A redbud tree with burgundy leaves, a boxwood alternative that blooms, and three new twists in hydrangeas are among the interesting trees and shrubs debuting in the 2026 growing season.

Here are seven newcomers worth checking out as this year’s plants start showing up at garden centers and nurseries:

Storm Proof is a new native hydrangea with unusually strong stems and a heavy-bloom habit. (Credit: Proven Winners®)

1. Incrediball Storm Proof™ Smooth Hydrangea

The Problem: Large hydrangea blooms often "flop" and face the dirt after a heavy rain.

The Solution: This Proven Winners introduction features reinforced, thick stems designed to hold massive white flower heads upright through the fiercest summer storms.

Why it’s a winner: It produces 16x more florets than older varieties, providing massive pollinator support.

• Size: 4' tall and wide.

• Light: Full sun to shade.

• Hardiness: USDA Zones 3-8

The Details: This new introduction from Proven Winners is being billed as the sturdiest, heaviest-blooming native smooth hydrangea yet.

Proven Winners’ Natalie Carmolli says that Incrediball Storm Proof has “an incredibly dense habit and strong, thick stems that keep its fluffy white blooms upright through the fiercest winds and rain.”

She adds that the variety produces 16 times as many florets as older smooth hydrangeas, giving Incrediball Storm Proof “unparalleled pollinator support in the hydrangea garden. Those spectacular flowers cover a neat, compact silhouette from top to bottom… no bare legs, no flopping.”

Plants grow about four feet tall and wide and bloom for several weeks in mid-summer.

Smooth hydrangeas (Hydrangea arborescens) grow in most lights from shade to full sun. 

Midnight Express redbud has burgundy leaves that follow its early-spring pink flowers. (Credit: Spring Meadow Nursery)

2. Midnight Express® Redbud

The Problem: Many ornamental trees lose their luster after the spring blossoms fade.

The Solution: This native variety offers "Nature's Confetti" pink flowers in spring, followed by deep burgundy heart-shaped leaves that maintain their rich color all summer long.

Why it’s a winner: It has a tidy, rounded habit perfect for modern, smaller suburban lots.

• Size: 20-30' tall; 10-20' wide.

• Light: Full sun to part shade.

• Hardiness: USDA Zones 5-8

The Details: The rich burgundy leaves are the highlight of this new native redbud variety that’s the favorite 2026 newcomer of Maria Zampini, president of the Ohio-based Upshoot plant-introduction company.

Zampini likes Midnight Express for its multiple facets and seasons of interest.

“This multi award-winning ornamental tree greets you in spring with a flush of delicate, bright pink, pea-shaped flowers akin to nature’s confetti,” she says. “Then as the petals fade, the real magic begins as deep burgundy leaves emerge and hold their rich color through summer.”

The tree has a rounded habit and grows to about 20 to 30 feet tall and 10 to 20 feet across in full sun or part shade.

Boxwood ‘NewGen Liberty Belle’ (Credit: NewGen)

3. NewGen Liberty Belle® Boxwood

The Problem: Boxwood Blight and deer browsing have made traditional boxwoods a risky investment.

The Solution: The newest addition to the NewGen series, Liberty Belle is a low-growing, spreading variety that has outperformed others in blight-resistance trials for three straight years.

Why it’s a winner: It is exceptionally deer-resistant and grows slowly, meaning less pruning for the homeowner.

• Size: 1.5' tall x 3' wide (at 15 years).

• Light: Shade to part shade.

• Hardiness: USDA Zones 5b-8

The Details: Boxwoods have been pummeled on a variety of fronts lately, especially with the threat of a fatal boxwood blight disease.

Virginia’s Saunders Genetics has been at the forefront of developing new blight-resistant varieties, and this year it’s debuting the third variety in its NewGen series.

That would be NewGen Liberty Belle, a slow-growing Korean littleleaf type with a low, spreading habit.

Liberty Belle reaches a typical size of about one-and-a-half feet tall and three wide in 15 years. Saunders says the variety has topped its boxwood-blight trials for the past three years.

Like its NewGen siblings Independence (a rounded, mid-speed grower to three feet tall and wide in 15 years) and Freedom (a rounded fast-grower to three-and-a-half feet tall and wide in 15 years), Liberty Belle is also one of the most deer-resistant landscape shrubs.

Liberty Belle performs best in shade to part shade and has good resistance to boxwood leaf miners as well. 

Centennial Ruby is a new mophead hydrangea with unusual color-changing dark flowers. (Credit: Monrovia.com/Doreen Wynja)

4. Centennial Ruby™ Hydrangea

The Problem: Typical mophead hydrangeas can feel "common" or fade to a dull brown.

The Solution: Released for Monrovia’s 100th anniversary, this hydrangea features ruby-red flowers that age into a dramatic, near-black maroon.

Why it’s a winner: Strong stems and thick, deep-green leaves make it a sturdier "mophead" than classic varieties.

