Sneak Peek at Next Year’s Garden Plans | What’s In & What’s Out

Join me for a relaxed garden walk as I share what annuals I’ll be adding to our gardens next year and which ones will be taking a break. As we tour the gardens, I’ll explain what plants performed beautifully, what changes I plan to make, and how I’m thinking ahead to create even more color and texture for next season. Whether you’re dreaming up your own garden refresh or just love seeing how others plan for a new year, this video is packed with inspiration and real-life ideas to help you grow a more beautiful space.

@ProvenWinnersYouTube

Hello friends and welcome to Gardening with 
Creekside. Today we are going to talk about our garden plans for 2026. Yes, that is correct. I 
am already planning have planned the vast majority of our gardens for the 2026 spring summer season. 
So, we all love plants. We all like to chitchat about plants and share ideas with each other. 
So, I thought this would be a fun time for us just to get together and I will share with you my 
thoughts for next year’s garden, of course. Now, why am I doing this? We actually did this in 
like September. So, why am I doing this in the fall? Well, because I like to have this year’s 
garden, the 2025 garden, fresh on my brain. So that way I know what was a great success, what 
did okay, what do I want to change, um what plants do I want to use, more of, less of, those kinds 
of things. So while the memory is still good, I like to go ahead and make those plans. We have 
already ordered our plants for this next year’s garden. I would encourage you to go ahead and 
pre-order your annuals for next year’s garden as well. We have the pre-order open on the website. 
You can go ahead once you figure out the uh vast majority of what your annuals are going to be, you 
can go ahead over to gardening with creekside.com, get those pre-orders in. Y’all, we’re not 
going to send them to you right now. We are going to wait until the spring of 2026 when it is 
appropriate for your growing zone and then we will send them to you. All right, so we’re going to hop 
around to all the different parts of the garden. Uh so first things first, this lovely long 
driveway bed that uh we have only had one growing season in it. And so last year we did beautiful 
bright yellow tulips from Color Blends. Y’all, I’m not changing a thing. I am still going with 
those golden purisma uh yellow tulips. They are bright. They are cheery. We planted them in mass 
along the whole length of this night kind of narrow. I think it’s about 3 and 1/2 ft wide and 
70 to 80 feet long. And so we are going to just chuck that bed again full of those yellow tulips. 
I am also going to take I added a little bit more to my order this year. So I’m going to take those 
yellow tulips that are still in this in this bed and I’m going to repeat them in the uh corner bed 
up by the driveway. That’s where the dillies were. It’s now where we have that umbrella Japanese 
pine. So, I’m going to have them at the top of the driveway when you come into the front yard and 
also here. So, that will be my spring planting for this bed. Then, moving into summer. So, I will 
begin planting my annuals in mid to late April depending on the weather and depending on the 
plant. So, behind me, we’re going to do a mass planting of the Surefire cherry cordial beonia. 
That is right, y’all. I love Surfires. They’re so easy. I think there’s four or five colors now 
that they have in that line. They can do full sun, most definitely full hot sun here, or they can 
go anywhere to complete shade and anything in between. The Surfire Cherry Cordial has that black 
black foliage with those really bright red flowers on it. It’s so easy. It’s lowmaintenance. Japanese 
beetles don’t like it. Aphids don’t really like it. You don’t have to worry about bud worms and 
they get nice and big as the season progresses. So that is what we’re going to do all in mass. Last 
year we did a layer of three different annuals. Nope. Last it was just it was too much. It was 
a little bit too busy for me. So we’re going to keep it simple and we are going to simply 
put the Surfire cherry cordial in mass along this bed. All right. Let’s move on to another 
part of the garden. All right. So, here as we come through the pathway to the patio, again, I 
love mass plantings, especially back here. So, what we’re going to do in both this little bed 
with the uh lanterns and then around those raised beds in the patio, we are going to do Super Tunia 
Vista Cool Jazz. Yes, my friends, the brand new Vista Patunia. Uh we tried it this year, had great 
results with it. It has that beautiful just that kind of that light lavender look to it. A gorgeous 
patunia. It is a vista so it has a nice vigor to it. So it will go both in this bed and then around 
uh the boxwoods, the chameleas, the David Alustin roses, superunia vista cool jazz. Then behind 
me, so in the pathway you will see that we have uh this year the uh pinkorific dalas, the virtuoso 
pinkorrific dalas. And then behind it is the unplugged so blue salvia. While this year it is 
beautiful and the dalas are coming back into their own um as the cool temperatures come along and 
the leaves begin to fall. I’m going to make it more simple next year. So I’m only going to do 
the unplugged so blue salvia because of course I have my David Alustin roses behind them and I 
need those roses to have as much sunlight and as room to grow as possible. So, I’m just going to 
keep it simple. Maybe do like a staggered row, not necessarily a single row of the unplugged. 
