Best-selling Wholesale Plants, Palms, & Trees of 2021 for Landscaping
As we kick off the new year, now is the perfect time to look back and marvel at what the industry achieved in the previous year. After all, despite the shortages of wholesale plants & trees, business was booming for many landscaping companies across the continent. In 2021, over 600,000 wholesale plant material units were sourced by GoMaterials for our members! Here is a look at some of our best-selling bulk plants and trees for landscapers in 2021.
Best-Selling wholesale plants in the North
- Top four wholesale evergreen trees (conifers) in the North
- Top four wholesale perennials in the North
- Top four wholesale shrubs in the North
- Top four wholesale trees in the North
Best-Selling wholesale plants in the South
- Top four wholesale evergreen trees (conifers) in the South
- Top-selling wholesale palm trees in Florida and Texas
- Top three wholesale perennials in the South
- Top four wholesale shrubs in the South
- Top four wholesale trees in the South
Best-selling Wholesale Plants in North America & Canada Region
Top four wholesale evergreen trees (conifers) in the North
Picea Glauca
Common Name: White Spruce
Description: A true northern powerhouse, this giant conifer maxes out between 40 and 80 feet tall, and can withstand the harshest of colds. The needles of the white spruce are blue-green, while its gray bark is flaky and very thin.
Fun Fact: While the ‘white’ in white spruce refers to the color of the wax that develops on the needles, ‘glauca’ refers to their blue-toned color.
Picea Abies
Common Name: Norway Spruce, European Spruce
Description: A popular conifer that grows as fast as a meter per year in its first 25 years of life. Its needles are evergreen, and cones are some of the longest found on spruce trees.
Fun Fact: This spruce is often used as a Christmas tree in city displays around the world.
Thuja Occidentalis ‘Smaragd’
Common Name: Emerald Green Arborvitae
Description: The emerald-green arborvitae is weather-hardy and disease-resistant, making it the perfect choice for low-maintenance landscaping projects.
Fun Fact: This tree maintains its gorgeous bright green needles through the winter.
Thuja Occidentalis ‘Nigra’
Common Name: American Arborvitae
Description: Another popular hedge or specimen evergreen tree that’s also low maintenance! This modest-sized conifer grows to be about 20 feet tall. Its flat, scaled needles are densely packed and they maintain their dark-green color throughout the year.
Fun Fact: American arborvitae’s foliage emits a pleasant smell!
Top four wholesale perennials in the North
Hemerocallis ‘Stella De Oro’
Common Name: Reblooming Daylily
Description: What can’t it do? It’s hardy, low maintenance, has a long blooming period, pleasant odor, and showy yellow flower petals. No wonder daylily was a favorite for many landscape installations in the last year.
Fun Fact: Another must-have for eco-sensitive landscaping, Daylilies are excellent in attracting bees & butterflies.
Agastache Foeniculum
Common Name: Anise Hyssop
Description: This native plant reaches a height of two to four feet tall and blooms as of mid-summer. Its teardrop leaves are jagged at the edges, and the flower grows vertically in a cone-like shape.
Fun Fact: A great selling point is that this flower is that it attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, thereby promoting the local ecosystem.
Anemone Canadensis
Common Name: Canadian Anemone or Windflower
Description: The Canadian anemone is a beautiful addition to any landscaping project featuring water. The two-inch white flowers bloom in spring and feature a bulbous yellow center with outward-pointing stamens. The leaves are sharply toothed.
Fun Fact: The common name “windflower” comes from the way this plant gently sways in the breeze.
Liriope Muscari ‘Big Blue’
Common Name: Big Blue LilyTurf
Description: A border plant with tall tube-like purple flowers that bloom in late summer. An excellent choice for ground cover or under trees.
Fun Fact: No sun? No problem! Big Blue LilyTurf does great in the shade too.
Top four wholesale shrubs in the North
Cornus Sericea
Common Name: Red Osier Dogwood, Red Twig Dogwood
Description: This ornamental shrub lasts well into the fall, at which point its green ovate leaves turn a deep purple. The pleasing colors don’t stop there, this dogwood’s branches are a signature red, and its flowers mature into white berries.
Fun Fact: The root system thrives in moist soils and prevents soil erosion!
Buxus Microphylla ‘Winter Gem’
Common Name: Winter Gem Boxwood
Description: A dense shrub with lovely glossy leaves that makes for a great border plant.
Fun Fact: Winter Gem Boxwood is a must-have if your landscaping design is aiming for a rustic and unpolished look.
