Best New Annual Flowers of 2020

January 21st, 2020

   A new line of disease-resistant impatiens, a sunflower that thinks it’s a blooming bush, and a velvety trailer that people can’t resist touching top the list of interesting new annual flowers debuting in 2020.

Beacon impatiens performed well in Penn State’s 2019 flower trials.

   Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked those and more for the four-part, best-new-plants series I write each January – a good month for gardeners to plan what to plant in the coming season.

   The article on best new vegetables, herbs, and fruits of 2020 ran last Tuesday, Jan. 14. The best new perennial flowers of 2020 runs next Tuesday, Jan. 28, and the best new trees and shrubs of 2020 runs Feb. 4.

   Some of the following new annual flowers are available in seeds or plants online and in some plant catalogs. Most also will show up in plant form in local garden centers beginning in late April to early May.

   The details:

Impatiens Beacon series

   Breeders from Syngenta Flowers last year gave us a new line of bedding impatiens called Imara XDR that fought off the deadly downy mildew disease that’s plagued our once-favorite annual flower since 2012.

   New for 2020 is a separate line from PanAmerican Seed that looks to be an even better, fuller choice.

   Named Beacon, this six-color line looks and performs like the impatiens of old, except without the threat of collapsing in mid-summer from disease.

   Deb Shearer, co-owner of Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses in Monroe Twp., picks Beacon as her favorite new annual for their durability and because they’re “more compact than Imara. Hopefully, there will be new colors in addition to the original six.”

   Both Beacons and Imaras bloomed full steam ahead in Penn State’s Trial Gardens last summer while older ones died next to them. The Beacons scored slightly higher than the Imaras.

   “They were stellar,” Trial Gardens Director Sinclair Adam said of the Beacon series. “I didn’t see any problems with disease.”

   Venelin Dimitrov, senior product manager at Bucks County’s W. Atlee Burpee Co., likes the Beacon ‘Paradise Mix’ blend and reports that those were healthy and still blooming well into October in Burpee’s trial garden.

   Stauffers of Kissel Hill buyer Todd Kephart also likes Beacons and says some growers are starting to grow only Imaras and Beacons because they’re so much more disease-resistant than other impatiens.

   Beacons grow about 18 inches tall in shade, part shade, and with adequate soil moisture, even full sun.

Didelta FanciFillers ‘Silver Strand’

‘Silver Strand’ is a silver-leafed textural annuals.
(Credit: Penn State Trial Gardens)

   Penn State’s Adam says this version of Westhoff’s new line of FanciFiller container foliage plants was a standout for its narrow, silver, velvety leaves.

   “It was like the ‘please don’t squeeze the Charmin’” of the 2019 trials, he said. “People couldn’t keep their hands off it. It’s soft to the touch.”

   ‘Silver Strand’ has a semi-trailing habit, growing about 10 inches tall but spreading nearly two feet. It’ll grow in full sun to part shade.’

   Adam also was impressed with lysimachia ‘Sunburst,’ another entry in the FanciFiller line that has heart-shaped leaves and trails four feet or more out of hanging baskets.

   “The name makes you think it’s yellow, but it’s not,” says Adam. “It’s green.”

   It’ll grow in shade to full sun.

Begonia I’Conia Portofino Sunrise almost glows salmon-orange.
(Credit: Penn State Trial Gardens)

Begonia I’Conia Portofino ‘Sunrise’

   A third set of annuals that Adam particularly liked in last year’s Penn State trials was Dummen Orange’s new six-color line of disease-resistant I’Conia hybrid begonias. His favorite was the salmon-orange ‘Sunrise’ variety.

   “That was a star,” Adam said. “It was still beautiful in October.”

   The eight-variety series of Viking begonias from Sakata Seed also did very well.

   All of the above work best in shady to partly-shaded pots and baskets.

Caladium Heart to Heart series

   This new, 15-variety line of big-leafed, colorful foliage plants from Classic Caladiums and Proven Winners is the favorite 2020 annual of Chris Wallen, a grower for the wholesale Quality Greenhouses near Dillsburg.

This Heart to Heart caladium is called Dawn to Dusk.
(Credit: Proven Winners)

   He says that besides the beautiful leaf colors, Heart to Heart caladiums are fuller and have thicker leaves that make them more tolerant of full sun than older caladiums, which generally need to grow in shade or at least stay out of afternoon sun.

