Combination Container, Playlist™ Uptown Funk, Sakata

This combination of three celosias was stellar in the garden! The container caught people’s eyes from across the garden. The vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows provided long-lasting, season-long color into fall. The sturdy plants filled out the container well. This combination would work well for fall planter interest!

Rudbeckia, SunBeckia® Graffiti Caramel, Bull Plant Genetics

Who doesn’t love a good caramel candy?! Another award winner from the Bull Plant Genetics SunBeckia lines. This Rudbeckia sports a unique caramel flower color, with the outer edges having a warm, rich, deep yellowish-brown color, and a deep reddish-brown eye. As the long-lasting flowers age, these colors develop a nice overall caramel color. The plants are relatively compact, keeping them from lodging—another great Sunbeckia to consider.

Mandevilla, Tropico Unico Pink, Ball FloraPlant

This non-vining type of mandevilla was stellar in the Colorado summer! Large, soft-shell pink flowers, with a rich rose and yellow throat, covered the stems for this containerized planting. The deep, glossy green foliage sparkled in the sun. A great upright shrub-like form to consider for the landscape!

Coleus, TerraScape ‘Queen,’ Kientzler North America

Talk about dramatic! This vigorous coleus can make a statement in your garden. The deep red maroon leaves with a blaze reddish-pink center, and lime-green shark-toothed edges are eye-catching! And the colors hold up well in full sun! The plants are sturdy and strong and work well in containers!

Geranium, Mojo™ White, Syngenta

Cloud-like cotton white clusters of flowers float above a deep green foliage. This plant has a mojo with lots of flower power—best displays when regularly deadheaded. Older flowers are not as noticeable as some other white flowered geraniums. It works well in containers and equally as well on the ground!

Scaevola, Scala Cappello White, Dümmen Orange

Another award-winning fan flower from the Dümmen group! Cappello White is a smaller-statured plant that works well in smaller containers. It produces crisp, clean, white flowers all summer long! It’s excellent planted on its own or mixed in container plantings.

Petunia (Vegetatively Propagated), Tea Flamingo, Beekenkamp

Plant a couple of Tea Flamingo Petunias to catch someone’s eye. This unique, flamingo peachy-salmon colored petunia flowered all summer, well after many other petunias started fizzling. It performed well not only in the container but also in the landscape bed. The plants were well-branched and had a more upright growth habit. If you try one petunia this summer, you should try Tea Flamingo. You wouldn’t be disappointed.

Petunia (Seed Propagated), Easy Wave® Navy Velour, PanAmerican Seed

One of the Easy Wave® series, which all performed well. This versatile petunia was also rated the best for our petunias planted in the ground. The large, velvety, rich, deep purple flowers glisten in the bright sun and don’t fade! The vigorous plants fill containers well and would be a good option for a mixed planter to fill out and spill over the edge. Catch this Wave at the garden centers this year.

Hybrid Impatiens (Grown in Sun), Sol Luna™ Light Salmon, Danziger

Sol Luna™ Prime series by Danziger performed well in the trials this summer. In full blazing sun, surrounded by brick and rock, these interspecific impatiens held their own! Prime Light Salmon was the top-rated one in the series with the most uniform growth. The classic New Guinea-like flower sports a delicate peach-salmon color and nearly 2″ wide flowers. These great hybrid impatiens handle the intense summer sun in Colorado but are also versatile for shadier situations!

Begonia (Grown in Sun), Stonehedge™ Rose Bronze Leaf, Benary

Impressive! Massive! Those were comments overheard from our evaluators. The Stonehedge™ series can grow to be hedge-like! These seed-grown, interspecific hybrid, vigorous plants filled our container well, making a statement.

It produced loads and loads of large, bright, rose-pink colored flowers that were juxtaposed against the deep bronzy-burgundy leaves. The pink-red colored stems echoed the flower colors throughout the plant. They handled the hot, bright sun and heat of the Colorado summer with no problems. If you want to fill in an area in the garden or make a small annual hedge, consider the Benary Stonehedge Rose Bronze leaf begonia!

