Skip to Content Skip to Navigation
Menu
My Idea Boards

The Midwest & Great Lakes Region

 

 

The Midwest & Great Lakes Region (Zones 4-5)

Spring is a long time coming in the northern plains of the heartlands and the Great Lakes states. Cold winds and rains can be a challenge, and your last frost dates can be anywhere from early April to late May. When summer does settle in it can stay hot and dry for extended periods depending on where you live, so your garden plants (like the people who live here) need to be strong and tough! When you start planning and buying plants for your garden it is a great idea to give those plants a bit of time to acclimate before planting them. Even a few days of slow exposure to the winds of spring can help them to adjust and get started. It makes it easier to perform all summer when they have been babied a little bit at the start. Here are some of our top performers and all are tough and ready for your heartland garden!

DOWNLOAD ZONE 4-5 PLANT LIST PDF

 

Click Here to see what Erin Schanen of @ImpatientGardener 

is planting in her Wisconsin garden.

Annuals

Supertunia® Petunia Series
Superbena Royale® Verbena Series
Superbells® Calibrachoa Series
Snow Princess® Lobularia Series
Rockin’® Playin’ the Blues® Salvia
Sunsatia® Nemesia Series
Snowstorm® Sutera Series
Diamond Euphorbia Series
Señorita Rosalita® Cleome
Suncredible® Yellow Helianthus

rockin-playin-the-blues-salvia

diamond-euphorbiasenorita-rosalita-plant

suncredible-yellow-helianthus

Perennials

Shadowland® ‘Autumn Frost’ Hosta
‘Opening Act Ultrapink Phlox
‘Cat’s Pajamas’ Nepeta
autumn-frostopening-act-ultrapink-phloxcats-pajamas-nepeta

Shrubs

Oso Easy® Rosa Series
Little Lime Punch® Panicle Hydrangea
Double Play® Spiraea Series

oso-easy-rosa-series

little-lime-punch-hydrangeadouble-play-spirea-series
ZONES 6-7

 

The Midwest & Great Lakes Region (Zones 6-7)

While your last frost date in early-late April may seem a long way away, spring is looming for the southern heartland of the United States. This is an interesting place to garden because you have a little bit of everything, each year from gentle springs, to rip roaring thunderstorms, to heat waves and cold fronts, and it takes a wide variety of plants to cover all the bases. Spring plants need to be able to adapt to the heat of summer and a wide variety of conditions. That is what we at Proven Winners® look for: tough, long season performers. Here’s a quick list of great plants to get you through the entire gardening year!

DOWNLOAD ZONE 6-7 PLANT LIST PDF

 

 

Annuals

Supertunia Vista® Petunia Series
Superbena® Verbena Series
Superbells® Punch Calibrachoa Series
Truffula Pink Gomphrena
Angelface® Angelonia Series
Luscious® Lantana Series
Blue My Mind® Evolvulus
Señorita® Cleome Series
Summer Wave Torenia Series
Lemon Coral® Sedum
supertunia-vista-petuniaSuperbena-Verbenatruffula-pinkangelface
luscious-lantanablue-my-mind-evolvulussenorita-rosalitasummer-wave-torenia

lemon-coral-sedum

Perennials

‘Storm Cloud’ Amsonia
Summerific® ‘Berry Awesome’ Hibiscus
Summersong Firefinch Echinacea

storm-cloud-amsonia

summerific-berry-awesomesummersong-firefinch

Shrubs

Double Play® Red Spiraea
Let’s

Pugster® Series Buddleia

Dance® Hydrangea Series

double-play-red-spiraea

 

Erin Schanen – @impatientgardner
No Nonsense Gardening

If you’ve followed Erin online, you know she is all about sharing her real-life gardening experiences from her zone 5b, SE Wisconsin garden. Like many who garden in this part of the country, she is continually working to amend her high pH soil to make it more amenable to a wider variety of plants. She has also been battling deer for over two decades, which has taught her to plant their favorites out of reach.

Visit Erin on Instagram

 

alternanthera-plum-dandy

angelfacesuperbena-whiteoutbegonia-surefire-cherry-cordial
Back to Top

Find plants you love and create idea boards for all your projects.

To create an idea board, sign in or create an account.