Prime planting time is here, those “Goldilocks” few weeks of the year when it’s not too hot, not too cold – just right! – to get trees, shrubs, evergreens, and perennial flowers in the ground.
But what to plant?
You could wing it, buy whatever’s on sale, and hope for the best. (Wait until May for the frost-tender plantings.)
Or you could factor in the recommendations of the many organizations of growers, horticulturists, researchers, and other plant experts who each year bestow honors on what they believe to be the worthiest plants for our yards.
Some of these awards involve new introductions. Others are under-known or under-appreciated oldies-but-goodies that just deserve more use in home gardens.
Here’s a roundup of plants that have won 2026 honors:
A panel of experts assembled by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (best known for running the Philadelphia Flower Show) each year picks a half-dozen trees, shrubs, and perennials worthy of greater use in Pennsylvania landscapes.
For 2026, a small tree, a large shrub, a skinny evergreen, an ornamental grass, and two native perennial flowers made the Gold Medal grade.
‘Tokyo Tower’ is a variety of Chinese fringe tree that won a 2026 PHS Gold Medal.George Weigel/Pa. Horticultural Society
Chinese fringe tree ‘Tokyo Tower’ (Chionanthus retusus)
An Asian cousin of our native American fringe tree, Chinese fringe tree is a small tree with spring clusters of white flowers and early-fall dark-blue fruits.
Fall foliage is bright yellow. Grows 12 to 15 feet tall and about six feet wide in sun or part shade and is tolerant of urban conditions.
False daphne features dark-pink stems.Pa. Horticultural Society
False daphne (Daphniphyllum macropodum)
False daphnes are tall, broadleaf evergreen shrubs with glossy green leaves and deep-pink stems.
They grow 15 to 25 feet tall in sun or shade and are very deer resistant.
‘Taylor’ is a native eastern red cedar noted for its narrow growth habit.Pa. Horticultural Society
Eastern red cedar ‘Taylor’ (Juniperus virginiana)
Taylor is a cultivar of our native Eastern red cedar that can grow 15 to 25 tall but only four feet across.
It does best in full sun and is drought-tough and deer-resistant.
Golden Sunset is a native grass whose blades turn yellow-orange to golden-tan in fall.Pa. Horticultural Society
Indian grass Golden Sunset (Sorghastrum nutans)
Another native plant, Golden Sunset is a version of Indian grass that has blue-green blades in summer that turn different shades of yellow-orange to golden tan in fall.
It also produces yellow late-summer plumes that attract butterflies.
Plants grow four to six feet tall and three feet wide, ideally in full sun. It’s another deer-resistant choice.
Bluestar ‘Storm Cloud’ (Amsonia tabernaemontana)
This variety of bluestar is a native perennial that produces dark-blue flower clusters in spring along with dark-purple stems that morph to green as the season progresses.
Plants grow in a mounded habit in sun or part shade to about 30 inches tall and 42 inches wide.
Leaves turn yellow in fall.
‘Bluebird’ is a perennial that adds purple color to the late-season landscape.Pa. Horticultural Society
Aster ‘Bluebird’ (Symphyotrichum leave)
A top choice for attracting pollinators late in the season, Bluebird is a heavy-blooming variety of native perennial smooth aster that produces purple-blue flower clusters from September into fall.
Plants grow three to four feet tall and two feet wide, in full sun to part shade. Deer usually don’t bother them.
‘Blackhawks’ is a native big bluestem grass that earned Perennial Plant of the Year honors.Proven WinnersPerennial Plant of the Year
Members of the Perennial Plant Association vote to honor one perennial plant each year that’s superior in terms of performance, low care, pest resistance, and multiple-season interest. The 2026 winner is…
Big bluestem ‘Blackhawks’ (Andropogon gerardii)
This native ornamental grass is at its best in fall when the blades, stems, and seed heads turn dark purple.
Blackhawks is also a compact version of big bluestem, growing about five feet tall and two to three feet wide with a strong, upright habit.
Clumps start out green and then spend most of summer green with reddish-purple tips before turning that distinctive dark shade in September.
Plants are drought-tough, low care (just an end-of-winter cutback), and resistant to bugs, disease, and deer. Full sun is best.
‘Iron Butterfly’ is the 2026 Garden Club of America Plant of the Year.Garden Club of AmericaGarden Club of America Plant of the Year
This award is bestowed by the national organization of garden clubs, which appoints a plant-expert panel to name one outstanding U.S.-native plant worthy of the Montine McDaniel Freeman Medal.
