The winner: Great Blue Lobelia , 100/100. Runner-up: Viburnum at 94.
Every flower here is scored by the same 5 published rules, using one open table of 85 flowers. No taste, no sponsors: tap any score and it unfolds into the lines that made it.
The picks
The flowers that won The top score, plus the qualifier that asks least of you.
100 100 WINNER WINNER YFG INDEX Bloom window: 4 months · Light flexibility: 3 documented · Pollinator value: 3 documented
Flaws, not dealbreakers:
wants consistently moist ground; toxic to cats
Deer: seldom damaged (Rutgers B) Not for cat households
100 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 25 / 25 4 months
Light flexibility 20 / 20 3 documented
Pollinator value 20 / 20 3 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 15 / 15 3 to 9
94 94 LOW-EFFORT PICK LOW-EFFORT PICK YFG INDEX Bloom window: 6 months · Light flexibility: 2 documented · Pollinator value: 4 documented
Flaws, not dealbreakers:
no flaw on record
Deer: seldom damaged (Rutgers B)
94 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 25 / 25 6 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 20 / 20 4 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 15 / 15 2 to 10
Also great Close behind on points. Neither beats the winner overall, but each is the better answer in a garden the winner would not suit.
88 88 ALSO GREAT ALSO GREAT YFG INDEX Bloom window: 5 months · Light flexibility: 2 documented · Pollinator value: 2 documented
Flaws, not dealbreakers:
toxic to cats
Deer: sometimes eaten (Rutgers C) Not for cat households
88 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 25 / 25 5 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 14 / 20 2 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 15 / 15 3 to 9
83 83 ALSO GREAT ALSO GREAT YFG INDEX Bloom window: 4 months · Light flexibility: 2 documented · Pollinator value: 4 documented
Flaws, not dealbreakers:
no vase data in the postharvest literature
Deer: seldom damaged (Rutgers B) Cat safe (listed non-toxic)
83 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 25 / 25 4 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 20 / 20 4 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 4 / 15 8 to 10.5
The protocol
How the score is built 5 rules, 100 points, no opinions. Every line reads one field of the table.
Bloom window 25 points Read straight from the months it is in bloom.
Light flexibility 20 points rain gardens sit wherever the runoff goes Read from: the light it is documented in.
Pollinator value 20 points a rain garden doubles as habitat Read from: pollinator groups.
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 points Read straight from how much upkeep extension guides report.
Cold-zone reach 15 points Read straight from the zones it survives.
Not ranked here: no documented tolerance for standing-wet soil. Scores are never sponsored
and never sold. The full method ↗
The leaderboard
The top ten The 10 highest of 11 that qualified. Tap any score to open the lines behind it.
1 100 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 25 / 25 4 months
Light flexibility 20 / 20 3 documented
Pollinator value 20 / 20 3 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 15 / 15 3 to 9
2 94 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 25 / 25 6 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 20 / 20 4 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 15 / 15 2 to 10
3 88 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 25 / 25 5 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 14 / 20 2 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 15 / 15 3 to 9
4 83 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 25 / 25 4 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 20 / 20 4 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 4 / 15 8 to 10.5
5 81 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 12 / 25 2 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 20 / 20 3 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 15 / 15 3 to 8
6 72 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 12 / 25 2 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 20 / 20 5 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 11 / 20 medium
Cold-zone reach 15 / 15 3 to 9
7 69 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 12 / 25 2 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 8 / 20 1 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 15 / 15 3 to 8
7 69 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 12 / 25 2 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 8 / 20 1 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 15 / 15 3 to 9
9 68 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 25 / 25 4 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 14 / 20 2 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 11 / 20 medium
Cold-zone reach 4 / 15 7 to 11
10 58 / 100 tap for the breakdown Bloom window 12 / 25 2 months
Light flexibility 14 / 20 2 documented
Pollinator value 8 / 20 1 documented
Set-and-forget upkeep 20 / 20 low
Cold-zone reach 4 / 15 8 to 10
Considered, not chosen Not qualifying is a verdict too: the table simply says this job is not theirs.
no documented tolerance for standing-wet soil Roses, Tulips, Peonies and 71 more
The winner's badge Generated by the ranking above, and re-scored whenever the table changes.
Great Blue Lobelia
The badge is generated by this ranking, not awarded by hand. When the
table changes, it re-scores itself.
100 100 RAIN GARDEN PICK RAIN GARDEN PICK YFG INDEX · WINNER How we rank
We keep one table of 85 flowers,
with 25 documented facts each, drawn from university and extension sources. Every ranking is
a published formula worth 100 points; tap any score and it unfolds into the lines that made
it. A flower that does not fit a job is not scored lower: it is excluded, and the reason is
named. Nothing here is sponsored, and no score can be bought. When the table changes, every
score and stamp updates itself.
The full method ↗