Verbena, Empress® Sun Kiss Pink, Dümmen Orange

Pink, pink, pink. This relatively compact growing verbena was stunning with the copious amounts of medium-soft pink flowers that covered the foliage. The flowers aged well, with very little to no browning and fading. It was a showstopper through the whole summer and into early fall!

Angelonia (Grown in Container/Ground Bed), Guardian Angel™ Blue, Ball FloraPlant

Floriferous is an understatement! This is a stately triploid plant, boasting large, saturated blue-purple flowers. These plants started flowering in early summer and bloomed until the first frost. This snapdragon performed well in container and ground bed plantings, shooting out of the container like a mid-summer firework!

Lantana, Bandolista™ Mango, Syngenta

Mango was the best-performing Bandolista™ lantana. With loads of vibrant tropical shades of newly opened yellow flowers to reddish-orange older flowers, this lantana provides a great hot pop of color in the landscape. One can barely see the foliage when it is in full flower! With its moderate vigor and habit, it works well in containers and hanging baskets and can tolerate low water inputs. This plant will surely attract pollinators to your yard!

Calibrachoa, Bloomtastic Serenity 2025, Dümmen Orange

Compared to nearly all the calibrachoas trialed, Bloomtastic Serenity was covered in two-toned light purple with dark purple eyes and a yellow throat. It bloomed from early summer to very late in the season. When all the other calibrachoa had dwindled in color, this one was showy! Overall, the plant form was excellent, creating a nice display in the container. This plant lived up to its Bloomtastic name!

Portulaca, Mega Pazzaz™ Fuchsia, Danziger

Overall, the Pazzaz™ series did well in the trials. Mega was the top-scoring selection of the group. The Pazzaz™ Fuchsia produced bright, intense fuchsia pink colored flowers on semi-trailing stems. We observed that the portulaca in this series was open longer during the day, opening hours before and after other portulacas had closed. This portulaca was also a pollinator magnet, and with so many bees visiting, we could hear the containers humming standing feet away! Great option for container plantings, handling heat and drought conditions.

Begonia, Interspecific Hybrid (Grown in Shade; Ground bed/Container), Megawatt™, White Green Leaf, PanAmerican Seed

These begonias were developed for both sun and shade conditions. And they perform well in both! The clean white flowers with the bright yellow anthers and pistils contrast nicely with the glossy green foliage—great vigor in these plants, ideal for container and in-ground situations. Pink Megawatt™ also performed very well in the trials. If you want mega flower energy in the landscape, consider the Megawatts™!

Begonia, Elatior type, BK Collection Vermillion Red (P), Beekenkamp

Vermillion Red has been a consistent top-performing elatior-type begonia in the gardens! It boasts vibrant red flowers that pop in the part shade. Its upright habit makes it all the easier to enjoy the numerous silky red flowers. Check out this red begonia and the other colors in the Vermillion series!

Begonia, Boliviensis type, Florencio™ Yellow, Syngenta

The large, soft-butter yellow, brightly centered flowers of this Florencio™ contrast well against the deep, dark green lance-shaped foliage. The plants were very uniform and upright, creating an excellent container display.

Begonia, Tuber-type, Adora™ Velvet Red, Syngenta

Rich, velvety red, quarter-sized double flowers abundantly adorned the well-branched plants in the trials this year. The mounding-type begonias filled out the containers well. The crisp, dark green foliage provides a beautiful contrast to the red pops of color.

Interspecific Impatiens (Grown in Shade), Solarscape® XL Lilac Spark, PanAmerican Seed

The Solarscape interspecific impatiens performed well in both containers and landscape beds. XL Lilac Spark produced uniform plants with continuous flowering throughout the season. These seed series hybrids are versatile for the landscape, especially for those who want that traditional New Guinea Impatiens look, but in the full sun!