The following varieties are well worth checking out - and are probably available from the Darwin PlantSpotters retailers listed on our "where to buy" page.      

  
Brunnera 'Looking Glass'
Shimmering, frosted, all-silver leaves.

'Big Sky' series Echinaceas
The yellow 'Sunrise' and orange 'Sunset' are the first releases from this remarkable series.

Heuchera 'Caramel'
At last - a golden-leaved Heuchera that doesn't sacrifice strength for colour.
'Caramel' has a high proportion H. villosa species genes in its makeup, giving it a vigour that many green and purple-leaved varieties would be proud of!
The large leaves are varying shades of gold and caramel, set off beautifully by purple undersides. Absolutely stunning planted together with dark-leaved varieties, such as 'Obsidian'.
'Caramel'  is a 2006 introduction from French breeder Thierry Delabroye.

Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Summer Sorbet' 
A former Darwin PlantSpotters variety, this is a vibrant, colourful, small/medium sized deciduous shrub with striking golden variegated leaves and fluffy clusters of warm blue flowers late in summer.

It appeared as a shoot on a plant of C. 'Kew Blue', was spotted by Matthew Dyer, a production manager at West End Nurseries in Devon in the UK. Working together with the nursery's propagation manager Nicholas Raisey and owner Peter can Delft, they obtained two cuttings from the shoot from which this beautiful new variety was propagated.

Phlox dwarf varieties
A series of low-growing Phlox from Jan Verschoor are becoming available in 2006 and 2007. The short-stemmed plants have large flowers and upright habit associated with P. paniculata, but are crossed with other species to also give them good resistance to mildew attack.
See the story "Short Phlox in High Demand" under the "Other Varieties" section on Jan's breeder pages for full information.