(Snow-in-Summer)

Snow-in-Summer is an easy-care, mat-forming perennial that flowers so profusely in sproing that it resembles a drift of snow. This is a rampantly-spreading plant with small, wooly silver leaves that can persist through a mild winter. In spring, a carpet of clear white, star-shaped flowers with button centers rise above the leave on short stems and cover the plant into summer.

Grow Snow-in-Summer in full sun and average well-drained soil, A native of Italy and Sicily, it tolerates hot, dry conditions....

(Snow-in-Summer)

Tough and hardy, snow-in-summer is a vigorous, mat-forming perennial native to Italy. Its low-growing, fine, wooly, silver-gray leaves often persist through winter. In late spring to early summer, it blooms showily with five-petalled, star-like white flowers on stalks, covering the plant so densely that it resembles a mound of snow. This selection, ‘Columnae,’ lifts the flowers slightly higher than the parent species. The flowers draw many pollinators.

Give ‘Columnae’ full sun and average to poor...

(Silver Carpet Snow-in-Summer, Snow-in-Summer)

Tough and hardy, snow-in-summer is a vigorous, mat-forming perennial native to Italy. Its low-growing, fine, wooly, silver-gray leaves often persist through winter. In late spring to early summer, it blooms showily with five-petalled, star-like white flowers on stalks, covering the plant so densely that it resembles a mound of snow. This selection, ‘Silver Carpet,’ lifts the flowers slightly higher than the parent species. The flowers draw many pollinators.

Give ‘Silver Carpet’ full sun and average...

(Bell Flower Cherry)

Filling its branches with dense clusters of pink to deep pink-red flowers in late winter, the Taiwan cherry is a fantastic tree for warm winter regions where traditional flowering cherry trees grow poorly. A deciduous cherry tree that has an oval but spreading canopy, it is native to the mid-elevations of southern China, Taiwan, southern Japan and Vietnam.

In late winter to early spring while the branches are still leafless, they fill with flowers. Each flower hangs downward and resembles a bell...

(St. John's Bread)

The carob tree offers deep shade for warm, dry climates. It is native to the eastern Mediterranean where winters are mild and wet and succeeded by a very long, dry season. Adapted to poor, rocky ground that is well drained, it solves a landscaping challenge in the sandy-gravelly soils of desert gardens. This is a medium-sized evergreen tree with dense branching and large, glossy, leathery leaves.

The Carob tree blooms in spring with small flowers that release a pungent scent. They are followed...

(Kuster's Feather Cycad)

Bearing large, glossy, palm-like leaves on arching, spine-free petioles, this low-growing cycad makes an elegant addition to tropical gardens and greenhouses. It is a rare endemic of cloud forests in a small area of the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains in Tamaulipas, Mexico.

The long, feathery, rich-green leaves are spirally arranged atop a short, swollen, trunk-like stem. The numerous, narrow, blade-shaped leaflets are soft and pliant when new, becoming leathery and rigid with age. New leaves...

(Katsura Tree)

Regarded as one of the world's most beautiful small shade trees, the katsura tree has uniform heart-shaped leaves, golden orange fall foliage and persistent coppery-tan seedpods that decorate its bare winter branches. A deciduous tree from China and Japan, it generally has a spreading, vase-shaped to oval-canopy and gray-brown bark that exfoliates in vertical bands, adding winter and spring interest.

The heart-shaped leaves first emerge with a bronzy color before turning medium green. The leaf...

(Heronswood Globe Katsura Tree, Katsura Tree)

Regarded as one of the world's most beautiful small ornamental shade trees, the katsura tree has uniform heart-shaped leaves and pinkish apricot to gold fall foliage that releases a faint fragrance akin to burned sugar or caramel as they drop. A deciduous tree from China and Japan, 'Heronswood Globe' develops with a dense and perfectly round silhouette with gray-brown bark that exfoliates in vertical bands, adding winter and early spring garden interest. This cultivar was selected by Dan Hinkley...

(Katsura Tree, Red Fox Katsura Tree)

Regarded as one of the world's most beautiful small ornamental shade trees, the katsura tree has uniform heart-shaped leaves. The German selection 'Red Fox' produces new spring leaves of a burgundy-purple or bronze-red hue that mature to blue-green by early summer. In autumn the leaves turn pinkish apricot to gold and release a faint fragrance akin to burned sugar or caramel as they drop. The gray-brown bark exfoliates in vertical bands, adding winter and early spring garden interest on the upright...

(Weeping Katsura Tree)

An elegant and variable form of one of East Asia's most beautiful trees, weeping katsura bears dainty shimmering heart-shaped leaves on cascading, mounded branches.

The leaves of this deciduous tree emerge with a bronzy color before turning medium green. The leaf blades have tiny scalloped edges and are usually held in opposite pairs on the branches. In early spring, before the leaves emerge, tiny flowers appear, with red female flowers and green male flowers borne on separate trees. Fertile...