I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get outside and get my hands into the warm dirt. Gardening season can’t come soon enough this year. In the meantime, I will have to scratch that itch in other ways (starting seeds) and, of course, dream about what I am going to do to improve my garden this year. The list below features products and plants that would be wonderful additions to any garden. Find inspiration and items that will take your garden to the next level, make your work easier, and add the color or interest you want.

Is there a new product or plant you’ve seen that we’re missing? Leave a comment below with what you’re most excited about in the world of gardening this year.

Bluestone Perennials

New varieties for 2025

Echinacea Summersong™ Firefinch

Fragrant flowers in cheerful shades of red-orange to violet-pink can be placed front and center with their shorter stature. Coneflowers are beloved by pollinators—butterflies love the flowers, birds love the seeds, and we love the generous long-lasting bouquets!

Source: bluestoneperennials.com/ESUFI

Dicentra Amore™ Titanium

A charming and whimsical bleeding heart. Bountiful snow-white flowers glow in the shaded garden. Clusters of heart-shaped, dangling jewels, rich in nectar, are an early summer treat for hummingbirds. Flowers for months above lacy foliage.

Source: bluestoneperennials.com/DIAT

Clematis ‘Candy Stripe’

Stunning, two-toned, lavender and pink-striped petals will flourish even in bright shade for gardens that lack full sun. These beauties will bloom prolifically in May and June, with some rebloom in August. The full flowers remind us of a child’s pinwheel.

Source: bluestoneperennials.com/CLCS

Rent Mason Bees

Welcome Stingless Mason Bees to Your Garden!

Mason bees are fast becoming the new bee to host in your yard. Known as Mother Nature’s premier pollinators, they effortlessly pollinate 95% of everything they touch. When you join our solitary bee team as a host, you release bees and rent nesting blocks. Renting a kit from Rent Mason Bees gives gardeners the benefits of pollination without having to do the annual maintenance work, ­because we do all the cleaning and winter storage for you. To learn more, visit our website: rentmasonbees.com.

• Emerge in spring: Mason bees hibernate in a cocoon all winter long and emerge in spring when temperatures reach 55°F.
• Belly floppers: Mason bees belly flop onto blossoms and collect pollen all over their body hairs.
• Incredible pollinators: Mason bees are covered in loose pollen that enables them to pollinate 95% of everything they land on. They can visit 2,000 blossoms a day.
• Solitary bees: Mason bees live and work alone. All females lay their own eggs, gather their own food, and find their own nests. With no queen to protect, they are nonaggressive.
• We do all the maintenance for you! Solitary bees need annual maintenance in the fall to remove harmful predators. When you rent, we’ll take care of the cleaning for you.

Price: $85

Source: rentmasonbees.com

Phyllom BioProducts

Natural. Effective. Targeted.

Discovered and developed by a team of experts

Over a span of 15 years, Phyllom BioProducts’ patented strain of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is the first bioinsecticide powerful enough to effectively control susceptible beetles, weevils, borers, and grubs. And unlike the chemical products, Phyllom’s products do not pose a risk to nontarget, beneficial insects such as earthworms and ladybugs or to pollinators such as bees and butterflies. That makes Phyllom BioProducts the new standard for excellent performance and safety. You can now achieve the same high level of control as with chemical insecticides, without doing harm to the natural ecosystem in your yard.

beetleGONE!^® tlc

Use this spray for highly effective organic control of adult beetles, weevils, and borers without harming bees, butterflies, or ladybugs. Target the pest, not the rest!

This product is for organic gardening and production. Mix in water and spray on edible garden plants, ornamental plants, trees, or turf. It can also be mixed into or sprayed on potting or garden soil to control beetle grubs. With a zero-day preharvest interval, you can treat for beetles and harvest your food the same day. And there are no label restrictions for use around bees or flowering plants; therefore, beetleGONE! can be safely used while pollinators are active. This is the only nonchemical spray product on the market that performs at a high level like the leading chemicals but is safe for homeowners and pollinators alike.

Price: $79.99 (1-lb. bag)

Source: beetlegone.com

grubGONE!^® G

This easy-to-apply granule is highly effective in controlling all types of scarab beetle grubs (such as chafers and Japanese beetles), billbugs, and bluegrass weevils in lawns without harming homeowners, pets, pollinators, earthworms, or birds. It does not contaminate the water table or riparian areas such as streams, ponds, and lakes.

