PERENNIAL PLAYBOOK 2027
A SMARTER PERENNIAL PLAYBOOK
Perennials are no longer just an add-on to the spring bench. They are color, texture, habitat, repeat sales, landscape solutions, and long-term value — all in one category.
This playbook was built to help you navigate that opportunity more strategically. Inside, you’ll find a curated look at key EHR perennial partners, standout new introductions, reliable program drivers, and product categories shaped around the way growers, retailers, and consumers are buying today.
Use it as a planning tool. Use it as a sales conversation starter. Use it to spot gaps, build stronger benches, and connect the right genetics with the right production windows.
When you’re ready to build your perennial program, connect with your EHR representative to review availability, timing, sourcing options, and the best opportunities for your market.
PP&L
Exclusives, Essentials, and Everything In Between
Pacific Plug & Liner gives growers the rare combination of breadth, access, and discovery. Based in Watsonville, California, PP&L connects growers across North America with one of the most comprehensive perennial programs — spanning perennials, ornamental grasses, succulents, herbs, and specialty crops.
The value is not just in the size of the list. It is in the mix: trusted staples, first-to-market introductions, exclusive genetics, and branded programs from leading breeders around the world. For growers building a perennial program with both reliability and retail excitement, PP&L offers a deep bench with a sharp eye for what is next.
1 Heuchera ‘Eternal Flame’
A foliage plant that earns its name honestly. ‘Eternal Flame’ moves through red, orange, gold, and lime tones with intense veining and a compact habit, giving shade benches the kind of warm color usually reserved for coleus.
2
FALLS™ Carex Collection
FEATHER FALLS™, RIBBON FALLS™, and MOON FALLS™ bring a cascading texture story to sedges — equally useful for containers, landscape edges, and designs that need movement without relying on flowers.
3
SUMMERINA® Echibeckia Series
An exclusive PP&L offering that blends the familiar retail pull of rudbeckia with the fuller, bolder look of echinaceastyle colors. It is a summer bench crop with instant shopper recognition.
4 POWER SURGE™ Lavender Collection
With VOLTAGE VIOLET™ and PLUM POWER®, this Spanish lavender program brings stronger color contrast, compact habits, and a fresher retail look to a category shoppers already understand.
5
Primula PRETTY POLLY!™ Burgundy
PRETTY POLLY!™ Burgundy gives primula a richer, more premium finish: fully double, rose-like burgundy flowers on a stronger, larger plant than smaller polyanthus types. Fall planting gives growers the best path to a full early-spring presentation.
Walters Gardens Premium Perennials. Rewarding Results.
Walters Gardens has built its reputation on more than perennial variety. With one of the broadest perennial assortments in North America, industry-leading bare root production, and the power of Proven Winners® Perennials behind key introductions, Walters gives growers and retailers a program built for both production confidence and consumer demand.
From proven staples to next-generation introductions, the Walters program helps turn perennial planning into a more strategic, profitable part of the bench.
Why Walters Works
Breadth with Purpose
More than 1,000 perennial varieties give growers access to a complete, current assortment — from dependable standards to high-interest new introductions.
Bare Root Strength
As North America’s leading bare root perennial producer, Walters offers extensive supply and quick-turn options for premium finished containers.
Proven Winners® Pull
As the home of Proven Winners® Perennials, Walters connects growers and retailers to one of the most recognized consumer plant brands in the market.
Plant Health Focus
Advanced plant health protocols, IPM practices, and rigorous virus testing support strong, uniform crops from the start.
1 Phlox LUMINARY® ‘Sunset Coral’
A perennial star with national momentum. Named the 2027 Proven Winners® National Perennial of the Year, LUMINARY® ‘Sunset Coral’ brings warm coral-pink color with a sunset glow, strong mildew resistance, and the retail advantage of major consumer marketing support.
2 Allium ‘All the Buzz’
Earlier color. Compact habit. Big pollinator appeal.
‘All the Buzz’ builds on the proven appeal of ornamental alliums with a more compact habit and rosy-purple flowers that arrive about two weeks earlier than ‘Millenium.’ It is an easy fit for premium containers, pollinator programs, and deer-resistant retail messaging.
3 Lavandula ‘Summer Serenade’
Fragrance, flower power, and a longer sales window. ‘Summer Serenade’ is an early-to-color lavender selected for a rounded, compact habit and a heavy display of true lavender flower spikes that continue through the season. It gives retailers a fresh, fragrant option in one of the strongest consumer perennial categories.
4 Proven Winners® Perennials with Native Roots Native parentage, selected for modern landscapes.
This curated Proven Winners® Perennials collection highlights varieties with North American native parentage, selected to bridge ecological interest with the performance, uniformity, and garden-readiness today’s consumers expect.
5 EZ Scape™ Landscape Program
Garden confidence, merchandised at retail.
EZ Scape™ turns perennial combinations into simple, consumer-friendly recipes built around real garden needs— pollinators, deer resistance, shade, fragrance, and more. Retail-ready POP and EZScapes.com support help make the program easy to explain, easy to shop, and easy to plant.
Lucas Greenhouses
Young Plants Built to Move
Lucas Greenhouses brings an annual grower’s urgency to the perennial liner business. Their program is built around fresh, high-energy young plants — not held-over product waiting for a home — with genetics selected for reliability, clean production, and real grower usefulness.
That matters in a category where timing can make or break the crop. Lucas liners are pinched and shaped early for fullness, nutritionally charged for vigorous growth, and toned for transplant success, giving growers a cleaner starting point whether the crop is being paired with annuals for immediate retail color or overwintered for long-term perennial value.
With more than 40 years of young plant experience and a perennial list spanning 27 genera, Lucas offers a practical bridge between spring annual programs and perennial opportunity.
