(Chokeberry)

(Black Chokeberry, Black Chokecherry, Viking Chokeberry)

Small, pretty white blossoms in spring, orangey fall color and dark purplish-black berries make black chokeberry a great shrub for naturalistic massed plantings. An upright deciduous shrub that suckers to form a thicket of twigs and leaves, it is native to the moist soils of the eastern United States and a thin sliver of southeastern Canada. Individual plants have a cluster of many, thin, dark brown stems that have a white, waxy, semi-flaky film on the smaller, reddish-brown twigs. It is slightly...

(Artemisia, Huntington Wormwood)

For billowing masses of silvery foliage, the sheer size of this evergreen shrub does the job. It is a hybrid of Artemisia absinthum a native of Europe and temperate Asia. The oil-rich aromatic foliage was prized in the old herb garden, and the plant was cultivated as pesticide, worm tonic and ingredient of the drink, absinthe. This hybrid offers soft texture and less finely divided leaves with slightly thickened margins. Long grayish yellow flower heads are produced in late summer but offer...

(Powis Castle Wormwood, Wormwood)

When it comes to super silver foliage nothing performs like ‘Powis Castle’!

This distinctive wormwood is a large, semi-woody, mound-forming, deciduous perennial. From spring to fall it offers feathery silver leaves that partner well with many other flowering ornamentals. In late summer insignificant silver and yellow tinged panicles of blooms may appear, though ‘Powis Castle’ often does not flower. If blooms do appear simply remove them to keep the distinctive soft textured foliage neat looking....

(Breadfruit)

Captain William Bligh of the HMS Bounty brought breadfruit to the West Indies in the 1790s from his journeys across the South Pacific. While the precise origins of the breadfruit tree are not clear, it's likely native to Indonesia and Malaysia. Its movement by man is largely to blame. Through the centuries, peoples cultivated it for its fruit and wood and seeds were carried eastward as the islands of the South Pacific became inhabited.

Breadfruit is a fast-growing tropical tree. Both the...

(Arum, Cretan Arum)

At first glance of the Cretan arum in bloom, you'd think it was a lemon-scented calla lily. Native to the rocky mountainous hillsides of the Greek island of Crete, and adjacent western Turkey, it prospers in sunnier conditions, unlike many other arums which prefer shade.

The medium green, satiny leaves look like small arrowheads and appear from fall to spring. They die back in summer during the arid heat of the Mediterranean. Any time in spring, flower stems will rise above the leaves. Each bloom...

(Goat's Beard)

(Goat's Beard, Misty Lace Goat's Beard)

(Dwarf Goat's Beard)

(Orchid)

Growing in shallow, moist soil or directly upon moist rocks, this species of bamboo orchid is native to the middle elevations of southern China, Laos and Vietnam where growing conditions are warm and humid. In its natural habitat, this rhizomatous orchid is quite prolific and forms grass-like clumps.

The upright stems have grassy blades, which clasp the stem with basal sheaths, giving it the appearance of a grass or compact bamboo. In late summer to fall, tall, upright floral stalks appear which...