The only nonchemical that effectively controls turf grubs from spring through fall, grubGONE! works not only against first-instar grubs but also against larger and hardier second- and third-instar grubs. It thus reduces populations of destructive grubs during spring and summer and helps to reduce secondary foraging in summer and fall.

Price: $79.99 (10-lb. bag)

Source: beetlegone.com

Target the Pest, Not the Rest®

• Controls the grub (larva) of all scarab beetles and other listed turf insects.
• Does NOT harm beneficials (bees, butterflies, earthworms, ladybugs).
• Does NOT put your children or pets at risk like the chemical products do.
• Does NOT contaminate groundwater, ponds, creeks.
• Target grubs with the high-performing, natural protein BTG that kills turf grubs within days.
• Adding to the power of BTG are 1,000 times more spores per pound than other biological,
  microbial, nonchemical products.
• No need to sacrifice the high performance of leading chemicals for safety.
• Much higher performance than oils, nematodes, and milky spore products.
• Higher performing from summer to fall than the ground- and water-contaminating chemical chlorantraniliprole products.

Targeted insect pests include: scarab beetle grubs and adults such as Japanese beetle, Asiatic garden beetle, European chafer, rose chafer, May or June beetle, northern masked chafer, southern masked chafer, black turfgrass ataenius, green June beetle, oriental beetle; leaf beetles such as rice and alder leaf; weevils such as annual bluegrass, sweet potato, pepper, pecan, citrus/strawberry root and other root weevils; flea beetle, borers such as emerald ash borer, gold-spotted oak borer, and soapberry borer; and darkling beetles.

Jung Seed

New plants for 2025

Kiss™ White Flame Hybrid Gazania

Kiss™ White Flame Hybrid Gazania is one of the easiest flowering plants for sunny gardens. These compact and well-branched plants will also fit perfectly in containers. They are heat and drought tolerant and provide reliable garden performance even under stressful conditions. This annual prefers full sun, and flowers during the summer. It can grow up to 8 to 10 inches tall. Zones 3 to 9.

Price: $2.25

Source: jungseed.com

‘Ever Red’ Banana (Musa sikkimensis)

‘Ever Red’ is an exotic-looking, hardy banana plant. It can grow over 10 to 13 feet tall in about 10 years. Though it doesn’t bear fruit, its large, arching leaves with maroon-red striping offer a wonderful tropical touch to your garden. It requires full sun. Zones 5 to 10.

Price: $24.95

Source: jungseed.com

Arctic Fox™ Lemon Cream Foxglove

Arctic Fox™ Lemon Cream is a true perennial foxglove, with spikes of creamy light yellow, tubular florets from late spring through late summer. Be sure to remove unsightly stems to encourage the deep green plants to send up fresh flower shoots. It is deer resistant and should be planted in full sun. It can grow up to 18 to 24 inches tall. Zones 5 to 9.

Price: $14.95

Source: jungseed.com

Dave Wilson Nursery

Backyard Orchard Culture

The First Name in Fruit Trees

Get produce that is repeatedly voted a Farmers Market Favorite. Our blackberries, blueberries, pomegranates, raspberries, figs, and olives always rise to the top of the list for flavor, antioxidants, production, and reliability. Grown and shipped on semidwarf rootstocks and in a sizable 4 × 4 × 9 container, our plants are in unique, weather-tested, wax-coated display boxes at reputable nurseries and garden centers across the country.

Source: davewilson.com

Growbox™ by The Garden Patch

Grow Your Own Veggies Without Work or Worry

The award-winning GrowBox™ works so well because of its unique 4-gallon, self-watering reservoir and ingenious Nutrient Patch™ feeding system, which also acts as a weed barrier. The planter maintains a perfect soil moisture level, while the Nutrient Patch™ delivers the correct amount of fertilizer daily as plants grow. Gardening has never been easier or more fun!

Price: $39.95

Source: agardenpatch.com; facebook.com/growbox

“We are so pleased with how successful our garden is growing! The GrowBoxes have been so easy to set up and maintain, plus we get all the benefits of a garden with truly less work. GrowBoxes are for sure the new and improved way to garden!”

—Tom and Mary Lee T., Nashville, TN