The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Theodore Klein Plant Awards releases 2024 winners. What made the list
It’s spring planting time, which means it’s time to wander into the garden center and find yourself totally overwhelmed by the never-ending list of the 522,000 plants you simply can’t live without.
It can be a bit mind-boggling. But since 1999, the Theodore Klein Plant Awards have helped cut through the craziness to bring you an annual list of the best of the best in plants.
Many people in the plant world know the early 20th century as the golden age of horticulture when thousands of new plants were hitting the market year after year. That’s back when famed plant explorers made of pig iron and buckshot were scouring the globe for new plants to diversify our gardens. But even that so-called golden age has nothing on today’s rate of new plant introduction. Seems everybody has a new series of this or that. Heck, there are even glow-in-the-dark petunias out there ... at least that’s what I hear.
To make things easier on homeowners and gardeners, the Klein Awards program was created to identify and promote plants that have stood the test of time in area gardens and landscapes, and to call attention to plants that can beautify our gardens, solve common landscape problems, and support a healthy ecosystem.
Each year a group of the region’s most knowledgeable and experienced plant pros get together to pour over a list of plant nominees and narrow it down to the five or six that are given the nod for that year. And while the debates are spirited and rather intense, I can confidently report that to my knowledge, no plants are hurt or abused in the process. Can’t say the same for a few egos!
For the full searchable list of Klein Award winners reaching back to 1999, visit yewdellgardens.org/theodoreklein-plant-awards/.
Here is the 2024 list:
2024 Theodore Klein Plant Awards Shade Tree winner
Peking Lilac - Syringa reticulata
subsp. pekinensis Great Wall(‘WFH2’), Beijing Gold (‘Zhang Zhiming’)
A durable, 35-foot-tall Asian species best known for masses of white, fragrant flowers in early summer, and mahogany-colored, peeling bark. At home in any reasonable soil and full sun. Beijing Gold offers creamy yellow flowers while Great Wall was selected for upright, uniform growth and vigorous bloom.
2024 Theodore Klein Plant Awards Small Flowering Tree winner
Hybrid Magnolia - Magnolia ‘Sunsation’
This late-blooming hybrid of a Kentucky native tree explodes with fragrant spring blooms of yellow with pink/green highlights after most frost danger. Growing to 40 feet tall, it forms a uniform, upright specimen with distinctive gray bark. Plant in full sun and water through dry spells.
2024 Theodore Klein Plant Awards Shrub winner
Korean Spice Viburnum - Viburnum carlesii ‘Select S’ (Sugar ‘n Spice), ‘Compactum,’ ‘Aurora’
Dense 4- to 6-foot shrub prized for fragrant spring flowers that start pink/ red in bud and open to white. Fuzzy, green summer foliage turns to wine/ red/orange in fall. Drought tolerant and easy to grow. Notable selections include ‘Compactum,’ ‘Aurora’ (deep red buds), and Sugar ‘n Spice (heavy flowering.)
2024 Theodore Klein Plant Awards Large Evergreen winner
Korean Pine - Pinus koraiensis
Uncommon 60-foot-tall evergreen with a loosely upright outline. Fine textured, four to five-inch-long, blue/ green needles provide a soft feel to the entire plant. Plant in full sun in all but very dry or very wet soil and it will reward with years of mostly trouble-free growth.
2024 Theodore Klein Plant Awards Sun Perennial winner
Little Blue Stem - Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Standing Ovation’
Outstanding, 3-4-foot-tall native grass forms erect clumps of blue/green foliage, turning blue/purple in fall.
Clouds of wispy seed heads top the plant in late summer and fall. While many Blue Stem forms have a hard time standing up in the garden, ‘Standing Ovation’ stands tall.
2024 Theodore Klein Plant Awards Shade Perennial winner
Woodland Phlox - Phlox divaricata ‘Blue Moon’, ‘May Breeze’
Well-behaved, Kentucky native that forms loose mats of fine-textured foliage covered with fragrant, blue/lavender to rose/pink spring flowers. Deer resistant and easy to grow. ‘May Breeze’ has white flowers that age to pale purple. ‘Blue Moon’ is the best of the blue selections.