   “Some of the leaf colors, patterns, and shades are unique breakthroughs and are stunning,” Wallen says.

   The series grows 12 to 18 inches tall and wide.

Cuphea ‘Honeybells’

   Monica Gembusia, who specializes in annuals at Highland Gardens in Lower Allen Twp., likes Ball Floraplant’s new ‘Honeybells’ cuphea that Highland got for the first time late last summer.

   It’s a showy, semi-trailing form of cuphea that produces bicolor, cigar-shaped flowers of rose and light yellow.

   Gembusia says it’s ideal for sunny containers and is excellent for attracting hummingbirds and butterflies.

   ‘Honeybells’ blooms throughout the summer in part shade to full sun.

Sunflower Suncredible Yellow

Suncredible Yellow is a bushy sunflower that blooms all summer.

    This was the best new annual I trialed last season.

   Suncredible Yellow is a new Proven Winners annual sunflower that grows not on single, tall stalks but as a three-by-three-foot bush with multiple blooms that keep coming from June until frost.

   My trial plant quickly grew from a little transplant in a four-inch pot to a multi-stem bush that produced hundreds of bright yellow flowers with brown centers all season. Just one plant put on a head-turning show in my front rock garden.

   The stems were sturdy, the plant didn’t need dead-heading, and lurking deer didn’t mess with it after a brief sampling in May.

   It grows best in full sun.

Petunia Headliner ‘Dark Saturn’

Petunia Headliner Dark Saturn has dark purple petals with creamy edges.
(Credit: Ball Seed)

   Stauffers’ Kephart likes this new bicolor petunia from Ball Seed in addition to Beacon impatiens.

   “It’s a cool new petunia that’s unique and should appeal to our customers for 2020,” he says.

   Headliner ‘Dark Saturn’ is a heavy, mounding bloomer with velvety purple flowers that have creamy yellow edges.

   Kephart also likes Ball Floraplant’s petunia Midnight Gold, which is another dark-flowered bicolor with nearly black centers and creamy edges. It’s a double-petaled variety.

Salvia Rockin’ ‘Blue Suede Shoes’

   Hummingbird fans will love this bushy newcomer from Proven Winners, says Erica Shaffer, retail horticulturist at Black Landscape Center in Mechanicsburg.

   “It has lovely soft-blue flowers with black bases clustered on spikes that can grow up to four feet tall,” she says. “Butterflies and bees like it, too. It’s great for the pollinator garden.”

   ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ does best in full sun to light shade and grows well in either pots or the ground.

Coleus Main Street Beale Street

Coleus Main Street Beale Street has velvety maroon leaves.
(Credit: All America Selections)

   Beale Street is the first coleus ever to win an All America Selections award, which are earned based on performance in nationwide testing by independent judges.

   Judges said the variety’s deep-red leaves didn’t fade, bleach, or get spotty in summer heat and didn’t flower until late in the season (gardeners usually don’t consider coleus flowers to be an asset).

   Beale Street grows in shade or sun, between two to three feet tall.

Nasturtium Tip Top Rose

   This is the only other annual flower to win a 2020 AAS flower award.

   Tip Top Rose is a compact nasturtium with rose-colored flowers growing atop the 14-inch-tall green-leafed mounds.

   AAS judges liked it for its noticeably heavier bloom than other nasturtiums and for its rich color that didn’t fade in summer’s heat.

Zinnia Zesty Scarlet has brilliant color and good disease resistance.

   Like all nasturtiums, it’s easy to grow by direct-seeding into the ground and is edible (both leaves and flowers).

Zinnia Zesty series

   Colorful, sun-loving zinnias are worth a new look if you gave up on them because of their floppiness and tendency to fall apart by late summer from powdery mildew disease.

   The newest series hitting the market in 2020 is one that has the bright colors and dense, double-petaled blooms of classic zinnias but on compact, disease-resistant plants.

   The new Zesty zinnias from PanAmerican Seed come in five colors (scarlet, fuchsia, pink, purple, and white) as well as a mix of those colors and more.

   Zesty Scarlet was my favorite performer in Penn State’s Trial Gardens last summer, while Burpee’s Dimitrov ranks Zesty Mix as one of his two favorite new annuals of 2020 (Beacon impatiens being the other).

   Zesty zinnias grow 16 to 18 inches tall and grow best in full sun.