The heat-loving and low-maintenance Tutti Frutti series is easy on the eyes and easy to grow. Beneficial attributes include uniform flowering, a long bloom time, great plant habit for container production and robust, disease-resistant foliage.

- Paul Pilon

This summer staple series is a breeze to produce and boasts an abundance of colorful flower clusters. Once established, 'Raspberry Summer' is also fairly drought tolerant.

- By Paul Pilon

Adding texture to the landscape, the 2011 Perennial Plant of the Year provides tremendous value from spring to fall.
- Paul Pilon

This award-winning columbine series is uniform in growth and flowering habit. Its dwarf size reaches 10-12 inches in containers and 15-18 inches in the landscape. - Paul Pilon

Twenty-first century breeding has made this old-fashioned plant popular again. The cultivars in the Swan series produce an abundance of large, spurred blooms above mounds of attractive, medium-green foliage. - Paul Pilon

With its abundance of rose-pink blossoms and reliable garden performance, this cool-season rock cress radiates strong flower power.

- By Paul Pilon

Looking to add first-year flowering seed varieties to your perennial program? Look no further. This Fleuroselect winner is an impressive, reliable performer that will complement many commercial programs.
- Paul Pilon

Lily Looks, a new series of Asiatic lilies, contains numerous dwarf cultivars with various flower colorations that are all well suited for commercial production. - Paul Pilon

With perennials gaining popularity as season extenders, this aster can be marketed alongside fall bedding plants.

- Paul Pilon

Cultivars in the astilbe Astary series do not require vernalization for flowering. These cultivars also have very predictable flowering, which makes commercial production more practical for growers.

- By Paul Pilon

This deer-resistant variety also attracts hummingbirds and can be utilized in your marketing programs.
Visions' is not a patented cultivar and can be propagated by any grower. There are two fairly new introductions with the Visions name, 'Vision in Pink' and 'Vision in Red'; these are patented cultivars.

- Paul Pilon

This Japanese painted fern is one of the easiest ferns to grow, both for the landscape and in containers. With so many landscape uses, ease of production and wide availability, it is no wonder Athyrium nipponicum 'Pictum' is gaining popularity and receiving national recognition. Pictum was the recipient of the 2002 Growers' Choice Award by the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association and most recently selected by the Perennial Plant Association as the 2004 Perennial Plant of the Year.

- Paul Pilon

With its flower power and early bloom, the Axcent series is an impressive complement to any perennial program.

- By Paul Pilon

Named for its one-time use as a replacement for true indigo in dyes, this perennial provides year-long interest as a backdrop for other plants or a standalone specimen.
- By Paul Pilon

This vigorous series of English daisies forms compact, low-growing rosettes that produce large, double flowers in early spring.

- By Paul Pilon

This award-winning cultivar, commonly used in landscapes, is also suitable for borders, woodland gardens and as a groundcover.
Brunnera 'Jack Frost' is a new cultivar of Siberian bugloss discovered at Walters Gardens in Zeeland, Mich. This cultivar was the winner of the Plantarium "Best New Plant Award in 2001." Its most distinguishing characteristic is its frosty silver leaves with green veins and edges.

- Paul Pilon

This buddleia's compact habit and ability to attract butterflies and hummingbirds make it a popular choice for container production, smaller gardens and mixed borders.

- By Paul Pilon

This naturally compact campanula also flowers 1-2 weeks earlier than other campanulas.
- Paul Pilon

This compact and colorful series loves to show off and is ideal for production in small containers. With its first-year flowering, floriferous nature and uniform growth habit, it is sure to breathe new life into any perennial program.

- By Paul Pilon

This bellflower, a seed-propagated F1 hybrid, is a garden stunner with long, narrow leaves and upward-facing blue-violet flowers.
- Paul Pilon

This variety is a showy spreading campanula that is receiving a lot of attention from growers.

- By Paul Pilon

'Snow Fairy', an herbaceous perennial that grows and performs like a shrub, can be beneficial for growers. With its striking green-and-white foliage, few cultural problems and ease of production, it's a must-have in the landscape. Just keep them away from wet sites.

- By Paul Pilon

This versatile cultivar can easily be produced in containers, perennial beds and as a cut flower. This variety, with its unique flower color, long bloom time and exceptional vase life, has received rave reviews in European markets, earned numerous awards including the 1999 Award of Recommendation by the Royal Boskoop Horticultural Society, The Netherlands, and was selected as the best introduction at the 17th Salon Végétal, France in 2002.

- Paul Pilon

This attention-grabbing series is sure to set the landscape ablaze with its bright-yellow, uniquely fluted blooms.
- By Paul Pilon

This coreopsis can be grown during any season, making it a great addition to spring, summer and fall programs.
- Paul Pilon

This first-year flowering coreopsis will grow best under full sun and produce an abundance of large, yellow blooms.

