The Best New Perennial Flowers of 2021

January 26th, 2021

   Ajugas with multi-colored leaves, compact versions of two pollinator-magnet native flowers, and three exceptionally good-looking herbs are among a banner slate of interesting new perennial flowers debuting in the 2021 growing season.

   Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked the following choices for my annual January four-part, best-new-plants series.

   The article on best new edibles of 2021 appeared Tuesday, Jan. 12, while the rundown on best new annual flowers posted on Tuesday, Jan. 19. The series ends next Tuesday, Feb. 2, with a look at the best new trees and shrubs of 2021.

   The following new perennial flowers are available online and in some plant catalogs and will start showing up in local garden centers beginning in April.

   The details:

Ajuga Feathered Friends

   Bucks County author, speaker, and “Perennial Diva” Stephanie Cohen says the break-through perennial newcomer of 2021 is a seven-variety line of ajugas (bugleweeds) that come in brilliant new leaf colors, including gold and chartreuse.

   “Most gardeners either love or hate ajugas, which are a first-class shady groundcover but not terribly exciting,” she says.

   That’s going to change with Feathered Friends ajugas from breeder Chris Hansen of Michigan’s Garden Solutions (who also brought us SunSparkler sedums and Chick Charms hens and chicks).

   Feathered Friends include bird-named varieties with gold/chartreuse foliage (Cordial Canary and Tropical Toucan), gold/burgundy/green blends (Fancy Finch, Petite Parakeet, and Parrot Paradise), and ones that are nearly black (Noble Nightingale and Fierce Falcon).

   “All are winter-hardy in Zones 4-8, and all produce beautiful cobalt-blue flowers,” says Cohen. “The flowers can last several weeks. I want to grow them all.”

   Feathered Friends plants grow only four inches tall and root as they creep to form a tight, weed-choking mat. They’ll do best in shade to part shade.

Ironweed ‘Summer’s Swan Song’

   Another 2021 break-through is this compact and heavy-blooming version of a native perennial that’s one of the best at attracting pollinators.

   Ironweed is a late-summer to early-fall purple bloomer that doesn’t show up in many gardens, mainly because it’s so tall (five feet and up), prone to leaning, and susceptible to rust and mildew leaf diseases.

   Dr. Jim Ault at the Chicago Botanic Garden came up with this new hybrid that solves all three of those issues.

   ‘Summer’s Swan Song’ earned the highest five-star rating in the Garden’s three-year trial of ironweeds, the results of which came out last year.

   This variety grows only three feet tall, has interlocking branches that help hold it into a compact bush shape, and tested out with no disease despite other infected ironweed varieties around it.

   ‘Summer’s Swan Song’ blooms heavily in purple from September into October and has narrow, olive-green leaves and red-purple stems.

   “A diversity of butterflies, moths, and bees are attracted to the flowers,” the Chicago Botanic Garden’s evaluation noted.

Ornamental oregano ‘Drops of Jupiter’

   Most people think of oregano as a cooking herb. But this winter-hardy perennial also makes a good-looking sunny trailer – especially when breeding highlights the flowers as in the new ‘Drops of Jupiter’ variety.

   “Although it’s related to the oregano commonly used in cooking, this herb is meant to show off in the garden, similar to the ornamental onion ‘Serendipity,’” says Karin Walters, a vice president at Michigan’s Walters Gardens, which is introducing ‘Drops of Jupiter’ this spring. “The leaves are edible but don’t have as intense of a flavor.”

   What’s more impressive is the heavy, long-lasting purple-pink flowering along with the chartreuse foliage.

   Plants grow about two feet tall, do best in full sun, and are deer-resistant and bee-friendly.

Lavender ‘Imperial Gem’

   Another herbal beauty is this durable and heavy-blooming English lavender, one of two new or “newish” lavenders worth checking out for 2021.

   ‘Imperial Gem’ gets David Wilson’s vote as his top 2021 perennial of any kind. Wilson, the Lower Paxton Twp. horticulturist who’s marketing director for Overdevest Nurseries’ Garden Splendor line of plants, says this variety is particularly vigorous, bushy, heavy-flowering, and “well-shaped the whole way around.”

   He also points out that ‘Imperial Gem’ was the best performer out of 40 lavenders grown over a six-year trial in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s revered perennials trial program.

   The variety blooms in a blend of lavender to dark purple from late June to mid-September and has gray-green foliage.

   As with all lavenders, ‘Imperial Gem’ is best grown in full sun, alkaline soil, and excellent drainage. It grows just under two feet tall and widens out to three to four feet across.