• Tested genetics
• Fresh grow-to-sell production
• Pinched for fullness
• Nutrient-charged
• Toned for transplant success
• Split 51 trays
• True 50 trays
1 Split 51 Trays & True 50s
The Lucas perennial program gives growers practical tray options for building assortments without overcommitting to every item. Lavender is available in both Split 51 trays and True 50s, while high-demand genera such as salvia, heliopsis, gaura, and agastache are offered in Split 51 trays for flexible spring planning.
2 HONEYSTICKS® Agastache Series
HONEYSTICKS® gives agastache a compact, retail-friendly form without losing the traits that make the crop so useful: fragrant foliage, upright flower spikes, heat tolerance, and strong pollinator appeal. It is an easy series to position for summer color, low-water landscapes, and growers who want perennials that look fresh when the season gets hot and dry.
3 LITTLE ROCKSTARS® Buddleja Series
Butterfly bush finally gets a true small-pot story. LITTLE ROCKSTARS® brings bright, fragrant blooms on an extremely compact plant, giving growers a patio-ready shrub with perennial-style versatility. It is a smart fit for pollinator benches, mixed planters, and front-of-border programs where full-size Buddleja would simply be too much plant.
4 SPINTOP® Gaillardia Series
SPINTOP® gives growers an early-color perennial that does not disappear after the first flush. With heat and drought tolerance, strong branching, and a long flowering window, it fits the kind of retail story customers understand quickly: cheerful, tough, and built for sun.
5 Lavandula Program
Lavender remains one of the most bankable perennial categories at retail, and Lucas gives growers multiple ways into the crop. From English lavender standards to premium selections like BIG TIME BLUE and Spanish lavender options such as PRIMAVERA, the program supports fragrance, pollinator appeal, and upscale bench presence.
Creek Hill Nursery
The Perennial Curator’s Bench
Creek Hill Nursery has built its program around the plants growers still want to discover. Alongside dependable industry standards, their assortment leans into the rare, the underused, and the genuinely garden-worthy — selections that may not be grown everywhere, but earn attention when they are.
That point of view is matched by a practical production format. Creek Hill’s 21-cell flats give growers a larger, well-established young plant that can work for quick turns, premium perennial finishing, or landscape jobs where a smaller liner is too slow and a finished quart is more cost than the project needs. Add in IPM, compost tea, and speculative availability on key crops, and Creek Hill becomes a useful source for growers who want both character and confidence.
CREEK
21-Cell Flats
Creek Hill’s 21-cell format gives growers more plant in the plug, with established liners that can move quickly after transplant. It is especially useful for fast turns, specialty perennial programs, and landscape installations where growers need a stronger start without jumping all the way to a finished quart.
Biological Growing Practices
Creek Hill’s IPM and compost tea programs add another layer to the young plant story. Plants are grown with beneficial bacterial and fungal activity already encouraged in the root zone and on the foliage, while scouting teams monitor crops and release predatory insects as needed.
HILL NURSERY
1 Echinacea SUNSEEKERS® ‘Golden Sun’
This is not another standard yellow coneflower.
SUNSEEKERS® ‘Golden Sun’ brings a fuller, more textural flower form, with golden semi-double blooms, fringed petal edges, and nectar-rich cones that keep the pollinator story intact. It gives summer benches a familiar category with a less familiar finish.
2 WINTER SPARKLE Helleborus Series
Winter Sparkle brings hellebores into a brighter, more forward-facing retail moment. Large, upward-facing flowers, strong stems, thick evergreen foliage, and a more accessible production story make the series a smart option for growers who want premium earlyseason color without relying only on older name-brand lines.
3 Brunnera ‘Permafrost’
A shade plant with staying power after spring bloom. ‘Permafrost’ carries fully silver, strongly veined foliage that has shown better resistance to humid-summer browning than many brunnera types. That makes it easier to sell as a foliage performer, not just a pretty blue flower in April.
4 Pulmonaria ‘Dark Vader’
The name gets the first look, but the plant backs it up. Dark green foliage with strong silver spotting sets the stage early, followed by spring flowers that shift through pink, blue, violet, and deeper tones as they age. It is a small shade perennial with a surprisingly dramatic personality.
North Creek Nurseries
Ecological Plants, Practical Programs
North Creek Nurseries brings a purpose-driven approach to perennial production, with a deep assortment of native plants, improved selections, grasses, sedges, ferns, and ecologically useful perennials selected for real-world performance.
Their program gives growers more than a plant list. It offers reliable plugs and liners for landscapes that need to work harder — supporting pollinators, handling tough conditions, filling difficult spaces, and bringing long-term value to modern planting design.
• Perennials
• Grasses
• Sedges
• Ferns
• Native Selections
• Landscape Plugs™
1 Andropogon virginicus
This durable native grass brings fine texture, upright movement, and warm golden-orange color in fall and winter. It thrives in dry, difficult soils, making it a practical choice for meadow plantings, naturalized areas, and resilient landscapes.
2 Carex pensylvanica
Carex pensylvanica forms flowing carpets of fine-textured, semi-evergreen foliage, bringing a natural groundcover effect to woodland settings. Its adaptability to dry shade makes it a valuable native alternative where traditional turf struggles.
3 Iris ‘Purple Flame’
Violet-purple flowers rise above sword-like foliage in late spring to early summer, adding bold seasonal color to rain gardens, pond edges, bioswales, and moist landscapes. It is a strong fit where ornamental impact and ecological function need to work together.
4 Phlox ‘Jeana’
‘Jeana’ produces masses of lavender-pink flowers through summer, drawing butterflies and other beneficial pollinators into sunny borders. Excellent mildew resistance and strong landscape performance make it a standout phlox for both ecological plantings and premium perennial programs.
