10 New Plants For 2025
Cover photo: Holly Mini Touch™ image courtesy of Plant Development Services Inc. via NGB
Fresh New Garden Ideas
These brand new outdoor plants have it all - pretty flowers, dramatic foliage, and gorgeous color for your landscape.
Plant breeders are constantly innovating and working to develop new varieties that bring fresh beauty and practicality to our gardens.
Whether it’s creating plants with more vibrant blooms, improved disease resistance, or a more compact size, these advancements help gardeners achieve stunning results with less effort.
For 2025, we’ve curated a list of 10 exciting new plants that are making their debut on the market. From boldly-colored shrubs to dazzling perennials, these new releases are sure to inspire fresh garden ideas for your landscape this year!
As you explore these new outdoor plants, it’s important to understand the difference between their botanical name, common name and trade name.
The botanical name (Latin name) is the universal identifier used by horticulturists, and using it ensures you’re getting the exact plant you want. It consists of the genus and species names: Monarda didyma.
The common name is the informal name, which can vary widely; for example, Monarda didyma might be called "bee balm", "bergamot", “Oswego tea”, or “Eau-de-Cologne plant” depending on where you are.
A trade name is a branded name used for marketing purposes, that often highlights the plant’s color or attributes, like “Sugar Buzz® Bubblegum Blast Bee Balm”.
Because common and trade names can be inconsistent, always purchase plants using their botanical name to guarantee you’re getting the correct variety!
Now that we've cleared up the business of plant names (phew!), let’s dive into 10 exciting new plants for 2025 that are sure to shake up your garden life! 🌱
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Lemon Purrfection Catmint
Botanical name: Nepeta 'Lemon Purrfection'
Type: Perennial
Zones: 3 - 8
Light requirements: Full sun
Size: 10-12 inches high and 16-18 inches wide
Bloom time: Early summer - early fall
Nepeta ‘Lemon Purrfection’ catmint, a new outdoor plant for 2025. Image courtesy of Walters Gardens, Inc.
Lemon Purrfection catmint is a show-stopping perennial that brings a burst of color to any garden with its bright chartreuse leaves.
This low-growing beauty offers a long season of bloom, continuously producing vibrant lavender flowers without the need for cutting back the plant.
Once established, it’s not only deer and rabbit resistant but also drought tolerant, making it a resilient addition to your landscape.
Perfect for the front of a border, it also shines when used as edging along a hot driveway, walkway, or sidewalk, and pairs beautifully when planted in front of dark green boxwoods in foundation plantings.
Its ability to thrive in full sun and withstand heat makes it an excellent choice for adding a pop of color and a touch of resilience to your garden design.
2. FlowerFull® Smooth Hydrangea
Botanical name: Hydrangea arborescens 'BAIFUL'
Type: Deciduous shrub
Zones: 3 - 8
Light requirements: Full sun to part shade
Size: 3-4 feet high and 4-5 feet wide
Bloom time: Mid-summer until first frost
First Editions® FlowerFull® Smooth Hydrangea, a new hydrangea shrub for 2025. Image courtesy of Bailey Nurseries Inc.
The FlowerFull® Hydrangea is a gorgeous new hydrangea variety that was developed for its abundant clusters of white flowers covering the plant from mid-summer through fall.
As the weather cools, the blooms gracefully transition to a soft green, adding another layer of interest to the landscape. With its strong, sturdy stems, this hydrangea remains upright even after heavy rain, making it a reliable choice for any garden.
FlowerFull® is a variety of the smooth hydrangea, a native plant that grows wild in the Eastern United States. It has fertile flowers that will attract bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects to your garden.
FlowerFull® makes an excellent cut flower, perfect for bringing a touch of elegance indoors. Its compact size and shorter height make it an ideal candidate for planting beneath windows or in containers, and it’s a great hydrangea for small yards and urban spaces.
3. Mini Touch™ Holly
Botanical name: Ilex crenata ‘BLHO2’
Type: Evergreen shrub
Zones: 6 - 9
Light requirements: Full sun
Size: 2 feet high and wide
Bloom time: None
Mini Touch™ Holly, a new evergreen plant for 2025. Image courtesy of Plant Development Services Inc. via NGB
The Mini Touch™ Holly is an easy-to-grow shrub that brings compact structure and fresh style to any landscape. With its dark green, dense, and mounding foliage, it offers a fantastic alternative to traditional boxwoods, providing a neat and tidy look and little need for maintenance.
