Before obsessing over next year’s plants, a look at the stars of 2023

With a few days still left in 2023, plant companies have already started sharing their “Plants of the Year” for 2024. So before we’re all sucked headlong into dreaming about next year’s garden, I wanted to take a moment to give credit to the outstanding plants in my 2023 garden.

Two varieties stood out in the vegetable garden. A pepper called Aji Rico was delicious and as prolific as any pepper I’ve ever grown. It ended up with less heat than I would have liked, but the fruity flavor was excellent.

Pinky cherry tomato was by far the most impressive looking tomato plant I’ve ever grown. I counted as many 21 tomatoes on the pendulous racemes, and the flavor was good as long as they were left on the vine to ripen thoroughly.

A handful of annuals make the best-of list purely based on excellent performance. Luscious Basket Tangelo Lantana bloomed absolutely nonstop in containers and has a nice compact habit unlike other Lantana.

I grew two varieties of white Bidens this year — White Delight and Campfire Marshmallow — and they were equally great. Both bloomed all summer, did a good job of hiding spent flowers and provided a great dose of cheery mini daisy-like flowers at the front of the border.

Lastly there was Verbascum Snowy Spires. It’s technically a biennial, which is why it did not make the list in 2022 even though that’s when I planted it. The wait was worth it as it produced loads of white spires with purple centers and was a huge hit with the local bee population. Check in with me next year to see if I regret planting it, as I fear it might be a prolific reseeder.

A pair of shrubs stood out from the crowd. Weigela Midnight Sun is a departure from everything you imagine when you think of a Weigela. It’s diminutive size — just 12 to 18 inches tall and wide — and underwhelming flowers are antithetical to what we usually look for in Weigela, but its stunning foliage color that ranges from orange to red to purple delivers the perfect low-maintenance punch.

I’ve made quite a fuss over the delightfully elegant lacecap flowers of Hydrangea arborescens ‘Haas Halo’ in this column, so many readers won’t be surprised to see that it makes this list.

It was a year of planting many trees, and while it will be awhile before I get a true feel for how they do, Chamaecyparis Soft Serve has won my heart. It will mature at a relatively small 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide and has the prettiest, and yes, softest, almost feathery foliage. And so far the deer have not shown interest in it.

It seems only appropriate to end this list with a bang, and Colocasia Royal Hawaiian Waikiki certainly was that. Its large green leaves with yellow and pink centers stood high above the crowd in containers and was by far the flashiest elephant ear I’ve ever grown.

It will certainly have a spot in next year’s garden, where a new crop of potential excellent performers will attempt to stack up to the greats of years past.