• Size: 3' tall and wide.

• Light: Morning sun, afternoon shade.

• Hardiness: USDA Zones 4-9

The Details: Centennial Ruby is a bigleaf or “mophead” hydrangea that’s distinctive for its ruby-red flowers that darken almost into blackish maroon as the big, round, early-summer flowers age.

This one is a special release from California’s Monrovia Nursery, named to mark the company’s 100^th anniversary in 2026.

The variety was eye-grabbing enough to earn a Garden Center Group Retailer’s Choice Award at last year’s Cultivate ’25 industry trade show in Columbus, Ohio.

Katie Tamony, Monrovia’s chief marketing officer and a former Sunset Magazine editor, says the flowers of Centennial Ruby are “simply stunning, unlike anything seen before… This selection is exceptionally sturdy and compact with strong stems and thick, deep-green leaves.”

Plants grow about three feet tall and wide, ideally in a site with morning sun and afternoon shade.

The flowers also dry well, making it a good choice for cut-flower use. 

The new DreamCloud hydrangea has bright white flowers that rebloom after the first main flush in June. (Credit: Bailey Nurseries)

5. DreamCloud® Reblooming Hydrangea (Endless Summer® Series)

The Problem: Traditional white hydrangeas often turn brown or "dirty" mid-season.

The Solution: This newcomer to the Endless Summer line maintains a crisp, clean white color longer into the season and boasts a powerful reblooming habit.

Why it’s a winner: Excellent disease resistance and slow-to-fade flowers make it the premier choice for cut-flower arrangements.

• Size: 3-4' tall and wide.

• Light: Morning Sun, Afternoon Shade 

• Hardiness: USDA Zones 4-9

The Details: If you’re in the market for a classic white mophead hydrangea, this newcomer is the latest addition to Bailey Nurseries’ popular Endless Summer line of reblooming hydrangeas.

Bailey’s marketing/communications manager Ryan McEnaney says DreamCloud has “the classic pillowy blooms in modern white that keeps its clean color later into the season.”

He adds that it also has a strong rebloom, excellent disease resistant, and flowers that are slow to fade, making it good in cut-flower arrangements.

Plants grow three to four feet tall and wide, ideally in a site with morning sun and afternoon shade. 

Dwarf Rhododendron Bloombux Blush (Credit: Bloomin' Easy)

6. Dwarf Bloombux® Blush Rhododendron

The Problem: You want the structure of a boxwood hedge but crave the beauty of flowers.

The Solution: This evergreen "boxwood alternative" offers glossy, boxwood-like foliage but erupts in pink, trumpet-shaped flowers every spring.

Why it’s a winner: It is highly adaptable—thriving in hedges or as a standalone specimen.

• Pro Tip: Plant in well-drained, slightly acidic soil for best performance.

• Size: 2-3' tall and wide.

• Light: Partial Sun to Full Sun

• Hardiness: USDA Zones 5b-9

The Details: Some gardeners are dealing with boxwood blight by switching away from boxwoods altogether, opting for similar compact broadleaf evergreens such as the native inkberry variety Strongbox or Japanese hollies such as the popular Helleri variety.

The Bloomin’ Easy line of shrubs is adding a dwarf rhododendron to the mix in Bloombux Blush, a very compact, glossy-leafed, evergreen rhododendron with the bonus of pink, trumpet-shaped flowers in spring.

Bloombux Blush grows slowly to about two to three feet tall and wide and can be used as a low hedge (a la many boxwood plantings) or as a stand-alone specimen.

It’ll perform best in well drained, slightly acidic soil in a site with morning sun and afternoon shade, although it’ll also work in full sun. 

Autumn Kiss is the latest introduction in the popular Encore line of reblooming azaleas. (Credit: Encore Azaleas)

7. Encore Azalea Autumn Kiss™

The Problem: Most azaleas only bloom for two weeks in May and then disappear.

The Solution: Part of the Southern Living Plant Collection, this "Encore" variety blooms in spring and again in late summer/early fall with ruffled, bicolor pink-and-white flowers.

Why it’s a winner: It is incredibly heat-tolerant and features glossy evergreen leaves for winter interest.

• Size: 3-4' tall and wide.

• Light: Part shade to full sun.

• Hardiness: USDA Zones 6a-10b

The Details: This flowering broadleaf evergreen is a new color in the Southern Living Plant Collection’s popular line of reblooming Encore azaleas.

Autumn Kiss has ruffled, watercolor-like, bicolor blooms that feature tones of hot pink to near white. Like all Encore azaleas, the variety sports traditional azalea flowers in spring but then produces an encore performance in late summer and early fall.

Plants grow three to four feet tall and wide in most lights from shade to full sun and are heat-tolerant with glossy, evergreen leaves.

The variety was good enough to earn a Garden Center Group Retailer’s Choice Award at last year’s Cultivate ’25 industry trade show in Columbus, Ohio.