RHS Award of Garden Merit® Plants

A Camellia Hall of Fame Award winner! If I could only have one Camellia in my garden this would be it! The large, semi-double deep red flowers are randomly splashed, streaked, and flecked with brightly contrasting white markings making each flower unique. Adolphe Audusson Special Camellia flowers in midseason. It is a vigorous growing Camellia often recommended for cool climates.  Item# 309

Huge 4-5" double blooms are intensely fragrant! Aimee Yoshioka is the largest flowered of all Gardenias with large, glossy, dark green foliage on a vigorous and moderately fast growing evergreen shrub. The large dark foliage provides a wonderful foil for the large white flowers. Easily trained into a tree standard. Aimee is also considered to be one of the largest growing Gardenias, particularly in mild winter climates where it is known to reach 10-12' high but 5-6' may be more typical. Item# 1154.

A 2020 All American Selections Herbaceous Perennial award winner! 2-3" wide dark-eyed golden yellow daisies are produced throughout the summer and even into fall atop a dense and compact well-branched plant. American Gold Rush Rudbeckia was selected with disease resistance in mind as well as this plant's ability to flower throughout summer and a compact habit. It may be most similar to and is considered to be a hybrid of Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii, or the Brown-Eyed Susan, which can reach 3' in height. Like its parent, expect this hardy clump forming perennial to revel in the heat and sun of summer with its disk flowers providing nectar for smaller pollinators and the ripened seeds of fall and winter are sure to attract songbirds. Provide American Gold Rush Rudbeckia with a full to mostly sunny site in an average moist, well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Add this easy to grow perennial to the garden and landscape but it is also compact and free-flowering enough to provide a summer long show as a container plant. Item# 12167

Deep yellow is widely splashed across and along the edges of the rich green tropical foliage of this upright to semi-vine like evergreen shrub. Excellent for the shade garden or indoors.  Item # 421

The medium pink balloon-shaped buds burst open to nicely contrasting light pink star-shaped flowers with darker pink veining are produced over an extended period from late spring until fall. Astra Pink Balloon Flower is a dwarf compact selection that grows to about 8-12" high and 6-8" wide making it a choice plant for containers or as a long-lived garden and landscape addition. The compact habit helps this cultivar start flowering sooner than its larger growing cousins. Balloon Flowers make long-lived low maintenance additions and the interesting buds and large flowers are sure to make this a conversation piece. Purple and yellow fall color on a taprooted clump forming perennial. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, all rights reserved. Item# 11632

3" double white, wonderfully fragrant flowers are produced over an extended period beginning in about midspring and continuing into midsummer on mature plants and they attract the hummingbird-like Sphinx moths as a pollinator. August Beauty Gardenia is a naturally evergreen, medium-sized shrub, growing to about 4-6'H x 4-6'W that makes an easy specimen plant or informal hedge for the garden or landscape. Provide Gardenias with a full sun to partially shaded site in a well-draining, average moist, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. In the hottest summer climates of its range the Gardenia often benefits from midday to afternoon shade. August Beauty Gardenia has long been a favorite in southern gardens for its fragrance, vigor, and reliability. Item# 310

Beautiful, silvery-pink, small to medium size, double peony flowers are produced beginning as early as October and continuing well into January. Ave Maria Camellia develops into a nicely rounded evergreen shrub about as wide as it is tall. Item# 9106.

4-5" wide flowers with white petals and sepals are topped by a crown of white filaments with a light purple halo surrounding the central portion of these exotic looking flowers. Bahama Blue Passion Flower is a beautiful and vigorous free flowering selection of the Blue Crown Passion Flower, Passiflora caerulea, with all its hardiness and reliability. The nectar rich flowers are adored by larger bees and the foliage is a host to a variety of butterflies. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in a moderately fertile, average moist, well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Click on "More Details and Growing Info" or the image to learn more about growing Passionvines as perennials in containers or in the garden and landscape. Item# 11222

Tall long-lasting spikes of lavender and purple flowers are held on sturdy stems above the beautiful rich glossy green foliage in late summer and fall. Bear's Breeches is an easy to grow slowly spreading perennial that lends its form, flowers, and foliage to the shaded garden, landscape, and even as a container plant. The leaf pattern of Acanthus mollis was used extensively in Greek architecture. Provide good to average drainage, moderate fertility and average moisture for optimum growth and flowering. Item# 3003

Tall long-lasting spikes of lavender and purple flowers are held on sturdy stems above the beautiful rich glossy green foliage in late summer and fall. Bear's Breeches is an easy to grow slowly spreading perennial that lends its form, flowers, and foliage to the shaded garden, landscape, and even as a container plant. The leaf pattern of Acanthus mollis was used extensively in Greek architecture. Provide good to average drainage, moderate fertility and average moisture for optimum growth and flowering. Item# 11914

Two-toned semi-double flowers are dark pink at the outer edges fading to a light pink toward the center creating a beautiful effect. The medium sized flowers are born in mid-season on this vigorous old garden favorite. Item# 9528.

