This is my favorite time of the year – blink and you’ll miss it. It’s technically spring, but snow isn’t out of the question, we still have freezing temperatures at night, landscapes are brown, and days can be gloomy and cold. While nothing about the previous sentence is appealing to me, what I love about early spring is that the best is yet to come. But as we wait patiently (or impatiently) for winter to loosen its grip over the Midwest, spring is subtly taking over. The changes seemingly happen overnight: suddenly the grass is green, spring ephemerals are blooming, and the birds are back.

Another telltale sign of spring is that planting is in full force here at the nursery. We’ll pot up over 140,000 shrubs and 200,000 perennials over the course of about six weeks, starting in mid-March. This is the most intense planting block of the season as we pot up the crops that will follow behind our overwintered inventory. And among these spring plantings are some exciting new (and new-to-us) perennial introductions.

There are several introductions by Brent Horvath of Intrinsic Perennial Gardens that we’re looking forward to growing this year, and one of them is Eryngium yuccifolium ‘Prairie Moon’. Rattlesnake master is one of our most beloved and distinctive native prairie plants, with its spiky flower balls and cactus-like foliage. The cultivar ‘Prairie Moon’ was introduced in 2013 and was selected for its more compact stature. Since it tops out at 3’ tall, it’s less likely to flop than the species. Another nativar out of Intrinsic that we’re looking forward to trialing this year is Sporobolus heterolepis ‘Golden Needles’. It maintains the same vigor and size as the species, but with showy gold foliage that holds its color all season before turning shades of chartreuse in late summer. Just like the species, it will perform best in lean soil and full sun. Finally, we’re introducing a new genus into our production lineup this year with the addition of Scirpus pendulus ‘Stars and Stripes’. This is a variegated variety of our native bulrush, with foliage that looks similar to Carex. In mid to late summer, yellow stems rise 18 to 24” with distinctive, nodding, star-like flower clusters.

**Scirpus pendulus ‘Stars and Stripes’**

**Heliopsis helianthoides ‘Forged in Fire’**

We’ve seen a lot of exciting breeding within the Heliopsis genus in recent years. With so many options, it’s been tough to decide which varieties to grow. This season we’ve decided to trial Heliopsis helianthoides var scabra ‘Luna Roja’. It’s one of the shortest, most compact Heliopsis varieties on the market today, reaching only 12” wide and 16” tall. The color combination of orange-red flowers against dark foliage is reminiscent of ‘Bleeding Hearts’, but on a much smaller plant. Heliopsis helianthoides ‘Forged in Fire’ is a brand-new Proven Winners® variety with deep green foliage and semi-double yellow flowers with orange eyes. This is marketed as a mid-sized selection, reaching up to 3’ tall. Slightly shorter than ‘Forged in Fire’, but taller than ‘Luna Roja’, Heliopsishelianthoides ‘Rays for Days’ grows to just over 2’ tall. Another new PW® introduction, this variety features fully double yellow flowers that are similar in appearance to Zinnias. We’re interested to see how this compares to the now discontinued Tuscan Gold™, which was one of our favorites.

**Heliopsishelianthoides ‘Rays for Days’**

We’ve heard rave reviews about Salvia ‘Blue By You’, a 2023 All-American Selections Winner, and we can’t wait to grow it this season. A cross between S. nemorosaand S. pratensis, this Salvia is part of the Darwin Perennials Better Versions® series. It purportedly blooms up to two weeks earlier than other varieties and offers a long shelf life, with repeat blooming cycles throughout spring and summer. We’ve long been searching for a blue counterpart to Salvia ‘Rose Marvel’ that holds up just as well in a production setting, with good disease resistance and a long shelf life, and we hope ‘Blue By You’ will answer the call.

Another new Darwin Perennials variety we’ll be trialing this year is Rudbeckia Suntacular (‘NCRH2’). Introduced in 2025, there isn’t much information available on this variety other than its tall, columnar habit with striking bicolor gold and orange flowers. We’re looking forward to putting it to the test this season as we compare it against other Rudbeckia varieties.

Finally, Vernonia ‘Prairie Princess’ is new introduction from Proven Winners®. It was bred for its more compact, full habit and sturdy stems. Compared to the species, which often drops its lower leaves during the heat of summer, this variety is said to hold on to its foliage even when stressed. We’ve seen a lot of demand for Vernonia ‘Iron Butterfly’ in recent years, but sourcing liners has been challenging. There could be a lot of potential for this variety if availability is consistent.

When we consider these new introductions, a common thread unites many of them: it’s clear that plant breeders are prioritizing nativars. We’ve seen this with the Proven Winners® recent marketing campaign promoting “Perennials With Native Roots”. Regardless of the terminology used to describe them, it will be interesting to see whether consumers will embrace the push toward native cultivars, or if this will muddy the waters when it comes to their understanding of what qualifies as a native plant. Whatever happens, we’ll be here to watch what unfolds and let you know how these new varieties perform in our trials.

New Perennials Preview

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