This 'n That Thursdays: 2018 Garden Picks of the year, Part 3

From Proven Winners

Well, I thought that this would be my last 2018 garden picks of the year post, but I realized I had forgotten one more garden organization's selections, so there will be two more of these posts after this week.  Today, let's take a look at the 2018 National Plant of the Year choices from Proven Winners, a North American plant propagating company.  This year there are three featured flowering plants - an annual, a perennial, and a landscape plant:

From Four Star Greenhouse

The 2018 Annual of the Year is Supertunia Bordeaux Petunia.  Supertunia petunias are known for their profuse flowering, vigorous growth, masses of blooms from spring to frost, and the fact that they need no deadheading (removal of spent flowers).  Supertunia Bordeaux has two-toned purple flowers that look lovely in containers or in landscape plantings.

From Proven Winners

For their 2018 Perennial of the Year, Proven Winners chose Primo 'Black Pearl' Heuchera.  Also known as coral bells, heucheras have pretty light pink flowers on upright stalks, but they are primarily known for their impressive foliage colors, and this variety is no exception.  Glossy jet-black ruffled leaves are densely packed on this compact mounding plant.  It grows exceptionally well in containers as well as flower beds.

From Proven Winners

The Proven Winners 2018 Landscape Plant of the Year is Spilled Wine Weigela.  Weigelas are dense, rounded, deciduous shrubs with bright pink flowers.  Spilled Wine Weigela is a compact variety that only grows to about 2-3 feet in height.  It has deep wine red leaves and masses of magenta pink flowers.  It is not preferred by deer, attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, and looks great planted en masse in large or small landscaping beds.

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Proven Winners has added four new shrub categories to their 2019 National Plant of the Year program - a landscape shrub, a rose, a hydrangea, and a flowering shrub.  You can read about them here (I will feature them in posts next year).  Next week I will begin a two-part post for the All America Selections 2018 winners, starting with the flowering plant choices and (finally!) ending this gardening series with the 2018 vegetable picks.  I hope everyone who loves gardening is able to get out and start planting by now!