Featured Five 2025: Favorites from Raker-Roberta’s Trial Gardens

Caitlin Splawski<splawski@msu.edu> and Heidi Lindberg<wollaege@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension - August 29, 2025

Are you seeking proven performers for the season ahead? Check out Part 6 of our series highlighting top picks from the 2025 Michigan Garden Plant Tour trial sites.

Rows of hanging baskets of flowers, mostly purple colored. — Photo 1. Hanging baskets abound at Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants. Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

Every year, Michigan State University and Michigan’s leading young plant producers host a free open house at their trial sites and display gardens for growers, landscapers and retail operators to learn about a wide range of ornamental crops. Industry professionals can see for themselves which new varieties perform the best under various conditions, including in the ground and in containers. The tour lasts for two weeks and was held this year from July 28-Aug. 8, 2025.

This year, there were seven trial gardens at different locations throughout central lower Michigan: DGI Propagators, Four Star Greenhouses, Mast Young Plants, Michigan State University (MSU) Trial Garden, Pell Greenhouses, Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants and Walter’s Gardens.

If you couldn’t make it out to every trial site, you’re in luck! Heidi Lindberg and Caitlin Splawski, Michigan State University Extension educators, traveled to each site, picking favorites and snapping photos along the way. We’ll cover our favorites from each trial site in this article series.

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this series covered Michigan State University Extension’s top picks from the trial garden at DGI Propagators, Four Star Greenhouses, Mast Young Plants, MSU and Pell Greenhouses. Part 6 will feature the favorites from Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants.

Featured Five at Raker-Roberta’s Trial Gardens

Every year Raker-Roberta’s trial gardens expand, now with over 8 acres and 100,000 unique plant varieties, the trial gardens at Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants are not to be missed. Six hundred raised-bed rows contain in-ground trials of annuals, perennials and specialty cut flowers. There are 400 hanging baskets overflowing with trailing plants, new introductions and breeder’s top picks (Photo 1) and 415 20-inch containers of sun and shade plants displayed by Raker’s. There’s also a wide array of beds, containers and hangers sponsored by other horticultural breeders, including displays of All-American Selections (AAS). Landscape display beds round out the trial gardens, giving you a sense of real-world applications for new varieties on the market.

Here’s a selection of some of the most notable varieties offered in Raker-Roberta’s catalog this season:

Marigold ‘Mango Tango’ – Benary
Verbena bonariensis ‘Vanity’ – Van Hemert
Impatiens Solarscape XL ‘Pink Jewel’ – PanAmerican
Salvia canariensis ‘Lancelot’ – PanAmerican
Crespedia globosa ‘Solarpop’– Benary

Marigold Mango Tango from Benary

The 2025 AAS Flower Winner made a strong showing in this year’s display beds. Vigorous, while also being compact, makes Mango Tango a great selection for the front of a border or in containers. Red and yellow bi-color petals put on a show all season long with this selection’s cold and heat tolerance (Photo 2). In the AAS display bed, Mango Tango paired well with the next featured variety, Verbena ‘Vanity’ (Photo3).

A closeup of yellow and orange marigold flowers. — Photo 2. Marigold Mango Tango with its dance of red and yellow bi-colored petals. Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

Mixed display bed with a broad drift of tall purple verbena behind mounds of yellow marigolds and pink-rimmed petunias. — Photo 3. Verbena bonariensis Vanity pictured alongside other AAS winners, including Marigold Mango Tango. Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

Verbena Vanity from Van Hemert

2023 winner of Europe’s Fleuroselect award, Verbena Vanity features intense color, tight flower clusters, and an impressive compact habit compared to other Verbena bonariensis varieties (Photo 4). With a long bloom-time, attractive to bees and butterflies, and even a subtle fragrance, what’s not to love about this selection? This plant caught our eye in several different places in the trials garden. Not only was it featured in the AAS display bed, but we took notice seeing it compared to other verbenas in the trial block (Photo 5). We noticed it again, looking fantastic in the cut flower trial beds as well (Photo 6).

Trial garden bed with tall verbena plants, featuring slender green stems topped with clusters of small purple flowers, with colorful annuals in the background. — Photo 4. Tightly clustered blooms of saturated purple give Verbena Vanity great flower power. Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

Trial garden plots of tall verbena with slender green stems and clusters of small purple flowers, shown in two views with yellow plant labels and trellis netting supporting the rows. — Photos 5 and 6. Pictured left, it’s easy to see Vanity’s compact and tidy habit (right with yellow sign) compared to another cultivar or Verbena bonariensis (left with white sign). Pictured right, Vanity putting on a display of an abundance of sturdy, cuttable stems in the cut flower trial beds. Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

Impatiens Solarscape XL Pink Jewel from PanAmerican

Another AAS winner from 2024 tops our list of selections this year. Solarscape XL Pink Jewel offers topical color to the Midwest landscape (Photo 7). Highly durable in a variety of conditions including both sun and shade, this plant has staying power for gardeners. Solarscape XL not only offers larger sized blooms, but also a larger plant habit, making this plant a good selection for in-ground border plantings or large containers (Photo 8).

