14 Plants to Grow Before You Die – Experts Share Must-Haves for Your Gardening Bucket List
According to our experts, their lives won't be complete unless they grow these plants at least once. Find out which varieties top their gardening bucket lists.
Every gardener has at least one or two plants they’ve always wanted to grow, but just haven’t done it yet. Maybe it’s a rare variety of orchid or a common vegetable you’ve just never gotten around to growing.
Whatever it is, these are the plants that end up on our gardening bucket lists. With a new year just beginning and a new growing season only a few weeks or months away (depending on where you live), it’s time to take stock of the must-have plants you want to grow.
Now is the perfect opportunity to plan out your garden and start crossing off plants from your own must-grow list. To get you thinking about what you want to grow at home, our team of experts shared the top plants they want to grow before they kick the bucket.
1. Himalayan Blue Poppy
Editor in Chief Melanie Griffiths revealed there’s a magical-looking blue flower at the top of her gardening bucket list. “I've always wanted to try growing the Himalayan blue poppy. I love seeing them on the rare occasions I spot them on a garden visit. I've heard they're really difficult to grow and I don't have the right soil, but one day I'll give it a go!”
Buy Himalayan blue poppy seeds from Seedville USA on Etsy.
2. Monkey Orchid
Griffiths also mentioned a unique orchid that she would like to grow indoors at some point in her life. “I'd love to try one of the rarer, more difficult orchids one day.”
Though she admits she’s probably not committed enough to try the ghost orchid, she says, “Something like a monkey orchid would be fun.”
Shop a wide variety of rare orchids from Flora Epiphytica on Etsy.
3. Fanged Pitcher Plant
Tyler Schuster, who is our resident indoor gardening expert, said an otherworldly plant topped his bucket list. “I'd like to try my hand at Nepenthes bicalcarata.” This pitcher plant is native to Borneo and has two fang-like structures that help capture insects to feed its carnivorous diet.
Explore tons of different types of pitcher plants for sale on Etsy.
4. Tea
Content Editor Kayleigh Dray shared a few different plants she wants to grow before she kicks the bucket. The one at the top of her list is a common kitchen staple, but it’s not very common in many home gardens.
“I’ve always had a fancy to grow my own tea, ever since I watched a TV show with my daughter about a little place in Scotland that does it.” To grow a classic cuppa, plant a Camellia sinensis bush in your garden. You can also opt for easier-care herbal tea plants like chamomile, mint, echinacea, lemon balm, or lavender.
Get a cold hardy tea plant from Fast Growing Trees that you can grow indoors or outdoors.
5. Asparagus
Sometimes there are plants we want to grow but just never get around to it. That’s how asparagus is for Dray. She knows it’s not hard to grow, but she’s just never made a place for it in her veggie plot. Maybe this year is the time to try!
Asparagus is one of those plants that are not worth starting from seed, but it’s fairly easy to care for when grown from a crown division. Plus, they’re perennial so you only have to plant them once for years of tasty harvests.
Shop different delicious asparagus cultivars from Burpee.
6. Skeleton Flower
If you’re looking to add a Gothic touch to your garden, put this next plant on your bucket list. Dray says she has always wanted to grow a spooky skeleton flower “to appeal to my inner Wednesday Addams.” Plus, she just loves how delicately beautiful they are.
This one sells out fast from pretty much every online vendor. Keep an eye on the listing for skeleton flowers from Wayside Gardens to get yours.
7. Oak Tree
Dray also mentioned a much more common plant on her must-grow list: the oak tree. But she wants to grow this important keystone plant from seed as a sort of legacy in her garden. She says, “Even knowing I won’t be around to see them tower above me, it feels like a gift for generations to come.”
An oak tree is one of the most beneficial plants gardeners can grow. They support a wide variety of wildlife and are vital to native ecosystems. Planting one is certainly a great legacy to leave in your garden.
You can buy red oak tree seeds on Amazon or try growing your own tree from acorns you find in your neighborhood.
8. Stewartia
For Digital Community Manager and former garden center manager Amy Draiss, there’s one plant she’s been dreaming of growing for years. “I’ve wanted a stewartia tree ever since I saw a stunning specimen at Fellows Riverside Gardens in Mill Creek Metroparks in Youngstown, Ohio back in 2021.
The almost striped, peeling bark and graceful overall shape won me over, and the camellia-like white summer flowers are just as captivating. While I technically have space for it, I’m not sure where I’d place it, and a mature specimen may be out of my budget for now. That said, I think it’s time to take the plunge and start with a smaller tree so I can enjoy watching it grow.”
