P Allen Smith's Hot Picks

Gardening expert P. Allen Smith knows plants, so when he makes a recommendation you know it will be a winner in the garden. He recently chose the 25 Proven Winners varieties shown here as his favorites. These plants have been selected for their visual impact, vibrant color, superior performance, and low maintenance.

For inspiration, ideas, and gardening success, you can rely on P. Allen Smith's advice and Proven Winners plants.

‘Angelface® Blue’ Angelonia
Annual, Full Sun to Partial Shade, Upright.
	I remember when angelonias first arrived on the gardening scene. I was intrigued, but not overly impressed. With the ‘Angelface®’ series the promise of angelonia has finally been fulfilled. Super saturated bloom color, extra sturdy stems and high heat tolerance make this plant a must have for the garden. Spires of bloom reach 18 to 24 inches tall. It is a great choice for adding height and continuous summer color to flower borders and containers.

'Snow Princess™' Lobularia
	I’m excited about this alyssum because it is extra vigorous and heat tolerant so it will flower through summer. The frothy flowers and cascading form are excellent combined with the bold foliage and blooms of summer geraniums.

‘Superbells® Plum’ Calibrachoa
Annual, Full Sun to Partial Shade, Cascading
	I can still remember the first time I came across calibrachoa. I was completely enchanted by the tiny bell shaped blooms. Since that time plant breeders have developed some spectacular varieties and ‘Superbells® Plum’ is certainly one of them. The flower is a light plum with dark purple veining and a yellow throat.

‘Superbells® Red’ Calibrachoa
Annual, Full Sun to Partial Shade, Cascading
	Another winner in the ‘Superbells®’ family is ‘Superbells® Red’. These calibrachoa are self-cleaning and self-branching. This means no more need to remove faded blooms or pinch back stems to produce a fuller plant. “Superbells® Red’ is a rich red with a darker red throat. It is an excellent color for combining with orange, purple and golden yellow.

‘Superbells® Yellow Chiffon’ Calibrachoa
Annual except in zones 9 - 10, Full sun, 7 to 10 inches tall, Hummingbird Favorite.
	I’ve long been a fan of Superbells® Calibrachoa. I have grown both Superbells® Red and Plum with great success. They have lived up to the promise of disease resistance and heat tolerance. Yellow Chiffon is a new addition to the series and I was excited to see the creamy yellow color. Yellow Chiffon has a trailing habit with healthy foliage and tons of small blooms. The flowers are the palest of yellows and blend well with cool palettes.

'Señorita™ Rosalita' Cleome
24-36” height, Full Sun
	Outstanding series of Cleome for garden performance with bright clear white flowers. Fantastic color starting in the Spring and lasting through the Summer. This is a wonderful landscape plant in dry situations.

‘Colorblaze™ Sedona’ Coleus
Annual except in zones 8 - 11, Full sun, 24 to 48 inches tall.
	I am Coleus crazy. With all the new varieties, this plant is definitely the easiest way to add color to the garden. Colorblaze® Sedona is an unique rusty bronze named after the Sedona Mountains. It is beautiful companion to blue blooms. The undersides of the leaves are a rich plum, which inspired me to partner it with metallic purple Persian shield. My garden gets intensely hot in summer so I planted this coleus in dappled shade.

‘Totally Tempted™’ Cuphea
Annual, Full Sun, Upright.
	I love the form of this plant. It is low growing, reaching only about 12 inches tall, and loosely upright. It has a wildflower look to it that creates a natural effect in the garden as if Mother Nature had planted them herself.

'Diamond Frost®' Euphorbia
10-14” height, Full Sun to Part Shade, Mounding
	Once this plant is potted in your favorite container or in your landscape it takes off and becomes the center of attention. The 1000\'s of delicate small flowers all together is like lace on a wedding dress.

‘Dolce™ Key Lime Pie’ Heuchera
Perennial, Full Sun to Partial Shade to Shade, Mounding Zones 5 - 11
	If you’ve ever grown heuchera you know that sometimes good foliage is about all these plants have to offer. Which is important, but spectacular foliage plus attractive blooms is a combination that can’t be passed up. Such is the case with ‘Dolce™ Key Lime Pie’. The bright chartreuse leaves are what first caught my eye and then I discovered that this heuchera is also very floriferous. Hefty spires of tiny peach bells are produced in spring and again in late summer. It’s a great plant to combine with dark burgundy and salmon.

‘Rockapulco™series’ Impatiens
Annual except in zones 10 - 11, Full to Partial Shade, 10 ­ 20 inches tall.
	These Impatiens made my top ten list of plants for the shade. The miniature rose-like blooms are an exceptional addition to areas of low light. I¹ve used Rockapulco® in both containers and flower beds with great success. This year, I¹ve planted Rockapulco® Orchid in a drift along a path that connects the shade garden to the front lawn. It¹s been very prolific and doesn¹t seem to mind the heat at all. Rockapulco® is available in white, rose, purple, appleblossom, dark orange and red.

‘Luscious™ Citrus Blend™’ Lantana
Annual except in zones 10 - 11, Full sun, 24 to 36 inches tall.
	The blooms on Citrus Blend® are clusters of tiny brilliant red-orange flowers with a few yellow ones in the center. It seems the hotter it gets, the more this plant flowers. I have it planted in my home garden and at the Garden Home Retreat. At both locations, it has performed exceptionally well. It’s a great choice for gardeners who need to be water wise.

