This growing season gardeners will find many wonderful new cacti and succulents at nurseries, garden centers, and other sources. Here are details on some new euphorbias and spurges.


Hip Hop Euphorbia

This annual euphorbia is similar in some ways to Diamond Frost. This can be grown any time of the year as a flowering pot plant indoors. It is also suitable as an annual garden plant. It looks especially nice in mixed planters. Hip Hop has attractive deep green foliage.

One of the ideal uses for this variety is to mix and match it with poinsettias for the holidays. The large red poinsettia foliage forms the perfect background for viewing the delicate sprays of white blooms of Hip Hop.

Hip Hop blooms nonstop throughout the growing season. With a mounding growth habit, this is generally over a foot in height. It is reliably hardy to zone nine.


The Stardust Euphorbia Series

Among the new annual euphorbias are the new Stardust series. These plants are often sold as flowering pot plants for indoors and for outdoor container gardens. They can also be used in garden beds and borders for summer color.

The Stardust series is grown and treated much like the ever-popular Diamond Frost euphorbia. Stardust includes several beautiful shades. All of these have small, delicate blooms. Pink Glitter Stardust and Pink Shimmer Stardust have very dark colored foliage that contrasts beautifully with the flowers.

Pink Shimmer Stardust is literally a mass of white blooms with pink tinges. It has an open growth habit.

White Sparkle Stardust is covered with masses of white blooms. Very floriferous, it is a very compact plant.

Pink Glitter Stardust has the darkest foliage of all. Its floral bracts are pink.


Ruby Glow Spurge

This bushy, compact new hardy perennial is suitable for zone six. Reaching about a foot in height, it can be 1½ feet wide.

An evergreen, this is noted for the beautiful color it brings year-round. The stems are red. When grown in full sun, the leaves are almost black, while in partial shade they’re more like a burgundy. The new leaves emerge a vivid red.

This variety begins flowering in early spring. The flower bracts are yellow.