Featured Five 2026: Favorites from Mast Young Plants
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EmailAre you seeking proven performers for the season ahead? Check out Part 3 of our series highlighting top picks from the 2026 Michigan Garden Plant Tour trial sites.
Each year, Michigan State University collaborates with Michigan’s leading young plant producers to host a complimentary open house at their trial sites and display gardens. This event offers growers, landscapers, and retail professionals a valuable opportunity to explore a diverse array of ornamental crops and assess their performance in both in-ground and container settings.
The 2026 Michigan Garden Plant Tour ran from July 27 to August 7, showcasing the latest innovations and standout varieties across multiple locations. Part 1 and Part 2 of this series covered Michigan State University Extension’s favorites at the trial gardens at DGI Propagators and Proven Winners Carleton. Part 3 will feature plants with excellent garden performance from Mast Young Plants.
Featured Five at Mast Young Plants
The 2026 trial garden featured more than 1,500 varieties in raised landscape beds (Photo 1), hanging baskets, deco pots, saddle planters, window planters and 500 unique, custom-designed combination planters. Among the trialed varieties there were All-American Selections trials (Photo 2), a succulent showcase, a growth regulator trial, employee-designed combinations and an area featuring Kerley Genetics by Kientzler.
With so many spectacular plants and combinations, choosing just five was difficult.
Here are some that stood out while walking through the gardens this year:
- Felicia Forever ‘Blue’ – Kientzler Genetics
- Begonia Tuberous Nonstop ‘Rose Picotee – Benary
- Heliopsis Sole’ d’ Amore – Kientzler Genetics
- Lychnis Petite Jenny – Green Trade
- Petunia ‘Fanfare Flame’ – Kerley by Kientzler Genetics
Felicia Forever ‘Blue’
Customers are always looking for new plants in the blue and purple color palate and Felicia Forever ‘Blue’ was a petite blue daisy that stood out in the new annuals area at the trials at Mast Young Plants (Photos 3 and 4).
I am typically drawn to huge flowers with vibrant colors, but this little daisy was new to me. It is an annual, as it is only hardy in zones 9 to 11. It has a beautifully mounded habit and fulfills the long sought after blue/purple category.
Begonia Tuberous Nonstop ‘Rose Picotee’
More on par with my typical selection (Photo 5), the tuberous begonia ‘Rose Picotee’ from Benary had enormous pink and white flowers covering the green foliage in the shade area of the trial garden (Photos 6 and 7).
Like other tuberous begonias, it is perfect for pots or hanging baskets and prefers part shade to full shade. Just look at those flowers!
Heliopsis Sole’ d’ Amore
The vibrant, lava-like flowers of false sunflower Sole’ d’ Amore drew me in like a moth to a flame. This false sunflower is a perennial in zones 3 to 9 and provides this burst of color during the summer months of July to September. It is a pollinator plant and great for sunny borders for in-ground planting.
The vibrancy of the flowers put this one on the list of my top five plants from Mast Young Plants 2026 trials. I am not the only one though, note the red customer-favorite flag placed in this pot in Photo 8.
Lychnis Petite Jenny
Apparently, Lychnis is an old-fashioned perennial that is hardy in zones 5 to 8. ‘Petite Jenny’ is not new as it is in the Missouri Botanical Garden plant finder. However, this genus was completely new to me.
While the habit and flowering seemed a little messy to me, the gobs of pink double flowers were striking and could easily be reined in by putting it in a combination planter as a filler while the other plants maintain more structure and tidiness (Photos 9 and 10).
Petunia ‘Fanfare Flame’
Petunia ‘Fanfare Flame’ by Kerley had amazingly vibrant flowers that spilled over the sides of the container to the ground (Photos 11 and 12). It was new to the market in 2024. It was included in the Kerley Genetics by Kientzler trial area, which are new or not released yet to the U.S. market.
This variety would make an excellent hanging basket to bring lively color to any patio or front porch.
Do you feel it?
In addition to the top five favorites, the Mast Young Plant 2026 trials had a couple of other distinctive areas. For me, there were several plants that stood out not for their color, but their textures and unusual foliage that would make them interesting filler plants for combination containers.
New lavender ‘Meerlo’ (Photo 13) had serrated variegated foliage, while locus vine (Photo 14) had plunging soft foliage that drew you in for a touch. Also in this category, Duranta ‘Golden Edge’ had showy yellow and green serrated foliage. I grew this one in my home garden this year and discovered it’s actually better not to touch: it has thorns!
Succulent Showcase
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the awesome succulent showcase by Chris Hansen (Garden Solutions) on display at the Mast Young Plants ’26 trial garden. There were a couple great recipes of succulents on display including ‘Buried Treasure’ (Photo 16), Chick Charmlettes ‘Playground Pals’ (Photo 17) and ‘Tide Pool’ (Photo 18).
There was also an excellent growth regulator trial area comparing a cut back and two different plant growth regulator rates, which I will cover in a future article in the series, so stay tuned!
Check out the other articles in our series for more favorites of 2026:
- Part 1: Featured Five 2026: Favorites from DGI Propagators Trial Gardens
- Part 2: Featured Five 2026: Favorites from Proven Winners Carleton
- Part 3: Featured Five 2026: Favorites from Mast Young Plants
- Part 4: Featured Five 2026: Favorites from MSU Trial Gardens
- Part 5: Featured Five 2026: Favorites from Pell Greenhouses
- Part 6: Featured Five 2026: Favorites from Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants
- Part 7: Featured Five 2026: Favorites from Walters Gardens
- Part 8: Let’s Play Nice and Shine: Twelve Stellar Compatible Combinations
