Best New Trees and Shrubs of 2020

February 4th, 2020

   A new line of blight-resistant boxwoods, a super-short version of native chokeberry, and a disease-resistant new leucothoe are among the best new trees and shrubs debuting in the 2020 growing season.

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

   Today’s best new trees and shrubs of 2020 is the final installment of this year’s January series.

   Part one on best new vegetables, herbs, and fruits of 2020 ran Jan. 14, part two on best new annual flowers of 2020 ran Jan. 21, and part three on best new perennial flowers of 2020 ran last Tuesday, Jan. 28.

   Some of the following new tree and shrub varieties are available online and in some plant catalogs. Most also will be available in local garden centers beginning in April.

   The details:

NewGen boxwoods

   Boxwood blight has become a growing and fatal threat to boxwoods throughout the mid-Atlantic region, sending breeders scrambling to find varieties that are resistant to this fungal disease that first showed up in Pennsylvania in 2012.

   Virginia’s Saunders Brothers – one of the nation’s leading boxwood growers – is introducing the first two varieties in a line of boxwoods found and tested to have high resistance both to boxwood blight and leafminers (a common bug pest of boxwoods).

   Dubbed NewGen, the line debuts with a compact, rounded form called Independence (similar to ‘Green Velvet’ and ‘Green Mound’) and a slightly more upright variety called Freedom (similar to ‘Green Mountain’ and ‘Winter Gem.’)

   Both are slow-growing, dense in habit, and not favorites of deer. Independence will grow to about three feet tall and wide in 15 years, while Freedom will grow about six inches bigger.

   Boxwoods grow best in loose, well drained soil in morning sun and afternoon shade, although they’ll also do well in deeper shade and in full sun with adequate soil moisture.

   Dave Krause, a buyer for Stauffers of Kissel Hill garden centers, likes those two as well as a third compact new boxwood that’s also highly blight-resistant called ‘Little Missy.’

Arborvitae Virginian

   Another of Krause’s favorite new woody-plant introductions of 2020 is a hybrid arborvitae called Virginian, which is a tall, narrow, soft-needled evergreen that’ll be very useful as a screening plant.

   “This one is going to be a big hit,” says Krause. “It has the same single leader and deer-resistant traits of its cousin, Green Giant, but this one’s growth is restrained. It limits itself to 15 feet tall with very little pruning. It’s perfect for today’s gardener.”

   Virginian’s width is less than half its height, around six feet across the base. It’s also easily winter-hardy to central Pennsylvania.

Dwarf black chokeberry Ground Hog

   Here’s a new version of a native shrub that’s so compact it can be used as a low-growing, woody groundcover.

   Ground Hog is a 2020 Proven Winners introduction that grows only about a foot tall and spreads about three feet.

   Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses Nursery Manager Brandon Kuykendall picks it as his favorite new woody plant for its “white spring flowers, and in the fall, its brilliant red leaves and purple-black berries. It’s an excellent groundcover for difficult areas. I like it because it has a small habit and is adaptable to several soil conditions, whether dry or wet.”

   Ground Hog grows in full sun or part shade.

Leucothoe ‘ReJoyce’

   Robert Kadas, general manager at Highland Gardens in Lower Allen Twp., likes this new version of an old-fashioned woodland shade shrub as his favorite new woody plant of 2020.

   He says leucothoe ‘ReJoyce’ has “all the draw of older varieties… it’s native, it’s a woodland plant for part shade, has deer resistance, and good evergreen color. From the red new growth in spring, followed by small white flowers, to the amazing deep wine-red autumn color that persists through winter, this plant truly provides year round interest. Yet, the best thing about this variety is that it doesn’t show any of the leaf spot that plagues most of the older varieties.”

   ‘ReJoyce’ is evergreen in most winters and grows about three feet tall with a slightly wider spread.

Caryopteris ‘Gold Crest’

   Commonly known as blue mist shrub or bluebeard, this late-summer rounded bush typically has silvery-green leaves to go along with the fuzzy blue flowers.

   Bryan Benner, a grower at the wholesale Quality Greenhouses near Dillsburg, likes this new version of caryopteris for its “non-fading gold foliage that contrasts nicely with the blue flowers.”

   ‘Gold Crest’ grows about three feet tall and wide, is seldom bothered by deer, and grows best in full sun. The main bloom time is August and September.

Seven-son flower Tianshan

   Plant collectors and fanciers of the new and different will really like this dwarf version of the rare seven-son flower tree (Heptacodium miconioides).

   Ryan McEnaney, spokesman for Minnesota’s Bailey Nursery, which is introducing Tianshan in its First Editions brand, says seven-son flower is a vastly under-used small tree to start with that has multiple interests – mildly fragrant, late-summer, white flowers with seven petals per cluster, then purplish fall fruits, then peeling bark for winter interest.

