(Grand Licuala Palm, Ruffled Fan Palm)

Ruffled fan palm is perhaps one of the most interesting and elegant of all small palms. Its glossy, pleated, fan-like fronds are fantastic as are its drooping cluster of red fruits that mature late in the season. This evergreen, frost-tender palm is native to the wet, humid rainforests of the Republic of Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands east of Australia. It's a small understory palm that’s ideal for small, tropical landscapes as well as interiorscapes.

Atop the thin, fiber covered trunk of this...

(Australian Fan Palm, Mission Beach Fan Palm, Ramsay's Licuala Palm)

The bold, glorious fronds of Australian fan palm are segmented like giant light green pinwheels. This spectacular tall palm is adapted to humid, wet, tropical, landscapes. In fact, it is highly sensitive to drought or dry air. In its native home of northeastern Queensland, Australia it naturally inhabits low, swampy rainforests.

A large, spreading canopy, consisting of ten to twelve fronds, rests atop the long, white trunk of this palm. Long leaf stems (petioles) armed with teeth support massive,...

(Mangrove Fan Palm, Spiny Fan Palm, Spiny Licuala Palm)

Spiny fan palm is a stately, clump-forming palm tree with beautiful rounded, pleated fronds. Each is supported by a long petiole lined with many black teeth. This frost-tender evergreen is native to Southeast Asia, from the Andaman Islands near Sri Lanka eastward to the Philippines. For good health it requires lots of water. In fact, another of its common names is the mangrove fan palm.

The multiple trunks of this palm are lined with a mesh of brown fibers. Each is crowned with many graceful...

(Japanese Privet)

Ligustrum comprises approximately 50 species of shrubs and small trees. They are evergreen or deciduous and native to Asia, Australia, North Africa and Europe. Prized for attractive foliage, rapid growth and a profusion of small flowers, they are often planted as shrubbery, hedges or specimen trees. Many ligustrums are known as privet.

Shiny leaves, variable shaped are arranged opposite each other on the stems. Branched clusters of small, funnel-shaped flowers ending in four lobes...

(Asiatic Lily, Ladylike Lily)

This is one bold and beautiful bi-colored lily. The large-flowered ‘Ladylike’ has upward-facing pink flowers with broad golden centers. This compact selection produces blooms from early to midsummer and has strong stems ideal for cutting.

Asiatic lilies are probably the most common and easily grown type of hybrid lily. They typically bear clusters of wide-flaring flowers atop strong stems. The upright stems are lined with glossy green, narrow, lance-shaped leaves. Once they have flowered they...

(Perez's Sea Lavender)

In the mildest climates, few perennials offer the elegant beauty and color of sea lavender. It is a native of the tropical Canary Islands, which lie off the northwest coast of Africa. In its native habitat it exists on the sunny hills surrounding the Oceanside.

This clumping evergreen perennial produces very broad green leaves with a semi-succulent feel that remain attractive year around. The clusters of purple-blue blossoms are borne on stiff branching stems above the foliage. Their petals are...

(Mexican Oregano)

There are many plants with oregano flavor. Most, like common oregano (Origanum vulgare) and Greek oregano (Origanum heracleoticum), are in the mint family (Lamiaceae), but Mexican oregano is different. Even though it tastes like lemony oregano, this favorite Native American and Mexican herb is in the verbena family (Verbinaceae).

Native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central and South America, Lippia graveolens is an evergreen, woody shrub. Its thin, arching...

(Creeping Lilyturf, Spike Lilyturf)

Most consider the vigorous, spreading, semi-evergreen creeping lilyturf an indispensable groundcover for shade. This hardy perennial originates from eastern Asia. It forms dense, spreading clumps that look almost grassy in appearance.

The foliage is linear, flattened and deep green. In late summer to fall lilyturf bears short leafless stems lined with pale lavender-violet or white flowers. These are only marginally attractive because they are partially masked by the dense foliage. The blooms...

(Silver Dragon Spike Lilyturf, Spike Lilyturf)

Nothing beats the bright silvery variegated foliage of ‘Silver Dragon.’ Like most variegated plants, it is less vigorous than the non-variegated form, which may be a good thing. Most consider creeping lilyturf an indispensable groundcover for shade because of its vigorous fast-spreading nature, but this Asian native can also be invasive. ‘Silver Dragon’ isn't as problematic.

Its foliage is linear, flattened and deep green with stripes of clear white. In late summer to fall it bears short...

(Litchee, Litchi, Lychee)

A handsomely shaped tree, lychee boasts dark green foliage and crops of delicious, red, warty-skinned fruit with a sweet white flesh. A small evergreen tree from Southeast Asia (southern China to western Malaysia), it is slow growing but long-lived. The foliage is dark green, with very long and pointed leaves that are elliptical in shape with a lighter green underside. The overall canopy is billowy and rounded, and looks particularly pretty when the new growth emerges coppery red. In early spring,...