(Hybrid Abelia, Mardi Gras Abelia)

Colorful in its foliage, whether just emerging or mature, Mardi Gras abelia is a great compact shrub selection! The popular shrub with a low, mounding habit was selected from a mutant branch on an Abelia chinensis with Abelia x grandiflora hybrid plant.

The leaves of this semi-evergreen shrub are pink when they emerge in spring, mature to green with a white variegated edge and revert to a coppery color from fall through winter. They grow upon stems that are red-copper....

(Glossy Abelia, Golden Anniversary Glossy Abelia)

The dwarf variegated Golden Anniversary™ is a knockout. This bushy cultivar is less than half the size of standard types, but offers big floral and foliar interest. This chance sport was discovered at Minier Nurseries in France.

Glossy abelia is a dense, rounded shrub with arching branches. It is primarily grown for its masses of long-lasting flowers but looks good year-round. This hybrid of Abelia chinensis and Abelia uniflora is evergreen in warmer climates and semi-evergreen...

(Bronze Anniversary™ Abelia, Glossy Abelia)

The compact glossy abelia, Bronze Anniversary™ ('Rika1'), produces lots of showy flower clusters that shine against its bronzy orange leaves that mature to bright green. Abelia x grandiflora is the result of the cross between Abelia chinensis and Abelia uniflora and is evergreen in warmer climates and semi-evergreen in chiller areas.

The small, oval leaves of Bronze Anniversary™ offer their best color when they first emerge and in cold weather when they...

(Musk Okra, Muskmallow)

Hairy foliage and pretty, colorful hibiscus-like flowers make the musk mallow a favorite warm season garden accent. A tender herbaceous perennial from southern Asia that is most often grown as a bedding annual, its flowers occur from summer to frost and are usually bicolored yellow with a purple eye, but variations with pink, orange or red blossoms with a white eye are now common as both named and unnamed garden cultivars, too.

The busky plant with many upright stems will be clothed in coarse-textured...

(Mischief Muskmallow, Musk Okra, Muskmallow)

Hairy foliage and pretty, deep rose-magenta hibiscus-like flowers make the Mischief musk mallow a great selection for gardens and containers. A tender herbaceous perennial from southern Asia that is most often grown as a bedding annual, its ripened seeds smell like musk.

The bushy plant with upright stems will be clothed in coarse-textured foliage that is hairy. Each deep green leaf has three to seven lobes. From early summer onwards, tennis ball-sized flowers occur at stem tips and attract butterflies....

(Balsam Fir, Dwarf Balsam Fir)

Dwarf balsam fir is a compact evergreen shrub with fragrant balsam-scented foliage. A very slow growing dwarf, 'Nana' offers year-round interest because of its dense deep green needles and rounded silhouette. When it matures, the shrub's top may become more flattened.

Grow the dwarf balsam fir in full sun to partial shade in a slightly acidic well-drained soil. Evenly moist soil that is cooled with an organic mulch is best. Shade from hot, intense mid-afternoon summer sun keeps the needle quality...

(Dwarf White Fir, White Fir)

Irregular branching and a smaller mature size are hallmarks of the dwarf white fir cultivar 'Compacta'. It produces attractively colored needles that are light seafoam to blue-green. White fir is a pyramidal evergreen tree native to the western United States, but this selection remains more of a shrub to small tree. Its cones are oblong and held upright on mature branches, occurring only after several decades of growth. Always slow growing, 'Compacta' is densely branched and needled. When young its...

(Compact Corkbark Fir, Corkbark Fir)

Unlike its parent, the spire-like subalpine fir, compact corkbark fir looks like a silvery green plump pyramid at maturity. A cone-bearing evergreen shrub with green needles that have a silver-blue cast, 'Compacta' was selected from trees native to the southern Rocky Mountains in Arizona and New Mexico in the American Southwest. Its rarely seen soft bark is gray to nearly white, smooth but mildly bumpy, and thicker than the typical subalpine fir.

The short but flattened needles whorl around the...

(Chinese Lantern, Flowering Maple, Parlor Maple)

Abutilon, commonly called flowering maple, embodies approximately 150 species and many more cultivated varieties. These may be annuals, perennials or shrubs and naturally exist in sub-tropical to tropical regions globally. Many perennial species and shrubs are grown as a tender perennial for containers and annual flower beds. Common hybrid forms arise from crosses between the two parent species, Abutilon darwinii and Abutilon pictum.

While growing conditions are favorable abutilons...

(Chinese Lantern, Flowering Maple, Parlour Maple, White Flowering Maple)

The white-flowered Chinese lantern is a shrub that is commonly planted as a bedding or house plant. This vigorous hybrid arises from a cross between Abutilon darwinii and Abutilon pictum.

Chinese lantern is everblooming as long as growing conditions are favorable. This cultivar bears profuse small, pendulous, hibiscus-like flowers of white. The maple-like leaves are evergreen in frost-free climates.

Overall, Chinese lantern grows best in sites with full sun to partial shade...