We are inundated with new perennials today. Perhaps too many,
if you’re like me and
can’t resist taking every blooming thing home every time you
visit your garden center.

However, a few plants over the past few years have proved
top performers in Georgia
gardens. Here are six of my favorites. All have passed
through the University of
Georgia evaluation program.

These are the essential plants for any garden. I chose
them for their vigorous growth,
garden center appeal and unusually good landscape
performance over a range of soils.

You may have to search for the cultivars, but they’re all
in the market in Georgia.

Kniphofia uvaria ‘Shining
Scepter’

Once torch lilies are established, they become true
survivors. They’re in the
“must have” section of any perennial list.

Select a full-sun border spot with good drainage. The
striking plants show up
splendidly against a dark green background.

From torch lilies’ sometimes bewildering flower
variability comes superior selections.
And “Shining Scepter” is one of the best, with its
intensely golden 3-foot-tall
spikes.

Shining Scepter blooms just two to three weeks in late
spring to early summer. Unlike
other torch lilies, it’s a bright, bold yellow that blends
into a peachy-orange color. It
reminds me of those orange-and-vanilla-ice-cream popsicles
I loved as a kid.

This is a true bedding perennial. In groups of 20 to 30
on 8-inch to 10-inch centers,
it generates an incredible display.

Despite its cast-iron physiology, it requires good
fertility to produce the best
flowers. Fertilize in early spring and again in midsummer
after you remove the bloom
spikes.

Rosmarinus
officinalis ‘Athens Blue Spires’

I thought all rosemary pretty much looked alike, grew
alike and tasted just fine on
roast chicken. Then came “Athens Blue Spires,” a solitary
rosemary planted next
to the campus greenhouse doors.

It grew vigorously. It bloomed profusely. It smelled
heavenly in the late-morning sun.
And yes, it tasted great on chicken.

After five years, through drought and cold, no one
could ignore its incredible
mid-spring spread of powder-blue flowers against deep
green leaves.

A mature specimen (ours) stands 5 feet tall and equally
wide. We don’t fully know how
cold-hardy it is. It’s likely hardy in Zone 6. Even
treated as an annual or a patio plant
to be brought in, its vigor and flowering habit make it a
wonderful kitchen herb.

Like all rosemary, it requires bright sun, well-drained
soils and a relatively high
organic content to grow its best. Once established, it
needs no than a light spring
fertilizing.

Phlox paniculata ‘Robert
Poore’

Phlox are my favorite perennials. They produce long
periods of blooms, attract
butterflies and hummingbirds, are easy to grow and
propagate and can withstand 100-degree
summers and 25-below-zero winters.

Robert Poore is the perennial my neighbors most
commonly request. It contains all the
necessary traits of a good phlox: strong stems, large
floral display over eight weeks in
Georgia and relative freedom from disease.

The color is a clean, rosy purple that seems to glow
when planted next to the common
“Lavender” hand-me-down phlox.

This phlox is slowly making its way into mass
production. It makes an incredible mass
display. You can get away with mass-planting because it
has good mildew resistance.

Gardeners will cherish the new, mildew-resistant phlox
varieties and new colors now
available, including some of the finest flower colors and
diversity ever seen in the
genus. I can’t wait for spring.

Coreopsis
grandiflora ‘Flying Saucers’

“Flying Saucers” has large, bright-yellow flowers that
catch your attention.
The foliage is a dense cluster of rosettes that forms a
wonderful, clump-like display in
the pot. It looks like gangbusters in a fall-established,
1-gallon container.

As a genus, coreopsis is a highly praised garden
perennial. On wiry stems well above
the lance-shaped leaves, its yellow, daisy-like flowers
nod gracefully in light breezes
from late May through July.

Deadheading (removing spent flowers) prolongs the
flowering. Plants grow up to 3 feet
tall, depending on the species or variety. Plant coreopsis
in full sun in a well-drained
site. Water during periods of sparse rainfall.

All coreopsis perform well in the landscape. They’re
fantastic in groups of 50. Some
seem to expire in two or three years. This is reportedly
not the case for Flying Saucers.
But the test of time is ongoing. My specimens are in their
second year.

Cuphea micropetalum (The
Great Cuphea)

I’ve never grown a bad Cuphea. “Lavender
Lady,” “Georgia Scarlet”
and many other prostrate forms grace my rock gardens and
borders.

Cuphea micropetalum is something else altogether. It’s
big, showy and great for hummers
and butterflies. The 3-foot-tall plants grow fairly fast
and seem to thrive in the heat.

The cigar-shaped trumpet flowers are best from
midsummer to frost. They’re prone to
seemingly random expressions of bright yellow, orange and
deep red.

From 20 feet or more you see a pleasant display. But
the real pleasure comes from
sitting next to this plant on a patio or deck. I find
myself staring, just taking in the
high-contrast colors.

Full sun, good fertility, drainage and regular watering
is the rule in Georgia. It will
likely not require watering in more moderate climates.
Young plants benefit from pinching.

It’s easy to grow and relatively pest-free, unless you
consider tiger swallowtail
butterflies pests.

Pentas lanceolata
‘Nova’

By now
it’s no secret I’m a butterfly/hummingbird gardening
zealot. Having grown this pentas
selection for seven years now, I would never plant a
butterfly garden without Pentas Nova.

This plant has no downside.

Larger and much more vigorous than most pentas, it
sports truly beautiful lavender-rose
flower clusters that are irresistible to hummingbirds,
butterflies, bee moths, sphinx
moths and other colorful garden animations.

Nova is a full-sun annual that benefits from early
pinching and occasional deadheading
and shaping. A meticulous gardener can generate an
incredibly dense plant by midsummer.

But left to its own devices, it’s still a good
performer. It grows best when soil
temperatures are warm, so northern-climate gardeners may
want to plant this treasure in
June.

I have yet to have a midsummer garden visitor who
didn’t exclaim, “What is that
thing? I want cuttings!”

Pentas Nova is now a Georgia
Gold Medal Plant Selections Winner.