(Japanese Aucuba, Japanese Laurel, Picturesque Japanese Laurel)

Picturata Japanese aucuba is an evergreen shrub bearing glossy, leathery green leaves with solid yellow centers and yellow speckles. Yellow variegation is unstable and leaves may revert to solid green. Bright red fruit occurs in fall and winter.

Aucuba tolerates most well drained soils and prefers partial shade locations protected from hot afternoon sun and winter winds. It is excellent for hedges or massing and may be grown as large houseplants.

(Japanese Aucuba, Sawtooth Japanese Aucuba)

Japanese laurel is a tall, bushy, broadleaf evergreen shrub that, as its name suggests, is native to Japan and eastern Asia. Its most ornamental features are its thick, glossy, dark green leaves and bright red fruits that appear in fall and remain throughout winter. One particularly popular selection is ‘Crotonifolia’, which has beautiful gold-spotted foliage. This shrub tolerates moist well drained soil and prefers partial shade. To avoid sunscald and leaf desiccation, protect Japanese laurel from...

(Japanese Aucuba, Japanese Laurel, Variegated Japanese Laurel)

Variegated Japanese aucuba (gold dust plant) is an evergreen shrub bearing glossy, leathery green leaves with golden yellow spots and bright red fruit in fall and winter.

Gold dust plant tolerates most well drained soils and prefers partial shade locations protected from hot afternoon sun and winter winds. It is a great hedge plant or shady foundation accent and can also be utilized as a cool-room houseplant.

(Japanese Aucuba)

Japanese aucuba is an evergreen shrub with glossy, leathery, dark green foliage. The form longifolia has narrow, bright green, lanceolate leaves. This female plant bears bright red fruit in fall and winter, preceded in spring by small purple flowers.

Aucubas tolerate most well drained soils and prefer partially shaded locations with shelter from hot afternoon sun and winter winds. Aucubas are excellent for hedges or massing and may be grown as large house plants.

(Japanese Aucuba, Japanese Laurel, Willowleaf Japanese Laurel)

Japanese aucuba is a medium-sized evergreen shrub with glossy, leathery, dark green foliage. The female cultivar 'Salicifolia' has narrow, serrated leaves, borne on sea-green stems. This female plant produces abundant bright red fruit in fall and winter, preceded in spring by small purple flowers.

Aucubas tolerate most well drained soils and prefer partially shaded locations with shelter from hot afternoon sun and winter winds. They are excellent for hedges or massing and may be grown as large...

(Carambola, Starfruit)

Carambola, also known as starfruit, is a tropical semi-evergreen tree native to Sri Lanka, Malaysia and southeastern Asia. It is a medium sized, slow growing, ackwardly-branching tree that puts forth leaf stalks with alternating green, finely haired leaves. Its fragrant pink-violet flowers are borne in small clusters on reddish stalks in spring and summer. Orange-yellow oblong, star-shaped fruits with waxy skin develop throughout the warm months and may continue into winter. Trees typically need...

(Carolina Mosquito Fern)

Native to much of the eastern half of North America, Carolina mosquito fern is a tiny, feather aquatic fern that floats on the surface of still ponds and lake edges. Populations also extend down into Mexico and Central America. Its tiny fronds are bright green, often with a reddish or purplish-red hue. It's hard to believe this aquatic, floating plant is in fact a miniscule fern. It is free-floating and may be adapted to fresh or brackish water.

Carolina mosquito fern thrives in pools with full...

(Centennial Desert Broom, Desert Broom)

This desert-adapted hardy hybrid is a useful shrub for difficult, hot, dry sites. Its parents are the dwarf coyote brush Baccharis pilularis, a native of California and Oregon, and the little known desert broom, B. sarathroides, native to the southwestern United States. A spreading shrub, ‘Centennial’ produces a lush mound of bright green narrow leaves with serrated edges. This is a valuable color in desert regions where most plants bear leaves of muted color or gray. This shrub...

(Coyotebrush, Coyotebush)

In spite of months without rain on the embankments of Los Angeles freeways, this drought-resistant shrub remains green year round. The plant grows as a spreading mound of small, rounded green leaves with serrated edges. It blooms in spring but the flowers are insignificant. They give way to tufted seed pods which mature in fall but many gardeners consider unsightly.

Also known as Dwarf Coyote Bush, this shrub is native to regions of California and Oregon where plants may go for over six months...

(Coyotebrush, Coyotebush, Twin Peaks Coyotebrush)

Counted among the very best of drought-resistant evergreen groundcovers, ‘Twin Peaks’ is a selection of Dwarf Coyote Bush, a native of coastal California and Oregon where plants can go for over six months without rainfall. Though it tolerates drought, ‘Twin Peaks’ can brown and lose leaves in extreme heat. The plants grows as a spreading mound of small, rounded green leaves with serrated edges. Plants bloom in spring but flowers are insignificant and give way to tufted seed pods which mature in fall...