‘Broadway Lights™’ Leucanthemum
Perennial, Full Sun to Partial Shade, Mounding, Zones 5 - 11
	Always a sunny face in the garden, I love leucanthemum or Shasta daisy as it is commonly known. ‘Broadway Lights’ made the list because of the chameleon quality of the flowers. They open bright yellow, lighten to a butter cream and mature pure white. At the height of its bloom the plant is covered in all three shades giving the plant a very painterly quality that I don’t think even Monet could top!

‘Laguna™ Sky Blue’ Lobelia
Annual, Full Sun to Partial Shade, Mounding
	Although I have other favorite colors, I’ll always be a sucker for blue and this lobelia produces the most charming blue flowers in billowing masses that cascade over the edges of hanging baskets and containers. I’ve never had much luck growing lobelia because traditionally it has been a plant for regions where summers are cool. However I have been assured that ‘Laguna™ Sky Blue’ is quite heat tolerant and I can’t wait to try it in my garden.

'Opal Innocence®’ Nemesia
Annual except in zones 9 - 10, Full sun to partial shade, 12 to 16 inches, Spring Garden Favorite
	This plant was a star in my spring garden. It is frost tolerant so it’s perfect for early spring containers. The snapdragon like blooms are an iridescent pink to lavender color and the fragrance is heavenly.

‘Lemon Symphony’ Osteospermum
Annual, Full Sun, Upright
	What strikes me about osteospermum is that the flowers are perfect brushes of color. It is as if they are made of painted china. ‘Lemon Symphony’ has clear yellow petals and the indigo blue eye that is characteristic of all the ‘Symphony’ osteospermum. Combined with white, gray, blue and variegated foliage this dainty bloom is a knock out from early spring to late fall. This plant’s heat tolerance makes it a particularly good choice for hot climates.

'Charmed™ Wine' OxalisM
Perennial, Full Sun to Full Shade, Mounding, Zones 7b – 10
	I must confess that I hadn't given oxalis much thought until I saw it used in a container garden. It was design submitted to my container garden contest last summer. A few months later I saw this variety and I was hooked. I just couldn't resist the deep maroon foliage of this plant. I'm going to try planting a drift of 'Charmed&trade Wine' along a shady path on the south side of my house. The rich maroon leaves contrasted with the stark white and chartreuse blooms will be a dramatic statement indeed.

'Supertunia® Bordeaux' Petunia
Annual except in zones 10 - 11, Full sun to partial shade, 16 to 24 inches tall
	I’ve been growing Supertunia® Vista Bubblegum for several years. The blooms never stop and the densely mounding habit of the plant itself is outstanding. Whether planted in the ground or a container Supertunia® Bordeaux has the appearance of a frothy ocean wave being more trialing than mounding. I just love this plant. The blooms are a pale pink with a deep plum throat and veins.

‘Supertunia® Royal Velvet’ Petunia
Annual, Full Sun, Mounding.
	Like ‘Supertunia® Vista Bubblegum’ this variety of petunia is a real vigorous grower and a prolific bloomer. ‘Supertunia® Royal Velvet’ has a mounding habit, which makes it a good choice for hanging baskets and window boxes. The deep purple color of the flowers will look great in combination with orange, hot pink and chartreuse. An additional perk is that this variety is day-length neutral. This term simply means that the plant will produce an abundance of blooms even when the days are short in spring and fall, which translates into a longer blooming season.

‘Supertunia® Vista Bubblegum’ Petunia
Annual, Full Sun, Upright
	This variety of petunia truly is super. They have a mature height of 24 inches and believe me, the plants I saw at Pleasant View were every bit this tall. In fact I thought they had been planted on a berm or small mound, but they came up to knee height straight from the ground. To achieve this kind of growth and prolific bloom be sure to feed Supertunias® with a liquid fertilizer every 5 to 7 days, more if they are growing in a container.

‘New Wonder®’ Scaevola
Annual, Full Sun, Cascading.
	Scaevola or fan flower took the gardening world by storm back in the 1990s and for good reason. It’s a pretty bloom with a tough disposition. A native of Australia, it’s a plant that I always recommend for gardeners interested in drought tolerance and low maintenance. ‘New Wonder’ produces blue-purple fan shaped flowers with a bright yellow eye on trailing stems.

‘Snowstorm® Giant Snowflake®’ Bacopa
Annual, Full Sun, Cascading
	Bacopa is another choice plant for hanging baskets and containers. Like lobelia, nemesia and calibrachoa one can scarcely detect the plant under the cover of all the blooms. True to the name this variety of bacopa has larger than normal, clear white flowers.

'Lo & Behold™ Blue Chip' Buddleia
Perennial in zones 5 - 9, Full sun, 20 inches tall, Fall Garden Favorite.
	Hallelujah! Finally a miniature butterfly bush. Lo & Behold® Blue Chip stays under 3 feet tall. Talk about versatile. It’s petite size means it can be grown in mixed flower borders, containers or even en masse as a deciduous ground cover. This variety of butterfly bush also blooms continuously without deadheading or pruning. And that’s continuously not in cycles.

'Incrediball™' Hydrangea
A Deciduous Shrub.
	Wow! What a bloom! The huge flower clusters are pure white and mature to chartreuse. Unlike other Hydrangea arborescens in my garden, Incrediball™ has sturdy stems that keep the hefty flowers aloft. The mature flowers are superb for drying. Very cold tolerant and can be grown as far south as zone 9.

'Invincibell™' Hydrangea
	Even while it was in its nursery pot waiting to be planted Invincibelle™ put on a show of super saturated deep pink blooms. It has flowered all summer and promises to continue until the first frost. This hydrangea blooms on new wood so there are no worries when it comes to pruning.

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