Spring Meadow launched the Landscape Plant of the Year program in 2016 to highlight a Proven Winners ColorChoice variety of particular interest to the landscape market. It proved so popular that we were asked by the Proven Winners Retail Advisory Board to expand it to garden centers and consumers. Starting in 2019, the Proven Winners National Plant of the Year program highlights a hydrangea of the year, a rose of the year,  flowering shrub of the year and landscape shrub of the year, in addition to its perennial and annual Plants of the Year. The Shrubs of the Year will be decided by a vote from our Gold Key growers. Selections will be made based on ease of growth, wide geographic and cultural adaptability, and retail appeal.

Hydrangea of the Year: Let's Dance Sky View^® Hydrangea

Selected from our extensive Let's Dance^® hydrangea breeding program for its ability to not only conserve its old wood buds in the face of weather challenges, but also its ability to continue creating new flowers. 

Rose of the Year: Oso Easy Peasy^® Rosa

Produces flowers continuously without deadheading, and as its award from the prestigious ARS attests, it exhibits outstanding disease resistance.

Flowering Shrub of the Year: Wine & Spirits^® Weigela

 An update on our classic Wine & Roses weigela, this vigorous, handsome variety combines even more dramatic dark foliage with crisp white-green flowers. A real showstopper in the garden center and landscape.

Landscape Shrub of the Year: Fizzy Mizzy® Itea

An unconventional Itea noted for its numerous, heavenward-shooting white, early summer flower spikes. A neat and tidy habit, in a container and in the garden, she has thick, dark green leaves which contrast nicely with the lightly fragrant, pure white blooms. 

Shrubs of the Year will receive additional promotion to landscapers, retailers, and consumers in print, radio, and online, including on the Proven Winners Plant of the Year website.

Read the 2024 professional grower and landscape Book

To help you plan your production and shipping, we are pleased to share future Shrubs of the Year:

2025:

Landscape Shrub of the Year: North Pole^® Thuja

Rose of the Year: Reminiscent^® Coral Rosa

Hydrangea of the Year: Little Lime Punch® Hydrangea

Flowering Shrub of the Year: Scentara® Double Blue Syringa

See all of the Proven Winners Plants of the Year at nationalplantoftheyear.com.