5 Polystichum acrostichoides
Christmas fern offers deep green fronds that provide structure and year-round interest under trees, along shaded paths, and in woodland gardens. Tough, adaptable, and long-lived, it also helps bring stability and texture to naturalized plantings.
6 Viola ‘Silver Gem’
‘Silver Gem’ pairs delicate purple spring flowers with silvery-blue foliage that brightens shaded garden spaces. Its compact habit and year-round foliage interest make it a refined native groundcover for woodland edges, shade displays, and early-season retail appeal.
Emerald Coast Growers
The Easy Choice for Grasses and More
Emerald Coast Growers has earned its reputation as one of the industry’s go-to sources for ornamental grasses, backed by a broad perennial lineup, deep availability, and a service-first approach that makes planning easier.
With production in both Florida and Pennsylvania, ECG supports growers, brokers, landscapers, and garden centers with well-rooted young plants, forwardlooking availability, and the practical support needed to build successful programs. Grasses may be the signature, but reliability is the real product.
Quality Plants. Expert Support. Reliable Supply.
The Easy Choice.
1 Bouteloua LITTLE BLONDIE™ ‘Zig Zag’
A smaller, tighter answer to ‘Blonde Ambition,’ Little Blondie™ brings profuse, striped “eyebrow” flowers that mature to creamy white and hold with strong seasonal interest. Sterile flowers and a compact 15–18” habit make it especially useful for containers, small-space landscapes, and drought-tolerant programs.
2 Panicum DREAM CATCHER® CHERRY BOMB™
Cherry Bomb™ stands out for red-tipped spring foliage that intensifies through summer and fall, giving growers a switchgrass with color as the main event. Its round, tidy habit makes it easy to place in premium containers, mass plantings, and landscape programs needing durable, season-long color.
3 Panicum DREAM CATCHER® LIGHTNING BOLT®
Lightning Bolt® brings a strong vertical presence with sturdy, columnar growth and clean mid-green foliage. Reaching roughly 6½ feet, it is a smart choice for specimens, screening, hedging, and high-impact landscape designs where structure matters as much as movement.
4 Panicum DREAM CATCHER® SMOKY ROSE®
Smoky Rose® offers a tidy, upright habit topped by a rounded spray of smoky-rose flowers, giving it a polished look in both containers and landscapes. At roughly 3½ feet, it delivers the texture and resilience of switchgrass in a more manageable, design-friendly size.
5 Monarda ‘Midnight Oil’
‘Midnight Oil’ brings a richer foliage story to Bradbury’s monarda, with purple new growth and stems that mature to chocolatey bronze-green. Lavender flowers speckled with dark purple add pollinator appeal, making it a distinctive option for native-forward perennial programs.
Gulley Greenhouse
A Specialist’s Approach to Perennials
Gulley Greenhouse brings a specialist’s eye to perennial production. Their program is built around varieties that merit a closer look — tissue culture selections, difficult-to-source genetics, and crops that need the right environment and timing to show what they can really do.
What makes that story more useful is that Gulley does not stop at propagation. Through both their wholesale division and retail garden center, the team is able to finish and evaluate the plants they sell, giving them firsthand insight into performance, flowering, and seasonality. That practical experience shows up across the program, from vernalized liners and perennial groundcovers to specialty lines like Fairy Flowers® and Plant Select®.
Gulley also brings the kind of flexibility growers appreciate: close ties to major perennial breeders, the ability to custom grow unpublished items and sizes, and a central U.S. location that keeps freight workable in both directions.
1 STAIRCASE™ Lupine Series
Staircase™ brings the lupine look into a more programmable format. Unlike traditional vernalization-dependent types, this series flowers without daylength manipulation or a cold requirement, giving growers the impact of lupines without the same production constraints.
2 32-Cell & 50-Cell Vernalized Liners
This practical program can quietly improve a spring schedule. Gulley bulks and cools a wide range of varieties so liners arrive with stored energy, ready to move. For growers, that can mean less finishing time, less early-production pressure, and faster, more predictable results after transplant.
3 FAIRY FLOWERS®
Fairy Flowers® feels like its own tiny world. The collection features plants selected for naturally small scale or easy trimability, with flowers, foliage textures, tropicals, hardy perennials, and miniature garden personalities. Hand-drawn character tags give the line memorable retail identity, while the plants fit easily into dish gardens, fairy gardens, and small-format specialty programs.
4 PLANT SELECT®
Developed with Colorado State University and Denver Botanic Gardens, Plant Select® is one of the most respected western plant programs in the market. The collection focuses on climate-tough performers — xeric, drought tolerant, native or regionally adapted — suited to everything from rock gardens to refined low-water landscapes.
5 Perennial Groundcovers
Groundcovers are easy to underestimate until you try to source them well. Gulley’s program stands out for depth and production intent, with a broad assortment and inhouse stock on many varieties. For volume growers, the 200-cell high-density tray offers an efficient way to produce plants that knit landscapes together.
Raker-Roberta’s
More Choices. Smarter Starts.
Better Program Math.
Raker-Roberta’s is one of those suppliers whose strength is easy to underestimate until you look at the math: more than 100 genera, more than 1,000 perennial varieties, and multiple tray formats designed for different grower realities.
This is not just about offering a long list. It is about helping growers choose the right starting point — premium strips for finishing-ready programs, high-density trays for better input cost, and seed-grown volume options where efficiency matters. For 2026–2027, Raker is also putting real dollars behind the program with broader access to Volume Level 4 pricing and an Early Order Discount designed to make perennial planning easier to commit to.
