This is one of my favorite images from our catalogs and websites. It is Coreopsis ‘Snowberry,’ and it’s an amazing perennial that will tirelessly produce mounds of these arresting soft, creamy blooms, lending a real touch of elegance to your sunny garden throughout the entire summer. Even better, the foliage is evergreen, so it is attractive even when it isn’t in bloom. ‘Snowberry’ is a sterile sport of C. ‘Nana,’ so it won’t invest energy into seed production rather than making more flowers. This allows it to rebloom more quickly than many other Coreopsis, especially if you deadhead it regularly.
A similar lily, Red Twin Asiatic
That’s x Pardancanda, if you please — it’s an intergeneric cross of Belamcanda chinensis x Pardanthopsis dichotoma. The name is taken from part of each genus name: Pardan + canda. I have wondered if they knew they were going to call it “Candy Lily” when they came up with the new genus, because the “canda” bit does fit in nicely. (And if you’ve never heard of Pardanthopsis, it used to be called Iris dichotoma. It’s one of the beardless Irises, and has the lovely common name of Vesper Iris — presumably because the blooms opened at the hour for Vespers?)
Anyway, x Pardancanda was introduced by our own Doc Alston in the early ’70’s, but Doc will tell you that all the breeding was done by Sam Norris, who purchased the original plants from Park Seed. The species is named for him, but Mr. Norris never released any varieties onto the market, so Doc redid the crosses and came up with the mix that Park Seed has been selling so successfully for 40 years. Doc claims he played around with selecting individual colors but was never satisfied with the results, which does sound just like him — too modest by half! At any rate, there have been other selections, but I believe ‘Sangria’ is the first individual color. The flowers are larger and the season of interest even longer. Candy Lilies have those big, shiny, blackberry-like seedpods that people are keen to use in indoor arrangements, so after the blooms pass in late summer or early fall, the performance continues with a new look.
Read More