Every year there are new fantastic plants to be bought. Do the bright newcomers out compete options that have survived market trends for decades? Here are the new (and not so new) plants that landscape designers and installers recommend for their ability to provide multi seasonal beauty as well as durability in the landscape.
From Ben Necessary, Owner of Native Roots Plant Market:
Tangerine Beauty Crossvine – A vigorous early summer vine with beautiful orange flowers.
Sugar Shack Buttonbush – A great 3-4’ tall/wide shrub that offers foliage, flower and fruit for a long season of interest.
Lemon Drops Dogwood – A small tree (10’) good for naturalizing and known for its yellow fruit.
Henry Eilers Rudbeckia, White Wands Veronica, Michael Dodge Viburnum, Longwood Blue Spirea, Kodiak Orange Diervilla, Indigofera heterantha, Mahonia japonica, Phenomenal Lavender, and Blonde Ambition Bouteloua
Native Roots Plant Market is a place to find a little bit of everything and always something interesting.
Owner: Ben Necessary
https://nativerootscincy.com/
6840 Clough Pike, Cincinnati, OH 45244
From James Wood, Landscape Designer at Bloomin' Gardens:
Callicarpa Early Amethyst – This 3-4’ tall and wide shrub has delicate pink flowers in the summer and then shows off bright purple berries in the fall
Arborvitae Anna’s Magic Ball – There are all kinds of rounded arbs out there to use instead of boxwood. Anna’s Magic Ball is a small, gold evergreen that stays rounded without the constant trimming.
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Butterfly Bush Miss Molly – Deep pink/red flowers encourage pollinators of all kinds on this sun loving summer shrub.
Denny McKeown’s Bloomin' Garden supplies a broad variety of plants and the people who know everything about them.
Owner: Chris McKeown
https://bloomingarden.com/
8793 Kenwood Rd, Blue Ash, OH 45242
My new plant obsessions for this year are:
Baptisia, any kind you can find and have room for (she is a big perennial). They are tough, sun loving, deer resistant, durable, and now come in a lot more colors than just purple.
I love the Alliums that are now everywhere with Millenium leading the pack. Great spring foliage, long lasting purple summer flowers and a structure that holds up into the fall.
When it comes to trees I love using Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica). There are so many great varieties like Wildfire, Red Rage and Tupelo Tower with vibrant fall color and lots of options in mature size.
I am also getting some mileage out of all the new Arborvitaes that are available as long as the deer pressure isn’t too heavy.
Lastly, I love native ornamental grasses whose cultivars have made a splash on the plant market. Panicums, Prairie Dropseed, Little and Big Bluestems are all fantastic in the landscape.