Trial garden beds with rows of flowering annuals, including bright pink impatiens labeled ‘Solarscape XL Pink Jewel,’ planted alongside creamy white zinnias, deep red impatiens, and golden-yellow marigolds. — Photos 7 and 8. Impatiens Solarscape XL ‘Pink Jewel’ shown here in full sun. Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

Salvia Lancelot from PanAmerican

Not technically a new variety, but certainly one you may not have considered growing before. Salvia canariensis, or Canary Island Sage, offers many interesting attributes that gardeners generally find attractive. The unique texture of silvery, felted leaves adds both heat- and drought-tolerance attributes to the aesthetic appeal of this plant. Lancelot produces lavender flowers that sit atop rose-colored bracts attractive to bees, butterflies and even hummingbirds (Photo 9). Plus, with a plug crop time from seed of only four to five weeks, this water-wise selection is a great alternative to ever-popular lavenders, offering similar characteristics in the garden, without the production headaches.

Close-up of a trial garden planting with fuzzy, silver-green foliage and upright stems topped with clusters of purple-pink flowers, with bright red and yellow flowering annuals in the background. — Photo 9. The silvery, felted foliage and sweet lavender blooms of Salvia canariensis Lancelot. Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

Craspedia Solarpop from Benary

Released in 2025, this new Craspedia globosa from Benary is quite impressive. Craspedia, also known as billy balls, billy buttons or golden drumsticks, has long been a favorite cut flower variety. With its rich mustard color and fuzzy flower texture, we just love the vibrant accent it adds to the garden and in a floral arrangement. That said, with this plant being native to Australia and New Zealand, it can sometimes put up a fight when it comes growing in more humid conditions like we have in the Midwest. We were pleasantly surprised to see Solarpop performing so well in both the container trials (Photo 10) and cut flower trial beds (Photo 11) at Raker-Roberta’s.

Trial display of billy buttons (Craspedia globosa) with clumps of gray-green foliage and tall stems topped by round yellow flower heads, shown both in a container planting and a field plot with trellis netting for support. — Photos 10 and 11. Craspedia Solarpop bursting with color in the featured container trials (left) and with loads of sturdy stems ready for harvest in the cut flower trial beds (right). Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

Other notable varieties

Some older varieties that will be new additions to the Raker-Roberta catalog this season caught our eye as well. First of these was the African marigold ‘Antiqua Gold’ from Syngenta, a tried-and-true border plant with less day-length sensitivity and natural short-stature, making it easily programable for growers (Photo 12).

Another classic variety from Benary, Celosia plumosa ‘New Look’, stood out for its vivid color, profuse blooms and tidy habit (Photo 13). This variety earned the title of AAS flower winner all the way back in 1988. Talk about longevity!

Trial garden beds featuring a mass of bright yellow marigolds with round blooms on one side and striking celosia with burgundy leaves and vivid red flower plumes on the other, with pink petunias and yellow sunflowers in the background. — Photos 12 and 13. Left, Marigold Antiqua Gold. Right, Celosia New Look. Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

We’d be remised if we didn’t mention our favorite coleus, ‘Main Street Rodeo Drive’ from Dummen Orange. This chartreuse variety with deep purple stems and venation looked great in both the sun and shade in-ground trial areas (Photos 14-15).

Trial garden planting of coleus, showing a close-up of serrated lime-green leaves with dark purple veins on the left, and long rows of coleus in various colors—including chartreuse, green with purple markings, orange, and burgundy—arranged in neat beds on the right. — Photos 14 and 15. Coleus Main Street Rodeo Drive in full sun showing its striking purple stems and leaf venation (left) and in the shade trial beds (right). Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

Another notable variety featured in the Roberta’s Gardens display bed was Angelonia ‘Senerita Raspberry.’ This variety is one of the only Angelonia offered on the market from seed in addition to being heat-tolerant and naturally short and tidy (Photo 16).

Last, but not least, the 2026 Perennial Plant Association’s perennial of the year, Andropogon gerardii ‘Blackhawks,’ stood out in the trial block of grasses (Photo 17). Its dark foliage and tall stature are sure to stand out in both retail displays and in the garden.

Trial garden view with a mass planting of Angelonia ‘Senerita Raspberry’ covered in bright pink flowers and marked with a yellow label, alongside a display of tall ornamental grasses in shades of green, purple, and bronze growing in dense clumps near white greenhouse structures. — Photos 16 and 17. Left, Angelonia Senerita Raspberry. Right, Andropogon gerardii Blackhawks shown at the far left of the trial block of grasses. Photo by Caitlin Splawski, MSU Extension.

For more top 2025 varieties, check out the other articles in our series:

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

MSU Extension Floriculture & Greenhouse Crop Production

Featured Five 2025: Favorites from Raker-Roberta’s Trial Gardens