Columbine in the swan series is a Super Plant for the fall of 2011. Supplies should be ample at your local nurseries and garden centers. (Photo by Igor Kamalov)

Camellia ShiShi Gashira

Camelot Foxglove

Camelot Foxglove Lavendar

Viola Sorbet will be a Super Plant in the fall of 2012. (Photo by Igor Kamalov)

Not all gardeners have a green thumb, even though they want beautiful landscaping. To make it easier to select plants that will work well in their yards, the LSU AgCenter has developed Super Plants.

Each spring and fall the LSU AgCenter will release a list of Super Plants – ornamental plants selected for superior performance under Louisiana growing conditions.

View a 1:35-minute video about Belinda's Dream, a Super Plant for fall 2011.

These plants go through two to three years of university testing before being considered for this program. Much of the research is being conducted at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station. Station coordinator Regina Bracy said it’s tough to be a Super Plant.

“It has to do well both in north and south Louisiana. It has to be hardy, and if it’s growing in the summertime it has be able to withstand our heat,” Bracy said.

The goal of the Super Plants program is to promote outstanding plants for Louisiana that will be available at nurseries and garden centers across the state. LSU AgCenter horticulturist Dan Gill is promoting Super Plants with his Get It Growing columns, radio and TV segments.

“LSU AgCenter scientists and green industry professionals got together to identify some of the very best plants we can use in our landscapes here in Louisiana,” he said.

This fall the LSU AgCenter is promoting four Super Plants. They are Columbine Swan series, Kale Redbor, Rose Belinda's Dream and Southern Sugar Maple.

“With a fall planting, it blooms heavily from late fall all the way until late spring or early summer,” said Dan Gill, extension horticulturist.

The fall 2010 Super Plants are also recommende for fall planting. They are Dianthus Amazon series, Foxglove Camelot series and Camellia Shishi Gashira.

Foxgloves can be difficult to grow in Louisiana because they don’t tolerate the heat, but the Camelot series of foxglove stands up to the state’s high temperatures.

“It’s one of the few foxgloves that will grow in our landscapes,” Bracy said.

Its outstanding performance makes it a 2010 Super Plant. Gill describes it as “a spectacular spring-blooming bedding plant.”

A fall planting with will give you the best display in the spring. The flower’s spikes are taller than other foxgloves that grow in Louisiana, the flowers are more open, and it comes in shades of cream, lavender and rose.

Camellias are popular winter-blooming shrub in Louisiana. They reward gardeners with beautiful flowers when not much else is blooming in the landscape. The Shishi Gashira camellia is a low-growing camellia that will reach 4-5 feet, but is often kept trimmed to around 3 feet.

“It’s a wonderful shrub for foundation planting,” Gill said. “It blooms beautifully from October to early January with dark pink double flowers.”

The plant performs well in shady or sunny locations, Gill added.

The Super Plants program is a marketing and educational campaign designed to help the landscape industry promote plants and consumers make good choices

“It makes the consumer aware of good plants that do well in Louisiana,” Bracy said, adding, “the ultimate purpose is to highlight some of these outstanding plants that people may not know about.”

Consumers can look for the Super Plants logo along side these Super Plants at local nurseries this month. Also look for new releases from the Super Plants program in the spring and fall of next year.

The benefits of the Louisiana Super Plants marketing program are both short- and long-term. In other state-based programs, plant sales were most significant during the initial year of selection, but wholesale and retail operators reported continued interest and sales for five years after a plant had been identified in the marketing program.

Funding for the Louisiana Super Plants program is provided through the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry with U.S. Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant Program funds.

Tobie Blanchard