2026–2027 Grower Advantage
Volume Price Levels 1–3 receive Volume Level 4 pricing for the 2026–2027 season. Early orders receive an additional 10% discount when placed by November 1, 2026.
36 Strip
This is Raker’s premium perennial format: low minimums, finishing-ready plugs and liners, and a size that gives growers more confidence when the crop needs to move cleanly into production. For specialty perennials, smaller assortments, or higher-value programs, the 36 Strip gives the crop a stronger start without forcing unnecessary volume.
51 Strip
The 51 Strip remains a familiar workhorse in the RakerRoberta’s perennial program. It gives growers a practical middle ground: enough plant size to move confidently into production, with a tray count that works well for core perennials, planned turns, and dependable springthrough-summer programs.
160 High-Density Tray
The 160 Tray is a major initiative for Raker-Roberta’s, giving growers a lower-cost input that can finish in a similar window to a 36 Strip. For high-volume perennial programs, that creates a stronger margin story without sacrificing planning efficiency.
285 Tray
The 285 Tray leans into one of Raker-Roberta’s core strengths: high-volume seed-grown production. It gives growers an efficient format for scaling perennial crops where input cost, consistency, and volume planning matter most.
Perennial Breadth
With more than 100 genera and more than 1,000 varieties, Raker’s perennial program gives brokers and growers a deep bench to work from. That breadth is especially valuable when a customer needs core items, spring staples, and higher-interest genetics from one young plant source.
1 KIRIGAMI™ and EARLYBIRD™ Aquilegia Series
Aquilegia can be beautiful — and frustrating — which is why Raker’s confidence and track record here matter. KIRIGAMI™ offers bold, upward-facing flowers, strong uniformity, and programmable timing that helps growers hit color when benches need something fresh.
2 Salvia ‘May Night’ and ‘East Friesland’
These are not trend plants; they are trust plants. ‘May Night’ and ‘East Friesland’ remain perennial staples for their blue-purple spikes, pollinator appeal, deer resistance, and repeatable landscape value. Raker helps keep those core crops in the pipeline.
3 Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’
‘Moonbeam’ brings a softer sales appeal: pale yellow flowers, fine texture, and a long bloom season that works beautifully in mixed perennial displays. It is not the loudest plant on the bench, but it helps a program feel complete.
4 Iberis
Evergreen structure, crisp white spring flowers, and a clean retail look make Iberis an early-season crop that earns space quickly. It bridges cool-season color and the fuller perennial bench that follows.
5 Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’
‘Goldsturm’ is a classic for a reason: golden flowers, dark cones, summer-to-fall color, and years of landscape recognition. It is easy for retailers to explain, easy for shoppers to trust, and exactly where Raker’s pricing strategy matters.
6 Lavandula
Lavender remains one of the garden center’s most understandable perennials. Fragrance, pollinator appeal, drought tolerance, and a premium look all work in its favor. For growers, the opportunity is having the right young plant source to keep the category consistent.
GET Group Perennial Liners, Right from the GET Go
GET Group has built its perennial liner business around a simple idea: make quality plants easier to source, easier to schedule, and easier to fit into real grower programs.
As the company approaches its 25th anniversary in 2027, GET Group continues to invest in greenhouse space, automation, and production systems that support consistency without losing the practical flexibility customers value. With 32-, 72-, and 128-count trays, speculative and custom-grown production, and a centrally located shipping point, GET gives growers options whether they are planning ahead or filling short-term needs.
There is also a useful depth to the portfolio. Alongside newer introductions, GET continues to offer tried-and-true perennials that still earn their place in production — including garden classics and harder-to-find staples that buyers continue to ask for.
Mixed Tray Program
For 2027, customers can order by September 4, 2026 and choose ship weeks 3, 5, 7, or 9 with no added fees. Varieties offered in 32-count trays can be mixed in combinations of 8x8x8x8, 8x8x16, 16x16, or 8x24. After the deadline or outside those ship weeks, each variety carries a $5 partial flat surcharge.
This is the kind of program that solves a real purchasing problem, giving growers more variety without forcing a full-flat commitment on every item. For smaller runs, specialty orders, trial quantities, or broader retail assortments, that flexibility matters.
1 Geum TOTALLY CITRON™
A yellow-flowering companion to the celebrated Totally Tangerine story, Totally Citron™ brings a fresh color direction to a category that has gained real momentum in spring perennial sales. Its soft lemon blooms give growers something cheerful and distinctive without feeling gimmicky — an easy way to brighten early-season benches.
2 Pulmonaria ‘Lisa Marie’
Discovered by Brad and Lisa Grover and trialed for years before introduction, ‘Lisa Marie’ has the kind of backstory that gives a plant more than shelf appeal. Large, consistently marked foliage carries the show after the raspberry-toned flowers finish, making this a strong shade perennial for retailers who want spring color with season-long foliage value.
3 Lysimachia clethroides
Gooseneck loosestrife is a classic with a very specific charm: arching white flower spikes that move beautifully in the garden and cut well for arrangements. It is not always easy to source, which makes GET’s continued offering useful for growers building old-fashioned borders, cut flower programs, or specialty perennial assortments.
4 Dianthus MOUNTAIN FROST™ Red Garnet
Red Garnet brings the Mountain Frost™ formula into a saturated red that holds well against tidy silver-gray foliage. It flowers without vernalization and reblooms from spring into fall, giving growers a compact, polished dianthus for quarts, 2.5-quart programs, and gallon retail where color needs to start early and keep going.
