Attention, ambitious gardeners! Maybe you’ll never get into the Guinness Book of World Records for your pumpkins or win any ribbons at the state fair for growing the heaviest cabbages, but you can easily make your neighbors green with envy by planting your backyards or patio pots with gargantuan flowers and vegetables this year.
Check out these scale-tipping new cultivars guaranteed to garner amazement and props from all who walk by. It’s high time to get out your seed flats and wall-o-waters and get a jump on this year’s giant growing season! Gardening game ON!
Domingo Tomatoes
Multi-season world champion tomato grower Dan Sutherland of Walla Walla, Washington, raised the world’s largest and heaviest tomato weighing in on July 15, 2020, at 10 Lb., 12.7 oz. The achievement was authenticated by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth. The tomato variety was "Domingo.”
Get your own packet of Domingo Tomato seeds from Dale Thurber at Delectation Tomatoes on Etsy. Seeds ship April 6-11, so get your order in ASAP while supplies last, and see if you can break the record!
ORDER HERE: 20 Domingo Tomato Seeds, $3.00
Gladiator Alliums
These stunning hybrid ornamentals related to the onion, garlic, and leek family, look like Star Trek-designed posies from a Romulan garden in the Beta Quadrant. The glowing, 6-inch diameter globular purple flowers soar up to 4-feet high and last in full color for weeks, after which they turn into spectacular, spiny seed heads that endure into deep winter. Easy to grow perennials; plant in groups of four or more for maximum visual impact.
ORDER HERE: Gladiator Alliums, $29.99 and up
American Giant Sunflowers
Hoo-Boy! These Kansas farmyard beauties often shoot up to 10-feet tall and more! American Giants are fast-growing on super strong, wind-resistant stalks, and produce a profusion of massive flowers – up to 1ft. wide – chock full of seeds that ripen in late summer.
ORDER HERE: American Giant Sunflowers, 50 Seeds, $6.99
Tree Dahlias
Enchanting! These rare dahlia variants from Mexico and Central America produce huge arching branches bedecked with clouds of large pink flowers. Fast growing plants can reach 13-feet tall! Best for gardens in southern and southwest states that have summers long enough to allow full growth to maturity.
ORDER HERE: Tree Dahlias, 2 root clumps, $19.99
Jumbo Diamond Head Elephant Ears
Native to tropical eastern Asia, these stunning Elephant Ear plants grow well in containers or gardens. This particular jumbo cultivar produces massive, glossy black leaves up to 2-feet long. The plants can tower to heights of 6-to-8 feet. Because of their size and distinctive look, they make a dramatic centerpiece or backdrop in any lawn or garden area.
ORDER HERE: Jumbo Diamond Head Elephant Ears, $29.99 and up
Cherry Choco Latte Rose Mallow
This gorgeous hibiscus bursts forth with 8 to 9”-wide, white-pink flowers in late summer that are guaranteed to stop traffic! The North American native variety bears massive, tropical-looking flowers, and is hardy and reliable even up to the extremes of zone 4. Although later to emerge than most perennials in spring, Cherry Choco Latte Rose Mallows are fast growing -- capable of adding an inch of new growth a day!
Pampas Grass
Each colossal ornamental Pampas Grass plant from the grasslands -- pampas – of South America rapidly spreads to a lush green clump 10 feet wide and sends up 10-foot-tall billowy white plumes in late summer and fall. Pampas Grass plantings are eye-catching conversation starters that lend a stately look to any property. Birds are attracted to the dried plumes in late winter, harvesting bits of the fluff to use in their new nests.
ORDER HERE: Pampas Grass, 3-Gal. pot, $59.95
Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin
This is THE pumpkin variety grown by serious gardeners to enter into giant pumpkin contests. Indeed, these vines typically bear tawny orange specimens that weigh between 200-300 lbs.! But even if you don’t plan to enter any competitions, they are fun to grow and use as fall decorations or carve into gigantic jack o’ lanterns at Halloween. Each seed order comes with a special home garden growing guide.
ORDER HERE: Dill’s Atlantic Giant Pumpkin, 10 seeds, $7.99
Giant OT Zambesi Lily
Welcome to heaven! These elegant white lilies are easy to grow – they bloom on strong stems that rise to 4 feet tall in the first year. As they are perennials, they'll come back year after year and will eventually reach a height of 8 feet by the third year. The sweet-smelling blossoms are huge and attract butterflies.
ORDER HERE: Giant OT Zambesi Lily, 3 BULBS, $12.99
Photos: Domingo Tomato, Bigpumpkins.com; Gladiator Alliums, Dutchbulbs.com; American Giant Sunflowers, Gurneys.com and Seedkeeping.tumblr.com; Tree Dahlia, GardeningExpress.co.uk; Rose Mallow, Fast-growing-trees.com; Pampas Grass, Fast-growing-trees.com; Giant Pumpkin, Gurneys.com; Zambesi Lily, Edenbros.com
Enjoying Happiness Archive? Buy me a coffee to keep me writing! :-)