The 2026 medal-winner:
Threadleaf ironweed ‘Iron Butterfly’ (Vernonia lettermannii)
Iron Butterfly is a compact, purple-blooming variety of the threadleaf or narrow-leaf version of native ironweed.
The long-blooming flowers are a draw for a variety of butterflies and hummingbirds, and it has the distinctive fern-like foliage of the species.
It’s been a strong enough performer that it also won a Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in 2023.
Plants grow two to three feet tall in sun to light shade.
Two other native perennials earned honorable mentions: Turk’s cap lily (a.k.a. American swamp lily), a summer-blooming bulb with red-orange, upward-curving flower petals, and scarlet rose mallow, a bushy perennial with large, five-petal, summertime red flowers that have white centers.
Native columbine earned a GCA special recognition for 2026. It’s a spring bloomer with hanging, bicolor flowers of salmon and yellow.
Kale Rubybor won 2026 All-America Selections awards as both an ornamental and an edible.All-America SelectionsAll-America Selections
Independent researchers each year evaluate hundreds of new flowers and vegetables at some 80 trial gardens throughout the United States. The highest scorers get All-America Selections awards in a program that dates to 1932.
Nine new plants performed well enough to earn 2026 AAS awards – three edibles, four perennial flowers, and two annual flowers.
The three award-winning vegetables:
Kale Rubybor
This new purple-leafed kale is the first plant in the nearly 100 years of All-America Selections plant trials to win a national award as both an edible and an ornamental, earning a rare AAS Gold Medal.
Rubybor has good taste, good heat resistance, and deep purple foliage all growing season on compact, tightly branched, three-foot-tall plants.
Basil Treviso is a compact, heat-tough, and disease-resistant new variety of basil.All-America Selections
Basil Treviso
Basil Treviso earned a national AAS award for its compact habit, long harvest window, mildew-resistance, heat tolerance, and slow-to-flower nature.
It grows about 18 inches tall and is ready to harvest 60 days after transplanting a plant or 90 days after direct-seeding it.
Butter Lamp looks more like a mini-pumpkin than a butternut squash.All-America Selections
Butternut squash Butter Lamp
This new butternut squash that looks more like a mini-pumpkin earned a regional AAS award in Northeast ratings for its heat-tolerance and bug- and disease-resistance.
Butter Lamp also is a compact and early-maturing variety, producing four to six one- to two-pound fruits per plant about 90 to 100 days after direct-seeding in the garden.
The four AAS national-award-winning perennial flowers:
Sole Giatto is a heavy-blooming new perennial false sunflower that adds color for weeks.All-America Selections
Heliopsis Sole Giatto
This new cultivar of U.S.-native false sunflower grows a compact 20 inches tall – significantly shorter than most heliopsis – and produces lots of long-lasting, bright-yellow, double-petaled, three-inch blooms from late spring into fall.
It’s also bug- and disease-resistant, sun-loving, attractive to pollinators, not a common target of deer and rabbits, and heat-tolerant.
SunGlobe is a new perennial native with unusually large flowers for this species.All-America Selections
Coreopsis SunGlobe
This native large-flower tickseed with the double-petaled, two-inch-wide, golden-yellow flowers begins blooming in late spring and can keep flowering off and on into fall, especially if you deadhead spent flowers.
SunGlobe is also a heavy-bloomer that grows a compact 12 to 14 inches tall and wide in full sun or part shade.
Spectacular is a new sedum that’s compact enough to sidestep the floppy flowerheads that plague many other perennial sedums.All-America Selections
Sedum Spectacular
Spectacular is a new super-compact version of sedum that grows only 12 to 14 inches tall and doesn’t flop when plants are nearly covered by the three-inch-wide pink flower umbrellas from late summer into early fall.
The variety has chartreuse-green foliage, is drought-tough, attractive to bees, and grows best in full sun.
This bicolor new dianthus sports its flowers nearly all summer.All-America Selections
Dianthus Supra Cherry Picotee
The fourth 2026 AAS perennial winner is a new hybrid dianthus with fringed, bicolor flowers that are a picotee blend of dark cherry centers and soft pink edges.
Supra Cherry Picotee is a long bloomer, too, going nearly non-stop from late spring until frost on compact, foot-tall plants that are both heat- and drought-tough. It’ll do well in full sun to part shade.