   Tianshan has all of that but shrinks the usual 18- to 20-foot height of the tree down to eight to 12 feet tall with a five- to seven-foot spread. It works more like a tall, bushy shrub than a tree and grows in full sun to part shade.

Sweetspire Love Child

   The popular but somewhat leaf-spot-prone Little Henry sweetspire gets some competition this year from another compact Bailey First Editions entry called Love Child.

   McEnaney says this variety stays three to four feet tall and wide and also is a particularly heavy bloomer of arching, fragrant, white flower spikes from late spring into early summer.

   Like all native sweetspires, the leaves of Love Child turn red in fall, and plants aren’t deer favorites. It’ll grow in full sun to part shade, ideally in damp but well drained soil.

Hydrangea Everlasting Crimson

   More new hydrangeas keep showing up. The twist on this 2020 addition to Plants Nouveau’s Everlasting series is big flowers that start out apple green and then mature to a rich pinkish-red.

   The flowers then age to a “deep maroon and forest green, so they look really great until a super-hard frost,” says Angela Treadwell-Palmer, Plants Nouveau co-owner.

   Everlasting Crimson grows about 3½ feet tall and wide, and like all big-leaf hydrangeas, does best in morning sun and afternoon sun.

   It flowers on both old and new wood, meaning fresh flowers open from late May through July.

Redbud Flame Thrower

   Another color-changing “chameleon” plant is this new redbud from Chester County’s Star Roses and Plants that can show four or five different leaf shades at a time.

   “There’s nothing on the market like it,” says Leah Haugh, Star Roses’ public-relations and social-media manager. “It has a range of colors on one branch, emerging burgundy-red, followed by bright yellow, and then green.”

   Flame Thrower has an arching habit and grows about 15 to 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide.

   Haugh says it’ll be in limited supply for 2020.

   Star Roses’ also is introducing Golden Falls redbud this spring, which is a very narrow, weeping variety (only 10 feet tall by four feet wide) with golden foliage.

   And SKH’s Krause likes two other new 2020 redbuds – ‘Alley Cat,’ a 20-foot pink bloomer with white and green variegated leaves, and Black Pearl, a 20-foot lavender bloomer that Krause says has the darkest leaves of any redbud to date.

   Redbuds grow best as under-story trees or in dappled light, although they’ll also do full sun.

David Austin rose ‘Roald Dahl’

   This fragrant peach-colored English musk rose is one of two new David Austin roses showing up for the first time at garden centers this year.

   Introduced mail-order-only in 2018, ‘Roald Dahl’ is a standout for its color as well as exceptionally long bloom time. (Roald Dahl was a British author famous for writing the book, “James and the Giant Peach.”)

   “’Roald Dahl’ blooms its heart out from late spring until well into autumn with just the slightest pause to catch its breath in mid-summer during peak heat,” says Michael Marriott, a senior rosarian for Britain’s David Austin Roses.

   The fragrance is classic hybrid tea with notes of blackberry, blueberry, and plum. The plants are upright and rounded to about four feet tall and wide, and the flower buds are a soft orange-red color.

   Also debuting this spring in garden centers is ‘Desdemona,’ which Marriott rates as Austin’s best white rose for repeat bloom.

   It’s fragrant, long-blooming, and about four feet tall by three feet wide in size.

   All David Austin roses are known for their disease-resistance, adaptability to different climates, fragrance, heavy bloom, and classic beauty.

Polyantha rose Pretty Polly series

   Star Roses’ top new roses debuting in 2020 are three colors of compact, long- and heavy-blooming polyantha types called Pretty Poly White, Pretty Polly Pink, and Pretty Polly Lavender.

   Haugh says all three also are nearly thornless, have a light, sweet fragrance, and are winter-hardy down to USDA Zone 4 (two zones colder than Harrisburg).

   Pretty Polly White grows about three tall and wide, Pretty Polly Pink grows to a bushy 2½-by-3-foot size, and Pretty Polly Lavender is the smallest of the trio, topping out at only 1 ½ feet tall by two feet tall.

Rose ‘Canyon Road’

   Black Landscape Center retail horticulturist Erica Shaffer likes another new Star Roses introduction, a floribunda type called ‘Canyon Road,’ as her favorite new woody plant of 2020.

   “This rose has the most beautiful red blooms that continue non-stop all summer,” she says. “It has no spots on the foliage and no insect issues without any chemicals applied to them. They were still blooming at Thanksgiving last year.”

   Shaffer also likes ‘Canyon Road’s’ compact three-by-three-foot size. It’ll grow best in full sun.