Swift Greenhouses
Built on Generations of Young Plant Know-How
Swift Greenhouses has the kind of story that gives a perennial program real credibility. What started in 1952 with 15,000 square feet of glass greenhouse space and plants sold from the back of a pickup has grown into one of the country’s established young plant producers, now shipping perennial, grass, herb, and vegetable plugs to growers in all 50 states.
That longevity matters because Swift’s value is not built around novelty alone. Their program is about giving growers a dependable start: vernalized 50-plugs with mature, dormant root systems for spring finishing, plus a year-round 288-plug seedling program for growers building efficient 3”, 4”, cell-pack, or multi-plug gallon crops. It is old-school reliability with a very current production advantage.
1 Vernalized 50-Plug Program
Swift’s 50-plug program is built for growers who want spring crops with less guesswork. These cold-treated plugs ship January through April with mature, dormant root systems, helping many varieties move quickly after transplant and flower the first year. For 4” pots, quarts, and gallons, that head start can be the difference between a crop that fits the window and one that misses it.
2 288-Plug Program
The 288-plug program gives growers a different kind of flexibility: year-round access to a wide range of seeded perennials, grasses and herbs in an efficient young plant format. It is especially useful for 3”, 4”, cell-pack, and multi-plug gallon production, with fall booking opportunities that make planning easier.
3 PATIO HIT® Rosa Series
PATIO HIT® roses give growers a blooming rose program that feels bigger than the pot. The series brings Poulsen genetics into a compact patio format, with dark foliage, full blooms, and the retail pull of a flowering crop that can stand on its own for Mother’s Day, spring promotions, or premium patio displays.
4 PARADE® Rosa Series
PARADE® miniature roses are a natural fit for Swift’s vernalized 50-plug program: compact, colorful, and bred for a finished presentation that reads instantly at retail. With multiple colors and a tidy habit, they offer a giftable crop that can move beyond “mini rose” into seasonal, impulse, and container programs.
5 Dianthus Supra Pink
Supra Pink has the kind of flower power that earns bench space fast. Large, lacy blooms sit above vigorous plants with strong heat and cold tolerance, giving growers a first-year-flowering perennial that looks cheerful in the pot and keeps performing after it leaves the garden center.
6 Rocky Mountain Penstemon
Few blues feel as right in western perennial programs as Rocky Mountain penstemon. Its clear violet-blue flowers, native credibility, and pollinator value make it especially useful for Rocky Mountain and high-plains markets, where shoppers increasingly want plants that look beautiful without pretending the climate is something it is not.
7 Little Bluestem
Little bluestem is one of those grasses that works harder than it looks. Upright blue-green summer foliage shifts into copper, red, and bronze tones as the season changes, bringing movement, texture, and native prairie character to mass plantings. Demand remains strong because it answers so many landscape needs at once: drought tolerance, winter interest, and ecological relevance.
Pollinator and Native Demands
Where Demand Has Wings
Pollinator and native-forward programs are no longer niche add-ons. They are becoming one of the clearest ways garden centers connect plant sales to purpose, habitat, and a more thoughtful landscape story. This collection gives growers material that can hold that conversation at retail: colorful, useful, and rooted in what today’s customers want their gardens to do.
1 Gaura Graceful Pink — Light, airy and always in motion, Graceful Pink gives pollinator tables a warm-toned thread that keeps blooming through heat. The red foliage undertone helps it feel more intentional than a standard gaura.
2 Heliopsis ‘Forged in Fire’ — Dark stems and smoky foliage make the yellow flowers feel sharper and more contemporary. It checks the native/ pollinator box, but more importantly, it looks like an upgrade.
3 Agastache HONEYSTICKS® Gold — A sunny yellow agastache gives the pollinator palette a useful break from all the blue and purple. Early bloom, aromatic foliage, and flowers that carry to frost make the story easy to sell.
4 Echinacea MOOODZ® Zen — Zen brings the clean white look shoppers understand immediately, backed by the MOOODZ® production story growers appreciate: fast flowering, strong branching, and a uniform finish from tissue culture.
5 Amsonia ‘Grand Slam’ — The quiet one that keeps earning its place after the flowers pass. Blue spring bloom, fine texture, and clean lateseason structure make it a native-based perennial for landscapes that need staying power.
6 Hyssopus NECTAR NINJA™ — Compact, fragrant, and built for lean sunny sites, with the lavender/catmint feeling in a fresh pollinator package. Dense lavender-blue bloom does the traffic-stopping work.
7 Monarda ‘Bumble Bee King’ — With Bradbury’s monarda in its background, this selection brings a richer foliage story than many beebalms. Purple spring emergence, lavender-pink flowers, and ornamental seedheads keep it interesting beyond the first flush.
8 Salvia LIVING LARGE® ‘Dark Sky’ — When a pollinator display needs height and authority, ‘Dark Sky’ steps in. The deeper indigo spikes and larger frame give salvia a focal role instead of making it just another small blue accent.
Skip the Slow Build
The easiest perennial to sell is the one already making its case. First-year flowering crops help growers build a spring program with fewer excuses and more visible value: color in the container, cleaner scheduling, and a better handoff to retailers who need benches to look alive now, not next season.
1 Digitalis DIBELLA™ Series — DIBELLA™ turns foxglove into a more dependable first-year crop: uniform timing, sturdy upright stems, and elegant bells that arrive without asking the buyer to wait for year two.
2 Aquilegia KIRIGAMI™ Series — KIRIGAMI™ keeps the romance of columbine but gives it a grower-friendly backbone. Upward-facing flowers, bright colors, and minimal vernalization make spring delivery much easier to plan.
3 Lavandula ‘Summer Serenade’ — This lavender gets to the fragrance buyer early. A compact habit and heavy summer bloom give retailers a longer, more productive selling window in a category shoppers already seek out.
