Three award-winning perennials for the Indiana landscape

Every once in a while, gardeners want to try something new. Maybe they want to add pollinator friendly plants to their landscapes. Or maybe plant perennials for cut flowers. Here are three perennials recognized as All-America Selections, a non-profit organization that evaluates and promotes plants.

Perennials, along with annuals and edibles, are grown in AAS trial gardens throughout the U.S. and Canada. Judges evaluate the plants and compare them to similar ones already on the market. They note size, production, disease resistance and other attributes.

Here are three AAS winning perennials

‘Blue by You’ salvia (S. nemorosa)

Sometimes called sage or meadow sage, ‘Blue by You’ has spikes of purple flower that stand about 20 inches tall above the perennial’s mounded form. Grow this 2023 AAS Winner and pollinator attraction in full sun and fertilize monthly. ‘Blue by You’ is readily available at garden centers.

'Blue by You' salvia.(C) Photo by Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp

Judges compared this to the popular May Night (S. x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’), the Perennial Plant Association’s Plant of the Year in 1997. They said ‘Blue by You’ had larger flowers and bloomed throughout summer, if dead flowers are snipped off (called deadheading). Doing this encourages more flowers. This salvia is a terrific cut flower.

‘American Gold Rush’ (Rudbeckia hybrid)

Commonly called black-eyed Susan, this 2020 AAS winning Rudbeckia has a compact, upright form. Two-inch wide yellow-gold flowers with black centers bloom from early summer into fall. Grow ‘American Gold Rush’ in full sun and water the first year during dry periods. Once established, the perennial tolerates dry conditions. It gets up to 24 inches tall and is good for cutting. Pollinators like it, too.

'American Gold Rush' black-eyed Susan planted with 'Ginger Love' Pennisetum. Photo courtesy All-AmericaSelections.org

‘American Gold Rush’ is expected to be a replacement for the popular ‘Goldsturm’, which was introduced in 1937. The new variety was bred to have narrow, hairy leaves and to be resistant to Septoria leaf spot, a common fungus disease on rudbeckias, including ‘Goldsturm’.

‘American Gold Rush’ was named a 2021 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Gold Medal Plant. In 2023, the Perennial Plant Association named it the Plant of the Year.

‘Cheyenne Spirit’ (Echinacea hybrid)

This popular coneflower has 3-inch wide red, pink, yellow, orange, purple and white flowers that pollinators love. Bred to bloom the first year when grown from seed, this drought tolerant perennial does not required deadheading to bloom summer into fall.

Judges praised this coneflower for its ability to stay upright during storms, for its vibrant, colorful flowers and low-water needs.

'Cheyenne Spirit' coneflower. Photo courtesy All-AmericaSelections.org

Grow ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ in full sun. It has a bushy, upright form and gets up to 32 inches tall. A great cut flower, it’s readily available at garden centers. This plant received the Fleuroselect Gold Medal award for its performance in European plant trials.

If you’re thinking about adding these or other perennials to your garden, installing a pollinator garden or a cut-flower garden, please contact one of Holeman Landscape’s pros.