- By Paul Pilon

They aren’t just for the holidays anymore: Cyclamen are winter hardy and a great addition to many perennial gardens.
- By Paul Pilon

This series rectifies the standard delphinium problems of unpredictability in habit and inconsistency in timing.
- By Paul Pilon

This early-blooming, well-branched, dwarf delphinium can be grown and forced easily.

- By Paul Pilon

Produced as a bedding plant or cut flower, this dianthus works as a perennial, too.
Dianthus 'Bouquet Purple' has been produced as a bedding plant or cut flower for a few years, and it is still underutilized as a perennial crop. Bouquet Purple has many desirable perennial characteristics such as: quick finishing time from plugs, easy flowering that can be scheduled, hardiness in USDA Zones 4-10 and few known cultural problems. Bouquet Purple is a seed-propagated, interspecific F1 hybrid that produces lavender flowers on strong, well-branched stems. Throughout the country, it has been a terrific performer and has been named winner of the 2000 Minnesota Select Perennial award and the 2001 Mississippi Medallion award.

- Paul Pilon

Ideal for container, border or mass plantings, this deep-red member of the Fruit Punch family packs a wallop in the garden.

- Paul Pilon

As 2004 has been dubbed "the year of the dianthus," here is one to consider.

- Paul Pilon

Find out why the Perennial Plant Association named this variety 2006 Plant of the Year.

- By Paul Pilon

This classic fern-leaf bleeding hearts series is sure to lighten up landscapes for years to come.
- By Paul Pilon

This digitalis provides high germination rates, uniform growth and more reliable first-year flowering.

- By Paul Pilon

This cool-season perennial does not tolerate heat well but is commonly produced for early spring sales because of its abundant semi-double, bright-yellow flowers.

- By Paul Pilon

This showy autumn fern loves to be the center of attention. And its dazzling tricolor fronds provide season-long interest your customers won’t be able to resist.
- By Paul Pilon

This dwarf coneflower is perfect for 1-gal. production across a wide portion of the country.
This American native is used as an aromatic border plant to attract hummingbirds and butterflies into the gardens. Echinacea is widely used as an herbal medicine to stimulate the immune system and fight off various viral and bacterial infections.

- By Paul Pilon

Blackbird' has a compact, bushy habit and dark-purple foliage. Once established, this euphorbia is heat and drought resistant with few cultural problems.

- By Paul Pilon

This ornamental grass is grown for rock gardens, borders, groups and groundcovers.
Festuca 'Boulder Blue,' an outstanding cultivar of ornamental grass, has been produced regionally for quite some time but just recently became available to growers throughout the country.

- Paul Pilon

Compact, floriferous and drought tolerant, this gaillardia has a bright future.
The common name, blanket flower, came about since the striking three-colored flowers of gaillardias resemble the colors commonly found in Indian blankets.

- By Paul Pilon

This compact, mounding plant makes an impressive display as a landscape plant, performs well in containers and has a long vase life when used as a cut flower.
Occasionally a really exciting plant comes along that can easily be placed into mainstream perennial production. Gaillardia 'Fanfare' is one of those plants that has caught my eye and is receiving rave reviews from countless growers, retailers and avid gardeners alike.

- Paul Pilon

This uniform variety is the first F1 yellow-blooming gaillardia from seed
- Paul Pilon

This series performs well across a wide portion of the United States in containers, mass plantings and as accent plants.

- By Paul Pilon

This versatile perennial exhibits an extended bloom time and can withstand intense heat, allowing the prize-winning hybrid to thrive continuously in diverse climates across the country.

- By Paul Pilon

This vivid geum is a late bloomer that continues to show color through the heat of the summer.

- Paul Pilon

With its cheerful burst of color and ease of production, ‘Cooky’ offers untapped potential to jump start your early sales.

- By Paul Pilon

Nothing brightens up a landscape quite like this ornamental grass’ cascading foliage — reminiscent of golden waterfalls — and varying, vibrant leaf colors. Already a popular category, this striking series is sure to inspire your customers.

- By Paul Pilon

This evergreen groundcover lends itself well to a variety of commercial applications, including production in pots, baskets and topiaries.
A sport of Hedera helix 'Merion Beauty' isolated in New Jersey in 1976, 'Duck Foot' gets its name from its small, 1-inch, three-lobed leaves that resemble the foot of a duck. Due to its distinguishing characteristics, ease of production and marketability, the American Ivy Society has named Hedera helix Duck Foot the 2004 Ivy of the Year.

- Paul Pilon

Offer customers a solar-powered boost with this perennial’s brilliant golden blooms.
- Paul Pilon

This 2005 Perennial Plant of the Year will catch the eyes of consumers at retail.
It has gained such popularity that the members of the Perennial Plant Association have voted Helleborus x hybridus the 2005 Perennial Plant of the Year.