4 Bellis BAM BAM™ Series — Oversized flowers on short, tidy plants make BAM BAM™ cheerful without getting messy. It is an early bench brightener for spring and fall assortments where compact presentation matters.
5 Leucanthemum CARPET ANGEL® — A groundcover Shasta daisy is exactly the kind of ‘wait, what is that?’ plant that makes a familiar category feel new. Low, spreading, and covered in large white bloom, it sells novelty without confusion.
6 Delosperma DELMARA® XL Series — Bigger flowers, strong basal branching, and a mounded finish give DELMARA® XL the retail presence that standard ice plants can lack. It is waterwise color that reads well in a pot.
7 Heuchera HEUCHERETTE™ Pink — A flowering heuchera with seedgrown efficiency, HEUCHERETTE™ Pink brings short stems, tidy foliage, and spring combo value to part-shade programs that need more than leaves.
8 Gaillardia BARBICAN™ Yellow Red Ring — BARBICAN™ gives gaillardia a denser, more polished habit with heavy flower count and a bright red/ yellow face. It looks ready for summer before summer fully arrives.
Plants That Do
Not
Need the Good Spot
Every landscape has the unforgiving places: reflected heat, tired soil, dry edges, public spaces, and beds that will not get babied after install. These are the plants that can carry design intent into real life. They bring texture, color, structure, and resilience without asking the maintenance crew for special treatment.
1 Sedum SUPERSPARKLER™ Blue Ox — Blue Ox is not trying to be a flower show. Its value is cleaner blue foliage, compact behavior, and a non-flowering habit that keeps the crop looking finished when other sedums start to stretch or spot.
2 Euphorbia MINER’S™ Berry Bordeaux — The burgundy flush is the hook, but the real selling point is toughness with style. MINER’S™ Berry Bordeaux brings heat-ready color and architectural texture to dry, exposed plantings.
3 Lavandula SCENT™ Blue Mini — Compact lavender belongs in tough-landscape conversations because fragrance sells, but manageability matters. SCENT™ Blue Mini gives designers the lavender cue in a tighter, cleaner package.
4 Salvia PERPETUAL PURPLE™ — PERPETUAL PURPLE™ keeps the color conversation going even after the petals drop, with dark calyces extending the visual impact. For hot, sunny plantings, that extra shelf life matters.
5 Echinacea REVELATION® ‘Monarch’ — A warm peach-orange echinacea with strong stems and a rounded habit, ‘Monarch’ brings the pollinator value of the category with a softer, more design-friendly color than standard hot pinks.
6 Helianthemum SUNBURST™ Series — Early color, low water needs, and a low, spreading habit make SUNBURST™ useful where spring impact has to survive into a tougher summer setting.
7 Miscanthus ‘Lady in Red’ — This grass earns attention before the plumes arrive. Burgundy-red tones build through the season, giving landscapes a warm vertical accent that feels planted with intention.
Ice Breakers for Zone 4
Cold-Hardy Does Not Have to Look Cold
Zone 4 programs are often asked to be practical first and pretty second. This spread argues for both. These selections bring novelty, color, texture, and retail spark to colder markets without making growers apologize for the hardiness conversation. They are built for northern credibility, but they still know how to sell a bench.
1 Silene FORGED BY FIRE™ — Deep foliage and hot red spring flowers make FORGED BY FIRE™ feel surprisingly bold for a cold-hardy perennial. It is compact, tidy, and a strong early-season color story.
2 Lewisia ‘Sunset Glow’ — Rosette foliage, candy-colored flowers, and a rock-garden personality give ‘Sunset Glow’ the kind of charm shoppers pick up first and ask questions about later.
3 Bouteloua ‘Mozzie’ — ‘Mozzie’ brings a lighter, more whimsical grass texture to cold-hardy programs. The distinctive mosquito-like flowers give it instant shelf personality without requiring a large footprint.
4 Lychnis ‘Cherry Bubbles’ — A plant with a name that actually matches the show: rounded cherry-red flower clusters carried over a tight habit. It gives northern spring programs a cheerful, slightly unexpected pop.
5 Sedum TIGHT & TIDY™ Series — Evergreen color, compact branching, and Zone 3 hardiness make TIGHT & TIDY™ useful beyond the succulent bench. It is a cold-climate groundcover line with genuine year-round merchandising potential.
6 Dicentra SUN JEWELS™ ‘Pink Diamonds’ — An alpine-type bleeding heart that’s worthy of the Proven Winners name! ‘Pink Diamonds’ explodes with two-tone pink flowers in late spring to early summer and blooms throughout the season.
7 Cerastium ‘Cloud Cover’ — Silver foliage and white spring bloom are familiar, but ‘Cloud Cover’ gives the effect in a cleaner, more controlled package for rock gardens, edges, and dry sunny spaces.
8 Echinacea PRAIRIE BLAZE™ Green — Green echinacea brings real novelty to a crop buyers already understand. It is compact, seed-grown, and fresh enough to make a hardy perennial table feel current.
Not every perennial gets a long conversation at retail. Some have to win in three seconds: color from the aisle, foliage from the cart path, a flower shape that feels new, or a habit that looks instantly giftable. These are the crops that help a bench feel alive, edited, and worth stopping for.
1 Dianthus PICTURE PERFECT® — Compact, uniform, and saturated with color, PICTURE PERFECT® gives growers a polished dianthus that can move through retail without looking overworked.
2 Heuchera EVERGLOW Midnight — Glossy dark foliage gives Midnight its retail power. It reads clean, premium, and instantly usable in shade combinations or foliage-forward displays.
3 Lavandula BUTTERFLY GARDEN® Series — Large butterfly-type flowers make this lavender easy to understand from across the bench. It sells fragrance, color, and novelty in one quick read.
