.  The form I purchased
as 'Nico', which came from "Simply Beautiful", has rather dingy white
flowers, although I have other forms of P. ciliatus with larger panicles of
pure, sparkling white blossoms in the fall.  The photo of 'Nicoletta'
appears to me to show Plectranthus argentatus from Queensland, Australia,
although the foliage is a bit shorter than that of P. a. 'Longwood Silver'
and other forms that are extant in this country.  A couple of other
Australian species look similar, and I would have to grow it and flower it
to be certain.  'Nicodemus' is a mystery to me.  I don't recognize the shape
of the leaves.  I tried to obtain this last year without success

Are these cultivars being grown from seed or propagated vegetatively from
cuttings or tissue cultures?   Is there any chance that you could help
facilitate my obtaining plants of 'Nicoletta' and 'Nicodemus' so that I can
properly identify, photograph, and include them in my book?

John MacGregor
South Pasadena, CA 91030
USDA zone 9   Sunset zones 21/23
jonivy@earthlink.net

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