Spirea X Bumalda ‘Goldflame’
Common Name: Goldflame Spirea
Description: Landscaping projects looking for a pop of color that lasts into the fall often go with this shrub. The pointed leaves emerge as bright yellow before maturing into a copper shade late in the fall. They provide a great contrast against the fuchsia panicle of flowers that bloom above the shrub.
Fun Fact: These urban-hardy plants thrive among inner-city pollution.
Hydrangea Arborescens ‘Annabelle’
Common Name: Smooth Hydrangea
Description: Hydrangea shrubs typically grow to be 5 feet tall and have large flower clusters that bloom in circular heads. This particular subspecies is known for having larger and more impressive flowers than others of its kind.
Fun Fact: Hydrangea flowers for two months straight, making it an ideal ornamental landscaping plant.
Top four wholesale trees in the North
Celtis Occidentalis
Common Name: Common Hackberry
Description: The Common Hackberry’s bark is very roughly textured and particularly suited to absorbing air pollution in urban environments. Adding a splash of color, the light pointed oblong leaves go from green to maroon in the fall.
Fun Fact: The berries produced by this tree are safe to eat raw.
Acer Rubrum
Common Name: Red Maple
Description: One of the hardiest maple trees on the continent, it’s known for the striking red shade its 3-5 lobed leaves turn in the fall. The branches only begin farther up the trunk and form an irregular crown.
Fun Fact: This maple can be found as north as Quebec and Newfoundland, going all the way down the eastern coast to the Florida swamplands.
Ginkgo Biloba
Common Name: Maidenhair
Description: These specimen trees start tall and slender, and their branches only get more erratic with age. They grow to over 100 feet and easily withstand pests and diseases.
Fun Fact: Ginkgo Biloba’s common name comes from the signature shape of the tree’s vivid green leaves.
Tilia Americana
Common Name: Basswood, American Linden
Description: This beautiful shade tree’s canopy grows in a wide conical shape down the trunk line. A popular ornamental tree that’s better suited to residential neighborhoods than urban environments.
Fun Fact: American Linden produces little nuts that start as fragrant yellow flowers.
Best-selling Wholesale Palms, Trees, & Plants in the Southern Region
Top four wholesale evergreen trees (conifers) in the South
Pinus Elliotti
Common Name: Slash Pine
Description: One of the pine trees with the shortest lifespans at about 200 years, Slash Pine needles are long enough to droop. The fully grown tree averages between 50 to 100 feet tall, and the canopy grows flat and sparse.
Fun Fact: The lumber of slash pine is one of the densest hardwoods.
Taxodium Distichum
Common Name: Bald Cypress
Description: The delicate needles of this conifer turn orange in the fall before shedding. The tree is exceptionally hardy and thrives in most soil types.
Fun Fact: Bald Cypress does well in wet environments, withstanding even floods.
Podocarpus Macrophyllus
Common Name: Yew Pine
Description: This conifer couldn’t decide between leaves or needles, ending up with 1cm wide linear leaves. The foliage is typically very compact. Yew Pine produces fleshy berries that are poisonous.
Fun Fact: This popular specimen tree is a common bonsai choice.
Juniperus Procumbens ‘Nana’
Common Name: Japanese Garden Juniper
Description: This ground cover can thrive in cities despite urban pollution. The thick green needles turn purple in the winter. Japanese garden juniper is low maintenance and hardy once it’s established.
Fun Fact: It adds a touch of elegance cascading down cliff-sides while combating soil erosion.
Best-selling wholesale palm trees in Florida and Texas
Royostenia Regia
Common Name: Florida Royal Palm
Description: This ornamental palm can reach an impressive 100 feet. The canopy is made up of deep green pinnate leaves. This palm’s trunk is slender and gray.
Fun Fact: When you picture wholesale palm trees, chances are you’re thinking of Florida Royal Palms which often line grand boulevards.
Sabal Palmetto
Common Name: Cabbage Palm
Description: This specimen palm tree grows around 40 to 50 feet and its full costapalmate canopy spans up to 15 feet in diameter. The midway point-upwards of the trunk is decorated with old leaf stalks.
Fun Fact: It’s called a cabbage palm because new buds taste like cabbage when eaten.
Rhapidophyllum Hystrix
Common Name: Needle Palm
Description: It’s a palm, it’s a shrub, it’s Rhapidophyllum Hystrix. This specimen doesn’t go past 6 feet and features upright yellow-green palmate leaves
Fun Fact: Needle Palm is the possibly hardiest wholesale palm tree you’ll find.
