Mountain Fleece’s ‘Glowing Reviews’ is marketed under the Proven Winners Perennials collection. It has dramatic red flowers that emerge from dark red buds, creating a striking with its golden-chartreuse foliage. (Photo by Kathy Jentz)
This is the gray and brown season in our garden, but that doesn’t stop we gardeners from dreaming of the garden season to come.
Your local garden centers and nurseries are busy preparing for the growing season during these “slower” winter months by ordering new products, gathering inspiration, and collecting knowledge.
Many of them were attending the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS). This year’s event was held Jan. 7-9 in Baltimore.
As a garden communicator, I attend MANTS each year to get an early look at the new offerings that may be for sale this year at a local garden center near you.
We can all use some flowers and color in these chilly winter days, so let me start with the new plants I learned about at the event.
Star Roses and Plants had several introductions, but the one I plan to add to my own garden is the new Martha Stewart Rose.
You know Martha didn’t just pick any rose to be her namesake, right? She chose one with full, apricot-pink blooms and truly luscious scent.
It is a hybrid tea rose that grows to about 2 to 3 feet wide and high. It also has good disease-resistance and performance
We also have show-stopper flowers in the garden, but have you ever grown one that actually glows in the dark?
The new Firefly Petunia from Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants is a true innovation. By day, it looks like an ordinary white petunia, but at night it glows pleasantly — lighting up pathways and planters.
Another cool innovation from Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants is the Purple Tomato.
It is purple inside and out (not just the skin) and tastes delicious! (I was able to sample one.) This cherry-sized tomato is packed with antioxidants and has twice the shelf life of red tomatoes.
Did you know that 2026 is the Year of the Azalea? One great way to celebrate is to add a new azalea to your garden.
A new one from Plant Development Services Inc. is the Encore Azalea Autumn Velvet.
It is a re-blooming shrub with dark magenta flowers and a lovely addition to the Encore azalea line.
For me, the most stunning plant at MANTS was the Mountain Fleece (Persicaria amplexicauli) ‘Glowing Reviews’ in the Walters Gardens booth. This is marketed under the Proven Winners Perennials collection.
It has dramatic red flowers that emerge from dark red buds, creating a striking contrast with its golden-chartreuse foliage. Bonus, it is loved by pollinators and is deer- and rabbit-resistant.
On the product side of things, I have to mention the BioTags from HIP Labels.
As a gardener who cares about the environment, one of my biggest frustrations is not being able to recycle or re-use all those plastic plant tags.
These new tags are soil-biodegradable, meaning they will completely disintegrate when buried in the ground. It will be a few years until you see BioTags used in stores, but I personally am looking forward to the day I can bury the tags at the same time as planting my annual flowers.
Another cool new innovation was the Witch Hitch (http://thewitchhitch.com/).
This hitch converts wheelbarrows and other wheeled tools into towable equipment, then disconnects instantly so you move loads faster with less labor.
I think we can all agree that anything that saves labor is a good thing!
One product that I saw is not new, but an oldie, but goodie, that has been forgotten about, but is being brought back to the market by Mid-Atlantic Pine Straw (https://midatlanticpinestraw.com/).
Salt Hay is a type of natural cord grass that grows in salt marshes along the Eastern Seaboard.
It’s used as a vegetable garden mulch, but unlike wheat straw it contains no weed seeds.
It also protects the soil, both insulating it and retaining moisture.
It is rot resistant, does not compact, and decomposes slowly
Another organic product useful for your vegetable garden is Neptune’s Harvest crushed crab and lobster shells.
The shell meal mix contains calcium (17 percent) and magnesium (1 percent).
It can be worked into the soil or used as a top-dressing.
If deer are an issue for you, then the Natura systemic tablets (https://www.deergone.com/) will be of interest.
The tablets are pushed into the soil at the root zone of herbaceous plants like hostas and daylilies. They release a bitter compound (don’t worry, it is made of organic, food-grade ingredients) that the plant takes up in its stems and leaves.
Deer take one bite and learn their lesson. Unlike repellent sprays that fade or wash away, there is no need to reapply the tablets until the next growing season.
After visiting MANTS each year, I leave ready and recharged for the coming growing season.
I am so excited to try out these new plants and products in my own garden and hope you will add a few to yours as well!
(Editor’s note: Kathy Jentz hosts the popular GardenDC Podcast and is the Editor/Publisher of Washington Gardener Magazine. She is the co-author of “The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City” and author of “Groundcover Revolution.” A life-long gardener, Kathy believes that growing plants should be stress-free and enjoyable. Her philosophy is inspiration over perspiration. She can be reached at KathyJentz@gmail.com or www.washingtongardener.com.)