The two AAS award-winning annual flowers for 2026:
Profusion Double White is a new zinnia with double-petaled white flowers on mildew-resistant plants.George Weigel
Zinnia Profusion Double White Improved
This new double-petaled, white-blooming version of the popular sun-loving Profusion zinnia series impressed AAS judges enough earn an esteemed 2026 Gold Medal.
Profusion Double White Improved sports bright-white, large, three-inch double flowers even through the hottest of summers. As with all of the Profusion zinnias, it’s a deer-resistant compact grower (14 inches tall) and highly resistant to powdery mildew, the bane of older zinnias.
Claire Orange is a new, heat-tough, disease-resistant, showy version of annual rudbeckia.All-America Selections
Rudbeckia Claire Orange
This pollen-free new hybrid rudbeckia earned a 2026 AAS national award for its compact habit, its heavy bloom, and its attractive, summer-long gold-orange daisy-like flowers with a dark central “eye.”
Plants are compact (12 inches tall), vigorous, and both heat-tolerant and disease-resistant. They flower best in full sun.
Green Thumb Award
Originally a program of the Mailorder Gardening Association, Green Thumb is now run by the National Garden Bureau, a century-old nonprofit organization that promotes gardening on behalf of the horticulture industry.
NGB has two sets of award-winners: a People’s Choice category based on voting by the gardening public and a Professional’s Choice category based on voting by garden writers, breeders, retailers, brokers, and growers.
2026 People’s Choice Green Thumb award-winners are:
Badabing is a new cherry tomato that won a People’s Choice Green Thumb award and a 2026 regional All-America Selections award.All-America Selections
Tomato BadaBing!
This hybrid cherry tomato won honors for best new edible. It’s a disease-resistant, season-long producer with a compact habit and heavy yields of crack-resistant fruits. (BadaBing! also won a regional All-America Selections award for 2026.)
Sunfinity Yellow-Red Bicolor produces a season-long supply of bright, showy flowers.National Garden Bureau
Sunflower Sunfinity Yellow-Red Bicolor
One of a new breed of bushy sunflowers that produces smaller but far more numerous flowers all season long, Sunfinity Yellow-Red Bicolor features golden-petaled blooms that have a burgundy inner ring. It won People’s Choice honors as 2026’s best annual flower.
Glow Sticks is a perennial grass with bright yellow flower spikes.Concept Plants
Fescue Glow Sticks
The best perennial People’s Choice pick went to this perennial ornamental grass that produces bright yellow flower spikes against dark green foliage. Glow Sticks grows three feet tall in sun or shade and tolerates heat and drought.
Autumn Kiss is the latest version of Encore reblooming azaleas — a semi-double hot-pink variety.National Garden Bureau/Encore Azaleas
Azalea Encore Autumn Kiss
A mid-sized new introduction in the Encore line of reblooming azaleas, Autumn Kiss features semi-double, hot-pink flowers that peak in spring and repeat-bloom later in summer to early fall. It’s evergreen and earned the People’s Choice award as best 2026 shrub.
Pothos Yellow Sunrise
The houseplant winner for People’s Choice is this new pothos that stands out for its golden-yellow-streaked leaves and, as it matures, leaf slits that resemble those in monstera plants. It’s an easy-grow plant that tolerates a range of light situations.
2026 Professional’s Choice Green Thumb award-winners are:
FiredUp Coral is a new mandevilla with neon-coral flowers.George Weigel
Dipladenia (mandevilla) Sun Parasol FiredUp Coral
This tropical vine stands out for its plentiful vibrant, coral-pink pinwheel blooms that open continually throughout summer. It’s compact enough that it doesn’t need a trellis for support. FiredUp Coral won the Pro’s Choice for best 2026 annual flowers.
Basil Treviso
This bushy new basil is a strong, heat-tough grower that resists bitterness and flowering, offering anise-flavored pesto all season. It’s ideal for containers and won a 2026 All-America Selections award in addition to the Green Thumb Pro’s Choice award for best 2026 edible.
Dark Fire is a new crocosmia with smoky-purple foliage and bright red-yellow flowers.Monrovia.com/Doreen Wynja
Crocosmia Dark Fire
Also known as montbretia, this new summer-blooming perennial is unusual for its smoky-purple foliage that makes a striking backdrop for Dark Fire’s bright red/yellow flowers. Plants attract hummingbirds, but deer and rabbits don’t like it. Won Pro’s Choice honors as best 2026 perennial.
