2024's New perennials for sun
Every year, growers put out new plant introductions and there are a lot of beautiful new sun perennials to get excited about! This year’s standouts include vibrant new color choices and double-flowering varieties of old favorites, as well as interesting foliage variations and compact plant sizes. Let’s take a look at a few of our favorites for 2024.
Frilly Knickers™ anemone (Anemone hybrid)
It’s hard to resist a fun plant name like this and almost impossible to pass by the beautiful double white flowers with a lavender back on dark stems. Vigorous plants with leathery olive green foliage make a great backdrop for earlier blooming companions in the border.
Type Perennial
Blooms Double white blooms with a lavender back from late summer into fall
Light Full sun to part shade
Soil Well drained
Size 18 to 24 in. tall, 18 in. wide
Cold hardy USDA zones 5 to 9
Introducer Plants Nouveau
Source Great Garden Plants, 877-447-4769
‘Blazing Glory’ daylily (Hemerocallis hybrid)
Big 6-inch golden-yellow flowers put on a bright show in summer. These eye-catching daylily blooms have a picotee edge that extends the entire length of the petal. And it reblooms too! Plants put on quite a show last summer in our test garden with oodles of handsome blooms.
Type Perennial
Blooms Golden yellow flowers with a burgundy eye and matching picotee edge in summer
Light Full sun
Soil Well drained
Size 32 in. tall, 18 to 24 in. wide
Cold hardy USDA zones 3 to 9
Introducer Proven Winners
Source Garden Crossings, 616-875-6355
See More New Garden Plant Introductions for 2024:
Best New Garden Trees & Shrubs
Best New Shade Perennials
Best New Fruits & Vegetables
‘Angelic Burgundy’ peony (Paeonia hybrid)
Give your spring borders a rich luxurious look with this new herbaceous peony — it’s one of the darkest colors you’ll find. Each sturdy stem has a single bloom and doesn’t require staking.
Type Perennial
Blooms Deep burgundy single to semi-double blooms in spring
Light Full sun
Soil Well drained
Size 32 in. tall, 44 in. wide
Cold hardy USDA zones 3 to 8
Introducer & source Swenson Gardens
Sugar Shake echibeckia (x Rudbeckia)
This new addition to the Summerina Glow™ series produces lots of gorgeous double blooms that look good from spring to frost and make great cut flowers. Plants may occasionally return in colder zones but are most reliably perennial in USDA zone 7 and warmer.
Type Perennial
Blooms Double blooms in shades of peachy pink to yellow in summer to frost
Light Full sun
Soil Well drained
Size 20 to 24 in. tall, 16 to 20 in. wide
Cold hardy USDA zones 7 to 9
Introducer Pacific™ Plug & Liner
Source Local garden centers
‘Silver Swirl’ snowflake dusty miller (Centaurea ragusina)
The bright silver leaves with a ruffled edge of this new perennial make a great edging for the border, or you can add plants to the front of a container for season-long color.
Type Perennial
Best Feature Ruffled silver foliage
Light Full sun
Soil Dry, well drained
Size 8 to 11 in. tall, 11 to 14 in. wide
Cold hardy USDA zones 6 to 9
Introducer Darwin Perennials®
Source Garden Crossings, 616-875-6355
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Burgundy Stripe gazania (Gazania rigens)
If hot and dry describes your garden, this radiant gazania from the Sterling Silver™ series is just what you need. While other varieties are grown as annuals, Burgundy Stripe is cold hardy to USDA zone 5! Besides that, these blooms stay open on cloudy days instead of closing as the more tender types do.
Type Perennial
Blooms Yellow and red striped blooms in late spring to fall
Light Full sun
Soil Well drained
Size 6 in. tall, 24 in. wide
Cold hardy USDA zones 5 to 9
Introducer Green Fuse® Botanicals
Source Local garden centers
‘Pink Pearl’ agastache (Agastache hybrid)
More flowers mean more pollinators visiting the petal packed stems of ‘Pink Pearl’ agastache. With spring-to-frost blooms, it’s even a great choice for containers.
Type Perennial
Blooms Long spikes packed with pink blooms from spring to frost
Light Full sun
Soil Well drained
Size 8 to 16 in. tall, 16 in. wide
Cold hardy USDA zones 6 to 10
Introducer Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc.
Source Select Seeds, 800-684-0395
‘Strawberries and Cream’ moss phlox (Phlox hybrid)
Looking for a colorful ground cover? ‘Strawberries and Cream’ moss phlox is covered in blooms from mid- to late spring. Flowers open white with a pink eye and mature to shades of pink, creating an attractive mix like the one above.
Type Perennial
Blooms White spring flowers mature to pink
Light Full sun
Soil Well drained
Size 2 to 4 in. tall, 18 in. wide
Cold hardy USDA zones 5 to 9
Introducer Chicagoland Grows®
Source Local garden centers
‘Wild Romance’ peony tulip (Tulipa hybrid)
Start spring off right with the lush double blooms of ‘Wild Romance’ peony tulip. Its white flowers are edged with striking pink that gradually spreads to the rest of the petals, ending in a soft pastel look.
Type Bulb
Blooms Double white blooms with a pink edge in spring
Light Full sun
Soil Well drained
Size 16 in. tall, 5 to 6 in. wide
Cold hardy USDA zones 3 to 9
Introducer & source VanEngelen, Inc., 860-567-8734
‘Little Red Fox’ little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
Smaller (and less prone to flopping) than most little bluestems, ‘Little Red Fox’ still provides season-long texture and great fall color. Gray-green spring foliage changes to silvery blue that develops red streaks in mid- to late summer, deepening as fall progresses.
Type Perennial
Blooms Tan flowers in summer
Light Full sun
Soil Well drained
Size 24 to 30 in. tall, 18 in. wide
Cold hardy USDA zones 3 to 9
Introducer Intrinsic Perennial Gardens
Source Local garden centers