Lavender Sensational!

   Bucks County’s Peace Tree Farm created a sensation in lavenders several years ago with the introduction of the big, full, heavy-blooming Phenomenal! variety. This year it’s introducing a reportedly even more sensational, “next-generation” Phenomenal! called, well, Sensational!

   Chris Wallen, a grower at the wholesale Quality Greenhouses near Dillsburg, picks this hybrid lavender as his top new perennial of 2021.

   He says Sensational! has a “dense habit, aromatic silver foliage, and huge purple flowers on sturdy stems.”

   The plant blooms for weeks in summer, has excellent heat, cold, and disease tolerance, and grows about 30 inches tall, ideally in full sun, excellent drainage, and alkaline soil.

Pennisetum Yellow Ribbons

   Sinclair Adam, director of the Penn State Trial Gardens in Lancaster County, picks this compact ornamental grass as one of his two favorite perennials of 2021.

   Also known as fountain grass, Yellow Ribbons is a variety that has yellow foliage and tan, foxtail-like, late-summer plumes on plants that grow only about two feet tall and wide.

   “The striking yellow foliage in early summer turns green in mid-season, then turns more yellow again in early fall,” Adam says.

   Pennisetum grows best in full sun and is seldom bothered by deer.

Muhly grass ‘White Cloud’

   A second new grass worth checking out is this white-plumed version of the showy pink muhly grass, a species native to the central and western United States.

   Erica Shaffer, garden designer for Black Landscape Center in Upper Allen Twp. and former manager at Highland Gardens, picks ‘White Cloud’ as one her two favorite new 2021 perennials.

   “It’s a lovely native grass that’s deer-resistant, drought-tolerant, and good in sun or part shade,” she says. “It’s a delightfully fine-textured blue-green grass all summer with a fantastic silvery-white cloud of airy plumes in the autumn garden.”

   Shaffer says ‘White Cloud’ is also more upright than pink muhly grass and tops out at about four feet tall.

Lily Roselily Anouska

   Looking for fragrance in your perennials?

   Robert Kadas, owner of Highland Gardens in Lower Allen Twp., picks this new Oriental lily in the Roselily series as his favorite new 2021 perennial.

   Kadas likes Anouska’s sturdy stems and fragrant pink-white flowers. “It’s simply beautiful,” he says.

   The Roselily line has double flowers that give them a rose-like appearance along with upward-facing flowers that are pollen-free.

   Anouska grows about four feet tall, ideally in sun to light shade. Its peak bloom is in July.

Salvia Color Spires ‘Back to the Fuchsia’

   This Proven Winners hummingbird- and butterfly-attracting sun-lover is the favorite new perennial of Brandon Kuykendall, the nursery manager at Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses in Monroe Twp.

   “The bright pink flowers really show up against the dark green foliage,” he says. “They may have also got me with the name.”

   ‘Back to the Fuchsia’s’ flower spikes last for weeks in late spring through early summer and often reappear in fall if you cut the two-foot-tall plants back after the first bloom, Kuykendall adds.

   As with all salvias, this one is drought-tough and not a target of deer or bunnies.

Coneflower Cara Mia Yellow

   Coneflowers aren’t just pink anymore. This vibrant-yellow, long-blooming newcomer is Adam’s other favorite new 2021 perennial based on two years’ performance at the Penn State Trial Gardens.

   Adam says Cara Mia Yellow has proved durable in our winters, and its bloom is “excellent throughout the season. Even though it’s a double-flowered form, it also has excellent stem strength.”

   Flowers can appear for up to five months on plants that grow a bit taller than two feet, ideally in full sun.

Heliopsis ‘Burning Hearts’

   This showy version of our native ox-eye daisy is Shaffer’s other favorite new 2021 perennial.

   She likes ‘Burning Hearts’ for its drought-toughness, deer-resistance, and long bloom time… “bright yellow sun-shiny flowers with red-orange centers from July through September. It then turns up the heat with dark black-purple foliage.”

   ‘Burning Hearts’ grows four feet tall, does best in full sun, and also makes a good cut flower.

Coralbells GRANDE Amethyst

   Is there room for one more new coralbells variety?

   Dan Heims, the Terra Nova Nurseries owner who has created many, many coralbells over the years and wrote a 2005 book on them (“Heucheras and Heucherellas”), thinks so.

   His favorite new perennial of any kind for 2021 is coralbells GRANDE Amethyst, which he calls a “bold groundcover” with its purple, wavy leaves and nicely color-coordinated wiry pink flowers that produce from July into September.

