Many garden associations and plant societies annually choose a plant of the year. Gardeners eagerly await these announcements because they know the plants chosen have been tested for hardiness and suitability, and therefore are desirable additions to any garden. The plant of the year is usually suitable for a wide range of climate types, requires low maintenance, is easily propagated, and exhibits multiple seasonal interest.

Hellebores

Every year, the Perennial Plant Association picks one perennial that it determines is outstanding. For 2005, the honor goes to Helleborus xhybridus, also called the helebore. If you have a shade garden and have never added these fascinating plants to your flower beds, consider adding a few this year. Hellebores bring color into the garden in late winter and early spring. They come in a variety of colors, including purple, white, pink, red and pale green. The foliage provides year-round interest, since its thick, serrated leaves are evergreen. These plants are virtually indestructible, since animals will not eat them and they do not have any known diseases.

Serviceberry

The Georgia Native Plant Society chose downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) as the organization's 2005 Plant of the Year. Downy serviceberry is one of the earliest native trees to bloom in early spring. The white flowers appear before the leaves emerge, making the blossoms' impact all the more dramatic. Though the blooms are at their peak for only a short time, they effectively usher in spring. According to legend, the serviceberry got its name because in northern climates, its blooms signal the thawing of frozen ground, thus making burials possible again after a frozen winter.

The bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, is the Virginia Native Plant Society's Wildflower of the Year for 2005. Bloodroot is an herbaceous perennial that grows from a persistent, branched underground stem or rhizome.

The All-America Rose Selections used 15 critical traits including hardiness, vigor and novelty, to select the winners for 2005, the 66th year of recognizing outstanding new roses. AARS has honored DayDream, Elle, Lady Elsie May and About Face as the best new roses of the next growing season. DayDream is a low-growing compact landscape shrub rose with massive clusters of fuchsia-pink blossoms. DayDream's moderate size and neat round habit make it an appropriate choice for a variety of garden situations. Elle combines a strong spicy, citrussy fragrance with a high-centered classic rose bud. Lady Elsie May is an upright, spreading shrub rose and has a vigorous, uniform growth habit and excellent disease resistance. About Face is a grandiflora with a novel "backwards" bicolor whose light color of deep golden yellow is carried on the inside of the petals with a darker bronzy orange-red backside. This super-vigorous plant yields long stems with full old-fashioned blossoms that catch attention throughout the life of the bloom.

Winterberry

Ilex verticillata "Red Sprite" (Red Sprite Winterberry) and Hosta "Patriot" were chosen as the 2005 Plants of the Year by the Wisconsin Nursery Association. Ilex verticillata "Red Sprite" is a deciduous holly shrub with showy, large bright red fruit, which ripens in early fall and remains until late winter. Red Sprite Winterberry is an excellent food source for the birds and has few if any pest problems. (Incidentally, Winterberry was one of the Lavalette featured plants recently -- click here for details.) The Hosta "Patriot" has shiny dark foliage with a very wide white margin. Light violet flowers bloom on the Patriot throughout the summer. The intense white margin lightens any shady spot in the landscape. Hostas are very hardy and provide interest for the entire growing season.

Dianthus

The All-America Selections for 2005 include Gaillardia aristata "Arizona Sun," whose 3-inch "blanket" flowers are mahogany red with bright yellow petal edges; Vinca "First Kiss Blueberry," whose large 2-inch single blooms have a darker eye which accentuates the violet blue color; and ia F1 "Magellan Coral," whose double, dahlia flowered 5- to 6-inch blooms gleam with brilliant coral petals;

The Perennial Plant Association has just announced the 2006 Perennial Plant of the Year: Dianthus gratianopolitanus "Firewitch" ("Feuerhexe"). This species of Cheddar Pinks, native to Cheddar Gorge, England, is highly praised for its spicy clove-scented flowers which face upward for maximum color impact. "Firewitch" sports magenta pink blossoms produced prolifically above the silvery blue, 7-inch-tall mats of evergreen foliage. Though they bloom heaviest in early summer, this cultivar often reblooms in early fall.