New Annuals to Look For in 2024

‘Honeybells’ & ‘Cherrybells’ are two new Cuphea varieties much desired by both gardeners and hummingbirds. With brightly colored, elongated, tubular flowers developing along multiple stems, these annuals serve as a heat-tolerant, spreading ‘filler & spiller’ option for full sun to part shade spaces. They combine wonderfully with Lantana and Petunias to create a fantastic, nectar-rich trio for pollinators.

Grows 10-12” tall x 14-20” wide

Compact Lavender Splash enhances the huge color spectrum offered by these all-weather, disease-resistant, sun-and-shade-tolerant, large-flowering hybrid impatiens. Combine the beautiful lavender, rose-splashed flowers and dark bronze foliage with Coleus for a riotous, non-stop combo of color and texture all season long in the landscape or containers.

Grows 12-32″ tall x 12-26″ wide

Saffron Finch™ and Vista® Jazzberry® are vibrant, new additions to the Proven Winners® petunia collection well-known for its easy care and free blooming. Pollinators love the single trumpet flowers providing both nectar and pollen; meanwhile, gardeners love the stunning colors and reliable performance in sunny spots and containers. Saffron Finch™ is a lovely, buttery yellow that fades to creamy primrose at the edges, growing 4-12” tall x 18-24” wide. Vista® Jazzberry® is a vigorous, orchid-violet growing 1-2’ tall x 2-3’ wide.

The Beacon® series, at first glance, appears to be a fairly standard, shade-tolerant, bedding Impatiens. What makes them different is something very important – high resistance to the downy mildew that plagues most classic impatiens. This means your new favorite impatiens can “grow stronger, shine longer.” Beacon beauties are mounding with vibrant flowers that last all growing season, while staying healthy and reliably filling shady spots. Choose from ten colors and mixes.

Grows 14-18” tall x 12-14” wide

Summer Wave® Large Blue, also known as wishbone flower, is a profusely blooming, self-cleaning variety that produces blue-violet, white-tipped, tubular flowers to attract pollinators. Its fragrant foliage also provides deer resistance, and its trailing habit makes a fantastic spiller or groundcover for shady locations. Summer Wave has improved sun, heat, and drought tolerance, too.

Grows 6-10” tall x 10-20” wide (potential to trail 30”)

Bloomify™ Mango and ‘Passionfruit’ deliver a deer-resistant, tropical feel to the sunniest spaces of the garden while producing abundant nectar for pollinators in densely clustered, tiny, tubular flowers. ‘Passionfruit’ is a larger selection with an eye-catching, fruity blend of deep magenta pink, orange, and gold that produces a trailing, spreading habit to fill 12-16” tall x 12-14” wide containers or landscape spots. Bloomify™ Mango has a slightly smaller habit, developing radiant yellow to peach and orange blooms that are sterile, enabling the variety to flower with abandon all season, never stopping or sparing a moment of its energy to produce seeds or fruit.

Down Town™ is a versatile series with varieties that flourish in both sun and shade. Serrated, fine-textured, bold, multi-colored, and mottled foliage develops into a compact form perfect for smaller spaces and containers. These plants easily partner up with Impatiens or Petunias without taking over. Look for four new varieties including Down Town™ Columbus (rust, lime, and pink) and Greenville (burgundy, red, yellow, and green).

Grows 16-36” tall x 12-24” wide

Lubega® Dark series is a showstopper this season with three award-winning varieties (Bicolor Orange, Red Glow and Velvet) that offer prolific, repeating, single, bi-color blooms held high over moody, dark purple foliage that forms a dense, uniform habit. These plants are stunning in sunny gardens and containers, plus they possess good deer resistance and attract pollinators. Deadheading is not necessary, but cutting the flowers for arrangements provides gorgeous color indoors while inducing the dahlia to produce more flowers – a win-win situation!

Grows 10-20” tall x 12-24” wide 

Pink Cashmere™ trailing Verbena makes a fantastic, deer-resistant ‘spiller’ or groundcover, producing large umbels of pastel pink, ombre-like, self-cleaning tubular flowers that pollinators love. This variety is highly resistant to powdery mildew, forming deep green foliage and well-branched stems that stay nice and clean while continuously blooming. Combine with Supertunia Vista® Jazzberry® for a lovely, sunny container garden.

Grows 6-12″ tall x 18-30″ wide

Commonly referred to as Polka Dot Plant, Hypoestes is a compact, shade-loving annual grown for its fun, spotted foliage. The Lotty Dotty series is newer and more vigorous than standard seeded varieties. The great thing about polka dot plants? They grow well as houseplants year-round OR as annuals in the shade during the spring and summer!

Grows 12-24″ tall x 12-24″ wide

A new pattern to the Headliner™ series, Starry Sky Burgundy is a unique, mounded petunia with striking color. It’s early flowering and sports stars AND spots on its blooms. This gorgeous petunia is an attractive burgundy color with a yellow star pattern which is more pronounced in cooler weather.

Grows 10-16″ tall x 20-30″ wide