Chamaerops Humilis
Common Name: European Fan Palm
Description: This wholesale palm tree is multi-trunked, and grows like a thick bush. The trunks are large and bushy from old leaf growth residue. The palmate leaves are glossy and separated almost to the end.
Fun Fact: Weather extremes are no match for this European native!
Top three wholesale perennials in the South
Liriope Muscari ‘Super Blue’
Common Name: Super Blue Liriope
Description: This groundcover’s leaves are about a foot and a half tall and spread like a fountain. The tall purple flowers look like they come from another world with the tight round shape of the bulbs.
Fun Fact: Super Blue Liriope is the perfect addition to hard-to-grow places.
Schoenoplectus Tabernaemontani
Common Name: Softstem Bulrush, Rush
Description: Bulrush is a great low-maintenance ornamental made up of countless erect stems. It thrives in water gardens.
Fun Fact: Softstem Bulrush naturally occurs almost everywhere across Canada and the United States.
Dianella
Common Name: Flax Lily
Description: There are many varieties of Flax Lilies, and they all make great edging plants that grow 30” tall in neat clusters. The leaves are bladed, and the plant produces star-shaped flowers in the spring that mature into blueberries.
Fun Fact: All this low-maintenance plant needs to look tidy, is a routine sweep of its dead leaves.
Top four wholesale shrubs in the South
Ligustrum Sinense ‘Sunshine’
Common Name: Chinese Privet
Description: This border or hedge shrub stands out in a garden thanks to its glossy ovate yellow leaves. A true easy-maintenance plant, it’s not invasive like other Ligustrum breeds.
Fun Fact: A great choice for those who suffer from allergies, Chinese Privet doesn’t bloom.
Ficus Microcarpa ‘Green Island’
Common Name: Green Island Ficus
Description: Reaching 8 feet tall at most, this landscaping plant is an excellent low-maintenance hedge or ground cover. It has densely grown ovate glossy leaves.
Fun Fact: The sap on Green Island Ficus’ leaves may irritate your hands if you handle it too frequently!
Chrysobalanus Icaco ‘Red Tip’
Common Name: Cocoplum
Description: You decide whether you want this 15-foot tall Florida native shrub to look polished or casual in your project’s landscaping design. The rounded leaves are red-tipped in new growth before maturing into a glossy green.
Fun Fact: Looking for a privacy plant that also provides snacks? The “plum” in cocoplum is often made into jelly and its seeds roasted.
Lantana Camara ‘New Gold’
Common Name: New Gold Lantana
Description: Growing at a foot tall with a four-foot spread, New Gold Lantana is an excellent groundcover for projects wanting a rustic look. The shrub’s golden flowers bloom in large clusters and contrast nicely against deep green spear-shaped leaves.
Fun Fact: New Gold Lantana is a hybrid of Lantana Camara and Lantana Montevidensis.
Top four wholesale trees in the South
Magnolia Grandiflora ‘Little Gem’
Common Name: Large-flowered Magnolia
Description: This compact specimen plant is a flowering tree no higher than twenty feet with a spread of ten feet. The fragrant white flowers have large petals, and the leaves are glossy and ovate, growing densely from the ground up. A low-maintenance addition to any garden.
Fun Fact: Not a great choice for polluted urban environments, it’s ideal when planted as a privacy hedge in the suburbs.
Bursera simaruba
Common Name: Gumbo-limbo
Description: Tall and slim, gumbo-limbo grows to 100 feet with a diameter of five feet. The broad ovate green leaves are pinnate. The tree is very wind-tolerant, making it a great choice in hurricane paths.
Fun Fact: It’s nick-named ‘the tourist tree’ because its bark is red and peeling, not unlike a sunburnt tourist!
Ilex Cassine
Common Name: Dahoon Holly, Cassena
Description: A smaller tree at 40 feet tall, Ilex Cassine is a member of the holly family. This beautiful tree has dark green glossy leaves and red berries that provide a pop of color.
Fun Fact: Dahoon Holly’s red berries are common Christmas decor.
Quercus Virginiana
Common Name: Southern Live Oak
Description: Impressive is the descriptor for this landscaping tree that grows 40 to 80 feet high with a spread that reaches 100 feet. The live oak’s trunk is thick enough to support the many irregular branches that grow out of it. Leaves are deep green glossy bands, and the tree produces acorns.
Fun Fact: Low maintenance with a long lifespan, this tree is heavily associated with grand roads in the south.
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Are you surprised by any of the inclusions on the best-selling list? Need help sourcing any of these popular plants or trees in 2022? Just send GoMaterials a list and we’ll take care of it!
