They should be on the market soon. Its big, colorful flowers last through September, a time when few other plants are blooming. Mich. Woods created a whole new look for hibiscus by creating large, single blooms adorned with a lacey, anemonelike center. Spring Meadow began selling liners earlier this year, so finished plants should be available to retailers in summer 2001. Physocarpus opulifolius Diabolo Ninebark Vigorous, deciduous Diabolo ninebark from Monrovia in Azusa, Calif., creates small thickets 9-12 feet high and wide.
Conspicuous foliage emerges a rich copper, quickly becoming deep burgundy.
This plant is very effective in the landscape when combined with yellow-leafed plants and in the shrub border, as a hedge, specimen or screen. Rhododendron 'Lemon Lights' Rhododendron 'Lemon Lights' from Bailey Nurseries Inc. in St. Paul, Minn., has beautiful yellow, almost bicolor flowers with both a lighter shade of yellow on outer edges of petals and a more gold-toned throat of the flower. Lemon Lights' requires full to partial sun and well-drained but moist, acidic, organic soils. Its striking color and excellent powdery mildew resistance provide this introduction's market appeal.