This resilient shrub boasts a tight habit, making it perfect for smaller spaces, while its disease and pest resistance ensure it remains healthy and low-maintenance year after year. The perfect low-effort new plant for 2025!
Its versatility shines in a variety of garden designs, whether used for borders, containers, edging, or mass plantings. Mini Touch™ Holly also works beautifully in foundation plantings, especially when paired with taller shrubs like hydrangeas in the background, adding structure and year-round greenery to the landscape.
4. Prairie Princess Ironweed
Botanical name: Vernonia ‘Prairie Princess’
Type: Perennial
Zones: 4 - 9
Light requirements: Full sun
Size: 2-3 feet high and 2.5-3 feet wide
Bloom time: Late summer - early fall
Prairie Princess Ironweed, a new plant for 2025. Image courtesy of Walters Gardens, Inc.
Prairie Princess Ironweed is a fantastic native cultivar, with butterflies flocking to its vibrant rosy purple flowers from late summer through fall.
The Prairie Princess variety is more compact and fuller than the straight species, with sturdy stems that resist flopping after a heavy rain, and an improved resistance to powdery mildew.
Ironweed thrives in clay soil and can tolerate juglone, the chemical released by black walnut trees. It’s resistant to both rabbits and deer, and it’s the perfect easy to grow new plant for 2025!
Prairie Princess is the perfect choice to plant in a butterfly garden, pollinator garden, or native plant landscape. It’s a great alternative to the invasive butterfly bush, and it also pairs well with other late summer and fall bloomers like Black-eyed Susans, Autumn Joy or Autumn Fire sedum, and tall garden phlox.
5. Weigela Prism™ Arabian Nights
Botanical name: Weigela x hybrida ‘WG17-18’
Type: Deciduous shrub
Zones: 6 - 9
Light requirements: Full sun
Size: 20-24 inches high and 12-18 inches wide
Bloom time: Late spring to summer with partial rebloom in late summer
Weigela Prism™ Arabian Nights, a new plant with dark mahogany leaves. Image courtesy of PlantHaven International
Weigela Prism™ Arabian Nights is a striking new deciduous shrub that brings a bold touch to any garden, with its deep mahogany to black colored foliage.
This dark and dramatic foliage makes it a standout and perfectly on trend with the current interest in moody, brooding plants. Cherry red flowers bloom in late spring, attracting hummingbirds and adding a bright pop of color to the landscape.
With a compact-rounded growth habit, this new weigela is an excellent choice for those looking to add a touch of drama and depth to their garden designs.
It works beautifully in goth-inspired gardens, container gardens, garden borders, or as part of a mass landscape planting, where its deep hues provide contrast and visual interest. A great new plant for 2025’s goth gardeners!
6. Pierre Green and Gold
Botanical name: Chrysogonum virginianum ‘Pierre’
Type: Perennial
Zones: 5 - 9
Light requirements: Full sun to part shade or dappled shade
Size: 4-6 inches high and 18-24 inches wide
Bloom time: Late spring to early summer
Pierre Green and Gold, a low-growing native ground cover. Image courtesy of American Meadows Inc. via NGB.
Pierre Green and Gold is a new native plant cultivar that grows quickly to create a thick, low-maintenance ground cover in shaded areas and underneath tall trees. It thrives in dappled shade, where many other plants can struggle.
Its vibrant yellow flowers are a cheerful addition to the landscape and are also loved by butterflies. This semi-evergreen spreading plant is deer resistant, making it a great choice for gardeners struggling with hungry deer.
The Pierre cultivar is shorter than the straight species, and it forms a low-growing, easy-to-control mat that solves a variety of landscaping challenges, from filling in shady areas to creating a lush, low-maintenance ground cover.
Plant Pierre Green to quickly fill in the area underneath tall trees, or use it in a mass planting to stabilize shady slopes and control erosion. It’s perfect for native or woodland gardens and can also be left to naturalize and spread across larger landscapes.
