A Star is Born - Shrubs
Learn about the newest Proven Winners® shrubs.
Innovation is a way of life here at Proven Winners®. When we select new shrubs, they have to be better than anything else out there: more colorful, more floriferous, more disease-resistant, easier to maintain. We look for plants that provide the whole package, and our 2013 introductions are living proof! Take Pinky Bells™ Abelia, for starters. A tidy mound of super glossy evergreen foliage, it offers the largest flowers of any Abelia ever. They grace this compact plant with bright lavender-pink flowers for months each summer.
Barberries are low-maintenance, deer-resistant shrubs, but they’re not all that thrilling. Step it up with the Sunjoy®series! Five fantastic varieties join this super-colorful group: new growth on Sunjoy® Cinnamon emerges an amazing orange, settling down to a spicy red for the rest of the season. Sunjoy® Citrus brightens up landscapes with its chartreuse hue; it reaches an easy-to-use 2-3’ (.6-.9 m) tall. If you’re looking for something even smaller, Sunjoy® Mini Saffron has bright golden foliage in an 18-24” (46-60 cm) miniature form. Like that size but not that color? Then trySunjoy® Mini Salsa for the same compact habit but with dark red/purple foliage. The drama queen of the group isSunjoy® Syrah, a bold 5’ (1.5 m) tall with nearly black foliage (don’t worry, she’s just as low-maintenance as the rest of her kin).
The Lo & Behold® series were the first-ever seedless, dwarf butterfly bushes. What makes the newest members - Lo & Behold® ‘Lilac Chip,’ and Lo & Behold® ‘Ice Chip’ - different? These two cuties are the smallest buddleias yet – just 18-24” (46-60 cm) tall. They’re perfect as an edging plant, in a perennial bed, or a container. If, on the other hand, you prefer your butterfly bushes big and bodacious, our new ‘Summer Skies’ has wild variegated foliage that holds up to bright sun and high temperatures. It’s a sight to behold when its purple flowers are swarmed by butterflies!
Seeking a garden that flowers from spring to fall? For the earliest possible color, start with Show Off® Sugar BabyForsythia. All of the forsythia in the Show Off® series were selected for their root-to-tip flower coverage, but Show Off®Sugar Baby does it at just 18-30” (46-65 cm) tall. It’s perfect for spring containers or perennial beds. Keep the flowers coming with any of our cool new Viburnums: Spice Girl™ is an intensely perfumed Korean Spice Viburnum; Red Balloon™ is a semi-evergreen with spring flowers and huge clusters of shiny red berries in fall. Warm climate gardeners must add Handsome Devil™ Viburnum to their planting list – the new growth on this glossy-leaved evergreen emerges in shades of red, purple, and bronze for a specimen or hedge that exudes quiet sophistication (and it has dozens of white flowers in late spring). As summer’s heat comes on, rose season begins, and we’re proud to offer a new rose with an interesting twist – it’s thornless! Oso Happy® Smoothie bears loads of hot pink and white flowers center all season long, and its smooth, thorn-free stems make it the perfect choice for landscaping around pools and play sets.
Of course, neither summer nor our new plant roster would be complete without hydrangeas, and we have two game changers: Bobo® and Tuff Stuff™. Bobo® is a panicle (also known as peegee) hydrangea that came to us from Belgium. This super hardy hydrangea reaches just 30-36” (.7-.9 m) tall but has the biggest and the most flowers of any dwarf hydrangea. A perpetual joy in the garden, Bobo® is a mass of lacy white flowers that fade to pink, and its compact habit means no pruning is needed. Tuff Stuff™ is a type of mountain hydrangea, a species you may not have heard of but that shows great promise for hydrangea lovers in cold climates. Unlike big leaf hydrangeas which sometimes don’t bloom after harsh zone 5 or 6 winters, mountain hydrangeas like Tuff Stuff™ have hardier flower buds and bloom every year. Tuff Stuff™ doesn’t just bloom reliably – it reblooms, so it’s a compact, tidy mass of hot pink lacecap flowers from mid-summer until frost.
Summer flowering shrubs don’t get much showier than rose of Sharon, and the newest member of our award-winningChiffon™ series is not just dependable but drop-dead gorgeous to boot. Meet Pink Chiffon™, the clearest, truest, purest pink ever seen in a rose of Sharon. Showy powder puff flowers mean minimal seed, and its Chiffon™ series lineage ensures the soft, graceful habit that made this series so popular in the first place. It provides nearly two solid months of glorious flowers!
Speaking of flowers, what innovation could be more popular than a favorite shrub that blooms more than once a year? We’ve got ‘em – Sonic Bloom™ Weigela and Bloom-A-Thon® azaleas. Both bloom in spring, when you expect Weigelaand azalea to, but after a brief rest, they come roaring back in mid-summer and keep going up until frost. Instead of just 2 or 3 weeks of bloom, you get 12+! Both are available in an enticing palette of colors: Sonic Bloom™ Weigela in red, pink, and pearl (white fading to pale pink) and Bloom-A-Thon® azalea in red, lavender, white, and double pink. Cold climate gardeners (down to USDA zone 2!) can enjoy the non-stop flowers of Happy Face® White Potentilla, which keeps its clean, white flowers coming day after day, from spring to fall.
If you’re looking to branch out and meet some new garden favorites, we’ve got your back. ‘Aphrodite’ sweetshrub (Calycanthus) is a selection of this favorite native plant (also known as Carolina allspice) with glossy foliage and huge flowers that appear continuously through early autumn. Pucker Up!™ dogwood is like classic red twig dogwood, but with crinkled foliage that gives it a quilted look (and serious disease resistance, too). Best of all? Its stems turn red when the cold weather comes.
Our first-ever vines are now available, too. Red Wall® Virginia creeper is a variety of this native vine that was selected for consistently brilliant red fall color. Try it on a chain link fence so the sun can shine through – it’s a quick way to make a living wall. If you’re looking for a vine to train around a pergola or pole, hop to Summer Shandy™ golden hops. It’s the same hops they use to brew beer, but with gorgeous gold foliage that glows in the garden. Fans of sunny yellows should also take note of Golden Glitter™ Spiraea. Clusters of pretty white flowers appear in spring, but it’s the unique gold speckled foliage that really makes it a stand out.
Whew! That about sums it up for this year…see anything you like? Have questions about any of our new varieties? Drop us a line (link to feedback form). Happy planting!
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