So, blue. I love the blue against the peach of the roses. And then you can’t go wrong with a 
huge pollinator attractor. So, keeping it simple, but we’re going to be planting in mass with 
the Vista Cool Jazz and the Unplugged So, Blue. So, let’s bop over here to the backyard 
and talk about that. Here in the backyard again, we’re going to go with kind of that purple theme. 
We are going to use uh the new improved Super Tunia Bordeaux. Y’all, to know Bordeaux is to 
love Bordeaux in my opinion. And then with the improvements that Proven Winners has made on 
the coloring of Bordeaux for this coming year. Absolutely gorgeous. So, the Superunia Bordeaux 
will both go here in the corner and it will go in front of the double play doozies. Now, the 
double play doozy spyas. Keep in mind they bloom on new growth. So they’re going to get a very 
nice big haircut. So before they get this big, we will have plenty of room for those bordeau to 
go underneath it. And then also bordeaux will go in the two island beds here in the backyard um 
where we have that available space. When I have room for my um to bring some vertical interest and 
movement to the garden, I’m going to be using the graceful grasses, that purple fountain grass. 
So the purple fountain grass I love because it is a deep deep near black foliage. Does beautiful 
plumes on it. Of course, it is an annual forest, but it’ll get into that three three and a half 
foot range and it brings movement to the garden. So it will be a beautiful compliment between the 
purple fountain grass and the superunia bordeaux. It is going to be lovely. and then having 
that cool jazz up by the house. Cooler colors, lighter colors because uh that patio is quite warm 
and toasty. And then moving down into the garden. Uh still in those colors that will complement 
each other quite nicely. A little bit of a richer purple with that superunia bordeaux. I think it 
should be absolutely magnificent. In the spring, we are going to do some beautiful tulips. I got 
a little ahead of myself on the summer annual. So before we can even think about the summer annuals, 
we have to think about the spring tulips. So as you probably uh will remember, our middle daughter 
Megan absolutely adores pink tulips. So she doesn’t request much things from me in the garden, 
but she does request pink tulips in the backyard. So we have um a thousand pink or tulips that will 
be planted here in the backyard. So what we will do is plant them again in mass. I took notes 
last year that I could up the number of tulips back here in the back. So that is what I did. 
So that’s why I like planning when that current garden is on my mind. I think last year we did 
maybe 700 800 tulips back here and I said, “Okay, you can increase it by a bit because those tulips 
will go everywhere that the annuals are going to go.” And so this is a gorgeous electric like 
vibrant pink. So it is really going to pop. So, we will have those in front of the doozies. 
Remember, the doozies will be have have been trimmed by then. In the corner pockets will be 
up in the deck boxes over here in the two island beds. Um, tucked in around the shrubs and the 
perennials will be a beautiful display of vibrant pink early in the spring when we desperately are 
looking for loads of color. So, we’re going to go from pink to purple here in the backyard 
in 2026. All right. So, in the front yard, we’re going to keep it simple because, of course, 
we have the brand new gorgeous landscape that we just completed uh with tons of shrubs that are 
going to give me loads of color. So, I’m going to keep it very simple on the front. Now, between 
each of the perfecto mundo pink carpet aelas, we’re going to do um one lemon coral sedum between 
each one. I may not go straight centered between each one, bring it down a little bit towards the 
grass, but I think that color, that nice bright uh pop of chartreuse against the dark green of the 
Aelas will be lovely. Of course, lemon coral loves our North Carolina zone 8A climate. So, it should 
be fantastic. So, that’s going to go from the top of the driveway all the way around the side uh 
below the Hortzman. Then just up at the walkway, we’re going to keep it kind of simple. Um, very 
similar to where I put the anemmones. We’ll talk about those in a second. Um, I am going to do the 
artist blue auratum. Now, the artist blue auratum a couple of years ago absolutely shocked us in the 
best way possible. Jerry and I both thought that this would be a a cool weather annual for us and 
then when the heat kicked in, it would just kind of peter out. It did not. It performed amazingly 
well throughout the entire growing season for us. And it stays nice and tight and compact. Bugs 
don’t like it. I don’t have to dead head. It gives me a nice blue color, blue, purple color in 
the garden. So, we’re going to be doing the artist blue auroratum on the backside closest to the 
walkway uh between each aelia. Now, just the other day, I came through and planted some anemmones. 
Anemmones are a perennial bulb for me here in North Carolina, and I did the first crush blend. 
This will be a white, pink, purple, blue. Uh, and that will be absolutely beautiful. So, I 
planted those directly behind each of the aelas at the walkway knowing that I was going to be coming 
back and planting some annuals. So I know exactly where my bulbs are because they are perennials. 