Centennial Ruby is a new mophead hydrangea with ruby-red flowers that deepen with maturity.Monrovia.com/Doreen Wynja
Hydrangea Centennial Ruby
Introduced to mark Monrovia Nursery’s 100th anniversary, this new mophead hydrangea produces late spring, long-lasting ruby-red round flowers that deepen in color with age. Centennial Ruby is also a compact variety with dark-green leaves and sturdy stems that resist flower-flopping. It won Pro’s Choice as best 2026 shrub.
Lady Slippers Double Blue Vein sports white-speckled purple flowers.National Garden Bureau
Cape primrose Lady Slippers Double Blue Vein
The Pro’s Choice for top 2026 houseplant is this first-ever double-petaled cape primrose. Lady Slippers Double Blue Vein blooms all year in rich purple flowers that are speckled and spotted with white.
Herb of the Year
The International Herb Association — an organization of herb growers and other herb professionals — has chosen an Herb of the Year each year since 1995.
IHA’s Horticulture Committee evaluates candidates based on outstanding performance in at least two of the three major categories: medicinal, culinary, and decorative. The 2026 winner is …
Turmeric is the International Herb Association’s 2026 Herb of the Year.Wikimedia Commons
Turmeric
Turmeric is an India-native, large-leafed perennial in tropical regions but can be grown as an annual in colder climates.
Its rhizomes are ground and used as the main ingredient in curry powder.
Plants grow three to four feet tall and wide (even wider over time in Zones 8 and up), ideally in morning-sun and consistently damp sites.
Give turmeric a large pot if growing it in a container, water daily, and harvest the rhizomes in fall.
This program of the rose industry and American Rose Society evaluates roses at 14 different trial gardens in six U.S. geographical regions, looking for superior performance in beauty, fragrance, ease of care, and especially disease resistance.
Nine roses won AGRS awards for 2026, but only three in our Northeast region:
Butterfly Bliss is a light-pink-blooming shrub rose.American Garden Rose Selections
Butterfly Bliss
This compact shrub type introduced by the Antique Rose Emporium grows about two feet tall and three to four feet wide.
It features light pink buds that open to clusters of white, two-inch, single flowers and is a repeat-bloomer (no fragrance, though) that bloomed and performed well enough to earn AGRS awards in all six regions.
Glass Slipper is a long-blooming shrub rose with pink-white flowers.American Garden Rose Selections
Glass Slipper
Also an Antique Rose Emporium introduction that won awards in all six AGRS regions, Glass Slipper is another repeat-blooming shrub rose with mildly sweet-smelling flowers in a white-pink blend.
It’s especially resistance to black spot and mildew diseases, having won a 2022 Most Disease-Resistant Rose Award from the American Rose Society.
Grows about three feet tall with a five-foot spread.
True Crush is noted for its large flowers of hot coral.American Garden Rose Selections
True Bloom True Crush
Part of Altman Plants’ True Bloom rose series, True Crush produces large, three-inch-wide flowers of hot coral.
Although the blooms aren’t fragrant, they’re big, prolific, and vivid in color – true to the series’ requirements.
Leaves emerge burgundy, and plants grow about two to three feet tall and wide.
American Rose Trials for Sustainability
A.R.T.S. is an independent, non-profit rose-evaluation program that aims to identify the regionally best roses in eight different U.S. climate regions.
No-spray evaluations at 24 botanic-garden, university, and park trial sites look at bug and disease resistance, drought tolerance, beauty, vigor, and more over two years. Ones that out-perform the comparison industry standards win “Local Artist” awards, and ones that win awards in four or more regions are designated Master Roses.
Three roses scored well enough to earn 2025 Master Rose honors, including in our region:
Bee Sweet Dessert First is double bloomer with dark-pink to light-red flowers.American Rose Trials for Sustainability
Bee Sweet Dessert First
This is a mounded shrub rose with double dark-pink to light-red blooms. It grows three to four feet tall and two to three feet across. Introduced by J. Berry Nursery.
Ruby Red is a grandiflora rose with large red flowers.American Rose Trials for Sustainability
Ruby Red
ARTS describes it as a grandiflora type of rose with dark-red blooms and glossy foliage. It’s an upright, bushy grower to four-and-a-half feet to five-feet tall with a two- to three-foot spread. From Star Roses and Plants in Chester County, Pa.
Blushing Drift is a groundcover rose with light-pink flowers.Star Roses and Plants
Blushing Drift
Also from Star Roses, Blushing Drift is a low, spreading, groundcover rose with mildly fragrant, double light-pink flowers that bloom continuously for most of the season. Grows 14 to 18 inches tall and three feet wide.
