In celebration of its 100th anniversary, Monrovia has introduced the Landscape Legends Collection, a special collection honoring the top 100 plants that have shaped North American gardens over the past century. These iconic plants include shrubs, trees, perennials, edibles, and vines that have stood the test of time, including varieties known for their breakthrough breeding, enduring beauty, and influence on both home gardeners and landscape designers.
(Above) Fuss-free Grace N' Grit™ Shrub Roses (Pink is pictured above) have revolutionized modern-day roses, thanks to their long-lasting profusion of blooms and disease-resistant, self-cleaning qualities.
Each plant in the collection was chosen for its unique story and proven performance. The list reflects a century of horticultural expertise, ongoing conversations with gardeners, designers, and retailers, as well as the plants that have consistently captured attention for their reliability, adaptability, and design impact.
Below are the top 10 standout plants from the full list of 100 Landscape Legends. These plants offer compelling backstories, memorable color and form, and plenty of ideas for bringing their magic into your own garden.
A blueberry that looks as good as it tastes, Bountiful Blue® was a true breakthrough for ornamental edibles. With shimmering blue foliage, prolific spring blooms, and a midsummer harvest of sweet berries, this Southern Highbush blueberry offers year-round appeal.
Why It’s a Legend
Introduced in 2009, this variety set a new standard for landscape-ready blueberries. Beyond its striking foliage and flavorful fruit, Bountiful Blue® became an instant favorite for designers and gardeners wanting an edible that performs like an ornamental shrub.
Its multi-season beauty features spring blooms, midsummer berries, and fiery fall color, making it one of the first blueberries embraced for front-yard landscapes, not just kitchen gardens. Plus, it only needs 150–200 chill hours.
How to Use It
- Add structure, color, and edible fruit to landscapes
- Feature in decorative containers for a high-style kitchen garden
- Mix into shrub borders for unexpected four-season interest
- Support pollinators with spring blooms
At a Glance
USDA Zones: 6-10; Sun: Full sun; Water Needs: Moderate; Size: 3-4' tall and wide; Bloom Time: Spring
A decade of rigorous trials led to a new shrub rose that's perfectly suited for today’s gardens. Grace N’ Grit™ delivers upright structure, months of bloom, and excellent disease resistance, even in challenging climates.
Why They’re Legends
Introduced in 2018, these roses were bred in the field, surviving heat, humidity, and tough conditions before earning their place in the series. What truly sets this series apart is the way it reshaped expectations for shrub roses.
Grace N’ Grit™ proved that roses could be both tough and refined, thriving in everything from arid Western heat to hot, humid Southern conditions. Their long flowering season and landscape-scale presence made them an immediate hit with both homeowners and landscape designers.
How to Use Them
- Create mass color in borders
- Add height and drama to mixed beds
- Bring reliable blooms to hot or humid climates
- Attract pollinators with their open flower form
At a Glance
USDA Zones: 5-9; Sun: Full sun; Water Needs: Moderate; Size: 4-5' tall and wide; Bloom Time: Late spring through frost
Mediterranean style meets modern versatility. Little Ollie® gives you the refined, silver-green elegance of an olive tree without the fruit, mess, or unwieldy size.
Why It’s a Legend
Introduced in 1987, Little Ollie® helped usher in the rise of Mediterranean-inspired landscapes by offering all the Old-World charm of an olive tree in a manageable, fruitless form. "It has all the charm of Tuscany, without the upkeep," says one landscape architect who uses Little Ollie® for both residential courtyards and luxury commercial projects.
Its adaptability to containers, hedging, topiary, or a natural shrub shape made it a go-to in both modern and traditional designs across warm and dry climates.
How to Use It
- Shape into a tabletop or patio-topiary
- Flank an entryway with container-grown patio trees
- Plant as a low, polished hedge
- Use in hot, dry locations where other shrubs won’t thrive
At a Glance
USDA Zones: 8-11; Sun: Full sun; Water Needs: Low once established; Size: 4-6' tall and wide (shrub form)
With its upright form, huge white blooms, and glossy evergreen foliage, Majestic Beauty® has been a landscape favorite for more than 60 years.
Why It’s a Legend
Selected in 1963 for improved branching and narrower form, it quickly became the preferred magnolia for estate gardens, large homes, and public landscapes needing an elegant evergreen presence.
This selection became the benchmark magnolia for creating structure and shade in warm-zone landscapes. With improved branching, larger flowers, and a more refined habit, Majestic Beauty® is a reliable evergreen tree that carries year-round elegance long before modern cultivars expanded the market.
How to Use It
- Plant as a statement shade tree
- Anchor large-scale landscapes with evergreen structure
- Create an iconic focal point along driveways or entries
- Use for privacy screening with year-round beauty
At a Glance
USDA Zones: 7-9; Sun: Full sun; Water Needs: Moderate once established; Size: 35-40' tall, 15-20' wide; Bloom Time: Late spring to summer
Small in size, big on bloom power. Teenie Genie® offers a cloud of yellow-to-fuchsia flowers from spring through fall, all on a naturally compact mound.
Why It’s a Legend
Introduced in 2005 to meet demand for tidy, container-friendly lantanas, this variety quickly became beloved for its long bloom season and pollinator appeal.
Teenie Genie® proved that lantana doesn't have to be sprawling to deliver big impact. Its naturally compact form brings lantana’s vibrant, pollinator-attracting blooms into small gardens and containers for the first time, solving a major design challenge for hot-climate gardeners.