- By Paul Pilon

One of the toughest, most adaptable perennials in the landscape, this daylily offers striking color, repeat blooming and easy production.
Hemerocallis 'Little Missy' is a new diploid daylily that was recently introduced by DeVroomen Holland Garden Products. This cultivar reaches 2 feet tall, bearing beautiful, purple-red flowers with fine, white edges and a contrasting yellow throat. Little Missy is considered a rebloomer, which means it produces a flush of flowers in late spring to early summer and bears flowers again later that same summer.

- Paul Pilon

This red-blooming daylily has earned a reputation for its stamina, reliability and tough nature. Like its well-known sister, 'Stella D'Oro', 'Ruby Stella' is a surefire winner.

- By Paul Pilon

This heuchera is a bloomer. Find out if you are able to provide the appropriate conditions to grow it.
The Native American perennial heuchera has become one of the hottest, most must-have perennial plants for today's gardens. Fireworks is best recognized by its "explosive" display of light, coral-bell-shaped flowers on wiry stems held over the lightly ruffled bronze foliage. It is a prolific and a long-lasting bloomer that continues flowering from May-August and attracts both butterflies and hummingbirds. It has good re-blooming characteristics and can be used as a cut flower.

- Paul Pilon

Propagated from seed, Fleuroselect’s Novelty Award winner makes gardens smolder with bright crimson, maroon and purple foliage and bold white coral bell–shaped blooms.

- By Paul Pilon

This versatile, clump-forming perennial is best produced in partial shade and will flower from late spring until mid summer.

- By Paul Pilon

Pyrenees Pink produces loads of hot pink flowers and withstands a variety of environmental conditions.
Hardy hibiscus is an old-time garden favorite riding a new wave of popularity. Hibiscus moscheutos is a marshland native of the eastern United States and has hardiness in USDA Zones 4-9. With new developments in plant breeding, today's hibiscus cultivars offer improved flower sizes and colors, more appealing plant habits and extended bloom times.

- Paul Pilon

This series of hibiscus has a compact, well-branched habit that is ideal for container plantings and landscape use.

- By Paul Pilon

There are many reasons this hosta is an award winner; here are just a few.

- By Paul Pilon

This improved hybrid livens up the landscape with bright color and is sure to make an impression at garden centers across the country
- Paul Pilon

This variety produces cheerful displays of color that will not go unnoticed in garden centers or landscape plantings
- Paul Pilon

Availability Iris ‘Fall Fiesta’ was bred and introduced to the market by Schreiner’s Iris Gardens (www.schreinersgardens.com). Three-inch liners are available from Walter’s Gardens, Inc. (www.waltersgardens.com)
- Paul Pilon

This is an easy, versatile perennial that works well as a groundcover, in rock gardens and in containers.
Orchid Frost is a cultivar of Lamium maculatum, which belongs to the mint family. Unlike most varieties of lamiums, Orchid Frost holds up remarkably well during the summer months, without foliage scorching or being overcome with leaf spots. It bears bright, orchid-pink flowers during both the spring and the fall over its variegated silver foliage.

- Paul Pilon

This compact cultivar will bloom naturally or can easily be forced throughout the year.
Lavender 'Hidcote Superior' is an improved version of the very popular cultivar lavender 'Hidcote'. The improvements over its predecessor include enhanced uniformity, consistent quality and improved flower power. This cultivar of English Lavender remains compact and is very suitable for container production or in border plantings.

- Paul Pilon

These lavenders’ outstanding garden performance and rich flower colorations have earned the Ellagance series numerous awards.
- By Paul Pilon

With its artistic look and marketing versatility, this chameleon-like cultivar stands out from the competition. The recent introduction is capturing the admiring gaze of gardeners and growers alike.

- By Paul Pilon

Here are just a few reasons the Perennial Plant Association chose this as the 2003 Perennial Plant of the Year.
Leucanthemum 'Becky' is quickly becoming one of the most common varieties of Shasta daisy in commercial production today. This long-lived variety has gained so much attention that the Perennial Plant Association has selected Leucanthemum Becky as the 2003 Perennial Plant of the Year.

- Paul Pilon

Perennial Solutions
This award winner works well as a container plant or in the landscape.

- By Paul Pilon

This porcupine grass is easy to grow and very desirable because of its unique banding, durability and early flowering.

- By Paul Pilon

With an enticing aroma, burst of lipstick-pink flowers and compact habit, this old-fashioned garden perennial manages to remain fresh and exciting. 'Pink Lace' is a perfect candidate for the current container craze.

- By Paul Pilon

As a cool-season plant, this cultivar does not tolerate extreme summer heat or extended dry periods. But when produced for early spring programs, this familiar border plant provides an unforgettable burst of color in the landscape.

