Meet the 2022 debutantes of the gardening world
We all have our favorite perennial (no pun intended) favorites, but if you ask us, no landscape is complete without a fun new pick every year. Plant experts spend years, if not decades, transforming tiger lilies, reworking roses, and perfecting pansies. And while some plants thrive best in highly specialized soil or narrow hardiness zones, most of these new picks require little upkeep to show off their style. Read on to decide which picks to add to your plant party this year.
1. Suncredible® Saturn Sunflower (Helianthus)
Kicking things off with a burst of color, these friendly new members of the sunflower family will bloom all the way from planting to the first hard frost of the fall. The Suncredible® Saturns grow up to three feet tall and provide reliable, steady color throughout the season. Plant them along the back of your garden, in patio planters, or cut a few stems for a bouquet on the kitchen table.
These vibrant overachievers are tolerant against heat, drought, disease, and even fall temps. They’ll attract bees and butterflies but deter nibbling deer. They grow best in full sunshine and thrive as perennials in hardiness zones 9a through 11b, and as annuals further north.
2. Fizzy Mizzy® Sweetspire (Itea Virginica)
In the early days of summer, when our gardens just begin to come alive, the Fizzy Mizzy® Itea—AKA, a new variety of sweetspire—adds a touch of elegant lace to your yard. Deep green leaves act as the backdrop to long spires decked in diminutive white flowers. And despite its tall reach—between 2- and 3-feet high—Fizzy Mizzies® stay quite tidy, making them an excellent pick for containers lining your porch or as the main event in the center of a small garden. Choose either a sunny or shady spot in Zones 5a through 9b.
3. Midnight Cascade(tm) Blueberry
How would you like to add a few fresh blueberries to your morning granola? Pick them right off your Midnight Cascade—the first hanging blueberry bush of its kind. Hardy in Zones five through nine, the Midnight Cascade kicks off the season with fairy-tale-worthy, bell-shaped white flowers in the spring. Enjoy antioxidant-rich blueberries during the summer and fall, as well as the happy pollinators they will attract to your garden. When fall weather rolls in, the lush green foliage will transform into a deep red to match your surrounding autumn scenery.
4. Pepper Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry Pepper
Imagine popping this sweet and crisp bell pepper on top of a salad at your next summer barbecue and announcing that your guests are one of the first to ever try it. This fresh variety of pepper transforms from a green-and-white-striped fruit to a multi-hued mix of deep chocolate red, orange, and green. As a mini-bell pepper, expect veggies that measure around 3.5 inches long and 2.5 inches wide. The plant takes about 70 days to harvest—and remember that bell peppers need stable, warm, and sun-filled conditions for best results in your vegetable garden.
5. Little Hottie® Panicle Hydrangea
Aptly named for its compact size and eye-catching good looks, the Little Hottie® hydrangea adds a whole lot of beauty to your garden while only taking up between three and five feet of space. This flowering shrub’s color scheme is also unique, producing pale green blooms that develop into a creamy white hue by late summer. And if you’re lounging in the backyard in the evening, check out how the petals transition to a soft shade of white and pink after the sun sets. Little Hotties® thrive in most of the U.S., from Zones three to eight.
6. Heart to Heart® ‘Clowning Around’ Caladium
Classically heart-shaped caladiums are a must-have to round out your garden, but this new vibrant variety adds a patch of pink, orange, and green rarely seen all in one leaf. These lush bulb plants also love a bit of shade, so they’re ideal for lining a flower garden that sits against a large tree or under the eaves of your house. While Heart to Hearts® thrive best in the ground in Zones 10a to 11b, northern gardeners can fill containers with caladiums and bring them indoors in the winter.
7. ‘Atlas Black’ Pansy
How often can you layer your garden with pops of black deep purple? These dramatic and head-turning pansies just hit the market and can adorn your hanging planters, containers, and flower beds from spring to fall. Add these contrasting flowers to your garden in a new way each season, such as by lining your walkways, placing pots of pansies up the front steps, or hanging them on the front porch for an autumnal touch. They love both full sun and partial sun and will bloom in cool and warm weather.
8. PRAIRIE WINDS® ‘Lemon Squeeze’ Fountain Grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides)
Whether you’re going for a country cottage style or sprawling prairie vibes, the newly minted Lemon Squeeze Pennisetum will add texture and character to your garden either way. This ornamental fountain grass grows over 3 feet tall and sprouts chartreuse and copper leaves through the summer and autumn. These grasses love well-draining, loamy soil in zones five through nine and love direct sunshine. Line the back of your garden, the side of your home, or a dreamy secret-garden walkway with this spirited grass variety and watch them blow in the breeze throughout the year.
9. Violet Knight™ Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
Looking for consistently vivacious color from your porch plants all season long? Call on the Violet Knight™ Lobularia, a multi-season plant that can stand the temperature fluctuations of spring, the heat of summer, and the chill of fall. Lush and densely gathered purple blooms flourish the moment you harden off the plant and introduce it to your front porch or garden. Its beauty will even remain until the first frost of autumn. Unsurprisingly, these vibrant flowers attract bees and butterflies with their inviting perfumes. Enjoy as a perennial in zones 9a through 11b and an annual in all others.
