ColorBlaze El Brighto Coleus will make its debut in 2022, and make no mistake about it, award-winning color scheme opportunities await as you select your flower partners. At the Young’s Plant Farm 2021 Garden Tour in Auburn, Alabama this summer it made a memorable impression on The Garden Guy.

The last 30 years I have fancied myself as a guru...Read more

Naming a petunia "Picasso" gives clear indication this plant is something special. That is precisely what I thought the first time I saw Supertunia Picasso in Purple in plant trials. I actually felt a little intimidated as I started thinking what would I do with this beautiful flower in containers or in the landscape.

Oddly, my opportunity came...Read more

Perennials for cool season containers may seem like the proverbial horticultural oxymoron, but that is exactly what I have been planting the last few days in my zone 8a landscape. My favorite pansy pals are Goldilocks lysimachia, Lemon Coral sedum, Ogon Japanese sweet flag and Burgundy Glow ajuga.

The kicker is I’m not planting pansies yet, ...Read more

Choosing to name a variety of lantana "Cosmo" may seem quite strange. While there are numerous definitions of the word cosmo, it largely means a peaceful and harmonious system and/or universe. So let’s apply that definition to the award-winning Luscious Royale Cosmo lantana.

If you asked me if you could use this lantana in a monochromatic ...Read more

Panicle hydrangeas, or Hydrangea paniculata varieties, have skyrocketed in popularity, largely thanks to producers that have given us more varieties than we could have ever imagined. The Garden Guy is here to tell you the panicle partnerships for the landscape are only limited by your imagination.

If you find yourself asking "What panicle ...Read more

When I was asked to trial the new Luscious Citron lantana my first thought was: Why in the world do we need another yellow lantana? But six months later, I know the answer. It has to do with butterflies. I’ll get to that in a minute.

Let’s start by looking at the color orange. There is a huge group of gardeners that think orange is too ...Read more

No color stirs the passion in serious gardeners like blue. Sure, we like orange, yellow, red and pink, but blue is the must-have color for mixed containers and baskets. It is like having sapphires in our pocket plantings by the front entrance to the home. It is for this reason The Garden Guy was eager to put Superbena Imperial Blue verbena to ...Read more

The Garden Guy is boldly going into August with geraniums blazing. I could also say I am going into August with Boldly geraniums blazing. It wasn’t too long ago that August and geraniums in the South would have been the definition of a garden oxymoron. Boldly geraniums have changed all that.

You might be wondering how that could have happened...Read more

If someone had told me that there was a heliotrope that could hang with a lantana over a long hot and wet summer, I would have said sure, when pigs fly. Well, clear Runway One because Augusta Lavender is arriving for spring 2022.

I am writing this as much for the greenhouse grower as the home gardener; this plant is a winner and put it in ...Read more

If you have thought about growing calla lilies but doubted your abilities, know this: If I can do it, you can too! I was sent some bulbs for testing in late April. My first bloom was around June 1 and I still have dozens of blooms and can see more coming, but like you, I am still doubting myself.

In my box for testing were the six varieties of ...Read more

This morning I was up early (for me) and could barely make out the plants outside. But I saw the Superbells calibrachoas moving as if a ghost were in the midst. I knew immediately it was a Ruby-throated hummingbird wasting no time in the daily feeding ritual.

Despite the Proven Winners tag mentioning hummingbirds, it has really been quite the ...Read more

Sweet Caroline Medusa Green is an architectural plant of the first order.

I know what you're thinking: Isn’t that a sweet potato?

The answer is a hearty yes, and AMEN, thank you! Sweet Caroline Medusa Green is like no other sweet potato.

Let’s chase a rabbit for a second. Do a Google search for an architectural plant and you will see ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Every weekend morning, residents of L.A.'s Leimert Park Village community can expect to see La Nola Smith tending to her succulent stand, South Central Succs, just outside the front window of the Ivory Coast Hair Salon at the corner of 43rd Street and Degnan Boulevard.

Smith, a spoken-word artist, in-home health care aide and ...Read more