(Brewster's Cassia, Cigar Cassia, Leichardt-bean)

Feathery green leaves, pendent clusters of yellow and reddish flowers, and long cigar-like seed pods are the chief ornamental qualities of cigar cassia. This plant may be quite variable in form, either growing as a medium to large shrub or becoming an upright tree with a billowy, rounded canopy. Cigar cassia is native to the hills across northeastern Australia, where it usually is evergreen, but chilly winter weather can cause leaf drop.

The compound leaves comprise numerous long oval leaflets...

(Golden Shower, Indian Laburnum)

Spectacular in flower, the golden shower tree sheds most of its leaves to highlight the many pendent yellow strings of flowers in spring and summer. Native to southern Asia, it is a semi-deciduous tropical tree that is somewhat slow-growing, attaining an open but broad canopy.

The short trunk has pale smooth to platy bark, while the leaves are bright green and pinnate, having many small leaflets arranged on a petiole leaf stem. The leaves emerge slightly downy and silver in color before greening...

(Gold Medallion Tree)

Brilliantly attractive in form and when its cheerful yellow flower clusters appear in the summer, gold medallion tree is one of the most magnificent small tropical trees. An evergreen small tree from southeastern Brazil, its spreading but elegantly rounded canopy is lined with medium to deep green leaves that have eight to twelve pairs of small oval leaflets. Large clusters of sunny yellow flowers appear most heavily in the summertime, continuing for many weeks. The blossoms occur on semi-weeping...

(Silver Cassia)

Silvery blue-green foliage and yellow buttercup-shaped flowers that appear in late winter are best ornamental features of the silver cassia. This fast-growing evergreen shrub is native to arid central Australia. It is exceptionally tolerant of dry soil, heat, frosts and hot sunlight. It looks like an acacia, but the five-petaled flowers reveal its inclusion in the genus Cassia. Silver cassia attains a wispy-looking rounded to upright, v-shaped habit.

To conserve moisture in its hot,...

(Rainbow-shower-tree)

So floriferous and colorful when in bloom, the rainbow-shower may seem unnatural to the eye. The yellow and pink blossoms look cheerful and festive. This hybrid was created in Hawaii in the mid-20th century, and is the result of crossing golden shower (Cassia fistula) with appleblossom cassia (C. javanica). Its species name honors Hawaiian botanist Marie C. Neal. In 1965, the city of Honolulu designated the rainbow-shower its official tree.

This moderately fast-growing tree...

So floriferous and colorful when in bloom, the rainbow-shower may seem unnatural to the eye. The yellow and pink blossoms look cheerful and festive. This hybrid was created in Hawaii in the mid-20th century, and is the result of crossing golden shower (Cassia fistula) with appleblossom cassia (C. javanica). Its species name honors Hawaiian botanist Marie C. Neal. In 1965, the city of Honolulu designated the rainbow-shower its official tree.

This moderately fast-growing tree...

(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...

(Hybrid Periwinkle, Hybrid Vinca, Kitajima Angel TuTu Vinca, Seedless Vinca)

Delighting with impatiens-like flowers atop a tough, heat and drought tolerant, low maintenance plant, the sterile (not producing seeds) 'Kitajima Angel Tutu' has ruffled white-edged pink blossoms. A tropical evergreen shrub that is popularly grown as a tender annual, this is a compact sterile selection developed in Japan and now licensed by and being distributed by PlantHaven, Inc.; it is only made through cuttings.

It blooms continuously and bears showy, radial, five-petaled blooms of pink...