10. Let’s Dance ¡Arriba!® Hydrangea
These rapidly reblooming hydrangeas will have you doing the rumba, salsa, and samba the moment they burst full of pink and purple flowers in the summer. Combining two varieties of lush hydrangea strains—H. Macrophylla and H. Serrata—the Let’s Dance ¡Arriba!® flowers mature in just a couple of seasons after planting. Add them to the corners of your walkways, line the front of your home, or add to a large planter in either direct or partial sun in zones four through nine. What’s more, this hydrangea’s color will vary depending on your soil’s pH, but always range from a stunning deep pink to eye-catching purple.
11. Watermelon Century Star F1
If you have an end-of-summer barbecue on the calendar, consider putting an award-winning watermelon on the menu. Champion of the All-American Selection competition in 2022, this new star of the show gets its name from the constellation pattern of small yellow dots on a deep-green rind. Expect up to 10 pounds of fruit from each plant with two or three fruits each season. Watermelon can thrive across the country, but be sure to give it plenty of time to develop in a well-drained, sunny spot without the threat of frost.
12. Petite Knock Out® Rose
Knock Out® Roses owe their namesake to their outstanding blooms, bright colors, and famously easy-to-maintain qualities. For the first time, Knock Out® Roses now come in a delicate petite size, perfect for adding to small gardens and spreading across planters along your patio. The blooms spread just over one inch and the shrub itself can reach up to 18 inches tall and 18 inches wide. Since these ruby red roses grow in dense and bushy shrubs, consider filling a barrel or basket planter as a focal point of the porch or line your walkway with the petite plants. While hardy to zone 5, they will grow in zones four through 10.
13. Head Over Heels® Adore Hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos)
Attract the attention of the bees, butterflies, and your next-door neighbors with this frequently blooming new hibiscus variety. The Head Over Heels® Adore Hibiscus produces plate-sized crimson pink flowers between six and eight inches across. Additionally, the pink petals sit against a backdrop of green and burgundy leaves that flourish from early summer through fall. Plant in an area with full sun in zones four through 10 and water regularly during its development period.
14. SIMPLY SCENTSATIONAL® Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus)
If there’s one bloom on our list that takes the cake for its stunning aroma, it’s the Simply Scentsational® Calycanthus floridus—a plant breed that’s been in the works for 18 years. While you’ll get pulled in by the antique beauty of its burgundy blooms, you’ll want to stick around for the aromas of bubblegum and pineapple that’s like no other plant you’ve met before. And just to go above and beyond, the fragrance sticks around even after wilting. Plant this sweetshrub in Hardiness Zones four through nine in a sunny or partially shady spot.
15. ‘String Theory’ Bluestar (Amsonia)
You may have never met a plant-of-all-seasons quite like the ‘String Theory’ bluestar. It starts off the spring with delicate periwinkle blooms before showing off deep green leaves in the summer and fire-like gold in the fall. The months-long transition all takes place with minimal upkeep, as it is highly heat and humidity tolerant, flourishes in most soil types, and loves both full and partial sun in zones four through nine. Add this nearly-two-foot-tall stunner to the back of your flower garden, or along the front porch.
16. Coral Red Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum)
Succulent gardens add rich texture, color, and delicateness to a rocky landscape. These hens and chicks show off a vibrant cross between rich chestnut and burgundy with layer after layer of lush foliage. Hens and chicks mix perfectly with green succulents and cacti or hold their own without company. These ruby beauties will bloom best in the summer heat, are doubt-tolerant, and thrive in zones four through eight. Allow between 14 and 16 inches for spacing.
17. Pinktini™ Lilac
If you’ve always dreamed of adding a lilac shrub to your yard but don’t quite have the space to let it flourish, this compact pink companion will become a new favorite. The playful Pinktini™ lilac contrasts blush pink blooms against fresh green leaves from late spring to the end of summer. Growing up to 5 feet tall but only 4 feet wide at most, line your front yard with Pinktinis™ or add one as an accent to the corner of your flower garden. Prune the flowers in spring after its first bloom for best results and grow anywhere from Zones two through seven.
18. Lily Double Oriental Rose Lily™ ‘Samantha’
There’s no missing these garden-show-winning, neighbor-head-turning blooms when they take center stage in your garden. Oriental lily lovers can now enjoy several more layers of tropical pink, white, and red-freckled petals tucked within an already multi-layered blossom. And not only are the blooms stunning, but the plant grows as high as three-free tall. Plant these memorable beauties in zones four through nine and in full sun to enjoy 5-inch blooms and all the pollinators they attract.
19. ‘Real Goldcup’ Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum)
The Real Goldcup is a new-to-the-block shasta daisy that can do everything from lining your flower garden to filling a vase in your dining room. Easy to care for, these new Shastas are deer-resistant, happy in Zones five through nine, and ready to show off lemon petals from spring to the fall. And since Shasta daisies are hardy perennials, you’ll only need to divide them every two or three years to keep them coming back for more.
20. Artemisia ‘SunFern™’
If you’ve ever wanted the lush texture of ferns in a sunny spot, here’s your solution. These fern-like textured plants resemble an evergreen shrub and work as a companion plant in containers or an accent plant in the landscape. And unlike some other groundcovers, SunFerns are non-invasive and won’t spread. Plus, they’re low-maintenance and drought-tolerant.
Even a quick glimpse at this list can have you dreaming of a garden packed with every new plant—grasses, lilies, roses, and all. If you need a hand choosing the best pick for your hardiness zone, soil, and landscape layout, call your local gardener to start designing the best flower beds in town.
