(Blue Mist Shrub, Blue Spirea, Bluebeard, Worchester Gold Bluebeard)

The popular golden-leaved bluebeard 'Worcester Gold' offers lovely soft violet-blue flowers in late summer to fall. This vigorous small flowering shrub is as tough and drought tolerant as it is pretty. The hybrid originates from a cross between the two Asian species Caryopteris incana and C. mongholica.

The deciduous shrub has a uniform mounding, rounded habit and becomes covered with many small golden to chartreuse toothed leaves that have a minty scent if crushed. In the...

(Giant Fishtail Palm)

Named for the unusual shape of its leaf segments, this towering, single-trunked palm from upland rain forests of Southeast Asia is one of the largest and most spectacular plants for tropical gardens. A monocarpic palm, it dies after it flowers and fruits.

Borne on massive leaf stems ("petioles"), the enormous, upright or inclined, evergreen fronds can be as long as a small bus. Each frond comprises numerous broad, somewhat triangular, bright green leaflets, borne in two ranks along a midrib...

(Fishtail Wine Palm, Solitary Fishtail Palm, Toddy Palm)

Named for the unusual shape of its leaf segments, this large, single-trunked palm from India and Southeast Asia is one of the most spectacular foliage plants for tropical gardens. A monocarpic palm, it dies after it flowers and fruits.

Borne on massive leaf stems ("petioles"), the enormous, arching, evergreen fronds are arranged spirally on the upper reaches of the stout trunk. Each frond comprises numerous long, triangular, bright green leaflets, borne in two ranks along a midrib (or "rachis")....

(American Chestnut)

A massive deciduous tree, the American chestnut has bristled leaves and sweet edible nuts. Native to the interior eastern United States, it is a slow-growing, broad and round-canopied tree that has gray to grayish-brown bark. It also occurs in Canada's southern Ontario, making it the nation's only native chestnut. Since the 1930s, this species has been devastated by chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica), so severely that remaining plants resprout from their trunks to merely form large...

(Chinese Chestnut)

A spreading, deciduous tree, the Chinese chestnut has bristled leaves and starchy edible nuts. Native to Korea and northern China, it is a slow-growing, round-canopied tree that has spirally-furrowed, gray to grayish-brown bark. The leaves are simple (no lobes), oblong in shape with a tapered point and edges with teeth that end in very short bristles. The leaf undersides are lighter in color and softly fuzzy. In late spring or early summer, the branches are filled with flowers in fluffy white strings...

(Chinquapin)

Chinquapin is a large, narrow shrub or small tree that has dual-colored leaves, caterpillar-like flowers and fruits that produce sweet edible nuts. A deciduous plant, it is naturally found growing under oak trees in the southeastern United States. The bark is pale reddish brown with gray castings, and larger branches will have a smooth, silvery gray bark that is lightly furrowed and scaled.

The branches are lined with simple (no lobes), tooth-and-bristled green leaves that are soft, woolly and...

(Common Chestnut, Spanish Chestnut, Sweet Chestnut)

A tall deciduous tree, the Spanish chestnut has bristled leaves and sweet edible nuts, giving it the alternate name of sweet chestnut. Native originally to western Asia, from Iran to the Balkans, it is now widely found in southern Europe and coastal northern Africa. It has been cultivated for over 3000 years. This is the chestnut popular worldwide for roasting and eating. It likely was dubbed "Spanish chestnut" because Englishmen regarding nuts imported from Spain had the best flavor.

The glossy...

(Scarlet Indian Paintbrush)

Painting the eastern shortgrass prairie with orange and red plumes in summer, Indian paintbrush is an easily identifiable, hummingbird-attracting annual or biennial that’s wildly beautiful but rarely planted in the garden. That’s because it’s semi-parasitic and must live in union with specific prairie and meadow plant species to survive.

The lance-shaped leaves of this unlikely snapdragon relative are bright green and fine. Specimens may bloom in the first year or overwinter in a leafy state...

(Entireleaf Indian Paintbrush, Texas Paintbrush)

The fiery red plumes of Texas paintbrush cannot be missed when they bloom in spring. This native of the South Central United States and adjacent Mexico is an annual or biennial wildflower that favors prairies, grasslands and open woods where soils are well-drained and dry. Like other Castilleja it's a parasitic plant with roots that penetrate those of other plants to drain essential nutrients and moisture.

The leaves of this clump-forming wildflower are slender and green. As plants...

(Giant Red Indian Paintbrush)

Tall in stature, meadow paintbrush brings upright tufted clusters of orange-red to pinkish red flowers from spring to fall. A semi-evergreen perennial native to the wetlands of western North America (no further east than the Rocky Mountains), it is also called the giant red Indian paintbrush.

The lance-shaped leaves are medium to dark green and overall are fine in texture upon the tall, wispy stems. Beginning in late spring, the stem tips bear a cluster of showy bracts (modified leaves) that...