4 Nepeta ‘Blue Planet’ — Dense blue-violet bloom and aromatic foliage make ‘Blue Planet’ an easy cart-builder for shoppers chasing the catmint look in a more compact, colorful form.
5 Phlox FOREST FLARE Rose — Rose color, polished habit, and a fresh look give FOREST FLARE Rose the kind of immediate flower appeal that helps phlox feel new again.
6 Carex ‘Lunar Falls’ — White foliage with a green midrib gives ‘Lunar Falls’ the kind of contrast designers notice. It brightens shade combinations without relying on flowers.
7 Echinacea DELIGHTFUL™ ‘Prosecco’ — A double yellow center and compact habit make ‘Prosecco’ feel cheerful, giftable, and easy to place in summer premium perennial displays.
8 Perovskia ZEPHYR™ Compact Blue — ZEPHYR™ delivers the Russian sage look without the unruly scale. Soft blue color and a tidy frame make it easier to sell in containers.
9 Delphinium HUNKY DORY™ Blue — Electric blue flowers on a compact, branched plant give HUNKY DORY™ the delphinium drama in a more retail-friendly size.
Shoulder Seasons for Extended Sales
Before the Rush.
After the Rush.
Still Selling.
The best perennial programs are not built around one peak weekend. Shoulder-season crops help retailers create reasons to shop earlier, later, and more often. Some bring spring color when benches are still waking up. Others carry summer momentum into fall. Together, they stretch the season without stretching the story.
1 Helleborus FROSTKISS® ‘Magico’ — Marbled foliage carries the plant long after the flower show, making ‘Magico’ more than a winter/spring moment. It is a shade-season crop with staying power.
2 Iberis ‘Whistler White’ — White spring bloom, tidy habit, and uniform finish make ‘Whistler White’ useful when the bench needs early brightness before the main perennial season fully opens.
3 Dianthus IT-GIRL® — IT-GIRL® has the name, the scent, and the picotee color to work as a spring retail personality piece. It feels playful without losing its perennial credibility.
4 Aubrieta AXCENT™ White Improved — Clean white flowers over a low, mounded habit make AXCENT™ White Improved a bright early-season edge crop for rock gardens, walls, and quart programs.
5 Saxifraga TOURAN™ Series — TOURAN™ brings a compact habit and heavy flower coverage to early-season alpine programs. It is small in scale but surprisingly strong on bench impact.
6 Phlox FASHIONABLY EARLY® Series — This phlox group shifts the timing forward, starting the garden phlox conversation two to three weeks earlier while keeping mildew resistance and longseason color in the story.
7 Hibiscus SUMMERIFIC® ‘Edge of Night’ — Late-season color rarely looks this dramatic. Jet-black foliage and oversized pink flowers make ‘Edge of Night’ a summer-to-fall traffic driver with real premium weight.
8 Sedum HOT ROCKS™ Dark Leaf Red — Dark foliage, strong branching, and deep red bloom give HOT ROCKS™ a late-season look that feels compact and intentional instead of floppy and tired.
Growers
For Markets That Do Not Wait for Perfect Weather
Southern perennial programs need plants with stamina, not just charm. Heat, humidity, long selling windows, and fast-moving retail calendars all raise the bar. This collection leans into color that holds, foliage that works overtime, and genetics that give growers more confidence when the season gets loud.
1 Monardella MONARCH™ Series — Monardella brings a western, dry-garden personality to the perennial mix, with aromatic foliage and pollinator-friendly bloom for customers looking beyond the usual summer color crops.
2 Rudbeckia SOLAR SISTERS™ Series — Big, bicolor blooms and a long show make SOLAR SISTERS™ a natural fit for warm-market benches. It gives rudbeckia more novelty while keeping the easy summer message intact.
3 Coreopsis RADIANT Series — The RADIANT Series brings bright, clean color to a crop southern buyers already trust. Compact, floriferous plants help keep the look fresh through heat-heavy retail windows.
4 Gaillardia SPINTOP® Mariachi Gold — Spoon-shaped yellow flowers give Mariachi Gold a little flair without complicating the crop. It is still gaillardia: sun-loving, colorful, and built for a long season.
5 Lomandra MINER’S GOLD™ — MINER’S GOLD™ is a texture plant with a heat-ready attitude: golden, arching foliage; low water needs; and the kind of evergreen presence that anchors southern containers and landscapes.
6 Cordyline VERY CHERRY™ — Dark cherry-red strap foliage gives VERY CHERRY™ the instant drama southern containers need. Heat and drought tolerance make the look feel less risky for warmclimate programs.
7 Agapanthus EVERPANTHUS® POPPIN’® Pink — A pink agapanthus already has novelty value; repeat bloom and a compact habit make it more than a one-week curiosity. It gives southern programs a fresh color story in a familiar form.
8 Erysimum WALLART™ Series — WALLART™ adds fragrance and painterly color to a crop that can bridge cool-season sales and warmer garden performance. The compact, branched habit keeps it retail-friendly.
Savvy Shade Selections
Shade With a Point of View
Shade used to be the quiet corner of the perennial program. Not anymore. The best shade crops now sell texture, polish, unexpected color, and foliage that looks designed even without bloom. These selections give retailers a smarter shade conversation: plants that feel collected, layered, and worth building a display around.
1 Ajuga FEATHERED FRIENDS® ‘Raspberry Wren’ — Bronze-raspberry foliage gives this ajuga more personality than the standard groundcover role. It can edge, spill, knit, and still add color when nothing is flowering.
