One of the perks involved with gardening is keeping up with all the new trial plants and flowers released each year. There are dozens of new plants appearing each year, producing spectacular effects for the garden.
Whether you’re growing in flowerbeds or pots, there are plenty of new selections each year to benefit your floral displays in your home and around the yard.
This post looks at the top summer plants to add to your garden this year.
Aurora Borealis Rose
Rose breeding shifted in recent years towards developing plants that are pest and disease resistant, increasing hardiness. As a result, the Aurora Borealis Rose is one of the latest examples of the Vineland 49th Parallel Collection.
The Aurora Borealis Rose is the third flower in the collection, with a compact, shrub-like stature. This variety is resistant to black spots, growing up to three feet tall and spreading out to three feet in diameter.
Smoke bush
The smoke bush gets its moniker from the soft appearance of the fluffy plumes it produces. The plant has a marvelous texture, with the soft velvety foliage creating a mesmerizing effect in the flowerbed. The velvet fog smoke bush features a higher flower production than other varieties, keeping your flowerbeds in bloom all summer.
The plant produces reddish-pink flowers sitting atop bluish-green foliage. The mature velvet smog smoke bush reaches between 60 to 96 inches in height, and it does best in the full sun. This plant is a good choice for gardens in USDA zone 5a.
Midnight-Cascade Blueberry
This blueberry variety works well as both an ornamental and edible for the garden. This blueberry variety is the first bred for growth in hanging baskets. The plant produces white flowers in the springtime with a bell-like shape.
The flowers have a similar look to the lily-of-the-valley, with the hints of red in the foliage deepening as you get closer to the fall months. The midnight cascade is suitable for growth down to USDA zone 5.
Lilac New Age White
Planting lilacs in the garden gives you a beautiful scent throughout the yard in the springtime. It’s a lovely aroma reminding us that spring is here and summer is on the way. The bush produces delicate white flowers with yellowish centers.
The plant has a compact footprint and is resistant to mildew, so the bottom leaves on the plant will avoid the onset of this pathogen in humid, overcast conditions. Therefore, this plant is suitable for gardens down to USDA zone 4.
Aquilegia Earlybird
This tiny clump of a plant produces some cheery blooms stacked together in a stocky columbine plant that’s great for the flowerbeds this summer. The plants come in several color varieties, including Yellow and Purple, blue and white, and yellow and red.
These plants are very hardy, and they’re suitable for gardens all the way down to USDA zone 3. The plants also tolerate a variety of soil conditions, and they are reasonably drought-resistant.
Echinacea
If you like the look of beautiful flowers in your yard, try the Echinacea. The beautiful coneflower comes with beautiful pink petals and a medicinal effect. Echinacea extract is a powerful immune stimulant and immune-enhancer.
The petals on the plant have a description as looking like a slice of watermelon. These echinacea plants are hardy and suitable for planting in gardens down to USDA zone 4. The flowers bloom in July through to October, attracting pollinators into the yard.
Phlox Super Ka-Pow White
This flower is another excellent white choice for the yard. The delicate white petals come with a hint of pink in the center of the flower for a truly stunning effect in pots or flowerbeds. This phlox variety may look dainty, but it’s a resilient plant and hardy.
It suits gardens in areas down to zone 4b, and it’s deer and rabbit resistant if you have an open yard. The plant is also resistant to white powdery mildew infection, offering the gardener a low-maintenance flower. This Phlox variety also invites pollinators into the yard.
Petunia Headliner Crystal Sky
Petunias are one of the most versatile flowering plants for the garden this season. Unfortunately, they come in so many color varieties that it’s hard to keep up with all the new releases. However, we think this Headliner Crystal Sky is a top choice for flowerbeds or pot plants this summer.
This popular annual flower comes with bleached-out tie-dye sots on the blooms, with mesmerizing veining into the center of the flower. It’s a great choice for the borders around your flowerbeds this spring.
High-Noon Bush Daisy
If you’re looking for flowers with a “wow” factor, then the high-noon bush daisy is another excellent choice for the pots or flowerbeds this spring. This high-noon variety is a real conversation starter, featuring a look that catches your attention right away.
The flowers feature a monochromatic yellow color, but the entire look of the plant catches the eye. This variety is heat and drought-resistant, something we don’t see enough of in petunias. In addition, this variety is suitable for planting in direct or partial sunlight, attracting pollinators to the yard.
Calibrachoa Cha-Cha Diva Hot Pink
These plants are a great choice for pots around the patio. The calibrachoas come in many varieties, with exquisite detail in each petal, looking like an artist painted each one by hand. This plant loves the full sun, experiencing rapid growth in the right conditions.
When blooming, the flowers spill over the sides of the container, displaying beautiful colors right until the final days of fall.
Double Blue Calibrachoa and Superbells Blackcurrant Punch
As mentioned, calibrachoas are one of our favorites for the garden this season, especially in pots. However, this variety also does well in hanging baskets, allowing for lengthy over-spilling of the flowers during the peak summer months.
