This is an extremely exciting year for new additions to the First Editions® Shrubs & Trees collection! We’re adding more color, more variety, and even sturdier shrubs. These six plants offer a wide range of options for gardeners and are sure to add a beautiful touch to landscapes of all sizes and designs.
Each of these plants has gone through rigorous trialing and testing across different types of landscapes to ensure you get the best possible plant for your garden. Check out the 2025 plant introductions below for plant details and exciting ways to feature them in your landscape.
Trippy Pink® Butterfly Bush blooms throughout the summer season and features gorgeous hot pink flowers on upright stems. The blooms are filled with nectar, making them irresistible to pollinators. Maturing at six to eight feet tall and wide, this shrub is low-maintenance and an ideal choice for gardeners working with smaller landscapes.
Ideal Growing Conditions: Trippy Pink® thrives in full sun, giving it a versatile characteristic that can solve tricker landscape needs. It is meant for warm climate gardens, and is hardy from Zones 5-9.
Landscape Inspiration: Trippy Pink® grows to a mature size of 6-8 feet tall and wide and keeps it’s upright and mounded shape with little to no pruning, making it the perfect shrub for a focal point or structure hedge. You can shape the plant as it grows, cutting back any wood that may have died back over winter.
Visit Trippy Pink® Butterfly Bush’s plant page to learn even more or to purchase your own.
This new chastetree boasts a tight habit and a profusion of blue-purple flowers in early summer. The flowers are a favorite for pollinating friends in the garden and will naturally rebloom until fall. Maturing to only three to four feet tall and wide, Violet Mist™ is more compact than other varieties and will fit perfectly into a small or urban landscape.
Ideal Growing Conditions: Violet Mist® (Zones 5-9) thrives when planted in full sun and soil that is kept evenly moist. Fertilize once in early spring to kickstart growth. This chastetree is very tolerant of pruning, so prune after the first bloom to encourage a rebloom.
Landscape Inspiration: Violet Mist® grows to a mature size of 3-4 feet tall and wide and keeps it’s mounded shape well. It would look perfect in a foundation planting or even used in a decorative container.
Visit Violet Mist® Chastetree’s plant page to learn even more or to purchase your own.
A stunning new addition to the collection, FlowerFull® Smooth Hydrangea stands out with bold blooms and sturdy upright stems that won’t flop in the wind and rain. With two-to-three times more blooms per season than other smooth hydrangeas, FlowerFull® makes an outstanding focal point plant. Improved disease-resistance, low-maintenance and maturing at just three to four feet tall, it’s the perfect choice for small and big landscapes alike. Check out our FlowerFull® blog for more plant details, care tips, and landscape inspiration.
Ideal Growing Conditions: Prune FlowerFull® Smooth Hydrangea in early spring while still dormant. Because this hydrangea blooms on new wood, it is quite tolerant of heavy pruning and can even be cut down to six to ten inches off the ground. Fertilize in spring with a simple 10-10-10 or similar fertilizer for shrubs. No spraying needed for any disease or insects. Deadheading isn’t necessary but can be done based on preference.
Landscape Inspiration: FlowerFull® grows to a mature size of 3-4 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide and keeps it’s mounded shape, making it the perfect shrub for a focal point or foundation planting.
Visit FlowerFull® Smooth Hydrangea‘s plant page to learn even more or to purchase your own.
Big Beauty™ Gardenia wows in the landscape with fragrance and double blooms. In summer, this shrub is covered in masses of white flowers, which allows the fragrance to spread through the landscape. Big Beauty™ matures at six to seven feet, is a low-maintenance plant, and remains naturally round, making it an ideal choice for hedges or foundation plantings.
Ideal Growing Conditions: Big Beauty™ thrives when planted in full sun to part shade. This plant creates a beautiful round shape naturally so there is little need for pruning. A light layer of fertilizer can be applied in the spring. No spraying needed for any disease or insects.
Landscape Inspiration: Big Beauty™ grows to a mature size of 6-7 feet tall and wide and keeps it’s upright and mounded shape with little to no pruning, making it the perfect shrub for a focal point or structure hedge.
Visit Big Beauty™ Gardenia‘s plant page to learn even more or to purchase your own.
Courageous™ Crabapple is an early-blooming crabapple with highly fragrant lilac-pink blooms in spring and maroon new growth. As the new leaves mature, they take on a pleasant green-bronze hue. Courageous™ maintains an upright, broad, and natural form that looks good year-round. The leaves turn a beautiful yellow orange in fall, and the tree remains clean in winter.
Ideal Growing Conditions: Courageous™ Crabapple is able to be planted in full sun. It is best pruned in early spring while dormant. Remove branches that are rubbing against each other and shape the tree as needed. There is no need to deadhead the blooms throughout the season. Fertilize once in spring with a tree fertilizer. Finally, Courageous™ Crabapple doesn’t require any spraying for diseases in a normal year.
Landscape Inspiration: Trippy Pink® grows to a mature size of 20-25 feet tall and 15-20 feet wide. Courageous™ maintains an upright, broad, and natural form that looks good year-round. This is an excellent option for specimen or group plantings.
Visit Courageous™ Crabapple‘s plant page to learn even more or to purchase your own.
Green Wall Spire™ Crabapple is a columnar tree that forms a beautiful multi-seasonal structural element as a specimen or tall privacy hedge. In spring, pink buds transform into white flowers, later becoming red fruit that accents the green foliage in late summer before turning bronze in fall. The fruit remains on the tree, adding color and interest when the leaves drop for the winter months.
Ideal Growing Conditions: Green Wall Spire™ Crabapple can be planted in full sun and is best pruned in early spring while dormant. Remove branches that are rubbing against each other and shape the tree as needed. There is no need to deadhead the blooms throughout the season. Fertilize once in spring with a tree fertilizer. Finally, Green Wall Spire™ Crabapple doesn’t require any spraying for diseases in a normal year.
Landscape Inspiration: Green Wall Spire™ Crabapple is a columnar tree that forms a beautiful multi-seasonal structural element as a specimen or tall privacy hedge when planted en masse.
Visit Trippy Pink® Butterfly Bush’s plant page to learn even more or to purchase your own.
In addition to ordering these new introductions online, you can also use our Find a Retailer tool to locate First Editions® at garden centers near you. Remember to tag us on social @firsteditionsshrubstrees if you plant one of these shrubs and sign up for our newsletter for monthly inspiration, tips, and more delivered right to your inbox.