So I want to leave them alone and then I can plant those artist blues between where those anemmones 
are. So it is going to be a beautiful um nice colorful cheery spot beginning in the spring and 
of course going all the way through to the fall. Also in the hanging baskets on the front porch. Of 
course these are nice massive hanging baskets. I think they’re like 24 in in diameter. We’re going 
to go back to the uh angel wing beonas. This year I tried a different beonia. It was a one of the 
new introductions from Proven Winners. Wasn’t my favorite. My angel wings perform absolutely 
hundred times better than this beonia because I get some nice big height to them. They bloom 
their heads off. So next year I will go back to my angel wing beonas. More than likely, I will 
stick with the pink instead of the red because of the pink carpets and kind of that color palette 
that we are going for here um in the front yard. And we are going to be painting our front door. 
So, no worries on that. Uh the red will be going away here in a couple of weeks or months. And so, 
we’re going to go with the angel wing pink beonas in the hanging baskets. So, here we are at the uh 
signature garden because there’s a lot of annuals that go into the signature garden. So, we’re 
going to start uh kind of at the entrance. So, of course, at the entrance when you first enter into 
the signature garden, we have those two lovely raised beds that are uh just welcome you in. So, 
what we’re going to do first, we’re actually going to do two plantings this year. So, we’re going 
to do an early spring, early summer planting, and then when the heat hits, we’re going to switch 
it out into some heat loving annuals. So, first up, what we are going to do is the Super Tuna uh 
Hoopla Vivid Orchid because here at the nursery, really in the south, you cannot beat patunias in 
the spring, spring, early summer. That is when they thrive. The humidity has not laid its hot 
blanket on the earth yet, and that is the prime conditions for the patunias. Great thing is too 
they’re very cool tolerant. So we can plant those in early to midappril and they will absolutely 
be living their best life. So that will be on the front side right below the sprinter boxwoods. Then 
come when the heat hits which typically will be end of June, beginning of July. Sometimes around 
that July 4th they can’t even make it to July 4th or they’re just struggling to hit July 4th. 
We’re going to pull out the patunias and we are going to put in porchellaca because heaven knows 
porchellaca loves the heat and it will go well into the fall. So we’re going to be doing Mojave 
fuchsia. Mojave fuchsia of course is that really electric hot pink. It is nice and low. So it will 
be a beautiful carpet. And again even in uh middle of October the Mojave Porchellaka is absolutely 
thriving. So this will take us well into uh the growing season. So that is what’s going to happen 
on the front side, the garden side of the bed. We are going to be using I’m going to keep it again 
a little bit simple because my little lime punch hydrangeas are going to really have taken off 
in that third year. So we’re going to do the Superbina cobalt verbena. Nice beautiful kind of 
blue purple, right? And then also the superunia mini vista plum veined. I love mini vista plum 
veined. Patunia is nice and petite. It is well controlled because it is a mini vista. But that 
really beautiful plum color that will go really nicely with the super superbina cobalt. So that 
will be um along the garden side. Then once the heat hits, what we will be doing is we’re going 
to keep the cobalt because that superbina cobalt should do just fine. And then we’re going to take 
out those mini vista plum veins and we’re going to do the new superloofus sunglow. So the sunglow 
is that bright nice cheery yellow. Thrives in the heat and humidity. It is living its best life 
in the garden bed in front of the pergola. So, we’ll have the blue and the yellow together, which 
will be quite lovely. Then around the fountain in the first planting, we’re going to do mini vista 
white. We have not done a white planting around the fountain. And if you know me, you know how 
much I adore Superunia Mini Vista White Patunia. It is beautiful pure white, smaller bloom than say 
Vista Snow Drift and of course less vigorous which is what I need around that fountain so it does 
not take over the entire area. Then for the second planting we’re going to probably most likely do 
we have a little question mark but I think this is what we’re going to do is the superbina white out. 