7. Golden Child™ Arborvitae
Botanical name: Thuja occidentalis 'Mirjam'
Type: Evergreen shrub
Zones: 4 - 8
Light requirements: Full sun to part shade
Size: 18-24 inches high and wide
Bloom time: None
Golden Child™ Arborvitae, a new evergreen shrub for 2025. Image courtesy of Monrovia Nursery via NGB.
The Golden Child™ Arborvitae is a standout new evergreen plant that brings a pop of color to any landscape with its vibrant yellow-green foliage.
What makes it truly special is its resistance to scorching, ensuring its stunning hues stay fresh and vibrant even under intense sunlight.
With a compact, rounded growth habit, this arborvitae is perfect for adding structure and color to garden borders, hedges, or foundation plantings.
It’s low-maintenance and requires no pruning, making it an excellent choice for gardeners seeking a reliable, eye-catching evergreen that requires very little effort!
8. Living Large™ Big Sky Perennial Salvia
Botanical name: Salvia ‘Big Sky’ Living Large™
Type: Perennial
Zones: 3 - 8
Light requirements: Full sun
Size: 28-32 inches high and wide
Bloom time: Late spring to early summer
Living Large™ Big Sky Perennial Salvia, a new plant for 2025. Photo courtesy of Walters Gardens, Inc.
The Big Sky Salvia is a show-stopping new perennial plant that lives up to its name with massive violet-purple flower spikes that command attention in any garden.
Easy to grow and incredibly low-maintenance, this salvia features fragrant blooms that are a magnet for butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees, making it a great choice for pollinator and butterfly gardens.
Its bold, dramatic presence stands out in the cottage garden, and it brings vibrant color to garden borders and island beds.
Additionally, it’s deer and rabbit resistant, making it as resilient as it is stunning—a must-have for gardeners looking to make a big statement with minimal effort. A dramatic new plant for 2025!
9. Orange Slices Spigelia
Botanical name: Spigelia marilandica ‘Orange Slices’
Type: Perennial
Zones: 5 - 9
Light requirements: Full sun to part shade
Size: 16-20 inches high and 16-18 inches wide
Bloom time: Late spring - mid summer
Orange Slices Spigelia, a new native plant variety for 2025. Image courtesy of Walters Gardens, Inc.
The Orange Slices Spigelia is an exciting new cultivar of the native wildflower, offering a fresh twist with its shorter stature and vibrant orange-hued flowers.
This low-maintenance perennial has a long season of bloom, and it’s also self-cleaning - spent flowers will naturally drop to the ground, eliminating the need for deadheading.
Spigelia is a favorite of hummingbirds, making it an excellent choice for a pollinator garden or anyone interested in gardening for birds. It works well in cottage gardens, mixed borders, or naturalizing in a partially shaded woodland.
Orange Slices performs best in rich, moist, well-draining soil, and will produce more blooms in full sun. Filtered sunlight is recommended in the hotter southern gardening zones.
10. Wee Bit Innocent® Bigleaf Hydrangea
Botanical name: Hydrangea macrophylla 'SMNHMC' Wee Bit Innocent®
Type: Deciduous shrub
Zones: 5 - 9
Light requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Size: 24 inches high and 30 inches wide
Bloom time: Summer
Wee Bit Innocent® Bigleaf Hydrangea. Image courtesy of Proven Winners, provenwinners.com.
The Wee Bit Innocent® Hydrangea is a charming and unique new bigleaf hydrangea variety that stands out for its compact size, double florets, and soft pastel-colored blooms that range from pastel pink to soft blue to pale purple, depending on your soil pH.
The pastel hues of Wee Bit Innocent® create a stunning contrast when planted next to darker-colored homes. Its small stature makes it perfect for planting near houses or walkways, and it also shines in mixed borders, mass plantings, containers, or when planted as a low hedge. It’s an elegant new plant for 2025.
In hotter zones, be sure to protect this hydrangea from the harsh afternoon sun. It is possible to change the color of your bigleaf hydrangea blooms by manipulating the pH of the soil. The pH level affects the availability of aluminum in the soil, in turn influencing the color of hydrangea flowers.
