The Best Flowers of 2012

"Each year," writes Jamie McIntosh, Fleuroselect, an organization that tests and judges new plants, honors "a few select flowers with its Fleuroselect Gold Medal." About.com's Flower Guide notes that, in 2012, all 5 winners were plants with red or blue flowers. You can see the 5 Fleuroselect Gold Medal Winning Flowers for 2012 here.

Fleuroselect rolled out the red carpet for:

1. A hollyhock
2. An echinacea
3. A salvia

And the blue-ribbon winners were:

1. An agastache
2. A viola

I've been testing a new echinacea, myself. You can read about my judgement on Echinacea 'Firebird' in this article on the new red or orange coneflower. Mix it with yellow flowers (perhaps a coreopsis) for some knockout color combos.

A Look Ahead: Facts About Roses

More: Halls' Honeysuckle

_{Photo ©2012 David Beaulieu (licensed to About, Inc.)}