Proven Winners’ Idea book hits another home run

Inspirational ideas and tips booklet is a Proven Winner

The 2023 Proven Winners’ Gardener’s Idea Book just arrived in the mail and, once again, the company known for its top performing annuals, perennials and shrubs has hit a home run.

I’m not sure if I’m more excited about the opening of the baseball season in two days or the arrival of this year’s booklet packed with pictures, ideas and tips on how to maximize the plants and shrubs offered in 2023.

Idea Book turns the focus on birds

It’s good to see Proven Winners’ recognizing the importance of birds in the garden. This year they included a spread on creating a bird friendly garden, along with pages featuring everyone’s favourite, Supertunias, and images showing how to get the most out of them in the garden and in containers. There are even planting plans on creating the three images of mature containers on page 2 of the 42-page full glossy booklet.

I signed up for the booklet several years ago and it now gets delivered every year right on time for the gardening season. You can get information on the booklet by clicking on the link here to the Proven Winners website. From that link you can order the free booklet and check out the Proven winners’ new plants and guides and photographs.

• For my previous articles about the Proven Winners’ Gardener’s Idea Books from past years check out these links: 2022 Idea Book and the 2021 Idea Book.

This image from Proven Winner’s website shows suggested shrubs for nesting birds.

This year’s booklet also includes pages on creating “sophisticated” shady areas on your porch or patio using primarily shade loving plants in containers. Of course, there are planting schemes included for some of the containers to get your creative juices going, and a host of images for inspiration.

Booklet features colourful containers

There are features on making the most out of your front yard using colourful combinations – the colours are a little too hot for my liking – but still some interesting ideas to tap into.

Pages 12-13 is more to my liking focusing on how to combine perennials in containers for more subdued but still colourful containers including hostas and some of the newer colourful Heuchera or coral bells along with other plants like Silver Falls Dichondra.

Pages 14-15 tackle some of the new and long-time favourite shrubs, including Rose of the Year, Hydrangea of the Year and Shrub of the year.

There are several pages donated to the growing popularity of indoor plants as well as a section on greenhouse gardening, just to name a few.

Some of Proven Winner’s suggestions for plants to feed the birds.

Proven Winners’ has traditionally been known as the company that offers long flowering and highly colourful plants, at least in my opinion, so I was surprised to see a move toward more casual and nature-inspired gardens. The booklet focuses on a once under utilized area of a garden that was turned into a Japanese-inspired space combining simple materials and a toned-down palette of black and white, and chartreuse.

“A special place devoted to regaining balance can be as close as your own backyard,” the authors write in describing the out-of-the-way garden room.

There are examples of sprucing up a small patio or balcony, and several pages on creating a view from a home office space – a growing reality for so many of us following the pandemic.

Some of Proven Winner’s suggestions for best shrubs for nectar eating birds.

At the back of the booklet is the real treasure. Proven Winners’ has created two excellent charts showing the bloom times of their top performing perennials and another showing the bloom times of their shrubs including hydrangeas to help gardeners plan for the longest bloom times.

It’s important to note that Proven Winners’ plants are hybridized and are therefore not true natives to our gardens.

I use mostly their annual plants and must admit that, although hybridized, I have had incredible success with their plants attracting native bees, hummingbirds, hummingbird moths (clearwings) and other insects. Last year the Rockin’ the Blues salvia was the busiest plants in our garden for our native bumble bees and hummingbirds, especially later in the season. This year I’m looking to add more salvias from their Rockin’ series.

It’s hard to argue that the Proven Winners’ Gardener’s Idea Book is not simply a marketing device to encourage gardeners to purchase their plants, but that would mean missing out on the incredible wealth of knowledge and creative ideas that the booklet offers.

And, for the price – free for the asking – it’s a freebie you will want to have in your hand this spring. Get on the mailing list and add The Gardener’s Idea Book to your spring, summer and for sure winter, inspirational guides.