How to Use It
- Bring continuous color to patio pots
- Edge borders or walkways with soft texture
- Accent dry or Mediterranean-style designs
- Support hummingbirds and butterflies
At a Glance
USDA Zones: 9-11, or grow as an annual; Sun: Full sun; Water Needs: Low once established; Size: 30" tall and wide; Bloom Time: Spring through fall
A refreshing twist on a classic evergreen. Mint Julep® is fast-growing, cold-hardy, and instantly recognizable for its green, fountain-like branches.
Why It’s a Legend
Since its 1961 introduction, Mint Julep® has become one of the most versatile junipers ever sold. Loved for its movement, durability, and adaptability, it’s even the most-trained topiary in Monrovia's collection.
Its distinctive arching form set it apart from standard junipers and makes it a favorite for mass plantings, topiary crafting, and difficult sites where reliability was essential.
How to Use It
- Shape into topiary for bold year-round structure
- Create low-maintenance screens or hedges
- Stabilize slopes with its broad, mounded form
- Fill wide borders with evergreen volume
At a Glance
USDA Zones: 3-9; Sun: Full sun; Water Needs: Low once established; Size: 6' tall, 8' wide in natural form
The hydrangea series that changed the game. Strong stems, reblooming varieties, compact forms, and reliable performance made Seaside Serenade® an instant favorite.
Why They’re Legends
From 2016 forward, each introduction added new features like stronger stems, improved bud hardiness, and more consistent reblooming. Today, these hydrangeas are staples for gardeners across the country.
Gardeners love that these hydrangeas perform beautifully from coast to coast, offering consistent blooms whether winter is mild or harsh. Their strong aesthetic presence helped cement Seaside Serenade® as a modern classic in American landscapes.
How to Use Them
- Feature in containers or front-yard garden beds
- Create a polished, symmetrical foundation planting
- Brighten mixed borders with months of color
- Cut for long-lasting indoor bouquets
At a Glance
USDA Zones: Varies slightly by variety, generally 4-9; Sun: Partial sun; Water Needs: Moderate, prefers consistent moisture; Size: 3-4' tall and wide. Bloom Time: Spring through fall (reblooming varieties)
Dramatic, tropical-looking foliage on a plant that thrives in shade. Camouflage® glows with gold, chartreuse, and green marbling.
Why It’s a Legend
Selected by plantsman Dan Hinkley from a Gotemba nursery collection in Japan and introduced by Monrovia in 2014, this unique variegated Fatsia brought entirely new color and texture to shade gardens. Its international profile has risen, earning placement in curated collections across Europe and the United States.
Its journey from a Japanese nursery to gardens across the world adds to its mystique, reinforcing its status as a plant with both horticultural significance and irresistible visual drama.
How to Use It
- Brighten dim corners with bold, glowing foliage
- Create a focal point in woodland or shade gardens
- Add tropical drama to containers on a covered patio
- Pair with ferns and hostas for textural contrast
At a Glance
USDA Zones: 7-10; Sun: Partial to full shade; Water Needs: Moderate; Size: 5-8' tall and wide; Bloom Time: Late fall
A cheerful winter bloomer discovered by a Monrovia craftsman, Pink-A-Boo® is a pink sport of the popular Yuletide Camellia, renowned for its strong structure and reliable form.
Why It’s a Legend
Spotted by longtime Monrovia craftsman Brad Crocker, this naturally occurring sport offered bubblegum-pink blooms with the same vigorous structure as its parent. Introduced in 2011, it has become a shade-garden favorite.
This chance discovery brings a fresh, joyful color to the cool-season palette, offering gardeners vivid blooms at a time when the landscape needs them most.
How to Use It
- Add winter brightness near patios and entries
- Frame walkways in filtered shade
- Create an evergreen hedge with seasonal bloom
- Grow in containers for year-round structure
At A Glance
USDA Zones: 8–10; Sun: Partial shade to filtered light; Water Needs: Moderate, regular moisture preferred; Size: 8-10' tall and wide, larger with age; Bloom Time: Mid to late fall
Oo-La-La® Bougainvillea offers that timeless bougainvillea look in a compact, container-friendly form that's perfect for modern gardens.
Why It’s a Legend
Rooted in a lineage that stretches back to Bougainvillea brasiliensis, the first species classified in Europe in 1772, Oo-La-La® represents the best of both history and horticultural innovation. Introduced in 1989, this hybrid brought the abundant, fuchsia-pink bracts of traditional bougainvilleas into a dwarf size that fits beautifully into today’s smaller gardens and container-heavy landscapes.
By delivering bold, long-season color on a tidy, groundcover-like plant that can also be trained into an elegant patio tree, Oo-La-La® transforms where and how bougainvillea could be used.
How to Use It
- Add sizzling color to pots and balconies
- Train into a patio tree for dramatic vertical interest
- Use as a flowering groundcover in hot, dry climates
- Accent courtyards and terraces with long-season bloom
At a Glance
USDA Zones: 9-11, or grow as annual; Sun: Full sun; Water Needs: Low once established; Size: 1-2' tall, 6-8' wide when left unstaked; Bloom Time: Summer through fall (longer in warm zones)
More Resources for Your Garden
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- Our Top 10 Gardening Tips
- Guide to Pruning Flowering Shrubs
- Find the Best Plants for Your Garden
- Pruning Ornamental Grasses
- Inspiring Garden Ideas