Shrubs & Landscape Plants of The Year
The Proven Winners "Plant of the Year" Program is designed to highlight plants that provide superb container, landscape, and garden performance. For 2024, Proven Winners has designated a "best of" for a landscape plant, a rose, a hydrangea, and a flowering shrub. You can learn more about all of the National Plants of the Year here.
Hydrangea macrophylla × serrata (Reblooming Hydrangea)-
Let's Dance Sky View®
Who doesn't love a standout reblooming Hydrangea that is easy to care for and can face the weather challenges of the north?! Proven Winners 'Let's Dance Sky View®' Hydrangea performs as beautiful as it sounds with its sky blue with honey-dew green center blooms. What really sets this Hydrangea apart from the others is its ability to conserve old wood buds while continuing to create new flowers all summer through fall. Plant in a partial sun to sunny spot and change the pH of the soil to change colors from pink to blue. Total size averages 24-36" high and 24-48" wide.
Learn more about the 2024 Proven Winners' Hydrangea of the Year.
Awarded by America's top rose organization for its disease resistance, this rose is 'oso easy' to care for (it's right in the name!) Proven Winners' 'Oso Easy Peasy®' Rose has apple-green foliage topped with beautiful clusters of magenta flowers that will continue to bloom from early summer through fall. Plant in a full sun spot in the landscape and enjoy the vibrant blooms without deadheading! Total size averages 30-40" high by 30-40" wide.
Learn more about the 2024 Proven Winners' Rose of the Year.
'Wine & Spirits®' -
Weigela florida
If you're a fan of Proven Winners' classic Wine & Roses Weigela, you may want to add 'Wine & Spirits' Weigela to the garden as well! This updated variety provides a perfect contrast of dramatic dark foliage with mounded crisp white-green flowers. Weigela is a popular pollinator attractor, is deer-resistant, and thrives in full sun. It is best when used in shrub borders, mixed borders, edging, groundcover, and in containers. Total size averages 36-60" high and 36-60" wide.
Learn more about the 2024 Proven Winners' Flowering Shrub of the Year.
'Fizzy Mizzy®' - Itea virginica (Sweetspire)
If you live in WNY, you know our soil doesn't always have the most nutrients, which can sometimes make gardening tricky. Luckily, Proven Winners' 'Fizzy Mizzy®' Sweetspire can handle just about anything! Not only does its fragrant, upright, green-white spiky blooms and dark green foliage create a stunning focal point in the garden, but it can also be planted pretty much anywhere! This Itea can take full shade to full sun and can tolerate excess moisture, making it a great plant for wet spots.
This shrub has a very tidy, uniform habit, and with its petite size can be planted in containers or landscapes and is a great focal point plant. Did we mention it is deer-resistant and attracts bees and butterflies?! The average size is 24-36" high and 24-36" wide. Bloom time is early summer to mid-summer.
Learn more about the 2024 Proven Winner Landscape Shrub of the Year.
'Storm Cloud' Bluestar Amsonia tabernaemontana
This 'true blue' Bluestar perennial is low maintenance, easy to care for, and a showstopper in the garden! Proven Winners' 'Storm Cloud' Bluestar is best used as a border plant or in the landscape as a focal point. Dark stems emerge from the ground in spring with silver-veined olive green leaves, topped with clusters of mounding star-shaped periwinkle blue flowers. This shrub is deer-resistant and heat-tolerant, blooming in late spring/early summer. It can tolerate pretty much any soil type and grows to be 24-30" high by 38-42" wide. Grows best in full sun to part shade.
Learn more about the 2024 Proven Winner Landscape Perennial of the Year.