You don’t have to deadhead the old flowers to get several blooming sessions out of these plants. The Superbells Double Blue and Superbells Blackcurrant Punch have amazing coloring, with a Fuschia color and a yellow and black center.
Marigold Dropshot
The marigold drop shot is our top choice for a pest-resistant plant that chases the bugs away from your flowerbeds this growing season. Planting these marigolds in rows around the edges of your flowerbeds provides you with protection from bugs that want to destroy your plants.
These flowers are also edible, from the blooms to the foliage. They have a sweet taste, and some chefs say they make a suitable tarragon substitute in the kitchen. The plant has feathery foliage and the usual cheery, orange-yellow flowers you expect in a marigold.
Wave Carmine Velour Petunia
This petunia variety is another excellent option for growing this summer. The flowers produce a beautiful deep red color, with an intricate center pattern that demands your attention to detail.
As part of the Wave petunia family, the Carmine Velour is a 2019 All-America Selections Winner. This flower suits container growing or as use as a ground cover in your flowerbeds.
Coleus Main Street Beale Street
Coleus is a popular variety picked by many gardeners each growing season. This variety is a standout, with a gorgeous deep red color to the petals, with scalloped edges for an eye-pleasing trim.
The Main Street Beale was an AAS Ornamental winner in 2020, but it’s commercially available for the garden this year. The foliage won’t fade during the summertime, and it suitable for planting in the sun or shade.
Uptown Frosted Strawberry Zinnia
The Zinnia is another great option for the garden this summer. These plants are easy to find at the local nursery as seedlings, and they simple to grow from seed. These plants come in several color varieties, with the flowers available in shades of red and pink.
The Zinnia also acts as a pollinator magnet for the garden. Even hummingbirds seem to find this flower attractive. After the plants establish themselves, they start to bloom in the summer right through to the late fall. After they bloom, you can cut your Zinnias for display.
Lavandula Bandera Deep Purple
Typically, the Lavandula is available in shades of pink or mauve. However, this variety comes with a standout deep purple color that’s uniquely distinct from the others. We think it will look great potted in a light-colored container.
The lime-green foliage of the plant amplifies the color of the purple flowers. It flowers for a long time, right through from the summer to the fall, and it prefers planting in the full sun. This variety is also suitable for flowerbed or container growing.
Canadian Shield Rose
This rose was the star of the show at the Canada Blooms in March. This is the second edition in this list from the 49th Parallel Collection, launched at Canada’s National Hardy Rose Program. The program is a subsidiary of the Ontario-based Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.
This rose variety is hardy in climates down to USDA zone 3. It’s also disease-resistant and self-cleaning, with spectacular colors in full bloom.
Bright Lights Osteospermum
If you like pink plants, then you’ll love the beautiful blooms on this Bright Lights Osteospermums. This variety produces flowers with a light pink and white coloring and a speck of orange in the center. Planting them next to other blue and purple-flowering plants makes them pop.
These plants are heat-tolerant and somewhat drought resistant. Deadheading the flowers means you’ll get a second bloom right before the start of the fall. Eventually, the plants fade away at the end of the fall.
Nasturtium Rose
The nasturtium rose is another top choice for gardeners this summer season. This plant features edible foliage and flowers, making them a tasty treat to grow in the flowerbed this season. We doubt you’ll be growing these roses to eat, but they also make a great trap crop for your flowerbeds, attracting pests away from other flowers.
Nasturtiums also come with unique flowers, with some featuring serrated petals, like the Climbing Phoenix. Most of the other varieties feature scalloped petals. This rose is also a great choice for container growing on patios.
Echinacea KISMET Raspberry
Everyone likes the look of the coneflower. These plants stretch to three to four feet in height, bursting long petals from dark-colored bees. This variety of echinacea wants to bloom in the full sunlight, from the early summer through to the late fall.
These plants do well in colder climates, and they need plenty of water when the sun gets hot. We like the way echinacea plants form big blooms together when planted around the flowerbed. Deadheading throughout the season adds more blooming time to the plants.
The KISMET variety comes in several colors, with raspberry-colored leaves. This variety also does well in containers and growing conditions between USDA zone four to nine.
Dahlia “Belle of Barmera”
The dahlia has origins in Mexico, meaning that it does well in warm, dry climates. It’s a cheery plant and a great choice for flowerbeds this growing season. These plants win plenty of flower shows, and the “Belle of Barmera” is another stunningly beautiful example of the variety in these plants.
For best results with your Dahlias, plant the tubers in full to partial sun, and the frilly and ruffled blooms start appearing in the mid-summer.
Date Night™ Crimson Kisses Weigela
This variety marks Canadas 150th birthday as a nation. This flower helps you paint your garden in red and white, with spectacular foliage displays. This weigela is hardy, growing down to USDA zones four through nine.
The compact plant delivers several blooming sessions throughout the season, and it does well in the flowerbed or in pots.