- By Paul Pilon

This new variety is an exception in its species, making it suitable for use as a groundcover or in rock gardens, borders and containers.

- By Paul Pilon

Thanks in part to ease of production and landscape appeal, nepeta 'Walker's Low' has been named the 2007 Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association.

- By Paul Pilon

With a sweet, heady scent and enticing pink blooms, this Oriental lily will delight consumers at all hours of the day.
- By Paul Pilon

'Prairie fire', a perennial red switch grass, is expected to catch on like wildfire. Learn how to propagate, produce and protect this increasingly popular species.

- By Paul Pilon

Gardeners and retailers alike have been warming up the Iceland poppy’s appeal in recent years. With its undeniable fl ower power, compact habit and ease of production, ‘Garden Gnome’ is quickly gaining popularity.
- By Paul Pilon

This ornmental grass lives up to its name, reaching 8 feet high, but can also be controlled by different methods.

- By Paul Pilon

Showy flowers and a compact habit make the six colors in the penstemon Pinacolada series an intoxicating pick for containers and border plantings.
- By Paul Pilon

Thanks to improved breeding and plant selection, garden phlox is regaining popularity.

- By Paul Pilon

This first-year-flowering perennial produces numerous bright white spikes that are sure to get attention in the garden
- By Paul Pilon

This tender perennial is first-year flowering, even without vernalization.

- By Paul Pilon

Compact and colorful, Jacob's ladder's vibrant purple foliage adds oomph to any landscape.

- By Paul Pilon

Breeding efforts throughout the past few decades have helped produce primula varieties with improved attributes, such as those in the Harlequin series.

- By Paul Pilon

Count on ‘Summer Daze’ to deliver irresistible appeal for retail shoppers.
- By Paul Pilon

This variety, which tolerates more sun than other pulmonarias, works well as a specimen plant and a ground cover.

- By Paul Pilon

Perfect for any all-American garden setting, this sweet rose looks good enough to eat!
- By Paul Pilon

This black-eyed Susan is an improved selection of a proven cultivar. These cold-beneficial plants feature long-lasting, daisy-like flowers and can be used as accent and border plants and in mass plantings.

- By Paul Pilon

This salvia, with its unique purple stem, shines in the landscape and is easy to produce.
Salvia 'Caradonna' is a unique cultivar of the reliable genus and species Salvia nemorosa. The violet-blue flowers are similar to other cultivars of this species except they are held on purple stems that provide an added element of texture. In the landscape, it is often used in borders and cut flower gardens where there is full sun to partial shade.

- Paul Pilon

This dwarf meadow sage is well suited for container production. Avoid crown and root rots by refraining from excessively moist or wet conditions.

- By Paul Pilon

With a compact habit, long bloom time and stunning flower power, this perennial works wonders in cool climates.
- By Paul Pilon

Containers, landscapes, mass plantings — this is a versatile sedum.

- By Paul Pilon

This perennial's dark purple foliage allows for sales even before flowering.
- By Paul Pilon

Suitable for production in a range of container sizes from 4 inch to 1 gal., solidago 'Little Lemon' is a cold-beneficial plant that prefers full sun.

- By Paul Pilon

This exciting new variety has great potential for growers and landscapes across the northern half of the United States and parts of Canada.
- Paul Pilon

This tiarella has large, bold foliage and an abundance of cream-colored flowers -- great in containers and as cut flowers.
Growers often consider tiarella cultivars prime candidates for their product mix for shady locations. Tiarella 'Jeepers Creepers' is no exception. With its large, bold, well-marked foliage, abundance of cream-colored flowers and eye-catching winter contrast, this cultivar is sure to perform well in today's perennial marketplace.

- Paul Pilon

Formerly recognized only as a weed, verbascum is gaining popularity with gardeners and growers. 'Southern Charm' will bloom the first year when started from seed without the need for vernalization.

- By Paul Pilon

Compact growth habit and long-lasting flowers make this an ideal container crop.
Veronica 'Royal Candles' is a clump-forming, bushy cultivar often utilized in rock gardens, as a border plant or in containers. This cultivar has many distinguishing characteristics such as a compact growth habit, reaching only 10-12 inches tall; clean leafy foliage topped with numerous vertical flower spikes; and deep blue-purple flowers, lasting from late spring to midsummer. With these characteristics, it is well suited to production in small container sizes and for marketing alongside bedding plants.

- Paul Pilon

With lovely blue-violet blooms and low mounds of highly serrated foliage, this fernlike plant is perfect for border plantings, along walkways and in patio planters.
- By Paul Pilon

This cool-season perennial has great landscape appeal and no vernalization requirement, which means producing flowering plants is mostly a function of temperature and time.

- By Paul Pilon