Larry Sagers column: Exciting new plants for your garden

Many leaves are changing in my yard now. I should mention the plants that are turning and when they started. I wonder if it will be the same week in future years or if temperature affects these things much? Here’s a little rundown: Peking Cotoneasters were probably the first to change. They got very bright…

My Kwanzan (or Kanzan) cherries really came into bloom during the past four days or so. This one is the best of the three I have. Below you can see my row of sand cherries (flowering cherry shrubs) in peak bloom at the same time the Prairiefire crabapples are starting to bloom well. I don’t…

Last winter, I traded seeds with a guy from New York on Gardenweb.com’s perennial forum. He had seeds for these wonderful Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Blue River’ and I had to give them a try. I don’t usually go for large, gaudy flowers, but these were just too cool to pass up. I had about a dozen…

This is my Mericrest nectarine, and it really has pretty blossoms. Here are a few shots with slightly different lighting. They were taken on April 29 – a week ago. Everything is late blooming this year, because of our long, cold, “La Nina” winter, and it sure is nice to see things finally blooming. Here’s…