As spring approaches the itch to get out of the house and get your hands dirty will become a full-blown rash. But while you're confined to thumbing through flower and seed catalogs, those who grow the flowers, plants and shrubs are stoking a fever of their own, creating a whole slew of new green goods.

This spring the emphasis in gardening will be on ease, convenience and results. New to the market are exotic annuals, patio ready plants, lightweight containers, and of course, dependable and disease-resistant roses.

The list of what’s new this spring goes on and on. You can feel that itch calming down already, can’t you? Or, after reading this, maybe it’s the other way around.

Specialty Annuals
New annuals from Simply Beautiful™ can easily be integrated into your garden to compliment perennials and shrubs. Try Kong™ coleus this year with its gigantic multi-colored leaves for the shade or Fusion™ Infrared exotic impatiens for containers.

And don’t forget your Wave Petunias! Easy Wave™ Red, the first true red in the Ride The Wave® petunias family, is phenomenal in garden beds where they can spread up to a whopping 3 ft.

Vincas return in a big way this season with Simply Beautiful’s Titan™ series, sporting gigantic flowers in eight colors including Polka Dot, Punch and Lavender Blue Halo.

Check out more new plants at www.simplybeautifulgardens.com.

Patio Ready Plants
Create an “instant patio ready” solution with color and long lasting appeal with the Raymond Evison Patio Clematis Collection™. Each plant comes in a decorative pot ready for your patio, deck, balcony or front porch.

Compact and showy, these container clematis are covered up and down the entire vine with richly hued flowers, creating a striking tower of color from spring through fall. Once enjoyed for the summer, they can be planted in the garden in fall and will spread like a ground cover.

For more information on the Raymond Evison Patio Collection™, visit www.hineshort.com.

New Stars in the Garden
Looking for a great low-maintenance rose for your garden? Why not choose The Pink Knock Out® Rose, a color sport of the breakthrough The Knock Out® Rose. Pink Knock Out blooms profusely and thrives in very humid climates, where most other roses need spraying.

Other new roses include Elle™, a hybrid tea AARS winner that produces long-stemmed shell pink roses with deep yellow undertones or White Drift™, the first compact rose ideal for hanging baskets. With pure white blooms and a strong spicy fragrance, this rose is sure to turn your neighbor’s heads.

To find out more about these and other fine Star® Roses, or to find a garden center near you that carries Star® Roses, visit www.starroses.com.

Contain yourself!
So you don’t have the time or space for a full-size garden? You can still get the flavor and feel of getting your hands dirty, and create elegant accents inside and outside your home with one or more of the latest “designer” containers from Campania International.

VP of Product Development Peter C. Cilio says,” The expansion of container materials and styles reflects the changes in what consumers are looking for in a container, as well as their desire to match specific styles with different parts of the home both inside and out. All varieties of materials can also be fit together to form an overall, different look.”

New products on the market include COTTO-Lite® and LEAD-Lite® Containers, which are lightweight alternatives to terra cotta and lead containers. Made from clay and other naturally found materials, these planters are durable and resistant to frost and ultra violet rays.

Give Your Plants a Boost
Turn up your plant’s own growth and defense systems with Messenger® (www.messenger.info) from Eden Bioscience. This revolutionary new plant care product is like a vaccination for your plants, increasing plant vigor while protecting its health. Environmentally safe, this breakthrough product enhances disease resistance. Spray it on throughout the growing season, and Messenger® will improve the overall performance of plants both indoors and outdoors.

Plant Encyclopedia
Imagine having an entire plant encyclopedia at your fingertips so that you could find the perfect shrub to fill that corner spot in your yard; or find the exact color of blue that would make any perennial a focal point in your garden this year. Now imagine that this encyclopedia was attached to your Yellow Pages so that you would know exactly where you could buy these plants. Better yet, what if it was all Free!

Introducing Virtual Plant Tags - The Searchable Plant Database, from Green Industry Yellow Pages. Now, using the search power of GIYP.com, you can find plant cultural information, photos and all the nurseries/garden centers that sell/grow them!

Well, if that rash has turned into a fever by now, we’ll understand. It’s shaping up to be one heckuva garden party this spring!

Now go grab a friend and head to your nearest garden center.

For additional images please contact Garden Media Group at (610) 388-9330 or via email at info@gardenmediagroup.com.