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Winners of the Green Thumb Award for 2022!

The Green Thumb Award is an annual competition for plants and products that are innovative and unique and that bring a new element to the garden.

Article based on a press release from the National Garden Bureau.

The winning plants and products below have all been reviewed and voted upon by National Garden Bureau members for their qualities that will make your garden even better.

Winners of the 2022 Green Thumb Awards were chosen by an independent panel of National Garden Bureau members who are garden writers, breeders, retailers, brokers, and growers. The winning products were selected based on their uniqueness, technological innovation, ability to solve a gardening problem or provide a gardening opportunity, and potential appeal to gardeners. The Green Thumb Awards recognize outstanding new garden products available by mail or online. The awards are sponsored by the National Garden Bureau (NGB), a nonprofit organization that exists to educate and inspire home gardeners.

2022 Green Thumb Award Winners

Annual

Salvia Hummingbird Falls

Salvia  ‘Hummingbird Falls’

Salvia × guaranitica  ‘Hummingbird Falls’

Hummingbird Falls is a groundbreaking plant in the Salvia genus. This trailing, hanging basket salvia is the first of its kind and offers gardeners an extremely heat-tolerant plant with vivid-blue blooms and rich, shiny black calyces that continue to bloom all summer long. This salvia is a natural hummingbird magnet and can be used as a natural feeder around the house.

Height: 12 to 24 in (30 to 60 cm)
Spread: 18 to 36 in (45 to 90 cm)
Hardiness Zones: 8 to 12, but usually grown as an annual


Edible

Pepper Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry

Pepper Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry

Capsicum annuum Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry

A feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds! As this pepper matures, its green fruit with a white stripe changes to orange-green and then to full chocolate-cherry red. It’s not just the uniquely striped fruit that makes this pepper special. The variegated foliage of Sweet Pepper Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry will stand out among all other vegetables in your garden. It has a sweet flavor and crisp texture, perfect for eating at any stage of ripeness.

Height: 18 to 24 in (45 to 60 cm)
Spread: 12 to 19 in (30 to 45 cm)
Hardiness Zones: 9 to 12, but usually grown as an annual



Perennial

Sedum Back in Black

Sedum ‘Back in Black’

Hylotelephium ‘Back in Black’

New to the ROCK ‘N GROW® collection comes an upright sedum with near-black leaves. Enjoy the dark leaf foliage throughout the summer, and when late summer rolls around, flowers with deep garnet red centers and cream petals will appear. Great for adding a dark color to the middle of the border! Tall, upright sedums form substantial clumps of foliage which can be substituted for shrubs in the landscape. Their stout, sturdy stems support the massive flower heads which develop in summer and burst into bloom in fall. If left standing, they provide winter interest and food for birds.

Height: 18 to 24 in (45 to 60 cm)
Spread: 26 to 30 in (65 to 75 cm)
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 9



Shrub

Sweetshrub Simply Scentsational

Sweetshrub Simply Scentsational

Calycanthus floridus Simply Scentsational

This is a Calycanthus that actually lives up to – maybe even exceeds – the oft-described (but seldom smelled!) hints of pineapple and bubblegum in the fragrance. Selected and refined over an 18 year period by Spring Meadow’s Tim Wood, the blooms of this North American native are an intriguing deep maroon and appear in abundance through late spring and summer. The blooms are powerfully fragrant, even when they are wilted – you’ve really just got to smell it for yourself.

Height: 6 ft (180 cm)
Spread: 4 to 5 ft (120 to 150 cm)
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 9



Hard Goods

GardenSoxx®

GardenSoxx is a mesh containment system that is like containers to grow plants in but can be used anywhere. Use your own compost, a custom soil mix, or purchase a quality product to fill the empty mesh material using the EZ Filler kits which comes with irrigation and fittings in one simple pack. One 4×4 kit will produce on average 75-100 lbs of fresh organic, nutrient-dense food using less fertilizer, water, while nearly eliminating rototilling and weeding! And GardenSoxx® can be used on existing soil, pavement, concrete, or even on rooftops!

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Garden writer and blogger, author of 65 gardening books, lecturer and communicator, the Laidback Gardener, Larry Hodgson, passed away in October 2022. Known for his great generosity, his thoroughness and his sense of humor, he reached several generations of amateur and professional gardeners over his 40-year career. Thanks to his son, Mathieu Hodgson, and a team of contributors, laidbackgardener.blog will continue its mission of demystifying gardening and making it more accessible to all.

7 comments on “Winners of the Green Thumb Award for 2022!

  1. Hope I can find the Hummimgbird hanging basket here in south Texas.

  2. Love salvias of all kinds so will be on the lookout for this one. Cool pepper too.

  3. Ooooh! These all look very exciting, especially the sedum. I planted a few Dazzleberrry last year on my slopes front yard and they were spectacular all year. Looking forward to these!

  4. Susan Gilmour

    I tried that pepper last year, it was so much fun! The leaves were gorgeous variegated green with white and the fruit were abundant and all weird wonderful colours, probably because we got rain every week, such a great gardening year. I hope I can find that salvia this year, it is gorgeous! I have a sweet shrub just like that but no scent, weird but true, oh well, I love the cool flowers anyway. I hope I can find that sedum too, I will have to squeeze it in somewhere, love that black. Thanks for the info!

  5. Thank you for sharing.

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