Successful Gardening: Choose a Plant of the Year

Did you know that several organizations choose a "Plant of the Year" to celebrate their favorite plants? More importantly these are "tried and true" meaning that they are usually easy to grow and typically work well in a wide range of soils and climates.

I started buying the Perennial Plant of the Year a long time ago. I can say from experience that they have all been successful plants in my garden. This years Perennial Plant of the Year is: Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Biokovo.' I already own this one and love it. It is a nice spreading perennial ground cover in a blushing light pink-almost white color.

I also have a close cousin named Geranium cantabrigiense 'Karmina.' Pretty much the same with a darker pink bloom.

I fell in love with perennial geraniums several years ago with Geranium 'Johnson's Blue.'

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Since then I have added many to my garden.  They're easy to grow and come in a wide variety of colors. You can read more about my geranium obsession here.

Here's a small group of organizations who nominate a plant of the year and their choice for 2015.

• The Perennial Plant Association -- Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Biokovo'
• The International Herb Association – Savory (Satureja spp.)
• Royal Horticultural Society in England – Rosa For Your Eyes Only ('Cheweyesup')
• American Hosta Growers Association –'Victory'
• National Garden Bureau Inc. – They choose one perennial, annual and edible.   Gaillardia; Coleus, and Sweet Pepper
• Garden Club of America –Acknowledges native plants – 2014 Winner – Asclepias tuberosa  - Butterfly Weed
• Home and Garden Association -- 2015 The Year of the Sunflower

On a similar note, if you really enjoy following trends you can pick up a few flowers in the Pantone color of the year. This year's color is Marsala (18-1438). It is described as "A naturally robust and earthy wine red." I personally love this color. It's very warm and rich. I already have several plants in this color range but I'll certainly be on the look out for new additions. Here are a couple of examples from my garden.

Weigela Wine & Roses

I hope this inspires you to check out the Plant of the Year from the various associations who work hard to nominate great specimens for the home gardener to grow. Do you have any favorite plants of the year? How about any wine colored beauties?