White tubular blooms emerge from tall, velvety, purple calyxes on dense flower spikes from late summer to fall. This is considered to be the normal color form for the species. Soft velvety medium to gray-green foliage. Mexican Sage bush is a drought tolerant, sun and heat loving reliable clump forming perennial that is considered deer proof. Item# 10284.

The bracts start out chartreuse to yellow and quickly begin to take on bronze tones and mature to a deep brick red. A favorite among hummingbirds, the nectar rich, tubular white flowers peak out from between the bracts and have maroon bee guides on the lower lip. The Bicolor Red Shrimp Plant, a selection of Justicia brandeegeana, is a heat loving, naturally evergreen, bushy, tropical plant with dark olive green foliage and grows to about 24" high by about 18" wide. The foliage of these plants may eventually show white and cream variegation as they were propagated from variegated mother plants. The Red Shrimp Plants can be enjoyed both as container plants as specimens or in mixed company as well as in the garden and landscape. It is both full sun and bright shade tolerant but tends to have the densest branching habit where it receives at least 4 hours or more of direct sunlight. Provide an average to well-drained, moderately fertile, average moist soil for optimum vigor and flowering. The Red Shrimp Plant is an RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. Item# 12909

The Bird of Paradise produces exotic and unusual, tropical looking orange, blue, and purple bird-like flowers that are perfectly designed to allow Sunbirds to perch on the tips of the blue petals which opens the flower and provides access to their rich nectar. Here in the US we get to enjoy Hummingbirds enjoying their bounty. The large glossy blue green foliage of the Bird of Paradise is arranged in attractive symmetrical fans that provide architectural interest even when the plants are not in flower. The Bird of Paradise is an easily maintained evergreen container specimen or grow it in the ground where hardy. Item# 1214.

Showy deep violet-purple, fragrant spikes, to 8" long, are held at the ends of the arching, woody stems. Black Knight Butterfly Bush is an exceptionally free-flowering shrub, producing the intensely deep purple, fragrant flowers  from spring until fall. An excellent choice for butterfly gardens as well as providing nectar for a host of other pollinators including hummingbirds. Black Knight, an RHS Award of Garden Merit winner, is still one of the most strikingly colored and popular of all Buddlejas grown today. Item# 322.

Blaumeise is considered by many to be one of the best of the Lacecap Hydrangeas producing very large flower clusters that are surrounded by some of the most deeply colored and themselves very large, showy sterile florets. In acidic soils the flowers are a deep royal blue and in alkaline soils the flowers are a dark rosy red. The foliage is large and shiny and is held on stout sturdy stems. The only drawback for this amazing Hydrangea cultivar is that it has limited cold hardiness and is will probably be best grown in zones 8 and warmer. An eastern or partially shaded southern exposure might be optimum even then. Item# 10731.

From spring to fall the Blue Butterfly Bush produces large clusters of dainty, blue flowers that very much resemble little butterflies and thus the name. This is a tropical plant that can be grown as a root hardy perennial in the northern portions of its range (zone 9 and warmer) otherwise it makes an easy to grow container plant. In its native habitat it can reach 10-12'H but more typically it is maintained as a 4-6'H shrub. The long canes lend it to use as an espalier. Item# 10681

A crown of deep sapphire blue filaments create a striking contrast with the white petals and sepals that are held against the rich green foliage throughout the growing season. The Blue Crown Passionflower is a vigorous growing tropical vine and can easily reach 20' once well-established. This is also one of the most reliably cold hardy Passionvines with foliage remaining evergreen in the mildest 8B winters but dying back to the ground in severe winters and returning readily in spring. The Blue Crown Passionflower may spread somewhat by rhizomes but it is generally much more tame than the Maypop. Cross pollination may produce tropical tasting tangy fruit that surrounds the dark seeds inside. Click on "More Details and Growing Info" or the image to learn more about growing Passionvines as perennials in containers or in the garden and landscape. Item# 733

Masses of dense blue spikes of fragrant, tubular flowers are held above the licorice scented, rich green foliage in summer on this highly sought after Agastache. The nectar rich flowers of Blue Fortune Agastache attract hordes of native pollinators and other beneficials to the garden. The beautiful form, fragrance, and flower power, and proven performance of this Agastache have made it a hit in gardens across the US. Use Blue Fortune in mass at the back of the border or in small specimen groupings to make a splash of long lasting color. Item# 10882.

Large clusters of lightly fragrant lavender-blue flowers are produced in early spring and are held well above the deep dark green foliage. Blue Moon Phlox was selected for its clusters of large full flowers and vigor. This is an excellent choice for lightly shaded gardens or as a groundcover under deciduous trees. Provide shade during the hottest portion of the day in hot summer climates and well-drained soil rich in organic matter. Easy and reliable once established. The flowers provide early spring nectar to butterflies and other pollinators. Item# 11217