Top pick annuals for 2024

New plant varieties are being developed that have improved pest and disease resistance and more heat and drought tolerance. Demanding consumers may not always appreciate how long it takes to develop new plant varieties — sometimes as much as 10 years or longer — but how a plant performs in our gardens really does matter. There are several new annual plants for 2024 that we can look forward to. Here are some new varieties with beautiful flowers and unique leaf colour as well as the potential for excellent performance from spring through fall.

Lantana is a staple in hot dry climates like Arizona. In our hot dry summers, lantana has taken on new importance as an annual plant that delivers reliable flowering throughout summer. New Lantana PassionFruit and Shamrock Red from Ball FloraPlant are the best new varieties of lantana that I have come across. PassionFruit boasts tropical coloured blooms and Shamrock Red offers crimson red colour with yellow and orange petals at the top of the basketball-shaped flower. Both produce masses of colourful flowers and a perfect, lush habit for containers and hanging baskets. Heat and drought tolerant, these two new varieties are a must-have for next year’s garden.

Petunia Headliner Lavender Picotee from Selecta will have you stargazing. The soft lavender blooms with white edges are pretty enough on their own but the large flowers are accented by pencil thin strokes of deep purple that radiate from the centre. The silver-blue stamens glisten almost as though they have a perpetual bead of moisture. If you are not a petunia fan, Headliner Lavender Picotee may be just the variety that changes your mind. I trialed it in my garden this year and loved the showy, nonstop blooms which I combined with Diva Cha Cha Lavender Calibrachoa, a new cascading calibrachoa for 2024 that has large purple flowers that have soft yellow centres. Headliner Lavender Picotee would also combine well with silvers, whites, and reds.

Frosted Sapphire Jewel Petunia is a double petunia with white picotee edges. Now, the flowers are billed as blue, but I can only see a beautiful violet colour. The flower is dainty, perhaps a bit larger than calibrachoa. Frosted Sapphire Jewel is so pretty that it deserves to be displayed where it can be appreciated at eye-level. Try it in hanging baskets or in a tablescape. Frosted Sapphire Jewel Petunia is the third entry in a popular collection of double petunias with the picotee styling that also includes Midnight Gold and Pink Diamond.

Impatiens Beacon Lipstick from PanAmerican Seed will surprise you. First, Impatiens Beacon is groundbreaking innovation because it is highly resistant to downy mildew which almost wiped out the impatiens market in North America. Gardeners can grow Impatiens Beacon varieties with confidence. Impatiens Beacon Lipstick is an award-winning impatiens with vibrant deep fuchsia, almost red flowers. I trialed it in my garden this year and without fail every visitor commented on the colour. But Impatiens Beacon Lipstick also has a bold habit. The stems are sturdy and loaded with blooms. It has an upright habit with a height of 14 to 18 inches (36-46cm) and sizable width (12-14 in. or 30-36cm). It looks stunning in the shade. I combined it with Heavenly Hydrangea (a white-flowered annual florist hydrangea), I’Conia La Luna begonia, Nonstop Red begonia, and trailing Swedish ivy.

Coleus Premium Sun Coral Candy from PanAmerican Seed is a decidedly unique coleus. It is the first ever seed coleus to win the All America Selections Winner designation. Gardeners can choose from more tones of the colour coral today but Premium Sun Coleus Coral Candy ramps up the impact with boldly patterned leaves with a velvety brown edged in bright green and a splash of coral down the centre of the leaf accented by fuchsia or magenta-coloured veins. The serrated leaves drape downward and there are virtually no flowers to pinch off — not even in October. I trialed this new coleus in my garden this year and combined it with Begonia I’Conia Bacio Orange but next year I will pair it with maidenhair fern and a begonia that has pink overtones.

Centaurea Silver Swirl from Darwin Perennials is a new groundcover annual for 2024 with beautiful soft texture. Commonly known as Snowflake Dusty Miller, the silver-white leaves of this mounded foliage plant are deeply lobed with slightly wavy edges. Silver Swirl has a mounding habit and is drought tolerant and rabbit resistant. This new annual performs best in full sun in dry, well-drained soils and does not need to be fertilized. All in all, this new variety is tailor-made for smoking hot summer weather. Hot colours appear all the more brilliant next to silver foliage plants, but silver also enhances cool greens and blues as well as pastel colours.

Mandevilla is a staple in my container gardens every year for the simple fact that it blooms non-stop and maintains its good looks from May right up until the first hard frost. This durable, trouble-free tropical plant performs exceptionally well even on the hottest days of summer. New, shorter versions have a mounding habit with small, perfectly smooth, glossy leaves that have a pointy tip. No supports for climbing are needed and it works equally well in containers, hanging baskets and flower beds.

Sun Parasol Original Cream Pink from Suntory Flowers brings another new colour to the already wide colour range. The showy blooms are soft pink with brush strokes of cream set off by a glowing orange centre. Simply irresistible.

You can bring Mandevilla indoors for the winter, too, and grow it as a houseplant. Cut it back a bit, keep it in front of a large sunny window away from drafts and water only as needed, about once every 8 to 10 days. Most importantly, do not fertilize over the winter months until spring when the days start getting lighter for longer.

colleenizacharias@gmail.com

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