Plant breeders are listening to growers and gardeners, who are asking for low input, drought-tolerant plants that look great. There are some exciting new additions to this year's line up of new plant introductions, including some lovely low-water annuals and tough perennials that perform well all summer.

Look for these plants, and others like them, at your local member garden centre this spring. Keep in mind that plants are a living commodity, and availability depends on more than weather and growing environment. Knowledgeable garden centre staff will be able to suggest similar varieties should the specific one you are searching for be temporarily unavailable.

'Shirazz' dwarf Japanese maple Acer palmatum 'Shirazz' This new Japanese maple variety has multi-coloured leaves ranging from a blend of pinks, greens, and creamy-white. New growth emerges with hues of striking crimson-pink with white margins. Fall colours are tones of crimson red to scarlet. 'Shirazz' is an upright grower at first, then becomes gracefully arching. The plant offers heat resistant foliage and striking variegation. Canadale Nurseries Miss Molly dwarf butterfly bush Buddleia 'Miss Molly' Outstanding flowers of dark sangria-red. A prolific bloomer with a compact habit. Zone 6. Canadale Nurseries Pink Heartbreaker weeping redbud Cercis canadensis 'Pink Heartbreaker' A compact, weeping tree with strong branching habit. Beautiful pink blooms. A nice, small tree. Canadale Nurseries Fire & Ice hydrangea Hydrangea paniculata 'Wim's Red' A new hybrid that provides three seasons of colour, large flower clusters open cream, mature to pink in mid-summer and deepen to burgundy in the fall. Grows 120 cm (4 ft.) tall. -35 degrees. Canadale Nurseries Let's Dance® Big Easy hydrangea Hydrangea macrophylla 'Berner' The Let's Dance hydrangeas bloom on both new and old wood, delivering seasons of flowers. The Big Easy is the largest in the series, and blooms go through a progression of colour changes from pink/green to pink and often back to green. Large mophead flowers held on strong stems. Zone 6. Grows 60-90 cm (2-3 ft.). Canadale Nurseries Emerald Spire® columnar crabapple Malus x 'Jefgreen' Emerald Spire® is a slow-growing small columnar tree with a mature size of 5 m (15 ft.) by 2 m (6 ft.). It produces pink spring flowers and red fruit in late summer. Its disease-free foliage is outstanding throughout the growing season. It serves as an ideal accent tree or summer privacy screen. It has shown good winter hardiness and excellent disease resistance in Manitoba for the last five years. Jeffries Nurseries Amber Jubilee® ninebark Physocarpus opulifolus 'Jefam' A seedling of the cross 'Diabolo' x 'Darts Gold', Amber Jubilee® ninebark was named in honour of Queen Elizabeth's upcoming 2012 Diamond Jubilee. During a visit to Winnipeg in 2010, her majesty Queen Elizabeth II took part in the ceremonial planting of this new shrub created in her honour. Hardy to Zone 2, Amber Jubilee is a medium shrub reaching a mature height of 2 m (5-6 ft.) and a width of 1.5 m (4 ft.). Amber Jubilee offers a unique blend of foliage colours, including new growth that takes on shades of yellow and orange in summer before turning purple in the fall. Annual pruning of the stem tips will help this plant look its best. Jeffries Nurseries Domingo limber pine Pinus flexilis 'Domingo' A fantastic lawn specimen, fuller than P. flexilis Vanderwolf. Canadale Nurseries Goldspur® Amur cherry Prunus maackii 'Jefspur' Goldspur® is a unique selection of amur cherry with dense, peach-like foliage. Mature plants reach about 5 m (15 ft.) in height with a 9 ft. (3 m) spread; about half of that for typical Prunus maackii seedlings. Creamy white spring flowers produce compact racemes of tiny black fruit in mid-summer. Goldspur's golden exfoliating bark is a desirable winter feature. Goldspur is a very distinctive tree with its dwarf growth habit and dense, dark-green foliage. Resistant to black knot fungal disease. Jeffries Nurseries, JC Bakker & Sons

READ MORE ABOUT: