Best-Selling Plants and Trees of 2020 for Landscaping
In 2020, GoMaterials sourced over 250,000 plants for landscaping professionals across Canada and the USA. Let’s take a look at what some of the best-sellers were based on region and plant category!
- Top Selling Conifers
- Top Selling Perennials
- Top Selling Shrubs
- Top Selling Trees
- Top Selling Palms
- Top Selling Conifers
- Top Selling Perennials
- Top Selling Shrubs
- Top Selling Trees
Southern Best-Sellers
Top Selling Conifers for Landscaping
Pinus Elliottii
Common Name: Slash Pine
The Pinus Elliottii is one of the fastest-growing southern yellow pines. This evergreen conifer grows to mature heights of 100 feet (30m) with a trunk up to 32 inches (0.8m) in diameter at breast height. Fun fact: The seeds of this conifer, hidden in its cones, provide sustenance for a variety of wildlife, including wild turkeys and squirrels.
Taxodium Distichum
Common Name: Bald Cypress, Swamp Cypress
Hardy and tough, this deciduous conifer is native to the Southeastern United States. The bald cypress can grow to heights of 120 feet (40m) and a trunk diameter of 6 feet (1.8m). Fun fact: they get the name “bald” cypress because they drop their leaves so early in the season. Their fall colors are tan, cinnamon, and fiery orange.
Top Selling Perennials for Landscaping
Liriope Muscari ‘Super Blue’
Common Name: Lilyturf
This groundcover is known for its striking violet-blue flower spikes and fountain-like dark green foliage. Super Blue is known for having one of the fullest blooms of the Liriope family, reaching up to 20 inches tall and 18 inches wide.
Fun fact: its summer bloom is followed by purple-black fruits.
Alpinia Zerumbet ‘Variegata’
Common Name: Variegated Shell Ginger
This perennial from the ginger family is grown throughout the world for its beautiful striped foliage. Native to eastern Asia, it can reach a height of 8-10 feet tall (though it averages a height and spread of 2-4 feet when grown as an annual in northern areas).
Fun fact: its drooping white and pink flowers are sweetly fragrant.
Top Selling Shrubs for Landscaping
Viburnum Obovatum
Common Name: Walters Viburnum, Small-Leaf Viburnum, Small-Lead Arrowwood
This shrub is densely twiggy and prefers consistently moist well-drained soils. It is characterized by its small white dome-shaped flowers that bloom in clusters in early spring and its shiny black fruit.
Fun fact: it’s an early food source for bees.
Juniperus Chinensis ‘Parsonii’
Common Name: Parson’s Juniper
This dense low growing evergreen shrub is native to Asia and is characterized by its soft bluish-green foliage. On average, it grows to be 2-3 feet tall and 4-10 feet wide.
Fun fact: it has a high salt tolerance, and is often used as a groundcover in seaside areas.
Top Selling Trees for Landscaping
Ilex Cassine
Common Name: Dahoon Holly, Narrowleaf Dahoon
Ilex Cassine is a holly native to the southeastern United States. It can grow to be 20-30 feet high and 8-15ft wide.
Fun fact: as with other hollies, it has separate male and female plants. Only the females have berries.
Quercus Virginiana
Common Name: Live Oak
Reaching up to 80 feet in height and 100 feet in width, this evergreen oak is known for being a picturesque and wide-spreading tree. It has a short trunk, is low branching and has a broad spreading rounded crown.
Fun fact: Live oak timber was once important for building ships.
Top Selling Palms for Landscaping
Serenoa Repens
Common Name: Saw Palmetto
This small fan palm is extremely slow-growing and long-lived. It can grow to a maximum height of about 10 feet and is native to Southeastern United States.
Fun fact: some plants, especially in Florida, are thought to be as old as 700 years.
Sabal Palmetto
Common Name: Cabbage Palm, Blue Palmetto
This is one of 15 species of palmetto palms native to the southern United States. This palm can grow up to 65 feet in height and 15 feet wide. Though it is drought-tolerant, it thrives on regular light watering.
Fun fact: it is the state tree of Florida.
Northern Best-Sellers
Top Selling Conifers
Thuja Occidentalis ‘Nigra’
Common Name: Black Cedar, Dark American Arborvitae, Eastern Arborvitae
This popular upright columnar evergreen is often used as a vertical accent in landscaping. It can grow to be 30 feet in height and 10 feet in spread.
Fun fact: Deer find the soft foliage very attractive for winter food.
Picea Abies
Common Name: Norway Spruce, European Spruce
The Norway Spruce is an evergreen tree that can grow up to 180 feet tall. It grows quickly in its early years (up to 3 feet in a year) but slows down after reaching about 65 feet tall.
Fun fact: it is one of the most popular species used for Christmas trees.
Top Selling Perennials
Hemerocallis ‘Stella De Oro’
Common Name: Stella De Oro Daylily
With its grassy green foliage and upright stems of fragrant yellow flowers, this is consistently one of our most popular perennials. The Stella De Oro Daylily performs well in all zones and blooms for months on end.
Fun fact: it is often called the “perfect perennial”.
Rudbeckia Fulgida ‘Goldsturm’
Common Name: Black Eyed Susan, Coneflower
This award-winning perennial is long-lived and characterized by its rich golden yellow flowers, each with a brown cone center and many ray-like petals. Growing up to 3 feet tall and 24 inches wide, it often tends to form colonies in the wild.
Fun fact: it is deer and rabbit resistant.
Top Selling Shrubs
Euonymus Alatus ‘Compactus’
Common Name: Burning Bush, Winged Euonymus
Popular for its sensational scarlet red coloring in the fall, this deciduous shrub can reach 12 feet in height and width.
Fun fact: it is the winner of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Sorbaria Sorbifolia ‘Sem’
Common Name: False Spirea
This shrub is characterized by its vividly colored fern-like foliage, which changes from yellow, to orange-red, and light green depending on the time of the year. The False Spirea will grow to about 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Fun fact: tiny white flowers will adorn the foliage in late spring.
Top Selling Trees
Celtis Occidentalis
Common Name: Common Hackberry, Neddletree
This medium to large-sized deciduous tree is best grown in moist, well-drained soils with full sun. On average, it can grow to 60 feet in height and spread.
Fun fact: this tree’s pea-sized berries are edible and high in calories from fat, carbohydrates and protein.
Gymnocladus Dioicus
Common Name: Kentucky Coffeetree
The Kentucky Coffeetree is a moderately fast-growing tree that can reach up to 70 feet in height, 50 feet in width and 3 feet in trunk diameter.
Fun fact: its seed can be roasted and used as a substitute for coffee beans (but watch out, unroasted pods and seeds can be toxic!).
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That’s a wrap for our 2020 best-sellers. Are they aligned with what you purchased most for your jobs? We’d love to know! Also, if you would like to bulk order any of them, just send in your plant list with us and we’ll take care of the rest.