2 Thalictrum NOVA® ‘Star’ — Airy flowers and delicate foliage bring a layered, almost woodland-modern texture to shade and part-shade plantings. NOVA® ‘Star’ is subtle, but not forgettable.
3 Corydalis ‘Porcelain Blue’ — Clear blue flowers are still rare enough in shade to feel special. ‘Porcelain Blue’ brings that color in a soft, ferny package with real collector appeal.
4 Heuchera ‘Sea Glass’ — Cool silver-blue foliage gives ‘Sea Glass’ a calmer, more refined shade palette. It is the kind of heuchera that makes a combination feel curated.
5 Tricyrtis ‘Ninja Star’ — Late-season orchid-like flowers and variegated foliage give ‘Ninja Star’ a reason to exist beyond spring. It adds discovery to shade benches when many crops are fading.
6 Hosta SHADOWLAND® ‘Wu-La-La’ — A large hosta with presence, ‘Wu-La-La’ brings scale, texture, and brand recognition to shade programs. It is not filler; it is the anchor.
7 Phlox ‘Blue Ribbons’ — ‘Blue Ribbons’ gives woodland phlox a brighter retail read. Variegated foliage carries the plant beyond bloom, while fragrant violet-blue spring flowers keep the native-groundcover story soft, colorful, and easy to sell.
8 Pulmonaria ‘Pink-a-Blue’ — Pink and blue flowers on one plant make ‘Pink-a-Blue’ an easy spring story, while silverspotted foliage keeps earning its space after bloom.
Perennials for Homegrown Bouquets
The Cut-Flower Bench Comes Home
Home bouquet demand is not just for annuals and seed racks. Perennials give gardeners stems they can come back to, season after season, while giving retailers a lifestyle story that feels generous: plant it once, cut it often, and bring the garden indoors. This collection turns perennial benches into bouquet-building inspiration.
1 Penstemon PRISTINE® Series — Tall, sturdy stems stacked with tubular flowers give PRISTINE® a natural role in cutting gardens, especially where hummingbird appeal is part of the retail story.
2 Dianthus AMERICAN PIE® ‘Blueberry Pie’ — Long stems, fragrance, and a rich magenta-lavender eye make ‘Blueberry Pie’ feel made for cutting. It sells the old-fashioned carnation feeling in a cleaner perennial format.
3 Phlox FLAME™ Purple — Compact stature keeps FLAME™ Purple manageable, while fragrant purple bloom gives gardeners the classic phlox stem they want for summer jars and informal bouquets.
4 Crocosmia NOVA® ‘Ember’ — NOVA® ‘Ember’ brings the movement: arching stems, fiery color, and that cut-flower energy that feels both tropical and perennial.
5 Geum TOTALLY CITRON™ — Soft yellow flowers on wiry stems make TOTALLY CITRON™ easy to weave into garden bouquets. It is cheerful without shouting, which is exactly why it works.
6 Delphinium BREZZA™ Blue — A true-blue delphinium with sturdy stems and reliable color gives cut-flower programs a premium note without the heavy, old-fashioned scale of taller types.
7 Hydrangea GAME CHANGER® Series — GAME CHANGER® rewrites the hydrangea timing conversation with daylengthneutral flowering. For bouquet-minded gardeners, that means more flexibility and more reasons to cut.
8 Leucanthemum AMAZING DAISIES® ‘Dream Big’ — Large white flowers, sturdy stems, and a classic yellow center make ‘Dream Big’ an easy bouquet workhorse. It is familiar in the best possible way.
EHR PERENNIAL VENDORS
A.D.R. Bulbs, Inc.
Aarons Creek Farms
AG2 TC LLC
Aldershot Greenhouses Limited
All About Groundcover, Inc.
Amerigo Farms, Inc.
Aris Horticulture, Inc.
Charleston Aquatic & Environmental, Inc.
Chief Mountain Farms LLC
Classic Groundcovers Inc.
Clearview Horticultural Products
Creek Hill Nursery
Darwin Perennials
De Vroomen Garden Products
DeGroot
Donahue’s Greenhouse
Dümmen Orange
Emerald Coast Growers
Garden Solutions
GET Group, Inc.
GreenFuse Botanicals, Inc.
Gro ‘n Sell, Inc.
Gulley Greenhouse
Hidden Acres Nursery, Inc.
Hoffman Nursery
James Greenhouses
John den Haan & Son
Jost Greenhouses
Kébol
Kientzler
Knox Horticulture LLC
Koppes Plants
Kurt Bluemel, Inc.
Leo Berbee Bulb
Liriope Factory
Lucas Greenhouses
Lynn-Dale Ferneries
Magnolia Gardens Nursery
Natorp’s Nursery Outlet & Landscaping
New Moon Nursery
North Creek Nurseries
Oglesby Plants International, Inc.
Opel Growers
Oregon Perennial Co.
Our American Roots
Pacific Plug & Liner
Pioneer Gardens
Pizzo Native Plant Nursery
Plantpeddler, Inc.
Plug Connection
Quality Cuttings
Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants
Samson Botanicals LLC
San Diego Growers, Inc.
Schreiner’s Gardens
Siere Handel B.V.
Simmons Plant Farm
Southwest Perennials, Inc.
Stoneboro Nurseries Corporation
Stonehouse Nursery
Strand Nursery
Sunset Farmstead LLC
Swift Greenhouses, Inc.
Syngenta Flowers
Takao Nursery
Taylor Creek Restoration Nurseries
Terra Nova Nurseries
Unex, Inc.
Vitro Plus B.V.
Vitro Westland BV
Vitroflora
Walters Gardens, Inc.
Westcan Greenhouses Ltd.
Wicklein’s Native Plants
Woodburn Nursery
Zabo Plant B.V.
Zacate Ornamental