Six more roses scored well enough in our climate to earn 2025 Local Artist honors:
Celeste Blue Sky features pinkish-purple flowers.American Rose Trials for Sustainability
Celeste Blue Sky
A shrub rose with deep pinkish-purple flowers and a white base. From Altman Plants and Better Homes and Gardens.
Julie Andrews is a hybrid tea rose with double pink flowers.American Rose Trials for Sustainability
Julie Andrews
A hybrid tea rose with double pink flowers that have a yellow glow at the petal base. Flowers have an anise fragrance, and plants grow 32 inches tall and two feet wide. From Certified Nurseries.
Patriot Dream is a shrub rose with double salmon-orange flowers.American Rose Trials for Sustainability
Patriot Dream
A shrub rose with deep salmon-orange double flowers that have a fruity fragrance. Grows three to four feet tall and three feet wide. From Bailey Nurseries.
Reminiscent Coral is a shrub rose with double coral-pink flowers.Proven Winners
Reminiscent Coral
A shrub rose with double coral-pink flowers that are mildly fragrant. Plants grow two to three feet tall and two feet wide with an arching habit. From Spring Meadow Nursery/Proven Winners.
Ringo Double Pink is a shrub rose with semi-double pink flowers.Proven Winners
Ringo Double Pink
Also from Spring Meadow Nursery/Proven Winners, this shrub rose produces semi-double pink blooms and a mild fragrance on compact plants that grow about two-and-a-half to three-feet tall and only 12 to 16 inches across.
True Bloom True Confidence
A hybrid tea type with orange “petal-packed” blooms on an upright plant. From Altman Plants.
Members of the American Rhododendron Society each year select top-performing rhododendrons and azaleas in eight different U.S. regions.
Four winners were named for 2026 in the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes much of Pennsylvania. Ideal light for all of them is morning sun and afternoon shade.
Southgate Splendor (‘Holden52’) is a rot-resistant rhododendron with pink flowers.American Rhododendron Society/Don Hyatt
Large-leaf rhododendron: ‘Holden52’ (a.k.a. Southgate Splendor)
An evergreen rhododendron that produces mid-season pink flowers on root-rot-resistant and heat-tolerant bushes reaching 5½ feet tall in 10 years.
‘Mister Blue’ features light-purple flowers.American Rhododendron Society/Don Hyatt
Small-leaf rhododendron: ‘Mister Blue’
A light-purple, mid-season bloomer that grows about six feet tall in 10 years.
‘Donald H. Voss’ is an evergreen azalea with purple flowers.American Rhododendron Society/Joseph Klimavicz
Evergreen azalea: ‘Donald H. Voss’
Blooms mid-season in a blend of semi- to fully double purples on three-foot plants.
‘Pink and Sweet’ is a deciduous azalea with pinkish-purple flowers.American Rhododendron Society/Weston Nurseries
Deciduous azalea: ‘Pink and Sweet’
A late-blooming purplish-pink bloomer with yellow flares. Plants grow upright to about four feet tall in 10 years.
The American Iris Society singles out an unusual or noteworthy iris variety each year as winner of its Iris of the Year honor (among many other honors). The 2026 winner is:
‘Royston Rubies’ is the 2026 Iris of the Year.American Iris Society/Anita Moran
‘Royston Rubies’
Bred in northern Michigan by Adam Cordes, this tall bearded iris is a late midseason mauve bloomer with dark ruby-red falls that have a mustard-orange base.
It’s also a heavy and long-blooming variety and grows 32 inches tall.
Judges from the American Daylily Society bestow a variety of awards on distinctive daylilies, but the top honor is the annual Stout Silver Medal, awarded for the current year each fall. The current reigning 2025 winner of that award is:
This daylily with the colorful name (and flowers) is the 2026 Stout Medal award-winner.Richard Howard/American Daylily Society
‘Explosion in the Paint Factory’
This daylily has large, late-season singular flowers in a yellow-red blend. Bred in 2013 by Richard Howard, it grows about 38 inches tall in full sun to part shade.
The American Peony Society each year awards a Gold Medal to a peony deemed outstanding for its beauty and consistency. New winners are announced in late spring, so the reigning 2025 top peony is:
‘Rozella’ is the 2026 Peony of the Year.American Peony Society
‘Rozella’
Rozella is a late-season bloomer with large, double, dark-pink flowers and a light fragrance. Plants grow about 31 inches tall.
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