Photos courtesy of Proven Winners®
In a Mid-Michigan garden, beauty has to be tough. From surprise late frosts in Flint to sweltering July heat waves that roll across the Great Lakes region, growing season in USDA Zone 6a is not for the faint of heart — or the flimsy flower. That’s why more local gardeners are turning to Proven Winners, whose rigorously tested annuals, perennials and shrubs are bred to stand up to Michigan’s mood swings while delivering season-long color. When the weather keeps you guessing, these plants keep performing.
Superbells Magic®
Double Grapefruit
To learn more about Proven Winners products, visit provenwinners.com. There you will find a variety of links so that you too can create a masterful flowerbed or landscaping.
Proven Winners team member Kate Spirgen offered some helpful advice for would-be gardeners. She suggested that people who might be struggling to choose the right flowers for their own particular landscaping needs start by getting a good understanding of their outdoor space. She said knowing your USDA Zone, soil type and average rainfall lays a solid foundation for choosing the right plants. She said you’ll also want to note the light levels in different spots in your landscape. “Once you know the basics, you can start narrowing down your options,” she said.
Let’s Dance Lovable® Bigleaf
Hydrangea (macrophylla)
Superbells® Tangerine Punch
Annuals 1. Supertunia Vista® Petunia Series 2. Superbena® 3. Superbells® Punch Calibrachoa Series 4. Truffula™ Pink Gomphrena 5. Angelface® Angelonia Series 6. Luscious® Lantana Series 7. Blue My Mind® Evolvulus 8. Señorita® Cleome Series 9. Summer Wave® Torenia Series 10. Lemon Coral® Sedum Perennials 1. ‘Storm Cloud’ Amsonia 2. Summerific® ‘Berry Awesome’ Hibiscus 3. Summersong™ Firefinch™ Echinacea Shrubs 1. Pugster® Buddleia Series 2. Fizzy Mizzy® Sweetspire 3. Let’s Dance® Hydrangea macrophylla Series
The Proven Winners website offers a wealth of information to help gardeners find the right plants for their area. You can find plants recommended for your specific region by visiting our Plants By Climate page and clicking on your area. Or, you can visit the Proven Winners home page and search for plants that fit your specifications like Zone, type of plant (annual, perennial, bulb, shrub, etc.), light level and color. For a deeper dive, the advanced search function allows you to add even more parameters.
Kate also suggested following a Proven Winners content creator partner as another great way to learn. “Our partners offer year-round, real-world advice on social media that followers can use in their own gardens,” she said.
For those looking to start fresh, Proven Winners offers hundreds of landscape designs through the EZ Scapes™ program. These professionally designed landscape plans are the perfect solution for gardens in all kinds of light levels, soil types and garden goals.
Exploring the myriad of resources mentioned above is a great way to start if you’re looking to problem solve. If you’re looking for inspiration, look no farther than Proven Winners’ Gardening Ideas section, which is full of container recipes, landscape designs and plant pairings for every taste.
“Once you know which plants you want to purchase, our Find A Retailer tool will help you find the nearest Proven Winners retailer near you,” Kate said. “Proven Winners is dedicated to garden success, so we spend years testing and trialing varieties before we bring them to market,” she said “In fact, only 1-2% of plants we trial ever earn the name Proven Winners.”
While our last frost date in early-late April may seem a long way away, spring is looming for the southern heartland of the United States. This is an interesting place to garden because you have a little bit of everything each year, from gentle springs, to rip roaring thunderstorms, to heat waves and cold fronts, and it takes a wide variety of plants to cover all the bases.
Superbells® Strawberry Punch™
Hibiscus ‘Berry Awesome’
Spring plants need to be able to adapt to the heat of summer and a wide variety of conditions. Here’s a quick list of great plants to get you through the entire gardening year!
Double Coded® Coral Cranberry
Echinacea hybrid
Proven Winners plants are available at fine garden centers across the country. Each garden center makes its plant selections based on regional growing conditions. If the Proven Winner variety you want for your garden is not available, ask your garden center professionals if it’s available by special order or if there is another Proven Winners variety they would recommend. Below is a list, which is regularly updated, of verified retailers that carry Proven Winners products:
✔ The Home Depot
✔ Meijer
✔ Lowe’s
✔ Brumley & Bloom – Flint
Visit Proven Winners’ Signature Gardens
When you’re out this summer, consider visiting one of Proven Winners’ Signature Gardens, Display Gardens or the Botanical Trail, all of which feature our plants growing in magnificently designed, showcase displays. Immerse yourself in the beauty of Proven Winners flowers and plants, observe how butterflies, bees and birds interact there, and let your spirit soar in these captivating green spaces.
✔ Signature Gardens—Midwest
✔ Castle Farms – Charlevoix
✔ Four Star Greenhouse – Carleton
✔ Garden Crossings – Zeeland
✔ Iroquois Hotel – Mackinac Island
✔ Meadow Brook Estate – Rochester
✔ Mission Point Resort, Mackinac Island
✔ Castle Farms – Charlevoix
✔ Spring Meadow Nursery – Grand Haven (By appointment only)
✔ Walters Gardens – Zeeland
Fairytrail Fresco®
Cascade Hydrangea
