Butterfly Candy and Better Boxwood debut, while Encore Azalea, Sunset Plant Collection, and Southern Living Plant Collection add exciting new varieties.
Loxley, Alabama—November 2022)—Plant Development Services, Inc. (PDSI) is preparing to unveil two new brands and three much-anticipated new varieties within their Sunset® Plant Collection, Southern Living® Plant Collection, and Encore® Azalea brands during MANTS 2023 in Baltimore. Considered the must-attend event of the winter trade shows, MANTS visitors look for landscape and garden solutions to wow their residential and commercial customers. These nothing-but-business attendees need to look no further than PDSI’s booth #33-36.
Better Boxwood™
The debut brand, Better Boxwood™, is the first collection of boxwood scientifically bred for its ability to resist blight and is the result of more than two decades of breeding and trials in Europe. PDSI is proud to partner with Everde Growers to offer liners to growers now. The series will arrive on the consumer market in 2023. The Better Boxwood™ series’ four blight-resistant varieties will deliver unique sizes and forms to fill any Boxwood need:
- Buxus Skylight™: 6-8 ft. tall and 3-4 ft. wide. Fast-growing with medium-green leaves. Suitable for topiary and medium hedges.
- Buxus Babylon Beauty™: 3 ft. tall and 4-5 ft. wide. Light green leaves with low spreading growth. Suitable for ground cover or layering.
- Buxus Heritage™: 3-4 ft. tall and 2-3 ft. wide. Dark green leaves. Similar to Buxus sempervirens but slightly more compact. Ideal as a hedge or pruning form.
- Buxus Renaissance™: 1-2 ft. tall and 1-2 ft. wide. Low-growing with dark green leaves. Ideal for low hedges and borders.
Butterfly Candy™ Buddleia
Both butterflies and gardeners are in for a sweet treat spring of 2023. PDSI’s retail debut of Butterfly Candy™ Buddleia will offer a collection of five flower-filled, yet compact-growing, new varieties of butterflies’ favorite delight: the butterfly bush.
Pollinators will flock to Butterfly Candy™ varieties for their nectar-bearing treasures, but what will attract garden consumers? Color, bloom-power, and the dwarf habit.
A habit of just 2-3 ft. tall and wide requires no pruning while maintaining the perfect stature for small garden spaces and porch container plantings. Thriving in full-sun conditions in USDA Zones 5-10, all Butterfly Candy™ varieties are water-wise once they become established.
The collection’s imaginative branding and easy-breezy-care score high for customer appeal. Each of the collection’s five vibrant varieties is paired with an eye-catching, color-coordinated pot and playfully named varieties, including Lil’ Coconut™ with warm white flowers, Lil’ Bubblegum™ with pastel light pink flowers, Lil’ Raspberry™ with electric pink flowers in fuchsia tones, Lil’ Lavender™ offering soft purple flowers, and finally the bold bright purple flowers of Lil’ Grape™.
Three New Varieties to Premiere
Additional highlights from PDSI brands set to debut at MANTS 2023 include:
Encore® Azalea Autumn Moonstruck™. The latest variety to join the lauded Encore collection, Autumn Moonstruck is the first Encore variety to have year-round variegated foliage. The new variety’s striking lemon-yellow streaks on green leaves offer four seasons of visual interest. Ruffled white blooms cover the compact shrub (growing to 3 feet tall and wide) from spring through fall. Hardy in USDA Zones 7-10, Autumn Moonstruck will be available to the trade in 2023 and for the consumer market in 2024.
Bohemian Beauty™ Leucothoe. Another variegated evergreen, Bohemian Beauty tops off at 4 feet tall and wide, making it the perfect pick for foundations and hedges in USDA Zones 6a-9b. Spring’s new growth flushes with pink, green, and white-speckled leaves, while small white, bell-shaped flowers offer that extra touch. A special bonus: It’s deer-resistant!
Abelia Suntastic™ Peach. This abelia’s unique warm apricot-variegated foliage shines all four seasons, but especially in the cooler months of winter. Spring’s new foliage unveils as a warm yellow and green, highlighting its vivid crimson stems. Fragrant white tubular blooms appear in midsummer and continue through fall. This USDA Zone 6 variety is compact, reaching just 3 ft. by 5 ft. tall and wide.
Bohemian Beauty™ Leucothoe and Abelia Suntastic™ Peach will both be available for the trade beginning in 2023 and for the consumer market for 2024 through the Sunset Plant Collection and the Southern Living Plant Collection.
Learn about these fantastic new garden performers and PDSI’s entire catalog of varieties while attending MANTS at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland, January 11-13, 2023 at Booth #33-36. For more information about the show, visit www.mants.com.
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About Plant Development Services Inc.
Plant Development Services Inc. was founded in 1996 by Greg Smith of the third-generation, family-owned Flowerwood Nursery, Inc. Plant Development Services owns and/or licenses more than 300 patented plant properties and boasts three top-ranking plant brands: Encore® Azalea, the Southern Living® Plant Collection and the Sunset® Plant Collection.
To learn more about Plant Development Services Inc., visit https://plantdevelopment.com/