The Classic City Awards
June 17, 2008 
Every year we discuss, debate and fight over the best plants in the garden. Well, not really, because the best plants, like cream, seem to rise to the top. Athens, Ga., is known as The Classic City of the South and many readers have visited this lovely college town. I hope everybody who reads this will want to visit the town and especially the gardens.
The Classic City awards are based on garden performance over the entire season in the Gardens at UGA, where spring is pleasant, summers are hot and organisms are lurking. We have chosen no one-week wonders; they have to impress us week after week. We try to choose mainstream bedding plants as well as off-the-wall plants that should be grown more. Hopefully, you will agree with some, disagree with others, but get them on the shelf so the consumer can have a fair chance of success. For more information, go to the UGA trial site, www.uga.edu/ugatrial.
This was a pleasant surprise. I’ve used this plant and loved it, but it took a while before it became commercially available and landscapers understood its toughness. It was placed at an entrance as a groundcover beneath ‘Stars and Stripes’ pentas, a welcoming sight to our visitors. Plants were less than 6 inches tall, had wonderful insect- and disease-proof gray-green foliage and were covered with bazillions of bright yellow flowers just above the foliage. Congratulations to Proven Winners and thank you for allowing us to trial this cultivar.
Cissus discolor
Good grief, talk about an unknown plant begging for someone to sell it. The fact that vines, particularly annual vines, are hardly hot these days made us think twice about including it as a winner. However, we could ignore the comments of people in the garden, and anyway, this is not a popularity contest. The plant grew and grew, completely covering the high-tech chicken wire trellis we employed. The dark maroon stems produced 4-inch-long, dark-green leaves colored in broad white stripes, creating an incredible, yet pleasant contrast. It produced so many leaves that the stems were scarcely visible. This vine was planted in partial shade (afternoon shade) where it thrived. When people asked where to buy it, I simply replied, “Wherever you can find it.”
Duranta ‘Cuban Gold,’ Athens Select
‘Cuban Gold’ can basically be planted and then be forgotten. The forgotten part is actually impossible because the plant illuminates the entire garden. What more can be said about a plant that has no maintenance, maintains its bright color even through blistering heat and drought, and is easy to place anywhere in the garden because of its compact habit? For us, plants grew to almost 3 feet in height, but could be trimmed to any height desirable. Plants do not flower, but this little glowing bush was enjoyed all season for its habit and color. Congratulations to Athens Select and thank you for allowing us to trial this cultivar.
Impatiens ‘Firefly Salmon II,’ Goldfisch by Goldsmith
It is difficult to stand out in such a crowded field as impatiens. We trialed dozens and dozens and there were many beauties among them. However, this is not the first time we oohed and aahed about the Fireflies. We fell in love with this series last year when we first saw them. The mature height of less than 12 inches of ‘Firefly Salmon II’ and the small colorful flowers created a designer’s dream. It would be easy to overlook such a Lilliputian plant when large-flowered impatiens loomed all around. However, there were countless mini-salmon blooms covering these plants all summer, and we couldn’t help but make it a 2006 pick. Congratulations to Goldfisch by Goldsmith and thank you for allowing us to trial this cultivar.
Lantana ‘Lucky Pot of Gold,’ Ball FloraPlant
We must have looked at more than 30 lantanas this summer, all supposedly better than the last. We probably could have given more than one lantana this award, but our eyes kept returning to ‘Lucky Pot of Gold.’ Not only was it the first of our lantanas to bloom, but it was flush with flowers even throughout our summer’s heat and drought. In addition to being completely covered in dark-yellow clusters of blooms all season, this lantana was compact in height. Students were enamored to its mature height of less than 3 feet. It did not become a huge, thorny monster some lantanas can be in our climate. Congratulations to Ball FloraPlant and thank you for allowing us to trial this cultivar.
New Guinea Impatiens ‘Sunpatiens Orange,’ Paul Ecke Ranch
Another breakthrough plant as far as I am concerned. We have worked with this series for a while and I had heard the hype. We placed all of the Sunpatiens series in containers in our blazing hot Georgia sun, all day. ‘Sunpatiens Orange’ grew to 3 feet in height but the sturdy stems housed large brilliant orange blossoms every day, and not rain, wind or students bad watering caused the plants to fall. Its dark-green leaves were never scorched or diseased despite the rain in early summer and the long, hot endless days of July and August. All Sunpatiens cultivars are “for real” but the Orange edged out her sisters slightly. We declare ‘Sunpatiens Orange’ indestructible. Congratulations to Paul Ecke Ranch and thank you for allowing us to trial this cultivar.
Petunia ‘Petitunia Joy Dream,’ Danziger
How many petunias can you count? How many petunias stand out all summer? The answers are “too many” and “hardly any.” After countless weeks, a hanging basket of ‘Petitunia Joy Dream’ blooms awed every eye viewing it. The dozens of small petunia blooms were lilac pink, and the throats were veined in dark rosy purple. Fantastic, and we don’t mind saying so. ‘Petitunia Joy Dream’ is very aptly named. Congratulations to Danziger and thank you for allowing us to trial this cultivar.
Tapioca ‘Variegata’ (Manihot esculenta ‘Variegata’)
I hate to repeat myself and I try not to get carried away by plants that are not patentable and little known. This was a Classic City Award winner last year and it is still little known, but I would do a disservice to these awards if this plant were not among them. Red stems, green, yellow and pink foliage, no bugs, no disease and tolerant of heat, drought and humidity. Plants are not difficult to propagate, look beautiful all summer and make for a good story.
Scaevola ‘Cajun Blue,’ Athens Select
The summer of 2006 was ideal for our scaevolas. It was a crowded field and many cultivars performed excellently. One in particular, ‘Cajun Blue,’ provided deep blue flowers densely arranged on the many flower stems. Its many arms presented us with innumerable small blue fans, which we wish we could have used to cool us in July and August. There were so many flowers that the blue masked the foliage. Are there too many scaevolas coming on the market? Not if they look as good as this one. Congratulations to Athens Select and thank you to DuPont Nurseries in Louisiana for introducing this cultivar.
Verbena ‘Lanai Bright Pink’ Goldfisch by Goldsmith
‘Lanai Bright Pink’ proved to be a superior verbena for our summers. It completely resisted powdery mildew despite early summer rain and the extreme heat that followed. It performed perfectly in every environment in which it was placed. The vibrant pink flower clusters covered foliage for months. When nearly every other verbena was resting, ‘Lanai Bright Pink’ was the Energizer Bunny, continuing to capture the eye. Congratulations to Goldfisch by Goldsmith and thank you for allowing us to trial this cultivar.
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