So we’ll stick with that white but we’re going to switch from the patunia to the verbena. Superbina 
white out is again nice massive flowers on it that are pure white. So that is what we’re going to 
do. Then in the four annual beds because you know on the interior of the garden we have those four 
beds that are always going to be annuals. So we’re going to kind of keep them where we go work from 
high to low. So the high will be in the center because you see these beds from all 360°. And so 
we will start with a high in the middle and then work our way down um on each sides. So we will do 
a mass planting of the Senorita Rosalita Cleomi. I love this plant y’all. It is fantastic. Beautiful 
pink. It will be my tallest. So we will do a mass planting down the center. When I say mass planting 
with Senorita Rosalita, we’ll have to measure it out, but it could only be five or six uh plants 
because this turns into a beautiful beast at the end of the season. Then what we’re going to 
do going towards the bench, the interior of the garden is the colorblaze torch light colas. Torch 
light is going to bring in some moody colors. Right? It’s going to bring in some really deep 
deep uh purple near black with splashes of hot pink down the center. So we have got that. Then we 
will go with some curvea in lime. Servea and lime is a beautiful uh highly fragrant. I personally 
love it. It literally smells like lime, but is a foliage plant only. Nice bright kind of a green 
color that when you touch it, it smells just like fresh limes. And then right there in front of the 
cervesa and lime behind the benches will be the blew my mind of vulus. Blew my mind thrives in our 
climate. Brings me beautiful low carpet of pure blue flowers. So that is what’s going to happen 
on that side. Then going back on the other side, we’re going to come through in the early spring. 
We’re going to use campfire flame. This is going to bring a nice bold pop of color, kind of that 
orangey red to the area. Then once the heat of the summer hits, we’re going to pull those out 
and go back with some more porchilaka of Mojave Tangerine. Tangerine. Love this one. Beautiful. 
Nice orange. It is a fantastic one. Again, will carry us all the way through. Now, we have some 
miscellaneous areas that’s going to happen. So, we’re going to run through those real quick. 
On the very back of the garden, of course, we have the glitters and glows uh viburnums. And 
so, as they are growing, we are putting annuals between them. So, this coming year, we’re 
not going to have quite as much room. So, we’re going to go with some orange, y’all. We’re 
going with those nice big bold colors this year in the garden. We’re going to use vermillionaire. 
So, vermillionaire kufia, of course, the pollinators love it. The hummingbirds 
go nuts. Nice open airy habit to it. So, between each of the glitters and glows, we’ll have 
to see kind of how much they grow and fill in, but uh probably we’ll do about two vermillionaire 
between each of the viburnums to give us that nice kind of upright light airy orange color that the 
pollinators and hummingbirds are going to love. So, even though we are redesigning the Creek 
Bank bed with brand new shrubs and all sorts of fun perennials, I am sure that we will have 
room for some annuals in 2026. So we are going to use the truffle of pink gumfrina and the artist 
blue ageratum here as well. So pink, blue, purple, absolutely beautiful, lowmaintenance, easy peasy 
on the creek bank bed. And then as we make our way to the back of the garden, we have got those areas 
around the uh red bud, the vitex, the aphrodite, right? All those little areas. We’re going to 
use the um sun patients purple candy. This year I think we did it was blush orchid and it was a 
massive success. People were like what is that plant? It is not on irrigation. Some patients 
can do sun to shade anywhere in between which is perfect for that area. Um very low maintenance 
and easy peasy but a massive eyecatcher. So we will be doing the sun patients purple candy which 
is a very vibrant uh electric color. And then the mini me chartreuse cullus was a huge hit as well. 
So we will be dappling in that as well to give us some beautiful color contrast. And then the 
hillside garden, we are going to be doing the Playing the Blues Salvia, a number one seller 
for us. The people love this plant and rightly so. And then we will be pairing that with Sunat 
compact white. So having some blues and some whites together really contrast nicely off of them 
as well. So, there are lots of plans that we are getting ready for in 2026. Of course, there is 
still plenty of areas in our gardens where I like not to overplant it because I just get the whimsy 
of, “Oh, this is gorgeous. Let’s do this.” So, not every single uh square inch of the gardens is 
planned. I don’t like to do that. But, I do like to get my main areas planned, focused. That way, 
I can get my plants in order. I kind of have a direction of what way we’re going to go. My color 
schemes will kind of, you know, blend together and have a cohesiveness to the garden. So, that is 
definitely um a plus of planning your gardens in advance. But again, gardening, at least for me, 
is a very spontaneous and I can be like I say, I joke about it every fall. I am not going to 
plant any fall annuals. No violas, no pansies, no nothing. And as soon as I see that first 
delivery of them, I’m like, give them all to me. They are gorgeous and I want them. Same 
thing happens in the spring and the summer. So, leave some room for some creativity and some 
spontaneity. But go ahead and get those big orders, uh, those big plantings in your garden. 
Go ahead and get your pre-order in. That way, you’re guaranteed to have those plants and you 
don’t have to worry about it. Again, not going to send them to you right now. We will wait until it 
is appropriate for you to plant them uh next year. So, as always, we hope you have found this fun, 
informative, and inspirational. If you have, we would love it if you would like and subscribe to 
Gardening with Creekide. That way, you don’t miss those five videos that we do each and every week. 
Y’all have an absolutely amazing day. Get outside, get some vitamin D, some fresh air. It’s lovely. 
We will see you in the next video. Bye, friends.