2024's Best New Plants!

Instead of ringing in the new year with champagne and balloons, why not treat yourself to a few new plants that you can enjoy through the growing season? There are a lot of interesting introductions to get excited about this year.

- Sherri Ribbey

WHAT’S NEW? This year’s standouts include vibrant new color choices and double-flowering varieties of old favorites, as well as interesting foliage variations and compact plant sizes. Don’t forget to check out our drawing for some of these new varieties below. Now let’s take a look at a few of our favorites.

Eclipse® bigleaf hydrangea

Hydrangea macrophylla You can’t miss the stunning deep purple, almost black, leaves of this new bigleaf hydrangea. We liked how well Eclipse held onto its dark color all summer in sun and part shade.

Raspberry pink blooms show up in summer and repeat until frost, fading to green and then brown papery flower heads you can leave standing for winter interest. This beautiful shrub is great as a focal point. Or grow several together to create a hedge with three-season drama.

Shrub Best features: Raspberry pink blooms on deep purple foliage Light: Full sun to part shade Soil: Well drained Size: 3 to 5 ft. tall and wide Cold hardy: USDA zones 5 to 9 Introducer: Bailey® Nurseries Source: Sooner Plant Farm, soonerplantfarm.com, 918-453-0771

1 Cappuccino calibrachoa 

Calibrachoa hybrid This new color in the Calitastic® series was a favorite in our test garden last year — plants were covered in blooms all summer! Plus it didn’t get super leggy (as some varieties do) and kept a compact size for most of the season.