(Japanese Alder)

Glossy green leaves and the persistent brown seed fruits make Japanese alder a great shade tree with a broad adaptability to landscape soils and moisture. A pyrimad-shaped deciduous tree that does not get too wide, it hails from Japan, Korea and China's Manchuria. Its barks becomes light gray-sandy brown with shallow fissures.

In early spring this tree flowers. The male flowers are in drooping, finger-like clusters called catkins and are yellow-brown. The female flower are small and purplish...

(White Alder)

White alder is a large, fast growing, short-lived, deciduous tree native to the western United States. It bears glossy, nearly diamond-shaped, dark green leaves from spring to fall. Its catkins provide mild interest from winter and early spring. White alder grows best in sites with full sun but also excels as a shade tree. It thrives in most soils and grows will in sites that are too damp or barren for many other trees.

(Oregon Alder, Red Alder)

Glossy dark green leaves with red veins, platy gray bark and the persistent brown seed fruits make red alder a great shade tree with beauty and landscape adaptability, including salty soil. Native to extreme western Canada southward into Oregon and California in the United States, it's a vigorous, cone-chaped deciduous tree. Its bark becomes ghostly gray-sandy brown that cracks into flat plates. The inner bark will turn red when exposed to air.

In early spring this tree flowers before leaves...

(Alocasia, Elephant Ear, Hilo Beauty Taro)

The mottled leaves of this stunning Alocasia are unlike any other. Each huge, heart-shaped leaf is rich green with beautiful, irregular, greenish yellow blotches and gentle wavy edges. During the growing season, 'Hilo Beauty' produces spathe and spadex flowers, but these are not particularly showy and overshadowed by glowing foliage of this tropical gem. The parentage of this cultivar is unknown.

Ornamental taro is best grown in partial sun to partial shade with protection from scorching...

(Lace Aloe, Torch Plant)

A cute, cold-hardy, ground-hugging aloe from eastern South Africa and Lesotho, this little charmer is an excellent choice for container gardens indoors and out thanks to its tidy form and vivid flowers. Succulent, lance-shaped, evergreen leaves dotted with white warty protuberances and tipped with white tail-like bristles are densely packed into round, perfectly symmetrical rosettes that offset to form clumps. Loose conical clusters of tubular red flowers are borne atop calf-high stems in summer....

(Soap Aloe)

A small, stemless, suckering aloe from drylands of southern Africa, this succulent evergreen is valued for its ornamental leaves, compact dense habit, and showy flowers. Broadly lance shaped, light- to dark-green leaves with oblong white speckles and brown-toothed margins are borne in ground-hugging rosettes that spread to form large dense clumps. In late spring and summer they give rise to dense heads of drooping tubular flower on branched knee-high stems. Adapted for pollination by sunbirds, the...

(Fan Aloe)

The succulent, strap-shaped, evergreen leaves of this tree-like aloe are paired in opposite fan-like ranks, in dramatic contrast to the spiral rosettes of most other aloes. This native of the West Cape region of South Africa is also coveted for its tall, multi-stemmed habit and for its showy spikes of bright flowers in late winter. The numerous tall spires of tubular orange-red or yellow blooms lure hummingbirds in droves. In its native haunts it is pollinated by sunbirds.

This beautiful...

(Zanzibar Aloe)

This is a little jewel box aloe that is at home in frost free gardens, pots on the porch or indoors where there is bright light. As its name suggests, this ground hugging Aloe originates from the dry climates of Zanzibar, a small island off the coast of Tanzania.

Zanzibar aloe develops little upright rosettes that elongate over time and travel horizontally, rooting as they go. In addition, it produces lateral plantlets, or pups, over time to form colonies. Sometimes the original point...

(Meadow Foxtail)

Meadow foxtail is a perennial cool-season grass native to Eurasia. It is versatile and forms spreading clumps that can be used ornamentally, as a pasture grass or for silage in agriculture. In some locations it is considered an invasive weed.

Its clumps spread by rhizomes (underground stems). It has large upright blades that are flattened and rough to the touch. The tiny inconspicuous flowers are borne on tall cylindrical spikes held well above the foliage. Meadow foxtail grass grows best in moist...

(Meadow Foxtail, Variegated Golden Meadow Foxtail)

This variegated perennial grass has linear blades with attractive golden yellow and green stripes. It is a clump-forming grass that spreads more slowly than average meadow foxtail, so it is less apt to be weedy.

Meadow foxtail is a perennial cool-season grass native to Eurasia. It forms spreading clumps and has large upright variegated blades that are flattened and rough to the touch. The tiny inconspicuous flowers are borne on tall cylindrical spikes held well above the foliage. Meadow foxtail...