   Heims adds that it “performs extremely well in heat and humidity” and is stocky in size at 14 inches tall (30 inches counting the flowers) and more than two feet wide.

   GRANDE Amethyst will grow in sun, shade, and everything between.

Dianthus ‘Pink Fire’

   Plants Nouveau co-owner Angela Treadwell-Palmer likes this new rock-garden or front-of-border shortie both for its large, double, bright-pink flowers and for its fine, steely-blue foliage.

   But the kicker for dianthus ‘Pink Fire,’ she says, is the “super-strong clove fragrance that entices even the shiest gardener to come closer.”

   ‘Pink Fire’ grows only six to eight inches tall and blooms for weeks from late spring into early summer.

Helenium Mariachi ‘Bandera’

   Treadwell-Palmer also likes this super-short, densely branched new version of a native perennial that’s commonly called “sneezeweed,” although it’s not particularly sneeze-inducing.

   Helenium Mariachi ‘Bandera’ is loaded from late summer into early fall with quarter-sized flowers that Treadwell-Palmer describes as “ruffled and deep brick-red with bright golden halos.”

   What’s especially different is the compact size. Plants top out at 15 to 18 inches – half the size of most heleniums.

   ‘Bandera’ grows best in full sun.

Wood fern ‘Jurassic Gold’

   For the shade garden, Maria Zampini of the Ohio-based UpShoot plant introduction company likes this new non-native, semi-evergreen fern for its brilliant golden spring foliage.

   ‘Jurassic Gold’ then fades to a golden-yellow and then green as the season progresses.

   It’s comfortably winter-hardy in our climate, ideal in damp shade, and not a favorite of deer. Plants grow about two feet tall.

Hardy hibiscus Summerific ‘French Vanilla’

   Proven Winners’ Summerific series of hardy hibiscus is arguably the best of this huge-flowering, late-summer perennial species. New to the line in 2021 is a color break-through – a custard-yellow bloomer called ‘French Vanilla.’

   “I love to see my Summerific burst into bloom in August when everything else is looking a bit tired,” says Proven Winners spokeswoman Jeanine Standard, who rates ‘French Vanilla’ as her favorite perennial newcomer for 2021. “I really knew this plant was amazing when my husband started to point out the new blooms each day. He is not a gardener at heart.”

   ‘French Vanilla’ opens its soft-yellow buds into large, seven- to eight-inch ruffled flowers of creamy-yellow, each of which have a red eye.

   The shoots are late to emerge in spring but grow quickly to about four feet tall. Hardy hibiscus does best in full sun to light shade and can tolerate wet soil.

Columbine Earlybird

   For color early in the season, check out this seed-grown, eight-color series of native columbines from Kieft Seed.

   Earlybird columbines are mounded, compact perennials growing only about 10 inches tall and blooming for weeks in white or soft-yellow solo tones or blue-and-white, purple-and-white, and rosy-red-and-white bicolors.

   They’re all very cold-tough and grow in full sun or part shade.

Anemone Mona Lisa Orchid Shades

   Another early-spring bloomer is this new anemone (a.k.a. “windflower”) with unusually large flowers.

   Atlee Burpee Co. Senior Product Manager Venelin Dimitrov picks Mona Lisa Orchid Shades as his favorite new 2021 perennial for its 4½-inch, orchid-pink flowers.

   Plants usually rebloom, and the flowers are good cut for bouquets, too, he adds.

   Mona Lisa Orchid Shades grows 18 inches tall and does best in partly shaded locations.

Coneflower Sombrero Poco Yellow

   Darwin Perennials’ Sombrero line of coneflowers is one of the best for reliability and long-lasting color.

   Sombrero Poco types are particularly compact at only 15 inches tall, and Poco Yellow is a new color that’s debuting in 2021.

   Butterflies, bees, and birds all like these native perennials, but deer don’t.

   Coneflowers grow best in full sun.

Mum ‘Brilliant Igloo’

   One other excellent series that’s getting a new color is this yellow-blooming addition to Rozanne and Friends’ heavy-blooming, no-pinching-needed Igloo line.

   ‘Brilliant Igloo’ produces hundreds of bright-yellow blooms on ball-shaped plants that grow about 20 inches tall, ideally in full sun. A bonus is that it blooms twice.

   “Flowering is in June and again in September, lasting well into frost,” says Christine Kelleher, the marketing director for Aris Horticulture, which grows the Rozanne and Friends brand. “Plus, the flowers are deer-resistant and attract butterflies.”