FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Loxley, AL – July 2026) Plant Development Services Inc. (PDSI) will debut vibrant introductions at Cultivate‘26 designed for a new era of “dopamine digging” where landscape color, sensory beauty, and simple garden rituals become everyday ways to reset. From color breakthroughs to the expansion of top-selling collections, PDSI’s slate of introductions helps gardeners trade screen time for bloom time with landscapes that feel joyful, personal, and refreshingly low effort.
“For busy gardeners, a burst of color from a beautiful bloom can be what beckons them outside, giving them a reason to slow down and reset,” says Kip McConnell, Vice President of Business Development with PDSI. “Our introductions are ‘scroll stoppers,’ bright, bold, and colorful enough to add a stamp of personal style and sense of place that make the landscape much more appealing than a phone screen.”
This year’s new introductions from Southern Living® and Sunset® Plant Collections include:
Early Surprise® Camellia brings an unexpected pop of color to the landscape with true-coral blooms in September, months before traditional camellias begin flowering, ushering in fall and encouraging gardeners to step outside and enjoy the changing season. Reaching 6 – 8′ tall and 4 – 6′ wide, its dense, upright habit and glossy evergreen foliage provide year-round structure. Thriving in USDA Zones 7–9 and is adaptable to full sun to partial shade.
The Daylily DayScape™ Collection is designed to bring more color and less maintenance to the landscape, featuring eight new varieties selected for early, continuous blooms, high bud counts, and exceptional garden performance. With resistance to rust, disease, and insects, these reliable performers thrive in sunny landscapes and mass plantings, delivering season-long color that helps gardeners create vibrant outdoor spaces with minimal effort and maximum enjoyment. Matures to 14-30” tall x 28-46” wide (depending on variety) in Zones 5-9.
Agapanthus Poppin’ Pink infuses a fresh twist into an old garden favorite with its debut as the first-ever pink agapanthus, filling sunny landscapes with soft, cheerful color. Its semi-dwarf habit makes it easy to incorporate into a variety of garden spaces, while early blooms and steady flushes of repeat blooms provide a steady stream of color throughout the season. Drought-tolerant once established, it reaches about 28” tall by 24” wide and thrives in full sun in USDA Zone 9a.
Agapanthus Chilly Lily™ brings a cool burst of violet-blue to the garden with an abundance of blooms on multiple flower stems, even on young plants. Chilly Lily™ creates a stunning display that transforms beds, borders, and cutting gardens into personal retreats. This deciduous agapanthus has greater winter hardiness than evergreen varieties, down to USDA Zone 6b, offering gardeners an easy way to add lasting visual impact and a daily dose of garden-inspired joy.
Loropetalum Purple Raindrops™ delivers a year-round saturated hue of rich purple with evergreen foliage for gardeners craving color that never fades into the background. Its compact, mounding form creates a soft, flowing presence, while a blanket of fringe-like spring blooms adds an extra splash of dark pink, often followed by a sporadic encore of color later in the season. Perfect for borders, containers, slopes, and mass plantings in full sun. Matures to 2–2.5′ tall by 3–4′ wide in USDA Zones 7- 10.
Hibiscus Cirque de Bloom is easy to grow and impossible to ignore, with oversized red, white, or pink blooms that rise above rich, dramatic foliage, creating a striking focal point that instantly energizes the landscape. Whether featured as a bold standalone accent or woven into mixed plantings in full sun areas, its striking, pollinator-friendly blooms bring movement, beauty, and life to the garden all summer long. Matures to 4–5′ tall by 3–4′ wide in USDA Zones 4A–9B.
From Butterfly Candy® Butterfly Bush:
Li’l Magenta™ is the latest captivating addition to the celebrated Butterfly Candy® Butterfly Bush collection, offering retailers an instantly appealing dwarf shrub with a continuous display of flower spikes filled with hundreds of reddish-pink blooms. Perfect for containers, flowering borders, and tight spaces, Li’l Magenta™ offers robust color and consistent performance, making it the low-maintenance, high-impact perennial that customers will seek out next season, reliably hardy to Zone 5. Size at maturity is 2 – 3’ tall and wide.
Lil Cerise™ is a compact charmer with a dense, well-branched habit and abundant foliage, making it ideal for patio pots and small garden spaces. Enjoy a vibrant display of deep pink flower spikes that bloom continuously throughout the summer, releasing a lightly sweet fragrance that is a favorite among bees, ensuring both beauty and buzzing activity in the landscape. Reliably hardy to Zone 5. Size at maturity is a conveniently compact 2 – 3’ tall and wide. Available to trade through the Butterfly Candy® Butterfly Bush collection in 2026.
Finally, announcing the latest addition to the acclaimed Encore® Azalea collection:
Autumn Queen® delivers a bold dose of rich fuchsia, with single blooms accented by dramatic dark freckles. Flowering in spring, summer, and fall, this reblooming favorite keeps the garden energized through multiple seasons, creating the kind of eye-catching moments that draw gardeners outdoors again and again. Its naturally dense, rounded habit and evergreen foliage provide year-round structure with minimal upkeep, making it an easy way to add lasting color, personality, and everyday joy to the landscape.
Beyond showcasing new varieties at Cultivate 2026, PDSI will present a dynamic educational session to help garden retailers, growers, and brands leverage of-the-moment trends to drive sales:
From Trending to Top-Selling: Driving the Plant Popularity Pipeline: Sunday, July 12th, 11:15 AM – 12:15 PM in Union Station Ballroom B. Explore how plants and products move through the “popularity pipeline” from the spark of a cultural trend to the moment of purchase, and how YOU can be a catalyst at every stage.
Step into Booth #2725 at Cultivate 2026 for a first look at PDSI’s bright new introductions and best-selling collections. For more information, contact Corrina Murray at [email protected].
About Plant Development Services Inc. Plant Development Services Inc. was founded in 1996 by Greg Smith of the third-generation, family-owned Flowerwood Nursery, Inc. Plant Development Services owns and/or licenses more than 300 patented plant properties and boasts these top-ranking plant brands: Encore® Azalea, the Southern Living® Plant Collection, the Sunset Plant Collection®, Better Boxwood®, and Butterfly Candy®. To learn more about Plant Development Services Inc., visit plantdevelopment.com.