Get a lovely flowering Japanese stewartia tree from Garden Goods Direct.
9. Geum
There is another perennial on Draiss’s list of plants she wants to grow in her lifetime. It’s an overlooked perennial that adds whimsical charm to any garden. “My second plant is a perennial called geum, also known as avens. There have been some truly spectacular new varieties introduced lately, including ‘Totally Tangerine,’ ‘Tequila Sunrise,’ and ‘Blazing Sunset.’
When I worked at a garden center years ago, I’d post about this plant on Facebook or share a quick video, and before I knew it, they were completely snatched up – often before I could grab one for myself. Now they’re surprisingly hard to find locally.” Luckily, you can find Totally Tangerine geum for sale from Made By Bird Song Farm on Etsy, as well as a couple other beautiful cultivars.
Draiss has decided the benefits of this little gem are too good to keep passing up. “Geum stays fairly low to the ground, blooms nonstop all summer, has beautiful foliage, and attracts butterflies. After missing out for so long, I’ve officially decided I need one.”
10. Maple Tree
Senior Editor Liz Baessler has another common plant on her list that she’s been wanting to grow for a while. “This may be a basic choice, but I want to grow my own maple tree. They're all over my neighborhood, but the city keeps pruning them to make way for power lines. I want one on our property that can grow to its fullest potential!”
Though there are tons of gorgeous varieties of maple trees, there’s one particular cultivar Baessler wants to grow. “At the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden last fall, I saw a gorgeous ‘Fall Fiesta’ sugar maple (I took a picture of the sign so I'd remember). So that's what I've got my eye on.”
In addition to their stunning fall color, maple trees have another obvious selling point that Baessler wants to take advantage of. “As a bonus, we could collect sap and make a thimbleful of maple syrup!”
Shop sugar maples from Fast Growing Trees to start making your own syrup.
11. Apple Trees
Allie Kerkhoff, Senior Manager of Revenue Strategy & Insights, has big plans for her garden. She doesn’t want to just grow one apple tree, but a whole orchard. “Someday I'd like to have as close to an apple orchard as I can get.”
She’s inspired by the local orchards she sees in the Pacific Northwest where she lives. “Apple trees are everywhere around here.” But Kerkhoff says the draw goes beyond just their adaptability to her climate.
She wants to grow apple trees for their many other delicious benefits, too. “They attract deer and other wildlife, and we love fresh apples. We'd even try our hands at making cider! If not a full orchard, we definitely want to put at least a few dwarf varieties of apple trees in our current yard.”
Explore a wide variety of tasty apple tree varieties for sale from Fast Growing Trees.
12. Large Evergreens
Master Gardener and long-time garden writer Susan Albert says one day she “would love to have a yard that is big enough for several large needled evergreens. They look so majestic with several planted together and they provide wind breaks, privacy, cover for wildlife, and look so beautiful when snow covered.”
Right now her space isn’t big enough to accommodate these four-season beauties, but she has some ideas in mind if she ever moves. “Deodar cedar, Canadian hemlock, and any blue-leaved evergreen are on my wish list.”
Browse beautiful evergreens from Fast Growing Trees and find the perfect one for your space.
13. Tomatillo
Content Editor Janey Goulding has a hard time making up her mind about which plants to put on her must-have list. She says, “I think my bucket list keeps growing (possibly even more than my backyard!), but randomly, there are two very different plants I would love to grow before I pop my clogs.
“One is the tomatillo, which is a fruit that just ticks so many boxes for me: dainty compact form, quirky paper hats, resilience to pests, and amazing salsa-style flavors. Up until now, erratic regional weather has been a factor in postponing this one – but I now have access to more greenhouse space, so am keen to give this one a go this year.”
After tomatillos, which you can buy as seeds from Burpee, there’s another unique edible plant on Goulding’s list.
14. Quince
Goulding tells me, “Another plant project I am determined to try before I die is growing a quince. It's one of those fruits I have only ever seen associated with high-end preserves and jellies, but this tree has such a lush reputation and cool heritage.
“Theoretically, all I need is a very large container, and I have just acquired a big barrel container for the purpose of growing a fruit tree. So I'm hoping to try homegrown quincey fruits before I meet my botanical maker!”
Don’t confuse edible quince with the more common flowering quince shrub. You can find fruiting quince saplings for sale on Amazon.
