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Year in Review: Top 10 Garden Performers of 2023
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Susan Martin
What a year it has been! 2023 was a gorgeous year in our expanded display gardens here at Garden Crossings in Zeeland, Michigan. With fairly moderate temperatures and decent rainfall, our plants flourished, creating a vibrant swathe of color across the front of our retail garden center. Let’s take a look back at ten of the most outstanding plants from our gardens this season.
#1 – Supertunia Vista® Jazzberry® petunia
This intense magenta-flowered petunia has been one of our favorites from the very first time we grew it, and it has been an extraordinary performer in our containers and landscapes again this year. We’ve used it as a groundcover, edging and in containers and have been happy with it in each application. There’s nothing like this plant’s vibrant coloration to attract the attention of everyone driving by. This year, we planted it in front of our house, too. See what its carpet of blooms looked like when it was time to remove it this fall in this video (at 5:50). Annual, full sun to part sun, 12-24” tall.
#2 – Supertunia® Saffron Finch™ petunia – New for Spring 2024!
We are super excited to be adding this new, clear yellow flowered Supertunia to our lineup in 2024. Saffron Finch petunia coordinated well with just about everything we paired it with in our trials this year. It’s just the right shade of yellow – not too gold and bold enough to hold its own with both pastels and bright colors. Like all Supertunias, it bloomed for us all season without deadheading and with consistent feeding. We plan to use it extensively in our container recipes and in our gardens next year. Look for this new variety to debut on our website soon. Annual, full sun to part sun, 4-12” tall.
#3 – Rockin’® Playin’ the Blues® salvia
Here’s a plant we are impressed with every single year, and it takes the prize for our longest blooming annual in 2023. See it here in mid-November in my Northern Michigan garden still going strong even after several frosts. Rockin’ Playin’ the Blues salvia is an annual for us here in zone 6a, but if you live in zones 7 or warmer, you can expect it to survive the winter and return the following year. Its vivid indigo blue flower spikes can reach up to 4 feet tall and will attract pollinating bees, butterflies and hummingbirds all season. Typically grown as an annual but is perennial in zones 7-10, full sun, 2-4’ tall.
#4 – ‘Paint the Town Red’ pinks (Dianthus)
Dianthus is always one of the showiest perennials in the springtime, but most varieties wait until cooler fall weather arrives to rebloom. This year, we grew ‘Paint the Town Red’ en masse near the front of a border and were incredibly impressed with its flower power. Its deep magenta red flowers glowed in the spring (pictured here in early June), but more flowers continued to come throughout the summer as the plants rebloomed. The Paint the Town series of Dianthus was selected for its ability to rebloom through the summer heat, and we’ve certainly found that to be true in our gardens. See the whole series here. Perennial in zones 4-9, full sun to part shade, 6-8” tall.
#5 – Color Spires® ‘Back to the Fuchsia’ salvia
If you want to see pollinators in late May in Michigan, head to the perennial salvias that are in full bloom that time of year. Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds absolutely love these plants, but deer and rabbits typically leave them alone. We were most impressed with ‘Back to the Fuchsia’ this year, shown here on May 31, 2023 in the zone 6a trial garden. The plants were perfectly upright and mounded, the flowers were large for a perennial salvia, and their color stood out from across the landscape. It’s been a good rebloomer for us, too. Here it is pictured in the garden this year, but also check out this video from the garden in 2022. Perennial in zones 3-8, full sun, 22-24” tall.
#6 – Fire Spinner® ice plant (Delosperma)
For those of you who face extreme heat and drought conditions, plant selection is key. Hardy ice plant makes a great small scale groundcover in such places, or any other spot where you need a durable plant that doesn’t require much moisture to thrive. We love Fire Spinner ice plant for its fiery orange and magenta blooms with a white center glow. This plant blooms most prolifically in late spring to early summer but continues to produce more flowers sporadically over much of the summer. See it in action here. Perennial in zones 5-8, full sun, 2-3” tall.
#7 – ‘All Gold’ hakone grass (Hakonechloa)
On the total opposite end of the spectrum as Fire Spinner® ice plant is this shade and moisture loving ornamental grass. I like to tuck it between plants in my part shade garden at home to give it a pop of color. It really brightens up the landscape and its vibrance is consistent from spring through fall. If you leave this grass standing through the winter, birds will use it to help make their nests in early spring. Chartreuse is a color that complements virtually every other color, so feel free to sprinkle it liberally throughout your landscape. Perennial in zones 5-9, part shade to full shade, 1-2’ tall.
#8 – ‘Aphrodite’ sweetshrub (Calycanthus)
Sometimes you need a large shrub to block a view or create a “living wall” at the back of a border. ‘Aphrodite’ sweetshrub is perfect for such uses. It grows quickly to reach 5 to 10 feet tall and wide, so you’ll get the look you are going for fast. We love this shrub’s unique appearance, from its fragrant, large, wine red, magnolia-like blossoms to its broad, tropical looking foliage. For us here in zone 6a, this shrub flowers from late spring well into summer with its strong reblooming ability. The foliage turns bright gold in the fall to finish out the season strong. See it in our garden. Shrub in zones 5-9, full sun to part shade, 5-10’ tall.
#9 – Little Lime Punch® panicle hydrangea (H. paniculata)
We are on year two with this new panicle hydrangea in our trial gardens, and this year it put on a magnificent show. The transition from white to pink was stunning! Here’s what it looked like in mid-August in our zone 6a landscape. Since it is still a young plant, it’s only about 3 feet tall, but we expect it to grow up to 5 feet tall and wide when it is mature. We can’t wait until it fills out its space here. As needed, we will transplant the ‘Serendipity’ allium we have planted next to it to give the hydrangea more space. See what Laura of Garden Answer thinks of this dwarf hydrangea. Shrub in zones 3-8, full sun to part shade, 3-5’ tall.
#10 – Bobo® panicle hydrangea (H. paniculata)
Here in our zone 6a garden, Bobo panicle hydrangea has been loving life in full sun with drip irrigation for many years now. Here it is just coming into bloom earlier this summer surrounded by Supertunia Mini Vista® petunias and Meteor Shower® tall verbena. We love the dense, rounded shape of this hydrangea and how it is covered in blooms every single year. It grows every bit of 3 to 4 feet tall and wide for us here, surely aided by the plentiful sunshine and consistent watering. Shrub in zones 3-8, full sun to part shade, 3-4’ tall.
There are so many amazing new panicle hydrangeas that stay under 5 feet tall. Be sure to check out Tiny Quick Fire®, Fire Light Tidbit® and Puffer Fish® too.
- Categories: Annual Flowers, Flowering Shrubs, Garden Perennials
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