The Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs That Earned Top Honors in 2026

Spring Meadow Nursery is looking back on a year of industry recognition for Proven Winners ColorChoice shrubs, with honors from cut flower growers, garden retailers, and independent rose trials. Among the highlights, the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG) named Wine & Spirits® weigela its 2026 Woody Cut Flower of the Year. Chosen by the group’s more than 2,500 members, the Cut Flowers of the Year recognize varieties for their ease of culture, productivity, and marketability.

Honors and Awards for Wine & Roses Weigela

Bred by Megan Mathey at Spring Meadow Nursery in Grand Haven, MI, Wine & Spirits weigela updates the classic Wine & Roses weigela. The vigorous variety pairs dramatic dark foliage with crisp white flowers that open from lime-green buds in late spring and early summer. The near-black foliage holds its color from spring through fall, adding depth and contrast to arrangements well beyond bloom time.

As one ASCFG grower shared, “I’m a big fan! My plants were finally mature to harvest this past year, and I was really happy with them.”

Wine & Spirits weigela reaches 3–5 feet tall and wide, thrives in full sun, is hardy in USDA Zones 4-8, and is also deer resistant. The variety was previously named the Proven Winners 2024 Flowering Shrub of the Year.

Previous Proven Winners ColorChoice varieties to earn the Woody Cut Flower of the Year include Brandywine™ viburnum (2024), Pinky Winky® panicle hydrangea (2023), Quick Fire® and ‘Limelight’ panicle hydrangeas, and Coppertina® ninebark.

Other Award-Winning Proven Winners ColorChoice Varieties

Wine & Spirits weigela wasn’t the only Proven Winners ColorChoice variety recognized in 2026. At the Oregon Association of Nurseries (OAN) Farwest Show in August, Featherman® Vitex and Candybox® Ugni each earned a Retailers’ Choice Award. In rose trials, Reminiscent® Coral and Ringo® Double Pink roses earned Local Artist awards from the American Rose Trials for Sustainability (A.R.T.S.), and Reminiscent Pink rose received both a regional award and a fragrance award from American Garden Rose Selections (AGRS).

“Awards like these are an honor, but they’re also an extension of our own testing,” says Natalie Carmolli, PR Specialist at Spring Meadow Nursery. “Every shrub we introduce goes through years of evaluation in our own trials. When cut flower farmers, garden retailers, and independent rose trials across the country put our plants through their paces, we learn how they perform in different climates, production systems, and markets. That real-world feedback is invaluable, and it reinforces what we’ve always believed: investing in strong genetics pays off for growers, retailers, and gardeners alike.”